Letter from Parliament – Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP

Considering the unrealistic influence Nigel Farage and UKIP had on the European and local elections, Labour did reasonably well across the country. The big losers were the Tories and the Lib-Dems who were decimated and look doomed at the general election in 2015.

The Queens speech takes place and Parliament returns on 4 June. The speech sets out the Coalition Governments’ future programme for the rest of the year. It will be full of promises for 2015, 2016 and 2017, all after the election. The only event of note will be the referendum on Scottish independence, which I oppose. I wish I had a vote but don’t as I’m not resident in Scotland. However, I can tell you that my close family in Scotland will vote No.

It upsets me when Labour Parliamentarians go public and criticise the leadership. Those are issues for internal debate and discussion and should not be the subject of TV interviews or the right wing press. Headlines, like in some of the parliamentary articles I have read recently, some of them paid articles, do political harm to parties and politicians and very little to address the real issues for individuals and communities. Lets debate health, housing, education and foreign policy publicly. Internal squabbles divert attention. The public deserves a better standard of debate.

Canvassing is over for the time being and we need to return to local issues raised by constituents.

It’s a pity that the weather deteriorated on the day of the local campaign organised by ‘Step out for Stroke’. However, the event did experience periods without rain. I hadn’t realised that so many young people had suffered a stroke. There was a large turn out of victims of stroke, their families and carers and certainly the organisers of the local ‘Life after Stroke’ service can be proud of their effort.

I visited the summer fair at St. Johns’ Church, Hopwood. It was nice to have a chat with members of the local St. Johns’ community.

On 26 May, a Bank Holiday, I launched a fund raising walk to Clitheroe for the All Party Group for Pro-Life. I co-chair the group with Fiona Bruce who is MP for Congleton. It is no secret that I have always supported the pro-life movement. The Clitheroe walk is eight miles long and lasts over three hours. It is always extremely successful.