Letter from Parliament - Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP

I write this letter from Wolstenholme Ward in Rochdale Infirmary, where I have had a total knee replacement this week. I feel fine and need now to take the time required to become mobile again. I thank Dr Ali and his team and all the nursing and support staff for their dedicated care.

However, it is extremely frustrating to be sidelined from Parliament at the very time that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is being debated by MPs. I am fearful of the effect the Bill will have on the future of family life, the status of the human being and society in general. Monday and Tuesday the 19 and 20 May have been set aside for a two day debate on 4 issues which will be the subject of a free vote. The issues are: 

• Creation of human animal interspecies embryos and their use in medical research 
• The creation of a “saviour sibling” for the purpose of supplying either blood, tissue or part organs for a brother or sister with a life threatening disease. 
• The “need for a father” to be removed for a child created through IVF treatment for single women or lesbian couples. 
• The increased use of embryonic stem cells for research

I have very deep misgivings about all of these issues and had I been in Westminster I would have opposed the Bill at second and third reading and at all the other stages. My reasons are very straightforward. The scientists promoting this Bill have ignored completely the progress that has been made in Japan and USA using adult stem cells where over 80 successes have been recorded. There have been no successes with embryonic stem cells.

Ethics and good science go hand in hand and in my view the research investment should go into the areas that are ethical. I fully understand the problems and heartache of those parents like the Prime Minister and his wife who have a child with cystic fibrosis. I have two grandchildren with a congenital disability and my faith is in ethical stem cell research. The same argument applies to saviour siblings.

To remove the need for a father from a birth certificate is an attack on the rights of that child. We all realise that IVF very often produces up to 10 babies from a single sperm donor. We have already seen one example of a young man and woman falling in love and getting married and then having to divorce because they had not known they had the same father. Unwittingly they had committed incest and many more young people will find themselves in the same boat if they are not able to trace their fathers because the law will not have the father’s name on a birth certificate. Surely these children have the right to know who their fathers are.

This Bill will also see the abortion issue debated. It will be allocated only 3 hours. This trivialises the entire debate. Abortion should have

an in depth review of the 1967 'David Steel' Act. H e himself agrees that the whole abortion industry has grown completely out of hand.

This Bill was meant to regulate all of these issues but it will end up, if unamended, liberalising the entire area of ethical scientific research. We need an independent system outside of Parliament to provide balanced views across the spectrum to advise and make recommendations to parliamentarians free from the pressures of self interested parties and organisations. We live in dangerous times.

I am aware that my views on these issues go totally against those of the Prime Minister. He is aware of them through correspondence between us. I intend to write to him during my convalescence to register my dismay at the Government’s handling of this dangerous bill.

Following the 10p tax debacle can I say how pleased I am to hear from the Chancellor’s announcement this week of proposals to help those who have been affected by the withdrawal of the 10p starting rate. Every constituent who wrote to me on this issue has had their letter or email sent directly to the Prime Minister.

The proposals announced will increase the personal tax allowance from £600 to £6055 for this financial year, helping all basic rate tax payers under 65. 22 million people on low and middle incomes, will gain an additional £120 per year and support will be provided this year for those on middle incomes at a time where they faced increased bills, support the economy and display the Government commitment to creating a more prosperous and fairer Britain.

It will mean that in September the basic rate tax will see a one off increase in their monthly income of £60 and then an increase of £10 per month until March 2009. It will take 600,000 people on low incomes out of tax altogether. Those currently paying 40% will be unaffected.

The last public event I attended was in the square outside the Parish Church in Middleton for the dancing round the Maypole. The former Mayor Cllr Peter West and the Mayoress and I presented certificates to those schools taking part. It was a lovely day and a most enjoyable family occasion.

Can I thank all those constituents who have sent me cards and good wishes for a speedy recovery and also all those who sent me congratulations on my Papal Knighthood. They are much appreciated.

My surgeries will continue as advertised and I can be contacted through the local Heywood office and the House of Commons.