Letter from Parliament - Liz McInnes MP

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Liz McInnes MP

Recently in Parliament, I’ve been on the bill committee for Clive Efford’s Private Members Bill, which seeks to reverse the privatisation and cuts to our NHS which have been enabled by the Health and Social Care Act.

Unfortunately, the Bill has been 'talked through' and cannot now make progress. As some may remember, I talked in a previous letter about the practice of 'filibustering' where committee members talk at length on irrelevant matters in order to prevent any progress being made. The Tory members of the committee clearly had no interest in maintaining our NHS as a public service to all and free at the point of need. We have had to admit that no progress can be made in this parliament, with only two weeks to go before the dissolution.

However, I would like to reassure everybody of the Labour Party’s commitment to the NHS and that we will continue to work to prevent private companies from infiltrating our NHS and making profit from ill-health.

Recent figures on the living wage in Heywood and Middleton show that 40% of workers earn less than the living wage. Women workers are particularly badly affected with 53% of female workers in the constituency earning less than the living wage. I raised these points at Prime Minister’s Questions where I asked the Prime Minister when workers in Heywood and Middleton would start to feel the benefits of the economic recovery which we hear about on the news but does not seem to be getting through to wage packets. The Prime Minister gave no commitment whatsoever to ensuring that employers pay at least the living wage.

There have been many events in the last fortnight to celebrate International Women’s Day and it was my privilege to attend a meeting of local businesswomen at Hopwood Hall College on the Middleton campus. We heard from many successful local women on how they had established their businesses and careers, often against all the odds, in fields as diverse as leisure, jewellery and film-making. I gave a short presentation on women in politics and it is interesting to note that of the 650 parliamentary constituencies, 350 of these have never had a female MP. I am proud to be the first woman MP for Heywood & Middleton and am continuing to work hard on your behalf, for everyone in the constituency.

Last week I attended the third annual Rochdale Skills Event at Heywood Distribution Park, which gives year nine school students an opportunity to talk with local employers and to introduce them to careers which they may not have been aware of or considered. It was a really successful event with lots of practical and interactive features which the students could get involved in such as computer coding and virtual spray painting. All the exhibitors and students I spoke to were enthusiastic about the day and I hope that this event continues and gets better year-on-year.

I was also invited to a presentation by Middleton’s Town Team. It was really interesting to hear about the work that has gone into improving Middleton’s town centre and also about the successful local events which the team have organised, such as the Octoberfest and the Christmas Lights events. It’s great to hear that Rochdale Council have released some funding to help improve Middleton’s heritage buildings and I look forward to seeing this work progress.

Rochdale Youth Service continue to organise great events for young people and I enjoyed going along to their Youth Arts and Health Conference at Number One Riverside last week. Various presenters talked about the effect on emotional and social health that involvement in art and music can bring and we saw various examples of this, from music in hospitals to drama and acting.

Again, a busy two weeks and only two more to go before parliament is dissolved and we enter the run up to the General Election. There’s still a lot to do but please be assured that I will always work hard on your behalf.