POLITICALLY SPEAKING – DAVID KIDNEY MP – W/C 30 Nov 2009

When the banks faced collapse last year and the global recession hit, it was right for Labour to step in and prevent a meltdown of the banks.  We did this to protect savers and to support businesses and families from going under.   The Conservatives opposed this action.  They would have let Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley go to the wall.

So what could have happened if they had been in charge last year?  Imagine going to withdraw money from your bank and finding none there.   Imagine salaries not being paid or debit cards no longer working at the supermarket.  That could have happened under a Tory Government. 

But having taken swift and decisive action to prevent the collapse of our financial services, leading the world in doing so, we know we must also take action and do more to protect people in the future. The Labour Government has begun the biggest shake-up of the banking sector for many years. The Financial Services Bill, which I will support and vote for in Parliament, will take tough action to make sure banks themselves, not the taxpayer, are made to pay for bank failings.

This is about having a tough regime of supervision, a strengthened system that is more transparent and accountable to parliament. There will be a legal duty on the Financial Services Authority to promote financial stability and banks will have to prove that they are ready to deal with possible future difficulties.

When everyone else is tightening their belts bankers should too.  Our action to control bonuses means that Britain now has the toughest rules on bonuses anywhere in the world.  

When people are tightening their belts we also have to make sure taxes are fair.  I'm clear that the taxes that we should all be paying are used to pay for good quality public services, such as the Jobcentre Plus service which is working hard to help people into jobs even in these tough times. When I visited Stafford’s Jobcentre last week I learned that even in these difficult days around 800 new vacancies are being notified to the Jobcentre each month. I am opposed to cuts in front-line public services.

In the same way, I am opposed to suggestions from the Conservatives for tax rises on the decent hard-working majority and unfair tax cuts for a tiny (and wealthy) minority. I support Labour’s plans to cut the national deficit in a fair way.  Over four years we will take tough action like bringing in a top rate of tax of 50 per cent for those earning over £150,000.  We’ve taken tough action and made our choices over how to deal with the recession in a fair way.

Tory shadow Chancellor George Osborne makes very different choices.  He would take tax credits away from middle income families. He chooses to take £1,000 in direct payments from families earning over £16,040 with two children.  Instead of helping the majority of hard working families, he wants to bring in a tax giveaway of £200,000 each to the wealthiest 3,000 estates in the country. 

So under the Tories, if you’ve got children and earn more than £16,040, you’ll lose £1,000. But millionaires stand to gain a £200,000 tax cut.

I don't think it's fair that the Conservatives want to hit people on middle incomes in the pocket to help the richest people in Britain pay less tax. When it comes to running the economy the Conservatives are the change you can’t afford.   

Today I’m not talking about policies or personalities. I want to talk about values.

Labour’s values, shared by millions of us, were born out of the broader labour movement to improve the lives of working people. I believe those values are still vitally important today.

Looking back over twelve years of a Labour government, there are clear examples of this. It was Labour, remember, who brought in a minimum wage. Those who were around in Stafford in 1997 might remember a certain David Cameron, now leader of the Conservative Party, telling us there shouldn’t be a minimum wage because it would destroy jobs. Yet now the minimum wage rises each year and during the time it’s been in place the British economy has grown by 3 million jobs.

Most people over thirty can remember that pre-1997, we had very many households with no-one in work. Labour’s answer is to “make work pay”, introducing child tax credit and working tax credit for families on lower incomes. Labour has increased child benefit and introduced a right for working parents to request flexible working. We set up New Deal for groups who find it difficult to get work, including young people, lone parents, disabled workers and over-50’s.

In the world of work – such a significant part of so many people’s lives – Labour takes health and safety seriously. We work with employers, workers and trade unions to improve safety, training and productivity. Workers have a right to join a union and a union is entitled to be recognised by an employer if a majority of workers vote for it.

What do Labour’s values say about running the economy? We believe that no-one should be left behind as some individuals make profits for themselves. I’ve supported strategies to reduce poverty amongst pensioners and children. There are nearly two million pensioners and over half a million children better-off financially because of Labour action.

Whilst Labour accepts that a mixed economy offers the best way forward for our economy to be successful in competition with others, the great crash in banking saw Labour “spending to save”; we supported and part-nationalised banks in order to stave off an even worse recession. 

Labour’s values are not about greed and becoming mega-rich - all citizens and businesses should pay their fair share of taxes to provide the funding for a successful society with strong and dependable public services.

In a recession, in direct contrast to the Conservatives, Labour will not consign unemployed people to the scrapheap - we believe in making the economy strong to provide more jobs and in providing the training to equip people for new jobs.

We stand for equal opportunities, fairness and justice.  We believe in co-operation at home and in our international relations. 

These values mesh with the need for all of us in the world to live our lives sustainably. Alongside our economic interests, we must also respect social and environmental interests. There is no value in being wealthy if social unrest makes life dangerous. There is no point in living beyond our planet’s ability to sustain human life.

These are the values that drove Labour to negotiate, at Kyoto, the world’s first agreement to cut greenhouse gases. Why we introduced a Climate Change Levy and proposed a European emissions trading scheme. They’re why we led the world in passing a Climate Change Act, setting a legally binding target for cutting carbon emissions. And why other countries’ leaders are listening to us in the run-up to the conference in Copenhagen later this year as world leaders negotiate a successor to Kyoto.

POLITICALLY SPEAKING – DAVID KIDNEY MP – W/C 11 May 2009


Mr. Cameron was wrong to say about MPs’ allowances that it’s every MP for himself (or herself). This selfish scandal has done tremendous damage to all MP’s, British politics and even to our great democracy

 

A great wrong has been done. We must put a stop to the practices that have so offended people. A collective apology must be made.

 

We need to sort out this mess now. We do not want to deter people from standing for election because they cannot afford to live in London with the Capital’s property prices, even for rented homes and hotels.

 

I believe that Sir Christopher Kelly should convert his investigation into MPs’ allowances into a standing committee – along the lines of the National Minimum Wage Commission. This body, taking account of public opinion through a citizens panel, should have the power every year to impose both pay and allowances settlements on MPs.

 

Last week at a public meeting in Stafford three MPs joined patients groups and a large audience to discuss Stafford hospital. There were constructive suggestions like joining the hospital’s Foundation Trust and standing for election to the governors council.

 

It was also a humbling experience as speaker after speaker from the audience began their comments with “I lost my mother…” or “My husband died…”  a powerful reminder of what went seriously wrong in some parts of our hospital. One speaker asked about help for bereaved relatives who might benefit from counselling because of their traumatic experiences. This is something I want to help put in place.

 

The main focus of the meeting was the demand for an independent inquiry and the Government must understand that this demand will not go away.

 

There are urgent actions needed right now to improve the quality of all healthcare at our hospital – without waiting for the result of a long-running inquiry.

 

Actions like replacing the leadership and Trust Board members who were responsible for the failings revealed in the Healthcare Commission’s report; making sure staffing levels are adequate now and in the future and ensuring  proper public and patient involvement.

 

I raised these issues the next day at Prime Minister’s Question Time. Afterwards, the Prime Minister’s office rang me to say he wants to do more to help. I hope to see Gordon Brown shortly to discuss how.

 

The same day Parliament debated whistle blowing in the NHS. Under a 1998 law, employees are protected from disciplinary action if they disclose information to, say, an MP in the public interest. The law alone is not enough - the NHS has to accept the need for employees to speak out in serious cases. Dr. Richard Taylor MP said that the recent case of Margaret Heywood, struck off as a nurse for secretly filming poor quality care at Brighton for Panorama, clearly demonstrates that the management culture has to change.

 

Here in Stafford, about four thousand residents have felt strongly enough to write to me expressing their support for my plan to tackle the problems at our hospital. We have some positives to work with - standards are high in parts of the hospital, as the Commission’s report stated. Building on this, I want hard-working and dedicated staff to be professionally managed and actively involved in improving standards of care. I want a strong partnership of management, staff, patients and relatives and the public to remedy the serious failings that exist. I hope you can agree.

 

 Stafford, the G20 and Barack Obama – All politics is local. April 2009

 

In weeks like this it can be easy to feel a little removed from the momentous events taking place in London, at the G20 summit. When we see images of Barack Obama and President Hu of China it can often seem like their actions revolve around global forces with no relevance for Stafford.

 

But in the modern world nothing could be further from the truth. We all know how much more difficult things are because of the worldwide credit crunch. I speak to people in Stafford all the time who are finding things so much tougher because of the global downturn.

 

And indeed, to use a well used line, all politics is local. Barack Obama gained the Presidency in the most inspiring American election in a generation not because he performed well on CNN but because he gained the support of community after community.

 

Whilst we are constantly told that the public doesn’t care about politics, time after time we see the people prove the doom mongers wrong. In America, Barack Obama signed 3 million people up to help with his campaign, not because of technology or the internet but because people stood up and demanded a government that would work for the many not the few.

 

Here in Stafford, we’ve seen hundreds of people get involved in campaigning to demand a better hospital. The people of Stafford have done everything, from joining pressure groups like Cure the NHS to filling in and returning my hospital survey. Once again we see that when people see an issue they care deeply about they want to get involved.

 

So the focus for politicians like me is to make these great events, like the G20, matter on a local level.

 

Gordon Brown hailed the conference as “the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, not with words, but with a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable for its delivery.”

 

So what does it all mean for hardworking people and savers in Stafford constituency?

 

In short it means everything to our local economy.

 

When people stop spending money in cities across the world from Strasburg to Sao Paulo then British exporters lose vital sources of income and that affects the entire British economy.

 

To protect jobs and businesses in Stafford we needed to get the world leaders working together to restore confidence, growth and jobs, and that’s what they have agreed. That collective action is necessary to stabilise the world economy and secure recovery and jobs.

 

They have put money aside to help make sure that vulnerable national economies don’t go under. Our local businesses can ill afford another tightening of the export market and this provision will help keep these countries afloat and spending money in the UK.

 

The world leaders have agreed to strengthen financial regulation, and to reform our international financial institutions, to make sure that honest working people’s livelihoods can never again be put at risk by carefree bankers playing fast and loose with our savings.

 

And that is the essence of what this summit was about, and for me that is what all good politics is about. It is about the many not the few. From hospitals in Stafford to elections in America and summits in London, when people come together to have their say as a community and make their voices heard, they can create real change. Politics isn’t just about the likes of Obama and Sarkozy, it’s about you, me, your job and your family, and that’s why no matter how remote the summit or lofty the ambition all politics is local.

 

 



“INVESTMENT IS KEY TO KICKSTARTING LOCAL ECONOMY”

Article for Staffordshire newsletter March 2009


When new USA President Barack Obama asked Congress to approve his plan for near £800 billion boost to America’s economy he said that doing nothing was not an option.  I agree,
  This downturn, unlike previous ones, is affecting the entire world at the same time.  Every country7 that can afford to act really has to.  This is why in the UK there has been action to protect the banking system, boost high street spending and support businesses and individuals through the downturn.


  As part of this action plan the Government is accelerating £3bn of investment.  This will benefit us here in the West Midlands, especially through investment in new homes, improved transport links and better skills.


  The Government is investing nearly £1bn over three years in housing in the West Midlands.  In addition the region will receive up to £9m of accelerated funding for new social housing and up to £18m for improvements and repairs to social housing.


 So there is support for building new homes, especially affordable homes and homes for social renting, support for repairing and refurbishing existing homes, including empty homes and there is support for people struggling with mortgage arrears because a wage earner has been made redundant.


  In addition, as part of the Government’s Warm Front programme, £150m of new and accelerated investment will be made in free or subsidised heating or energy efficiency support as a result.


  So there is support to help people reduce their energy bills, keep warm during cold weather and improve their homes and their quality of life in them.


  The Government is bringing forward £700m nationally to increase capacity on motorways and other critical highways and accelerate the delivery of up to 200 new carriages on the rail-work.

In Staffordshire we shall start to see preparations for hard shoulder running on the M6 motorway soon.  In Birmingham, the New Street Station Gateway project is a £400m
  Public investment to double passenger capacity starting this year.


  So there is support for our country’s transport infrastructure (so vital for keeping us competitive when the upturn starts), Support for road users caught up in congestion on today’s busy roads and support for rail passengers The Government is accelerating for £800m of investment in schools across England.  In the West Midlands, this builds on almost £3b of investment committed to schools over the last 11 years.


  If we stick with Labour, Stafford will be next after Tamworth to benefit from Building Schools for the Future, a very ambitious nationwide plan to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school.  And this year the Government has started on a programme of similar support for the many more primary schools in the country.


  There is also continuing strong investment in skills training including apprenticeships.  So there is support for pupils and students in making their learning environment conducive to studying, support for communities in improving the fabric of public buildings like schools and there is support for the world of work by investing in Train no gain for new and continuing skills training, including for apprentices.


  These are deeply worrying times for all of us.  The accounts of businesses and individuals affected by the downturn are piling up.  It is difficult in such hard times for a Government to maintain public spending and to invest in people and infrastructure but I am sure that this Labour government has chosen right to try.