Newsletter April 2011
Posted by Margot James, MP for Stourbridge, at 14:18, Fri 1 April 2011:
Dear Subscriber,
March has been dominated by the decision to take military action to protect civilians in Libya and prevent a pariah state taking hold there under the murderous Quadafi. I share the wariness over our involvement in another conflict but we have the capability, jointly in an international effort that includes Arab States, and with the backing of the UN, to take action and I support that action.
The other big issue has been the budget. The majority of people understand the need to get our public spending under control and support the measures George Osborne has taken. Some of the decisions that have had to be taken have been very difficult, and I have lobbied against certain proposals myself. But in the end, although the Government have compromised on several areas I have been concerned about, the cuts have to be made if we are to stand any chance of living within our means as a country again.
The budget provided the maximum support that could be afforded for business, manufacturing and the regions outside London and the South East, which was well received by employers here in the Black Country. It was also good to see a check on the constantly rising cost of fuel and improvements to tax allowances given the constraints we are under.
-In Westminster-
I have questioned and / or written to Ministers about the following issues during March:
* Questioned Oliver Letwin about opening up Government procurement to smaller businesses. http://www.margotjames.com/02032011_government_procurement
* Foreign Office: I urged William Hague to support women in North Africa and the Middle East. http://www.margotjames.com/07032011_libya. On another occasion I asked whether funding could be found for the BBC World Service from the Department for International Development. http://www.margotjames.com/15032011_bbc_hindi_service * Transport: I asked Philip Hammond about the benefits of High Speed rail for the Black Country. http://www.margotjames.com/10032011_high_speed_rail. Also I wrote to Theresa Villiers about the proposed changes to ticket office opening hours in Stourbridge, and closure of Lye rail station.
* Dept Work & Pensions (DWP): I wrote to Maria Miller to raise my concerns about the reforms to Disability Living Allowance and the effect people with visual impairments.
* Home Office: I contacted Damian Green, Minister for Immigration, on behalf of Ruskin Mill Education Trust who operate the Glasshouse College, and are concerned about the effect of student visa rules on foreign students with complex learning disabilities. I also questioned the Prisons Minister, Crispin Blunt, about the adverse impact of maintaining drug addicted prisoners on Methadone on effective drug rehabilitation in prisons. http://www.margotjames.com/29032011_drug_rehabilitation_prisons
* Business, Innovation & Skills:
• I was able to remind the House of Commons about the importance of reducing regulation for businesses during the budget debate. http://www.margotjames.com/23032011_budget_debate
• I met Mark Prisk and raised the changes to the European REACH guidelines which are unnecessary and costly for the chemical industry in the Black Country.
• I asked the Prime Minister to look into these reissued REACH guidelines and ensure that Business Ministers push back at the EU to reduce their impact. http://www.margotjames.com/28032011_chemical_intermediates_regulations
• I asked Vince Cable about my concerns that the Government might cap the number of places at the top universities, who set their fees at £9000, so that a greater proportion of students would have to attend universities with lower fees. http://www.margotjames.com/31032011_universities
I have attended briefings and/or spoke on various subjects as follows:
* A briefing by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association on their visit to Pakistan.
* A discussion hosted by the UK Automotive Association on skills and growth in that industry
* The West Midlands Police quarterly drop in session for MPs
* A briefing by the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox and Armed Forces personnel on the situation in Libya.
* I spoke to the NHS Lift organisation about new Lift financed NHS facilities in Dudley Borough http://www.margotjames.com/10032011_lift_council
* I spoke to the AGM of the Conservative Women’s Organisation in the West Midlands
My normal round of briefings that I find very useful in my work was curtailed during March as a result of the Health Bill Committee, on which I have been a sitting, which has sat for longer than any other bill committee for ten years! We finished yesterday I am pleased to say.
I have met with various ministers, All Party Parliamentary Groups (APGs) and others as follows:
* APPG Trafficking, I am vice chair of this group and I attended a meeting of all the voluntary groups and charities active in the field. Having lobbied Home Office ministers last month I was pleased that the government have agreed to ratify the European Directive against Human Trafficking. I also attended a meeting with the minister responsible for victim support, Crispin Blunt, on the care and rehabilitation of victims. Although a very small area of Government spending I am pleased that there has been a small increase in the budget.
* The APPG on Housing and Older People’s care is undertaking an enquiry in to services for older people to help them live independently at home, they have been good enough to arrange the two sessions last month around my health committee sessions so I was able to attend, this will report in July and so far is one of the most concerning and fascinating things I am involved with at the moment.
* I arranged a meeting for a delegation from Dudley Education Authority with Education minister Lord Hill.
* I attended a Court of Governors Meeting at the London School of Economics where the College’s erstwhile ties with Libya were discussed.
-In Stourbridge-
* I met the Chief Constable for the West Midlands, Chris Sims, to get a handle on the effects of reduced budgets on front line policing.
* I visited Stourbridge Police Station and met Inspector Boyle and three of his colleagues to discuss the report, and hear their concerns, on Police pay and organisation.
* Stourbridge College are opening a fabulous new facility in Brierley Hill and invited me to join a panel to select a modern design to grace the reception area.
* I held two advice surgeries, in Quarry Bank and in Stourbridge Town Centre.
* Stourbridge Football Club, known as the ‘Glassboys’ had a community day which I went to and watched them beat Bedford Town 3-0, it was my first non league football match and I really enjoyed it.
* Stourbridge Town now has Fairtrade status. This is the result of a great deal of work by volunteers over what must be around five years. I attended the celebration at St Thomas’s. http://www.margotjames.com/11032011_fairtrade
* I held a meeting with representatives of the Dudley pathfinder GP Consortia who are very enthusiastic about the improvements they feel they can make to our local NHS.
* The Conservative Association held its AGM, I spoke and we all had a good discussion. -It wasn’t all work-
This month I had a lot of visits to the House of Commons which have been very enjoyable. Cllrs Angus Adams and Jennie Dunne came up for Transport Questions and lunch. Jay brought her friend, theatre producer Judy Craymer, to Prime Minister’s Questions and Rupert’s in laws, Roger and Linda Smurthwaite, also came up for PMQs, for some reason this month we received double our normal allocation for PMQs tickets. Max Falkowitz, son of an American friend of mine came for a tour of Parliament and we caught up for lunch afterwards.
Back in the constituency I caught up with Peter and Pat Harrington for lunch. Pete is great professional photographer who has always been so generous with his time and expertise on my account.
I was a Godmother at Mirabelle Doggett’s christening which was a very special occasion for me and I also managed to get to Poppy’s third birthday party. Poppy was a leap year baby so next year will be a very special birthday.
I attended a reception at Number Ten given by David Cameron to mark International Women’s Day.
Birmingham Royal Ballet invited all the West Midlands MPs to the first night of their production of Cinderella at the Coliseum, it was absolutely wonderful. It is going on tour after a week at the Coliseum and is well worth seeing if you get the chance.
-And finally-
You can catch me being interviewed on the West Midlands version of Politics Show this Sunday and I’ll also be doing the paper review on the Andrew Marr Show first thing this coming Sunday.
Best wishes
Margot
www.margotjames.com
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Posted by Terry Boardman, 15:14, Fri 1 April 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
"military action to protect civilians in Libya"?
The mainstream media have told us almost NOTHING about the rebels in East Libya, their leaders, their finances, their weapons sources, their links with the CIA and with the former US puppet regime of King Idris.
"action to prevent a pariah state taking hold there under the murderous Quadafi."
Margot, did you write this yourself or is someone writing it for you? Gadaffi's state has been in existence for over 40 years !!! It is not "taking hold". It has been holding Libya for 40+ years! It is not "a pariah state"; it has relations with most other countries, Gadaffi has spoken many times at the UN over the past 40 years; he has been an active figure in the Arab League and in the African Union for decades and has met most world leaders! Whatever one thinks of him, those are simply the facts - which your statement is twisting. Only 8 years ago Gadaffi was being hugged and kissed by the British Prime Minister in Libya!!! That Prime Minister then cleared the way for Gadaffi to do billions of £££ worth of business with Gadaffi's Libya. Only 3 months ago Gadaffi was still being courted and treated with favour by British business and the British government, with not a word of official condemnation of his regime. How on earth therefore can you describe Gadaffi's Libya as a "pariah state"?!
"I share the wariness over our involvement in another conflict"
Did you then express or voice this wariness in Parliament?
"but we have the capability, jointly in an international effort that includes Arab States, and with the backing of the UN, to take action and I support that action."
We do NOT have the "the backing of the UN", not by any means the *whole* UN; we only have the backing of a few members of the UN on the Security Council who have nuclear weapons i.e. the international bully brigade, the self-appointed globopolice force, AND of the satellites and client states of the bully brigade. Support from Arab states such as Qatar and Lebanon is, as you must surely know, a mere figleaf. Do we have active and positive "support" from major Arab states such as Egypt, Algeria, and Syria, or other major Muslim states such as Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia? I don't notice them hurrying to send squadrons of fighters to help enforce our no-fly zone.
Margot, you and the other 556 in Parliament who voted for this abomination have chosen to support an international war crime - largely on the basis of a few foolish words spoken by the maverick Libyan leader, who is well-known to be a boastful loudmouth, but who is far from being a Pol Pot or a Hitler, or even a Saddam Hussein. The fact that that vague, open-ended resolution (#1973) managed to get past the Security Council does not make this cynical attack on a UN member country that was minding its own business (at least Libya has been for the last couple of years) at all justifiable. It is a merely a figleaf for a power play by the usual suspects - Britain, France and America - the nations that love to throw their weight about, the 3 nations that have killed more foreigners since 1945 than any other. Those who the West was so quick to dub 'freedom fighters' resorted to serious armed violence against the government! What would the British government do in such a case? What did it do in Northern Ireland? It would use the police and if necessary the army to put down such violence, and history shows very many examples of the British State doing just that, and often in quite a ruthless fashion. A State will not tolerate armed insurrection - and neither should it; violence breeds violence. The way to change governments is to build sustained popular campaigns of resistance and protest.
I do not see much evidence that you are thinking for yourself here; you are simply following the line drawn in the Libyan sand by your party and your government and repeating the usual empty phrases. To be better informed, please read the following: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27797.htm and http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/pers-m28.shtml
We the British people have had enough of this, enough of our political class (Labour, LibDem and Tory) leading this country, its blood and treasure into wasteful foreign wars - 6 in the last 13 years! - using fine-sounding but empty rhetoric to disguise profit motives for major corporations. ENOUGH!
Terry Boardman Oldswinford Stourbridge (your constituency)
Posted by Nasar Ahmad, 15:49, Sun 3 April 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Two points to make: 1) Libya: Let's not be fooled for too long about Libya and Gadaffi suddenly being a despot and the civilians need protecting. He is the same person that our Prime Minister was chumming up to, just a couple of years ago.
Civilians need protecting in Zimbabwe, anyone hear any rush to go over there?
Civilians needed protecting when Israel was bombing Gaza, did anyone even bat an eyelid?
Economy: I mean REALLY - are you boasting about the lack of fuel duty increase when 2.5% was slapped on VAT?
Take a look at the US economy, is is going from strength to strength because they have NOT done the very things we have done.
When you cut things to the bone, you stifle recovery. Osborne really does not care, his family is worth 100s of millions.
Nasar, Stourbridge.
Posted by Margot James, 07:59, Tue 12 April 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Dear Mr Boardman,
Thank you for your comments, which I shall certainly bear in mind as we further debate Libya in Parliament.
I do appreciate your concerns about this intervention. We all remember Iraq and are desperate to avoid going down the same route, one factor that persuaded me to support this military action is that there will be no invading army and no occupation. Instead, we are enforcing a no fly zone which will prevent this dictator from murdering his own people. I am sorry that we are in disagreement about this military action. I support the UN Security Council Resolution, which I believe was passed in accordance with correct procedure and represents the views of United Nations member states, including the Arab League who initially called for a resolution.
You ask why I did not speak in the debate. I would have loved to speak, and I would have used that opportunity to voice my own wariness about military action. Unfortunately, I could not participate because I had to attend a meeting of the Committee on Arms Exports Controls which was meeting at the same time.
You also ask whether I write my newsletters myself. I can assure you that I do write them myself and do so each month. I also do a fortnightly comment in the Stourbridge News which I write myself.
Best wishes,
Margot
Posted by Margot James, 08:00, Tue 12 April 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Dear Nasar,
Thank you for your comments.
Firstly, on Libya, I do understand your point about selective intervention. However, the problem is that while it is impossible to intervene everywhere, I do not think that means we should not intervene anywhere. Libya has a history of supporting international terrorism, with terrible consequences in this country, and Colonel Gaddafi is now brutally murdering his own people. I cautiously support this action because I think it will help to improve our own security and protect innocent Libyan civilians from their own Government.
Secondly, you mention the economy. The Government’s top priority is, of course, to reduce the deficit and bring some sanity back to our public finances. That is why VAT unfortunately had to rise. The alternative to raising VAT would have been yet more cuts to public spending. During his Budget speech, the Chancellor actually announced a fuel duty reduction now and cancelled future rises in fuel duty planned by the previous Government. I think that given the poor state of the public finances, motorists were actually given a reasonably good deal by the Government.
You mention the US economy and I agree they have taken a difference course to many other countries including our own. They are the world’s reserve currency so they face less of a threat in terms of being forced to borrow at every higher interest rates (as is happening to certain Southern European economies and Ireland) than we would if we were to borrow more and more to support unsustainable public spending. Personally I do not agree with the US policy and I think their chickens will come home to roost as they say. But perhaps we differ on that.
Thank you for contacting me anyway, much appreciated.
Best wishes,
Margot