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Newsletter May 2011

Posted by Margot James, MP for Stourbridge, at 08:35, Mon 2 May 2011:

Dear Subscriber,

As my newsletter is a day late this month I awoke like everyone else this morning to the amazing news that after almost a decade the Americans have captured and killed Osama bin Laden. Although he was no longer considered a personal threat, the ultimate achievement of one of the main aims of the operation against terrorism is a huge triumph.

When you consider the many things that might have gone wrong with such an operation, and the extreme difficulty of keeping planning over many months secret, the whole endeavour must mark a personal triumph for President Obama.

Back in Britain April has been rather a short month in Westminster as Parliament has only been sitting for five days. Because of bank holidays the time has been spread over two weeks with a recess in between. This has allowed time for campaigning in local elections and the referendum on the voting system, to be held this Thursday.

I shall be voting to retain the First Past the Post system. In my view this system, for all its flaws, provides the best chance of people being able to vote a government in, and even more importantly, vote a government out. I accept that under the Alternative Vote (AV) system individual MPs have to reflect the views of more than 50% of the electorate. But as this method is more likely to return hung Parliaments the ultimate choice of who governs the country would more often end up being made by politicians making deals in Westminster.

I was elected by 43% of the electorate in Stourbridge. Just under ten per cent of the votes were distributed between minority parties including the BNP. Most people don’t see why people who vote for minority parties should have more influence over the outcome than the vast majority of people who vote Conservative, Labour and in some cases Liberal Democrat.

-Representing Stourbridge in Parliament-

-Questions and letters to Ministers-

• Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS): I asked the Minister to protect the number of university places for next year. Read more

• Health: I asked the minister about challenges to the NHS reforms. Read more

• Defence: I wrote to the Armed Forces Minister to ask about civilian casualties in Iraq.

• Treasury: I wrote to the Minister about the way that the Government calculates an individual’s tax code; a constituent brought an interesting allegation that HMRC are acting outside the law in the way they code investment income, I am looking forward to the response!

• I took part in a debate on the funding of higher education and asked the Minister to influence Universities to scrutinise their costs before setting fees for next year. http://www.margotjames.com/27042011_higher_education_policy

-Meetings and Briefings-

• The BIS committee met twice, once with Dr Vince Cable (Secretary of State) to scrutinise his department’s growth policy, the focus was trade and exports. I questioned Dr Cable about the new support the government is providing via the Export Trade Guarantee Department to all exporters but particularly small and medium businesses.

• I held a meeting with King’s College Medical School about their fascinating ‘Outreach Programme’ which takes bright students from poor schools to study medicine with an average offer of two Bs and a C at A level versus the standard straight As offer. Now you might not think I was in favour of that, but I am 100% persuaded. Read my article for The Times (pdf). http://www.margotjames.com/pdf/Margot_James_Times_Article_12042011.pdf.

• Cllr. Angus Adams, chairman of Centro and his colleague came to brief me on the excellent business and social case for the re-opening of the Stourbridge to Walsall line for freight and passengers.

• I attended a reception hosted by Angela Rippon to mark Carer’s Week.

-Out and about in Stourbridge-

• We held two advice surgeries, one in Stourbridge Town Centre and one in Lye.

• I visited Pedmore C of E Primary School and attended an assembly for Mothering Sunday, the children performed a lovely piece that I had read to my great niece a few weeks before so I was surprised to find myself so familiar with all the stories they acted. I was then instructed on rainforests by a class of ten year olds and was very impressed with their knowledge and questions. http://www.margotjames.com/07042011_pedmore_year_4

• Another organisation celebrating Mothering Sunday was the Pocklington Trust and Age UK. I went to the tea they organised at the Mary Stevens Centre. http://www.margotjames.com/11042011_mothers_day_mary_stevens_centre

• I spoke to a group of manufacturing companies at Kingswinford Rugby Club hosted by Business Xchange, a very good networking organisation. The growth in manufacturing and exports over the last few months has been very encouraging. http://www.margotjames.com/29042011_business_xchange

• It was great to see our Farmer’s Market back! I opened the first one at the beginning of April and it was nice to see so many happy stall holders and satisfied shoppers.

• Francis Maude, Cabinet Office Minister, visited Halesowen to talk to local voluntary groups and businesses about the Big Society, I invited a number of groups from Stourbridge and we all had a good discussion with Francis.

• The CEO of our Mary Stevens Hospice, Jackie Kelly, briefed me on current issues and we discussed the implications of the Health Bill (however it might look post-consultation) for the Hospice.

• The Coach House Carers Group, for young adults with learning difficulties and disabilities held a meeting, I spoke about my experience in the field and we had a no holds barred discussion about the impact of personal budgets. http://www.margotjames.com/21042011_margot_meets_carers_at_coach_house

• I met with Cllr. Liz Walker, lead member for younger people in Dudley Council, and we discussed budgetary pressures in her department and among schools in particular.

-It wasn’t all work-

As for almost everyone in the country I was incredibly moved by the Royal Wedding, it exceeded my expectations well and truly. Jay and I drove around Buckingham Palace late on the night before and caught some of the wonderful atmosphere of goodwill amongst the thousands camped out for the best views come the day itself. Stourbridge had plenty of parties and celebrations going on, with special beers brewed for the occasion. I especially enjoyed a street party on Finchfield Close in Norton.

It was a great pleasure to go to the theatre twice, to see ‘The Children’s Hour’ with Keira Knightly and Elizabeth Moss (‘Peggy’ if you watch Madmen) and Clybourne Park.

I went to drinks hosted by the Health Minister, Simon Burns, to mark the end of the committee stage of the Health Bill and a very nice ‘end of session’ drinks party hosted by my near neighbour the MP for Ludlow, Philip Dunne and his wife.

Stonewall invited me to their annual dinner, Mr Speaker was there, Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans, quite a number of Conservative Ministers and MPs and we all had a good evening.

Gary, Kate and I did a tour of the Houses of Parliament (at last!) which was fascinating; I look forward to sharing my new knowledge of the place with visitors in the future.

Jay and I had a couple of lovely weekends in the Cotswolds including the Easter break. Rupert, Laura and my great nieces came for the weekend and we took Poppy to the Cotswold farm park, I was very impressed with how confident, at three years old, feeding the animals. All my cousins and Aunt came over from Warwick and Kenilworth for Easter Sunday.

I have mentioned in previous newswires the Speakers lecture series “Parliamentarians on Parliamentarians.” I have attended three out of the four so far and this week we had Sir Nicholas Soames deliver a lecture on Winston Churchill. It was inspirational and quite wonderful. A very honest, personal and deeply knowledgeable account of the man delivered by quite one of the most engaging and charming of all MPs who I feel hugely privileged to know a little.

Finally I have been regularly leafleting and canvassing in support of our local council candidates for the elections to Dudley Council and for keeping our First past the post election system in the referendum being held on the same day. I’d like to end by wishing our candidates: Cllrs Pat Martin, Heather Rogers, Ian Kettle and Margaret Cowell plus candidates Mike Wood, Lou Redding and Sharon Tinsley all the very best in the forthcoming elections.

Best wishes

Margot

http://www.margotjames.com