HearFromYourMP

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It's a privilege to be your MP

Posted by Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston, at 09:26, Fri 19 April 2013:

You might not have noticed this, but I've had an exceptionally busy week in parliament. It's just that a lot of what I've been doing has been going on behind the scenes. In the last few days before the end of this parliamentary session (the next session starts on 8 May, the date of the Queen's speech), the government is scrambling to finish this year's parliamentary business. It has been ramming through lots of bills. But the government's got a problem. A number of the bills it wants to get through have been amended in the House of Lords. Those amendments have to be reconsidered in the Commons, then go back to the Lords, then back to the Commons, back to the Lords....again and again....until either the Lords back down, or a compromise is reached. This is known as ping pong, and this week we had votes on several bills where the two Houses haven't agreed. But the whole process has to be completed before the end of this session (in other words, in the next few days), otherwise the government risks losing an entire bill. If it's sensible, the government will try to negotiate, and that's what I've been quietly involved in this week. I've been spending a lot of my time, working with colleagues in the Labour equalities team, trying to find a compromise on an amendment that's come from the House of Lords to make caste discrimination illegal. This has been a fascinating piece of work, and I've been meeting the British Sikh Council, the Hindu Forum, and others, to understand their concerns. I've no idea what will happen to this proposal when ping pong continues next week. But I have learnt an enormous amount about the subject over the past few days. Everyone agrees caste discrimination has no place in our society. Thankfully, it's rare. When it does happen, it's important that those who experience it have a remedy. But we must get the detail right. I understand how offended and hurt many Hindus and Sikhs are by the whole concept of caste. It should be completely eradicated, and irrelevant, in modern British society. For the vast majority of Hindus and Sikhs in Britain, it already is. So there's a big responsibility on MPs to get legislation right. This weekend, I'll be in contact with the communities locally to make sure I hear their views. Back in the constituency office, meantime, things have been very busy too. We've been able to sort out a number of problems for constituents, and make representations on their behalf. We managed to get payment to an elderly constituent, whose pension credit had been badly messed up. We persuaded the council and Trafford Housing Trust to arrange a new bath for a severely disabled constituent. I'm delighted the council has finally agreed to my request to create some new parking spaces outside local shops. I'm writing this on the train home to Manchester. It's been a hectic week for me, and for my wonderful staff. But it's also been very rewarding. A week when I've been really reminded what a privilege it is to be your MP. Kate Green Member of Parliament for Stretford and Urmston Shadow Spokesperson for Equality Tel: 0161 749 9120 (constituency); 020 7219 7162 (Westminster) www.kategreen.org @kategreensu