HearFromYourMP

Previous message | Messages for this constituency | Next message

A very busy weekend in Stretford and Urmston but a quieter week in Westminster

Posted by Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston, at 10:09, Fri 14 March 2014:

It was a busy weekend in the constituency, yet not so busy in Westminster this week. I spent last Friday rushing around with Mehreen, who'd joined us for the day to shadow me.

We're always pleased to welcome young people in the office to shadow me or gain work experience, so if you know a young person in Stretford and Urmston who'd like the chance to do so, just get in touch with my office.

I started last Friday at the fabulous Trafford College, to officially open the new STEM centre. I was very impressed at the facilities for students, and it was great to meet and chat to some of those undertaking courses.

Then it was a dash over to Partington for the ground cutting ceremony at the site of the new shopping centre. Local people have waited literally years for this, and it was great to finally see progress. The new shopping centre should be open in time for Christmas, if all goes to plan.

On to the Trafford Centre, to meet Dawn, mum of Super Josh, a disabled young man who is campaigning for accessible toilets. There's one at the Trafford Centre (and one in parliament, I'm glad to say), but many more are needed. It's a really important and much needed campaign, and we discussed how I can support it in parliament.

After this I visited a mosque in Old Trafford to talk about a Private Member's Bill that's been introduced in parliament to ban women wearing the veil. I'm totally opposed to this bill, we shouldn't be legislating to tell women how to dress, or interfering with their religious freedom. I was glad I could reassure people at the mosque that the bill has no chance of becoming law.

A surgery, a visit to North West Ambulance service, then our monthly local Labour Party meeting, which I left early to go to a fantastic dinner at Manchester Town Hall to celebrate International Women's Day. I was delighted to launch a campaign for a portrait of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst by Manchester artist Charlotte Newson to be displayed in parliament. She's such an important figure in the history of universal suffrage, and the portrait, Women Like You, is a great tribute to her. If you'd like to know more about the campaign, visit www.charlottenewson.com

I spent Saturday in Liverpool with Labour colleagues at a conference to mark international women's day. We had some really interesting discussions, about policing, care and the NHS, the cost of living, and how to "dress for success".

Sunday on the doorstep talking to residents near Kings Road, St Hilda's and St Theresa's schools, about traffic and parking problems. It can be really jam packed outside our schools when parents are dropping off or picking up children, it causes huge inconvenience to other road users, and it really isn't safe for the kids. It's been a big part of my Safer Trafford Streets campaign to get better controls and restrictions on parking outside school gates, but I wanted to hear the views of local residents. I was joined by local councillors Anne Duffield, Dave Jarman and Judith Lloyd, and we had a very enjoyable hour or so talking to people in the beautiful sunshine.

After such a crazy weekend, I was glad it was a quieter week in parliament. On Monday, I went to lunch at BP's head office - they have an oil terminal in the constituency. We had a very interesting discussion about the UK's energy policy, and security of supply. That was a theme I returned to on Wednesday when I hosted a St Patrick's Day lunch (yes, I know it's still another week away, but they have a lot of celebrating to fit in) with ESB, who are building the new gas fired power station at Carrington.

Monday and Tuesday also saw debates on the Care Bill, and I tried to be in the chamber as much as I could. One of the most important votes was to stop the Secretary of State taking powers to close hospitals without consulting local people. I had received loads of letters and emails from constituents worried about this, asking me to support a Lib Dem amendment to stop it becoming law. Imagine our surprise and anger when the Lib Dem MP who'd proposed it decided he wouldn't call a vote. He totally sold out to the government, but luckily Labour had tabled an amendment too, and we were able to vote for that, though sadly we couldn't get enough support to defeat the government.

I was involved in a couple of other debates this week. One concerned proposals to take trains from TransPennine routes and transfer them to run on lines in the south. This is really outrageous, the trains in our area are already old, overcrowded and unreliable, and by 2018, services that run through Urmston won't even comply with disability discrimination legislation. I joined colleagues from across the North West, North East, Yorkshire and Scotland to complain vociferously about these plans.

I had an early start on Tuesday as the opposition spokesperson in the debate on regulations to introduce a modest maternity allowance for women working in their partner's business. This (very limited) proposal will help around 1,300 women, and is being introduced as a result of a European directive.

It's one of the things we don't say enough about Europe: that it is an important source of many of our employment rights. I strongly agree with Ed Miliband that our future is stronger if we remain in Europe, and that was also very much the view of the businesses I talked to this week. Given how much of our trade is with Europe, and how many companies locally depend on that for their growth and to create jobs, I'm glad he made a strong statement of support for the EU this week.

I managed to raise another issue important to businesses in the chamber this week, during questions on Culture, Media and Sport. Trafford Park is due to be connected to super fast broadband in the next couple of years, and I asked ministers to ensure that progress remains on track.

Then finally into the chamber on Thursday night to vote against the government's badger cull. I've had lots of correspondence from constituents about this too, as have many of my colleagues. The cull was opposed 219 votes to 1, and I hope the government takes notice.