With regret, we’ve made the difficult decision to close this site down when Parliament is dissolved. Find out more…

HearFromYourMP

Sign up to hear from your MP about local issues, and to discuss them with other constituents

Newsletter May 2014

Posted by Margot James, MP for Stourbridge, at 18:33, Thu 1 May 2014:

Dear Subscriber,

Two things struck me as connected recently; that Britain is about to overtake France as the world’s number five economy and the threatened acquisition of Astra Zeneca by Pfizer. The connection lies in the polar opposites France and Britain have become, not just in terms of economic policy, but also in the attitudes to the takeover of what are seen as national businesses by foreign owned companies.

Emotionally it is very hard to see firms like Cadbury’s swallowed up by a US company such as Kraft; which has such a different corporate culture. I tweeted, in relation to the position of Astra Zeneca (AZ), that the Kraft guarantees given at the time of the Cadbury takeover turned out to be pretty worthless. They shut down the Cadbury plant in Bristol within months despite assurances to the contrary.

However, I have visited the Cadbury centre in Birmingham since the takeover, and there is no doubt that Kraft has invested heavily in research and manufacturing, both there and elsewhere, in the UK. On balance the deal has worked out well for employees and the Cadbury business overall.

Britain has an open economy and whilst the government will seek all possible assurances from Pfizer in the event that the proposed acquisition goes ahead; in the end Pfizer will make their decisions based on their global commercial interests. Across the channel, if France had a domestic pharmaceutical company left of such a size to acquire, there is little doubt that the French government would intervene directly to prevent the sale.

There is no doubt in my mind that Britain has the best policy here. The flight of French manufacturing was laid bare last year with Peugeot’s decision to re-locate much of their manufacturing to Turkey. The contrasting performance of the largely foreign owned British car industry with the French car industry says it all really.

This government has done the hard work necessary to incentivise companies like Pfizer to invest in the UK. The science budget has been protected and we have a clinical and scientific research base second only to the US. The government has also reduced corporate tax rates across the board. And for research based industries, we have gone one step further, introducing a special 10% tax rate on the profits generated by products researched and licensed in the UK.

I am a strong supporter of the Chancellor’s strategy to re-balance the economy. We have seen the benefits of this strategy starting to pay off in the West Midlands with record levels of employment, growing investment, and every company I visit reporting increased sales.

It is very good to get some objective confirmation of these points. Last week I read a report by the Boston Consulting Group on “The shifting economics of global manufacturing”. The report confirms that Britain now leads Western Europe in manufacturing competitiveness. Incredibly, Britain is fourth out of the top twenty five global exporting nations in the world on this measure, outperformed by just China, the US and South Korea. Now that’s the company we want to be keeping.

---Parliamentary work

I asked questions and spoke in debates about:

I wrote to Ministers about the following issues:

  • David Gauke, Treasury Minister, about the NS&I pensioner bond and changes to pensions announced in this year’s Budget.

  • Michael Gove, Education Secretary, regarding reported Islamic extremism in some Birmingham schools.

  • James Brokenshire, Immigration Minister, on behalf of a constituent, about the case of a lesbian woman at risk of persecution if she returns to Uganda.

I attended various events and had meetings in and around Parliament:

  • A drop in session about the Government’s industrial strategy.

  • The Excellence in Health and Wellbeing awards, to honour the work of the late Dr Liz Pope, who received a posthumous award for her work at the Three Villages Medical Practice in Wollaston and on the Dudley CCG. Liz did wonderful work in Stourbridge and is sorely missed by colleagues and patients, as well as her family. Read more (http://www.margotjames.com/content/dr-liz-pope-honoured-posthumous-tribute)

  • An address from the President of Ireland, Michael Higgins, during his state visit to the UK.

  • The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Universities, to discuss the student loans system.

  • Hosting a meeting of the APPG for Trade and Investment, for MPs to hear about the Government’s strategy to help medium-sized businesses to export.

  • A meeting with Education Secretary Michael Gove to discuss his work to stamp out bullying in schools and the inquiry into schools in Birmingham.

  • Hosting members of the Stourbridge Conservative Association for a tour of Parliament and the chance to view our proceedings.

  • Speaking at a breakfast hosted by Stonewall for their business ambassadors.

During the recess I held a team building day in Parliament for the staff who work so hard in both my constituency and Westminster offices. It was good to have some time to go through the way we work to make sure I am giving the best possible service to my constituents. Afterwards we all had dinner together at my home and it was a very good evening.

---Out and About in Stourbridge

I took part in various visits and meetings:

  • Birmingham Metropolitan College Art and Design Centre. I enjoyed judging a student doodle competition held in celebration of National Doodle Day – congratulations to Jordan Brookes on his winning design. Read more (http://www.margotjames.com/content/mp-judges-student-doodle-competition)

  • A number of local firms to tour their sites, and meet owners and staff. I was so impressed with all that I heard at Vacuum Furnace Engineering, Erodex, Vee Bee Filtration and the new start up business Stourbridge Motorcycle Centre just off Mill Race Lane.

  • I held a Universities Outreach event in Stourbridge as part of my Raising Aspirations programme. A selection of the UK’s finest institutions of higher education came to talk to local students and their parents.

  • A meeting with Post Office Ltd to discuss the financial services that the organisation offers to its customers and to talk about local peoples’ access to Post Offices in Stourbridge.

  • I enjoyed lunch with clients of the local Age Concern Day Centre, which is held at the Mary Steven’s Centre. It was a pleasure to see such a great community service in action.

  • I took part in a tour of local businesses in Amblecote, during which I listened the concerns of small local business owners and their staff.

  • A Dudley Borough MPs meeting, at which I encouraged the use of the Facewatch crime reporting tool by businesses across Dudley borough. For more information please click here (http://www.facewatch.co.uk/cms/) .

  • I held my third drop-in advice surgery in the Ryemarket Shopping Centre and an advice surgery in Quarry Bank.

  • A meeting with Inspector Tim Draper and Acting Chief Inspector Derek Lambert from West Midlands Police to raise a number of constituent's concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour in and around Stourbridge. I was sorry to bid farewell to Dez Lambert who is on the move; Dez has been a pleasure to work with, always very responsive to any concerns I have raised.

---It wasn’t all work...

This month we had a two week recess for Easter, I worked for most of it in fact apart from the long Easter weekend itself. But the hours become like a ‘normal’ job when Parliament is not sitting, and your evenings are your own. So I enjoyed catching up with friends and family.

Hugh Wilson accompanied me to a wonderful performance of Haydn’s Creation given by the Parliamentary Choir at the Cadogan Hall.

I went to the theatre with my mate Peter Field who has been a successful theatre director in his time, we saw Lesley Sharp and an amazing cast in a ‘Taste of Honey’ at the National, and it really was a great production.

Jay took off to the US for a week to attend a technology conference in San Francisco, she got back on Good Friday and joined me in the Cotswolds for our Easter weekend. My nephew Rupert, his wife Laura and my great nieces came to stay and we were all joined by my Aunt and cousins who came over from Warwick for lunch on Easter day. I enjoyed putting together an easter egg hunt and we had a great time. The weather was quite good on Easter Monday so we took the children to the Cotswold Farm Park; run by Adam Hanson it is featured on Countryfile and it features all sorts of rare breeds of farm animal.

I was pleased to host a dinner for our outgoing Stourbridge Conservative Association Chairman, Ted Baker, at the Bell and Cross in Clent. Ted did an absolutely fabulous job and I am very pleased that he has agreed to serve as campaigns officer from now until the general election next year.

Margot James MP

http://www.facebook.com/margotjamesmp

https://twitter.com/#!/margotjamesmp

www.margotjames.com

If you are subscribed to HearFromYourMP in this constituency, log in to post a reply.
Otherwise, if you live in the UK, sign up in order to HearFromYourMP.