William Bain MP on the latest Tory-Liberal Spending Cuts
Posted by William Bain, MP for Glasgow North East, at 16:07, Thu 17 June 2010:
Absolutely outraged today at the short sightedness of the Tories and Liberals wielding the axe again with devastating effect on jobs in Glasgow.
Today, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, axed the young person's guarantee that would help the 300 young people in Glasgow North East aged 18-24 who have been out of work for six months or more get a job offer and a fresh start in life. And for good measure, he axed the programme which helps the long-term jobless get a guaranteed job offer after two years unemployment too. Nearly £1bn of support for the jobless taken out of the economy when with rising Scottish unemployment, it is at its most needed. Only this week, Ernst and Young's Scottish Item Club warned of the severe effects the Liberals and Tories' 30,000 public sector job losses in Scotland would have on private demand in the Scottish economy.
The Liberals and Tories failed to make any moral or economic case for these new cuts today - instead they inflicted an act of economic vandalism upon the people of Glasgow.
William Bain MP (Labour, Glasgow North East)
Comments
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.
Posted by james hamilton, 11:40, Mon 21 June 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #
we all knew if Tories@lid.dem where going to do if they got in to power the working classes are going get hit hard so we will just have to work harder on all fronts to make sure they don't get get a second term in government for now we will do as much as we possible can to combat any cuts that they purpose so it up to you guys in oppsition to make it as difficult as you can and hope that they fall on their own sword Jim Hamilton
Posted by Chris Nicolson, 07:08, Tue 29 June 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #
Unsurprisingly Bain's first reply to HFYMP is full of the same old partisan attacks and contains no indication of what he plans to do about the issues he raises. Is he going to do anything to counter the effects he claims or is he just the new Lord Foulkes - a petty, time-wasting attack dog?
I don't doubt that there are things that the Con-Lib government will do will be detrimental to people in Glasgow, but so will the measures that any government take at some point over the life a parliament. What we don't need is child-like whining about what someone else is doing instead a sense that our elected representative is going to take action on behalf of the constituency.
Posted by William Bain, 13:49, Wed 30 June 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #
Chris, I enjoy the opportunity for lively debate which this site provides, and because over 100 of my constituents were keen to debate with me, I want to post regularly.
I hope I never engage in "child-like whining", but when I have constituents phoning my office in distress over the effects of the real terms benefits cuts and VAT hike that this government will impose, I have a duty to stand up for them, which is why I was campaigning in the streets of my constituency last weekend, and will be this coming weekend. The nearly 250 people who signed my petition in the streets of Springburn and Dennistoun last Saturday morning against this unjust VAT rise would not accept your description of being "child-like" either.
As a new opposition, our role is to hold the Government to account first and foremost. They have a combined mandate, we don't. I've gotten over the fact that Labour lost the General Election, and am trying to help Labour win the next one.
In Parliament, we can make the argument, but thanks to the Liberals, the Tories win the votes for now. In the constituency, I have convened a jobs summit to try and bring business, the voluntary sector, employers and people together to foster better links. But the key issue is demand in the economy. If the Chancellor believes that the Government has no role in helping boost private sector demand through fiscal policy, we can criticise, we can suggest an alternative approach, but the Government has a Parliamentary majority. That is the reality of opposition.
They said they would not balance the books on the backs of the poorest, but with this Budget they are.
We will set out alternative proposals in due course, drawing on our pre-election plans for fiscal consolidation from 2011, but they will be designed to promote growth and employment, and to protect the poorest as much as we can.
You say any Government would take these measures. An unpublished Treasury analysis (which I have asked the Chancellor to publish in a written question submitted last night) claims that over 1.3million public sector and associated private sector job losses will result from the deflationary policies within this Budget. I can tell you we would not be content with job losses on this scale.
It isn't "petty" or "time wasting" to campaign for an alternative economic policy to replace the warmed-over monetarism of this government. It's what my constituents voted for on May 6.
Best wishes, WILLIAM BAIN MP