MP Update – 6th November

NEWS AND COMMENT FROM CHRIS LESLIE MP – Sunday 6^th November

What should be done to tackle rising inequalities in society? While families and businesses struggle with rising unemployment, frozen wages and squeezed standards of living, pay for directors has risen by a staggering 49% according to recent figures. Today’s Observer article by Ed Miliband highlights the scale of the challenge. While I differ from the tactics of the protestors outside St Pauls and in Nottingham’s Market Square, I can certainly understand their frustration.

Later this week I’ll be speaking at a conference organised by PIRC, the UK’s leading advisory service on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. I’ll be arguing that we need to change the culture of our economy to build new incentives for shareholders to constructively engage in the behaviour of senior management and to break open the closed circles that see directors of large firms self-nominated from a small elite. Those who are on top levels of pay should give more back, particularly those in the banking sector – whose irresponsible behaviour led to economic difficulties for Britain in recent years.

I have been arguing in Parliament that we need a repeat of the bankers bonus tax to create 100,000 jobs for young people and build 25,000 affordable homes. Whatever happens with the protest camps, we can only change things through the democratic process – which means taking seriously the choices at future elections.

NOTTINGHAM

 I am hoping to attend the annual Remembrance Day service at the War Memorial at the Victoria Embankment by the river on Sunday morning next week to commemorate those who have lost their lives in defence of the society in which we live. Afterwards the Lord Mayor will take the salute from the South Notts Hussars Association outside the Council House in the Market Square at lunchtime. The Royal British Legion and many of their volunteers are out and about all week selling poppies and I hope that as many people as possible will support their cause.

New statistics from RBS show that the Nottingham East constituency has more public sector employees than any other constituency in the East Midlands. So this week’s developments on the public service pensions issue – which could lead to strike action on 30th November – are more important to us than most. The Government must leave no stone unturned in its negotiations in seeking a genuinely sustainable agreement that is fair to public sector workers, fair to taxpayers and avoids strikes if possible. Both sides have to give some ground. In Government, Labour negotiated a deal under which the cost of public sector pensions was not allowed to become unsustainable. We know that would have meant difficult decisions about contributions, entitlements and retirement age. And that is why we have been consistent in arguing that there will need to be an increase in contributions of some kind and, as the population gets older, a rise in retirement age. On Wednesday, the Government signalled that after months of grandstanding it was finally prepared to enter into proper negotiations with the unions. We welcome this change in position. But there are outstanding issues that have not yet been dealt with by the Government. The imposition of a 3% surcharge for all employees is not only unfair in the short term but also risks the sustainability of public sector pension schemes in the long term. If more people opt out of occupational schemes because they cannot afford to pay this increase, it could end up costing the tax payer more in the future.

Have you had cause to ring the pilot 111 NHS non-emergency number yet? What has the service been like? The scheme is being trialled in four cities including Nottingham but there have been mixed reviews, including a report in the Telegraph this week that one out of every eight calls goes unanswered. I’m in favour of simpler and more accessible telephone access but not if it’s a shadow of the ‘NHS Direct’ service that was becoming very popular.

PARLIAMENT AND POLITICS

The eurozone crisis has dominated the news and Parliament this week. On Tuesday at Treasury Questions I challenged the Chancellor to explain why his approach to negotiations with eurozone countries hadn’t included pressure for a Europe-wide strategy for jobs and economic growth. Our own growth figures out that morning were a very weak fraction of 1%, unemployment is rising fast and manufacturing and construction are contracting rapidly. After a barbed response from him, the Chancellor tried to explain that he also wanted a pro-growth strategy. The trouble is, our situation is so fragile that the worldwide slowdown could hit us particularly hard.

On Thursday, with the Prime Minister and Chancellor in Cannes for the G20 summit, it fell to Treasury Minister Mark Hoban to explain to the Commons what the Government would do in the eventuality of a Greek referendum and a failure to create a full and adequate European Stability Fund to bailout countries like Portugal or even Italy. I asked a number of questions of Hoban from the Labour frontbench and my comments (and the responses) can be found in the Hansard transcript here.

On Tuesday evening I gave the keynote speech to the Employee Share Ownership Centre Annual Awards, where many UK companies who allow their workforce to hold a stake in the firms for which they work were present. As a Labour & Cooperative Party MP I am very keen to encourage an ethos where employees have a real say – and a capital stake – in their workplace. It means that management have to account to their employees and it means a better distribution of profits can go to those working in the frontline.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

New OECD statistics out this week show that our food bills are rising at a massive 6.4% this year. The prices people are paying at the shops even for basic items seem to be getting higher and higher – yet wages are not rising at all. But what can be done about this? Many of the underlying costs are shaped by high worldwide oil prices, but the devaluation of our currency also makes imported goods more expensive. But do you have enough choice locally between different food outlets? The news that Tesco have ditched their plan for a large store at the Eastside site near Sneinton (because of council objections about detrimental impact on the city centre) illustrates the tough choices being made. Do we need more competition so that retailers have to work harder to win your custom? What items are costing the most right now? I’m keen to raise this issue in the Commons soon so any thoughts would be helpful.

Best wishes,

Chris Leslie
Labour MP for Nottingham East