What do our MP's do for us?

[BERNADETTE]

You mention Hildens G but what about Rist Wires, TML(as was), the brick yard, Joseph Arnolds to name but a few. Surely we could have competed with wherever they have relocated on business rates and then maybe just maybe we could have saved some of the jobs. I don't know a lot about politics but surely some of these jobs could have been kept in the borough. And with the loss of all those jobs are we being told that unemployment is not as high as in the seventies? I find that very hard to believe

[Margaret Pilkington]

I think we have to expect more from our local councillors on the local issues.......and G is right about the big mistakes made with our money....that have brought in absolutely no benefits.
MP's are elected with some hope that they will influence local issues, but in reality that isn't going to happen because their hands are tied....and making a noise about unemployment would not have helped at all.......the large companies who employ people will not stay open just to employ local people if it isn't a viable financial situation...they are in business to make a profit, not as a philanthropic venture....and if the work force is cheaper elsewhere then they are going to move to where costs are cheaper.

[Gayle]

Take a look at this website

It shows what Greg has voted for in the past, committees that he sits on and which early day motions he has tabled.

Greg Pope MP, Hyndburn (TheyWorkForYou.com)

[Margaret Pilkington]

Bernie, the business rates are set by local government...so if they were one of the factors in these places closing down then it is due to local politics rather than national politics.

There has been a shrinking of the building industry.....fewer houses being built, so if fewer houses are built,then fewer bricks are sold.........

Rists(TML) were dependent on the manufacture of cars, and that market has been shrinking for a while......I'm thinking that a lot of their business was lost with the demise of Rover....and it has really got a lot worse recently........the governemnt could subsidise motor manufacturing using the tax payers money......but then if cars are not selling, what would be the point?
There has to be a chance to recoup the money.

[garinda]

Admittedly we do have a strange political voting system in this country.

In a General Election how do you decide who to vote for?

Personality or party, or like most of us a mixture of the two, and vote for who you think is the more able candidate, and a party whose manifesto you most agree with.

Personally I think there's a strong argument for proportional representation.

Scrap having local MPs, we already have enough local politicans at borough and county level, and purely vote for the party you'd like to see form the next government.

Highly unlikely to happen of course, even though it works perfectly well in many other parts of the world, because our two main political parties fear their power would become diluted.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

I think we have to expect more from our local councillors on the local issues.......and G is right about the big mistakes made with our money....that have brought in absolutely no benefits.
MP's are elected with some hope that they will influence local issues, but in reality that isn't going to happen because their hands are tied....and making a noise about unemployment would not have helped at all.......the large companies who employ people will not stay open just to employ local people if it isn't a viable financial situation...they are in business to make a profit, not as a philanthropic venture....and if the work force is cheaper elsewhere then they are going to move to where costs are cheaper.

Again I think you're right.

I'm sure both MPs with Vauxhall plants in their areas are doing everything they can to hopefully ensure that each factory remains open, but ultimately that decision will be a matter of global economic concerns, and will lay in the hands of the new Canadian owners, and not with two local MPs.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by BERNADETTE

And with the loss of all those jobs are we being told that unemployment is not as high as in the seventies? I find that very hard to believe

I can only find actual historical unemployment figures for Hyndburn in census years.

In 1981 there was 3,694 people of working age in the borough unemployed.

In 2001, the last year we had a census, the figure had fallen to 1,432.

[BERNADETTE]

Originally Posted by garinda

I can only find actual historical unemployment figures for Hyndburn in census years.

In 1981 there was 3,694 people of working age in the borough unemployed.

In 2001, the last year we had a census, the figure had fallen to 1,432.

You can bet the number has risen quite dramatically since 2001. I would be very surprised if it hasn't.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by BERNADETTE

You can bet the number has risen quite dramatically since 2001. I would be very surprised if it hasn't.

Have a look at this http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/downloa...arch_09_1_.pdf

As suspected the worse area for unemployment is Church

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Neil

Have a look at this http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/downloa...arch_09_1_.pdf

As suspected the worse area for unemployment is Church

I'm not saying it's good, but at a current figure of 1,753 it's still a lot less than when unemployment peaked in 1979, when Hyndburn still had many of the traditional manufacturing industries.

[garinda]

Found this reported by Hansard in 1984.

Ken Hargreaves fighting for Accy Vic, and losing.

'When I said in July that the hospital was under attack, I did not expect the enemy to advance so quickly. We have had, after all, written guarantees from the Minister for Health, confirmed on 21 November by the Under-Secretary of State, that there would be no fundamental changes at Accrington Victoria without reference to Ministers. Guarantees were given that, while it was proposed to remove the 15 paediatric beds from the hospital to Queen's Park hospital, Blackburn, that would happen only when phase 1 at Queen's Park hospital was commissioned, and even then only after full local consultation had taken place. Imagine our surprise and dismay, therefore, when, only two months after the last letter was sent, the children's ward at Accrington Victoria was closed without any consultation with the community health council, the unions or the members of the district health authority. In comparison with that latest letter, setting out the assurances that the services at Victoria would remain, Neville Chamberlain's piece of paper seems positively meaningful'

Accrington Victoria Hospital (Hansard, 2 March 1984)

Sometimes no matter how hard a fight a MP puts up, their actual power is ultimately limited.

[garinda]

The more I think about it the more proportional representation seems fairer, and more democratic, than the first past the post system we currently have.

Of course the two main parties who form our governments, and who would be able to change the system, won't, because they'd likely lose seats.

I'm sure many more people would vote if they knew their vote counted, rather than the current system, were votes cast for the party who didn't win a costituency count for nothing.

I'm sure both major parties would lose out to the Lib Dems, as well as other parties across the political spectrum, who many people think have attractive ideas and policies, but don't vote for them because they feel it is a waste in many cases, because they don't have a chance of winning a constituent seat.

My conclusion.

Scrap constituency MPs, who lets face it have very little actual local power, and have proportional representation, and whilst we're at it scrap the House of Brown nosing toadies, and have an elected second chamber.

Job's a good un.

[BERNADETTE]

Originally Posted by garinda

I'm not saying it's good, but at a current figure of 1,753 it's still a lot less than when unemployment peaked in 1979, when Hyndburn still had many of the traditional manufacturing industries.

Sorry G but I just can't get my head round the figures being so low when we have lost most of the big companies. The population alone has increased dramatically since then so things just don't add up IMHO.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by BERNADETTE

Sorry G but I just can't get my head round the figures being so low when we have lost most of the big companies. The population alone has increased dramatically since then so things just don't add up IMHO.

It does seem strange when you think of all the traditional companies we've lost that employed hundreds, but although the figures can be massaged for political advantage, such as on long term sickness benefit, rather than employed etc, this also happened in the late seventies/eighties, with all the job 'training' schemes to hide the true unemployment figure.

You can't argue with the facts, no matter how hard they are to swallow.

Although much of the traditional textile/engineerring firms have gone, just think how many more industrial parks there are now locally, compared wqith thirty years ago.

That might be one answer, plus the fact a lot more people commute outside the borough to work.

Either that or there are thousands and thousands working in the Globe Centre, flogging hols on the blower.

[BERNADETTE]

Originally Posted by Neil

Have a look at this http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/downloa...arch_09_1_.pdf

As suspected the worse area for unemployment is Church

These figures don't surprise me in the least, it just makes me very suspicious of the figures Garinda quoted. Obviously there are different angles of looking at things but with all the major employers that have left the area I know which figures make more sense to me. Suppose it is just how the figures are wrapped up.