Paul Rowen's Letter from Parliament
We are in the middle of the party conference season. Last week I was at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth, this week Labour is in Brighton and next week the Conservatives are in Manchester. For the national media and those in the Westminster "Village" these events are the meat and drink of political reporting. Every slight slip of the tongue becomes an attempted coup and every frown a snub.
For MPs, particularly those like myself with a spokesperson's responsibilities, these are incredibly busy times. As well as speaking engagements, a large number of organisations and people connected with my Work and Pensions portfolio do request a meeting. The issues raised are then followed up. In addition to several fringe meetings I spoke in the debate on Youth Unemployment. Unemployment for young people aged 18-24 is twice the average of everyone else and forty per cent of all the unemployed are in that age range. I told delegates I did not want to see a return to Thatcher's lost generation where literally hundreds of thousands of young people were condemned to unemployment. The motion committed the party to finding an apprenticeship, college or university place, job or internship within three months of unemployment. This compares with the government policy of finding something after ten months.
On Friday I was privileged to attend the opening the Fusiliers Museum in Bury by HRH the Duke of Kent. Rochdale was well represented with Edmund Garside and his wife, Canon and Mrs Shackleton, Councillors Irene Davidson and Mayor Keith Swift and former Fusiliers Peter Clegg and Tom Bailey together with Lorna Fitsimmons and Steve Cooney. I was particularly pleased to see two honour boards remembering those killed fighting for their country from Rochdale have pride of place in the entrance. One was from the old Drill Hall and the second from the Tap and Spile pub near the Infirmary. Edmund Garside has played a major part in helping to raise the £4million that the Museum cost and is to be congratulated on a job well done.
In these hard times I am delighted to see the work which Paul Turner-Mitchell, Rochdale Council and the Rochdale Observer are doing to promote "Shop Local". With discount schemes and free after three parking during the week, these are positive measures to help the economy of our borough. Please support it!
This weekend see the final closure of the Rochdale-Oldham Loopline as a rail line to allow for its conversion to Metrolink. Long term this is good news though I am concerned at the frequency and cost of the alternative bus services and the lack of additional carriages on the remaining rail line. I have had several meetings with Passenger Transport Bosses and I am now in contact with the Managing Director of Northern Rail. I want to see adequate replacements in place during the shutdown.