Haringey TUC Election Questions

Below are answers to Questions set out by Haringey Trade Union Congress in anticipation of the General Election on May 6th.

Do you support the London Living Wage?

Yes, a legally binding one too. The National Minimum Wage is clearly a great victory for the Labour movement, delivered 98 years after the Labour Representation Committee was convened.

And although the level of the minimum wage has been growing ever since its inception, the current rate is still not enough for the people of London – including places like Tottenham that is on the edge of the “inner city”.

If elected to Parliament, I will of course fight for a minimum wage that rises above the level of inflation. But I will also be fighting for a legally enforceable London Living Wage, which I believe will go some way in lifting many of my constituents out of poverty.

Unemployment in Haringey is amongst the highest in Haringey (London/UK?). What would you do to bring it down?

I know this is oft repeated, but it is worth noting - unemployment is high in Haringey, but it is not as high as it could be, or has been, in other recessions.

The policies of the Labour government so far have been to protect jobs, with particular view to tackling youth unemployment. The Labour Party knows, and I know from when I was growing up, that unemployment is not a price worth paying. No one wants to see people and their talents, skill and confidence waste away in the dole queue.

That’s why this government has introduced the Future Jobs Fund, a £1 billion fund that will create upwards of 120,000 jobs, with most aimed at people under the age of 25. In Haringey, we have already seen the benefits of this with over 200 jobs created using this fund, with more to come.

We are equipping our young to be able to compete in a skilled economy. We have guaranteed a place in training or education for everyone up to 18. We have also made a guarantee that any young person unemployed for 6 months will receive re-training or a paid job. In my role as Skills Minister between 2007 and 2008, I oversaw the expansion of apprenticeships in this country, which is helping to train our young and equip them with skills that will take them off the dole queue – In Tottenham, we had over 400 Apprenticeships available in 2009, up from 120 in 2007.

Moreover, the UK Finance for Growth initiative will see another £4 billion channelled to small businesses to protect them and help them grow. The Labour Party has also committed itself to protecting frontline public services.

Both of these are incredibly important for Tottenham and Haringey, where the main sources of employment are public services and small and medium businesses. I am confident that we are making the right decisions to lower unemployment in this borough.

Do you agree with or oppose cuts in public services and jobs?

I do not agree with swingeing cuts to the public sector. My party and I have guaranteed that frontline public services will not suffer from reductions in public spending.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that public sector jobs will not be lost elsewhere. The situation is so that cut backs in the public sector are necessary, and it is with deep regret that jobs are lost. We have avoided making redundancies where possible, and where we have, we have tried to make the process as long as possible.

In my ministerial brief as Minister of State for Higher Education, I have made sure that cut backs of 4.5% have been directed at capital budgets (buildings etc.) and as few as possible at staffing budgets.

These are not easy times for the public sector, but out of the three main parties, I would like to think that the Labour candidates will be the ones most reluctant to resort to making people redundant, where as it is carved into the DNA of Tories.

Do you support the demand to create a million green jobs being promoted by the Trade Union Climate Change Campaign [supported by the TUC]?

Yes, I think it is clear that the government should be seeking to stimulate industries that are going to prove to be long term and sustainable in the modern economy.

There is mass opposition to changes at the Whittington Hospital. If elected what will you do to take the campaign to save the Whittington forward?

I will continue to be active in lobbying against the changes at the Whittington Hospital. As a minister, I have been lobbying Mike O’Brien, the minister whose brief covers it, and we have received some very positive feedback from him, particularly when he stated he had yet to hear a compelling case as to why these changes needed to take place.

I will continue along that tract, and when the official consultation procedures begin later this year, I will be sure to be haranguing and harassing the NHS officials in charge, compelling them to abandon any proposed changes. With a united front of North London people, politicians from all parties, nurses and doctors, posh and pauper, there is no reason why our voices will not be listened to.

This borough is riddled by health inequalities, and some of that is down to poverty and opportunity, but it also has to be about access to Health services - this borough needs more investment, not less.

I was born at the Whittington and my sons were born at the Whittington. Just last week, I was waiting in A&E with my smallest child after he fell off his high chair. I know how important that hospital is to the borough, so I’ll be damned if I don’t do my all to save it.