Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon is optimistic that the move by Hays Travel to buyout all 550 Thomas Cook shops will lead to saving the two Thomas Cook shops in the constituency.

Jim McMahon MP said, “I am hopeful that this move will ensure that the jobs at the two Thomas Cook shops in Oldham West and Royton will be saved, and the hardworking staff are rewarded for their years of service.

“Hopefully all 550 of the former Thomas Cook shops can reopen after they are acquired by Hays, and there are no more job losses. I understand it’s difficult for Hays Travel to promise to open all shops within days, but the fact they plan on taking on all former Thomas Cook retail staff is finally some good news coming out of this sorry saga.”

“The fact that Hay’s see this as a viable business opportunity does raise further questions as to how the company was allowed to go under in the first place. Our high streets need a boost so the news that these shops may now reopen across the country is welcome news for our town centres.”

The Chancellor’s refusal to commit to ending social security freezes is a ‘travesty’ says Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon. At Treasury Questions last week treasury ministers refused confirm that they will go ahead with lifting the social security freeze which was previously thought to be government policy.

Reacting to the news Jim McMahon MP said, “This is just another example of the Chancellor showing that he doesn’t care about poverty. The governments obsession with cuts have damaging effects in the real world for real people.”

“Here in Oldham West and Royton the social security system helps support over fifteen-thousand people, and I wish it didn’t have to. But it does and these people exist and, in some cases, require further support.”

“We know all about the rise in the number of foodbanks since the Tory government took over. We’ve heard the rhetoric about austerity being over. Now is the time to prove it by going ahead and ending the freeze as promised.”

Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury said: “The Chancellor won’t confirm that his four year freeze to social security will be lifted next year, leaving the door open to further cuts to income for the poorest in our society.”

“14 million people are now in poverty in the UK, but all those struggling are an afterthought to this Tory government.”

“The Chancellor should immediately confirm that he will end the social security freeze in 2020, and set out his plans to fund this measure.”

OLDHAM West and Royton MP Jim McMahon has reacted to the findings of a report by EY and the Centre for Towns with regret. The joint report focuses on levels of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in our towns and cities, and it finds that ex-industrial towns like Oldham saw a 50% decrease in manufacturing FDI in 2018. Ex-industrial towns are disproportionately reliant on manufacturing projects, so a decline in the number of manufacturing projects attracted by the UK hits those towns harder.

Jim McMahon MP said, “This report shows that our towns need significant investment to balance the scales. Core cities across the UK continue to suck in foreign investment whilst investment in our towns continues to dry up. Despite the vast sums of money going into our cities there is little sign of this spilling over the borders into surrounding towns.”

He continued “The Core Cities programme has clearly been successful in attracting FDI to cities, whilst outlying towns and communities have seen investment flatline over the last twenty years. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work for people, it’s unrealistic to expect it to work for our towns and cities.”

“The report is entirely right in its four-point policy agenda for towns; bottom up decision-making through greater devolution, a reworking of the industrial and digital strategies to put place first, significant infrastructure investment by improving regional transport links and broadband, and an integrated towns strategy. Those four items are crucial, and they must be all be done together.”

“This is an issue we can deal with, if we devolve further and allow local people to make the decisions on industrial and digital strategies, if we invest in physical and digital infrastructure and we plan properly by incorporating economic, social and cultural aspects we can make our towns attractive. If people want to live, work and enjoy themselves in our towns they will thrive.”

This Monday marked the start of two weeks of global action by the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion.  The action the group plans to undertake will be disruptive and it’ll be annoying for commuters and the free flow of traffic, but I feel it is right to mainstream this debate and unfortunately that only happens when people’s attention is attracted.

Continue reading “Climate Emergency: Here’s the action”

Figures given to me by the House of Commons Library state that the percentage of claimants for Universal Credit in my constituency for August 2019 stands at 7.2% of our economically active population (16-64). This compares starkly nationally, with an average of 3.7% claiming Universal Credit, almost double.

 

I see this not as a failure of people in Oldham, I know our town is full to the brim of hardworking working-class people and that we are proud of what we do. However, I do see this as a failure of our Government (If we even still have one) to look after the needs of our regions and former industrial areas and its people.

 Continue reading “Oldham and Universal Credit”

The report by the New Economics Foundation and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has highlighted real and necessary concerns about funding for local services in the coming years, with a no deal Brexit and reforms meaning that funding for Local Government will reach a critical point, even surpassing the cuts from Austerity we have faced in recent years.

The report by the NEF highlights that around half of local-government funding came from central government in 2010, but by 2024-25 this will have been cut to zero, apart from a small amount of ring-fenced funding.

Continue reading “£25 Billion Shortfall in Local Government Funding”

Tory cuts to school funding have hit Oldham West and Royton pupils hard, and much greater than the regional or national average.

Information gathered by the House of Commons Library shows that per pupil funding has been cut by 8.1% in just five years, compared to 4.7% for the North West and 4.9% for England.

The real impact of that means a reduction from £5,156 to £4,736 per pupil, and although the ‘block grant’ in the constituency has remained broadly the same, standing at £93m, it took little account of increasing pupil numbers requiring more school places, and in some cases expanded and new schools. It is also the case that while Oldham West and Royton received a real terms 1.3% increase in funding it was far below the England average of 4.8%.

One of the biggest per pupil cuts are in Oasis Academy Limeside which has seen a staggering £817 reduction for each child.

Though we have been campaigning for fair funding for many years I have again wrote to the Secretary of State for Education for this to be reviewed.

I have joined with 92 MPs in backing our Sixth Form Colleges. We all know the value of a good quality education and there has been lots of activity on School Funding, but often further education doesn’t get the attention it deserves. 

The Institute for Fiscal Studies reports that education funding for 16 to 18 year olds “has seen the biggest squeeze of all stages of education for young people in recent years”. This is having a serious impact on students. 

The underinvestment in sixth form education is bad for students, bad for social mobility and bad for the economy. A central aim of the Industrial Strategy is to help young people to develop the skills they need to do the high-paid, high-skilled jobs of the future.