Oldham has seen another year of bruising cuts to school budgets, and the Tories claim of levelling up is left in tatters.
In the coming year Oldham’s primary schools, secondary schools and sixth forms are set to miss out on £19.5m, leaving pupils without the specialist support they need to thrive.
The campaign for fair funding has been taken to parents and carers at schools and door to door to raise awareness.
In a frantic attempt to closedown democracy, Oldham’s small band of Tories are now trying to stop parents and carers discussing these cuts with councillors and the MP at the gates of the very schools affected.
Claiming ‘health and safety’ risks, it must have escaped their attention that this important part of democracy, where those who are elected work all year round, and go to the places where people go about their daily lives, and has been happening for decades without issue.
Away from the distraction being caused, it is important we focus on the huge scale of cuts to our schools.
The figures used by Schoolcuts.org.uk have been validated by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Analysis from Labour shows that the basic state pension will be worth hundreds of pounds less in real terms over the next year, affecting 15,122 pensioners in Oldham West and Royton.
The analysis shows that, as a result of rising inflation and the Conservatives’ decision to only increase the state pension by 3.1 per cent, a basic state pension for an individual will be worth around £222 less in real terms over a year than in 2021/22.
For a couple it will be worth around £355 less. This is a real-terms cut to the state pension that is more than the amount Ministers are providing households to reduce their energy bills over the next year.
The motion to approve Conservative plans for a real-terms cut to state pensions was pushed through by Conservative MPs on Monday 7 February. This means that from Friday 1 April in the midst of a cost of living crisis, the Government’s decision to break the triple lock and give pensioners a real-terms cut to their pensions will leave older people in Britain paying hundreds of pounds more as a result of the rise in energy prices.
Labour’s plan to reduce energy bills would raise money to keep bills low through a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas profits to support all households, with households typically getting £200 off their bills. Labour’s plan will get £600 to the lowest income households while the Conservatives will only give them £350.
Commenting, Jim McMahon MP for Oldham West and Royton said:
“At a time of rising energy bills and prices going up in the shops, Tory MPs have pushed through a real terms cuts to pensions and the support families rely on.
“With working people, families and pensioners struggling to make ends meet along with rising child & pensioner poverty this is clear proof that the Conservatives are simply not on the side of working people or pensioners.
“It’s clear that only Labour will always stand up for pensioners guaranteeing older people the respect, security and prosperity they deserve.
Labour demands Government spell out plan to tackle soaring food prices as cost of living crisis deepens
As inflation spirals and pushes up the cost of a weekly shop, Labour will demand the Government sets out its plan to tackle soaring prices and hunger in the UK.
Jim McMahon MP, Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, will use an opposition day debate in Parliament on Tuesday to urge the government to focus its efforts on fixing the increasing squeeze on households rather than saving the Prime Minister’s job.
Labour’s motion will note MPs’ concerns over “households bracing themselves for the biggest drop in living standards in thirty years; that the cost of living crisis includes steep price increases in everyday and essential food items, making the situation worse for the 4.7 million adults and 2.5 million children already living in food insecurity and risking more people experiencing food insecurity”.
Labour will say the Government is “making the cost of living crisis worse through tax hikes, low growth, falling real wages, and a failure to tackle the energy crisis” and will urge ministers to set out a national strategy for food, including how it intends to ensure access to high quality, sustainable, affordable food for all and meet the United Nations goal to end hunger by 2030.
It comes as millions feel the crunch across Britain, with families facing hiked taxes, soaring energy bills and rising inflation.
Figures show 5,972 food parcels were distributed by the Trussell Trust in Oldham between April and September last year, a percentage increase of 121% compared to the same period five years ago in 2016.
Jim McMahon, Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, said:
“At a time when inflation is spiralling, the government should be ensuring people across the country are able to buy healthy and good quality food. This can only be achieved by taking a responsible, strategic approach to this complex and increasingly important issue.
“Labour’s plan to keep bills low would cut £200 off most household energy bills, with £600 in total going to those households who need it most – cancelling out almost the entire rise in energy prices.
“The next Labour government would support British business to bolster sustainability and affordability of good quality food as part of our contract to deliver security, prosperity and respect for the British people.”
After the long awaited white paper was published Jim said,
“After all the fanfare, it turns out the Levelling Up white paper is as empty as the slogan. It brings no new money, and no new powers. These are recycled policies cobbled together to try and save a Prime Minister who has gone well past his use by date.”
“Real Levelling Up can only be delivered by local communities and local leaders. So it beggars belief that Michael Gove is planning to create more unelected regional ‘directors’ that will answer to ministers in Whitehall, not communities on the ground.”
“But the glaring hole in this paper is that there is no plan to reverse the decade of damage caused by repeated government cuts to local communities. Government funding to local councils fell by over 50% in real terms since 2010, causing lasting damage to public services and the fabric of our towns and cities. The limited pots of money that ministers have released in recent years have barely scratched the side.”
“Overall, this is a terrible missed opportunity. Labour leaders across the UK have been doing everything in their power to bring security and prosperity to their towns and cities. For years we have been asking for powers and resources we ned to deliver for local people. Once again, the government have let us all down.”
02/02/2022 – Jim McMahon, Labour Member of Parliament for Oldham West and Royton has backed five tests set from Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up Lisa Nandy, which the Government’s Levelling Up plan must deliver in order to deliver on the promises of the 2019 election.
Talking about why these tests are important Jim McMahon MPpointed to new research from Labour has revealed that areas virtually every area of England (95%) has received less in funding on average since 2018 than they received from regional development funds, such as the Towns Fund.
In Oldham, local Settlement Funding has reduced in real terms by £58m since 2018, while successful bids through the Towns Fund only totalled £24m, showing a £34m real-terms loss for the area since the Government’s levelling up agenda was announced.
The research found that in England 144 local authority areas were still worse off by approximately £50 million on average after receiving Levelling Up funding.
Setting out the tests last Sunday, Ms Nandy said “It simply will not be good enough to give us more of the same –pots of our money to scrap over – without real power on what it’s spent on or a few new mayors. We need to change the settlement of our country back in favour of those who built it.”
“For levelling up to truly deliver on this promise, the Government must meet the ambitions people have for our own communities, specifically, this means:
1. Good jobs in our home towns, so young people have choices and chances and don’t have to get out to get on.
2. Our high streets are thriving because the local economy is thriving, with good local businesses and money in people’s pockets – not just papering over the cracks.
3. Our towns and villages are better connected to jobs, opportunities, our family and our friends through good transport, digital infrastructure and affordable housing that we have too often missed out on.
4. We get the power to take local decisions for ourselves – ending the system where we have to go cap in hand to Westminster to do things we know will work for us.
5. Our town centres are safe and welcoming instead of plagued by anti-social behaviour, with criminals being let off and victims let down.”
Jim McMahon, Member of Parliament for Oldham West and Royton, said: “While the Government is distracted cleaning up the Prime Minister’s scandals, they aren’t governing and they aren’t delivering for Oldham West and Royton.
“With these tests, we will see if the Government really intend match the ambition we have forour communities with the power and resources we are owed. A few pots of money to scrap over or some new tiers of bureaucracy won’t cut it.
“We need to change the settlement of our country back in favour of those who built it. That means growing our economy, and ensuring jobs and opportunities are spread fairly across the country so that young people in Chadderton, Oldham and Royton don’t have to get out to get on.”
Labour MP Jim McMahon has accused the Government of not having a plan to bring down food prices. The Oldham MP and Shadow DEFRA Secretary met with key insiders from the food and drinks industry this week to discuss issues in the sector, he was told that rising inflation, the CO2 crisis, and the rising cost of animal feed, fuel and energy means farmers and food producers are forced to put their prices up, passing the cost onto the consumer.
At DEFRA Questions today (Thursday 27th) Jim asked the Secretary of State to outline the governments plan to combat rising prices and save Oldhamers money on their weekly shop. The Secretary of State was unable to provide an answer to the question, merely pointing to the size of the food and drink industry and its importance to the UK economy.
Speaking afterwards Jim said, “There is no plan to combat rising food prices, and this is a theme that runs through the entire Government. They are so focused on saving the Prime Ministers job that they are neglecting the very real cost of living crisis that’s hitting Oldhamers so hard at the minute.”
“Unfortunately for the Government the Prime Ministers parties at 10 Downing Street, with cake and suitcases packed full of booze haven’t been enough to sustain the food and drink industry through these hard times.”
“We deserve a Government that has a plan to combat the increasing cost of living and save people money on their weekly shop.”
I cast my mind back to the time when here in Oldham we were under much tighter rules than almost anywhere else in the country, even our neighbours with similar rates of infection.
People in Oldham didn’t just ignore the rules as unfair as they may have seemed at the time, so the Prime Minister has no excuse for the seemingly endless parties at Downing Street during lockdown.
We took the rules in good faith and followed them because we thought we were doing the right thing and helping spread infection.
My constituent, Mark, was keen to know why Oldham was under such intense social lockdown restrictions compared to our neighbours, the PM didn’t even know what the restrictions were and the Government couldn’t answer why we continued to be under those restrictions for TWO MONTHS. See here: https://www.facebook.com/jimfromoldham/videos/339370100484169
The public have made up their mind, the Prime Minister is not fit for the job so he must do the right thing, as Oldhamers did when they followed the rules, and resign.
the Co-operative Party are quite fond of bees. But bees are more than just a symbol of the co-operative movement: they’re essential to our food systems, our environment and our climate.
That’s why last year, thousands of our members and supporters urged Boris Johnson to halt plans to use a banned bee-killing pesticide in England. We won, and the plans to use bee-killing pesticides on 2021 crops were shelved.
But now, once again, bees are under threat. The Government have just announced plans to again give “emergency authorisation” to allow bee-killing pesticides to be used on sugar beet crops this year.
That’s why, in my role both as the Shadow Environment Secretary and Chair of the Co-operative Party, I’m writing to the Environment Secretary to call on the Government to stop plans to use these dangerous pesticides and protect our vital British bee population.
Bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides were banned across Europe in 2018 – but since then we’ve seen a pattern of repeated “emergency authorisations” which are used to subvert the ban.
The Government should be supporting farmers to use sustainable methods that protect our pollinators and protect our planet – but instead the Government are using this loophole to make short-term decisions that will harm farmers and our food chain in the long term.
A healthy bee population is essential to the future of our planet. Co-signing this letter will take just a few seconds, but could help sustain pollinators and our food chain for generations to come.
Two years have passed since the Department for Education released their report into allegations of corruption and fraud at the Collective Spirit Free School and Manchester Studio School. The highly critical report named Raja Miah together with long-time associate Mohib Uddin and another director.
Around the time the report was released the online attack began as a self-stated act of revenge. Though much of the tone of the attack today has an overtly anti-Muslim, anti-Asian, and anti-Pakistani theme, it is not how the campaign started, and this piece will begin the process of fully exposing how our town is being divided in plain sight.
WHERE IT BEGAN
The original campaign launched in April 2019, focused in the Coldhurst community in Oldham. It brought together localised grievances to create division between me as the local MP and the majority Muslim community in the ward. Though the plan ultimately failed, and his audience changed, it is significant because it highlights that no issue is off limits, no tension or division exempt from exploitation. With Raja Miah acting as the main protagonist, numerous posts were published using the Israel and Palestine conflict to cause division here in Oldham. Posts would repeatedly be made referring to me as a pro-Israeli, often accompanied by offensive and highly loaded terms including that I was a ‘racist’, a ‘colonialist’ and a ‘paymaster’.
The posts would often go much further, in one he wrote, “If you want to help prevent the likelihood of violence at the mosque, copy and share this post. If you stand in support of the thousands of innocent Palestinian children that are being tortured and massacred by a barbaric Israeli regime that Jim McMahon MP supports, copy and share this post.”
The campaign went beyond social media as Miah embarked on a campaign for a local mosque to ban me. This included public posts and correspondence to the mosque committee. In his campaign text he called for; “A policy that bans the pro Israeli racist MP Jim McMahon (and all other politicians) that support Israeli crimes on the Palestinian people.” It was also at this time that he would join forces with graphic designer “Ali Akbar”, who is understood to be a local resident. The images he produced would build on the narrative being put forward by Raja Miah to include grossly offensive slurs and character defamation. A large number of the images produced would be used to support posts on the Recusant Nine Facebook and video streaming platforms.
The ground of this attack appears to be anchored in the fact that I had been outspoken in the Labour Party on its handling of antisemitism and made representations that it should adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in dealing with complaints on member conduct. This is the same definition adopted by the UK Government and various authorities including the Crown Prosecution Service.
In my responsibilities as Shadow Minister in the Communities and Local Government team, I also spoke in Parliament on the issue, including closing the debate on antisemitism in Modern Society on 20th February 2019.In addition to this, as Chair of the Parliamentary Group of the Co-operative Party I also made representations that they adopt the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) working definition of antisemitism, which it did. In a post published on 28th April 2019, Miah responded to a Guardian article which covered the adoption of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism writing; “when it comes to Israel, Jim McMahon acts to prevent people from speaking out against the injustice. Why is this?”
In relation to the same article, he wrote, “And those who do not believe Jim McMahon’s pro Israeli position. Read this. He is the leader of the group of MPs that forced Labour to adopt guidelines on antisemitism that means people who criticise Israel are deemed automatically anti semetic [Sic]. Who elected this racist t**t to represent them to do this? When he knocks on your door, did he say he was going to criminalise speaking out against Israeli atrocities? Oldham Central Masjid brazenly supporting this politician can only mean one thing, they too are pro Israeli.”
For completeness and for those less familiar with the issue; it is both possible to support the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland and want the same for the Palestinian people too. Securing a viable two state solution is long standing Labour Party policy.
A NEW AUDIENCE
As time has passed Miah’s target audience has changed, so too has the language and framing. As the campaign of harassment developed the approach taken by Miah moved towards developing links with the independent political candidates and platforms, as well as moving his content to the Recusant Nine platform and podcast. Though relations between these parties may now be fractured, the early development of joint working with Oldham Together, Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth and Failsworth Independents, as well as the independent campaign in Coldhurst was significant.
The nature of the current content can be broadly set into three false narratives which are interconnected. The first, claiming that Asian grooming gangs are operating with the protection of Labour politicians in return for votes. Secondly, that there is organised and widespread postal vote fraud. Thirdly that there is widespread corruption linked to politics in Oldham run through ‘cartels’. As the campaign has gone on those surrounding Miah, and those who fund his activities, have become more extreme and unrelenting, with daily posts feeding the narrative set by Miah. It is now typical for references to be made to me as Jihadi Jim, Samosa Jim, and Jim McMosque and to my colleague Debbie Abrahams as Debbie Kashmir, supported by images generated by Ali Akbar, including suggesting links to Taliban fighters. This is clear that this is intended to further deepen division and cement the false narrative that your local MPs only work for the Muslim/Asian community at the expense of the White British community.
It is plainly wrong and deeply offensive to the vast majority of decent hardworking people of all races and religions in our town.
MOVING UP A GEAR
His regular posts solicit donations from viewers through the ‘buy me a coffee’ platform, with rallying calls made by his supporters for others to contribute and subscribe to his content, before further commercialising the platform by offering official merchandise for his followers to buy, including branded mugs and baseball caps. After restrictions were placed on the Recusant Nine Medium platform the campaign moved Facebook in the month after the pandemic hit the UK. There is little doubt this helped ensure that the developing audience was captive, with many self-isolating, home working and some struggling with lockdown and social restrictions in place. There was a self-evident acceleration of the journey those watching and interacting took. It was also the same time those of us in politics and public service were under extreme and constant attack, while we are working around the clock, often door to door, neighbourhood to neighbourhood, to support the town through an enforced local lockdown, with restrictions above and beyond that of other towns.
It is evident the campaign was supported by a small group of highly abusive and obsessive contributors, and that some of those seeing through personal and political vendettas, some with dubious records and some with clear links to the Far-Right. But it is the case that many were none of those, but who felt unhappy with the direction of the town, and rightly or wrongly the performance of the council and local police force. It is also the case that on seeing the grossly serious nature of the allegations surrounding grooming gangs being posted by Raja Miah. that many had legitimate concerns they wanted answers to. While the vast majority of those have now removed themselves from the campaign, at its height there would be hundreds of accounts sharing and interacting with the content being produced.
GOING FULL CIRCLE
As the campaign shifted away from the majority Muslim community in Coldhurst to a wider mainly White British audience, so too did the narrative.
Following an attack on the Oldham Elbit Systems UK factory, reported to have secured an arms contract with the UK Government, Miah has stated that he has been accused by members of the Muslim community of being ‘pro-Israeli’ and he explains that the term amounts to a ‘Racist and divisive over simplification’ going further to state it is an ‘extremist narrative’ which seeks to create a ‘us and them’ narrative. Miah posted; “As predictable as night follows day, the Labour Party supporting Islamists in Oldham are trying to push a narrative that I am pro Israeli and thereby anti Muslim.” And in response to another post asking if those accusing him of being ‘pro-Israeli’ have defined what it means, he writes, “It’s a racist and devisive [Sic] over simplification. As all extremist narratives are which seek to create a them and us narrative. I’m too old and seen too much to pay such things any heed.”
This was the exact framing Raja Miah used when he set out on his campaign from May 2019.These reckless actions are not naïve, but a campaign driven by vengeance from someone fully aware of the journey he is taking people on, and its potential consequences. In his own promotional website he writes, “Raja Miah, is internationally recognised as an expert in his field. With over 25 years of experience in working on the front lines, alongside marginalised communities at risk of exploitation by extremists, Raja has used his insights to inform and shape government policy. During his career, Raja has worked directly with world leaders, including multiple UK Prime Ministers & Secretaries of State.”
SPEAKING OUT
It is important that this campaign is called out for what it is, and that we work to bring people together. I would ask that those engaging in his content reflect heavily on the toxic and divisive nature of the campaign. It is perfectly possible to challenge decisions being taken locally without it being wrapped up in false and defamatory attacks which are too often highly targeted and relentless in nature.
I believe the vast majority of people in our town want the same thing regardless of race, religion or anything else for that matter, and it is important we come together as one.
In future posts I will go into more detail about the campaign which developed, including the weaponisation of race and religion, and the targeted attacks on politicians and journalists.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 