Glasgow North Labour Party

Patricia Ferguson Aims For Greener Future

Maryhill MSP Patricia Ferguson has backed The Green Insurance Company’s Green Grants initiative and is urging the communities of Maryhill to apply for up to £2,000 to help fund local environmental projects. The leading environmental insurance provider has allocated £20,000 to support community projects and is inviting applications from across the country. Potential projects could include: A community garden to grow your own vegetables or a wildlife garden to encourage biodiversity A project to increase awareness of environmental issues and educate children to develop good environmental habits. Funding to help make a local community building more energy efficient. Help to…

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Titian’s A Hit!

Over 140,000 people viewed the masterpiece during July

Titian’s painting of ‘Diana and Actaeon’ has proved such a hit in Glasgow that I have vowed to fight for other publicly owned masterpieces to be brought to the city.

The Titian masterpiece left Kelvingrove after being on display during July. In that time over 140,000 people visited the museum to view the work.

I am delighted that the Titian has proved to be such a hit. It will now move on to Dundee and Aberdeen, where I am sure it will be similarly popular.

In May 2009 I successfully lobbied both the Scottish Government and the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) to commit to having the work, which was purchased with the assistance of £12.5 million from the taxpayer, displayed at Kelvingrove.

The NGS is able to access tens of millions of pounds from central government. In contrast, Glasgow’s world class museum and gallery collection is paid for solely by the city’s council tax payers

Now I have lodged a motion at Holyrood calling for further artistic treasures from the NGS collection to be displayed at venues across the country.

By taking such works around the country we can widen access to the arts and ensure that our artistic treasures are enjoyed by as many people as possible.

We need to ensure that ‘Diana & Actaeon’ is only the first of many works to make their way across the M8. Masterpieces by artists such as Botticelli, Cezanne, Raeburn and Blake could, and should, be brought to Glasgow.

I would hope that colleagues from all parties will get behind my motion so that we can lobby the NGS and the Scottish Government to make that happen.

Filed under: General Issues, Glasgow funding Tagged: Titian

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Partisan electoral law changes condemned

The House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee published a report yesterday which sharply criticises the Tory Lib-Dem government for pushing through electoral law changes without proper scrutiny.

The committee has attcked the Tory Lib Dem coaltion for failing to consult or offer suffucient time to scrutinise changes which would cut the number of MPs holding the government to account and also change the voting system.

Ann McKechin MP said:

“The criticisms laid at the door of the Tory Lib-Dem government are severe. Nick Clegg is fond of chatting about ‘openess and accountability’ but his anti-democratic actions contradict his warm words.

“The public can see that attempts to rush through laws which fundamentally alter our democracy and gerrymander boundaries without proper democratic scruitiny or due process and consultation are partisan and expedient.

“Inventing electoral laws to suit yourself without consultation or scrutiny is an abuse of power, not ‘new politics’.

Shadow Justice Secretary, Jack Straw MP, responding to the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee’s damning criticism of Nick Clegg’s refusal to allow adequate scrutiny of his political reform Bills, said:

“This correspondence is further evidence that Nick Clegg’s pre-election commitment to increased openness and accountability was just empty rhetoric. There is a sharp contrast between the way he is handling these major pieces of constitutional legislation and the way in which Labour in government handled equivalent legislation.

“While we published draft bills and allowed for a proper period of reflection, Mr Clegg is attempting to hammer legislation through Parliament with the slightest of scrutiny. If Labour had followed this partisan approach we would never have heard the end of it – especially from the Liberal Democrats.”

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Oldest Credit Union Honoured

Happy Birthday DCCU

Scotland’s oldest credit union has celebrated its 40^th anniversary in style with a reception at the Scottish Parliament. Staff and volunteers from Drumchapel Community Credit Union (DCCU) were my guests at Holyrood.

It is, of course, a great honour to have the first credit union in Scotland located in my constituency. I have lodged a parliamentary motion commemorating the remarkable rise of DCCU which has been signed by 40 MSPs from across the country.

DCCU has been at the very forefront of the regeneration of Drumchapel and I am delighted that so many of my colleagues have joined me in paying  tribute to all the staff and volunteers who have made DCCU such a success story over the last four decades.

From humble beginnings DCCU now boasts 2500 senior and 500 junior members. Its management board is composed of volunteers from the Drumchapel area, allowing local people to remain in control of their money.

The credit union was started in Drumchapel by the late Bert Mullen in 1970 and its first loan was to pay for a pair of glasses.  Today DCCU has over £1 million in savings and offers its membership low cost loans, a bill paying service, debt repayment service and a range of insurance packages.

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It is pleasing to note that an increasing number of people are turning to credit unions as they recognise the undoubted benefits of the co-operative model which allows people to ensure that their money remains in their community.

Filed under: Co-op, Drumchapel Tagged: Burt Mullen, Credit Union, DCCU, Drumchapel

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August Surgery Change

Please note that owing to school holidays the Yoker Primary School surgery (on the second Saturday in August) will not be held this month.

Filed under: General Issues

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Partial U-turn on Constituency Gerrymandering project as Moore is grilled over boundary rigging plans

• Plans to count out the disenfranchised branded a “democratic disgrace”

Glasgow North MP and Shadow Scotland Office front-bench spokesperson, Ann McKechin, today welcomed a partial u-turn by the Tory-Lib Dem Government, as plans to gerrymander constituencies began to unravel under scrutiny.

The Government wants to set a made-up quota of 76,000 signatories to the voters roll in each constituency, instead of accounting for all those entitled to vote in our communities. 

Speaking at the Scottish Affairs Select Committee today the Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore, admitted under intense questioning that the Orkney and Shetland and Western Isles constituencies will now be excluded from the figures for determining the population limit for each of the mainland seats.

Previously, it was understood that the island seats would still be used to calculate the quota – but be excluded from being of that quota. The net result would be the loss of additional mainland seats. 

Across Scotland, hundreds of thousands of people have not signed the electoral register and the Tory-Lib Dem Government is seeking to cut their representation in Parliament as a result. 

Ann McKechin MP said:

“I welcome the sudden reversal by Mr Moore in the Government’s position. 

“His plan to gerrymander Scottish seats is already crumbling as the issues proves much more complex than it first appeared to him. 

“Artificially increasing the size of Scotland’s urban seats to provide exceptions for the 2 island constituencies was problematic. 

“The whole matter shows how difficult it is to impose artificial population limits on communities.  

“They must now go further in ensuring the Boundary Commission has the proper freedom to consider local geography and communities across the length and breadth of the country – not just in Lib Dem rural seats‬ . 

“Of course their extraordinary plan to do all this based on a partial register rather than on all UK citizens entitled to vote is a democratic disgrace.”

There are fears that if implemented, this ill-conceived plan would significantly reduce the voice of already severely disenfranchised communities in Parliament.

In Glasgow City alone, more than 100,000 people are not registered to vote, according to the Electoral Commission - the watchdog responsible for supervising the electoral system.

• Ann McKechin MP pressed the Secretary of State for Scotland on this issue at Scottish Questions on 21 July

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A Meeting with Bill Gates

Bill Gates arrived in Parliament today and, not surprisingly, attracted a large audience when he spoke to a combined meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Groups focusing on development issues.

As a member of the International Development Select committee we had the privilege of our own special briefing when we had the opportunity to find out how his Gates Foundation has made such an impact worldwide.  It is really interesting to hear how a man who for 14 of the last 16 years was the world’s richest man and led one of the most influential businesses in the last 50 years decided to devote his time to saving lives across the world – his clinical mathematical mind gives him a unique perspective on what he believes works best.

For him, this is medical vaccinations to stop the horrific impact of disease and improving maternal health. Originally his focus was on stemming population growth but he discovered that investment in basic health rather than focusing soley on family planning was the best way to allow women to make the choice to limit family size

_{Photo top: Matthew Buxton, M.B. Photographic}

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Sign our petition against the 20% VAT hike

I am very concerned about the impact that the Tory-Lib Dem VAT rise will have on local pensioners and the low paid. 

Full Value Added Tax is put on most of the goods and services which we all require at exactly the same rate – no matter whether you are an office cleaner or a city banker. 

It is a highly regressive form of taxation and the decision to put it up to 20% will hit many low income households in Glasgow North hard, especially when combined with extreme public service cuts and welfare cuts.

During the General election, barely two and a half months ago, Lib Dems paraded around Glasgow asking for votes to stop the “Tory VAT Bombshell”.

But they have traded in their principles for places in David Cameron’s Government.

Now the Lib Dems are hitting the weakest hardest, with their very own 20% VAT tax bombshell.

If you share my view that this is the wrong decision, please take a minute to sign our declaration against 20% VAT. 

• Find out more

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Patricia Ferguson Urges Local Youth Groups To Apply For CashBack Funding

The fourth round of funding for youth projects from the CashBack for Communities scheme is now open, and Maryhill MSP Patricia Ferguson is encouraging local youth groups to apply for a share of the cash. £2.5 million, the first portion of £6.5 million recovered earlier this year from a Russian money launderer with dealings in Scotland, is being invested directly back into local communities to provide free diversionary activities for young people. Local youth projects are able to apply for grants up to a maximum of £30,000. Patricia Ferguson said: “Too many of our local communities are affected by crime,…

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Ann McKechin warns against cutting Glasgow’s youth job support

With hundreds of local young people leaving education this month, Glasgow North MP Ann McKechin urges the Tory – Lib Dem government not to cut support for youth jobs.

Claimant Count figures released today show that youth (JSA) unemployment in Glasgow City is now 6,640. [3]

Labour’s Future Jobs Fund has created over 15,400 youth jobs in Scotland. But the government is scrapping this help, cutting university places and abolishing Labour’s Youth Guarantee of a job or training place for any young person who has been out of work for six months. 

Under Lib Dem-Tory plans, an estimated 11,000 youth jobs in Scotland will now be cancelled as a direct result of the decision to axe the Future Jobs Fund scheme.

The scheme was targeted at areas such as Glasgow, which suffer from long term youth unemployment.

Ann McKechin MP for Glasgow North said:

“Local young people should not pay the price for this government’s unfair cuts.

“Scrapping support for youth jobs is wasting the talents of an entire generation.  That’s why I believe there should be more opportunities for young people around here to find work.”

Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said:

“These figures show just why it is dangerous and callous to cut support for jobs and the economy.

“May’s small fall in unemployment is welcome and reflects the extra support Labour put into the economy as it started to come out of recession.

“But there’s still little sign of private sector job growth, with jobs in areas like construction still being heavily hit. And this is before the big spending cuts and the surge in young people leaving education this summer.

“Cutting 90,000 youth jobs and hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs while the private sector is still so fragile will condemn many people to a lifetime on the dole.

“In the 90s the Tories said unemployment was a price worth paying to cut inflation – now they clearly think it’s a price worth paying to bring down the deficit.”

Further information burnsj@parliament.uk 

1. The monthly update of the claimant count and Jobcentre vacancies data series took place at 09:30 on 14 July 2010 with the release of new data for June 2010.

2. Total JSA claimants Glasgow City (June 2010)

	Glasgow City (numbers)	Glasgow City (%)	Scotland (%)	Great Britain (%)
All people	24,919	6.4	4.1	3.8
Males	18,426	9.2	5.8	5.1
Females	6,493	3.4	2.3	2.2

Source: ONS claimant count with rates and proportions

Note:

% is a proportion of resident working age population of area and gender

3. JSA claimants by age and duration (June 2010)

	Glasgow City (numbers)	Glasgow City (%)	Scotland (%)	Great Britain (%)
By age of claimant
Aged 18-24	6,640	26.7	28.4	27.4
Aged 25-49	14,720	59.2	55.2	56.6
Aged 50 and over	3,305	13.3	15.2	15.6
By duration of claim
Up to 6 months	14,280	57.4	62.5	60.3
Over 6 up to 12 months	5,475	22.0	21.6	21.6
Over 12 months	5,130	20.6	15.9	18.1

Source: ONS claimant count – age and duration

Note:

% is a proportion of all JSA claimants

From Nomis national statistics 

4. Future Jobs Fund and CUTS by Region

Region	FJF jobs awarded to date	FJF jobs no longer to be awarded due to government cuts (approx)
North East	3,100	2,000
North West	18,000	12,000
Yorkshire and Humber	8,100	6,000
East Midlands	5,100	3,500
West Midlands	10,100	7,000
East	3,100	2,000
London	8,500	6,000
South East	4,500	3,000
South West	3,600	2,500
Wales	10,400	7,000
Scotland	15,400	11,000

 

(NB Not all FJF jobs have been allocated to specific regions some were allocated at national level)

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