The WASPI campaigners were out in force in Parliament last week, and I was pleased to meet with them to discuss their ongoing campaign for a fair remedy for the women born in the 1950s who were disadvantaged due to changes in the state pension.
The last Government received the report into WAPSI from the Parliamentary Ombudsman before the election, but like so many other things, they didn’t deal with it and left it for the new Labour government to pick up.
The new Government is carefully considering what steps to take regarding the ombudsman’s recommendations and the Pensions Minister met with WASPI campaigners last week to discuss this.
I’m glad this meeting has taken place – the first WASPI has had with a Pensions Minister for years. As Angela Madden, the Chair of the WASPI campaign, said after the meeting, it “is the start of something”.
If anyone affected by the WASPI issue wants to be kept up to date by me about the developments in Parliament, please just drop me an email on martin.mccluskey.mp@parliament.uk.
Fairtrade Fortnight
This week and next are Fairtrade Fortnight – an annual celebration of all things Fairtrade and raising awareness of the need for fairer trade to support farmers in low-income countries.
This week in Parliament I had the pleasure to meet Jenipher Sambazi, a coffee farmer from Uganda who was in the UK to call for a better deal for the people overseas who produce so much of the things we eat and drink.
Jenipher leads a co-operative producing fairtrade coffee that is on sale here in the UK. We often don’t think about the people behind the food and drink we consume, but too often products like coffee are produced by low income people in developing countries who are paid poverty wages.
This Fairtrade Fortnight, I’d encourage you to look out for the fairtrade logo when you’re shopping and try some of the excellent ethically produced products.
Local meetings
With Parliament sitting this week, I had a day of constituency meetings on Friday and I hosted a surgery in Greenock on Saturday morning.
I met with some of the board of Creative Regeneration to hear about their plans for the Glebe Building and to find out how I could help them. The plans for the Glebe are really exciting, and the project already has some funding committed from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund. I’m looking forward to supporting them further over the coming years.
I also had the first of what will be regular catch ups with Chief Inspector David Doherty, Police Scotland’s local area commander for Inverclyde, and with council leader Stephen McCabe. Having strong working relationships with all our major public sector institutions is crucial to get things done over the next few years.
Conference season
For the next few weeks, Parliament isn’t sitting to allow all the parties to hold their annual conferences.
Labour’s conference is in Liverpool in a week, which means I have two and a half weeks at home and will be spending this time finalising our plans for our local office and interviewing candidates for roles in my constituency team.
It also means I’ll be out and about visiting more local organisations and businesses, attending community councils and will also be hosting a visit from a UK Government minister over the course of the next week.
As I said during the election campaign, bringing UK decision makers to our area is a priority to make sure our area gets the support it needs over the next few years.
As ever, if you want me to visit your organisation, please just get in touch.
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