MP’s Diary
Barr Ltd
Following Barr Limited’s closure of the Solway Precast works in Creetown in January with the loss of 40 jobs came the announcement of an “operational review” of its plant at Barrhill with the potential loss of 60 jobs. I received assurances from management at the outset that they would do all they could to find a buyer. Last week I received a petition from the employees facing redundancy stating their willingness to fight for their jobs. I visited them along with local councillor John McDowall to discuss what could be done.
After my first talk with management I contacted the Scottish Government requesting an urgent meeting with Finance Secretary John Swinney. He has now replied with a few platitudes and reference to the Girvan ‘Charrette’ Project – a 25 year plan for Girvan. This is irrelevant to the situation facing these workers right now. Of course he completely ignored the point of my letter – a request for a meeting including all local elected representatives. However, to his credit, local MSP Adam Ingram, immediately agreed to an all party approach. I will be taking up his offer to bring about a meeting to hold Scottish Ministers to account on this vital issue to our rural area and especially the immediate families involved.
We urgently need capital programmes to provide work in the construction industry and it’s just not good enough to concentrate everything on the new Forth Bridge project- with steel imported from China. We need to be meeting need throughout Scotland with programmes like the Maybole by-pass – all providing much needed local work.
Nestle
This week I will be meeting the management and unions regarding the worrying situation at Nestle’s in Girvan. In particular I will be asking for a longer consultation period so that the Trade Union can work with management to explore every opportunity to secure jobs.
Tory Budget
This is a Government that promised change but things have got worse not better. Their policies really have failed.
Today there are one million young unemployed – the highest number since records began. In 1983, I was one of the marchers on the People’s March for Jobs from Glasgow to London. I had hoped we had wiped out youth unemployment for good – the last Labour Government was successful in addressing youth unemployment and it had been more or less wiped out. Here we are discussing a Tory Budget that does nothing to address the current scourge of youth unemployment.
A couple of Saturdays ago I was at the Scottish Tory Conference in Troon as part of a powerful demonstration and march organised by the STUC to highlight youth unemployment and the Chancellor’s failure to do anything in his budget to address that. As I marched with my daughter and granddaughters it dawned on me that this was my 13 year old granddaughter’s first demonstration while my daughter had grown up going on marches and demonstrations- the reason was we had benefited from a Labour Government for the first ten years of my granddaughter’s life.
The STUC is calling for a guarantee of paid work or training for any youngster who has been out of work for at least six months and a new youth credit should be offered to all 16 to 24-year-olds to boost training, work placements and the chance of getting a better job. The latest unemployment figure for Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock is that there are 3409 unemployed claimants – that’s almost 1 in 10 of the working age population. The budget has nothing to say to them.
This budget comes just as the Tory changes in the eligibility rules for Working Tax Credit are about to come into force. Over 300 families with almost 700 children in Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock are set to lose around £4,000 a year in Working Tax Credits – 212,000 households across the country. Even before the budget the Institute for Fiscal Studies had calculated that the Tory Government measures would cost families with children over £500 a year from April. The final irony is that the Government has managed to make families with children pay more than double what the banks are being asked to pay to reduce the deficit. The Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed that the Bank Levy will bring in £2.8b in 2014-15 – families with children could lose well over £7b. If I was asked to sum up this budget in one sentence it would be - Same old Tories – and why should we be surprised?
Sandra Osborne MP
Barr Ltd
Following Barr Limited’s closure of the Solway Precast works in Creetown in January with the loss of 40 jobs came the announcement of an “operational review” of its plant at Barrhill with the potential loss of 60 jobs. I received assurances from management at the outset that they would do all they could to find a buyer. Last week I received a petition from the employees facing redundancy stating their willingness to fight for their jobs. I visited them along with local councillor John McDowall to discuss what could be done.
After my first talk with management I contacted the Scottish Government requesting an urgent meeting with Finance Secretary John Swinney. He has now replied with a few platitudes and reference to the Girvan ‘Charrette’ Project – a 25 year plan for Girvan. This is irrelevant to the situation facing these workers right now. Of course he completely ignored the point of my letter – a request for a meeting including all local elected representatives. However, to his credit, local MSP Adam Ingram, immediately agreed to an all party approach. I will be taking up his offer to bring about a meeting to hold Scottish Ministers to account on this vital issue to our rural area and especially the immediate families involved.
We urgently need capital programmes to provide work in the construction industry and it’s just not good enough to concentrate everything on the new Forth Bridge project- with steel imported from China. We need to be meeting need throughout Scotland with programmes like the Maybole by-pass – all providing much needed local work.
Nestle
This week I will be meeting the management and unions regarding the worrying situation at Nestle’s in Girvan. In particular I will be asking for a longer consultation period so that the Trade Union can work with management to explore every opportunity to secure jobs.
Tory Budget
This is a Government that promised change but things have got worse not better. Their policies really have failed.
Today there are one million young unemployed – the highest number since records began. In 1983, I was one of the marchers on the People’s March for Jobs from Glasgow to London. I had hoped we had wiped out youth unemployment for good – the last Labour Government was successful in addressing youth unemployment and it had been more or less wiped out. Here we are discussing a Tory Budget that does nothing to address the current scourge of youth unemployment.
A couple of Saturdays ago I was at the Scottish Tory Conference in Troon as part of a powerful demonstration and march organised by the STUC to highlight youth unemployment and the Chancellor’s failure to do anything in his budget to address that. As I marched with my daughter and granddaughters it dawned on me that this was my 13 year old granddaughter’s first demonstration while my daughter had grown up going on marches and demonstrations- the reason was we had benefited from a Labour Government for the first ten years of my granddaughter’s life.
The STUC is calling for a guarantee of paid work or training for any youngster who has been out of work for at least six months and a new youth credit should be offered to all 16 to 24-year-olds to boost training, work placements and the chance of getting a better job. The latest unemployment figure for Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock is that there are 3409 unemployed claimants – that’s almost 1 in 10 of the working age population. The budget has nothing to say to them.
This budget comes just as the Tory changes in the eligibility rules for Working Tax Credit are about to come into force. Over 300 families with almost 700 children in Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock are set to lose around £4,000 a year in Working Tax Credits – 212,000 households across the country. Even before the budget the Institute for Fiscal Studies had calculated that the Tory Government measures would cost families with children over £500 a year from April. The final irony is that the Government has managed to make families with children pay more than double what the banks are being asked to pay to reduce the deficit. The Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed that the Bank Levy will bring in £2.8b in 2014-15 – families with children could lose well over £7b. If I was asked to sum up this budget in one sentence it would be - Same old Tories – and why should we be surprised?
Sandra Osborne MP