Jim Hood MP » Blog

Festival of Politics Debate

Jim — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:50:27 +0000

Festival of Politics 2010 - Friday 20 August

I was delighted to be invited by the Presiding Officer to be on a panel of guests in the Scottish Parliament chamber at this year’s Festival of Politics.

This is the link to the webcast recording :-

http://www.holyrood.tv/videoshare/200810_FOP_Engaging_Politics.wmv

Hood Welcomes ‘Brittan’

Jim — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:27:49 +0000

Extract from article in Gallery News: 20/8/10 :

BRITTAN: Hood ‘welcomes’ Brittan

Former Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee Jim Hood has ‘welcomed’ the appointment of Leon Brittan as the Prime Minister’s adviser on trade.

He said, ” The ultimate Tory Europhile back in Downing Street advising the Prime Minister?

” I would like to be a fly on the wall at the next Bruges group lunch. The new Chairman of the European Scrutiny Select Committee, Bill Cash MP, may be tempted to call Leon Britain to his committee to scrutinise the advice he is giving the PM.

” Not to be missed.”

Coalition

Jim — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:01:26 +0000

Coalition – Lib Dems already have the veto, says Hood - 18/8/2010

The Liberal Democrats already have a veto over coalition policies, Labour MP Jim Hood said today.

He was responding to remarks from Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes who said his Party’s MPs should be able to say to the conservatives ‘No, we can’t go down this road.’

Mr. Hood told Gallery News: “Nick Clegg has such a veto now. He just has no intention of saying NO to Cameron or Osborne. Simon Hughes keeps mouthing about the coalition partnership with the Tories but always votes for it. In January when VAT goes up to 20%, the Lib/Dems will be known as the 20 percenters. The 20% VAT rate will be higher that the Lib/Dems poll ratings.”

Referendum

Jim — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:55:16 +0000

Vote will be on Clegg says Hood - 28/7/2010

The referencedum on AV will become a vote on Nick Clegg, Labour MP Jim Hood said today.

Mr. Hood told Gallery News, “being criticised by Simon Hughes for – quote ‘naked opportunism’ is a bit rich, as is ‘shameless self-interest’. This from a Party whose shameless self-interest is in their DNA. They should be called the SS-I Party.

“Nick Cleg is Cameron’s fig leaf and Simon Hughes is Clegg’s. May 20111 will be a referendum on Nick Clegg (NC) not on AV. It will be the NC referendum. I would not vote for anything that has Nick Clegg or his SS-I Party’s name to it, with a gun at my back.”

“Bring it on”.

ends

Summer / Return

Jim — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:29:36 +0000

Summer

I’m having a busman’s holiday this summer. I’ll be at home spending more time with my grandchildren, hens and garden whilst doing all the work I can’t get done when Parliament is sitting. Home visits, street surgeries and meetings with voluntary groups are a normal feature of my summer and this year will be no different. My first weekend had me preparing for the visit of my grandchildren who will be with us for the first two weeks. I found out that the idiot proof assembly instructions of the football posts were not as user friendly as claimed, but the engineer in me worked out the conundrum in time for the kick-off.

Return

Parliament will be recalled 6 September for two weeks before adjourning for another three weeks for the Party conferences. Breaking the summer recess into two parts was first tried by the late Robin Cook when he was Leader of the House and saw MP’s returning to find Parliament like a building site with the summer work programme causing chaos. We are assured that this time the building work will be done in time for September. The good news for me in recesses is that I have more time to meet with my constituents.

Election Result / Clegg’s Lib Con

Jim — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:17:03 +0000

Election Result

Thank you for your support at the General Election. The turnout was +3.2% (62.3) my vote was up +4% (23,258) and majority +9% (13,478). The election locally was fought by the main party candidates on the issues. All candidates were determined and combative in equal measure but always respectful to each other. I complimented my opponents in my acceptance speech for that and wished them well in their future endeavours.

Clegg’s Lib Con

The General Election is over; 30 million votes have been counted and one man’s vote decided who the Prime Minister would be. Lib/Dem leader Nick Clegg, whose party won 57 (9%) of the 650 seats in Parliament had lectured the country in the three leaders TV debates, arguing for “PR and fair votes”, quote, “making every vote count”. Well we now know what he meant by making his vote count. The new Deputy Prime Minister sold his party’s soul for a pot of political gold and five place-mats at Cameron’s cabinet table, including his own aggrandisement to Deputy Prime Minister.

The Lib/Dems had also campaigned to end political patronage and particularly appointing unelected Peers to the House of Lords. Interestingly all Lib/Dem MP’s in their negotiating team are now in David Cameron’s Cabinet and they agreed that Cameron could appoint 100 extra unelected Peers to the House of Lords.

Welcome to my website

Jim — Thu, 06 May 2010 08:00:14 +0000

I have the privilege of working for and representing the people of Lanark & Hamilton East.

The purpose of this site is to keep constituents of Lanark & Hamilton East up to date with what their MP is doing on their behalf. It also allows constituents another means of contacting and communicating with their Member of Parliament.

If you have any questions or issues you would like to bring to my attention please get in touch.

A Budget for Growth

Jim — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:52:03 +0000

A BUDGET FOR GROWTH 24 March, 2010

This is a Budget for growth, setting out the steps the Labour government is providing to support new jobs, businesses, families and the economy.

In the Budget, the Chancellor has set out Labour’s choices:

We will secure the recovery – not put it at risk. The economy is still recovering so our first priority, while private sector demand remains weak, must be to maintain government spending so as to secure the recovery – not choke it off as the Conservatives would do by making major, immediate cuts in public spending.
We will build a future based on growth and jobs – not a decade of austerity. We also need to plan for our future prosperity. That’s the reason for our targeted investment in the skills and jobs that people need to get on and get ahead, e.g. our guarantees to young people and investment in broadband and high speed rail to drive growth.
We will halve the deficit in four years – but we will protect key frontline services. We will cut the borrowing we needed to get through recession. Our Deficit Reduction Plan is the toughest of any G7 country. In cutting the deficit, we will protect the frontline services that people cherish: NHS, schools, childcare and Police. But make no mistake: cutting support to the economy now would throw more people out of work, lead to lower growth and a worse problem with the deficit further down the line.
We will make these choices in a fair way – standing up for the many, not the few. In our Deficit Reduction Plan 60 per cent of the extra taxes are paid by the richest 5 per cent. In contrast, the Tories are cutting Child Tax Credits and Child Trust Funds for families on modest incomes – at the same time as they promise a £200,000 giveaway for the 3,000 richest estates.

NEW INDUSTRIES, FUTURE JOBS

Labour is supporting new industries and future jobs.
Peter Mandelson has said: “Forward thinking and decisive action over the last year have produced huge new public and private investment in sectors and markets where the UK has the potential to build competitive strengths in a global economy.”
For example, the UK is the world’s top destination for offshore wind energy investment. The new £2 billion Green Investment Bank will initially focus on the offshore wind sector.
And General Electric has announced €110 million investment in offshore wind turbine manufacturing facilities. This means 1,900 high skilled green jobs will be created in the UK by 2020.
Elsewhere, the Prime Minister and Peter Mandelson announce £250 million investment for the new UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation. It will be a partnership with Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, University College London and the Medical Research Council (MRC) and will work closely with the NHS.

QUESTIONS GEORGE OSBORNE WON’T ANSWER

On the global downturn and on securing the recovery George Osborne doesn’t have a coherent or credible economic plan. He doesn’t even know where to start.

George Osborne has ducked and dived and tried everything to avoid giving the public clarity on their plans.

The Tories have said that they would tear up our spending plans. This is a radical and controversial position that needs a mandate. So they must say what they mean.

What will the Tories spend in 2010/11? When will they halve the deficit? And what is the target for the structural deficit? Either they don’t know; or they won’t tell us.

Human Trafficking

Jim — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:56:38 +0000

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking draws attention to the evils of Human Trafficking.

Human Trafficking is one of the top three most lucrative manifestations of organised crime – along with drug dealing and arms trade.

Human Trafficking is a fundamental assault on basic human dignity. It affects millions of men, women and children throughout the world. More than twice as many people are in bondage in the world today as were taken in chains during the entire 350 years of the African Slave Trade. Over 100,000 of which are in Europe, 1 in 8 are in the United Kingdom, some British, many European.

Human Trafficking includes Debt Bondage, Domestic Slavery, Child Labour as well as the more well known Sex Industry and it takes place throughout the UK – often in peaceful looking suburbia. Cases of Human Trafficking have recently been identified in Worthing, Northampton, Ipswich, Dundee, Birmingham, Plymouth, Exeter, Colchester, Nottingham, Belfast, Edinburgh, Paignton and London.

More details about modern day slavery and the work of the Group can be seen at www.allpartygrouphumantrafficking.org .

Legg ACA Publication

Jim — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:05:49 +0000

Legg ACA publication re repayments received/requested from MP’s

Parliament unanimously supported the setting up the Legg ACA Review last summer to investigate all MP’s ACA accounts for each year 2004-2008.Sir Arthur Legg was commissioned to report back to Members Estimate Committee which is chaired by Mr Speaker, and he has now done so. His report was published 4^th Feb. 2010 and the following information are extracts from it regarding decisions on my ACA accounts which I am publishing on my website with my comments of explanation.

Legg’s own interpretation of the remit given to him by the House of Commons to examine four years of ACA accounts, excluded consideration of the full period of their review when evaluating overpayments. (See Table 2 comments with footnotes). Table 1; I made an error by putting the wrong date on the claim form i.e. March 2007, when it should have been for January 2007, i.e. only eight weeks difference and within the same financial year (2006/07). Therefore it was neither a duplicate claim or overpayment but Legg, knowingly disregarded that I only claimed 10 of the 12 months in 2006-2007 and still judged it was a duplicate claim and an overpayment.

Regardless of my difference of opinion with Legg’s interpretation of his remit and how he applied it to my ACA account, he was commissioned by Parliament to independently conduct his work. I said when he began his review that MP’s should accept his conclusions and where they are requested to make repayments, they should do so.

Note: – When taken over the four year period of Legg’s ACA Review (2004-2008), I have not received more in repayments than my declared and verified expenditure.

Below: – Table of summaries from Sir Arthur Legg’s ACA Review report with MP’s comments.

No	Allowance	Year	Amount	Description
1	ACA Legg	06-07	£1,630.14	Mortgage £445.15 & duplicate claim £1,185.00
	MP’s Comments
	My claim submitted dated 31 March 2007 was mistakenly dated for 01-31 March 2007 and should have read, for 01-31 January 2007. Wrongly dated but there was no over payment for 2006/07.
2	ACA Legg	04-05 05-06	£3783.35	Overpaid for mortgage interest in 2004-05 (£2,434.46) and 2005-06 (£1,348.89).
	MP’s Comments
	Total mortgage interest paid to lender (Abbey National) for years 2004-2008 (MIRAS) ^[1] was £24,540. Total monies claimed back from ACA for years 2004-2008 was £24,280 (Legg letter 12 October 2009) ^[2] N.B. Over the 4 year period of Legg’s ACA Review 20004-2008, there was no overpayment from ACA for mortgage interest.

^[1] MIRAS documents supplied by lender Abbey National to Legg ACA team for each financial year 2004-05; 2005-06; 2006-07; 2007-08 of payments received for mortgage interest payments only.

^[2] Figure from Legg ACA team 12 October giving details of payments for mortgage interest paid to MP over the period of the review.