Jim Hood MP for Lanark and Hamilton East Signs
“Get Fair Against Poverty” Pledge:
“I undertake to use, or support the use, of all policy powers available to parliament to meet poverty targets and include concrete measures in my party manifesto to achieve a lasting reduction in poverty in the UK.”
Members of St Mary’s Hamilton Justice and Peace Group along with Susan Miller from the Iona Community successfully lobbied their MP Jim Hood in Low Waters Miner’s Welfare on Saturday 27th June as part of the Get Fair Constituency Lobby. Government’s own statistics have revealed that 12.8 million people (about 1 in 5 ) in the UK live in poverty. The Get Fair Constituency Lobby wanted people to tell their local Member of Parliament that this is 100% unfair, and its time to Get Fair.
They asked him to commit to measures that will help bring an end to poverty in the UK.
In three policy areas -
- An income that meets minimum living standards
- Affordable housing and decent neighbourhoods
- Fair access to services, without discrimination
At the start Jim recalled a quote from his maiden speech “Any Government that does not seek to improve the quality of life for its poorest citizen is immoral”. He went on to say that this quote was true when it was first made at the beginning of the 19th century and it is even truer today in times of recession. He commented that pledging support to end poverty without willing the means to achieve it is disingenuous. He believes that when any politician talks of public spending he or she will first have to assure the public that charities and public services are not deprived of resources to assist the poor and disadvantaged.
The group spent an hour raising questions about welfare reform which coupled with the rapid rise in unemployment will result in severe hardship for many families, lack of social housing and affordable housing in the Hamilton area and the impact of job losses to our local community. It was pointed out that social housing’s costs are 33% higher than those of private housing and reasons for this were discussed. Mention also was made of the Jacob (Scotland) Project a partnership between he Iona Community Project Scotland, The Scottish Prison Service and Church of Scotland Parish Development Fund. It enables vulnerable young people, caught in the world of crime, to have a real alternative for their lives. Like a lot of initiatives it is not completely funded and relies partly on charitable donations.
We were delighted that Jim took time out of his busy schedule to meet with us in Hamilton. He promised to relay our concerns to the relevant state ministers, Government departments and, where appropriate, other agencies. The group would also like to thank Sean Laverty for allowing us to have the Boardroom in Low Waters Miner’s Welfare for the lobby.