MP calls for 'crusading zeal'

I remember Matt Baker’s astute ‘backing and writing’ skills when S. Danczuk was PPC some years ago.

The following seems well worth a read / discuss:

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH extracts
By Simon Danczuk, Labour MP for Rochdale, 07 Apr 2013

The anger that’s been shown on TV screens over the last few days, as siren voices from the left and right dispute the role of welfare in the terrible tragedy of the Philpott children, is nothing compared to what I regularly hear on the doorstep.


A stone’s throw from my constituency office is Falinge, an area that’s made uncomfortable headlines for having the highest number of benefit claimants in the country. Here, as in other parts of Rochdale, a terrible tragedy is unfolding every day that voices on the left can no longer ignore. It’s the tragedy of potential being wasted, hope being strangled and life chances being lost.


"The Labour Party is a moral crusade or it is nothing,” said Harold Wilson. It’s time this sense of crusading zeal was applied to helping people off benefits – not pushing them into poverty – and back into work. Seeing people that are capable of working languish for years on benefits is not something the Left should be proud of. It’s something we should be fighting. Otherwise why call ourselves the Labour Party?


Anyone who has lived with or spent time with people capable of working that have been parked on benefits for a decade or more will know the tragedy I’m talking about. We should all experience the feeling of satisfaction after a hard day’s work, the pride at getting a promotion, the sense of achievement from making a difference in the workplace. But for those trapped in welfare dependency these experiences will never happen. This is a criminal loss of human potential and something everyone interested in progressive politics should rail against.


But where are the jobs? That’s the continual refrain I hear these days from the likes of Owen Jones, as though we should accept that parking people on welfare for years on end is the done thing. This seems to be the only defence mounted by Jones et al to welfare reform. But what defence did he have when there were jobs available under the last Government? No doubt he would have resisted reform then, as of now.


The left has to accept there are some people on the dole that don’t want to work, and we need to have a plan to get them into work. Where families haven’t worked for years on end this is not just a tragedy for the adults in the household, it’s a tragedy for the children as well. What kind of message does it send out to them when they’ve never known any adult with a job?


----- equally we cannot avoid the incredible pressures on our welfare system. If welfare is to be strengthened and targeted more efficiently at those who need it then we have to condemn those who abuse the system. Week after week my office helps people who desperately need welfare, but I am aware that there are others swinging the lead.


In Derby the case of ‘shameless Mick’ has long drawn public ire. But in Rochdale I regularly get complaints about the notorious Mohammed Salim, who’s paraded his 11 children on TV on numerous occasions and boasts about quitting his teaching job to claim benefits. People tell me they find his attitude insulting, as though he’s sticking two fingers up at those who have to work for a living. It’s often said that it’s not for us to judge other people’s lives. But in the case of Salim and others I think it’s time tough judgements were made in order to protect those that need our help the most.


----------- Far too many people tell me they feel their taxes are ‘wasted’ on welfare largesse and these voices cannot be ignored. We need to win their trust and build a system that everyone can have confidence in.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9977735/Simon-Danczuk-MP-We-cant-ignore-the-tragedy-of-peoples-potential-going-to-waste.html

Apology included for both length and abridgement

I don't think any right-minded person would disagree with the above MJ - however - it's hardly ground-breaking stuff that hasn't been trotted out year after year after year only to sink in the midsts of time as progressive politicians wallow around in their own particular mires and settle for a good salary and a comfortable lifestyle.
Talk is cheap. To rail against injustice is all well and good - but where is the action?

Atlas wrote:I don't think any right-minded person would disagree with the above MJ - however - it's hardly ground-breaking stuff that hasn't been trotted out year after year after year only to sink in the midsts of time as progressive politicians wallow around in their own particular mires and settle for a good salary and a comfortable lifestyle.
Talk is cheap. To rail against injustice is all well and good - but where is the action?

Atlas: Agree wholeheartedly with your critique .. perhaps it's the novelty of these current recorded sentiments, attributed to one of Rochdale's political leaders, that I find an interesting balk against some local Establishment traditions.


His references to Owen Jones, aka the ubiquitous Left-wing journalist, has caused barely a ripple .. it's been a busy News week for SWP and Left Wing affiliates though


If nothing else, this MP has maintained a public stand, over time, about the unacceptable attitudes and comments of those in positions of power and authority who appear to persist in playing "word games," about the perpetrators involved in sexual group grooming-abuse of local children. They need a champion and ground breaking rhetoric so, if he maintains that stance, let's give him the credit.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/79117/rochdale-mp-says-a-change-in-police-culture-is-needed-in-sex-abuse-cases