Dear Sir,
I note that Swansea's two
MPs, Geraint Davies and Sian James, were among the 47 Labour MPs who didn't
vote on their party's motion to immediately scrap the Bedroom Tax.
I don't know what reasons the
two had for not participating in the vote and it may be they had good reasons
not to be there. Having said that, I would have expected them to have informed
their constituents, in that case, why they could not attend a vote on an issue
that is so crucial to thousands of families in the city, some of them
potentially facing eviction due to not being able to afford to pay bedroom tax.
A number of acquaintances
have suggested that maybe they were 'paired' with Tory MPs and indeed, Labour
Party whips have put out a statement to the effect that this was the reason why
many of the 47 Labour MPs weren't present.
For anybody who is not
familiar with the concept of 'pairing', this is the parliamentary guide:
http://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/pairing/
Pairing allows MPs from
opposite parties to enter into an agreement that if one can't attend a debate,
the other also agrees not to attend. There are a couple of important points to
be made here.
1) This is not a
parliamentary rule but a voluntary agreement.
2) Pairing is not used for
important political issues.
Labour's decision to pair so
many of their MPs on this issue suggests that this debate was more about
posturing in the opening shots of what promises to be an 18-month election
campaign rather than a serious attempt to end the misery caused by the bedroom
tax.
It seems that Labour prefers
so-called gentlemen's agreements with a Con-Dem government of millionaires than
fighting for poor constituents, who seem to be little more than voting fodder
to them. The bedroom tax may not be a serious political issue for Labour MPs
who agree to be 'paired' but it is extremely serious for tenants who can't
afford it, potentially facing eviction.
It reinforces the feeling
that parliament is a club, with obscure rules most of us don't understand, the
main purpose of which is to provide MPs with a gravy train to ride.
If Labour wants to convince
us they are serious about getting rid of the bedroom tax then they should
immediately instruct all Labour councils to stop harassing and even threatening
with eviction, people who can't afford to pay bedroom tax.
I am a member of the
Socialist Party which believes that elected representatives should have the
same income as the people they represent. We call for MPs to commit to being 'a
workers' MP on a worker's wage'. We don't believe in entering into gentlemen's
agreements with people that have caused so much misery for working class
communities. And we demand an immediate 'no evictions' commitment for bedroom
tax non-payers.
Labour MPs who didn't vote in
the bedroom tax may just have put themselves at the head of the list for an
electoral challenge by Trades Unionist and Socialist Coalition (which the
Socialist Party is a constituent part of) candidates at the general election.
Ronnie Job, previous and
potential Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate in Swansea
