MP hits out at Post Office privatisation plans

26 Feb 2009

Glasgow East MP John Mason has rounded on Business Secretary Lord Mandelson over controversial UK government proposals to sell off part of the Royal Mail Group.

The Labour Government at Westminster is setting out legislation which will allow a private company to buy a 30% stake in the Royal Mail. It is believed that the Westminster Government intends to use the proceeds to plug the 5.9bn shortfall in the Royal Mail pension scheme.

Mr Mason believes that a sell off of even part of Royal Mail puts the Universal Service Order (USO) at serious risk. The USO is the mechanism whereby there is a standard price for posted mail regardless of where it is going from and to.

Speaking about the proposals John Mason said:

“Privatisation of the even part of Royal Mail tears up the public ownership principles under which the organisation operates.

“Royal Mail is unique in the way it can provide a universal service, which is particularly valued in areas where the private sector simply wouldnt be interested in running a postal service of the same standard.

“Royal Mail offers a door-to-door service that is hard to find in other countries and hiving off bits here and there to private business will leave that business model very vulnerable.

“The reason that Royal Mail struggles financially is because the Government have already allowed the private sector to run mail services. Unsurprisingly private business has started operating in the areas that are most profitable leaving Royal Mail to cover the much more challenging rural and remote deliveries.

“These decisions were taken with no regard to the consequences and now the Government are trying to pass the buck to the private sector.

“The SNP will continue to oppose these measures in Westminster and fight to protect the future of our rural postal services.”

Mason asks whether Parkhead Fire Station decision took account of Commonwealth Games

26 Feb 2009

The MP for Glasgow East, John Mason, has tabled a motion at the House of Commons calling on Strathclyde Fire & Rescue to reconsider their decision on the closure of Parkhead Fire Station.

The local Scottish National Party MP believes that the closure decision may not have taken sufficient account of the fact that the inner East End is due to play host to the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Commenting earlier today, John Mason said:

“I am concerned that the decision taken did not take sufficient account of the Commonwealth Games, and the existing and planned development associated with it.

“Given that Parkhead, Tollcross and Braidfauld are set to be playing host to much of the world in a few years time, many people would ask whether it is sensible to make decisions that will lead to increases response times in that area.”

Working Tax Credit rules could hit the low paid in tough times, warns Mason

23 Feb 2009

The Glasgow East MP, John Mason, has called on the UK Government to look at revising the threshold for Working Tax Credits (WTC), warning that low income workers are now missing out on the tax credit in cases where they have had their hours cut as a result of the recession.

The Working Tax Credit (WTC) is intended to “help make work pay” for lower income workers. For people with children and disabled people, WTC is payable if the person works 16 hours or more a week. For others, the threshold is 30 hours a week. However, those workers who have had their hours cut as a result of the recession now face a “double whammy”.

Mr Mason, who is the SNP spokesman on Work & Pensions, said:

“For low paid workers to lose hours at work and then be punished further by having their Working Tax Credit entitlement withdrawn is clearly unacceptable. My fear is that many people in the East End, and across Glasgow as a whole, will find themselves in exactly this position.

“Working Tax Credits are supposed to help make work pay, but the recession is having an impact on peoples’ employment and the UK Government must look at revising the threshold.

“In tough times the less-well-off deserve our protection, but the tax credit system – compounded by the economic situation – could end up hammering those on low incomes especially hard.

“The tax credit system is patently not working, and I am urging Ministers to address the situation ASAP.”

Ends

Background on Working Tax Credits.

The Working Tax Credit (WTC) is intended to “help to make work pay” for lower income workers. For people with children and disabled people, WTC is payable if the person works 16 hours or more a week. For others, the threshold is 30 hours a week. The lower threshold for people with children and disabled people is justified because people in these groups suffer greater disadvantage in the labour market.

To qualify for WTC, the claimant or their partner must: work 16 hours a week or more and be aged 16 or over and be responsible for a child; or have a disability that puts them at a disadvantage of getting a job and have been or are claiming a disability benefit; or be 50 or over and returning to work after receiving specified benefits or work 30 hours a week or more and be aged 25 or over

The 30 hour requirement therefore applies to all WTC claimants without children, unless they are disabled or aged 50 and over and returning to work.

The lower hours threshold for claimants with children or a disability “recognises the difficulties that those with children face in combining work with family responsibilities and the difficulties that workers with a disability may face” (HM Treasury, The Child and Working Tax Credits: The Modernisation of Britain’s Tax and Benefit System, April 2002, p 33). The same source also stated that the WTC elements for disabled workers and for those aged 50 or over returning to work after a period out of the labour market “recognise particular aspects of disadvantage in the labour market” (ibid.). It goes on:

Workers with neither children nor a disability, aged 25 or over, will be entitled to the Working Tax Credit provided they work at least 30 hours a week. This is in recognition that people in this situation do not face the same barriers to full-time work and should be encouraged to work full-time because it is more likely to offer them the opportunity to improve their skills and progress up the earnings ladder. Eligibility for workers in this group will begin at the age of 25, as it is those aged 25 or over who are most likely to face poorer incentives to work or suffer persistent poverty in work.

[ibid., p33, para A.12]

Glasgow East MP visits Easterhouse Welfare-to-Work agency

20 Feb 2009

Today the welfare to work agency Reed in Partnership celebrated helping 2,000 Glasgow single parents to find work. The celebration was held in the agency’s Easterhouse branch which specialises in helping prepare single parents for employment, and was attended by John Mason MP, Work and Pensions Spokesperson for the Scottish National Party and MP for Glasgow East.

On his visit Mr Mason met with Tom Millar, Reed in Partnership’s Operations Director, and said a few words on providing support for single parents and the importance of the agency’s work: ““Long term unemployment is a huge issue for lone parents in my constituency, and it was instructive to speak to people who are working at the sharp end in getting people into employment.”

Reed in Partnership has been helping the long-term unemployed and single parents across Glasgow for five years now. Mr Mason speaks in Parliament on welfare reform and other benefits issues, and was able to give some insight into the current and future landscape of welfare to work provision in Scotland and across the UK.

As Tom Millar said: “It was great to meet John Mason MP and discuss the work of Reed in Partnership nationally and in the local community. Helping the long-term unemployed and single parents is becoming particularly important in these difficult times, and Reed in Partnership wants to make sure we are doing all we can to help.”