amendment of the law

Debate between Barry Gardiner and Mike Kane

Monday 24th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mike Kane]

Poor working people were going hungry, and he campaigned for them, so I think he would understand that poor working people are now cold, and that he would campaign for them as well.

[Barry Gardiner]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Mike Kane]

Do I get an extra minute? Yes? Then I will give way.

[Barry Gardiner]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. May I assist him by saying that Richard Cobden might have thought the price freeze less important than the restructuring of the vertical integration in the market, which it was buying time in order to do?

[Mike Kane]

I agree with that, even if I do not quite understand all of it. It was very good. I am very proud that Richard Cobden ran his campaign from Manchester and changed the world. Once he had won, the campaign eventually brought down the Peel Government, so there is hope for us on these Benches.

My second point is that we should put young people back to work. Nearly 900,000 young people are out of work in this country, and many are in my constituency. Their parents are very worried about their children’s future. Nearly 1,000 young people under the age of 24 in my constituency are in that position. We could pay for measures to address that with a tax on the bankers bonuses. In 1997, the new deal did an immense amount for the estates in Wythenshawe. In my opinion, it did even more than the introduction of the national minimum wage. It transformed the estates and got people back into work, which makes a great difference to the cohesion in our communities.

Finally, it would make a real difference to the standard of living in my constituency if we were to extend free child care for working parents to 25 hours a week for their three and four-year-olds. That would help more young women to get back into the workplace. The lack of affordable child care is a real obstacle for working poor families, but we could achieve that change in the next Parliament while balancing the nation’s books in a fairer and more equitable way.