Working to get working

June 28th, 2010

Poverty and unemployment should be top of any government’s priority list and its clear these issues are strongly linked.

We know that the route out of poverty is work and the best way for a government to tackle that is to create jobs and help people into them.

With the threat of unemployment rising, that work to help people out of poverty is even more challenging.

And I was given two reminders this week in parliament of the test we face in tackling these issues.

I met with the new Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore, and quizzed him on two of his coalition government’s policies that threaten jobs

First, we have the Futures Job Fund that got 11,000 young Scots back into work and will have helped nearly 500 here in Inverclyde by the time David Cameron cuts funding for the scheme next year.

And we now have the worry over the recently-announced review into defence spending that could see the aircraft carriers projects scrapped and more jobs put in doubt in the Govan shipyard.

Neither of the Scottish Secretary’s response gave me much comfort but I will continue to press him on both of these issues.

I was also surprised to hear that the Scottish Government had failed to discuss these issues with their counterparts in Westminster.

In a poverty debate this week, I was able to remind them that there was plenty they could do.

The scandal of equal pay was described by the trade unions as a poverty issue and this was accepted by the Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon.

Yet it is still no nearer to a resolution and the Scottish Government need to – as President Obama would say – kick ass.

While there is poverty and inequality in Scotland, there is always more work to do.