If elected I will … Frontline 40 candidates on their private member’s bills
The state of New York’s usury law provides a good example of how a modern usury statute works. Annual interest rates on personal loans of less than $250,000 (approximately £150,000) are capped at 16 per cent per annum. Generally speaking, a personal loan agreement with an interest rate in excess of 16 per cent is not permissible under New York law. Furthermore, personal loan agreements with interest rates in excess of 25 per cent are not only not enforceable, but amount to a criminal act by the lender. To put it another way, the sorts of interest rates that Wonga charges are not only not allowed under New York law, they are criminal. Usury laws are essentially a progressive concept based on a recognition that vulnerable people will be exploited if markets for personal lending are not regulated by the state. Reintroducing this basic concept into English law could in a single stroke reform the entire UK personal lending market, including not just online lenders like Wonga, but also other players in the financial services industry like doorstep lenders, credit card companies and finance companies.
Posted by Todd Foreman on 5 September 2013
My private member’s bill would propose devolving the budgets and responsibilities of big failing national employment programmes to local level. It would mean that money was channelled into effective initiatives and not into the pockets of big, failing private sector contractors. Crucially, it would also mean we helped more of our young people into work, training and meaningful activities – not left abandoned and sinking further into despair.
Posted by Catherine West on 13 September 2013
Labour MPs called on the government earlier this year to impose apprenticeship agreements on all central government contracts worth over £1m. Enterprising Labour councils have stuck to around a £100,000 threshold. This is not just an opportunity for nationwide headline figures, but for apprenticeships in every community across the country. While examples of best practice focus on the value of the contract, I would point out that contractors have local or regional HR departments, press teams, project managers and logistics officers. Linking the levy not just to the contract value but to the employees working in each sector within the company could open up apprenticeships at a local level in all of these fields. If apprenticeships are to become the respected career path they ought to be, there needs to be an automatic apprenticeship clause in any local or central government contract in the same way there is for green space in section 106 monies, and road improvements and shops in the community infrastructure levy. No one would argue that apprenticeships are not as important to our communities as shrubbery and slip roads, and they need legislative backing that reflects this.
Posted by Veronica Bennett on 5 September 2013
Getting Labour moving
Remarkably, the coalition government has not managed to let a single long-term franchise in its first three years and has only slated the East Coast, currently being run by a government-owned subsidiary, for contracting out, a vindictive act born of the dislike of seeing a successful, publicly owned enterprise. This means most franchises are currently being temporarily extended until the department has the resources to re-let them. This franchising failure makes it ripe for Labour to simply allow them to expire as they run out and create a publicly owned organisation to run them, as has happened with the highly successful East Coast franchise since 2009. Moreover, they could be coordinated by a new strategic body, perhaps melded in with Network Rail in order to create a much more integrated railway – by far the best and most efficient model.
Posted by Christian Wolmar on 13 September 2013
To enable genuine local transport integration, we must devolve responsibility for regional and local rail services. All the evidence suggests that the ability to specify services and manage contracts locally leads to improvements for passengers, with a renewed focus on investment such as new rolling stock and station improvements. Most importantly, it enables single ticketing systems across rail and bus services regardless of mode or operator. A future Labour government should begin this process by devolving the Northern, Transpennine and West Midlands rail services to partnerships made up of local authorities. Transport for London should also be able to take over more of the local commuter services into London, across the old Network South East area, provided they create an accountable structure of governance involving local councils. I am determined that the next Labour government will ensure that every decision over transport is taken at the lowest possible level, with funding and power devolved as part of a new English Deal for Transport.
Posted by Maria Eagle MP on 13 September 2013
Winning with women
If we really want to reach out to young women, we need to look within our party to the best resource we have: young women activists. Our young women are our ambassadors among a group that is often hard to reach. As Harriet Harman said at Progress’ Winning With Women conference, women activists are still pioneers. She said that it was our sisterly duty to break through as women in politics and break down barriers for other women. As young women bucking the trend by being involved in politics, we have a duty to engage and mobilise our peers. Word of mouth can be a powerful thing. An endorsement from someone you know, trust and empathise with is a strong one, especially among young people who are not involved in politics and do not happen to watch Newsnight every night. I found that during the 2010 general election, when I was doing my A-levels, friends who had not shown an interest in politics before saw that I was involved and started asking questions and taking an interest.
Posted by Bex Bailey on 12 September 2013