Lib Dem leader ignites jobs row on visit to city (From Durham Times)

Lib Dem leader ignites jobs row on visit to city

1:29pm Friday 5th February 2010

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A UNION last night claimed that Liberal Democrat plans for policing would cost white collar jobs in Durham if they were implemented.

The party is pledging to reverse cuts in frontline officers and add 3,000 policemen across the country over five years.

It says the money would come from savings made by scrapping Labour’s multimillion pound identity card project.

But the union that represents workers at the city’s Passport Office fears that some of its members would lose their jobs as a result.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne visited the city – a target in the General Election with a Labour majority of less than 3,000. Along with local parliamentary candidate Carol Woods, they heard about Durham Police’s Eddy programme, which aims to divert youngsters from crime.

Mr Clegg also spoke about the party’s policies on policing and said axing identity card would fund extra police.

The scheme has been launched on a voluntary trial basis in the Manchester area. People pay £30 for the card and can travel passport-free within the EU.

Jeff McGough, northern secretary of the PCS union’s Identity and Passport Service branch, said up to 100 jobs could be at risk in Durham under Mr Clegg’s plans.

He said: "The Public and Commercial Services union at the Identity and Passport Service in Durham are concerned by this development, with regard not only to the potential impact on our members' jobs, but also the economy in the Durham City area and its surrounding communities. PCS members in the Durham office have worked very hard on the ID card project.

“PCS members, as civil servants, are tasked with implementing Government policy, and would want this scheme to lead to an increase in jobs for the local community. It is for politicians and civil servants to comment on the merits of the scheme.”

The city’s Labour MP, Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods, confronted the senior Lib Dems when they arrived at Durham railway station.

She said: “It has today become clear that Clegg's way of funding his plans is to cut jobs in Durham's Passport Office which administers the voluntary ID cards scheme.

“Clegg needs to come clean on how many of my constituents'

jobs he wants to cut.

“I have visited Durham's Passport Office on a number of occasions, including recently with the Minister, Meg Hillier, and I have seen for myself the excellent and very professional job they do. I want to keep those jobs in this city, but the Lib Dems clearly want rid of them.

“The Lib Dem parliamentary candidate must now tell us if she supports Mr Clegg's plan to take jobs away from our Passport Office.

If she fully supports this policy, will she be reminding people of these plans in her leaflets between now and the election?

“I also asked Clegg and Huhne if they were coming to Durham to commend the police on their success in reducing the crime rate 14.4 per cent over the past year. I doubt they will.”

Mr Clegg, who was visiting the Eddy project at the Rivergreen Centre, Aykley Heads, said that saving £570m from the identity card scheme would fund the party’s plans over the life of a Parliament.

He described the card, that is linked to databases containing people’s personal details, “unnecessary”

and said: “The Government is wasting our money on something that won’t work.

“People don’t want to pay £30 for a piece of plastic, particularly if the Government will store that information on a database, given its record on data loss in recent years.”

He said more officers on the beat, diversionary schemes like Eddy, and citizens’ panels for minor offenders were the way to tackle crime. He said that directly- elected police authorities would also help.

Carol Woods, the party’s candidate for the city, said: “The Passport Office in Durham flourished before Labour’s botched introduction of ID cards, it will continue to do so whether the scheme continues or not.

“This is opportunistic scaremongering from the MP, who is trying to distract from the issue Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne came to Durham to discuss today. Under her watch, police numbers in Durham have fallen each and every year. Rather than try and score cheap points on the platform of a train station, she should be taking her Government to task on the floor of the House of Commons for their scandalous cuts to our police force.”

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