Reviewed
by: Col, St Helens 02/01/05
As
a constituent of St Helens South, I find my Labour MP Shaun Woodward
not to be totally unrepresentative, he has done some good work
with regard to occupational pensions, he has signed a couple of
decent Early Day Motions and he does take an interest in his constituency.
However, with regard to many other issues such as his support
and apologetics for the unjustified and illegal Iraq War, for
his unquestioning support for Blair, for supporting Foundation
Hospitals, University Tuition Fees, I.D. cards and for failing
to hold the present Government to account for it's actions I find
him to be a massive disappointment.
These
are the facts (with some comments) about Shaun Woodward and how
he has actually represented St Helens South:
SHAUN
WOODWARD:
Background:
Biography
(Source: The Guardian)
Interests
(Source: The House of Commons)
MP
Website (Source: Labour Party) - (It's
worth pointing out that this is a very good site, there's no reason
to believe it is not a genuine attempt to engage with his constituency).
Parliamentary
Speeches:
"The
UN and Saddam Hussein", House of Commons 25/11/02
(Source:
MP Website)
In
this speech Mr Woodward has the following to say, "Saddam...the
danger he poses...through the laboratories that are working to
produce chemical and biological weapons...They are probably working
to produce nuclear weapons...We know that not only from our own
intelligence, but from people who have defected...I support the
Government." So Mr Woodward regurgitated the propaganda and
mistruths in the lead up to war, but what has he done since, now
the argument for war has been totally disproved? He, perhaps unknowingly,
(I'm being generous here), lied to the public in the House of
Commons during one of his very few speeches. What has he done
now he knows that to be the case? Well, not a lot.
In
the speech he also went on to say regarding a possible war, "The
consequences, however, will reveal whether our global coalition
acts only out of united self-interest, or works genuinely towards
a greater humanitarian goal." Well I think Abu Ghraib prison,
Iraqi civilian disappearances, thousands of civilian deaths, the
lack of civil infrastructure, massive unemployment, poor water
and electricity supplies and so on, whilst the country has been
illegally privatised and US contractors are engaged in financial
irregularities and fraud should go a long way to answering that
question. Isn't it interesting that in the days that followed
the fall of Bagdad, whilst all the public buildings, museums and
even hospitals were being looted, the Oil Ministry was under maximum
security. It really does speak volumes. If we were bringing democracy
and freedom to Iraq why do 90% of Iraqi's feel it is legitimate
to try and kill our soldiers? So Mr Woodward has had the goals
of Bush and Blair laid out, plain to see. What is his reaction?
I have put this question to him in my letter. I am awaiting a
reply but don't expect much looking at the following article posted
to his website shortly after the Mirror pictures were released.
"Iraq, Prisoners, Torture - Blair, Bush & Vietnam"
(22/05/04), some very poor rational indeed.
Parliamentary
Votes:
Summary
of Votes (Source: The Guardian)
All
Votes (Source: Publicwhip.org.uk)
In
Shaun Woodward's speech "The UN and Saddam Hussein"
above, after some discussion regarding the UN and Saddam being
cowed by military threat, Mr Woodward interestingly says, "Who
provides that military threat against him is most important -
more important than even the threat itself." I take this
to mean the importance of the UN. If that is the case why did
Mr Woodward vote against a Liberal Democrat amendment limiting
the justification for war with Iraq without further UN sanction
on the very same day? Could it be that he was just paying lip
service as so many politicians do to the concerns of the public
but when it comes to actually doing something and using their
power they kowtow to the likes of the big oil corporations. This
hypocrisy has also been put to Mr Woodward.
When
it came to the big Parliamentary votes for the Iraq war,
Mr Woodward abstained from 26/02/03 vote only to go and vote in
favour of war on 18/03/03. All talk of the importance
of the UN out of the window, Mr Woodward sanctioned an illegal,
immoral, unjustified and damaging war and as such must be held
to account.
More
recently he has also voted in favour of the creeping privatisation
of Hospitals and Universities. He voted in favour of Foundation
Hospitals on 19/11/03, which passed with just 17 votes and for
Tuition Fees on 27/01/04. Neither of which will benefit
St Helens or are representative of his electorate's wishes.
With
regard to Civil Rights, Mr Woodward has also been disappointing.
He voted for 'Anti-Terrorism' legislation giving the government
the right to detain foreigners without trial. We know
Blair and Blunkett want to dismantle trial by jury as a right
for the rest of us. Would he support that as well? Probably. He
has already spoken out in favour of ID cards, again with
some poor rational - just the same as store cards apparently,
('Introducing
a new weapon in the fight against crime' (26/11/04)). A 'free'
and 'democratic' country eh? He also voted against Freedom
of Information legislation which would have increased the transparency
of government and it's accountability to the people.
For
any good voting record which is representative of St Helens South
you have to go back to 20/05/99, when Mr Woodward voted
for a rebel motion to block government plans to limit incapacity
benefit. Back even further to 10/12/97 he voted against government
plans to cut lone parent benefits. However, at this point
he wasn't even the Labour MP for St Helens South, he was the Conservative
MP for Witney. All in all he is not representing me or this constituency
very well, putting it mildly.
Out
of the 774 votes Mr Woodward has participated it he has rebelled
against the party whip just twice. 99.7% of the time he supports
Blair.
On
the plus side however, Mr Woodward's maiden speech regarded the
importance of fox hunting and he recently voted in favour
of a hunting ban 15/09/04. It would seem he can change
his viewpoint on issues and perhaps respond to his electorate's
wishes. We hope so.
Written
Parliamentary Questions:
Recent
Debates & Written Questions (Source: TheyWorkForYou.com)
With
regard to Iraq, now everyone knows the reasons given for war were
fictitious. What has Mr Woodward now done to try and hold those
responsible to account? He was lied to himself and in turn he
lied to his constituents. What searching questions has he made
then, in order to make up for misleading the public and misrepresenting
his constituency? Here are all of the questions Mr Woodward has
put to the government with regard to Iraq, (the word Apologist
springs to mind):
"To
ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the humanitarian
projects that United Kingdom forces have (a) completed
and (b) not yet completed in Iraq since 1 May 2003."
(11/03/2004)
"To
ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Iraqi arms dumps
have been discovered in Iraq since 1 May 2003; and if he will
make a statement." (09/02/2004)
"To ask the Secretary of State for International Development
if he will list the humanitarian projects that the UK has (a)
completed and (b) not yet completed in Iraq since
1 May 2003." (19/01/2004)
"To
ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
how many schools have been renovated by coalition forces in Iraq
since 1 May." (11/12/2003)
"To
ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
how many Iraqi (a) civilians, (b) police officers
and (c) military police he estimates have been killed
in terrorist attacks in Iraq since 1 May." (19/11/2003)
At
least he's shown an interest in Iraqi civilian deaths in this
last question, but why is he just interested in 'terrorist' inflicted
deaths or does he mean US and British state terrorism which is
responsible for the killing of thousands? Probably not. Here is
the governments response:
"There
are no reliable statistics available for the number of civilian
casualties. I expect to have further information shortly on the
Iraqi police killed, and I will write to my hon. Friend.
Although
the first battalion of the Iraqi Army completed training on 4
October , there are no Iraqi military police at present."
Surely
this response warrants another question, "Why are there no
statistics available for the number of civilian casualties? Is
it because there are tens of thousands and it wont do their propaganda
campaign any good?"
How
about asking some proper questions such as, "Under whose
authority was Iraq's public services and state owned industry
and infrastructure privatised?" Or, "Now Iraq is 'sovereign',
'free' and a 'safer place', why are US and British forces still
bombing civilian areas and densely populated towns, killing hundreds
of innocents?"
Early
Day Motions Signed:
Early
Day Motions (Source: edm.ais.co.uk)
Shaun
Woodward has actually signed a couple of decent Early Day Motions
which reflect the views of his electorate and are issues which
affect St Helens. These were:
EDM
131 Child Poverty - Calling on the government to publish a co-ordinated
strategy to fulfil it's pledge to end child poverty by 2020.
EDM
200 Occupational Pensions - Calling on the government to introduce
legislation to compensate victims of pension lose due to company
insolvency.
EDM
2 Make Poverty History in 2005 Campaign - Calling for action aimed
at trade justice, dropping the debt and providing more and better
aid to make poverty history in 2005.
However,
in regard to a whole host of issues he has signed nothing. With
regard to Iraq alone he should have signed the following:
EDM
1263 Prosecution for War Crimes in Iraq
EDM
1084 Occupying Forces in Iraq
EDM
552 Iraq and Niger Uranium
EDM
542 Human Rights Watch's Assessment of the Humanitarian Case for
War in Iraq
EDM
502 Inquiry into War with Iraq
It
is obvious Mr Woodward does not wish to know the facts behind
the debacle of the Iraq War, he is happy to be an Apologist for
it.
To
conclude, looking at the facts, i.e. Mr Woodward's voting records,
parliamentary questions, articles he has written and speeches
he has made. It is safe to conclude that Shaun Woodward is an
unconditionally loyal Blairite who does not represent me or his
constituency to an extent which is satisfactory.
If
Shaun Woodward is your MP contact him and St Helens South Labour
Constituency Party to demand an explanation and urge for change.
Follow the links above and explore what Shaun Woodward has done
in your name with regard to issues which affect you.
Contact
Details:
Contact
Details (Source: The Guardian)
Constituency
Party Contact Details (Source: MP Website)
Letter
to Shaun Woodward (02/01/2005)
Response
from Shaun Woodward:
No
response despite numerous attempts - should therefore conclude
he has nothing to add to the above conclusion.
Indymedia
Article:
Article
posted to UK & Liverpool Indymedia (08/01/2005)
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