Tag: Mark Lazarowicz

MP seeks assurances on St James Centre Post Office

St James Centre redevelopment will see Post Office move to Princes Mall
St James Centre redevelopment will see Post Office move to Princes Mall

Following confirmation that the Central Edinburgh Post Office will be moving from the St James Shopping Centre to Princes Mall, Mark Lazarowicz MP has called for the Post Office to make a commitment to seek to move back once the redevelopment of the St James Centre is complete – and in the meantime to make sure that the other post offices in the area are able to meet the needs of customers.

Mark Lazarowicz said: “Given the announcement that the redevelopment of the centre will now be going ahead I can understand the decision to move the central Post Office to Princes Mall but I believe that should only be temporary while the redevelopment takes place.

“I am urging the Post Office to make a commitment to seek to move back into the centre once it is finished and in the meantime to ensure that facilities in Princes Mall are as accessible as possible for elderly and disabled customers.

“Self-service machines could continue to be located in the St James Centre until the redevelopment begins and facilities at other post offices in the area like Elm Row and Frederick Street should be enhanced to ensure they can cope with larger numbers of customers if some people switch to using them instead.”

“A Post Office should be part of the plans for the new St James Centre if it is to meet all of the retail needs of local residents.”

The Post Office announcement confirmed its decision on the move after a consultation to which Mark Lazarowicz MP made a submission stressing these points. The consumer watchdog, Consumer Futures, also expressed its concern over the move, in particular over access at the proposed site in Princes Mall for customers with limited mobility needs.

Reliance on food banks show that the economy’s not working – Larazowicz

Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz says the growing number of families turning to food banks for help is an indictment of the Chancellor’s autumn statement claim that his ‘economic plan is working.’

The MP recently helped local church volunteers from the Leith Food Bank with a food collection at Tesco in Leith. The food collection was organised in conjunction with food bank charity the Trussell Trust and food redistribution charity FareShare. Tesco donated an extra 30% to the food bank, on top of the goods given by customers.

Mark Lazarowicz said: “The Chancellor’s economic plan is certainly not working for the families who will be forced to look to food banks for help this Christmas. Initiatives like this one in Leith show the strength of community spirit here in Edinburgh but it is an indictment that they should be needed at all.

“The Chancellor talked of ‘difficult decisions’ on spending and ‘living within our means’– parents struggling to meet fuel and food bills are all too familiar with that.

“According to Citizens Advice Scotlandhalf of those helped by food banks are in work – they will be much less sure than the Chancellor that the economy is heading in the right direction.”

The North and Leith MP is also backing the campaign by Unite, the Daily Mirror and the Trussell Trust to raise funds for food banks to help families in crisis this Christmas and to call for a Parliamentary debate on the issue.

Leith’s food bank was launched in October as the result of an initiative by local churches – the number of UK Food Banks has trebled since 2009.

Westminster congratulations for Professor Peter Higgs

Mark Lazarowicz MP put down a Parliamentary motion, an ‘Early Day Motion’, last week to congratulate Edinburgh’s Professor Peter Higgs on the award of this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics. Among those supporting the North and Leith MP’s motion were fellow Edinburgh MPs Alistair Darling and Mike Crockart. 

Professor Peter Higgs, who is now Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh, was awarded the prize in recognition of his theoretical discovery of the origins of mass of the fundamental particles that make up the world. His theoretical work first published in 1964 was confirmed in July 2012 – almost half a century later – by the Hadron Collider based in Switzerland showing just how groundbreaking his work was.

A shy and modest man, Professor Higgs shares the prize with a Belgian physicist,François Englert, who also published on the same subject in the summer of 1964.

Mark Lazarowicz said: “Professor Higgs’ achievement has at last received the long awaited recognition of the award of the Nobel Prize, and as the MP for the constituency where Professor Higgs lives I wanted to make sure that achievement and award was marked by Parliament also.”

Professor Higgs has announced that he will formally retire next year, when he is 85.

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Leith MP focuses on food bank fears

Mark Lazarowicz, MP for North and Leith, visited a ‘pop-up’ food bank outside the Houses of Parliament this week, and earlier today he at the Kirkgate collecting signatures for a petition to highlight the issue of growing poverty and the increased reliance on food parcels across the UK.

Mr Lazarowicz said: “Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are now forced to get support from food banks. Leith is the latest area where a food bank is being set up. I have enormous respect for the dedication of staff and volunteers who are helping through food banks to meet the growing need for food aid but that need is a clear sign of Government failure.

“The depressed state of the economy combined with cuts in welfare support have led many people, both in and out of work, to turn to food banks as a last resort. The growth of food banks is stark evidence of the failure of Government economic and employment policy. Food banks show just how much people in our community care for the most vulnerable but they shouldn’t have to be a substitute for Government action. That’s why I am supporting this petition, which calls for the government to ensure there is an accurate count of the number of people using food banks in Scotland and for Government action to ensure that no families in the UK go hungry.”

Before Christmas, the North and Leith MP took part in food collection drives at local supermarkets and he recently attended a meeting at South Leith Parish Church Halls to look at setting up a food bank in Leith.

Britain’s largest network of food banks, the Trussell Trust (which is involved in the proposal to set up a food bank in Leith), estimates that they will need to support in excess of 260,000 people over the next year.

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Local MP calls for immediate investment in Port of Leith

Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz has called for immediate government investment in the Port of Leith. Participating in yesterday’s Westminster debate on unemployment in Scotland, he called for new investment in infrastructure by Government both north and south of the border to create new jobs, pointing to plans to develop the Port of Leith as a potential focus for Government-backed investment.

The North and Leith MP said: “Youth unemployment has risen sharply locally and there is also a problem of underemployment – people aren’t able to get as much work as they would like, whether with their employer or where they are self-employed.

“House building is always a sign of activity in the economy as a whole and there have been only 8 new homes built in Edinburgh North and Leith in the last quarter. Yet once again in his autumn statement the Chancellor failed to provide funding for new affordable housing.

“There were no plans either for High Speed 2 to extend to Scotland. In other sectors where the Government has announced investment – often more than once – little has happened on the ground. The Chancellor heralded new capital investment again today, but it needs to happen now not in some dim and distant future.

“A £119 million development of the Port of Leith is on a list of shovel ready projects here in Scotland. Both the UK and Scottish Governments need to get on with projects like this to create jobs so that young people desperately seeking work are not left disillusioned.”

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Lazarowicz supports food initiative

Mark Lazarowicz, MP for Edinburgh North & Leith has pledged to help local residents living on the breadline by signing up to volunteer at a local food drive.

The Million Meal Appeal – where shoppers can donate food to help local people in crisis – is being organised by charity FareShare and Sainsbury’s stores across the country, including Sainsbury’s at Blackhall. As part of the appeal on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th October, Mark Lazarowicz MP has signed up to help collect donations.

Mark Lazarowicz MP said: “The Million Meal Appeal will help local families struggling with rising living costs and cuts to tax credits. Food banks do an excellent job but I know that demand is rising under this government. I am supporting the Million Meal Appeal and I urge others to visithttp://www.fareshare.org.uk to see how they can help.”

Volunteers will be asked to greet customers and encourage them to buy an extra item of food from the Million Meal Appeal shopping list. Donations will be collected as shoppers leave the store. FareShare will then deliver the donated food to over 700 charities and community projects across the UK to help families in need. Sainsbury’s will match the level of food donations collected over the weekend.

FareShare is seeking more volunteers to assist with the two-day food drive. Volunteers can sign up at http://www.fareshare.org.uk to register, and choose their preferred store and time slot.

 

Local MP backs action on pre-payment meters

Mark Lazarowicz MP (pictured above) backs action on fuel poverty to help cut bills of pre-payment meter users

With steep rises in energy prices on the way this winter, Mark Lazarowicz MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, is backing a new Bill to make it easier for customers who use pre-payment meters (PPMs) for their gas and electricity to switch suppliers.

Currently, users can switch providing they are not more than £200 in debt – the Bill would raise that to £300 benefitting over 200,000 people.  Mark said:  “This Bill matters because pre-payment meter users pay more for their gas or electricity even though they are over twice as likely to be in fuel poverty than those who pay by direct debit.  People often use PPMs because they are trying to budget responsibly – in some cases precisely because they were in debt – but debts for fuel bills can take a long time to pay off when someone can only afford to pay off a small amount each week. The Government is always urging consumers to switch – this Bill would make it easier for PPM users to do so and they are the people who could benefit most.”

The number of pre-payment users has risen steadily in recent years either as a conscious choice or because suppliers install a meter where someone is in debt to them. Last year over 15% of electricity customers in the UK used PPMs (4.1 million) and 13% of gas customers (2.9 million).

A recently published study by Consumer Focus found that one in six pre-payment users cut off their own energy supply in order to make ends meet – a measure of how carefully they are budgeting.  Traditionally pre-payment users have paid much more for their gas and electricity than those who pay by direct debit or standard credit.

There have been improvements more recently due to action by the regulator, Ofgem, so that the prices PPM users pay better reflect the costs of installing and maintaining the meters, but further action is needed to ensure PPM users get a fair deal.