Jim Sheridan MP

PMQ Wednesday 11th January:

Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire, North) (Lab): In my constituency, another company, Inventec, has announced that it will transfer its manufacturing facility to eastern Europe, which will result in the loss of some 370 jobs. Does my right hon. Friend agree with many hon. Members on this side of the House that British workers deserve more protection when such decisions are made by faceless people who are driven by corporate greed and the exploitation of cheap labour?

My email to Mr Sheridan's assistant:

I understand Mr Sheridan's responsibilities to his constituency, but please pass on to him my concern that his materially-driven question is rather ironic. 370 jobs are very important, but does he want Mr Blair to protect all British jobs? Does he want to protect his own constituents at the expense of other parts of the country?

Having spent the summer in Bucharest and viewing first hand the attempts of that great nation to rebuild itself following decades of Communist rule Mr Sheridan's suggestion that their workers are being "exploited" is hard to believe. In my experience the companies that are giving them jobs are driven not by "greed" (Mr Sheridan has been reading too many Charles Dickens novels and watching Hollywood movies - he should grow up), but by a competitive pressure to produce goods that consumers want. The fact that this takes them to Eastern Europe should, I believe, be celebrated.

The heinous crimes of socialism have kept Eastern European countries in the dark ages for decades, and now that they've embraced a market economy things are looking bright. I think it horrendous that a Scottish MP (who's ideology delivered the original poverty) to now be attempting to block their recovery.

It is ironic that he blames "corporate greed" when in actual fact his question is nothing more than a financially driven begging for protection, whilst the firms he accuses of facelessness are spreading liberty and freedom.  I can forgive economic ignorance, but not hypocrisy.