"Cleaning failures at one of Scotland's newest hospitals were yesterday blamed on the private firm managing the building...
Nigel Griffiths, Labour MP for Edinburgh South, said he would be calling a public meeting during the next month to investigate the problem.He said he would ask staff organisations such as the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing, as well as patient representatives and the hospital administrators, to give evidence."
Remind me, please. Is this Nigel Griffiths not a member of the Westminster government?
Indeed, he is Deputy Leader of the Commons, no 2 to Jack Straw.
And what responsibility does he have for health matters?
Absolutely none. He would not be able to raise the issue in the House of Commons, as health in Scotland is entirely a matter for Holyrood.
And is not Mr Griffiths one of Mr Gordon Brown's henchmen?
Of long standing. And as an ally of the Chancellor, one assumes that he is a supporter of the concept of public-private partnerships (formerly the private finance initiative) which is arguably responsible for ensuring that new hospitals are run by private firms, which may (or may not) be a contributory cause of the failure to clean them properly.
2 comments:
I don't really get your point.
He is an MP for the area and I therefore can't see any reason why he would not react to the story.
It's his job to take matters in his constituency seriously and to act on them. He is, is he not, paid a lot of money to REPRESENT the people there.
MSPs/MPs regularly liaise with councils over matters that are dealt with at a council level, but which is taking place in their constituency and no-one sees anything wrong in that. Nor should they - whether he is directly responsible for those matters or not, he WILL get contituents complining to him about it.
Are you next going to suggest that MSPs/MPs shouldn't comment on international issues over which they have no responsibility?
Fair enough. But one might expect that an MP would allow the MSPs in the area to take the lead on matters which are the responsibility of Holyrood. And there is a convention (admittedly breached with a certain regularity) that Ministers do not go public on issues which lie in another Minister's bailiwick.
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