Is Steve Reed Still Unsure About His Role?

No one says it would be easy to change from being Leader of a Council to an Opposition Member of Parliament. It requires a major change in political strategy and tactics. Steve Reed, elected as Croydon North’s MP eight months ago, still seems to be in that process of change.

·      The last entry on his blog was back in January: http://cllrstevereed.wordpress.com.

·      His recent emailed newsletter mentions the forthcoming Jobs Fair he is organising with no details as to time or venue, and there are no details on the Croydon Labour website.

·      Still no news on progress with his other initiatives announced earlier this year.

He gets brownie points for his keeping  up the pressure on the non-payment of riot compensation which he raised in the House on 5 June: see www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/05/mp-steve-reed-riots-compensation_n_3392029.html. He could up the pressure with more campaigning at local level and with MPs in other 2011 riot hit areas.

But he missed the opportunity to castigate  Croydon’s cultural disengagement in the Labour Opposition led debate about Britain’s cultural industries in the House of Commons on Wednesday  19 June.

Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harman proposed:

‘That this House 

notes the importance to the UK of the arts and creative industries, with art and culture enriching the lives of individuals, reinforcing a sense of local community, and being vital to the economy, generating more than £36 billion a year and employing 1.5 million people;
calls on the Government actively to support the arts by developing a strategy for the arts and creative industries;
believes that this should include putting creativity at the heart of education, ensuring that creative industries have access to finance and funding, protecting intellectual property supporting the arts and creative industries, including museums and galleries, in all nations and regions of the country, not just London, and attracting inward investment and providing support for exports;
recognises that it is not only right in principle that the arts should be for everyone but that the arts thrive when they draw on the pool of talent of young people from every part of the country and all walks of life;
and believes that a strong Department for Culture, Media and Sport with a Secretary of State standing up for the arts is crucial.’

Reed only raised as questions to Labour colleagues matters relating to the libraries and to the BRIT school.

·         ‘My hon. Friend makes a powerful defence of public libraries. Does she share my concerns about Croydon council, which is not only proposing to privatise its libraries, but to hand them over to the bidder that offered the worst value for money of the three bids that it received?’

·         ‘My hon. Friend is making a great case for the strength of the cultural and creative industries in the UK, and the music industry in particular. Will he join me in congratulating the BRIT school, which is located in the constituency   that I have the pleasure to represent, for the great contribution that it has made to the music industry, not least through artists such as Amy Winehouse and Adele?’

No mention of the closure of David Lean Cinemas, the shafting of the Warehouse Theatre, the proposed sale of items in the Riesco Collection, or the take- over of majority control on the Boards of Fairfield Halls and the London Mozart Players.

The full debate can be seen through www.parliament.uk/business/news/2013/june/opposition-debate-on-the-arts-and-creative-industries.