Paul Blomfield: ‘Politics affects all. You have no choice. Only way you students can shape governmen
- TARUKA SRIVASTAVA
- Nov 16, 2015
- 4 min read
Paul Blomfield was recently at Sheffield Hallam University’s Students HUBS where he interacted with students on various issues. The event called “The Big Conversation” are being held for constituents to interact with their constituency’s MP Paul Blomfield.
Paul Blomfield was only a student when he first started an Anti-Apartheid Movement at school and continued with his activities in St John's College, York where he twice became the President of the Students' Union. He became Sheffield Central’s MP (Labour Party) after a landslide victory earlier this year and it comes as no surprise when he was voted by Guardian as the 2015’s most inspiring leader in higher education.
As to what makes him so popular, he says with a smile, “I was very delighted to be voted by the Guardian as the most inspiring leader in higher education. I think the popularity is because I have been representing students and raising issues concerning students and universities consistently in the Parliament. Back in college days, I was also a member of the National Executive Committees of both the National Union of Students and the Anti-Apartheid Movement. I have set up an all party parliamentary group for students to give voice to those in education directly with House of Commons and House of Lords to make sure their interests are championed.”
According to him very few students are involved in active politics which results in government ignoring their interest. He makes a plea to the students, “The point I always try to make to students is that Politics affects everyone. You have no choice in that. The decisions that politicians make will affect your life. The choice you have is that when you get involved, it helps to shape those decisions. Students and widely young people are notoriously uninvolved at the moment. In the last general elections only 45% under 24 took part in elections while over 65 years made the 75%. It’s not a surprise though. If younger people aren’t voting, the government ignores them and that was certainly the case in last Parliament. Universities fees were tripled, youth unemployment was the area not properly dealt with, young people housing needs and cut in education allowances for people making transition from schools to universities. Young people got a rough deal in the parliament and therefore my plea would be that they should get involved and make your voice heard.” He is also part of the Immigration Bill Committee where he will be scrutinising the controversial Government’s proposed legislation line-by-line. According to him it’s a gimmick for David Cameron’s government to gain brownie points and appease the headline writers in the daily mail and daily express which even by their own criteria of trying to responsibly manage immigration will be counterproductive. He adds, “The government says they want to see an end to exploitation in the labour market and illegal working, the way to do that is cut down on the employees who do it. What they are doing instead in the immigration bill is criminalizing the workers who are being exploited. So that will make it more difficult for workers to come forward and blow the whistle on the employer as the employer will be able to threaten them saying if they do whistle blow, they will end up in 12 months prison. It’s a crazy policy. They are introducing requirement on landlords to prove the nationality of people they let properties to. My big worry is that this will lead to discrimination that landlord will face with hurdles to demonstrate the nationality of people and face criminal charges if they get it wrong.”
He believes that International students are a part of collateral damage of government’s immigration bills as they were an easy section to target to gain more votes. The government started picking on easy sections of migration figures and students were a part of it so they set out with an objective of making a hostile environment for migrants coming to this country. Unfortunately this included international students. He says, “The government set out target to reduce net migration to ten thousands from hundreds of thousands. They said that in 2010 and realized it was a bit more difficult than that. International students are unambiguously good for our country. They enrich our campuses, they contribute to the cultural diversity of our cities and they contribute hugely economically something like 7000 jobs depending on International students. We should be actively encouraging more international students to come and not less but they have been a collateral damage of a toxic migration policy. My argument is that we should value International students and encourage them to come to this country.”
The government has amended laws and made it tougher for International students especially those on tier 4 visas. Those on tier 4 visas face restrictions on part time work and can’t be employed until they find themselves a sponsor. Even if they do find a sponsor, they are supposed to return to their home country to apply for a working visa. “I have worked very hard on International students and currently trying to persuade the government very hard to change course in respect to how they are damaging our reputation with International students and making life difficult so I lead inquiries which have called for better post study work opportunities for International students,” he said.
The recent Trade Union bill has left him furious. He is challenging the government by voting against it and urged the Government to do more to boost pay for the nearly one-in-four workers in Sheffield who are paid below the living wage. However going against the government isn’t easy especially if you belong to the opposition party. He says, “Fighting the government on the trade union law is very difficult and we have won no victories. We made good, strong evidence based arguments as to why the proposals are vindictive in practical and break some of the conventions in British politics. Particularly around the way political parties are funded but they are not listening. They are out to use the trade union bill to undermine the voice of working people and to weaken the Labour party and they are making no concessions.”
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