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The two themes clearly very close to Mark Lazarowicz's heart are
climate change and the importance of being in touch and engaged
with the public. The Committees he sits on fit well with
this: the special Parliamentary Committee on the Draft Climate
Change Bill, the Environment Audit Committee and the Modernisation
Committee, which looks at ways of modernising the way the
Parliament works to make it more relevant and accessible to the
public.
Politics has been a part of his working life for a long time,
first as a Councillor in Edinburgh for 17 years, including 7 years
as Leader of the Council, and then as a Labour and Co-operative MP
since 2001. When asked about his influences and his beliefs
he cites "the experience of everyday life" and the "whole issue of
climate change" as motivating factors behind his life in
politics.
Having a young family has made him more and more aware of the
urgency of climate change, concerned about what is going to be
there for them in 50 to 100 years: "Internationally [Britain]
is certainly providing leadership but I don't think we are doing
enough and I don't think the world community is doing enough yet
and it is extremely worrying - are we as a human race going to turn
around in time? I'm not sure we are." This does not
mean we should give up however; we should keep trying to bring
about the actions that will tackle climate change: "there isn't an
alternative; we just have to try and shift the pattern of
activity".
Although climate change is clearly a huge concern for Mark, it
is only one of many social justice issues that he works on.
Prior to Alistair Darling's first budget he joined with a number of
MPs in writing a letter to the Chancellor about child
poverty. After 10 years in government is the passion for
social justice still there in the Labour Party? He believes
so, "I think that it is necessary to reassert those principles and
I think they are still there. You have to make sure you are
fulfilling them from time to time".
He is the chair of the Westminster All Party Parliamentary Group
on Debt & Personal Finance, and a vice convener of the Scottish
Parliament cross party group on tackling debt, the only cross party
group to have cross parliament representation. Again it is
the experience of everyday life that has inspired him to work in
this area, "I see the effects on some of the poorest in our
community. I think particularly in somewhere like Edinburgh
where you do have a lot of people on high incomes because of that
you also see quite a gap of wealth between extremes of wealth and
poverty". He believes there are some quite interesting things
being done by Government to try and tackle debt and financial
exclusion and also sees this as an area where he can have influence
as most of the policies are still decided at a UK level.
He is sometimes quite guarded about giving concrete solutions
and is obviously aware of the complexity of many issues and walking
the political tightrope of constructive criticism. This is
particularly evident when asked about the Government's policies on
migration. It is a very "difficult issue to try and get the
right balance", as he wants to see an open attitude but doesn't
take the view that there should be unlimited migration. Lines
have to be drawn somewhere he argues but the right tone and
attitude must be established. He uses an example from his
constituency to explain: "I had an experience of someone who came
to me the other day who was a skilled building worker and he tells
me he and all his colleagues have just been made redundant because
his work has been taken by Eastern European workers who are being
paid £7 an hour which is a half or even maybe a third of what he
was getting previously. My view is that there are tensions
out there; you have to recognise they exist; you have to try and
then take the right kind of measures to resolve them where you can
and my view is that you have to try and ensure migrant workers get
paid decent wages in the UK, are not exploited, are not allowed to
be exploited by those supplying housing so therefore we insist that
they don't feel threatened in the same way."
As he is the first MP to be interviewed for the SCPO update we
spend quite a lot of time (although not by his choosing) on
constitutional issues and trying to glean an insight into the
Westminster/Holyrood relationship. He was a member of the
Executive Committee of the Scottish Constitutional Convention which
drew up proposals for the Scottish Parliament and stood for
Holyrood in 1999 so is clearly very supportive of devolution.
He is however, visibly concerned about constitutional issues and
party politics dominating the landscape and doesn't think that
matters such as the West Lothian question are really as important
as some people think. He is keen to see wider engagement of
the public in politics, not just "the usual suspects".
So how has the relationship between Holyrood and Westminster
changed since the SNP formed a government? "Clearly it's not
brilliant, I suppose that might be stating the obvious. I
think that there are tensions - the SNP are responsible for most of
those. There are certainly some of their Ministers, some of
their people, who want to see opportunities to promote division, to
further forward their agenda and I can see plenty examples of where
that seems to be the case. On some issues there are those who
are trying to work in a constructive manner. I accept that
equally at Westminster there hasn't always been recognition that
there has been a change of administration. I hope that after
the initial period passes on both sides there will be the
recognition that the interests of Scotland require people to
cooperate. In other places where there are devolved and regional
governments, different parties manage to do that and I think we
have to do that here as well in the interests of Scotland."
He gives an example to illustrate his point: "there is an issue
about the Barnett formula funding for Scotland which undoubtedly
does benefit Scotland financially and I would justify that because
of the nature of Scotland's needs and the size of the geographical
differences". It is difficult, however, for MPs to defend the
Barnett formula when some people in the Scottish Government are
"always complaining they get a raw deal, it's always an unfair
arrangement and it's difficult for us to defend an arrangement,
which in my view is in our favour, when you get this music that is
coming from Scotland as well at the same time."
This is the most direct response to a question in the whole
interview and is somewhat graciously qualified in his next response
to a question about advice on the world of politics. "I
suppose when I started out in politics some decades ago I think I
tended to take the view that my political beliefs, my views, those
of my party, were always right and as I have grown older I have
become to realise that the other point of view is often quite valid
as well."
Connections with other people, his constituents, and other
points of view are clearly important to Lazarowicz, as he cites the
danger of becoming detached from reality as the strangest aspect of
the life of an MP. "I'm aware of how you can get detached.
The degree to which it's very easy at Westminster to become
detached from the real world, where you are away from your home and
your constituency and you've got all the security round it which
creates the atmosphere of being in a separate planet within a wider
world."
Finally, the last insight into his mantra and his approach to
politics: "For politicians I think the advice really is always try
and listen to people to what people out there in the street are
saying. That is one of the things about the British political
system that I think is actually quite good because of the way in
which we operate there is an expectation that you do listen to and
are in touch with constituents and the public even if it's just
through surgeries and other activity - you are in touch in a way
politicians in other countries aren't."