WESTMINSTER 16 Daylight Savings


Labour's Consumer Investigation


We launched our Consumer Investigation, which forms part of Labour's responsible business agenda. The Launch event took place at Citizens Advice Head Office where a number of consumer groups attended. It will look at the best ways of securing


confidence in markets so that they work for both business and consumers. People's confidence has been eroded by the surcharge culture that has been highlighted recently to the £7 billion payment protection insurance miss-selling scandal. I'm working with Consumer Champion Ed


Mayo who is leading the investigation. Ed was previously Chief Executive at Consumer Focus and has done an incredible amount of work campaigning for consumer rights. We will look at the tools for redress which people have access to such as open information and the possibility of making it easier for groups of people to bring forward "class action" suits. I'm really keen to hear from constituents


about any consumers issue that you may have been involved in. If there are any specific "consumer cons" or good consumer practice from businesses that you have come across, please do get in touch as it will help inform our investigation. I will keep you updated on our progress. At


the Launch, we agreed a Twitter hashtag #labourconsumer so if you're on twitter, feel free to tweet me with it.


Questions to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills


Last month also saw monthly BIS questions. This month I was able to question Vince Cable on his plans for executive pay. You can watch the footage from the


Chamber by clicking on the play button at the top left.


It's clear that there has to be greater


transparencyand disclosure of executive pay and this can be done by including an employee on remuneration committees and for firms to publish the ratio of the average pay of a worker to that of the highest paid executives. Please do get in touch if you'd like further information on any of the above topics.


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There has also been further consideration of the Private Member's Bill on Daylight Savings, a topic which has been hotly debated for many decades. The Bill, introduced by Rebecca Harris MP


was debated in detail during its committee stage and I spoke on behalf of the Opposition. We are clear that for any decision on changing the clocks should be based on detailed research which weighs up the pros and cons. I and many Scottish colleagues are concerned that a clock change may have a particular impact in northern parts of the UK. Indeed, a number of Scottish organisations and reports have stated that there could be considerable benefit to the whole of the UK. That is why we had no objection in principle to the Bill because it sought only to have Government produce a cross-departmental analysis of the costs and benefits of a possible time change. Most importantly, the devolved governments would be closely consulted and if they objected in any way then the change would not proceed. Having passed Committee Stage the Bill


then moved to its Third Reading on the floor of the House. However, a number of Government and SNP Backbenchers opposed to the proposal talked the Bill out, known as "filibustering". Therefore, the Bill is now dropped. However, I'm sure that it won't be the last time that a Bill of this kind appears on the Commons agenda.


EU/South Korea Free Trade Agreement


I have also been involved in debating a recent trade agrrement reached between the EU and South Korea. This will bring a tremendous benefit to the


Scotch whisky industry which is already one of the UK's biggest exports to Korea. It provides around £153 million worth of exports, equivalent to 35 million bottles of whisky. As well as positives for our industries, the


FTA is a good deal for South Korean people as the agreement includes binding social, labour and environmental standards as well as fundamental principles of the International Labour Organisaion (ILO) such as the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.


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