Labour MPs praise our campaign

29 September 2011

Labour politicians praised IOSH’s latest campaign and spoke up for health and safety at their annual conference.

Our head of policy and public affairs, Richard Jones, and public affairs adviser Andrew Baldwin were joined by e-Editor Shaun Gibbons at the party’s gathering in Liverpool as the Institution continued its ongoing drive to place occupational safety and health at the forefront of political thinking.

In an excellent few days at the ACC Liverpool, the team met with five shadow ministers and five backbench MPs, and attended seven fringe events.

Richard said: “All the parliamentarians we met were very supportive and interested in our Li£e Savings campaign. Our meeting with Stephen Timms was particularly key as the Shadow Work and Pensions Minister. He was very interested in our campaign and our previous work with the Department for Work and Pensions.

“I guess the biggest surprise was to discover that MP Steve Rotheram has the Nebosh certificate and was once an IOSH member.”

Andrew said the political party conferences give IOSH a chance to convey the views of its members.

He said: “Our members often tell us what Government legislation has done, or could do better, and we pass these comments directly on to those who make the law.

“For IOSH, party conferences offer a fantastic opportunity to lobby a large number of MPs in a very short space of time.  Stopping a minister or shadow minister to have a chat is something you simply can’t do anywhere else.”

Catch up with Shaun’s IOSH blog postings from the Labour conference here.