Webchat with Mhairi Black MP, Tuesday 12 January 11am-12pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce that the SNP’s Mhairi Black MP will be joining us at MNHQ on Tuesday 12th January between 11am and 12 midday. She’d particularly like to talk about the ‘Women Against State Pension Inequality’ campaign - see below for more details on that.

Mhairi Black is SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South and is the current ‘Baby of the House’ - the youngest member of the House of Commons. After joining the SNP in 2011 Mhairi was elected at the age of 20 in the 2015 General Election, whilst completing her undergraduate degree in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Glasgow. Her maiden speech made headlines, partly for the rule-breaking applause which followed it.

In support of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign, Mhairi secured a debate in the House of Commons on state pension age increases that some say discriminate against women born on or after 6th April 1951, calling the situation “grossly unfair”. The campaign is calling for the reversal of the decision to delay the retirement age for women born in 1953-1954 - you can read more about this here.

Please do join us on the day or leave a question here in advance - and as ever, please remember our Webchat Guidelines: one question per poster, and please do be polite.

Thanks
MNHQ

(Tries to shout through self imposed gag)

Good on you Mhairi. Nice to see a Univ of Glas gel in the HofC

I think you were an excellent choice for Pensions. As a young worker what do you propose to do to encourage young working people tto invest in a pension

Hi Mhairi, lovely of you to visit the vipers' nest. People like you and, believe it or not, Jeremy Corbyn, have got my children and their friends interested in politics, so thank you for that alone.

Andy Haldane recently advocated moving to a cashless society, replacing it with a digital currency designed to depreciate by 4%pa. I understand this would be based on a closed version of the Blockchain. Would you agree that this is anti-democratic and anti-capitalist, and that if we go cashless cash should be replaced by a publicly mineable Blockchain based currency that is allowed to trade freely?

I've just watched your speech and you do address my question, apologies. Great speech!

I've watched your excellent opening speech at the debate about the implementation of pension changes for1950's born women. I agree with you that this group of women have been well and truly shafted by the government.

In the motion you put forward you asked for transitional arrangements to be put into place for those women affected. What kind of arrangements did you have in mind?

Not just your opening speech, your closing speech as well. I watched them both. Both were brilliant.

Do you get fed up of being defined by your age &/or as a woman?

And how do you contain yourself from answering back 'old man'?

How would an independent Scotland finance itself now that the price of oil has dipped well below the £113 per barrel which SNP assured Scotland wouldn't happen?

Mhairi, I feel very similarly to MintChoc above. I was undecided at the start of the independence campaign but voted no in the end. I didn't think there was enough certainty that people would keep their jobs. My pal at work is on 13k and her husband is in the armed forces - they got told there was a good chance he'd have to be moved down south, just when their daughter, who has serious additional support needs, had got settled in a decent school. I asked Nicola Sturgeon on the web chat here if there were any contingency plans to help employees of big British businesses or organisations who chose to leave Scotland but she didn't answer.

My mum's village in South Lanarkshire was pretty much destroyed by Thatcher closing the pits in the 80s and I was worried about similar things happening if independence had come to pass.

I have a great deal of respect for you. I'm a fellow Glasgow Uni graduate (I now work there). I think you will go very far, you speak so well, you care about people who Westminster doesn't, you are inspiring young women to talk about and get interested in politics.

What would you have said to advise my friend, to convince her that independence would be a good thing when she was so afraid of her life falling to bits and only slightly less afraid of telling anyone she was voting no because people were getting dog's abuse about it?

Good to see you on here Mhairi.

Would be interested to know what you think about the intoduction of standardised testing in Scotland. Do you think there is a danger of league tables being created? Or of schools having to spend a lot of time 'teaching to the test'?

Good luck. I enjoy listening to you on the House of Commons.

Mhairi, it is well known that the economic case for Scottish independence set out in the SNP referendum white paper was flawed and that Scotland would be a much poorer country if it were not part of the UK. With that in mind, and given that the result of the 2014 referendum was a resounding NO, why do the SNP continue to push the independence agenda?

Do you think the Curriculum for Excellence is fit for purpose? Or like most parents and teachers the biggest load of crap imaginable?

Just popping on to add my support Mhairi.

What do you think of the Named Person Scheme?

I know I've already asked a question, so please feel free to ignore, but re: your time at Glasgow Uni - QMU or GUU?

What do you think about the inequalities in the Curriculum for Excellence, where some schools offer pupils 8 subjects at National 5, while others offer a maximum of 6? How is this fair?

@Figwin

Is it 11am -12pm or 11pm to midnight (am)? Just don't want to miss it

Thanks Figwin - it's 11am to 12 midday, and we've edited the OP to reflect that.

I would second Roseformeplease's question re the potential inequalities in the implementation of CfE. I am not unhappy with it as it is serving ds very well, but he's at a school that allows 8 (he's just finished his prelims).

How do you feel (or rather how does the SNP tell you to feel) about the council tax freezes and loss of community services?

I have no issue with cutting the fat but now after 7 years it's vital services that are being cut. What is actually wrong with small increases when the price of everything has gone up?

And also why aren't SNP members allowed to have an independent thought and what is the hold that they have on the media?

I am another one in favour of CfE but think there is an issue re individual schools attempting to game the system re approach to level 5s, at pupils' expense.

On pensions I am a carer and a SAHP. I am very aware that changes to state pension age disproportionately affect women in these roles as HRP stops when DC are 12, widow's benefit stops when DC leave school and there is no support for former carers who may have been out of the workplace for 20+ years but find themselves further and further away from state retirement age. I think the issue is far broader than just the 1950s cohort and agree with previous posters talking about workplace and work opportunity inequality.

Hi Mhairi, just wanted to say best of luck, I have watched several of your speeches and think you are totally on the ball. I am a manager for a charity in Fife that supports lone and vulnerable families, and unlike the previous poster and 'Chair of a multi million pound charity', I have no doubt that you have a good understanding of the issues facing your electorate. I am pro Union, but voted SNP in the last electorate because I truly believe that the SNP will continue to provide a strong voice of resistance to Tory austerity and down right hateful bullying of the poor and vulnerable.

at myotherusernameisbetter I too would like to know why SNP MPs aren't allowed to deviate from the party line. I'd also like to know the latest on Michelle Thomson and Natalie McGarry, there seems to be a bit of a media blackout.

Ps- how do you resist the urge to not give IDS, Osborne and Mr Potato Head a Glasgow kiss??? Totally admire your restraint...

Why haven't the SNP used the money they have set aside to help those living in poverty and stop the use of foodbanks? Is it because they see the use of foodbanks as something they can use politically to their own ends? There are loads of things the SNP could have done in all the years they have been in power thus far to ease poverty and make society fairer (whatever they mean by that) so why haven't they?

The SNP are not a socialist party, so why to they not make that clear to people who believe they are?

Mother username- that isn't true. In the area of Scotland I work in, significant amounts of money have been set aside and administered by the elected members, specifically to combat the impact of welfare reform and alleviate poverty. I have applied for funding successfully to it several times in the last year. Scotland has a diverse range of needs depending on area and I think the flexibility shown dependant on council area is much better than a blanket Scottish wide policy.