{"id":3731,"date":"2015-04-17T13:03:26","date_gmt":"2015-04-17T12:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3731"},"modified":"2015-04-17T13:03:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T12:03:26","slug":"people-really-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3731","title":{"rendered":"People really matter"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

When you ask Russell Brown what his memories are of taking the seat of Dumfries for Labour in 1997 he thinks not of himself but of others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

National minimum wage<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI remember first getting elected and now, hanging in my office is the list of people on the committee who put the national minimum wage Bill through Parliament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat was a major boost for this area, because had that not happened I dread to think how bad places like Dumfries and Galloway and other rural areas would be now.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brown, a former TGWU official and local councillor with a serious love of football, is clearly motivated by social justice. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt may sound a bit corny or cheesy, but I believe it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the work that I do involves people, helping others through difficult times\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs far as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m concerned people really matter. I dedicate long hours to it. I remember, even long ago realising that there would be times when I would have to put other people before my own family. But my family have been with me all the way.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His ties to the area just north of the border with England go back to boyhood, these valleys, villages and towns in what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s known as ‘The Debatable Land’, are in his blood.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBeing local to the area and having been the MP is important because it is not just knowing the geography, but the problems that exist within certain communities,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Brown says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He goes on \u00e2\u20ac\u015bit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very much a low wage economy area \u00e2\u20ac\u201c people really struggling to get by on a week to week basis. It is right that their MP should be able to relate to them and the problems they are facing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Right to affordable home<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor instance I believe that every person in Scotland has the right to a safe and affordable home. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an utter scandal that we now face the biggest housing crisis since the Second World War, with 150,000 people in Scotland on social housing waiting lists.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHousing in Scotland needs a complete change in direction. We need to tackle the housing crisis head on by radically increasing the number of homes being built.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brown, who fought and won the new seat of Dumfries and Galloway after the boundary changes in 2005, is today more convinced than ever that people must vote Labour to secure a better future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLabour is the only choice for the country because Labour still has the same values,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are still dealing with the problems that existed\u00c2\u00a040 or even\u00c2\u00a050 years ago. We need to keep working with people to tell them \u00e2\u20ac\u0098look it can be better than this\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you ask Russell Brown what his memories are of taking the seat of Dumfries for Labour in 1997 he thinks not of himself but of others.     National minimum wage   \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI remember first getting elected and now, hanging in my office is the list of people on the committee who put the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[273,224],"wps_subtitle":"Russell Brown \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Dumfries and Galloway","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3731"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3742,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3731\/revisions\/3742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}