MP under fire for failing to attend meeting
Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Ged Killen has been slammed for not attending a recent important debate in Blantyre.
The Labour MP has come under fire from Blantrye constituents, as well as from MSP Clare Haughey, after Mr Killen failed to attend the meeting to discuss the UK Government’s Green Deal scheme and the company HELMS.
With around 250 households in Blantyre and surrounding areas who were allegedly mis-sold solar panels by the Cambuslang based company, many people have been saddled with years of debt and an increase in their energy costs and have been relying on the help of councillors, MP’S and MSP’S.
The HELMS Action Group Central Scotland, that Ms Haughey helped set up, have been pushing the UK Government and Green Deal Finance Company for a resolution for those affected.
The Blantyre MSP said:“as a politician myself, I appreciate that we often have other commitments and can’t attend everything, however with something of this magnitude I would have hoped Ged Killen would have participated in the debate.
“My office works on Green Deal issues on an almost daily basis, and its effect locally is very significant. I’ve spoken with constituents whose energy costs have tripled, people who can’t sell their homes as their Green Deal debt is tied to the property and not the individual, and others who have found themselves in substantial arrears to their energy companies.
“On this occasion, Mr Killen should have prioritised his many constituents and helped fight their corner.”
Blantyre resident Sharon Campbell, who has solar panels installed by HELMS on her property, added:“it is deeply disappointing that our MP was unable to attend the debate on October 23. This is an issue which affects so many of his constituents, like myself and a number of my neighbours, and it sends out a poor message that he wasn’t there.”
The MP hit back this week however, saying that“it is impossible to be at every debate.”
He told the Advertiser this week: “This is a significant issue locally, that is why I have signed up as vice chair of the APPG on Green Deal Misselling, asked numerous parliamentary questions, and set up a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of the Green Deal Finance Company later this month to discuss with him what is being done to identify and help those affected by HELMS and other mis-sold schemes as well as the future of green deal finance.
“The competing demands on parliamentary time are such that it is impossible to be at every debate and I’m sure Clare Haughey has had to make similarly difficult diary decisions. Parliamentary debates are not the only way to get action from the UK Government and I will focus my attention on trying to achieve that as well as helping affected constituents directly.
“It is essential that we maintain a good cross-party dialogue with all MPS, MSPS and Councillors to do this. I am disappointed therefore that Clare Haughey’s office did not reach out to me and I was only made aware of her views when the Hamilton Advertiser contacted me asking me to respond to her comments.”