Mark his words: it's cauli-cutting for you ... unless your other half works at the Pilgrim

There were plenty of questions for Boston MP Mark Simmonds when he guested on a BBC Radio Lincolnshire phone-in last Friday – and there might have been more had the punters been able actually to speak to him.

The latest damning report on the Pilgrim Hospital, lack of jobs for locals, no drinking zones, immigration, fuel poverty, and traffic problems were among the host of issues raised.
But despite being billed as a “phone-in” not a single caller was heard on air. Instead their questions were read out to the MP – which means that he also most likely had a heads-up on them as well.
No-one likes surprises, least of all politicians – but the absence of real people from the programme gave the whole thing a remote, lifeless feel.
We won’t burden you with a blow-by-blow account of the show**
However, a handful of items did stand out that made us worry about our MP’s perception of his constituents.
The first involved the lack of jobs for locals. During his answer, Mr Simmonds declared: “I can meet some young people in Boston who say ‘Mark, when are you going to get all these migrants out of our town, and I say to them, ‘Well, when you’re prepared to go into the fields or the packhouses.”
Later on he added: “Of course, one of the reasons why there’s been such a significant migrant population in the Boston area working in the agricultural and horticultural sectors is not just - but partly because - a proportion of the local population don’t or won’t do that work any more.”
We’ve heard this argument repeatedly – and again on BBC Radio Lincolnshire … from Boston Borough Council leader Peter Bedford.
His argument over jobs was that: “It’s the fact that our population have got to get used to the fact of starting to apply for such jobs (in the packhouses) again.”
We said at the time what a pity it was that Councillor Bedford did not consider that local people deserved better educational opportunities – and we would say the same to Mr Simmonds.
The University and College Union  recently rated the 632 parliamentary constituencies in England, Scotland and Wales according to the percentage of  people between 16 and 64 who had no qualifications – and placed Mr Simmonds’s constituency 17th in the bottom twenty – with 22% having no qualifications.
Frankly, it is appalling that two major political figures "representing"  Boston apparently feel that the employment horizon  for our young people should be  a lifetime in the inhospitable fields – and a retirement age that will advance progressively over time.
Strangely enough, Mr Simmonds’s attitude to employment availability was quite different when he was asked how we might retain staff at the Pilgrim Hospital. 
“I would say we have to find ways of diversifying the economic base,” he replied, “because often people who might work at the hospital tend to be married or have a partner who is of a similar level to themselves, and there’s not necessarily - unless you are in healthcare or in education - anything for you to do in employment terms.”
So – if you’re local, it’s the fields and packhouses – but if you are of a better “level” then there should be better jobs for you to enjoy.
Another eye-opener with regard to local employment concerned the oft-repeated charge that “Eastern Europeans work harder than the English”   -  a concept that Mr Simmonds appears to embrace.
He told his audience that behind the scenes he had encouraged local employers, where possible, to employ local people who were keen and able to work.
“But I have to say to you that often employers say back to me -  it’s nothing to do with cost. It’s the fact that after one 12-hour shift, the Eastern European worker is keen and enthusiastic to do another back to back 12 hour shift, whereas too many of the British workers, I’m afraid, after 45 minutes, want to have a break, a cup of tea and a cigarette outside - and it’s that comparison that the employer has to decide upon.”
We hope that Mr Simmonds is not advocating 24-hour working days as some sort of norm - because we are sure that employment law, and health and safety rules have something to say about the kind of Victorian work ethic that he apparently regards so highly.
For a man who clearly wishes to find a silver lining in every cloud, it was also enlightening  to hear another of his answers concerning migration.
Asked if the influx of migrants had created extra patients - and therefore made the Pilgrim Hospital so busy that it couldn’t cope - he agreed that there was an element of truth in that – but there were positive aspects as well.
“If you look at the number of children who are being born in the maternity unit, a significant number of those are children to people who we euphemistically call migrants, and there has certainly been a debate about whether the maternity unit would still be open at Pilgrim Hospital if it wasn’t for these additional people coming and using the facilities and services.”
We are not entirely sure that this is an answer that many concerned Bostonians who worry about the levels of migration to the town would welcome.
Which brings us to the Boston Protest March.
Again, Mr Simmonds was involved “behind the scenes” -  his role apparently being “trying to ensure that the correct decision was made” - which we interpret as ensuring that it did not go ahead.
He said that the people who organised the march behaved very responsibly by postponing it.
“What we don’t want to have in Boston is to suck in right-wing extremists, and therefore have the counter demonstrations that will inevitably go with that to give to the rest of the UK the wrong impression about the people of Boston.
“There is an issue, and we need to address the issue - but in calm, civilised, mature way.  And I think that the people who initiated the march have done that and that needs to be said.”

** If you want to hear the "phone-in" in full, there are still three days left to listen on the BBC iPlayer, and you can find the programme by clicking here. The “phone-in” took place in the first hour of the programme.

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