Weekly Update – 28 May 2020

Dear Constituent,

This week I have received hundreds of emails from constituents outraged by the actions of Dominic Cummings and the Prime Ministers refusal to sack him.

I share that outrage. Dominic Cummings must resign or be sacked.

He broke the rules and in doing so has undermined the entire public health response to the Pandemic. Police forces up and down the country are already reporting having a harder time policing the lockdown. It truly is one rule for them and another rule for the rest of us.

NHS Workers deserve better

This week I wrote to the Health Secretary backing the campaign by the Doctors’ Association UK to protect our frontline workers in the NHS. Sadly, 275 healthcare workers are now thought to have lost their lives to COVID-19. That is a terrible tragedy.

If we are to protect NHS workers moving forward the Government must do more than just clap for them. I’m calling for a full inquiry into NHS Worker deaths and a commitment to protect NHS workers who speak out.

Government played politics with TFL Bailout

Many constituents wrote to me this week, deeply angry about the Government decision to impose regressive sanctions on TFL for asking for a bailout.

It was inevitable that in such extraordinary circumstances, in which TFL suddenly lost most of its income overnight, it would require a bailout. But the Government has asked for an increase in fairs, restrictions on the Freedom Pass and removal of free transport for children, among other measures, in return. That is simply unacceptable, unjust and unnecessary.  These measures will impact the vulnerable most harshly and the Government must reconsider the terms of the deal.

Government must do more to tackle institutional racism

This week’s analysis by ‘Liberty Investigates’ showed that BAME people are 54% more likely to be fined under coronavirus rules than white people. This comes on the back of statistics showing that Black men & women are more than 4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white people.

When extra powers were given to the police to issue these fines, I warned, along with other MPs, that it could lead to a repeat of stop & search in which ethnic minorities were unfairly targeted by police.

That has proven to be true. The Government now urgently needs to look into this matter, explain why this is happening and offer solutions so that BAME people can have confidence that the powers given to the police will not lead to an increase in systemic discrimination.

Hybrid Parliament should continue

Boris Johnson has performed so poorly against Keir Starmer that the Government called an end to the hybrid parliament so that next Wednesday he could have his friends and colleagues behind him to help him at Prime Ministers Questions.

The only trouble is that the Government ended the Hybrid proceedings without any plan as to how Parliament could return safely and in doing so went against their own advice – if you can work at home you should.

Most MPs have been working harder than ever during this crisis. Working for constituents, taking part in virtual meetings, asking questions, taking part in debates and more. Now the end of virtual proceedings threatens to exclude many MPs who are shielded while risking another outbreak in Westminster.

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Thank you for taking the time to read my latest update, if you have any issues that you would like to raise directly with me then please do email edmontonconstituent@parliament.uk. I’m always happy to help whenever possible.

Kind regards,

Kate Osamor MP