Weekly Update – Friday 22 October 2021
Weekly Update – Friday 22 October 2021

Weekly Update – Friday 22nd October 2021

#EndSARS Memorial

On Wednesday, 20 October 2021, marked a year since Nigerian security forces gunned down innocent Nigerians who were protesting the extrajudicial killings, torture, and brutality of the Nigerian security forces. Although the ‘Special Anti-Robbery Squad’ have since been disbanded in Nigeria, the police and security forces in the country continue to commit awful acts against Nigerians and remain corrupt to their core and completely unaccountable.

Unfortunately, the Government in Nigeria reacted to the protests by becoming more authoritarian, while the UK Government has refused to work with ordinary Nigerians to fight for democracy and reforms even though the UK did until recently provide funds and training to the SARS. The UK has now withdrawn huge amounts of Aid from Nigeria, which will make it harder for ordinary Nigerians to fight for the freedoms they have a right to.

Refugees are welcome

On Thursday, this week I was proud to attend the Refugees Welcome rally in Parliament Square. The rally was called to defend the rights of refugees in the face of the Government’s Nationality & Borders Bill, which seeks to criminalise, marginalise, and persecute refugees who arrive in this country seeking safety. In its current form, the Bill would for the first time discriminate against refugees on the grounds of their method of arrival in the UK, which is in direct contravention of the UN Refugee Convention.

Other horrifying parts of the Bill include the creation of offshore ‘camps’ for refugees and the massive expansion of people who have no recourse to public funds. Labour will fight against the Bill every step of the way.

Government continues to punish the Windrush Generation

In Parliament on Monday, I asked the Home Secretary Priti Patel if she would publish guidance on the expedition process for claims that come under the Windrush Compensation Scheme. Tragically, the compensation scheme has been so slow and dysfunctional that many victims of the Windrush scandal have now died before receiving any compensation. Many who have been given an offer of compensation have found that it is insultingly small, but face yet more delays and the prospect of rising debts if they want to navigate their way through the non-independent ‘appeal’ process. The truth is that the Government mistreatment of the Windrush generation continues. The scandal never came to an end, despite the many apologies and promises from the Government.

The Home Office has refused to address any of the underlying reasons for the scandal occurring the first place and never will, since the corner stone of this Government’s immigration policy is the hostile environment. It is the racist and unjust hostile environment policy that caused the Windrush Scandal in the first place. In short, it will take a Labour Government to deliver justice for the Windrush generation and stop any similar scandal from happening ever again.

Keep Channel 4 in public hands

I’ve written directly to the new Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport this week to urge the Government to bring a halt to plans that would see Channel 4 privatised. Channel 4 is an incredible example of the benefits of public ownership in promoting culture and diversity. While Channel 4 is publicly owned, it is paid for by advertising and made a profit of £74 million last year alone.

As a publicly owned broadcaster, it has a unique remit to reinvest its profits in programming and to commission programming that makes use of the young and often unproven talent that other commercial broadcasters are unwilling to take a risk on. The artistic decisions and risks that Channel 4 can make on behalf of the public means that it adds a huge amount of diversity and depth to the culture output of television and films (in the form of Film4) in this country. Yet the Government views any publicly owned British asset as an opportunity to help their friends in the city make a quick bit of cash.

Despite 82% of the public wanting Channel 4 to remain in our hands, the Government appears intent on selling it off to foreign investors. I’m urging the Culture Secretary Nadine Dorris MP to do the right thing and stop this madness.

School cuts must be reversed

In a matter of weeks, the Chancellor is due to bring the Autumn Budget to the house and it appears likely that it’ll do little to repair the damage this Government has done over the last eleven years.

Teachers have had a very difficult time under the Conservatives and many teachers in Edmonton wrote to me this week, urging me to contact the Chancellor and ask that he uses the upcoming budget to give teachers a pay rise. I did exactly that and wrote to the Chancellor asking that he lays out how the Government will reverse the 8% cut in teacher pay and 10% cut in per-pupil spending since 2010.

The consequences of these cuts have been devastating on ours schools. From a shortage of teachers, increased class sizes, a widening of inequality between schools, to a situation in which it has become the norm for schools to rely on charity for basic supplies. That isn’t normal, it’s yet another crisis created by the Tories and it’s a crisis that needs addressing urgently.

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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  edmontonconstituency@parliament.uk. I’m always happy to help whenever possible.

Kind regards,

Kate Osamor  MP

 

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