Weekly Update – Friday 16^th July 2021

Government needs to abandon its Covid experiment.

This week I was pleased to hear that Sadiq Khan will ensure that masks remain mandatory across the London transport network. In the face of the Government’s determination to play politics with our safety this is a move that I’m sure the vast majority of Londoners will welcome.

We wear our masks to keep others safe. It isn’t a question of whether or not we want to protect ourselves. This is a sensible move and one which could keep a lot of people from getting very ill.

Unfortunately, the Mayor of London is battling against a current of central Government incompetence. On Thursday 48,553 new cases were reported, the highest number since 15^th January. Cases are increasing in every part of the country with 563 cases in Enfield in the last week, an increase of 160 on the previous week.

Despite just under half the population not yet being fully vaccinated, hospitalisations are now also increasing significantly as is the number of people tragically dying.

This is why I absolutely oppose the planned ‘big bang’ reopening on Monday.

On Monday we will become the only country in the world to decide to stop trying to slow the spread of the virus. The Government is conducting an experiment in which we are the guinea pigs. The consensus among scientists is that the experiment will fail with deadly consequences.

Solidarity with Rashford, Sancho & Saka

Shortly before the Euro’s started in June both the Prime Minster and Home Secretary Priti Patel refused to condemn England ‘fans’ who booed the England team for taking the knee before games. Not only did they fail to condemn those who booed the team but they made it clear they opposed the player’s decision to do so.

The statements made by the PM and Priti Patel were a carefully calculated attempt to stir up a so-called ‘culture war’ by appealing directly to racists and other far-right elements who hate seeing a team representing England speak out so forcefully against the racism they embrace.

This week that cynical play by the PM blew up in his face. After England narrowly lost the final against Italy on penalties the three England players who missed – Rashford, Sancho and Saka, all received a torrent of racist abuse. However, what quickly followed was a backlash against that abuse and a huge show of solidarity with those players.

Multiple members of the team also highlighted the part played by the Government in stoking that racist abuse. While the vast majority of the country now sees the team as heroes, not only able to perform on the pitch but also able to highlight social ills off it, the Prime Minister has been left to try and gas-light the country and pretend that he had condemned the booing of players taking the knee all along. The players may have fallen just short on the pitch, but they have achieved a priceless victory against racism off it.

Tories vote to deepen NHS Privatisation

This week in Parliament the Tories voted to pass the Health & Care Bill. The results for the NHS will be nothing short of a disaster.

The bill introduces a specific limit on the amount of money given to each integrated care system in England, which will increase the rationing of healthcare and lead to a postcode lottery. Perhaps most worrying of all, the Bill once again reorganises the NHS from the top down and puts big business at the heart of NHS decision-making and the delivery of services.

After the disastrous consequences of the pandemic on top of more than a decade of underfunding, our NHS doesn’t need deepening privatisation and deregulation. It needs proper funding and accountability at a local level. Unfortunately, the Government has used this once-in-a-generation health crisis as an opportunity to begin the dismantling of our health service as a publicly owned service. I will fight it every step of the way.

I voted against Aid Cuts

Earlier this week I voted against drastic cuts to the aid budget but unfortunately, the vote passed and it’s clear that those cuts will now go ahead as planned. It is difficult to overstate the consequences.

75% of aid to Syria, 42% of aid to Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugees and more than 50% of aid to Yemen will be cut, to name a few examples. In Pakistan, the cuts will mean almost 11,000 girls in rural areas will be unable to attend school. In other countries, funding that helped decrease the risk of death during childbirth has stopped. The awful list goes on and on.

Tragically we can be certain that, as a result of the vote earlier this week, people will die and the world will be a less safe place. We must fight to ensure that these cuts do not become permanent and that our role as a leader in global development is restored as quickly as possible.

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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