Monday 9^th

• Many constituents wrote to me, deeply concerned and distressed by the events in Israel and Palestine. The horrific murder of civilians in Israel, and now in Gaza and the West Bank, must end. The international community needs to come together to stop the violence and provide humanitarian aid where it is needed.
• My constituents and their family finally had their British Citizenship applications approved after years of delays. It unacceptable that it often takes an intervention from a Member of Parliament to get an application moving in the Home Office. The Home Office is no longer fit for purpose, a deliberately policy that forms part of the Hostile Environment. In the real world that means thousands of families waiting in Limbo for years.

Tuesday 10^th

• A number of constituents wrote to me this week objecting to Government plans to double down on benefit sanctions. That would be deeply misguided. Sanctions are morally wrong and do not work.
• Enfield Council accepted that they had made payments to an incorrect account, resulting in bailiffs being instructed to recover a debt from my constituent. The experience was very distressing for my constituent. Even in incidents where a mistake like this isn’t made, the Council should only ever instruct bailiffs as a last resort and never in cases where the individual concerned is vulnerable.

Wednesday 11th

• Following news that the Government may try to restrict new onshore Solar Power constituents wrote to me to make clear they opposed any restriction on solar power production. I completely agree. If we want to tackle the climate crisis, bring down energy costs and revive our economy we need to invest in green energy.
• I made representations to Enfield Council about my constituent who has been experiencing severe anti-social behaviour over the course of several months. Anti-Social Behaviour is too often dismissed as trivial, but persistent ASB can deprive of us a safe and peaceful place to live, something we all have a right to. The Council have promised to investigate the matter and I will be keeping a close eye on it.

Thursday 12^th

• Some constituents wrote to me this week, concerned about the Government’s plans to reform Work Capability Assessments, which determine whether somebody can claim disability benefits like ESA. There is no doubt that the WCAs are broken. They have been outsourced to private companies whose decision making can be shockingly bad. The majority of appeals are successful for that reason. The focus is on trying to trip up applicants and find them fit to work, rather than making the correct decision. But the Governments reform do not appear to address these core issues, instead focusing on pushing more people into work, whether they are fit to work or not. I would object to any such reforms.
• A number of constituents wrote to me this week to complain about noisy ‘car meets’ at the Colosseum Retail Park. I’m aware of the issue and I’m pleased to see that new bollards and concrete blocks have been installed at the car park to prevent it being used for dangerous stunts.

Friday 13^th

• This week, 65 constituents contacted me with the most common issues involving Enfield Council. Other commons issues raised with Asylum claims, including Home Office delays. In addition, a lot of constituents contacted me about the terrible events in Israel and Palestine.

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Thank you for taking the time to read about my week representing Edmonton. 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

Member of Parliament for Edmonton