I’m deeply concerned about the welfare of residents on the Shires estate and elsewhere in Edmonton who are currently without heating and hot water during this cold snap. Not only have I been contacted by numerous constituents in Cheshire House, where the gas was cut off completely some weeks ago, a number of residents elsewhere in the borough are also experiencing the same problem.
I’ve heard from many residents in Cheshire House who have not been offered alternative accommodation by the Council and remain trapped in freezing conditions. For years residents on the Shires Estate have voiced concerns about the lack of maintenance of the properties they live in. Many of them have felt forgotten. It feels as if the council failed to fix the roof while the sun was shining and now residents are paying the price.
Unfortunately, the Council’s response to this gas leak falls below the standards my constituents have a right to expect. Enfield Council now need to act to fix this. All tenants in Cheshire House must be offered alternative accommodation and the Council should take a serious look at offering rent relief to those affected.
I’ve contacted the Council about the situation at Cheshire House asking for answers as a matter of urgency. It’s important to understand whether this could have been avoided and how the council’s response can be improved in the future so that vulnerable people are not left in freezing flats or forced to use portable showers outside when it is snowing.
Everybody has a right to a warm, safe and suitable home and to have that taken away from you at Christmas is distressing to say the least. I’ll continue holding the Council to account on this issue and encourage any constituents who are affected to get in touch if they have not done so already.
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I support nurses
These are Rishi Sunak’s and Steve Barclay’s strikes. They drove nurses to vote to strike for the first time in their history, refused to negotiate, and declined the nurses’ offer to suspend the strikes today. Now that they are asking for fair pay, the Government seems to think the public will turn on nurses. There is no chance of that. It’s clear that this strike has overwhelming public support. Nurses’ pay has been cut by 20% in real terms since the Tories took office and now all nurses are asking for is 5% real terms increase.
There was a reason why we all clapped for nurses during the pandemic. They put their lives on the line for all of us. They kept the country going. They saved lives and risked their own in the process, with many paying the ultimate price.
Now they need the public’s support and I believe they will have it. We have a rare opportunity to give back to nurses. It’s important to ignore propaganda telling us the Government can’t afford to pay nurses a fair wage but can afford to spend billions on corrupt contracts for PPE that never got used. We must listen to those on the front line of the NHS, when they warn us that it’ll cost a lot more in the long run if nurses continue to leave the profession in large numbers because of poor pay.
If the Conservatives have given up governing, they should stand aside so Labour can clear up their mess. There were no strikes in the NHS over 13 years of the last Labour government. In government the Labour Party will undertake the biggest expansion of medical training in the history of the NHS, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status, to give the NHS the staff it needs.
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Free School Meals for All Bill
This week the Free School Meals for All Bill was introduced in Parliament, and it had my full support. Every child deserves to have the support they need to learn and thrive in school and providing free school meals for all children is a crucial step in achieving this goal.
The number of children living in poverty in the UK has increased significantly under this Conservative government since 2010. This is unacceptable, and it is clear that twelve years of Tory failure on this issue has left too many families struggling to afford the essentials.
I believe that no child should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, and no parent should have to go without in order to feed their child. By providing free school meals for all children, we can help ensure that every child has the healthy and nutritious food they need to succeed in school, even if their parents are struggling financially.
The Tories have allowed child poverty to spiral out of control. That’s a political decision, not an inevitability. Labour in government will make the decision to prioritise ending child poverty once and for all and extending the Free School Meals programme must play a vital role in making that goal a reality.
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International Development Select-Committee
The issue of aid spending in the UK has been a topic of significant discussion recently as the Government has increasingly used the budget meant for overseas aid on the Home Office instead. No other G7 country is using its existing aid budget to fund the costs of hosting Ukrainian refugees. Additionally, UK in-country refugee costs per recipient have doubled in recent years and are higher compared to other DAC countries. The government’s latest Statistics on International Development report shows that spending on “Refugees in donor countries” was the single largest sector for aid spending in 2021, and was the only sector that saw an increase in funding (by 67.6%).
As a member of the International Development Committee, I had the opportunity to question witnesses on this topic during a recent oral evidence session. During the session, I focused on the role of private funders in supporting refugees and asked Daphne Jayasinghe, Director of Policy at the International Rescue Committee, to provide the names of these funders to the Committee. I also inquired about the extent to which her organization works with the UK government, particularly the Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
In addition, I asked Enver Solomon, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council, to speak more about the efficiency of the UK’s asylum system. He highlighted significant backlogs and lengthy wait times for decisions, and argued that the system could be improved through proper investment and attention from the government.
Overall, the oral evidence session provided valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities related to aid spending in the UK. The Tories have been attacking aid spending for years, with awful consequences. Now it seems they want to siphon of aid spending to prop up the failing Home Office. That is a recipe for disaster.
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How I voted this week
This week I voted for the Australian and New Zealand Trade Bill and amendment on that Bill to ensure that the impact on farmers is taken into account.
Given the delays to these agreements, the desperate need for progress and the limited scope of this legislation, Labour did not oppose at second reading, but tabled amendments and called for the Government to do more to deliver firmer commitments on climate change and workers’ rights and improve negotiating practices for future agreements.
The chaos in the Conservative Party has caused severe delays to the promise of free trade agreements, which has cost the UK economy billions in potential export opportunities. The Conservative 2019 manifesto pledged that by the end of 2022, 80% of UK trade will be covered by free-trade agreements, including an agreement with the USA. The reality now is that these deals are far from being complete, damaging exporters and the wider UK economy. Liz Truss claimed in the Conservative leadership election to have secured numerous new trade deals. However, the reality is the vast majority of these deals are simply rolled over from the deals the U.K. was party to while still in the EU.
The agreements with New Zealand and Australia that form the basis of this legislation are long overdue and have already been signed between the respective governments. As a result, the scope for changes to the agreements at this time is limited. There are significant issues with these agreements, particularly the Australian deal, which has failed to set our specific commitments on climate change, raised concerns about the impact on agriculture and animal welfare, while more protection is required for products with ‘U.K. Geographical Indications’ in Australia, such as Stilton cheese and Scotch whisky.
In the future Parliament must have a far greater chance to scrutinise trade agreements. It’s vital that we stop the Tories using these agreements to undermine important regulations and environmental protections.
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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
Member of Parliament for Edmonton
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