Yesterday the Chancellor told Parliament that this Tory Government is a compassionate Government. He then announced the start of a new round of austerity that will make us all poorer and entrench the failings in our economy.
Among the ‘compassionate’ measures announced by the chancellor were:
- A real terms cut to the minimum wage and public sector wages.
- A stealth tax on the lowest earners.
- Cuts to vital public services.
- Cuts to development aid.
- An increase in energy costs from April.
We now face one of the biggest drops in living standards ever recorded. The OBR predicts that living standards won’t recover to 2008 levels until the late 2020s. The UK is forecast to have the lowest growth in the G7 over the next two years and real wages this year are still lower than when the Tories came to power in 2022.
This economic crisis is the consequence of Tory ideology. Years of austerity have led us to this point and it’s only by rejecting austerity that we will recover. That is what I will continue to do as your MP. I know how badly austerity has impacted Edmonton and I will continue to do all I can to highlight the harm the Tories are doing locally and nationally. There is an alternative and I will continue to fight for it.
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Labour Friends of Yemen
On Wednesday I attended an important update from Labour Friends of Yemen on the conflict in the country.
The immense suffering many Yemeni people face daily is a terrible stain on the international community. The Saudi-led military intervention in the country has spawned a terrible humanitarian crisis. The conflict has now been ongoing for eight years, between the internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, and Houthi rebels, supported by Iran. The conflict has caused widespread hunger and disease. Meanwhile, our government continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia which are then used to kill civilians and protract the war.
It was moving to hear from those who are impacted by the conflict and who have deep ties to the country. In many ways, this is a forgotten conflict. The media have largely moved on, yet the people of Yemen continue to suffer. The UK needs to step up and play its role in addressing this terrible humanitarian crisis. We must stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia and put whatever diplomatic pressure we can on the actors involved to reach a long-term peaceful solution. This is a forgotten crisis, but it must not remain that way.
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Women in Prison
This week I also attended an important event in Parliament, held by the charity Women in Prison. Women in Prison is a fantastic charity that works with women who are moving through the criminal justice system. Women in Prison campaigns for a new system of justice that addresses the root causes of offending, such as poverty, mental ill-health and homelessness. They believe in achieving this through women’s centres that provide services to every woman who requires support in facing numerous and complex challenges.
Women face unique problems that lead them to come into contact with the justice system and they face unique challenges once they are in the system. We need to take an approach that recognises those challenges and seeks to address them.
What’s clear is that by any measure our criminal justice system is failing. Reoffending rates are through the roof and many who go to prison find themselves trapped in a cycle of poverty, hopelessness and crime. If we want to bring down crime, we need a criminal justice system that focuses on rehabilitation. As things currently stand, being put in prison makes you more likely to commit crime in the future and more likely to become addicted to Class-A drugs. That doesn’t just harm the individuals involved, it harms society more widely. That’s why we need a criminal justice system that rehabilitates and prevents crime. We must focus on the causes of crime, not punishment. This means backing initiatives like women’s centres that tackle the root causes of crime and give women who find themselves in the prison system hope.
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National Security Bill
On Wednesday the National Security Bill passed through its remaining stages in the Commons and will now go to the Lords for further revision. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure the UK’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the modern tools, powers, and protections they need to counter those who seek to do the UK harm.
The Bill introduces a number of new measures to update the protection of the UK’s national security, the safety of the British public and the UK’s vital interests against modern hostile activists. Many of these changes have been a long time coming but the Government has been too slow to notice and react to emergency trends towards hostile state activities, particularly in the wake of the 2018 Salisbury poisonings.
However, there are several parts of the Bill that are very concerning. The Bill threatens to give legal cover to Ministers and officials who encourage or assist human rights abuses overseas, such as torture or unlawful killing. In addition, Clauses 79-83 would limit the ability of victims of torture or other crimes to seek redress for any role played by the UK in their treatment. I voted to remove those dangerous clauses and prevent Ministers from being given immunity for assisting crimes abroad. Unfortunately, the Tories won the vote, and the Bill has moved forward while not being fit for purpose.
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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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