A-Level results

I want to start by wishing the best of luck to students across Edmonton who received their A-Level results on Thursday. As the first set of post-pandemic exam takers, they have experienced unprecedented disruption. From cancelled exams to cancelled lessons, the years of learning leading up to this summer’s exam made these exams perhaps the toughest ever.

As these are the first non-teachers assessed exams in some years, grades are predicted to fall and with competition for university places more intense than ever, there will be many students who don’t get the outcome they wanted. This chaos is the result of underfunding and poor planning by a government on holiday. But I hope students in my constituency also remember that these exams won’t define the rest of their life. It’s what they do next that really matters.

GP Waiting times

In Edmonton, as with the rest of the country, many of my constituents are being forced to wait far too long for a GP appointment. In fact, the latest data shows that more than 15% of people in Edmonton were unable to see a GP last time they tried. Even worse, in many places it’s almost impossible to find a dentist who will provide NHS care. Waiting times and delays for treatment in hospitals are just as bad, if not worse.

The NHS hasn’t recovered from the pandemic, has been hit badly by Brexit and has been left vulnerable to those shocks as a result of twelve years of Tory underfunding and mismanagement. This is yet another Tory emergency and whoever the new Prime Minister is in September, fixing the NHS must be a priority for them.

I will continue to meet with our local NHS Trust and representatives from Enfield Council to discuss what can be done locally but we need the Government to step up and reverse the damage they’ve done to our National Health Service.

Energy profiteers are forcing businesses in Edmonton to shut

As millions of households face choosing between heating and eating this winter, the way in which the energy crisis is impacting small businesses across the country has gone relatively unnoticed. But I’ve been contacted by a number of local businesses in Edmonton who are being forced to close down because of skyrocketing bills. Social clubs, schools, youth centres and other organisations face a similar crisis.

The private cap doesn’t apply to commercially used energy. So as pubs, take-aways and local shops come to the end of their current energy contracts they are being faced with unmanageable price rises. In one instance, a chippy has seen their bills rise from £6k a year to £70k a year. They will now have to close down.

Not only are the private profiteers in the energy sector pushing this country into poverty, they are also now crashing our economy. Unless they are stopped their greed will see thousands of small businesses close down. Job losses will rise and the recession we are headed into will be deeper and longer than it might have been.

This madness needs to end. This country cannot be held hostage by a few billionaires. We need to bring the energy sector back into public ownership. We need to introduce a fair pricing system for commercial energy use and begin the process of lowering energy prices for personal users. The British public overwhelmingly back the public ownership of our energy sector. Now politicians need to listen and do the right thing.

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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