On Monday this week, I was pleased to host members of our Edmonton & Winchmore Hill CLP for a celebratory new year’s drink in Parliament. The turnout was brilliant and it was great to meet so many new faces. We also had the opportunity to hear from the Deputy Speaker, Nigel Evans MP as well as a host of brilliant Labour MPs including Tan Dhesi, Marsha De Cordova, Florence Eshalomi and Ed Miliband.

We are very likely to be facing a general election this year. With the Prime Minister fighting for his survival, it could be early as May, though it’s more likely to be in November and could be as late as January next year.

Speaking with all the amazing members on Monday I know how much getting rid of this Tory government means and I hope they got to see how dedicated myself and other Labour MPs are to keeping the Tories out of Edmonton and electing a Labour Government to change this country for the better. We have a monumental year ahead of us and this event was a great way to start it.

This week the Tories brought their delayed Offshore Licensing Bill to parliament. The Bill will see new licences granted in the North Sea for offshore drilling. The licenses will be granted to private internationally owned companies who will then export the oil onto the international market. The length of time it takes from the granting of such licensing to the oil being sold means it will be many years before any additional oil from the North Sea is actually sold.

Even when it is, it will do nothing to improve UK Energy security or bring down energy costs – the UK will have to buy the oil from the international market at the same cost as everybody else.

In addition, the continued expansion of fossil fuel extraction makes reaching net zero before 2030 almost impossible. It’s too late to prevent the climate crisis, but we can still lessen its impact by ending the extraction of oil and gas now. Meanwhile, if we want to improve energy security and bring down energy prices we need to invest in renewable energy and bring the energy sector back into public ownership.

For those reasons, I voted against the government’s Offshore Licensing Bill.

On Tuesday I took part in two votes on Opposition Day Motions.

The first vote was to protect the UK steel industry. The Conservatives have presided over the decline of the British steel industry. Tory plans would see thousands of people made redundant and would leave the UK unable to produce primary steel. That’s why Labour will invest up to £3 billion in green steel – working with steel communities to ensure the transition to green steel comes with jobs. The road to net zero is lined with new jobs and the faster we get there the more jobs we can create and the less it will cost. Investing in green steel is a key part of that plan.

I also voted for Labour’s plan to tackle school absences. Under the Tories, absences in schools have increased by 202% since 2016 in England and by 87% in Enfield. This makes tackling inequality harder. That’s why Labour will introduce mental health counselling for pupils, breakfast clubs and a register of home-schooled children. The Tories have failed pupils, teachers and parents. Labour has a plan to fix that.

Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day, an international day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of other people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia.

In Parliament, I took time to sign the book of commemoration and reflect on what it means to remember and honour the victims of genocide. The world united in 1945 to say ‘never again’. We put in place international organisations, like the United Nations and the International Court of Justice to act as independent arbiters to prevent a repeat of past horrors.

Yet those horrors have continued, and those international organisations are increasingly unable to act in the face of states who undermine their legitimacy. The world has rarely seemed less capable of preventing terrible atrocities and holding those who perpetrate them to account.

So, this year on Holocaust Memorial Day I’ll be reflecting on these increasing challenges and the fight for a future in which the words ‘never again’ no longer ring hollow.

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