Kate Osamor MP
Thank you for taking the time to read my weekly update. This week the Government blocked Labour plans to end the Sewage Crisis, sent their awful anti-refugee Bill to the Lords and caved into the betting lobby by announcing reforms to the industry that fail to protect the most vulnerable customers. Another week of inaction and failure that reminds us that after 13 years of this, a Labour Government can’t come soon enough. |
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Tories block Raw Sewage PlanThis week, Labour put forward a comprehensive plan to tackle the sewage crisis that has plagued our country under the Tory government. Analysis has revealed that over 1,200 years’ worth of raw sewage has been dumped into our waters since 2016 alone, with 824 sewage dumps a day occurring in 2022. In Edmonton, Thames Water pumped sewage into our waterways for a total of 120 hours last year. This scandal has left no English river classified as being in good ecological condition, with none meeting satisfactory chemical standards. The Tories have allowed our country to be treated as an open sewer, neglecting our vital water infrastructure and rewarding negligent water bosses with billions in dividends and bumper bonuses. Despite this dire situation, the Conservatives have once again chosen to put their own interests ahead of those of the country by blocking a Labour-backed amendment on Tuesday that would have brought an end to sewage dumping during the passage of the Environment Act. This is unacceptable, and it’s time for Tory MPs to put the public’s health, the environment, and businesses that rely on our natural beauty first. Labour’s plan would deliver mandatory monitoring on all sewage outlets, introduce automatic fines for discharges, set ambitious targets for stopping systematic sewage dumping and ensure that water bosses are held to account for negligence. In the long term the only way to truly solve the sewage crisis and protect our vital water infrastructure is to nationalise the water companies. Only then can we ensure that they are accountable to the public, not just their shareholders, and have the necessary resources to invest in modernising and upgrading our water infrastructure. The Tory government has run out of road when it comes to solving this crisis, and it’s time for a Labour government to step in and build a better Britain by ending the sewage scandal once and for all. |
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Anti-Refugee BillOn Wednesday, the Tories voted through the Illegal Immigration Bill which will now make its way to the Lords to be voted on. The bill is immoral and unworkable. It criminalises refugees, breaks international law, and would result in the indefinite detention of thousands of refugees without trial. The bill even fails on its own time. It will not eliminate the backlog of outstanding asylum cases, will increase the number of people in indefinite accommodation, and leaves victims of modern-day slavery without any protections. Labour has tabled amendments to the Bill at both committee and report stages to try and mitigate some of its cruellest measures. The Tories have caused chaos in the asylum system, by cutting resources and enforcing the cruel hostile environment policy. This bill will make things even worse. It will substantially increase the asylum backlog, putting tens of thousands more people into long-term hotels and asylum accommodation, costing billions of pounds. It won’t tackle the criminal gangs or deter small boats, instead making it harder to get international return agreements, harder to prosecute trafficking and smuggler gangs and it will lock up children, pregnant women, and torture victims. For four years, Tory Ministers have promised that their policies would end channel crossings and speed up the asylum system, but they have repeatedly made things worse. People are risking their lives to cross the channel because of a global refugee crisis. Tackling the root of that crisis means investment in development abroad. Instead, the government is cutting the aid budget and turning its back on the problem. Refugees need safe routes to claim asylum in the UK. It’s time the government stopped playing politics and started focusing on what more we can do to play our part and help refugees who seek safety on our shores. |
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Cropped EarsThis week I received many emails from constituents calling on the government to pass the Kept Animals Bill and crack down on the importation of dogs with cropped ears. Despite the Government’s pledge to crack down on the import of dogs with cropped ears, we are yet to see any action taken on this vital issue. The Kept Animals Bill promised to make several crucial changes to animal welfare, including a ban on the importation of animals that have undergone mutilations such as ear cropping. It is unacceptable that, two years on, this pledge has yet to be fulfilled, and it is appalling that unscrupulous breeders continue to profit from the sale of dogs with cropped ears. Cropping a dog’s ears is already illegal under the Animal Welfare Act, and I believe that the Kept Animals Bill was a significant step towards closing the loophole that allows the importation of these dogs and perpetuates illegal activity in the UK. We must keep our promise to these animals and ensure that their welfare is protected. I am committed to the protection of animal welfare, and I will continue to do what I can to raise this issue both in and out of parliament. The public is overwhelmingly in favour of setting higher standards on animal welfare, it’s time the government listened and got its act together. |
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Thank you again 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 |