I hope everybody across Edmonton enjoyed the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and the long weekend. I know that the break was very welcome for many and a brilliant chance to gather with friends and family, enjoy street parties and even the occasional bit of sun. There were events across Edmonton and real buzz across the whole of London. Hopefully this is just the start of a brilliant summer.

I’ll speak out against the racist Home Office

Adultification is the treatment of black children as adults, simply because of the colour of their skin. It is not a new phenomenon; it has been a key characteristic of systemically racist societies for hundreds of years. But with the Met’s practice of strip-searching children recently coming to light, it has rightly been given more attention.

The awful case of Child Q, a young Black girl who was strip-searched at school and left traumatised shows how harmful adultification is. Initial reports into that incident confirmed that race played a role in the officer’s decision making, though those police officers remain in post. That is just one of hundreds of strip searchers that the Met police carry out on children each year, searches that disproportionality target Black children.

But this week alarming news has emerged that the Home Office is attempting to deport unaccompanied black children to Rwanda. An extension of the Government’s racist immigration policies that frequently attempt to treat young black children as adults. Several charities have come forward and described a ‘worrying pattern’ whereby the Home Office class children as adults and attempt to deport those children despite those claims being disputed by lawyers and charities.

Part of tackling systemic racism in this country is rebuilding an immigration system centred around a humane approach that combats the problem of adultification and doesn’t add to it. I’m completely opposed to the Government’s cruel and unlawful attempts to deport refugees to Rwanda and will always use my voice in Parliament to speak out against Adultification and racism wherever and whenever it occurs.

We must oppose the Tory’s Bus cuts

As most Londoners will know, TFL followed the rules during the pandemic and put public health first. During most of the lockdowns, they encouraged only essential workers to use their public transport and reduced the number of buses and trains that were running accordingly. Unlike most major public transport networks TFL gets most of its funding from ticket sales, rather than central Government, and so unsurprisingly TFL’s income plummeted during the pandemic. The result of doing the right thing was that TFL faced bankruptcy without Government intervention.

The Government intervened but not without attaching numerous ‘conditions’ to that funding. Despite the TFL having been in poor financial health prior to the pandemic, the Government is forcing TFL to find significant finicial savings and one of the ways TFL is required to do that is by reducing its bus network.

However, thanks to successful campaigning by the Mayor, TFL has so far managed to avoid having to cut 1 in 5 bus routes. But without a proper funding deal at the end of this month, cuts to over 100 bus routes will be back on the table. I know how badly that would impact people across Edmonton where so many of us rely on Buses to get us to and from work.

I’ll be speaking out against these Government cuts in Parliament, and you can too if you add your name to this petition;

Tell the Tories: Stop punishing Londoners by cutting our buses

Gabon Delegation

Last week, I visited Gabon as part of a cross-party delegation with the aim of promoting mutual cooperation and discussing matters that are a common priority for both our countries, particularly tackling the climate crisis. During the visit, I was honoured to meet with the Prime Minister of Gabon, H.E. Rose Christian Ossouka Raponda. Our delegation was lucky enough to see much of the country in a short space of time, including seeing first-hand the success that Gabon has had in protecting wildlife and nature through the use of reserves and protected national parks.

Humanity won’t succeed in its fight against the climate crisis unless wealthy nations such as the UK support developing countries like Gabon to fight climate change while also tackling poverty. There is much work to do, and this trip made it even clearer how much is at stake if the Tories continue to cut development spending.

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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