This week marked the end of a unique and difficult school year for GCSE students. Unfortunately, GCSE and A-Level students have been let down badly by the Government’s handling of results. I’ve received many emails from students, teachers and parents who are angry at the Government’s decision making which left many students in the dark until the last minute.

I’m relieved that the Government has now made the right decision to scrap the ‘algorithm’ and instead base students’ grades on teacher assessment. However, Universities, Sixth Forms and other Higher Education institutions still need to play their part and take a more flexible approach to admissions. I will keep in touch with schools throughout Edmonton and will continue to speak up for students.

The Badger Cull should end now

Over the last 10 years, the Government pushed forward with a huge programme of badger culling to control the spread of Bovine TB. The science was always clear – badger culling is not an effective method of stopping TB from spreading. In fact, it increases the spread as populations scatter more widely. As a result of years of campaigning, the Government recently announced that it would finally phase out the culling programme.

I’ve had many constituents contact me asking for me to speak up on this and urge the Government to push forward this policy and investigate a possible vaccine alternative to the cull. Sadly, this Government loves reviews and consultations but is often slow to act. I’ve therefore written to the Secretary of State for DEFRA to urge that he takes action on this, to stop the cull for good and move forward with a vaccine programme.

Tell the Tory Government to keep free travel for under 18s in London

Schools are very likely to reopen in some form in September, and that will mean thousands of children throughout London relying on the bus or tube to get them to school on time. Unfortunately, many will now have difficulty doing so as the Tories have scrapped free travel for under 18s. As a result of this decision, many children from disadvantaged families will be unable to travel to school on the bus while children from privileged backgrounds will be unaffected. This is  another example of social cleansing by the Tory Government. I’ve spoken out against this policy since it was announced weeks ago, but as we approach September it is even more important that we put as much pressure as possible on the Government to change course. I would therefore urge anybody who can to add your name to this petition telling the Government to keep free travel for Under 18s in London.

Eviction ban should be extended further

The limited protections which the Government has given renters ends on Sunday. This means that moving forward, landlords will once against be able to evict renters using ‘no fault evictions’. Enfield Council could face a big increase in evicted renters approaching them as homeless at the same time as their funding to house rough sleepers has been cut. Evidently the Government has decided that it no longer cares if people are made homeless during a pandemic.

Over the last 10 years, the Tories have fuelled the housing crisis by failing to build homes, failing to protect tenants and cutting council funding. Boris Johnson evidently wants to return to that set of policies as quickly as possible and isn’t going to let a global pandemic get in his way. This is a cruel mistake which may benefit landlords but will likely cost lives and disrupt our ability to tackle a second wave of COVID-19 effectively. I would urge the Government to reconsider and to extend the eviction ban further than a few weeks while giving Local Authorities the funding they need to provide the housing we desperately need.

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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