Weekly Update – Friday 10 July 2020

Over the last few weeks I’ve received hundreds of emails from constituents responding to the Black Lives Matter movement and expressing their desire to continue the fight against systemic racism.

In response, I’ve organised a virtual meeting next Friday 17^th July at 2pm. 

The meeting will include several speakers and give us an opportunity to discuss our main concerns and what we like to see happen to address those concerns in Edmonton, nationally and locally.

If you would like to attend please register here.

Chancellor needs to do more

On Wednesday the Chancellor gave an announcement laying out the Government latest response to the economic crisis. We were promised a new deal, but what we got was a meal deal.

The Chancellors response does not go far enough to support those who need and with the furlough scheme ending in October we far a cliff edge crisis on the horizon. I would like to see the Chancellor extend the Furlough scheme for those who need it, take this opportunity to fix Universal Credit and do more for those who find themselves unemployed.

Instead, we got was bonuses for bosses and vouchers for eating out. I will continue to speak out for my constituents as the situation developers and call on the Chancellor to target support my effectively.

We need to keep free travel for under 18s

A lot of constituents contacted me this week about the Governments decision to cancel free travel for under 18s. This is wrong. Many families rely on free travel for children to travel to school or work. The people this will affect the most are those on lower incomes, for example, NHS workers. That is clearly unfair. We shouldn’t be pushing families of NHS workers off public transport while wealthier families are unaffected.

If the Government wants fewer people to travel on public transport because of the Coronavirus there are other fairer ways to make that happen without socially cleansing our transport network.  I’ve written to the Transport Minister to make my views and the views of my constituents known and I still hope the Government will reconsider this awful policy.

Credit Unions in Support

This week I was contacted by the North London Credit Union who raised the huge financial problems that credit unions across the country are facing. Credit Unions are a vital source of safe financial support, especially to those on low incomes and the elderly. If they are less able to lend then payday lenders and loan sharks will spring up in their place. I raised this in Parliament this week and asked the Minister to take action to support Credit Unions through the current crisis.

Domestic Abuse Bill was a wasted opportunity

On Monday the Domestic Abuse Bill passed the Commons. The bill strengthens protections for women against domestic abuse. While I support the Bill, it is a missed opportunity and sadly doesn’t go far enough to protect everybody against domestic abuse. People who are subject to the ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF) restriction are more likely to experience domestic abuse and less likely to be able to escape from it. On Monday I voted to end that condition, unfortunately, the Government voted against us and we lost the vote. We clearly still have a lot of work to do and I will continue to call on the Government to end the NRPF regime altogether.

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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