Weekly Update – Friday 11 June 2021

Covid-19 Update

In April Boris Johnson made the decision to delay putting India on the ‘red’ travel list as he thought it might harm his chances of striking a trade agreement with Indian Prime Minister Modi. The result is that the Delta Variant of Covid-19, which originated in India, is now the dominate strain in the UK. Cases have risen from 12,000 to a staggering 42,000 in just a week and the Delta variant is thought to be 60% more transmissible than the previously dominant Kent strain.

Thankfully because of the NHS’s amazing roll-out of the vaccine programme the link between deaths and infection rates appears to have been broken. However, the pool of people who could transmit and become ill because of Covid-19 remains large enough to cause serious concern.

The Government is likely to do what it has done throughout this pandemic. Delay the inevitable until it U-turns,  by which time it’s too late. That’s why we should all continue to take our own precautions, even if we have been vaccinated, and follow the advice from the medical experts. As a reminder that advice is as follows;

• Meet indoors with no more than 6 people or two households
• Meet outside in a group of up to 30 people
• Work from home whenever possible
• If you have symptoms get a test and stay at home

The Government fails pupils again

Last week the Government’s Pupil Catch-Up expert resigned after the Government rejected his advice and instead put forward a plan which teachers and other experts all agree will fail to give pupils the support they need and lead to widening inequality.  That’s why this week Labour put forward its own Children’s Recovery Plan which does meet the incredible challenges of this moment and gives pupils and teachers the backing they need to build back from the pandemic.

Our £15 billion plan backs children and teachers with Breakfast clubs, mental health support, continued development for teachers, tutoring for all who need it, free school meals and more.  Meanwhile the Government’s plan equates to just £50 per pupil. In comparison, Biden’s plan in the United States amounts to £1,6000 per pupil and in the Netherlands, it is £2,500 per pupil.

This Government, dominated by Ministers from incredibly privileged backgrounds, may find it hard to understand that most pupils don’t have rich parents to rely on, but the Labour party does, and it has put forward a plan that reflects that.

Free Osime Brown

The case of Osime Brown encapsulates the awful immoral and racist nature of the Home Office’s immigration regime.

Osime has spent the overwhelming majority of his life living in the UK. This country is his home, he can remember no other. He also has severe autism and a reading age of 6. Yet the Home Office has been trying to deport him after he was convicted under the highly controversial ‘join enterprise law’ for a crime witnesses say he did not participate in.

He now faces deportation to a country he has no memory of and in which he has no family or support network. Next Wednesday Osime’s future will be decided in a judicial review. This Saturday a midday a rally is taking place which will give us an opportunity to vocally reject the Home Office’s racist policies and call for Osime’s deportation to be stopped.

PM uses G7 to send message he doesn’t care about climate change

The Prime Minister used his arrival in Cornwall for the G7 summit this week as an opportunity to reassure his right-wing base that he doesn’t take the climate crisis seriously and won’t abandon his corporate paymasters in attempts to save the planet.

The PM made the decision to fly to Cornwall and his aids made sure that the press were there to take photos of him leaving the plane. I believe this was a deliberate statement from the PM and an attempt to lower expectations ahead of the summit.  The Prime Minister and his staff knew exactly how flying a few miles to attend a summit focused on climate change would look.

Instead of pandering to his base the PM should be concentrating on backing a plan to vaccinate the world by the end of next year, supporting a global minimum corporation tax system and agreeing on ambitious action to tackle the climate emergency. The way he has chosen to start this summit doesn’t make me optimistic that will happen.

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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