Kate Osamor MP
Weekly Update – Friday 12th February 2021
In Edmonton and across Enfield this week we continued to make great progress bringing down covid-19 cases and getting the numbers of people vaccinated up. New cases are down by 38%, with cases having reached a peak around 29th December and falling since. In more good news, over 29,000 vaccinations have now been administered across Enfield with 73% of those above 80 and two thirds of 75 to 79 year olds now having had the 1st dose.
There is a lower up-take of the vaccine among Black, Turkish and Cypriot communities in Edmonton and this is concerning as it will likely add to the already disproportionate impact which COVID-19 has had on those groups. It is vital that more is done to understand the lower uptake among these groups and ensure that all hard to reach groups are being given the vaccine, including those who are housebound and unable to reach vaccination centres.
Join a Union
It’s “I heart Unions” week this week which is a great opportunity to celebrate the essential work that Unions do. Unions have never been more important than they are now and as a Member of Parliament, I’ve seen first-hand just how vital Unions have been during the current crisis. When British Gas threatened to fire their employers and rehire them on worse pay and conditions, it was the GMB Union that allowed those workers to fight back in the face of Government inaction – British Gas members are still on strike now.
Active Unions with the power to represent workers are an essential part of any healthy democracy and ultimately deliver higher pay, better working conditions and a more democratic workplace. The anti-union laws brought in by the Conservative Government of the 1980’s has resulted in a lowering of employment rights and the stagnation of pay. Fighting back to give workers a say in how their workplaces are run again won’t just happen by electing a Labour government – we need to increase Union membership and all do our part by joining a Union. If you are not already a member of a Union then now is a great moment to join one. Find out more, including which Union could represent you here.
The Government has abandoned leaseholders
I’ve met with many leaseholders in Edmonton who have been impacted by the cladding scandal and I know that they will have felt betrayed by the Government’s announcement this week that it will force them to take out loans in order to pay to fix a problem they did not create. As a result of the greed of property developers and Government deregulation, thousands of buildings across the country fail to meet basic fire safety standards, including many with flammable cladding similar to the material which caused the Grenfell Fire to burn wildly out of control. This is a huge problem that needs to be fixed as quickly as possible. The Government had promised on multiple occasions that leaseholders would not be forced to pay.
But this week they went back on that promise and will now only fund the removal of some cladding from some buildings. Other remediation works will need to be paid for by leaseholders, meaning that their properties will likely be devalued substantially and they will be left to bear the financial burden and, in many cases, incur additional debt. Once again, the Government is protecting private property developers, cutting corners and ultimately slowing the pace of remediation work. The Government’s priority is cutting costs when it should be preventing another Grenfell. Three and a half years after Grenfell, the Government still do not recognise the cladding scandal as a national emergency and have once again failed all those who continue to live in unsafe buildings.
Turkey must free Selahattin Demirtas
In 2016 the co-leader of the HDP party in Turkey, Selahattin Demirtas, was imprisoned as part of a wider crackdown on political opposition by President Erdogan. To this day Demirtas remains in prison facing trial on trumped up charges despite a ruling in December by the European Court of Human Rights that by his arrest breached the European Convention on Human Rights. Sadly, Hundreds of judges, journalists, activists, students, and politicians have been arrested over the last few years as President Erdogan has crushed democratic principles of free speech in favour of a sharp turn towards dictatorship and oppression.
In Edmonton we have a strong and vibrant Turkish and Kurdish community and many in those communities have contacted me deeply concerned by the Turkish Government’s repeated human rights abuses. I’ve written to the Foreign Secretary to raise the case of Selahattin Demirtas with him. I believe it is vital that the UK takes a stand and speaks out against human rights abuses who ever commits them and whenever they occur. If we do truly believe in democratic principles then we must defend them vocally when they are breached.
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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