Weekly Update – Friday 21 May 2021

This week hundreds of constituents continued to email me, calling for an end to the Israeli state’s bombing of Gaza. This bombing has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 232 civilians, including more than 60 children. In addition, 72,000 Palestinians have been displaced. After more than a week of the US blocking calls for a ceasefire at the UN, President Biden finally called for one on Wednesday. A few days later a cease-fire is in place.

This is very good news, but it is truly disgusting that President Biden didn’t feel it necessary to call for a ceasefire until more than 60 children had been killed. Had he done so a week earlier, who knows how many of those children might still be alive.

Although the bombing has stopped, the violence and persecution against Palestinians has not. The occupation, siege of Gaza, and system of apartheid remain in place.  We must all hope now is that this moment will act as a springboard towards the re-starting of peace negotiations, though until the International Community acts on the principle that Palestinian and Israeli lives are equal that isn’t very likely.

I’m proud to support the End Child Poverty campaign

I’m proud to support No Child Left Behind’s campaign to End Child Poverty. Child poverty isn’t a fact of life, it’s a policy decision.

In Edmonton, more than 12,000 children are growing up in poverty as a result of 10 years of Conservative Government. In some parts of Edmonton over half the children live in poverty. Child poverty has increased by more than 40% under this Government. Across London that figure is a staggering 68%.

The reasons are clear. The Conservatives have spent their time in Government pursuing a failed austerity experiment in which they drastically cut back funding for essential services, cut welfare benefits, cut funding to schools, police, and other public services. At the same time, they cut taxes for the rich, employment rights, and allowed insecure low-paid work to become the norm. Under the Conservatives, wages have grown at their slowest ever rate in the post-war period.

This is why I’ve joined others in calling on the Conservatives to end child poverty by increasing the minimum wage, scrapping and reforming Universal Credit, banning zero-hour contracts and giving workers new rights to join unions and bargain for better pay. It’s time to bring an end to the gig economy and give workers a say in an economy they are responsible for building.

Our Justice system needs to represent modern Britain

Just as Parliament should represent the diversity of Britain, so should our Judiciary. Yet the judges and other legal professionals who make up our legal system still do not reflect the diversity of Britain.

Women are less well represented among the most experienced and more senior legal professionals and are under presented in the judiciary. Those from Black, Asian, and Ethnic Minority backgrounds are well represented in applications for judicial appointments but are less likely to be successful. Currently, only 8% of court judges are from Black, Asian or ethnic minority backgrounds. The number is half that for senior court appointments.

This is why I asked the Secretary of State for Justice this week why there are still no Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic judges in our Supreme Court. While the Secretary assured me that he is ‘putting his shoulder to the wheel’ to rectify this issue, this is clearly a case where actions will speak louder than words and I will be watching carefully to see that the Government acts to fix our unrepresentative judiciary.   

Government has the wrong priorities

This week I spoke in a debate on the Queen’s speech on the topic of safe and affordable housing. I know that this is a priority for many of my constituents in Edmonton, but the Government doesn’t seem to have its own priorities in order. Following the worst recession in 300 years and the worst public health crisis in a generation, this Government has decided that top of its to-do list is making it harder for people to vote by introducing Voter ID laws.

I know that most people in Edmonton have different priorities. They want the Government to act to end the rent debt crisis, end the cladding scandal, and reverse decade-long cuts to public services. The pandemic has shown has just how badly the Government has run-down public services in this country and we should now be focussing on rebuilding those services and helping those who are most in need.

Dementia Action Week

In Edmonton an estimated 684 people have a formal diagnosis of dementia. Across the whole of the UK that number is 850,000 and it is set to increase to more than 1 million by 2030. Yet there remains no available treatment for this cruel disease.  That’s why I’m backing Alzheimer’s Research UK in their call for a fully integrated social care system and a significant increase in funding for research into a cure.

One of the silver linings during this terrible pandemic has been the incredible scientific progress which has occurred as a result of the huge push for a COVID-19 vaccine.  The hunt for that vaccine has led to progress being made across the board in other areas of medical science and helped to push along the development of vaccines for other deadly diseases. The Government now needs to seize that opportunity and give scientists the funding they need to make similar progress with dementia treatments.

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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