Weekly Update – Friday 24 September 2021 
Weekly Update – Friday 24 September 2021 

Weekly Update – Friday 24 September 2021 

Tory Energy Crisis years in the making

This week I know that many of my constituents will have been worried about the emerging energy crisis and what it means for them. Five energy companies have gone bust over the last few weeks and many more are likely to follow. Prices are set to increase in October and then again over the winter. They are likely to stay high for some time to come.

We should make no mistake; this isn’t a global crisis caused by forces outside of the Government’s control. This is the result of the privatisation of our energy sector and of the Conservatives being asleep at the wheel as wholesale prices have increased.

Energy, whatever form it takes, is an essential resource. Whatever happens, the Government cannot allow the energy supply to be compromised. People will always need to heat their homes and switch the lights on. As a consequence, when we privatised the energy sector all we did was privatise the profits while keeping the risk in public hands.

The fact is that essential public resources like health, education, and energy should never be handed off to unaccountable private companies. When the only motive is profit and the management of an entire resource is left to the anarchy of the market, we end up in exactly this position. It’s time to change that and solve this energy crisis by bringing our natural resources back into democratic public ownership.

Labour has an alternative to Tory chaos 

The Labour Party’s annual conference starts on Saturday with the country in crisis. Rising energy costs, empty shelves, fuel shortages, rising inflation, the end of furlough and the upcoming cut to Universal Credit. This is Tory Britain and It’s vital we use this conference to put forward an alternative. One built around a set of concrete policies that will bring about real change. Public ownership, a wealth tax, a new house building programme, an increase in the minimum wage and much more. Popular policies which the public can get behind if they believe Labour is united, outward looking, and ready to deliver them.

It’s therefore frustrating and incredibly disappointing that the Labour leadership has chosen this moment to focus on changing internal Labour party rules. Rather than turning inwards and focussing on MPs in Westminster we should be looking outwards to ordinary Labour Party members and the communities across the country they are so dedicated to.

Keir Starmer was elected as leader of the Labour party fairly, under the current rules. If he no longer believes those rules produce leaders who can win elections (i.e himself) then there are serious questions about his leadership. If on the other hand he believes, as he should, that Labour can win the next election under his leadership – then he must believe that the current Labour election rules produced a Labour leader capable of winning general elections. If that is the case, why would we ever want to change them?

I sincerely hope the Leadership sees sense so the party can focus on taking the Tories to task and putting forward an ambitious alternative to the country.

Windrush Legal Action 

Years after the Windrush scandal first broke the Government continues to persecute the Windrush generation. The majority of those impacted by the scandal are yet to receive any compensation. I’ve seen first-hand, working with many of my constituents who have been impacted, the way that the Government has continued to treat them with suspicion and contempt. The same issues that led to the scandal in the first place have prevented the Government from righting the awful wrongs that they have visited on so many.

I was therefore pleased that this week two victims of the Windrush Scandal, Henry Vaughan and Fitzroy Maynard, have launched legal proceedings against the Home Office. Their claim centres around delays in issuing compensation and they seek clarity regarding how their claims could be expedited. In Parliament, I have repeatedly put it to the Home Secretary that the delays are unacceptable and that at the very least she owes it to victims to explain why these delays are occurring. The Home Secretary and her department have failed to do sot.

Some changes to the compensation scheme have been made but too many Windrush victims continue to wait. Tragically, time has already run out for some who died before receiving any compensation. The Government now needs to take this issue seriously and work hard to finally deliver justice to the Windrush generation.

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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

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