Virus Update

Although cases across London are now clearly falling, COVID-19 continues to spread at an alarming rate with hospitals stretched to capacity and sometimes beyond. The number of patients with COVID-19 in North Middlesex University Hospital peaked in early January, with numbers surpassing the peak in April 2020. The number of total patients in NHS North Mid has since been steadily decreasing but the number of patients in Intensive Care has remained very high. The latest data also shows us that cases per 100,000 across Enfield has been decreasing and now stands at 436.

As ever I continue to receive briefings from key health, council and government officials and I will not stop lobbying government for the support that is so badly needed for Enfield Council, local business and others. But as the Lockdown continues, we should remember the national advice which is to only leave our homes when necessary. For more information on the latest guidelines you can visit the Government information page here.

Vaccine Progress

The vaccination continues to be rolled out across London, with over 681,000 Londoners having received at least their first dose. In total 65% of people over 80 in London have had their first dose, including 79% of care home residents and 39% of care home staff. While it is important to remember that the fist dose of the vaccine does not make somebody immune to the Coronavirus, it is pleasing to know that thousands of people have taken the first step to protecting themselves from this awful disease.

However, there are serious concerns about the roll-out of the vaccine across London. As of yet there doesn’t appear to be a clear strategy for vaccinating the street homeless who are extremely vulnerable to COVID-19, nor does there appear to be any plan for how the thousands of housebound individuals will be reached and vaccinated. There is also some worry about the distribution of the vaccine within London. A high proportion of the vaccine has been delivered to a few big hospitals in central London while local areas across the capital have received less. I wrote a joint letter, along with other London MPs, to the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care this week to raise these concerns and I expect them to be addressed as a matter of urgency. It is precisely these vulnerable and hard to reach groups who are more likely to suffer as a result of the Coronavirus and it is essential that a co-ordinated plan exists in order to ensure they are vaccinated.

We need to hold multinationals accountable

After 13 years and a brutal legal battle, The Court of Appeal in the Hague passed down a ruling this week which held Shell liable for the oil spills it caused in Nigeria and ordered the company to pay compensation to the Nigerian farmers impacted by the spill. This is an issue which I’ve been campaigning on since I was Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and it hopefully now means that moving forward, huge multinational corporations who wreak Havok with the environment and communities in developing countries are held responsible for their actions.

This positive decision is the result of a long fight by charities like Friends of the Earth and of course the farmers themselves. The principle that companies should be held legally responsible for the actions of a foreign subsidiaries is significant and I believe it’s one that we should bring into law here in the UK. Natural justice and the imperatives of the climate crisis mean that we should no longer allow private enterprise to run amok in developing countries, profiting at the expense of the country they exploit. Hopefully this decision is a sign of real and lasting change to come.

Fare Rises unacceptable

Since 2010 average rail fares for people in Edmonton have increased by 43%. An unsustainable increase which has mostly gone into the pockets of a few private companies like Virgin Trains. In April, fares are set to rise above the rate of inflation again, once again making it even more costly for those who still have to travel into work.

On Thursday, in Parliament, I asked the Minister for Transport how he could justify such a rise and the overall failure that privatising our transport network has been. He wasn’t able to provide me with any answers. You can see my question here.

I voted to protects workers rights

Early this week I voted to protect workers rights after the Government had admitted they planned to use Brexit as an excuse to take a sledgehammer to hard won employment rights. Following the use of the ‘Fire and Rehire’ tactic by the likes of British Gas, in which a company fires employees so that it can re-employ them on worse pay and conditions, I also wrote the Business Secretary asking that he takes actions to urgently outlaw the practice.

Following the pressure from Labour, the Government have now scrapped the review into employment rights post Brexit. However we need to continue to press to improve employment rights rather than simply fighting to stand still and I look forward to doing that as we move forward.

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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