Weekly Update – Friday 6^th November 2020

The news has been dominated this week by the election of Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. It’s public knowledge that Trump is a bigoted fascist- sympathising narcissist who idolises brutal dictators (and Boris Johnson) so his reaction to Biden’s win has been anything but surprising. Nevertheless our Government’s refusal to call on President Trump to respect the democratic process has been shocking in it’s disregard for the millions of Americans who voted. When asked by a journalist, the Foreign Secretary even refused to say that he thought all votes should be counted. This is an incredible insult to millions of Americans and an embarrassing indication of just how much this Government believes they need Donald Trump in the White House. Luckily for anybody who values democracy, anti-racism and humanity in general, Donald Trump will be gone from the White House in January, whether Boris Johnson likes it or not.

Our Government has a responsibility to back End SARS protesters

Despite the UK Government’s clear intention to turn a blind eye, the repression of peaceful protesters continued to escalate in Nigeria this week as people around the world protested against the brutal SARS units.

It Is vital, especially when it has a large Nigerian diaspora population, that the UK speaks out clearly against the Nigerian Government’s violent actions and calls on President Buhari and his Government to stop killing protesters.

Sadly, so far, the UK Government has only released a brief statement which fails to condemn the Nigerian Government. What makes these failings worse is that we now know that the UK Government has been funding SARS units and equipping them since 2016. Last week I received a letter from the Minister of Africa in which he confirmed that his previous statement to me that the Government had not funded SARS was un-true. Through a development programme the Foreign Office and Defence Ministry trained and equipped SARS units from 2016 to 2020. Following this disturbing revelation, I’m now asking the Government to urgently come clean and confirm how exactly this happened and why the funding was allowed to continue into 2020, despite it being known that SARS units were taking part in extra-judicial killings, torture and more. We need answers now and I will continue to press the Government for them in the coming days and weeks.

Windrush Scandal Continues

It was revealed this week that at least 9 victims of the Windrush victim have so far died before receiving any compensation. Despite the Home Secretaries kind words to Windrush victims and apologies, the scandal continues, and nothing appears to have changed. Words are cheap. Every week I see that the Home Office continues to be as institutionally cruel and racist as ever. The failure of the Windrush Compensation scheme shows that. Not only has the scheme been painfully slow but the amounts offered to Windrush victims are insultingly low. British Citizens who were unlawfully detained and deported by their own Government are being offered amounts as low as £22,000, having suffered financial losses ten times higher than that when they lost their homes, jobs and more. The emotional trauma, from which many will never recover, is worth a lot more than £22,000 alone.

What is clear from the continued insulting treatment of Windrush victims by this Government is that the fair treatment of the Windrush generation and making up for the Windrush Scandal are simply not priorities for Priti Patel and the Home Office. This is a Home Secretary and a Government whose entire agenda is built around the victimisation of migrants and the promotion of xenophobic and racist attitudes towards immigration. This Government simply doesn’t know how to fix the issues that caused the Windrush Scandal which is why, as long as the Conservatives remain in power, the Windrush generation and other groups who do not fit into Boris Johnson’s vision of a 1950’s Britain will continue to be insulted, mistreated or worse.

The Government needs a long term economic plan for Lockdown

The Government has made the right decision in finally deciding to lockdown again. However, by ignoring their scientific advisers and delaying lockdown for weeks they have cost lives and increased the length of the current lockdown. What is more, the Chancellor appears to be in a state of denial. Instead of laying out long term measures of support and a financial exit strategy, he is instead announcing a slightly changed package of measures every couple of days. The result are increased job losses and uncertainty.

Repeated lockdowns and a high death toll are not inevitable. Many countries, notably New Zealand, have shown that strict lockdown measures packaged with an effective track and trace programme can all but eradicate the virus and protect the economy. But the decision of this Government not to follow scientific advice and to farm out track and trace to the likes of Serco has meant that it has failed to control the virus. Now that the Government has finally decided that we should enter a second lockdown, the appropriate support measures must be put in place.

The Furlough scheme must be extended until the end of 2021, with a minimum wage floor. That scheme must extend equally to the self-employed. Renters must be offered a rent holiday to match the mortgage holiday in place for homeowners and an eviction ban should be put in place extending to the end of 2021. The Government must also abandon its reckless plans to cut benefits. If the Government takes these decisive actions, compliance with lockdown will increase dramatically and we’ll be able to begin looking past the current virus wave towards the hope of a vaccine and recovery in 2021.

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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