I’ve been working with brilliant local campaigners to get more Changing Places toilets installed in the Llanelli constituency.

These fully-accessible toilets with a hoist and changing bench are vital for many people with disabilities and health issues, so we absolutely must get one installed in Llanelli town centre.

Please get in touch if you’d like to get involved in the campaign.

The post Join Debbie Abrahams’ Campaign in Oldham East & Saddleworth! appeared first on Debbie Abrahams, Labour Candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth.

Andrew Gwynne, Labour candidate for Denton and Reddish, has welcomed Labour’s new policy providing free broadband for all homes and businesses, calling it “transformative”.

In Lancaster today, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn set out plans to deliver fast and free full fibre-broadband for all by bringing parts of BT into public ownership and creating a new British Broadband public service.

This would include a massive upgrade in the UK’s internet infrastructure, delivering fast, secure, reliable internet connections for everyone and putting an end to patchy and slow coverage, boosting 5G connectivity across the country.

The roll out will begin with communities that have the worst broadband access, including rural and remote communities and some inner city areas, followed by towns and smaller centres, and then by areas that are currently well-served by superfast or ultrafast broadband.

The plan will be paid for through Labour’s Green Transformation fund and taxing multinational corporations such as Amazon, Facebook and Google, and save the average person £30.30 a month.

According to research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a full-fibre broadband network could boost productivity by £59 billion by 2025; bring half a million people back into the workforce; and boost rural economies, with an estimated 270,000 people more able to move to rural areas.

Andrew Gwynne said:

“In the 21st century, use of the internet has changed from being a luxury to being an essential utility and far too many people are receiving a poor or overly expensive service.

 

“These are the kind of bold and ambitious plans that this country needs to meet the challenges of the 21st century and will transform the way that both businesses and families do things.

 

“It is right that the internet giants are taxed appropriately and providing free internet for all is a fair way of using the income from these taxes.”

• Guarantee a greater priority for mental health
• Introduce free prescriptions and car parking
• Protect the NHS from Boris Johnson's sell out Brexit deal with Donald Trump
• Increase NHS capital budgets to rebuild hospitals and community facilities
• Restore a training bursary for nurses
• Recruit 24,000 extra nurses and expand GP training places to 5,000

I’m not currently an MP, as Parliament has been dissolved until after the General Election.

If you wish to contact me in my capacity as Independent Group for Change Candidate for Nottingham East my Email address is chris@theindependent.group

Emma Reynolds has been the MP for Wolverhampton North East between 2010 and 2019. Following the dissolution of Parliament ahead of the general election on December 12, there are no MPs.

Until polling day on 12 December, Emma is Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Wolverhampton North East.

The post General Election 2019 appeared first on Emma Reynolds MP.

I supported having an election not just because of the Brexit bind we find ourselves in but so we can bring an end to the intolerable levels of rising poverty, especially child poverty, resulting in deepening inequality and widening divisions in our country. However, I am not prepared to risk inflicting the disaster of a No Deal Brexit on our communities, jobs, public services and rights.

The No Deal option would not mean simply getting on with Brexit. It would mean the start of a whole new period of confusion and delay, but set against a backdrop of rising unemployment, further deindustrialisation and increasing deprivation across the UK. Unfortunately, this seems to be the course the Prime Minister is set on pursuing.

There is no mandate for No Deal, either in Parliament or in the country at large.

Boris Johnson’s revised deal primarily focuses on changes to the Northern Ireland backstop but sadly, is not a deal that I believe protects the Good Friday Agreement. Nor does it address any of the concerns I had with the previous deal, on issues such as: customs, our relationship with the single market, dynamic alignment with employment rights and protections, participation in EU agencies and funding programmes, and of course security and access to key agencies.

In so many ways the revised deal is now worse. It explicitly rules out a new customs union and a close future relationship with the single market. This has been a key demand of industry and trade unions.

It is also now explicit that there will be new trade barriers with the EU and additional checks at borders and paperwork on customs declarations required in relation to Northern Ireland at a cost to business of around £54 per declaration.  Provisions on services have not been improved and commitments on workers’ rights and environmental protections are now significantly weaker. There has also been no progress on the question of our future participation in security arrangements or agencies.

I believe this deal is therefore far worse than the deal previously rejected by Parliament.

It will undoubtedly pave the way for deregulation and privatisation while putting food safety at risk, cutting environmental standards and workers’ rights, and opening up our NHS to a takeover by private corporations particularly Trump like deals from the USA.   I believe this deal will unquestionably harm jobs, rights and living standards. I am therefore opposed to it and did not support it in Parliament.

The intent behind it too is a cause for grave concern.  In particular it proposes that matters normally set by Primary Legislation (by all of Parliament) can be approved or changed by an appropriate authority (a Minister) which is Secondary Legislation.  Taking us back once again to the concept of Henry VIII Powers.  It also appears to not pay due cognisance to the devolved settlements of Scotland and Wales.

However, Boris Johnson only set aside three days for its full scrutiny in the House of Commons – normally weeks or months would be allocated for legislation of such significance and with such huge consequences for our country and for future generations.  I believe this limitation on Parliament’s scrutiny of it is outrageous. On that basis, I voted against the timetable proposed by the Government.

The reasons people voted for Brexit cannot be ignored. We therefore need a Government that will deliver real change and transformative policies, ending austerity and investing in all parts of our country.

We now have a Brexit extension until the end of January and I believe this general election gives us the opportunity to remove this Government and this dangerous Brexit deal in order to let the people decide in a referendum. 

I support and will be campaigning for a Labour Government that will put the issue of Brexit back to the people with a credible Leave option versus Remain. I will be campaigning to remain in a subsequent referendum.

As your elected representative in Parliament, I have welcomed your views and comments throughout this process and would encourage you to continue to do so.  Thank you once again for writing to me and for sharing your views.

The post Johnson’s revised deal is worse than May’s appeared first on Lesley Laird.

I am not currently an MP, as Parliament has been dissolved until after the General Election.

Emails to the chi.onwurah.mp@parliament.uk address may be received and read, however this email address is only being used to respond to urgent constituency casework.

My campaign contact number: 0191 691 1368

My campaign email: chi@newcastlechi.org

From midnight tonight, Tuesday 5th November, I will cease to be an MP, and instead will be a Parliamentary Candidate for the duration of the General Election Campaign.

The election will take place on Thursday 12th December 2019.

Thank you,

Ian Mearns

Parliamentary Candidate for Gateshead

(Newspaper column as seen in the October 2019 edition of The Pigeon)

I’ve spoken before about my concern over the recommissioning of adult community health services in the region. Last month, Bristol North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (BNSSG CCG) announced it had awarded a £1bn 10-year contract to deliver adult community  health services to a new provider – Sirona. Changing provider is a high risk move and I’m concerned about the impact of this on health services in Bristol South.   

One of my main concerns is what it will mean for South Bristol Community Hospital (SBCH). The CCG has acknowledged that the healthcare need is greater in Bristol South. We fought hard to get this important facility built in Bristol South in 2012. It has so much potential to deliver a whole range of services but seems to be under-used currently. I am determined to change this.  

I’ve spoken with people who have used the hospital and have heard lots of positive comments about the space, the staff and the treatment they receive and how easy it is to access the services.  

The Hengrove hospital currently provides care to about 32,000 patients annually in Bristol South. The SBCH, has an urgent care centre which is open daily from 8am to 8pm. No referral or pre-booked appointment is necessary: you can just arrive and be seen. For minor injuries and illnesses, there’s no need to go to the City Centre. The SBCH is easy to reach with good public transport links.  

The hospital offers a range of screening, physiotherapy, sexual health services and dental healthcare. It is also home to groups which support carers and older people. The building is just seven years old and still has that new feeling. There’s been investment into the grounds, with a garden and children’s play area created by hospital charity Above & Beyond.  

There is still work to be done. A 2016 HealthWatch report suggested adding a patient shop, making more use of volunteers and strengthening ties with the local authority with a view to being able to discharge people earlier.   

And, should there be funding for enough staff, SBCH hospital has the potential to be able to offer a whole host of new services. The University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, released its 2025 vision earlier this year. It proposes to deliver: ‘a future model of care for South Bristol Community Hospital as a vibrant local community health and care facility for the people living in the South Bristol locality’. That is something I really want to see.  

I will keep speaking up for first-rate NHS provision in Bristol South, and look forward to seeing SBCH better used. 

The issue of a lack of GP appointments is one that many local residents have raised with me. Across the Borough, too many people are having to wait weeks to get to see their local doctor or are forced to spend hours each morning on the phone trying to get an appointment for that day. Understandably, this is making people anxious and worried that they are not getting the care they need, when they need it. It’s also piling on the pressure on the out-of-hours service I-Heart and, in turn, on our Accident and Emergency Department at the Hospital.

Hard-hitting articles in last week’s Leader showed that more than 5,000 people in our county borough needed the help of the Wrexham Foodbank in the last year. That figure included nearly 2,000 local children. A staggering 2,474 food parcels were provided in our locality in the last twelve months.

Like many readers, I’m a big fan of the work of the Wrexham Foodbank. Their volunteers and staff are fantastic – and we are really lucky to have them in our area.

However, I’m concerned that since 2010 when David Cameron’s Government began their Austerity programme, so many people must rely on their services. There’s a massive difference between a local charity set up to help a few people who are down on their luck (that could happen at any time and under any Government) and a system that is vital to keep large numbers of people alive and fed on a regular basis. The existence of the latter is an absolute disgrace – and one of the reasons we see it here in the UK is because of how the Government has shaped our tax and Universal Credit systems.  

I spoke about this issue in the House of Commons during the recent debate on the Queen’s Speech. I voiced my concerns about Universal Credit, a cruel, expensive and poorly implemented system that’s had devastating impacts on many of my constituents. I’ve campaigned on this issue before when I called on the Cabinet Minister to hold a full review after a string of high-profile botches and complaints, something she eventually agreed to.

During my speech, I gave examples of bad practice experienced by people from our local area. I know of people from my constituency who have had terminal conditions but have been unable to access proper support because of how the system has worked against them. I know of seriously ill people who have had to go into debt because of long waits and administrative failures in a system that’s costing tax-payers multi-millions. And I know of decent local private landlords who’ve accepted tenants with serious health problems and addictions but who have ended up not being paid because the new Universal Credit does not allow them to be paid direct.

That is why in my speech I called for the total overhaul of the Universal Credit system. I’m glad more and more people and organisations, including the Labour Party, are calling for this to happen. It’s time we had a system in this country that rewarded hard work, provided fair play and didn’t cost a mega fortune to administer. Universal Credit fails on all these counts; it needs to be scrapped. 

The post My View – Wrexham Leader Column appeared first on Susan Elan Jones MP.

The Government has announced that it has cancelled the Chancellor’s November budget. Over the past decade of austerity the Conservative Party has starved local public services of cash and has consistently made a political choice to cut hardest the funding to cities, urban areas and the poorest parts of the country. 

The chronic underfunding of local council services, like care for the elderly, housing, and youth provision continues. The people of Nottingham have been hit hard by Conservative cuts. Compared to 2013 Government funding for local public services has fallen by £101 million per year. At the same time local schools in Nottingham have lost out on £71million, which equates to £496 per child. We’ve lost many hundreds of Police officers to Government funding cuts and community policing teams across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire have been devastated. 

In his latest Spending Review, Conservative Chancellor Sajid Javid again raided the pockets of local council tax payers. He announced that £500million would be added to council tax bills nationally to stop councils going bankrupt, such has been the scale of Tory cuts.

While the Conservatives continue to be obsessed only with Brexit it seems that our towns and cities have yet again been forgotten. With the cancellation of the Chancellor’s budget and no end in sight of Tory austerity councils up and down the country will have no choice but to reduce local services even further. Faced with huge funding gaps to the tune of billions of pounds nationally, Council tax payers will once again find themselves paying more, for less.

Cllr Sam Webster,
Portfolio Holder for Finance
Nottingham City Council

The post Government Cancels Chancellor’s Budget Starving Local Public Services of New Cash appeared first on Nottingham Labour.

Rushanara Ali MP and Anne Main MP have today called on the Government of Bangladesh to rethink proposals for the relocation of Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char Island. The two MP’s jointly chair the cross-party parliamentary group on the rights of the Rohingya.

In August 2017, over 700,000 Rohingya were forced to relocate to refugee camps near Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh, after fleeing a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military, which UN investigators declared was conducted with “genocidal intent”. Currently there are over 1 million people based in the over-crowded makeshift camps, who continue to live with extremely limited access to food, healthcare and shelter.

The Bangladesh Government has considered the relocation of some Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island as a solution to this humanitarian crisis. They hope this will ease overcrowding too. Previously, they had been unable to convince any refugees to go to the island.

The plans have been publicly criticised by a number of humanitarian organisations who have expressed their concern as the silt island is susceptible to cyclones and flooding and is only accessible by boat. The UN has so far been denied the opportunity to conduct a technical and protection assessment of the island.

On 20 October, the Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, Mohammad Abul Kalam, declared that Bangladesh will start the relocation process at the beginning of November 2019. This follows reports that Government officials have started compiling the lists of refugees who are willing to move, and that several thousand have already confirmed their acceptance.

Toby said:

“Parents are understandably angry and frustrated that their children are missing more vital days at school due to strike action. I have spoken to the Interim Director of Schools at Derbyshire County Council to express my concerns and urge for intervention to help resolve these issues.

I am sure everyone will agree that teachers have a right to work in a safe environment and the fact that they have taken this extraordinary action shows the scale of the problems that we saw at the school last term. A new behaviour policy has been introduced and I am hoping it will lead to the genuine change that parents, teachers and pupils can believe in so that the school can begin to rebuild confidence. Last year’s GCSE results were disappointing but not disastrous and there are new staff in place, so there needs to be a relentless focus on ensuring that every child at Hasland Hall is in a consistent, supportive and disciplined environment to maximise their potential.

I am aware that Ofsted have recently inspected and I will be looking with great interest at their findings. I have tried to speak to representatives from the NASUWT on a number of occasions and have been frustrated by their lack of engagement with me, though some teaching staff have given me their personal perspectives. It is difficult for me to comment on this week’s strike action as I have not heard their view on what their outstanding concerns are.

I will continue to pursue this and offer my services in trying to help to resolve the problems at the school and end the current industrial action.”

Wigan Constituency Labour Party have reselected Lisa Nandy MP as their candidate for the next General Election.

At meetings held over the last fortnight, members in all of the branches that make up Wigan Labour Party voted overwhelmingly to reselect Lisa. All affiliated organisations, including Unite the Union, the Communication Workers’ Union, GMB, Unison and Usdaw, also voted to reselect.

Lisa said:

“I’m grateful to Labour members in Wigan for choosing to reselect me so overwhelmingly. Being the Member of Parliament for Wigan is the privilege of my life, and I couldn’t do it without the members who turn up year in, year out and in all weathers to campaign for the Labour Party. With a General Election looking likely, we will be out once again fighting for every vote and to put an end to the damage inflicted on Wigan by this reckless Conservative government.”

Wigan Constituency Labour Party said:

“We’re delighted to have reselected Lisa Nandy as our candidate for the next General Election. For 10 years Lisa has worked tirelessly to represent Wigan in Parliament, fighting for constituents hit hardest by this Conservative government’s brutal cuts and ensuring that Wigan’s voice is heard on the national stage. The overwhelming level of support Lisa received from local party members is testament to that work. We’re proud to have Lisa as our MP and we’re ready to fight and win the next General Election together.”

The daughter of Richard Ratcliffe and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has returned to Hampstead and Kilbun after spending three and a half years in Iran. She was kept in the country following her mother’s arrest, and lived with her grandparents in Tehran. Throughout this time, she was separated from Richard and would visit her mother in jail whenever she was allowed to do so.

Today we held a press conference to mark Gabriella’s return. At the conference I said that it was truly heart-warming to see Gabriella reunited with her father after 1300 days in Iran, but also heart-breaking that she is now separated from her mother Nazanin.

Alongside Richard, I argued that Iran must end their hostage diplomacy and release my innocent constituent. Nazanin is at breaking point, and today’s bittersweet events are yet another reminder that she has been failed at the very highest levels of Government.

Emma was delighted to speak at the Social Workers Union Fringe event in Manchester at the end of last month. Prior to becoming an MP Emma was a child protection social worker and a Cabinet member for adult social services in her local authority. She is very proud of her profession and believes it is like no other.

In her speech Emma stated:

“There are over one hundred and forty-three thousand social workers in England alone. Each of those social workers as your excellent research undertaken with Bath Spa University showed, are working above and beyond their contracted hours amounting to an extra sixty-four days more per year than they are contracted for. 

This is a 46-hour week, in a physically, emotionally and mentally demanding job. It is little wonder that recruitment and retention rates are so abysmal.

I recall being regularly assaulted, punched, spat at, needing security escort and being held in victim support services.

Many people in the profession tell me that things are not getting better; things are getting worse. It is therefore vital that the Government support and value the profession, but they do not. 

The fact is that they, like most politicians don’t understand the profession and when something is misunderstood, they revert to type and seek to control and regulate it, such that social work and in particular child protection social work in England is in a stranglehold of excessive and debilitating state oversight more so than any other profession.

The problems I faced and what social workers face now are not of their own doing or by their own design.

It is therefore vital that the Government support and value the profession, but they do not.

Since 2010 the Government have certainly had our profession in their sights, children’s services, with their aggressive focus on reform of social work education, regulation, assessment and accreditation the clear message has been that the problems are with social workers themselves.

They have further stuck the boot in telling us that the best of our profession comes from Frontline and Frontline only, this drive towards what they say is raising the professionalism of children’s social work has not only led to a more prescriptive and tick box social work, devaluing that link between social workers and those they support, but it has also served to aid the Government’s overall agenda to rip the very heart and soul of social work apart – that political drive for social change.

The Governments whole approach to the crisis in children’s services is lacking in any cohesive, strategic or joined up vision and is consumed with short term measures that are not yielding any long-term positive changes, but so far have cost over sixty million pounds.  

The forcing of mainly Labour led Councils into Trust models that are little more than a rebranding exercise at a cost in excess of 17 million.  The national assessment and accreditation system proved grossly unpopular, which forced a U-turn on roll-out, while gifting £23 million to private companies.

The innovation programme has similarly bestowed £12 million on private consultancies, despite being time-limited and given only to certain local authorities, it not only pits local authorities against each other for funding but exacerbates the postcode lottery.

These changes have all took place against a backdrop of savage and unrelenting austerity, where social workers have suffered under years of the public sector pay freeze and local Government is being hollowed out and decimated, the drive from Government is one ideologically focussed on marketization and profit where everyone and everything has a price and their real value diminished. 

Action for Children recently reported that some 36,000 children had to be referred multiple times before they received statutory support to help them with serious issues like abuse, neglect and family dysfunction.

What this means is that children who are in a desperate state of help or protection are being subjected to further harm because of a lack of resources. That the most vulnerable children in our society are at further risk because of funding cuts is quite frankly shameful.

It is little wonder that in this desperate environment one in seven children’s social workers quit the profession in 2017.

I know that a Labour Government … are committed to looking strategically and holistically at children’s social care and stemming the tide of privatisation and outsourcing in the sector because we know that when profit becomes the driving force good social care suffers.

John McDonnell announced at Conference in September that we would strengthen trade union rights, introduce a real living wage and set up a working time commission to recommend better rights for workers leave.

Our approach is a clear move from the prescriptive, controlling resource poor environment, we’ve seen under the Tories to one where services and the people working within them or using them are treated with dignity and respect.

Despite this Government’s best efforts, the profession survives. Excellent social work happens every single day in all areas of our country. Children and adults are protected from harm and their lives are improved.

I want to thank you all for what you do.

I am proud to be a social worker.

I am proud to be with you here today and stand with your over twelve thousand strong and growing membership in this historic building.

I am not proud of our Government because their attacks on our profession are not only harming the workforce but leaving thousands of people without much needed support.

Let’s keep pushing for change and know you always have a friend in me.

The post Conservatives abandon children with disabilities appeared first on Steve Reed.

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