Last week the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he intends to annex the Jordan Valley, as well as Israeli settlements that have themselves been built in breach of the Fourth Geneva convention, if he is returned to office as a result of the current general election.

The UN has said that these plans would see a third of the occupied West Bank annexed and destroy any chance of future peace talks. That’s why I’ve signed a letter to Boris Johnson, along with over 100 MPs demanding the UK government acts robustly to any Israeli annexation of Occupied Palestinian Territory. You can read the letter in full here.

The post Liz signs letter to PM demanding robust action against any Israeli annexation of occupied Palestinian Territory appeared first on Liz Kendall.

Perivale End of Summer Festival which took place on Sunday 15 September.  Steve was joined by Deputy Mayor; Councillor Ahmed Munir and Councillor Tariq Mohammed.

Dear Newcastle

These are such strange and worrying times for our country. Who could have thought we would find ourselves with a Prime Minister unable to confirm he would uphold the law? When Parliament recessed in July Boris Johnson had been Prime Minister for only one full day. He spent the summer trying to take advantage of the lack of Parliamentary scrutiny to bully, bluster and bribe the British people, MPs and the European Union into his vision of an extreme no-deal Brexit Britain. His decision to use the Queen to prorogue parliament until October 14^th united people in disbelief and outrage. The demonstrations across the country and huge turnout in Newcastle show how deeply this ‘smash and grab’ on British democracy is felt. Jeremy brought opposition parties together in combined effort to ensure we block a no deal Brexit.  Boris Johnson’s response was further threats – to chuck out of the Conservative party MPs who opposed him and try to call a General Election.  It is astounding that we now have the Prime Minister ranged against the majority of MPs, the majority of the British people, the vast, vast majority of business and almost all our international friends and allies in pursuing a 31^st October hard right Brexit, do or die.

National Citizenship Service at West End Food Bank

I and almost all Labour MPs have pledged to do all we can to prevent a no deal Brexit and its disastrous economic implications for the North East.  Johnson’s fawning on Trump during the G7 demonstrate the kind of Trade Deal we can expect from this Government, one that wrecks our NHS, our environment, our food  standards and our farming. We need a General Election to deliver a Labour Government, but we will not fall into the trap of supporting a General Election that is  a trojan horse a no deal Brexit.

Brexit chaos and turmoil is preventing progress on other huge challenges we face from climate change to social care. I believe only a final say referendum can enable us to move on, as I argued in my Independent Blog

Backbench and Constituency Role

• Recess was very welcome after the madness of the last week of Parliament and I took advantage of the time to make more constituency visits and take part in local activities.
• The Home Office refused to return to Newcastle a constituent with Stage 4 cancer deported in error as a UK court had confirmed. After a social media campaign, with a tweet that received over 5000 retweets, the Home Office agreed to bring him back and he is now receiving treatment in Newcastle.
• Peter Duncan was tragically murdered in Eldon Square in an unprovoked attack. I engaged with Northumbria Police and the family of the murder victim to ensure that appropriate support and resources were available.

 Probation Service visit in Newcastle

• On Correspondence many of the Ministers have changed so I continue to engage with Ministers  or Government Agencies on Leasehold, Litter, Long Term Support for Victims of Operation Sanctuary, Newcastle United Finance, Weinstein and Ipsa, Relocation and Ipsa, use of  Algorithms in the Home Office with the Council on Kittiwakes and Homelessnes and with LNER on Disability Access

Shadow Ministerial and PES Role

• I continue to meet with business organisations on the implications of a no-deal Brexit as the first Brexit deadline approached.
• Brexit is severely impacting capacity to develop policy in other areas but I continue to work on science and industrial strategy.

Organisation

Media

Independent blog on Brexit. Video messages on Transport in the North East, Peter Duncan’s death and Brexit.

Newcastle Best Ever Summer: Street Games in Cowgate

Meetings and visits

Pavilion Court Summer Fayre, Dippy the Dinosaur at the Great North Museum, Street Games, Northern Group, Osbit, Councillor Ged Bell & Michelle Percy Newcastle City Council re Grainger Market, NCS Food Bank visit, Tim Goodill Cassini films, Newcastle Probation Service, Chris Drinkwater Social Prescribing, Amrit ADP Architecture, Exhibition of Photography: Settling on Tyneside, Fenham Association of Residents Best Ever Summer Wildlife Activities, Deliveroo, Bizspace Press & Partners Day, Phil Rosenberg Board of Deputies of British Jews, Paul-Olivier Dehaye, Fenham Association of Residents  Bird Watching Walk.

Dippy at the Great North Museum

Speaking

NINEE’s 8^th Annual Igbo Day/New Yam Festival.

Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has put his support behind Gas Safety Week 2019 (16-22 September).

For Gas Safety Week, organisations from across the UK are working together to raise awareness of the dangers of poorly maintained gas appliances, which can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

In the first 7 months of 2019, British Gas engineers identified over 26,000 unsafe appliances, with the most common faults found with boilers and old cookers. Many customers have not had their electrical wiring or gas appliances checked in 10-20 years.

Andrew Gwynne said:

“It’s crucial for everyone’s health and safety that they have regular gas safety checks and install carbon monoxide detectors.

 

“There are potentially tragic consequences for people not taking gas safety seriously and I would encourage all of my constituents to think carefully about this issue and take action if necessary.”

Gas safety tips are available online here: https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/gassafetyweek/stay-safe/top-tips-to-stay-safe/

Today we remember the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem and pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of those who fought there. Arnhem would prove a bridge too far but would also come to define our Airborne Forces, forging an enduring legacy. It is a story of immeasurable bravery and unspeakable tragedy.

Over the summer recess, I have been running a Brexit survey across the Chesterfield constituency. I am now in a position to publish the responses that I received and give you my summary of what the answers tell us about Chesterfield’s people’s views.

Who completed the survey?

The survey was available online and was promoted both on my Facebook and Twitters accounts and via the Derbyshire Times. We also took the survey onto the streets and invited some Chesterfield constituents to respond to the survey asked by campaigners from the Labour Party. In total we had 1,279 responses from within the Chesterfield constituency.

The first question sought to establish what proportion of respondents had originally voted Remain or Leave and whether there had been significant movement in people’s views since the Referendum.

In response to this 47.82% said they had voted Remain and were still in favour of Remain, and 41.86% said they’d voted Leave and were still in favour of leaving. In addition 2.69% hadn’t voted. This meant that a very small percentage (7.58%) had changed their minds, with slightly more having favoured Remain now being Leave than the other way round.

The Chesterfield constituency is not exactly the same as the Chesterfield Borough area, but an estimated 58% of Chesterfield constituents voted to Leave the EU- this means that either there has been a considerable change of heart since then or that the respondents to my survey contained a disproportionately high number of remain voters. Given that less than 8% said that they had changed their mind, I expect that it was the latter.

What should happen now?

On the question of what should happen next, there was almost an exact split between the three ‘remain’ options and the three ‘leave’ options, but with a vast majority at the more extreme aspects of the answers.

Of the ‘remain’ options, 23% thought the UK Government should revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU, 20.6% thought that the Government should hold a 2^nd Referendum to decide whether to leave or remain, and only 5.3% thought Britain should attempt to negotiate a new deal but Remain if no better deal could be resolved.

Of the ‘leave’ options, 21% argued for leaving the EU on WTO terms and 25.65% thought that Britain should attempt to negotiate a new deal but be prepared to leave without one if unable to do so. Just 1.5% were in favour of supporting Theresa May’s deal and then reviewing after the 2-year transition period.

Sadly, these responses merely go to demonstrate how divided we are as

a country. There are people who voted Remain, who nonetheless believe that Government should attempt to negotiate a deal to get Britain to leave, but these are dwarfed by the number of remainers who still wish to see Britain either revoke or wish to see a 2^nd Referendum (presumably as a vehicle of remaining in the EU).

Of those who support Brexit almost none support the only deal that has been negotiated, and whilst there were more in favour of a deal than leaving without one, there was a significant number who said Britain should be willing to leave without a deal if no ‘better’ deal can be achieved.

Should Britain attempt to remain in Customs Union and Single market?

There was a majority in favour of remaining in the customs union and single market, which was greater than the numbers who wished for Britain to remain in the Eu, but only a fairly small percentage of Leave voters wished to see Britain remain in these arrangements.

53.8% supported remaining in the Customs Union and 55.6% for the single market compared with 38.4% against.

Labour’s manifesto for the 2017 General Election said that ‘ Labour believes leaving without a deal is the worst possible option for our economy and that we would seek to retain close

alignment with the Customs Union and single market.” Whilst this answer showed a majority in favour of remaining in the customs union and single market, the number of Leave respondents supporting that position showed that for the many Leave voters a Brexit that saw Britain remain in the customs union or single market would not be accepted as a fulfillment of Brexit.

What should happen in Ireland?

Given that the survey respondents were more likely to have voted Remain than Leave, it was maybe unsurprising that the most popular response to the question of Ireland was to continue to have freedom of movement for goods and people (45.39%) than any other. The second most popular answer (22.65%) was ‘there should be no border for people but goods should be subject to customs checks’, 14.72% wanted a ‘border’ in the Irish Sea, whilst returning to a hard border  between the North and South and re-negotiating the Good Friday agreement was backed by just 7.3%.

Economic prospects

Almost half of respondents (48.49%) thought the UK would

be worse off now and in the future when we left, whilst those who thought Britain would ultimately be better off were split between those who thought we’d be better off immediately and eventually (24.76%) and those that argued that the UK would initially be worse off but ultimately better off (23.81%).

Benefits

There were two free text questions concerning the benefits or concerns regarding Brexit.

The words used most often to describe benefits were: laws, freedom, trade deals and control.

The words used most often to describe concerns were: economy, NHS, trade deals and recession.

 Key negotiating priorities

The next question asked respondents to order their key negotiating priorities on a scale of 1-5. There was a list of which answers received the most ‘Number 1 priorities’ and an overall score.

‘Trade with the EU’ was both the most popular Number 1 priority and also the top overall score (3.59), followed by ‘ability to trade with countries outside the EU’ close behind (3.49%), Preserving the United Kingdom union (2.84%), collaboration on security (2.63) and control of immigration (2.51)

A General Election

The question of a General election was one that didn’t go down a purely Leave/ Remain divide.

Remain voters were slightly more likely to think that the PM should call a General Election than Leave voters, although recent events may have changed the response if it was asked again. But overall 49.88% said that we SHOULD have a General Election and 39.87% said that we SHOULD NOT, 10.25% were unsure.

Conclusion

The survey has been immensely useful in getting an updated snapshot of constituent opinions. Every voter in Chesterfield was invited to vote, and no-one was excluded, but that doesn’t mean that the numbers responding were a representative sample.

The most striking conclusion is that currently there seems to be very little sign of the country or the constituency being about to come together. The vast majority of voters still think what they did about the overall question of what we should do, and respondents to this survey seem to be hardening in their view towards a ‘Hard Brexit’ or a ‘Hard Remain’.

Recent elections have also rewarded parties who took a view at the more extreme end of the Brexit debate, with Brexit Party (No deal) and Lib Dem (Parliament to overrule Brexit without a Referendum) benefiting in the recent EU Parliamentary elections whilst both Labour Party and the Conservatives finding Leave and Remain voters were unpersuaded thus far by attempts to find a ‘middle way’.

I can’t pretend that the survey responses have given me a great deal of confidence that we are close to re-uniting the country- particularly whilst so much remains unknown about the basis of our future relationship with both the EU and the rest of the world. One thing that was clear was that the importance of trade and the impact on our economy was now considerably more significant to voters than concerns about immigration.

The complexity of delivering a Brexit that doesn’t undermine the UK union and protects relations on the island of Ireland were also well understood by respondents who were much more inclined to compromise on that question.

In the 2017 General Election, I said that I believed we needed a Brexit deal that delivered on the promises made for it (namely being able to continue to trade and attract world class talent). The support for staying within the single market and customs union at least showed support for that aspect of my approach. I have long said that I believed we could only re-unite the country by finding a resolution that recognised the narrowness of the outcome whilst also accepting that the Referendum result was a vote to Leave. Both I, and the Labour Party manifesto of 2017 made clear our opposition to leaving the EU without a deal. This was consistent with what campaigning organisations like ‘Vote Leave’ and senior Government ministers from the Leave side said during the campaign and since.

I will continue to engage with both constituents and businesses as the process progresses. I hear, loud and clear, people’s frustration about how long the process is taking, but I think there was a deliberate attempt during the campaign and since it to underplay the complexity or full consequences of leaving the EU- particularly in moving on to WTO terms, and leaving without a deal.

I also hope that this survey will have helped others to realise (as I have done) how different the opinions of people who may have voted the same way on 23^rd June 2016. Not all leavers are ‘no dealers’, not all remainers are ‘revokers’. But there is still a strong sense that far from bringing the country together and settling the matter once and for all, in many ways opinions are more divided now than they ever were.

It leaves politicians with an unenviable task in finding a way to bring the country together. I have already voted in Parliament in ways that I felt were a compromise, but am renewed in my determination to find a solution that a majority can accept and can help the country come together again.