MP UPDATE FOR BRENTFORD & ISLEWORTH RESIDENTS
February 2022
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I am happy to meet constituents either by phone, or on-line, to discuss your concerns. Please email me on ruthcadburymp@parliament.uk with your address, a quick summary of the issue and relevant reference numbers.
See my Coronavirus Web-page for information on local and national services, helplines and volunteering; and to sign up for Hounslow Council’s daily updates.
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It’s Not Just About Partygate: The Prime Minister is unfit for public office and he should resign, as Keir Starmer has said repeatedly. However, he is being protected by too many in the Conservative Party, and their chaos and incompetence continues to paralyse the nation. Many of my constituents, along with millions of people across the country, are paying the price; squeezed incomes, rocketing heating bills, a £20 per week Universal Credit cut, and hikes in Council Tax and National Insurance. In Parliament the Conservatives again and again vote against our proposals to address the cost of living crisis.
I called Johnson out on one of his (many) lies at Prime Minister’s Questions. He had denied that he never said that fears over inflation were ‘unfounded’, so I offered him the opportunity to correct the record and apologise for misleading the House. He declined.
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Meanwhile, Keir Starmer, along with Rachel Reeves and the rest of the Opposition's Shadow Cabinet have set out what they would do in Government. The Opposition has proposed saving most households around £200 - by scrapping VAT from everyone’s energy bills for a year; giving an extra £400 to families and pensioners who need it most (paid for by a one-off windfall tax on booming oil and gas profits). And making the long-term changes needed to keep energy bills low in the future, such as making sure 19 million homes are warm and well-insulated.
You can find Keir’s speech setting out his "Contract with the British people" here.
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We were all so shocked at the sudden death of Jack Dromey; long-time leading Trade Union campaigner and MP since 2010. On the day before he died he had been at the despatch box. Jack Dromey played a key role in the successful Trico Equal Pay strike in Brentford in 1976, when he worked at Brent law Centre (where he met his wife, Harriet Harman MP). Much later, as TGWU/Unite deputy General Secretary Jack Dromey was heavily involved in the campaign for decent pay for the cleaners at Canary Wharf, that led to the national accredited Living Wage (higher than the official Minimum Wage).
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Dover Visit: With the first 2022 post-Brexit border controls leading to queues of lorries in Kent, our Transport Select Committee visit to the Port of Dover was well timed. As Dominic Raab discovered a bit late in the day, Dover moves 30% of the UK’s trade with the EU in a continuously moving operation of vehicles and ferries. However, Brexit naturally leads to more border controls, 3 more of which are to be implemented this year – each adding to the paper work and delays. The most significant is the European Entry and Exit System (EES), where each person crossing into the EU will need to exit their vehicle to pass through an eGate. The Port of Dover representatives told us that each 2 minute additional delay for a vehicle adds 17 miles to the vehicle queue.
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After over a year of protest we learn that their Government are set to repeal new farming laws that would have impoverished millions of Indian farmers. Following an informative meeting some months ago I, and other MPs, wrote to the UK Government to put pressure on the Indian Government, so we may have helped.
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MY PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY in JANUARY
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You can see full details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, and get regular updates about my Parliamentary activities TheyWorkForYou (votes) in Hansard (speeches) and on YouTube
Several constituents have told me they lost thousands when the Football Index collapsed. So at DCMS (Culture Media & Sport) Questions I asked if the Government felt the Gambling Commission and Financial Conduct Authority are fit for purpose and for those affected to get justice. The Minister confirmed there would be no compensation paid but that the Insolvency Service is investigating – so that’s a “No” then.
At Attorney General’s Questions I asked what the Government is doing to ensure that women who report rape get the dignity, privacy and respect they deserve. For once I received an honest response, where Alex Chalk admitted “we need to go further …”
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Hounslow Council is delivering over 1300 new Council Homes. Some of these are being built in otherwise empty spaces on existing Council estates – such as these three flats at the base of one of the blocks on the Hogarth estate in Chiswick.
At Business Questions I challenged Jacob Rees-Mogg to congratulate Hounslow (working with the Mayor of London) on delivering truly affordable homes. But instead he suggested that what funding the Government provides “is taxpayers money” implying that this spending should be limited. Of course that line ignores the £9bn per year of taxpayers’ money going to private landlords so that low-income households can afford the rent that is often three times higher than Council housing.
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I’ve seen first-hand the injustices that the Home Office have inflicted on many, such as the Windrush Generation and those waiting for months and months for immigration decisions. At Home Office Questions I asked Victoria Atkins the Minister responsible for Afghanistan Resettlement what she is doing to ensure that similar delays and injustice is not repeated for Afghan Citizens who have served the UK, applying to settle here. She replied by saying that those on the ARAP or ACRS schemes will be eligible for indefinite leave to remain. However her response doesn’t help the many who are in limbo, waiting to know if they will be accepted onto one of these schemes.
After Michael Gove announced an extension of the support for leaseholders in blocks with flammable cladding, we realised this will only benefit those in buildings 11-18 metres high who had previously been offered only a loan to cover the recladding costs. The very many blocks with other fire safety defects are still not helped, nor are those facing the astronomical rises in premiums for buildings insurance, paid by the freeholder but passed on to leaseholders. The privatisation of building control, the deregulation of standards in the 1980s and the decision to ignore recommendations after the fire at Lakanal House have all contributed to this deep failure on fire safety. So I asked him what is being done to tackle this long-running and epidemic cultural attitude towards fire safety? Answer: Not a lot
I reminded Priti Patel at Home Office Questions that in September 2020 she had said that she would “call the police” if she saw her neighbours having a party in their garden, and asked her if she was confident that the Chancellor was aware of her advice. She avoided answering.
Trade Questions In December, the Government snuck through a change to the UK’s arms export rules, meaning less transparency over arms exports and an increased risk that UK arms are used against civilians such as those in Yemen. I asked the Trade Minister what the Government is doing to ensure that UK arms exports are not used to commit breaches of international humanitarian law.
In response he said “we have one of the best arms export regimes in the world; it is flexible and changes as situations change” So that’s all right then ……
I was our front-bench speaker in the debate on UK Israel UK Trade Negotiations where I acknowledged the historic links between the Labour Party with Israeli Labour leaders and the mutual benefit of trade between our countries in health-tech, digital security and data. However, I also stressed the importance of human rights in all trade deals, including that goods from illegal settlements should continue to be excluded from the preferential terms of any future UK – Israel deal.
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COMMUNITY UPDATE – JANUARY
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Sewage: Having campaigned for years on the Mogden Sewage Discharges into the Thames, it was good to see the the Environmental Audit Select Committee released its report into the pollution pouring into our rivers from sewage works and farms. It made a series of recommendations for action to address the challenge and we await the Government’s response with interest. Unfortunately the end of discharges going into the Thames from Modgen Sewage works is a long way off, and building more storm tanks won’t help.
However, on the subject of smell (sorry – “odour”) … At January’s meeting of the Mogden Residents Liaison group, Thames Water assured us that the imminent upgrading works on the site will mean that the pong will be a thing of the past, when complete in about five years time.
Can residents of Isleworth and Hounslow South wait that long?
SWR Trains: For many of us the SWR train service on the Hounslow “loop” line provides a fast, convenient service to commute to get to work or college. The temporary timetable changes to deal with Omicron staff absences were probably necessary, but they were poorly communicated, more services were taken out than on other SWR lines, and the loss of an early morning service into Waterloo is devastating for key workers. I have (again) written to SWR management with my concerns about their apparent undervaluing of this route.
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Arts Ed in Chiswick is one of the UK’s top centres of excellence for performance arts providing high quality schooling, degrees and holiday courses in dance, musical theatre and singing.
Many of their students go on to work in the West End and film, and I was delighted to be able to watch the 3rd year degree production of Lysistrata Jones, as well as discussing my role and key issues in Parliament with their Politics A-level students. It’s a private school whose fees are beyond the reach of many local young people, so it was good to meet the school’s new headteacher, Matt Bulmer, and discuss how we can work together to enable talented young people locally to be able to attend.
Best wishes for February – at least the days are getting longer, and the snowdrops are starting to show !
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KEEPING IN TOUCH
Twitter: @RuthCadbury Web: www.ruthcadbury.org.uk Facebook: “ RuthCadburyMP”
Casework: for issues to raise with me as your MP, please contact my office: ruth@ruthcadbury.org.uk
Tel: 020 8581 3646 or write: Ruth Cadbury MP, House of Commons, SW1A 0AA.
Diary: I welcome the opportunity to attend community events to hear your views about issues affecting the area, or to meet different groups in our community. Please do get in touch with by emailing ruthcadburymp@parliament.uk or phone 020 7219 8590
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Printed from an email sent by Ruth Cadbury MP {domain.address}
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