MP’s Update for Brentford and Isleworth residents October 2022

You can find previous reports of my work on my web site; www.ruthcadbury.org.uk  I also report regularly on my Facebook page and via Twitter and Instagram @RuthCadbury.

 

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.

 

If you would like to raise issues with me as your MP Please email on ruthcadburymp@parliament.uk with your address, a quick summary of the issue (and relevant reference numbers).   

 

See my Web page for information on local and national services.

It’s more apparent every day that Liz Truss’s Government is in chaos.  She is clearly politically to the right of her predecessors, who at least paid lip service to issues such as inequality, our natural world and the climate crisis (they just did too little about them).  The new team care not a jot for these issues. Parliamentary bills and key Government consultations that are already in progress may be ditched.  We already know this Government will downgrade work on issues such net zero, and on the obesity strategy.  What we can be pretty sure of is that funding on our already decimated public services will be cut yet further to fill the gap made by Kwarteng’s tax cuts and the growing rise in borrowing costs.

 

Meanwhile the cost-of-living crisis is hitting more and more people in this country, not only those on low and fixed incomes, but most people with mortgages too.  The only people protected are those with significant incomes and owning their home outright – coincidentally a group making up a large proportion of the membership of the Conservative Party, who voted for Liz Truss.

 

What will be interesting to see will be the challenges from the “rebels” – the two thirds of Tory MPs who voted against Truss even in the final round of voting before she and Sunak went to the members.  There will be some interesting votes in the Commons this Autumn!

Meanwhile it truly was a pleasure to be at Labour Party conference this year.  Not only did the chaos of the Tories bring a spring to our step, but Keir Starmer and our Shadow Cabinet really have grown in confidence and reputation.  They delivered a raft of ambitious yet realistic and deliverable policies all along the theme of a Fairer, Greener Future that this Country deserves;  Keir announced Great British Energy – creating jobs, growth, energy security all leading to net zero in carbon emissions.  Other commitments were; breakfast clubs in every primary school, NHS Workforce expansion, Green exports hubs, cleaning up the water industry, investing in tech jobs and businesses, and in neighbourhood policing – and much more.

Obviously the death of Queen Elizabeth has been a sad event. Most of us have known no other monarch.  I was glad to be at local events to mark her passing; the proclamation of the accession of King Charles in Hounslow High Street, and commemoration events at church, mosque and Gurdwara. So many of us living in the borough were able to see her coffin on its final journey along the A4 to Windsor.

 

In my tributes I remembered her Christmas Message in 2004 which showed clips of her visit to a mosque in east London, and to the Gurdwara in Hounslow which formed part of her focus on the need to tackle division and discrimination.    The Queen then went on to to tell a story she’d heard, about an overseas visitor to the UK who arrived at Heathrow and travelled into London on the Piccadilly line at the end of the school day. He told of his joy at seeing children, who would have been children from our borough at local schools, getting on and off the tube. They were of all faiths, all ethnicities, and all religions - playing together, talking and being completely at ease with one another - something not possible in his own country

Over 70 years she built bridges and tore down divides- that is why we have seen such an emotional, such a far reaching and such a universal response to her passing.

 

She epitomised the very ideal of service - and as a woman in the public eye, she was a perfect example of grace and dignity, often in the face of adversity.

MY PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY in SEPTEMBER

Because of the Queen’s passing, we were only in Parliament for 5 days, before rising for the annual conference break.

 

As a member of Labour’s International Trade team, I grilled the Government on their SI (Statutory Instrument, or regulation) on rolling over the EU ban on the import of dog and cat fur post-Brexit.  Whilst I said that Labour supported the Government on the SI, it was an opportunity to challenge the Government on the delay on the enforcement of the ban, and on the delay to the promised ban on the import of foie gras and all fur.  And now we hear that the Truss Government would roll-back large swathes of animal welfare protection; one of many issues we will be tackling them on in the months to come.

 

I spoke in a debate on the Seven Principles of Public Life that all public servants have to sign up to; not only MPs and Councillors, but senior civil servants and officers too.  (For reference the 7 Principles are; selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.)  I shared the horror of so many of the behaviour of Boris Johnson and his Government, and supported the proposals made by Standards Committee Chair, Chris Bryant, in the debate; that there be a fully independent adviser on the ministerial code who cannot be sacked or ignored by said PM; that Ministerial interests be declared promptly as MPs’ are required to be; and that the Standards Committee recommendations on revised rules of conduct for the Commons be adopted.

 

At Rees-Mogg’s shocking statement reversing the ban on Fracking, I asked him whether the threshold for community support for fracking would be as tough as that for onshore wind development, where one objector can stop it.    He persisted in opposing on-shore wind – but the next day Kwasi Kwarteng removed that block.  Buried deep in the Chancellor’s Plan for Growth was the commitment to bring the consultation process for on-shore wind developments into line with other infrastructure projects; Cadbury 1 – Rees-Mogg 0 !!!   It remains to be seen whether back-bench Tories will allow the Government to pursue fracking, Jacob Rees-Mogg had many hostile questions from them too.

 

The next day at the Kwarteng’s “Growth” statement (the one that sent the markets tumbling) I commented on the Government’s one-day flip-flop on on-shore wind, and then pressed him on his apparent desire to further undermine the planning process in the investment zones, accusing him of launching another “Dodgy Developer’s Charter”.

The Australia Trade Deal signed by the Government poses serious risks to Britain’s hill farmers, particularly in Wales where beef and lamb production is the main source of revenue.  As a member of Labour’s International Trade team, I took the opportunity to meet the President and Vice-President of NFU Wales when I was there in August and heard in detail how they fear the UK being flooded with poor quality, cheap beef and lamb as a result of the poor deal the UK has negotiated.

COMMUNITY UPDATE

Yet another “block of flats” saga came in from constituents in September. This time from APT Parkview, the office-to-flats block on the Great West Road in Brentford. With two weeks notice both tenants and leaseholders were sent a retrospective bill for energy costs of air-conditioning, charges for which they had had no warning. There are also serious concerns about the safety of the car park in the block. I am working with Councillor Marina Sharma, Leasehold Knowledge Partnership and the residents to force the building owners to make amends.

I was pleased that Hounslow’s Planning Committee refused an application for an excessive amount of housing (along with a much-needed special school) on Hanworth Road, Hounslow. The importance of this decision is that Councillors recognised that the future residents of the flats could prevent existing activites taking place on the Gurdwara (Sikh temple)’s ceremonial space. By using environmental legislation they could take the Gurdwara to court if they object to the noise and activities that usually go along with religious events and wedding celebrations that frequently occur there.   I also raised serious concerns about the loss of light and level of overlooking for residents in flats that back onto the site.

Rosi Prescott is the recently appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Hounslow, the Monarch’s representative here. I spent a day taking her to meet a range of community organisations including the Foodbox, South Street Café, Hounslow Mosque, Hogarth Youth & Community Centre, and the Star Centre in Hounslow

At the annual Tidefest on the banks of the Thames in Chiswick I met volunteers who staff the Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat station, and also provide water safety messages in schools and community events

Dominic Conlin is the Director of West Middlesex hospital. When we met I had a chance to ask about the main pressures on the hospital.  The shortage of nursing care beds in the community is the biggest challenge, as there are about 40 Hounslow residents at West Mid who no longer need to be there but finding a nursing home or residential care support is difficult, as there are not enough care staff to support the less frail at home or in residential or nursing car homes.

The local Alzheimer’s Society held a coffee morning at Brentford Free Church and raised over £500, mainly through a “silent auction” to which I brought along a bottle of House of Commons Whiskey.

With the Cost of Living Crisis biting, I was pleased that Hounslow Council organised a “Cost of Living Marketplace” where a host of organisations who provide help and support to people experiencing money, health and other challenges came together for a morning.  I met up with Liz Gers of Community Solutions to discuss the concerning shortage of adequate advice and support on benefit advice and debt support in the borough.

Let me leave you with an important economic principle - best shown visually