My latest e-newsletter has gone out to thousands of homes across Hornsey & Wood Green.  You can read it below or online with all the photos here.

If you’d like to receive it and don’t already, you can sign up here.

Welcome to my January e-newsletter

Another day, another “independent” ethics enquiry.

So much for the new era of “professionalism and accountability” that PM Sunak promised us in his first words from Downing Street.

With local schools saying they’re running out of money, our NHS at breaking point and people struggling to pay their heating bills, what message does it send that a member of the current Cabinet and a former Chancellor has been hit with a six-figure penalty for unpaid taxes?

Rishi Sunak’s vote of full confidence in Nadhim Zahawi is yet another example of his weak leadership and appalling judgement. He can no longer dodge questions about what he knew and when, or why HMRC warnings were ignored.

For the third time in as many months, Labour has had to drag a Minister down to the Chamber to provide answers on basic questions of ethics and propriety.  The public deserve better, and the buck stops with the Prime Minister. 

This is my first e-news of 2023 and sadly it is hard to open with any sense of positivity about what the country faces over the year ahead.   I know what a difficult year it will be for so many in the community, and can assure you I will continue doing everything I can in Parliament to stand up for Hornsey & Wood Green and those who are struggling.  

Here are just some of the things I’ve been up to this month:

I signed the Holocaust Educational Trust (UK) Book of Commitment, once again pledging to remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered in the Holocaust. We also remember and pay tribute to all of those persecuted by the Nazis, including Roma and Sinti people, gay and disabled people, political opponents to the Nazis and others. We must never forget the horrors of the past, and we must stand together against hate today.

End the shameful forced installation of prepayment meters
I’ve long campaigned against the scandal of customers on prepayment meters being hit with higher charges and this week Labour secured an Urgent Question on the forced installation of these meters which has left millions of people without power on some of the coldest days.  I spoke out to share some of the appalling stories from my own constituents.  One told me she’d resorted to having a shower once a week, another told me she’s washing in cold water to save money, causing her terrible problems with her arthritis.  People shouldn’t have to live like this.  Watch my intervention here . 

A Labour Government would end forced installations and the scandalous prepayment penalty and introduce proper regulation of our broken energy market. We’d also stop the energy price cap going up in April which is going to cause more pain to people already struggling and pay for it with a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants.  And with our long-term plan for clean power, energy efficiency and ‘jump start’ funding for home insulation, we’d help households save up to £1,400 off their future annual bills.

If you need cost-of-living support, the Mayor of London’s bus will be visiting Wood Green on 7 February from 10am-4pm.  Parking up at 11 High Street, N22 6DS the bus serves as an in-person advice centre and expert advisors from Debt Free Advice and partners will be on-hand to give free and confidential debt, money and welfare advice including on childcare entitlements and mental health support.  No appointment is needed, so do drop by if you would find these services helpful. 

If you know anyone who would like to receive these updates, please share this link.

Childcare costs
With so many families across Hornsey & Wood Green facing soaring childcare costs, it’s appalling to see that the government has now also dropped their plans to expand childcare support.  The soaring cost of childcare is deepening the cost-of-living crisis and holding parents, particularly women, back from progressing in work.  A Labour government will deliver a modern childcare system from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school.  As a first step we’ll deliver breakfast clubs in every primary school and remove legal barriers that make it harder for councils to open new childcare facilities. 

This month I also spoke to the Evening Standard about the crisis in rental costs that’s pushing key workers out of the capital.  Our housing market is broken. London can’t function if critical workers can’t afford to live here and that will only happen with more of the genuinely affordable council housing we so desperately need – and the rental reform that the government has been promising for almost FOUR years but has failed to deliver.

Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill
Hundreds of you emailed to share your concerns about the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.  I voted against this Bill because it will take power away from the public and from Parliament and give the Conservative Government full authority to make crucial decisions about workers’ rights, consumer protections, animal rights & our environment.

This is reckless and undemocratic. Ministers must set out exactly what laws they plan to delete and if they will be replaced.  Read my fuller thoughts on this bonfire of disaster Bill here . 

Defending our National Health Service
On Parliament’s return I submitted some written Parliamentary Questions about the crisis in ambulance services across London following the latest leaked email revealing ambulance crews in the capital will now only wait 45 minutes at hospitals before handing over patients.   They’ve been forced into this position because of the Tories devastating our NHS and now, with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine warning of hundreds of deaths each week, Sunak and Barclay are still failing to act.

Instead, we’re seeing a former health secretary push the line that paying for GP and A&E appointments is the solution our NHS needs.   It isn’t and it never will be.  An NHS free at the point of use has been its central principle since the day that Labour founded it, and it will always be its central principle whilst Labour is in charge.   Patients should never have to worry about the bill and dedicated NHS staff should never have to worry that they don’t have the team around them to keep people safe.   A Labour Government would renew and rebuild the services we all rely on, training thousands more doctors and ensuring existing staff get the fair pay and respect they deserve.

I’m planning a Parliamentary meeting on Labour’s plans for health with a member of the shadow health team over the coming months.  Keep an eye out for more details when available.

Anti-strike legislation
I completely understand why people are going on strike in such numbers and fighting for better pay and working conditions during a cost-of-living crisis.   Labour supports this right and I regularly receive written and face to face briefings on industrial disputes. Instead of talking to unions and trying to stop strikes, the Government is shamefully pushing ahead with their anti-strike laws. I voted against this draconian legislation at second reading – it is an awful attack on workers’ rights and Labour will continue to oppose it.  When in power we’ll end the Tory strike chaos with a new partnership of cooperation between trade unions, employers and government.

My latest Climate & Change & environment update
You can read my latest environmental update on my website here alongside my latest column for the Ham & High on my 2023 wish that we stop treating this country like an open sewer.

Missing migrant children
It is shocking to read that unaccompanied minors are disappearing from hotels run by the Home Office and are being trafficked across the country. This is so disturbing and is the result of such a cruel, chaotic and hostile Tory asylum system. For months, councils and charities warned the Government that these unaccompanied minors were extremely vulnerable to criminal gangs and that the hotels were not offering enough protection or safe spaces. These warnings were routinely ignored.   The Home Office clearly doesn’t have a grip on this at all; for so many children to just disappear like this should have raised major alarm bells in government. Labour will continue to urge the Home Office to sort this mess.

Register now: is our criminal justice system in crisis?
It feels sadly timely to be hosting my next conversation in Middle Lane on Sunday 26 February on is our criminal justice system in crisis.  With the former Victim’s Commissioner Dame Vera Baird QC, Labour’s Shadow Spokesperson for Home Affairs in the House of Lords Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, John Plummer, Co-ordinator of the London Prisons Mission and Charley Allan, the Justice Unions Parliamentary Group organiser  there is a lot to talk about.  I hope you can join us.  Find out more and register here.   

Conversion Therapy Bill
The Government first committed to banning conversion therapy over four years ago. Since then we have seen U-turn after U-turn and a complete watering down of the legislation. Last week, the Government finally confirmed it will commit to the full Conversion Therapy Ban. Conversion therapy is a deeply harmful practice which has no place in 2023 – in any setting – and I urge the Government to keep to its promise and outlaw it as soon as possible.

Save our Pools
When the Sports Minister attended our All-Party Parliamentary Group on Swimming meeting last year, he heard first-hand the desperate situation many pools, leisure centres and gyms are facing.  When I handed in Swim England’s #SaveOurPools petition with almost 50,000 signatures shortly before Christmas I hoped the Government was listening.  They weren’t.  The news that swimming pools and leisure centres have been missed off the new Energy Bills Discount Scheme is a huge blow and as Chair of the Swimming All-Party Group I’ve written to the Minister to urge the Government to think again.

Over recent weeks I’ve also had an increasing number of emails from residents concerned about the condition of our local pools at Park Road and Tottenham Green.  It’s on my agenda for my next meeting with the Council Leader and Chief Executive and I know that Cllr Julie Davies, the Cabinet Member for Communities & Civic Life has been investigating.  Some of the issues affecting Fusion are facing leisure centres and swimming pools across the country, which have been particularly badly hit by soaring energy costs and staffing shortages, with many still not recovering customer numbers since the pandemic. Swimming is so important for physical and mental health as well as children’s water safety, and I’ll continue pushing in Parliament for vital support for the struggling sector.

Shadow Foreign Affairs:

Labour’s Foreign Policy
Earlier this week the shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, laid out Labour’s approach to foreign policy in a major speech to the Chatham House think tank, building on the work my colleagues and I in the team have been doing for some time. David laid out Labour’s commitment to a new engagement with our European partners – most notably in structured dialogue and in a new security pact – and talked about the central premise of our vision, a Britain Reconnected to the world.

In his speech David also talked about the challenges we face with the rise of China, which I have often written about here, but also the need for us to engage. Our approach in Government will be based on a strategy of three Cs. Challenge, compete and, where we can, cooperate. For too long this country’s approach to China has been marred by incoherence and inconsistency and Labour will bring the stability we need in our foreign policy.

Oxfam in South East Asia
One of my priorities in my role as shadow Asia Minister is highlighting the work done by NGOs and organisations providing life saving aid in countries often overlooked by the media. As such I met with the country directors of Oxfam in Bangladesh and Nepal to discuss their work and their concerns about the UK’s engagement in the region. There is much more which the UK should do and I will be pressing the Minister on this when I meet with her.