FIVE days to save our ticket offices
For years now the Tories have been running down our rail network.  Their latest plans to close ticket offices up and down the country are a disaster for older and disabled customers, for safety, and for staff.  I’ve already responded to the consultation and written to the Transport Secretary.  I do not believe that this change is genuinely about reforming our railways or modernisation – it is about making cuts. Our rail services are being run into the ground, with cancellations at record highs, basic services such as wi-fi being taken away and legislation to reform the network abandoned. We need a Government that is able to fix the railways and, with the Tories, we don’t have one.
 
Worryingly, the short consultation looks like a rubber stamp for a decision that has already been taken, but it’s still vital we make our voices heard.  Take part in the Great Northern consultation, which includes our local Hornsey & Wood Green stations, before 26 July: https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/publicconsultation

Illegal Migration Bill
The Government’s cruel, unworkable Illegal Migration Bill finally completed its journey through Parliament this week despite Labour’s fierce opposition.  The Lords had put forward a number of important amendments to protect unaccompanied children, pregnant women and victims of modern slavery but disappointingly the Tories voted them all down.  I believe this Bill is deliberately designed to chase headlines and manufacture controversy and it will do nothing to truly tackle the asylum backlogs or the criminal gangs that prey on desperate refugees.  With the majority the Tories have in the Commons, this is a day we knew would come, but I know from the overwhelming number of emails I’ve received that people in Hornsey & Wood Green stand united together with refugees.  I’m proud that Haringey is the UK’s first welcome council and we stand in solidarity against the worrying rise in anti-migrant, far right activity across the country made worse by this Government’s divisive approach. 

Thames Water
What’s happening at Thames Water is an absolute disgrace, and where was the Secretary of State this month when Labour raised an Urgent Question in Parliament?  This is what happens when vital investment is sacrificed for corporate greed.  £1.4 billion paid out to shareholders and we’re left with a mountain of debt, creaking infrastructure, water leaks and raw sewage pumped through our rivers and seas.  The Tory cycle of privatising profit and nationalising risk is not sustainable and not fair for customers or for the country. It is yet another example of successive Tory Government’s leaving our essential services to rack and ruin.  In the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, it is vital that taxpayers aren’t expected to bail Thames Water out.

Violence against women and girls
At Justice Questions, I challenged the Minister on the woeful charging figures for rape under this Government’s watch.  300 women in Britain will be raped today yet in only three of those cases will there even be a charge.  Shamefully, instead of answering my question the Minister sought to dismiss my accurate figures by conflating the conviction rate and charging rate to dismiss my concerns.  It’s sloppy practice deliberately aimed at underplaying the problem and I raised a point of order in the house because MPs should expect better from Ministers.  This serious issue deserved a serious response.
 
My latest Climate Change & Environment Report
Read my latest Climate Change and Environment update here.  Following my adjournment debate on the protection of our urban trees, I have now received this response from the Minister to my joint letter with Cllr Mike Hakata.   I’ve arranged a meeting with Haringey Tree Protectors and the Woodland Trust in the autumn to discuss what more we can do in Parliament to ensure councils have the protections they need to protect mature trees.
 
Homeless households in London
In my last report, I wrote about the impact on mortgage holders and renters of soaring interest rates.  This month in Parliament I called for a debate in Government time on the sad record that will be broken by the end of this summer: the highest ever number of homeless households in temporary accommodation in London.  Councils in London are spending over £52 million a month to try and house families in temporary accommodation that is often unsuitable, extortionately expensive and increasingly out of the borough where they have family links or their kids go to school.  Haringey Council and Sadiq Khan are doing everything they can to build more of the social housing we so desperately need – but it is deeply disappointing that the Government is failing to act and that Penny Mordaunt dismissed my reasonable request.

Government’s consultation on visiting in Care Homes, Hospitals and Hospices 
During the pandemic I heard distressing stories from constituents who were unable to be with their loved ones in care homes and hospitals because of the impact of restrictions.  I believe it’s right that the Government is looking at this legislation and what more can be done to safely ensure friends and family have visiting rights.  You can take part in the consultation until 16^th August here.
 
My Month in Numbers
Last month, 1,060 of you got in touch with me to raise policy issues.  The biggest single issue was people telling me they back Labour’s policy of no new oil and gas projects in the North Sea to protect our planet’s future.  I’ve also received lots of messages from people concerned around deep-sea mining and the potential risk to marine wildlife. It is important that the Government listens and gets this right and I am pleased that a Labour Government would commit to a global pause.
 
Lots of you have shared concerns about the Government’s ongoing delay in introducing a much-needed ban on Conversion Therapy. Labour stands with the LGBTQ+ community and we are committed to ensuring that we ban this awful practice in all forms. I will continue to press this Government on its plans to bring forward legislation.

Since my last report, I’ve asked 22 Parliamentary Questions on subjects from Housing Ombudsman complaint response times to teacher workloads, which you can read here.

In the Chamber, I have urged ministers to act on the exploitation of care workers from abroad and to tackle the crisis in children’s poor mental health.  You can view all my contributions in the Chamber here.

Update on Wood Green Post Office reopening
I’m very pleased that a new postmaster has now been appointed for Wood Green Post Office.  I’ve been in touch with them already and look forward to providing any support I can to get this much-needed branch up and running as soon as possible.  Read my latest statement here. 
 
Safety on our streets
I organised a helpful roundtable this month with Haringey’s Borough Commander, David Lammy, MP, Joanne McCartney AM, the Director of the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit Lib Peck and representatives from Haringey Council to discuss preventing violent crime in the borough over the summer months.  One of the issues I raised was young people’s safety as they travel to and from school or spend time with their friends over the summer holidays.  You can read a full update on this issue on my website.

Back in 2010 each secondary school had a dedicated police officer to help resolve issues as they arose, but due to severe cuts under the Conservatives schools now share that support across a much wider area.  It’s an issue I’ve already written to the Home Secretary about and I welcome the priority the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley has given to community policing in the New Met for London report published this week.  I attended a meeting with the Commissioner to discuss the report and, together with the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, will continue to push for our community to receive the resources it needs to keep our communities safe.

Save Halifax in Muswell Hill and protect in-person banking
I learnt this week that yet another local bank, this time Halifax in Muswell Hill, is scheduled to close in November.  Please sign and share my petition, which I’ll present when Parliament returns, urging action to defend face-to-face banking. 

Since January 2015 half of the UK’s banks and building society branches have closed, that’s around 54 closures every single month.  Not everyone is online and nor should they have to be to access basic banking services, yet we keep seeing banks recording record profits and forgetting their social responsibility to the communities they serve. 

It’s only a few months since Halifax closed their Crouch End branch, and at the time they told anxious customers not to worry because they could use Muswell Hill instead.  Now that’s going in an endless stream of closures that leaves customers, especially older and disabled people, behind.   It was deeply disappointing that the Government failed to use the opportunity of the recent Financial Services and Markets Bill to protect vital face-to-face banking services despite Labour’s calls.  I will continue pushing them to act.

Shadow Foreign Affairs:Hong Kong
As a patron of Hong Kong Watch since its inception I have been concerned about the situation
in the territory for some years. The recent decision by the authorities to issue arrest warrants for foreign based Hong Kongers – including some here in the UK – is a further worrying step and a symbol of their intention to intimidate those campaigning for Hong Kong’s legally promised freedoms. I responded to an Urgent Question in the House of Commons on this issue and once again urged the Government to do more to live up to our responsibilities to Hong Kongers, both here and in the territory. I am particularly concerned about the threats to those in the UK and I will continue urging the Government to act.
 
Myanmar
While the situation in Myanmar is no longer routinely in the headlines it remains deeply worrying, with repeated attacks by the military junta against unarmed civilians and indiscriminate airstrikes a hallmark of the conflict. With Lord Collins, Labour’s Deputy Leader in the House of Lords, I met with representatives of the exiled civilian Government and reiterated our ongoing wish for their to be a return to civilian government and a release for all prisoners held by the regime. Labour has been in the forefront of demanding further actions on the junta – and those who supply it – and we will continue urging further action on sanctions and trade.
 
Vanuatu
Many smaller island states in the Indo-Pacific region are at acute risk of climate change but their plight is not given the attention internationally that it deserves. I recently met with the Honorary Consul from Vanuatu, and the country’s Climate Minister Ralph Regenvanu, to highlight Labour’s support for concerted international cooperation on the climate crisis to preserve the way of life for countries like Vanuatu.

With people across Hornsey & Wood Green hit hard by the Tory mortgage and rent bombshell and with services creaking after 13 years of neglect, it is no surprise that my casework inbox is busier than ever.  This month my office opened 220 new cases and responded to over 1,330 emails with housing yet again topping the pile.    
 
I have continued to visit sheltered housing schemes, including The Paddocks, to chat to residents about social care and encourage older service users to engage in my survey.  You can read my latest column in the Ham & High on the rising epidemic of loneliness, something that is sadly coming out loud and clear in my survey findings.   

If I can be of any help over the summer, don’t hesitate to get in touch. 

Best wishes,

Catherine

Catherine West MP
Labour MP for Hornsey & Wood Green
Shadow Foreign Minister – Asia and the Pacific