MP’s UPDATE FOR BRENTFORD AND ISLEWORTH RESIDENTS January 2024

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

 

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MY PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY in DECEMBER

For full details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, get regular updates about my Parliamentary activities TheyWorkForYou (votes) or see Hansard (speeches) & on YouTube

Winning a Commons Vote! Being in Opposition to a Government with a large majority means we never win a vote. But in December, for the first time in a legislation vote since 2019, the opposition parties, with the help of Tory “rebels”, defeated the Government by 4 votes in an amendment to the Victims & Prisoners Bill. This requires the Government to set up a body to pay restitution to victims of the contaminated blood scandal (where the NHS imported unscreened blood and blood prducts from the US in the 70s and 80s, resulting in thousands of people being infected with HIV and hepatitis C).

 

Rwanda: December saw total chaos for the Government over their appalling plans to send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda, as their latest Immigration Bill came to the Commons for the 2nd reading debate.  Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, pointed out the scheme is already costing the taxpayer £300m, before a single Asylum Seeker has been sent there..  It’s also unworkable – the Rwandan Government is saying it won’t sign a deal that doesn’t comply with international human rights law, while The Tory right won’t back a deal that does.  And anyway at 100-200 Asylum seekers maximum, the deal won’t make a dent in the 700,000+ net migration figures. The Bill comes back to the Commons for further debate and votes this month.  Just one of several clauses of this short bill we will be debating is Clause 2(1) which states ”Every decision-maker must conclusively treat the Replublic of Rwanda as a safe country” whether or not it is safe for asylum seekers sent there …..

 

Israel/Gaza:  The escalating horror in Gaza means the Gazan death-toll topping 20,000, civilians displaced multiple times, hostages still held by Hamas, and the escalation of the crisis beyond Israel, Gaza and the West Bank to Lebanon and the Red Sea.  Meanwhile we’re watching the fight between the far right, and the far far right of the Israeli Government try to decide if their long-term plan is to start the second Nakba and expel the Palestinians from Gaza.  International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell confirmed to me, in the Commons, that the British Government will oppose any attempt by Israel to do this.

Also In the Chamber in December –

• An Opposition Day motion called on OFWAT to block company bosses’ bonuses where high levels of sewage are being pumped into rivers, to end self-monitoring by water companies, impose severe fines of illegal discharges and ensure water bosses face personal criminal liability for law breaking.  My speech supporting the motion relayed constituents’ anger that Thames Water has not been fined for any of the sewage discharges into the Thames, nor the flooding of the Duke of Northumberland River in January 2021. Meanwhile water main bursts, horrible smells in Isleworth and expensive capital schemes, supposedly to address other issues, continue to plague Thames Waters’ customers.  
• On the debate on the 2nd Reading of the wholly inadequate Leasehold & Freehold Reform Bill I described the many and varied challenges that constituents who are leaseholders were facing due to the weaknesses in current legislation, and which the new Bill will not address.  I also pointed out that many property professionals have been colluding to exploit weaknesses in the law to rip off leaseholders at every stage of buying and living in leasehold properties.
• The Government brought their response to Lord Etherton’s report on LGBT Veterans Independent Review to the House – which focused on the appalling treatment LGBT service personnel experienced between 1967 and 2000 when many thousands were dismissed or discharged because of their sexual orientation. As I had been contacted by constituents affected by this deep wrong, I attended the Statement, and asked if it was true that an earlier draft of the report recommended double the level of compensation than that proposed by the Government.  (I got a “non” answer)
• Recently I met locally an Afghan man who had worked for the UK Government and been given Refugee status but had not been supported into work that used the skills he had when working for the UK in Kabul. So I asked the Immigration Minister to ensure that people with his experience were able to make the most of their specialist skills in good jobs, rather than have to take basic skill, minimum wage work.  
• Deaths and serious injuries on UK roads are among the lowest in the world, but the rate has flatlined for a decade. I asked the Transport Secretary what has happened to the promised road safety investigation branch, to match the similar organisations for air, maritime and rail.

In Parliament we marked the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Genocide Convention by remembering the achievement of international cooperation. The signing 75 years ago marked a new era of international cooperation - to not just fining those responsible but ensuring atrocities don’t happen in the first place.  

The Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle invited MPs to submit the Christmas cards we send out to local organisations and businesses to his competition. Although we didn’t win, he signed one of my cards which I will present to Avyaan, the winner of my design competition. We will also donate fruit trees from the Hounslow Tree scheme to Avyaan’s school, St Mary Catholic Primary, in appreciation.

COMMUNITY UPDATE

As I wasn’t able to do the sponsored 10k run for Hounslow Foodbox in December I will be doing it this month.  To sponsor me for a great cause, please donate if you can!

The traffic jams on the A4 and Ealing Road caused by the changes to the signal phasing there continue to annoy local people.  Along with Brentford ward Councillors, I continue to raise these concerns with TfL, and had a chance to speak directly to London’s Deputy Mayor for Transport, Seb Dance about this when he visited Parliament in December.  Meanwhile, the work on the M4 elevated section pillars will be back again this year, unfortunately for local traffic conditions, but probably a good thing if the alternative is the motorway falling onto Brentford.

A huge victory for plot holders at Park Road!  After years of campaigning by allotment holders, local community groups such as the Isleworth Society and hard work by Councillors Salman Shaheen, John Stroud-Turp and Sue Sampson, the planning inspectorate has upheld the original decision of Hounslow Council to refuse the Duke of Northumberland’s attempts to redevelop the site for housing.  I was proud to support this campaign and spoke out against the plans to redevelop them at the planning inquiry.

Refugees Welcome Hounslow support refugees with their integration into life in this country. They organised a magician for the children at their Christmas party. While the children were having fun, I caught up with some of the adults who have been through so much to arrive here and want so much to contribute to the UK.

Mark Conroy, the Manager of Tesco Osterley, told me about their support for local community organisations and how almost all unsold food goes to foodbanks via Fairshare and the Felix project.  If you shop there you know you can use tokens to “vote” for your favourite of three local charities. You can also nominate which are to be supported in their next round – so do check out the information there.  

I was so pleased that Brentford FC Community Sports Trust CEO Lee Doyle was awarded a BEM in the New Year Honours. He and I first met in the late 80s when we organised holiday activities for teenagers on Brentford’s Haverfield estate. He was one of only 2 coaches at Brentford FC running community activities then.  What became BFCCST under his leadership now provides £ms worth of social value across West London.  This achievement was celebrated with the launch of the Social Impact Report at the Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub, which I attended, along with the club’s head coach Thomas Frank.

School visits in December included Green Dragon  and Ivybridge Primaries, and Kew House (independent secondary).  As well as explaining my role, taking questions and discussing issues that matter to the children, I always meet the senior leaders at the school.  The message heads and their teams (in the state schools) give me to relay to parliament and Government is always the same – they cannot support the apparently growing number of children with additional needs while also ensuring all children get a good education on the resources they have. I will be raising these points at a debate on Special Educational Needs at a debate in Parliament in mid-January.

Having visited SheWise at their base in Hounslow, I was at their inspiring event at the new London City Hall, addressing Domestic Violence in South Asian communities.  We heard directly from women who had survived after years of abuse; physical, sexual, emotional and financial from their husbands and subsequently from their families. We also heard from the SheWise team and others who support victims, many of whose status in the UK is threatened if they try to leave their husbands. The event was also the launch of “A Thousand Cuts” exhibition from artist Sujata Seta who had photographed survivors then cut the images to show how the control involves regulating the minutiae of everyday life including how women dress, do housework, who they meet and even depriving them of the basic necessities of life – hence a life of 1000 cuts.

December is always a lovely month of community events; religious and secular.  Brentford’s Christmas market flowed over from the market place over the High Street into Drays Passage, part of the Ballymore development next to the new Morrisons. I also attended Christmas services at Dominion Parish in Hounslow, and Holy Trinity Hounslow, and carols at Brentford Lock West.

Happy New Year to all readers!   2024 must bring a General Election, and I’m pleased to be part of Keir Starmer’s team planning for what we really hope will be a Labour Government.

 PS: Do let me know what you think of these updates!

Printed from an email sent by Ruth Cadbury MP