MP’s UPDATE TO RESIDENTS – DECEMBER 2020

I provide regular updates on my work.

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. You can see full details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, and get Regular updates about my Parliamentary activities on TheyWorkForYou in Hansard and on YouTube

See my special Coronavirus Web-page for information on

local and national services, help-lines and volunteering;

and to sign up for Hounslow Council’s daily updates.

2020 has been a tough year for so many; those who have lost loved ones, or jobs, students who have missed out on vital learning, and we have all missed seeing friends and wider family members. We all miss hugs and holidays. And many of us miss meeting voters on their doorsteps!

2021 is going to be a year of further uncertainty until we get an effective vaccination programme. On top of that, we still face the inevitable disruption of a bad trade deal with the EU or (worse), No Deal. As it’s too late to go back, we’ll finally experience what it means for the UK to sail off into the unknown waters of “full sovereignty”; something I and most people in this constituency didn’t vote for.

One event I am looking forward to though is the delayed London elections, with Sadiq Khan as our Labour candidate again, and the wonderful Candice Atterton (Hounslow’s own) our London Assembly candidate for the South West London seat.

Whatever 2021 brings, I do hope that you have a very merry (but Covid-safe!) Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Best wishes

Ruth Cadbury MP

Covid restrictions have changed the way Parliament works, in particular getting a chance to speak. Instead of “bobbing” to catch the Speakers’ eye, we now go into a ballot for every debate and session of Ministerial Questions, Urgent Questions and Statements. As you can see I was drawn quite a few times in November, (including Prime Minister’s Questions) but there were still debates I wanted to speak in but wasn’t drawn.

In the Chamber in November:

At PMQs I asked the Prime Minister why so many of the Windrush victims were still waiting for the compensation they have been promised. I also asked him how he would prevent this happening again. (Because many others, in the UK legally, are experiencing delays and bad decisions by the Home office, an issue I pressed again at Home Office questions.)
I challenged the Treasury and later the Health Secretary on government spending over £12bn on dodgy contracts for PPE, test & trace etc, that has led to too many companies with a poor record being overpaid and under-delivering; I compared this with their refusal to support those excluded from the various Covid funding programmes.
At Culture Media & Sport Ministerial questions I spoke up for those freelancers working in the West End who are excluded from support

At a debate on bringing spectators back to football, I described the work Brentford FC have done to support fans during lockdown, and backed their call for a safe return to matches.

We finally saw this, at BFC’s first game with fans at Lionel Road on 5th December, 7 years to the day after Hounslow Planning Committee agreed the planning permission for the stadium

At Housing questions I addressed the worrying rise in young rough sleepers with particular mention of young people leaving prison
I demanded the Education Secretary give urgent clarity over the 2021 exams. I relayed the message headteachers gave me, that they felt the Government had no respect for them or for teachers, trying to do their best without clear guidance from Government
I asked the Health Secretary to provide more funding for local councils and directors of public health if mass rapid testing is to be rolled across the country

Following the emergency evacuation of over 800 residents on the Paragon estate in Brentford (see my October update) I raised concerns about fire safety in buildings that go far beyond flammable cladding

Called on the Government to take further action to tackle plastic pollution, an issue often raised by local school children, and warned that the 2042 schedule to reach net zero plastic was already falling behind

At the weekly Covid questions to the Health Secretary, I raised a concern that an 11pm curfew would still be a risk as Londoners crowd onto tubes and buses at the same time
Four Parliamentary select committees commissioned a Climate Assembly of a representative group of 150 UK voters at the start of 2020. Their report on achieving net zero was presented to Parliament in a debate. I welcomed their recommendations, and focused on the role that aviation should play, not only with technological solutions, but also addressing the relative cost of flying vs rail travel
Welfare support: I spoke in the debate about the role of the DWP during the pandemic and mentioned local examples of people who've suffered due to problems with Universal Credit. I mentioned the impact that the benefit cap is having on local families, and also how job losses are leaving migrants who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF) destitute.

Letters:

I wrote to the Department for Education about delays experienced by school in receiving laptops and other IT support for self-isolating pupils

I also wrote to the Foreign Office about the Armenia/Azerbaijan conflict and the recent ceasefire; raising concerns of constituents about the humanitarian impact & damage to cultural/religious sites

I launched the Period Equality All Party Parliamentary Group. A growing number of students miss school because they cannot afford pads or tampons. The Government launched a Free Period Products scheme last year so that schools can apply for free supplies. As many schools have not applied, there is a risk the funding will be pulled, so we are asking fellow MPs to encourage schools in their constituencies to join up before it’s too late. We also plan to bring a Free Period Products Bill to Parliament, following Labour MSP Monica Lennon’ success when the Scottish Parliament unanimously approved her Bill to enable free period products to be available at schools and other public places

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY

Several valuable local charities have asked for help; so in addition to those I mention in every update, I have been asked to pass on information on these appeals. If you, like me, your income has not been hit this year, please do donate to these important local causes. You can also volunteer your time to help.

With growing numbers of local people unable to afford to buy food, it’s good to know that so many people support local food projects with their time or money. With Cllrs Steve Curran and Hanif Khan I attended the Christmas appeal launch of FoodWithLove – based in Osterley and now delivering an incredible 500 hot meal packs every day across the borough. For donations & offers of help https://foodwithlove.co.uk/

Waterman’s Arts Centre has lost all its ticket income this year, and although they have had some help from the Government schemes, their financial future is precarious. As the only Arts Centre in Hounslow, and providing community performances across the borough, they need your support now.

The #SaveWatermans Emergency Appeal page is here

Many charities need help to support those in need. For information about volunteering opportunities in the borough contact Hounslow Volunteering Centre

If you can spare money to other hard-pressed local charities please do: Hounslow Community Foodbox Ivybridge Foodbank (run by All Souls Church, St Margaret’s), Ague Hounslow, and Hounslow Open Kitchen

There are regular Updates about national and local information and services from Hounslow Council here.

COMMUNITY UPDATE

Lockdown has meant I’ve missed the many community meetings and events I would normally attend – but some have been replaced by Zoom instead.

For the Annual Parliament Week I “met” pupils at Grove Park and at St Mary’s Catholic Schools in Chiswick. They all asked interesting questions (as ever) about my role as an MP

I was able to help on the poppy stall at Tesco with former Councillor Linda Green just before the start of the 2nd lockdown. At one of the very scaled down Remembrance Sunday services, I laid my wreath at Hounslow war memorial, and would like to thank those who laid my wreaths at the other 4 services.

Hounslow Friends of Faith links faith leaders and places of worship across the borough, and I was delighted to attend their Zoom 20th anniversary AGM.

I’ve attended two conferences locally addressing how our local economy, being so dependent on Heathrow, is going to recover from the devastating impact of Covid-19. Hounslow Council organised an Aviation Communities event. And business and community leaders around Heathrow organised the Blue Skies conference I chaired the Green Future panel, where we discussed not only low emission planes, the skills needed for low-carbon technology development, but also alternatives to flying.

And while on the Heathrow theme, it’s shocking that Heathrow Airport Ltd have followed BA by forcing their staff to accept a new permanent contract involving significant pay cuts, or take redundancy. I sent a message of support to strikers on the picket line, and am working with other West London colleagues to get HAL to rethink – after all John Holland-Kaye is doing this while being awarded £3m in shares

When I visited the Co-op in Chiswick to meet staff there along with the USDAW regional officer, I was shocked to learn about the level of abuse and assault faced by so many shopworkers on a daily basis. I was also horrified to learn of the knife attack on a staff member at Isleworth Co-op last month. I am joining fellow MPs to seek stronger legal protection for shopworkers who are attacked doing their job.

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Printed from an email sent by Ruth Cadbury MP

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