The Government pushed through its Illegal Migration Bill in the House of Commons, despite myself and Labour colleagues voting against it. The Bill will now go to the Lords and, due to the Government's majority, is likely to become law. The legislation criminalises people who cross the Channel in small boats, risking their lives to cross one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. This approach is wrong, inhumane, and it simply won't work. We need a much better solution.
At my surgeries I am constantly seeing the effects of our shortage in housing. Despite the Mayor of Hackney building as many council homes as he can, we are now seeing people being sent as far away as Peterborough for temporary accommodation. The Government has missed every target it set itself on housing. This is unsustainable. We need a national government programme that actually delivers on building new homes.
The Metropolitan Police is institutionally racist, sexist, and homophobic.
The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt MP, promised 30 hours free childcare for every child over the age of nine months. But, the scheme will not be fully rolled out until September 2025 at the earliest. The children who will benefit from this policy aren't even born yet. By also voluntarily reducing the ratios between the number of adults required to look after children, he is going for a 'pile them high, teach them cheap' approach. This won't help reassure parents about going back to work. Clearly there is a long way to go in delivering on this policy.
The Government's new Illegal Migration Bill will mean that asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats will be detained for 28 days and then deported. This plan is unworkable, immoral, and illegal. It is just plain wrong on all counts and I will vigorously oppose it.
This week, the Prime Minister unveiled his new Brexit deal - the Windsor Framework. However, this is only an attempt to clear up the mess made by Boris Johnson. Whether you agree with it or not, this just underlines how badly Brexit has been implemented.
The Public Accounts Committee looked at the Government's support for energy bills. We also asked what is going to happen to support hospitality businesses from April. I'll continue to press on this issue.
Following the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria earlier this month, I spoke in a parliamentary debate on the situation. I urged the Government to introduce a family reunion scheme so that families in Hackney who have family caught up in the disaster can provide them with a safe home in our country. See here for my speech in full.
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day and it was a privilege to attend a moving ceremony in Hackney Town Hall. As the Holocaust moves from living memory to history, it’s all the more important we remember it and remain vigilant against such atrocities happening again.
I met with a Minister to press the case of unsafe cladding on buildings in Hackney. The good news is that from the 9 January there are now six high-street lenders offering mortgages on properties with cladding. But there's not enough movement on high insurance costs and a lack of skilled workers to carry out the works that will be required to remove unsafe cladding – I’ll keep pressing.
The Government that was clapping nurses during the pandemic now wants to sack them. It says the new trade union legislation introduced this week is to guarantee minimum service standards but doctors and nurses are striking precisely because they can’t guarantee those minimum service and safety standards during the normal course of work. The bill is only at its first parliamentary stage but I will vigorously oppose it alongside my Labour colleagues.