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Dear John,
We’re reaching the last few weeks of spring and I’m hopeful that soon, today's warm weather will stick around a bit longer – the past month has seen a large number of events across Harrow and it has been a privilege to join in with many residents.
The past month saw some of the holiest dates in the calendars of the three Abrahamic faiths, followed too by Vaisakhi as well as the Nepali and Asian New Year. It was also a joy to join in Coronation celebrations
across the borough, from the excellent Harrow Rec Coronation Party to the Headstone Manor celebration and the RoConnect Festivities. My last Coronation party was a post-SATs celebration at Welldon Park
School on Friday.
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Below is my newsletter covering some of my work in Parliament and locally in Harrow too – through out the month, you can find regular updates from me on
Facebook
, Twitter
and Instagram.
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TOURS, SURGERIES AND LITTER-PICKING
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My next walk-in surgery will be at North Harrow Community Library, from 10:30AM - 12:30PM today on Thursday, 25th May. This is open to all Harrow West residents, so please drop by if you have any concerns or issues that you would like to raise with me!
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Last year, I held at least one walk-in surgery in every ward of Harrow West, collecting hundreds of cases in surgeries across local churches, temples, mosques and community centres.
If you have a suggestion of where you would like me to host a surgery in 2023, do please drop me a line. I also run my regular advice surgery, taking on casework at my constituency office at 132-134 Blenheim Road, this surgery is appointment-based and appointments can be made by calling my parliamentary office on 020 7219 4243.
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Following successful clean-ups of Newton Park West and Wealdstone High Street, I’m looking forward to re-joining the Harrow Litter Pickers later this month for a clean-up with Greenhill Manor Residents Association. Want to help clean up Greenhill Manor roads including the ancient and historic Belmont Trail Link? Join us on Monday 22/05 from 11AM.
🌳 🚮
Open to all, so please come along and join us.
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It was a privilege to show a number of families around Parliament over the last month – as always, great questions about political decisions in Westminster and the impact they have locally on people in Harrow.
A reminder that anyone living in Harrow West and wanting to join a tour of your House of Commons,
please feel free to let me know by filling out a form here: https://www.gareththomas.org.uk/parliamentary-tours/
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As I mentioned, last month, the Environment Agency revealed that raw sewage had been discharged into English rivers 825 times a day in 2022. This includes several hours of sewage discharge into rivers serving Harrow, such as the Yeading Brook, Wealdstone Brook and Kenton Brook. People in Harrow and across the country rightly value our local rivers and lakes - but since 2016, this Conservative Government have allowed over 1000 years’ worth of sewage to be dumped into our waters.
Last month, I voted once again in Parliament to stop the Conservatives letting our beaches, rivers and lakes be flooded with filthy raw sewage. Tory MPs had an opportunity to put an end to the sewage scandal once and for all by supporting Labour's Water Quality Bill, instead they added a ‘wrecking amendment’ to our Bill to end the sewage scandal by 2030, with automatic fines and economic impact assessments. Instead boasting a Tory plan which continues sewage dumping to at least 2050 – which is an insult to many millions affected.
Only a Labour Government will clean up the water industry and work in the national interest by ending the Tory Sewage scandal. Locally, until then, I believe there is much we can do with this information and I believe it is important we receive as much information about sewage discharges as possible – I am still waiting on a response from the Chief Executive of Thames Water for a meeting and I will keep you updated.
The All-Party Group for British Gujaratis
This month it has been my deep pleasure to launch the APPG for British Gujaratis. Monday the 1st is a day to celebrate the formal creation of the State of Gujarat and the launch of this group, which took place on the 25th Of April in Westminster, was attended by over 110 people from grassroots Gujarati organisations, business leaders, showbusiness, spiritual leaders and, of course, politics.
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There are estimated to be 800,000 British Gujaratis of different faiths who have links to the state of Gujarat in India. The Gujarati community in the UK has made tremendous contributions to our society and economy. Gujaratis, of all faiths, have established successful businesses, created jobs, and made a positive impact in our local communities.
The history and contribution of the Gujarati community in the UK is a testament to their resilience, creativity, and commitment to making a positive impact to British society.
The APPG will not be taking up issues to do with India, Indian Politics and not be dealing with faith-based issues, there are already well-established APPGs in those areas.
Some of the issues the Group will hope to look at include what more can be done to support the teaching of the community languages, such as Gujarati, Urdu and Hindi, what further work can be done by public bodies such as the NHS to tackle those health conditions that are a little more prevalent among the Guajarati community; and what further planning can be done to ensure that there is appropriate care for the elderly available for the Guajarati community.
The first issue that has been raised is the decision to shift, without apparently any consultation, direct London to Gujarat flights from Heathrow to Gatwick. A huge community campaign that began more than twenty years ago, finally led to flights direct from Heathrow to Ahmedabad and back, reducing time and costs for families to travel to make the journeys to be together, or to pursue shared business ambitions.
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Link to Launch Event press: https://www.easterneye.biz/all-party-parliamentary-group-for-british-gujaratis-officially-launched/
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Link to Statement on the Group: https://www.easterneye.biz/parliamentary-group-for-british-gujaratis-to-address-concerns-of-the-community/
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Link to Heathrow Issue: https://www.easterneye.biz/uk-mp-questions-shifting-of-london-ahmedabad-flights-from-heathrow-to-gatwick/
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Link to Gujarat Day: https://twitter.com/GarethThomasMP/status/1651588718636007427
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International Trade and Geo-politics
In my role as Shadow Minister for International Trade, I spoke on the pertinent debate on International Trade and Geopolitics.
The OBR predicts that exports will plummet this year & drop again next year only underscoring the 13 years of economic failure that have seen trade targets repeatedly missed. The UK has recently dropped out of the world’s top five for exports of goods & services, yet there is still no White Paper on trade & no consultation on what our trade goals should be.
I am very much an optimist about our country, Britain will do better but it will take a Labour Government to get Britain back on the road to the brighter and better future that the British people most definitely deserve.
My Full Speech can be read here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2023-04-20/debates/2E4C2F20-F8FA-4ECB-AE72-D7D93C508C72/InternationalTradeAndGeopolitics#contribution-22C91C3F-E38D-46B2-8D70-4A69961C0B44
Ukraine
I raised with Government my concerns that Ministers have not followed up yet on commitments to provide more long-range missiles for the Ukrainian military. I want the Ukrainian counter-offensive to be successful and I believe the UK’s support for Ukraine must endure and be robust, sadly the response from the Minster was fully clear on this specific issue.
Watch the question here: https://twitter.com/GarethThomasMP/status/1651579536058851330
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The excellent Young Harrow Foundation has created a suite of FREE new mental health services and resources for young people aged 5-25. The services are designed to help empower young people to take control of their emotional health, before the crisis point. School based services for teachers and Community-based services open for referrals from parents, schools, GPs, and other professionals working with young people.
Visit the suite here: https://youngharrowfoundation.org/HarrowMHP
London’s Community Kitchen:
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London's Community Kitchen (based at The Bridge, next to Harrow Leisure Centre) run a Free Surplus Food Market open to everyone every Friday from 3-5PM. At the height of the pandemic, this operation served over 10,000 people across Harrow and London. Please consider donating or getting involved in any way that you can with this incredible Harrow-wide response to the cost of living crisis:
https://www.londonscommunitykitchen.com/home-1
If you’re ever in need of their support, the Community Kitchen want to help - they won’t ask you for any details, or anything in return, just turn up and they will provide you with food.
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