Weekly Update - 18 August
Dear John
This week, young people across the UK received their A Level and BTEC results. A massive congratulations to all the hard-working students who got their grades on Thursday! Labour recognises the enormous effort that all of our young people have put into their studies over the past year. Young people have achieved these results despite the challenges they’ve faced: with a Labour government behind them, offering them opportunities and pathways to good prospects, there will be no ceiling on what they can achieve. Under Labour, your background will be no barrier to getting on: the next Labour government will shatter the class ceiling so that every child, no matter their background, has access to the opportunities they deserve.
The I Newspaper
This week, I wrote an op-ed for the I Newspaper on Labour’s plan for Afghan women and girls to advise on their country’s future. Two years on from the Taliban takeover, Afghan women and girls deserve and need our solidarity more than ever: they are disproportionately affected by the humanitarian crisis and their most fundamental rights remain under constant attack by the Taliban. Women’s rights to work, education, travel without a male relative, choose how to dress – or even operate a beauty salon – have all been highly restricted. According to the UN, progress has already been set back 20 years. As the Taliban ratchets up its assault on women’s rights, we cannot have a closed door policy to Afghan women in the UK. In government, Labour would appoint an advisory group of Afghan women to the FCDO and convene a global summit for Afghan women and girls. Read my op-ed in the I Newspaper below.
Cancer Waiting Times
This week, I wrote to University Hospitals Birmingham after the trust failed to respond to an FOI from Labour about cancer waiting times and asked them to provide their most up-to-date waitlist statistics. The information revealed by the NHS trusts that responded to the FOI is sobering. The waitlist for cancer patients in England has worsened every year since the Conservatives came to power in 2010: of the 60 NHS trusts that provided information, 52 saw a patient wait more than half a year to start their treatment in 2022. These new figures have come just after the Government announced that it is set to cut two thirds of existing cancer waiting times standards for patients. Now, transparency around the waitlist at UHB is needed more than ever.
Local News
Newman University This week, Newman University has been named as the best university in the UK for student satisfaction in the most recent National Student Survey. Congratulations to all of you! This is fantastic news and I’m so proud of all the staff and students that have helped to create such an incredible culture at Newman. MHRC Next week, the Mobile Home Recycling Centre will be visiting Wychbury Road in Bartley Green, B32 4DD, on Monday 21st August, and Jackson Way in Quinton, B32 1BS, on Wednesday 23rd August. The centre will be open from 7am to 12.30pm, so please do come along if you’re local and have bulky household waste to dispose of.
Best wishes,
Preet Kaur Gill MP, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston covering Bartley Green, Edgbaston, Harborne, Quinton and North Edgbaston
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