Dear Constituent,

Hello and welcome to the Denton and Reddish Weekly News! 

I hope you've had a good week. I've been incredibly busy, including some fantastic local events and important debates in Parliament. 

There's lots going on over the next few weeks, so scroll down to the community board to start filling up the Christmas-time diary!

The local awards are an annual competition organised by Gwynne which encourage constituents to celebrate their favourite local businesses from across Denton and Reddish. Winners are announced for each of the 7 wards that make up the constituency, as well as one overall winner.

Last year was a record-breaking year for the awards, with more than 4,500 nominations received and over 250 local businesses celebrated. The overall prize was eventually awarded to the weight loss support group Beeweighed. Tranquility Cosmetics in Denton came a close second.

Gwynne will announce the winners of the 2023 awards on Small Business Saturday, which falls on the 2nd of December.

To nominate your favourite business visit www.andrewgwynne.co.uk/LBA

Commenting on the return of the awards, Andrew Gwynne said:

“The Local Business Awards are a brilliant way of celebrating the incredible array of businesses we have across Denton and Reddish.

 

Every year, I’m blown away by the standard of our businesses. If you live in Audenshaw, Denton, Dukinfield, Reddish and the Heatons please do get involved by nominating your favourite business on my website!

 

I have a feeling this year’s awards are going to be the biggest yet!”

 I'd like to encourage my constituents in Denton and Reddish to check out the website Kinship Compass and utilise their helpline free advice line 0300 123 7015, open Monday to Friday 9.30am-12.30pm (from Monday 30 October they will return to our normal closing time of 2pm). 

As a Kinship Carer myself, alongside my wife Allison, I know first-hand how invaluable groups like Kinship Compass can be for independent advice and support to navigate issues that affect the kinship carer community.

Nearly 2000 people were forced to attend A&E in Tameside, Stockport and Manchester last year due to dental decay, as patients across the country find it impossible to get an appointment with an NHS dentist when they need one.

Across the country last year, 67,000 patients attended emergency departments with tooth decay.

The number of patients attending A&E with dental decay speaks to the alarming decline of NHS dentistry. Labour’s analysis of patient survey data suggests that 4.75 million people across England were denied an appointment with an NHS dentist in the past two years. Figures show millions of people were either told no appointments were available or that the practice they contacted was not taking on new patients.

The inability for patients to access dental healthcare has forced many into A&E departments when their conditions have worsened. Currently, tooth decay is the most common reason for children aged 6-10 to be admitted to hospital.

A Labour government has pledged to provide an extra 700,000 urgent dentists appointments and reform the NHS dental contract, as part of a package of measures to rescue NHS dentistry.

Labour’s plans to restore NHS dentistry to all who need it include:

• Funding NHS dental practices to provide 700,000 more urgent appointments, for patients in need of things like fillings and root canal.
• Incentives for new dentists to work in areas with the greatest need, to tackle the emergence of ‘dental deserts’ where no NHS dentists are taking on new patients
• Supervised toothbrushing in schools for 3-5 year olds, targeted at the areas with highest childhood tooth decay
• Reform the dental contract to rebuild the service in the long-run, so NHS dentistry is there for all who need it

The plans will cost £111 million a year in total and be funded by abolishing the non-dom tax status, which allows people who live and work in Britain to pay their taxes overseas.

Andrew Gwynne MP said:

“Millions of people are being denied an appointment with an NHS dentist when they need it.

“In Tameside, Stockport and Manchester patients are being forced into A&E with tooth decay, as they have nowhere else to turn.

“Labour will rescue NHS dentistry from this crisis, so people can get an appointment when they need one. We will provide 700,000 more appointments a year to those in the most urgent need and recruit more dentists to areas with the worst shortages.”

Early Autumn is traditionally marked by the Party Conference season, and this year was no exception. And what a contrast between red and blue.

The Conservatives met in Manchester, out of ideas, out of principles, and hopefully soon out of office.

We even saw Liz Truss make an appearance. Not content with being the shortest serving Prime Minister in history as a result of her completely crashing the economy and causing further pain in a cost-of-living crisis, Ms Truss continued to make the same economic arguments that caused her to be ousted from Number 10.

And to top it off we heard how HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester is being scrapped. Talk about levelling up! Once again we have seen how the Tories have side-lined the North.

A week later the Labour Party met in Liverpool and it’s no exaggeration to say I witnessed the most energised and exciting Labour Conference I’ve attended for a very long time.

Liverpool was a magnificent stage for Keir Starmer to set out a great vision of a Labour Britain under his premiership. There was even the added sparkle of some glitter during his speech to Conference.

Other highlights included pledges that the next Labour Government will build 1.5 million homes over the next parliament, to bring in a ban on bonuses to water chiefs whose firms pump excess sewage into rivers and oceans, and funding for NHS dentists to offer 700,000 more urgent appointments.

I was also so proud to support my boss in the Shadow Health Team, Wes Streeting MP, as he outlined so powerfully how we must rebuild an NHS fit for the 21st century, with a big shift to prevention, as well as setting out the ambition for a National Care Service, something I’ve been tasked to help make a reality in my role as Shadow Minister for Social Care.

My time elsewhere was spent largely speaking on health and social care issues across the fringe as well as catching up with old friends.

As I return home and get back on the train to Westminster, I feel excited about the future.

There are huge stakes at the next General Election, but the opportunity to serve is there with the trust and support of the British people.

Let’s get Britain’s Future Back.

AGM of Home-Start HOST 
 

Last weekend, Cllr Allison Gwynne and I had the pleasure of attending this special event at Dukinfield Town Hall. I’m so proud to be Patron of the organisation. 
The staff and volunteers do incredible things with local mums, dads and children, and today it was our turn to say thank you to all of them, by presenting some incredible awards.
I’m also so proud of my cousin, Alison, who’s gone from service user, to volunteer, to staff member at this incredible place!

New Constituency Walkabout

As I start to concentrate on getting to know the communities I’ll be taking on in the new Gorton and Denton Parliamentary Constituency at the next election, I’ve asked the local councillors for each Ward to begin showing me around and meet people.

Last Saturday I was over in Burnage, a massive thank you to the Burnage Labour Councillors Bev Craig, Azra Ali and Murtaza Iqbal for showing me around the communities of Burnage and South Levenshulme which make up the Burnage Ward on Manchester City Council.
Burnage will be the southernmost part of the new Gorton and Denton Parliamentary Constituency and so today’s walkabout was a great way at me seeing some of the great people, groups and places in the Ward, and to understand more about the area from the Councillors too.

On my way home I dropped past Levenshulme High School (which is in Burnage Ward) as this is my mum’s school from 1954-1959. She died almost 30 years ago but I think she’d have been quite chuffed her son would possibly be the school’s MP one day!

𝗜𝘁’𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗼 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲!

JLM One Day Northern Conference

It was my privilege to join a superb panel at The Jewish Labour Movement Conference in Manchester to talk about how a Labour Government will transform health outcomes and improve care across England.

Fixing the immediate crisis in the NHS, the workforce challenges and the pressures affecting care services will be a priority from day one. But tackling health inequalities within communities and across the country will be key to all the long term work we do.

A New Study Set Up!

Geekery overload part II… Got framed adverts to hang in my study for my two #RetroComputers, the #VIC20 and #Amiga #CDTV

WATCH: On an Education Question about vocational training tasters for young people in school, I ask why the government don’t replicate Labour’s Aim Higher with actual apprenticeship mentors to share their vocational training experiences with kids.

WATCH: Antisemitism is up 1300%, Islamophobia is up by 150%. Jewish kids are scared to go to school and Muslim kids bullied about ‘Who’s side they’re on?’. Schools need to do much more to teach these extreme intolerances are unacceptable.

WATCH: At Equalities Questions I raise the issue of disabled people facing even harder impacts with cost of living and employment. I ask about targeted action and disability pay gap reporting. I get a barrage of meaningless stats.

READ: in my first big interview since being appointed as shadow minister for social care I share Labour’s plans for a National Care Service and a Fair Pay Agreement.