Dear John,

I hope you have started your November off well – in the build-up to the festive period, I look forward to seeing neighbours, friends and local residents at Christmas and Diwali events taking place across Harrow. The new parliamentary session starts next week and over the past month in Harrow I have picked up over 900 new issues of casework, covering issues of housing, employment, immigration, healthcare and more.

As I mentioned in my last update, just before the end of summer recess, I was delighted to see that our campaign for more investment at Northwick Park Hospital had met some success. A new 32 bed ward will make a difference for patients and would not have been possible without the support of thousands of Harrow residents and healthcare workers supporting the campaign. Though it is great to see our campaign success, more investment in our NHS is still essential if we’re to get our local healthcare services back to where they should be.

Last week, it was also a great privilege to join Healthcare leaders from across London and the North West London Healthcare Trust for the official opening of Northwick Park’s new North West London Urology Centre. This new ‘one stop’ service has been built to minimise the need for cancer patients to visit multiple sites.

This, like our ongoing campaign for more ICU beds and a new ward, has been several years in the making and will deliver much needed world-class care, particularly for patients with suspected cancer. I will never stop making the case for more investment into our local hospital and I am proud this new centre will serve so many from Harrow and beyond.

Below is my newsletter covering some of my work in Parliament and locally in Harrow too – as always, through out the month, you can find regular updates from me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

TOURS,  SURGERIES AND LITTER-PICKS

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. I am also working with the Harrow Litter Pickers to organise a clean-up of local parks and sometimes neighbouring roads…

If you have a suggestion of where you would like me to host a surgery or park clean-up, do please drop me a line. I also continue to run my regular appointment-based advice surgery, taking on casework at my constituency office at 132-134 Blenheim Road, appointments can be made by calling my parliamentary office on 020 7219 4243.

It has been a privilege to show a number of families around Parliament over the past few months – as always, great questions about political decisions in Westminster and the impact they have locally on people in Harrow.

If you would like to join a tour, please fill out the form on my website and my staff will be sure to keep you in the loop with tour dates over the next month: https://www.gareththomas.org.uk/parliamentary-tours/

THE CURRENT CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

I have watched, like you, with growing horror at the humanitarian emergency unfolding in Gaza. We must move towards a cessation of fighting as quickly as possible. Like so many people in Harrow, who care deeply about this issue, I agree that neither the long-term security of Israel nor long-term justice for Palestine and the Palestinian people can be delivered by bombs and bullets. 

I strongly support the urgent calls for humanitarian pauses in fighting and the lifting of siege conditions immediately to alleviate suffering in Gaza. 

We cannot and will not close our eyes to Palestinian suffering. Indeed, anyone who has followed this crisis closely will have seen horrific images of babies, children, parents and grandparents brutally killed or shattered by grief.

As the UN has underlined, the number of people being killed so far is staggering; schools, and hospitals destroyed and people sheltering in UN facilities no safer than anywhere else. Thousands are displaced or desperate for safety. Food and clean water are running out and hospitals are going without medicine and electricity.

Many years ago, under the previous Labour UK Government, I visited Gaza. At that time, despite considerable barriers to peace, there was hope of a negotiated peaceful future and serious attempts to find a way forward. 

As a Minister in the Department for International Development, I worked closely with UN organisations, including UNWRA, the UN’s Relief and Works Agency, an organisation I have long supported, vital to achieving a peaceful settlement for Palestinians. Under the Labour Government, funding was significantly increased to UNWRA, this has been progressively reversed, sadly, under the current government. 

In the face of the current horrendous situation, in my view, there are two immediate tragedies the international community must respond to: 7 October, the biggest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza on a previously unimaginable scale. 

I utterly condemn Hamas’ appalling and ongoing attacks on Israel. Israel must be able to keep its people safe and bring hostages - who are still being held captive - home. We must also uphold the basic human rights of innocent Palestinians caught, once again, in the crossfire. 

I am appalled by the civilian deaths at the Jabalia camp this week, it is morally wrong to bomb refugee camps and innocent civilians do not deserve collective punishment. I and my Labour colleagues called on and continue to call on Israel to explain its actions. It is at moments like this when the boundaries and standards we have agreed – international humanitarian law - become most important.

The death of every civilian, Palestinian or Israeli, is an equal tragedy that pushes back the cause of peace. 

I have continued to take a close interest in the region, I have condemned and continue to condemn the construction of illegal Israeli settlements, the demolition of homes and the eviction of Palestinians. For several years, I also have called on the UK Government to accept the need to recognise Palestine as a state, as nearly 140 other countries around the world have done. In the House of Commons, during the first parliamentary vote to recognise a Palestinian state, I was proud to vote in favour of recognition.

I have also consistently called for an end to the blockade of Gaza, which, even prior to recent tragic events, has led to an acute humanitarian crisis. I recognise that the aid allowed through the Rafah crossing, although welcome, is completely insufficient. The supply of basic utilities like water, medicines, electricity and fuel to citizens in Gaza cannot be blocked. It is vital that Israel turns back on the supplies it controls.

I therefore also support my colleague, Lisa Nandy MP, Shadow International Development Minister’s call for the UK Government to increase its funding to Gaza and appoint a UK special coordinator for international aid to Gaza. I wrote to the Foreign Office last month to ask what more the UK can do to urgently scale up the amount of aid so desperately needed in Gaza 

You can view the Minister’s response here and here. Frankly, this response is not good enough and I will continue to press for more concrete action.

We must not let Hamas’s brutality be a catalyst for a wider regional conflict and the Government should be stepping up efforts to achieve international co-operation and a political roadmap to peace.

My Labour colleagues have met with Foreign Ministers in Jordan, Qatar and Egypt; the Israeli ambassador; the UK Government; the United Nations and non-governmental organisations; to discuss how to protect and help civilians. They have reiterated that this long-standing conflict can only be resolved by dialogue and discussion. 

In my view, we must rebuild and renew the ambition for serious talks for a political agreement, a two-state solution, no matter how unlikely it seems today, as the only way to resolve this conflict once and for all. I want to see an Israel where every citizen enjoys the security they need and a viable Palestinian state where the Palestinian people and their children enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that we all take for granted. 

CAREERS FAIR

Could you speak about your career with Harrow students?

My last Careers Fair with Rooks Heath College brought together hundreds of Harrow pupils with companies and institutions from across the country, from the British Film Institute, to Google, to Strabag and many more.

On Thursday, 25th January 2024, we are returning to another in-person Careers Fair format at Rooks Heath School and would love to hear from Harrow residents from a variety of occupations. If you or your business/company are able to speak with students from 9:30AM-5PM, or even for a few hours in the morning or afternoon – we would love to hear from you. E-mail [email protected] with Subject: Careers Fair

CAMPAIGN FOR A NEW SEND SCHOOL IN HARROW

This month, in Parliament, I again called on the Education Secretary to meet with me and Harrow headteachers to discuss the urgent need for more funding for Special Educational Needs in Harrow schools. 

Harrow recently lost out on its third application for a new SEN school, despite meeting the criteria. I want to ensure the Education Secretary understands the serious need for this in Harrow. You can view my speech in Parliament here. 

There is still time to support and share the campaign, full details here: https://www.gareththomas.org.uk/new-send-school-for-harrow/

RENTERS REFORM

I have long supported calls for more rights and better protections for tenants, including a ban on section 21 evictions and the simplification of tenancies; creating a new Ombudsman and a new right for tenants to request to keep a pet.  

Last month, the House of Commons finally debated the Renters (Reform) Bill. But I am concerned by how long it has taken for this legislation to materialise. The end to no-fault evictions was first announced back in 2019. Since then, figures suggest more than 71,000 households have been evicted using a section 21 notice, and now the Government suggests an even longer delay to the ban is likely.

I am very disappointed that some of the original proposals have been left out of the Bill, including the legally binding Decent Homes Standard, which would set a minimum standard on the condition of homes. I will continue to support efforts to push for a range of improvements. 

EARLY YEARS CHILDCARE

Families across Harrow are still facing eyewatering childcare costs. We currently have the most expensive childcare in Europe in this country. Last year, 4,800 providers were forced to close their doors due to rising costs and there are areas where no childcare is available.

There is a plan to expand entitlement, and from April eligible parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 free hours. From September, eligible parents of children aged nine months and upwards will be able to do likewise. 

However, I am very concerned by reports that childcare providers state they cannot deliver this expanded entitlement. 

Reform is clearly needed and I am committed to seeing higher standards for early education, better availability, stronger regulation of the financial sustainability of providers and a clear strategy for the childcare workforce. Do get in touch to share your views. 

WATER CHIEFS CONDEMNED OVER SEWAGE IN THAMES

I met recently with representatives of OFWAT, the regulator responsible for the privatised water and sewerage industry.

Across the country, despite leaks leading to water shortages; sewage pollution in our rivers, lakes and seas; and ever-rising debt in the water industry, £1.4 billion was paid out to shareholders. 

The water industry was sold to private enterprise at a reduced price alongside the entire infrastructure serving the nation with few safeguards for our national interest, our national security or bill payers. 

Now I am deeply worried by reports that Thames Water customers are being forced into paying unfair and unaffordable water bills. Bills rose by 11.6% this year and - if media reports are to be believed – will rise a further 30% next year. 

This is simply not affordable for many people in Harrow already struggling to pay higher taxes, higher mortgages and higher food and energy bills.

In my view, OFWAT has treated Thames Water like a favourite child for too long, allowing excessive borrowing to fund dividends for its owners and shocking levels of pay and bonuses for its most senior staff.

OFWAT are running a series of ‘Your Water Your Say’ events for Thames Water customers, the first of which is online on Tues 20th November, 5-7pm. I would encourage you to sign up for the event: Your water your say | Regulation | About us | Thames Water and have your say about this important issue.

ROXBOURNE BROOK

For a number of years, residents living along the Roxbourne Brook have been complaining about issues related to sewage, oil and other toxic discharges in the Brook. After our first public meeting, I’m hopeful for a bit of progress to begin untangling ownership of this issue and a plan for some resolution. If you are impacted by the stream in any way - please let me know via [email protected].

I was grateful to the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum, Thames Water, the Environment Agency, Harrow Council officers and local residents for joining my meeting last month and I hope that when we reconvene there will be a plan in place for cleaning the Brook.