Dear John,

The Festive period is upon us in Harrow and it has been a delight to visit many of the Christmas Bazaars and Fairs across the borough. I’m certainly looking forward to even more of the carols, pantomimes, and Bazaars that make this period special. I look forward to meeting with residents in the weeks ahead, whether at an advice surgery, or at any of the festive functions taking place across the borough.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! My office will be closed for the Christmas period from December 23^rd and will be reopening on January 3^rd.

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 2024 tour dates: https://www.gareththomas.org.uk/parliamentary-tours/

CAREERS FAIR

Could you speak about your career with Harrow students?

We are still looking for people working in the legal profession, creative/media industries, and hospitality who might be willing to speak with Harrow students for even a few hours on 25th January!

A huge thank you to everyone that has been in touch to support us so far - On Thursday, 25th January 2024, we are returning to another in-person Careers Fair format at Rooks Heath 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

PROGRESS ON THE HARROW SEN CAMPAIGN: MEETING THE EDUCATION SECRETARY

After months of campaigning in Harrow and in Parliament, I was delighted to meet with the Education Secretary alongside the headteachers of Shaftesbury High School and Alexandra School to discuss the strong case for a new SEN School in Harrow and the urgent need for more funding for Special Educational Needs in all Harrow schools. 

Harrow recently lost out on its third application for a new SEN school, despite meeting the criteria. It was really useful to talk the Education Secretary and her colleagues through the serious need for more places in a specialist SEN school and the deep concern that our existing mainstream schools are woefully underfunded. 

I will keep the pressure up on this important issue. There is still time to support and share the campaign, full details here: https://www.gareththomas.org.uk/new-send-school-for-harrow/

CHALLENGING THE PRIME MINISTER ON EAT OUT TO HELP OUT

(Watch here: https://fb.watch/oFEzmZ-2ki/ )

Many families in Harrow who lost loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic, will have been watching the ongoing Public Inquiry with horror as more evidence emerges which exposes a chaotic, callous and dangerously out of its depth government.

I backed calls for this Public Inquiry so that the government can learn the lessons of this crisis and families can get the answers they deserve.

At Prime Minister’s Question Time last week, I challenged Rishi Sunak on the claims he made in Parliament that he had always asked for and took scientific advice.

The Government’s former Chief Medical Officer for England, Chris Whitty, and Chief Scientific Adviser, Patrick Vallance, told the Covid Inquiry that the now-Prime Minister had not asked for advice about his “Eat Out To Help Out” scheme.

Sir Patrick said it would have been "obvious" the hospitality scheme would cause an increase in transmission risk. No wonder the scheme was nicknamed “Eat Out To Help Out The Virus”.

Now the Prime Minister has admitted at the Inquiry that he did not take advice from scientific advisers on the controversial scheme. I have therefore called on the Prime Minister to come back to the House of Commons to apologise and correct the record.

You can see my question to the Prime Minister here: https://fb.watch/oFEzmZ-2ki/

PRESSURE ON OUR HOSPITALS

Our health service is under immense pressure. Despite the incredible efforts of staff, there are record waiting lists, lengthy waits in A&E departments and longer waiting times for cancer patients. So, I was disappointed to see very little promised for our NHS in the recent King’s Speech – the Government’s opportunity to set its agenda for the forthcoming year.

Over the past decade, we have seen the pressures in the NHS building, as three walk-in centres— based at the Alexandra Ave clinic in Rayners Lane, Belmont Health Centre and the Pinn Medical Centre— all closed due to lack of funding. This reduced the pressure on local doctors and, crucially, on the A&E department at Northwick Park Hospital. 

Not surprisingly, waiting times in Northwick Park A&E have rocketed, having not met the target of seeing 95% of patients within four hours of arrival since before 2016. Given that Northwick Park has the busiest A&E department in London, clinicians have identified that a 50% expansion in intensive care beds is now essential. 

Cancer services are also under intense pressure nationally and locally. The failure of leadership on cancer by the party in government is best epitomised by the continuing uncertainty around the future of one of Britain’s world famous cancer units, at Mount Vernon Hospital. With an independent review commissioned by the NHS describing the estate as “crumbling” and urgent resolution needed on the future location of the service.

You can view my speech in the Parliament on the pressure on Harrow’s hospitals here: https://fb.watch/oFF9HsiW2B/

A DISAPPOINTING AUTUMN STATEMENT

On 22 November, the Chancellor delivered the Autumn Statement to the House of Commons. 

While the Chancellor billed the Autumn Statement as a “statement for growth”, the growth forecasts were in fact reduced. The Office for Budget Responsibility cut its estimate for growth next year from 1.8% to 0.7% and in 2025 from 2.5% to 1.4%. And while the Chancellor said he was offering tax cuts, taxes are still heading to their highest level for decades, mainly due to the five-year freeze on personal allowances. 

Before the statement. the Government was increasing taxes by the equivalent of 10p on National Insurance – the statement has now only reduced that by 2p. 

Furthermore, living standards are still falling. During the course of this Parliament, they will have fallen by 3.1%. Unfortunately, I believe that after this Autumn Statement it is clear that by the end of this Parliament we will have an economy with little or no growth and people paying more in tax and feeling worse off.

COP 28

COP28, the UN climate change conference, came to a close in Dubai earlier this week. At the conference, nearly every country in the world agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels”. The conference also saw international pledges on how the world can better integrate action on climate change and biodiversity loss.

I welcome some of the key outcomes from COP28, particularly commitments on renewables and a transition away from fossil fuels. However, despite these advances, the world is still a long way off course for keeping the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5°C alive. We need a reduction in emissions by 2030 of over 40% but are currently on track for emissions to rise, and for temperatures to increase by nearly 3°. We need the good words agreed at COP28 to be matched by actions that meet the scale of the emergency.

Here at home, we need the Government to act in a way that is consistent with what we are asking of governments overseas. By opening a new coalmine, watering down emissions targets and seeking to max out North Sea oil and gas, it has sent a terrible message to businesses, investors and other countries. We need a Government that will show climate leadership, to cut bills, deliver energy independence, grow our economy and protect future generations.