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This week in Denton & Reddish
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** Dear Constituent,
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Parliament is in recess, but it's still been a busy time for me. As always, it's a pleasure to send you the latest Denton and Reddish Weekly News.

I will always do my best to keep you informed about everything I do in Westminster, but if you wish to speak to me further about any issue, please phone my constituency office on 0161 320 1504 for an appointment, or visit one of my regular surgeries which you can find the details of below.
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Headlines


** Greater Manchester Labour MPs urge end to Fire Service cuts
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Denton and Reddish MP Andrew Gwynne has joined the other Labour MPs in Greater Manchester in signing two letters on Fire Service cuts.

Every Labour MP in Greater Manchester has written to the incoming Fire Minister – who is yet to be appointed – urging them to stop the cuts to the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, as part of the upcoming Spending Review process.

In a separate letter to Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, signed by all 27 GM Labour MPs, they welcome the Mayor’s decision to defer plans to reduce funding for GM Fire Service and argue for an increase to the budget from government in the Spending Review, when it comes.

MPs have a number of concerns with the proposals as they stand, particularly:
* plans to change the number of fire fighters riding appliances from five to four;
* the reduction in the number of pumps overall; and
* proposals to close some fire stations.

In the letters to Mayor Burnham and the Fire Minister they warn that the plans could potentially put lives at risk given the large number of high rise blocks in our conurbation; ongoing issue with fire safety and the cladding of buildings post-Grenfell; the terrorist threat level, and learning following the Manchester Arena attack; the serious fires we have seen on moorland across Greater Manchester; and the recent serious house fire in Walkden.

The MPs go on to offer Andy Burnham their help in pressing the government to increase resources given the large cuts to fire budgets due to austerity cuts from the Conservative government. And in their first day on the job, MPs have written to the new Fire Minister calling on them to champion fire service investment.

They challenge the Minister for the terrible record of austerity which has seen huge reductions in the fire service budget express their concerns about fire service budgets, and urging the Minister to invest in services in Greater Manchester so that the Conservative government’s austerity programme can be reversed. They argue that this is a moral imperative, not a political choice given the challenges we face.

The MPs say:

“It is our strong view that government has a moral imperative to ensure sufficient budgets for fire services in Greater Manchester. Fire fighters believe the service has been decimated in the last 10 years as a result of government cuts, with the loss of 1,000 fire fighter jobs, appliance, and the replacement of a local control room in Pendlebury, for one serving the entire north west in Warrington. We agree. Austerity means that we now have half the firefighters in Manchester than we had 10 years ago.


“The cuts we have seen in the last decade come at a time when demand on the service is growing. The gross failure of the government to remedy dangerous cladding, means thousands of Manchester residents are living in unsafe, non-fire regulation compliant buildings.


“The challenges facing GM Fire Service, from post-Grenfell fire safety in clad buildings, moorland fires across Greater Manchester, the response to the Manchester Arena attack and the terrorist threat level, mean that investment in the fire service should not be a political choice but a moral imperative.”


** Give our schools the funding they need
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There are a lot of things that I never thought I’d see that have come to pass over the past nine years of a Conservative Government. Massive rises in the use of foodbanks and people sleeping rough on the street, terminally ill people dying in poverty because their benefits have stopped, increases in crime because police numbers are slashed – it appears that nobody is safe from Tory cuts. Unfortunately, this even includes children.

Since they came to power in 2010, the Tories have removed billions of pounds from the education budget, leaving schools at breaking point. In many schools this has meant larger class sizes, cuts to vital support staff, equipment shortages and an end to the additional activities which enrich our children’s educations.

Most shocking of all, many schools across the country are now being forced to close early on Fridays just to keep afloat. One of these schools is Vale View Primary in Reddish, which has seen its funding cut by over £430,000 since 2015 – a per-pupil drop of £446.

It’s not just Vale View though – since 2015, schools across Stockport have seen a cut of £24.2 million, a per-pupil loss of £264. Not one school in the whole borough has escaped these cuts.

At Vale View, the cost pressures haven’t just led to early closures on Fridays – many staff are leaving and earlier this month some parents came down to London to join the march against school cuts. Parents and supporters of Vale View even organised a massive 113,000 signature petition which I presented in Parliament in June.

The petition called on the government to increase school funding so that they can afford the staff and equipment they need without taking cost saving measures like cutting school hours. In their response to the petition, the government laughably claims to have “prioritised school spending”, showing once again how out of touch they are with the reality facing schools.

Of course, we now have a new Prime Minister and, with him, a new Education Secretary – Gavin Williamson. I was a bit surprised that such an important role was given to a man who was sacked just a couple of months previously following the leak of confidential information from a National Security Council meeting. For the sakes of our children and young people, I hope that he approaches this job with more professionalism.

The new Government will want to be seen to be doing something about the school funding crisis and indeed the Prime Minister has already made the vague pledge to “level up” school funding. Unfortunately, it became clear during his leadership campaign that Boris Johnson’s proposed increase would actually amount – according to Schools Week – to only a pitiful 0.1% rise. Hardly “levelling up”, given the vast amounts that have been taken away.

I sincerely hope that the new government take this crisis seriously and give schools the money they need. Until then, I will continue to stand with the parents of Vale View – and other schools across Stockport and Tameside – in demanding that our schools are funded properly. Our children’s futures depend on it.


** Gwynne calls for end to big cat trade
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Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has called for urgent action to end the killing of tigers and other big cats by halting trade in their parts and products.

At an event co-hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary China Group (APPCG) and the Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group, along with wildlife campaigners from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Gwynne expressed serious concern over the existential crisis facing the world’s tigers and other big cats from killing to meet demand for body parts.

Fewer than 4,000 wild tigers survive and the species has already been hunted and traded to extinction across much of its natural range, particularly in South-East Asia and China. Asia’s leopards have disappeared from 85 per cent of their historic range, while seizures from illegal trade show a minimum of 5,203 Asian leopards have been killed for trade since 2000 – the true total is likely many times higher.

All big cat species are being killed to meet demand for body parts, which comes mostly from Chinese consumers, for use in products such as traditional medicines, luxury home décor and jewellery.

Gwynne signed a statement expressing concern about the illegal killing of wild tigers driven by demand for their parts and products and calls for action from governments worldwide to end the demand for these products to stop the killing.

Andrew Gwynne said:

“The trade in big cat products threatens the survival of wild tigers, leopards and other species and it must end.


“The loss of these species would be devastating for communities, cultures and ecosystems around the world.


“It’s important that all governments work together to tackle the big cat trade.”

Read More of This Week's Stories ([link removed])
Andrew in the Constituency

Yesterday, I had a lovely trip to Reddish Vale Country Park. We're so lucky to have such a gem in our constituency and the Friends Group do such an amazing job of protecting and maintaining the area. If you've never been, you're missing out!

Andrew in Westminster

Last week, I led the British delegation to the 9th UK-China Young Leaders Roundtable in Beijing and Jinan.

There was fantastic dialogue and exchange of ideas on the subject of innovation, environmental protection and sustainable development.

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📺 WATCH: Our delegation’s meeting with Mr Yang Dongqi in Jinan even made it (briefly) to the Chinese TV stations.
Andrew in the Media

I wrote a piece for he Huffpost on Labour's plans to take back control of our local public services.

Read the whole article here ([link removed]) .

The interview with Pure One Voice in Stockport that I mentioned in the last edition of Denton and Reddish Weekly News is now available to listen to as a podcast.

Find out what I had to say here ([link removed]) .
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