Happy Easter, here is my latest update from Harrow and
Westminster ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏


Dear John,

 

Wishing you a joy-filled Easter – it’s officially Spring in
Harrow! It has also been a joy to join in Holi celebrations with
Harrow’s Hindu population in the past week. At the same time, this
month sees some of the holiest dates in the calendars of the three
Abrahamic faiths, with Eid arriving in just over a week’s time,
followed soon by Passover. As we finally experience 7:30PM sunsets,
the longer days are finally with us. No matter what it is you
celebrate, wishing families a very restful Easter break.

 

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
[[link removed]], TWITTER
[[link removed]] and INSTAGRAM
[[link removed]], OR IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE
YOU WOULD LIKE TO RAISE WITH ME, CONTACT ME ON
[email protected] OR 02072194243.

 

A NEW SEND SCHOOL FOR HARROW

I’m delighted that Harrow Council have secured a site for a SEND
school - this will be a relief for many school staff, teachers and
parents that have visited my surgeries and supported the campaign and
many that have had to deal with years of anguish trying to secure an
EHCP plan.

 

I was pleased the Education Secretary was willing to meet with me and
Headteachers of Harrow’s two SEND schools last year - having the
teachers make the case for a school was incredibly important and I
believe their words have ultimately been able to exert enough pressure
to get this moving.

 

A SEND school as well as funding to support our mainstream schools is
long overdue and while I recognise the council have not yet secured
the full funding for its opening in 2029, I will continue to campaign
to ensure it gets the support it needs to succeed.
[link removed]
[[link removed]] 

 

I am glad too the council have acquired specifically the 265, The
Ridgeway site. This success is in no small part to groups such as the
West Harrow Allotment and Garden Association, Harrow in Leaf and
Harrow Beekeepers who have been campaigning against the proposed
overdevelopment for a number of years. I, alongside many other local
residents spoke against the proposal in the public consultation a
couple of years ago.

 

Over 25 years ago, when I was a young Councillor, I remember opposing
the sale of the Ridgeway land to the Plymouth Brethren. I understand
the strong feeling of betrayal felt by many residents when the Trust
continued to let us down. I’m hopeful this will end up being a good
site for a SEND school but there will be more work to do to secure all
the funding needed and to make sure the design of the school is
appropriate for the site.

 

 

GREAT BRITISH SPRING CLEAN - SOUTH HARROW

After successfully cleaning up every street in Wealdstone in 2023, the
Harrow Litter Pickers group have taken on the challenge of cleaning up
every street in South Harrow. It was great to join volunteers for the
first weekend activity in Roxeth Park and neighbouring South Harrow
roads last week.

Thousands of volunteer ‘Litter Heroes’ in Harrow and across
London – as well as other parts of the nation – have been grabbing
their litter-pickers as the country’s biggest mass-action
environmental campaign - the Great British Spring Clean – comes to a
close this weekend.

CASEY DALTON, HARROW LITTER PICKERS LEAD SAID:

“Actively caring for where you live is something to be very proud
of, we’re all just local people doing what we can to make Harrow a
cleaner and brighter place! Litter picking is good fun, great
exercise, and it’s nice to do something positive for the local
area.”

GARETH THOMAS, MP FOR HARROW WEST SAID:

"_It’s pretty remarkable the level of rubbish that can be found in
under an hour. Littering is inexcusable and everyone can help by
disposing of rubbish properly. Fundamentally, I don’t think it
should be up to charity alone but I know it is getting harder for
Local Authorities to cope after a long decade of cuts.”_

_“It’s great to see residents of all ages involved in this
project. Frrom primary schoolers to the retire, there is an incredible
amount of work that the Harrow Litter Pickers voluntarily do to clean
up streets.”
_
Now into its ninth year, the annual nationwide litter-picking campaign
is run by environmental charity KEEP BRITAIN TIDY
[[link removed]],
supported by thousands of individuals, families, schools, local
authorities, community groups and businesses who care for the
environment on their doorsteps.

Last year people up and down the country came together to clean up
more than 400,000 bags of litter from streets, parks, beaches and
other public spaces and this year, as Keep Britain Tidy marks its 70th
anniversary, the charity is hoping to beat that total.

 

 

RESPONSE TO HUNT'S BUDGET: NHS AND SCHOOLS

SCHOOLS:

 

This month, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt presented the Budget. As I
mentioned in Parliament, a shout-out for the wrong reasons sadly to my
old primary, Pinner Park school.

Pinner Park is an excellent school but has seen a real-terms cut per
pupil of £880 since the Conservatives took over in 2010, and a loss
of almost £740,000 in spending power.  

 

It was not the norm for schools to send out donation pleas to parents
when I was growing up and it certainly wasn’t the case under the
last Labour Government. Yet this Government continues to underfund and
under-deliver on their responsibility to schools and the nation’s
children and young people.

 

On average, schools in Harrow West have seen an astonishing reduction
in real terms since 2010 of almost £900 PER PUPIL. Across Harrow;
parents, pupils and teachers are seeing every day the impact of the
school funding crisis. Schools are being pushed to the brink with
staff desperately trying to plug the gaps in support from a lack of
funding. You can find the impact to each school here:
www.schoolcuts.org.uk [[link removed]]

_            _

There was nothing in the Budget to deliver the level of investment
that the children and young people in our schools deserve and I am
calling on the Prime Minister to urgently address the funding crisis
and start investing in this and future generations of young people.  

 

WATCH A VIDEO OF MY SPEECH HERE:
[link removed]
[[link removed]]

 

NHS:

[Gareth Northwick Park Hospital]

NHS:

 

Our Health Service is under immense pressure too. Following the
budget, I highlighted to the Chancellor, one in every seven people in
England is on an NHS waiting list, which is more than ever before.
That means they are putting their lives on hold, having to manage in
pain and discomfort for months.

 

Despite the incredible efforts of staff, there are record waiting
lists, lengthy waits in A&E departments and longer waiting times for
cancer patients. 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. 

 

Its staff have done an impressive job in difficult circumstances but
patients & their families deserve better. Investment in a new
intensive care unit is urgently needed. Ministers should back the bid
for a new ICU quickly and sort a plan to bring back Harrow’s Walk-In
Centres and invest in social care.

 

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:
[link removed]
[[link removed]]

 

 

TAXES RISING, LIVING STANDARDS FALLING, GROWTH STALLING:

 

The main rate of Class 1 employee NICs will be cut from 10% to 8% and
the main rate of Class 4 employee NICs will be cut from 8% to 6%, from
April. The Chancellor also confirmed changes to eligibility for Child
Benefit. A new duty on vaping products will be introduced from October
2026 and tobacco duty will also be increased at the same time.

These measures come in the context of a rising tax burden, the highest
it has been in 70 years. For every £10 that the Government are taking
from families in higher tax under their plans, they are only giving
£5 back. In other words, they are giving with one hand and taking
twice as much with the other.

Following announcements in the Budget and in November, and council tax
– which is rising in Harrow by 5% - the average family across the
UK will be £870 worse off. 8 million tax-paying pensioners will also
see their taxes increase by an average of £1,000.

 

The country has found itself acutely exposed to the pandemic, war, and
the energy crisis because of the decisions of this Government.
Austerity choked off investment, then Brexit without a plan, and then
the economy was crashed by the 2022 mini-Budget. The UK economy fell
into recession at the end of last year, and we have had the longest
period of stagnation since the 1950s.

 

I am under no illusion about the scale of the task of rebuilding our
economy. We need to change from short-termism to stability, investment
and reform. There must be strong fiscal rules and robust economic
institutions.

 

Investment is brought about by working with the private sector, so
that we can lead the industries of the future through a modern
industrial strategy. There needs to be a new national wealth fund to
invest, alongside business, in our automotive sector, renewables-ready
ports and the future of our steel industry. 

Our planning system should be reformed and we need to support working
people in developing the skills that they need to thrive in the
changing world of work, and make work pay with a genuine living wage
and a new deal for working people.

 

 

FIRM FOUNDATION NIGHT SHELTER

Last week, I joined the excellent Firm Foundation night shelter in
central Harrow. Whether you are in the comfort of your own home or
returning to a home later tonight, do spare a thought for many of
Harrow’s street homeless and those volunteering to support them at
the brilliant Firm Foundation.

 

The Firm Foundation are not a “feeding programme” but a charity
working to end the homelessness process for people walking through
their doors. In each case, a caseworker is assigned to each person to
begin the process to end their homelessness.

 

I have met with people that have slipped through the cracks due to
business failure, people waiting with uncertainty about visas, and
others struggling with substance abuse, all being supported in a warm
environment by many incredible volunteers.

 

Details on referrals for the twice-weekly food and shower drop-in at
Harrow Baptist Church can be found at www.firmfoundation.org.uk
[[link removed]]

Separately, any donations for new home supplies (towels, kettles, etc)
are always welcome. As well as voluntary support or monetary donations
that can be provided - as, the more social workers that can be funded,
the more people they can stop being homeless.

 

INTER FAITH NETWORK CLOSURE

 

I was very sorry to see the closure of the Inter Faith Network
(IFN). 

The IFN has been the UK’s principal vehicle for inter-faith dialogue
since 1987 but sadly its board members confirmed this month it would
close following the Government’s decision to withdraw funding. 

 

Many people in Harrow were actively involved with the IFN and I wrote
to the Levelling Up Secretary to ask why he made the decision to
withdraw the Government’s funding offer. There are still important
questions that need to be answered. For example, what plans there are
to make up for any loss of provision arising from this decision, what
impact assessment was made and what consideration the Government has
given to how it will continue to facilitate and promote understanding
about and between different faith groups. 

 

The Government have a special responsibility to facilitate positive
relationships between different faith communities. I worry that it
is a mistake to be shutting down the UK’s principal vehicle for
Muslim-Jewish dialogue at a time when inter-faith and multi-faith
engagement is more important than ever. 

 

Promoted by David Evans on behalf of the Labour Party, Labour Central
Kings Manor, Newcastle, NE1 6PA, United Kingdom

UNSUBSCRIBE
[[link removed]]




Promoted by David Evans on behalf of the Labour Party, Labour Central Kings Manor, Newcastle, NE1 6PA, United Kingdom
[link removed]