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MY WEEKLY UPDATE

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Dear John,

This week the Labour Party used Opposition Day Debates in Parliament to
force votes on two huge issues that are affecting Edgbaston residents.

Our first motion was to cancel the £20 a week cut to Universal Credit that
is coming in April. 152,732 people rely on UC in Birmingham, including
11,418 in Edgbaston.

Coming at the height of the coronavirus crisis, this cut could drive a
further 730,000 children into poverty according to analysis by the
Resolution Foundation.

Families have made huge sacrifices this year. In my view it is wrong to
make the poorest households shoulder this burden.

The second motion Labour proposed was on supporting children and young
people who are currently missing out on school. Our motion was to guarantee
the full value of Free School Meals over the holidays, ensure access to
remote learning, and to compel the Education Secretary to set out a
timetable to achieve this with weekly progress reports.

Regrettably, the Government abstained on both votes.

Nevertheless, I am determined that our constituency is heard on these
issues. That is why this week I have written to every headteacher in our
constituency to gather information on the current gaps in remote learning
for young people in our area.

I also spoke about the campaign to #CancelTheCut on the BBC earlier this
week. You can watch by clicking below.

WATCH MY INTERVIEW

BACKING BIRMINGHAM’S BARS AND PUBS

Last week I wrote to the Business Secretary about Birmingham’s bars and
pubs with my suggestions on how to support this important sector.

Going to the pub is one of our great national pastimes. The oldest pub in
the UK dates back to 793AD, an estimated one in four couples report first
meeting in the pub, and they were deemed so important as to be allowed to
stay open during air raids in the Second World War.

500 jobs in Edgbaston rely on pubs and bars making it through this crisis,
but policies like the wet pubs grant leave cities like ours behind.

Last summer, the Prime Minister told people that it was their ‘patriotic
duty’ to go to the pub. I suggest that it’s now the Government’s
patriotic duty to ensure their survival.

READ MY LETTER 

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KEEPING BRITAIN SAFE

On Politics Live this week, I was asked about reports that the Home
Secretary Priti Patel disagreed with the Government’s failure to secure
the UK’s borders against Covid last March.

Instead, the Government was once again too slow to take action. It took
until June last year for the Government to introduce quarantine policies
and until only this year to require international travellers to test
negative for Covid before boarding to reenter the UK. Only last month the
Transport Secretary announced exemptions from quarantining for ‘high
value’ business flyers [5]!

We know that the spread of dangerous new mutations of Covid, such as the
South African variant, pose a serious risk to British lives. If Priti Patel
raised concerns about this in March last year, it begs the question: why
was she overruled?

WATCH ME ON POLITICS LIVE

EXEMPT ACCOMMODATION GROUP LAUNCH

On Thursday, we launched our Exempt Accommodation Working Group made up of
50 Edgbaston residents, police and local stakeholders. A moneyspinner for
bad landlords, this sector is causing misery for much of our community and
is failing the people it is meant to support.

I am committed to building this campaign with an eye to national reform,
and am committed to working with Cabinet Member Cllr Sharon Thompson and
the Council to make that happen. If you are interested in getting involved,
please drop me an email at [email protected].

THE WORLD BREATHES EASIER

The inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this week was a wonderful
moment, marking an opportunity to turn the page on the darkness and the
divisions of the past four years. I was delighted to watch some of the
ceremony and see Kamala Harris sworn in as the first woman and first
Indian-American to hold the office.

In his first acts as President, Mr Biden signed executive orders to rejoin
the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, cease withdrawal from the World
Health Organization and end the Muslim Ban.

I look forward to working together with the new administration to tackle
the greatest global challenges we face.

© 2020 Printed from an email sent by Preet Kaur Gill. Promoted by A.J Webb
on behalf of Preet Kaur Gill, both at 56 Wentworth Road, B17 9TA.

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