MP’s UPDATE FOR RESIDENTS - July  2021

You can find previous reports of my work on my web site; www.ruthcadbury.co.uk  I also report regularly on my Facebook page and via Twitter and Instagram @RuthCadbury. You can see full details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, and get Regular updates about my Parliamentary activities on TheyWorkForYou in Hansard and on YouTube

I plan to restart face-to-face surgeries as soon as it is safe. Meanwhile I am happy to meet constituents either by phone, or on-line, to discuss your concerns. Please email me on [email protected] with your address, a quick summary of the issue and relevant reference numbers.  

See my special Coronavirus Web-page for information on

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Dear Resident

The private lives of Cabinet Ministers should be of no concern to us, unless they shine a light on corruption at the top of government, as Matt Hancock’s has done.  From £million contracts given to old friends and their family members, to rewriting Planning Law to suit developer donors or the Tory Party; this Government is undermining any respect that British people (and those in other countries) can have of our Government.  Last year I told Ministers in Parliament that their reckless approach to taxpayers’ money was betraying the trust of people across the country. And in June the High Court ruled that the Government acted unlawfully in the awarding of public contracts. Yet another sign of how the Government have abandoned the basic principles that underpin public service.

The Grenfell fire exposed a national scandal of building safety failures which is impacting on so many constituents.  I am regularly hearing from leaseholders and tenants in flats deemed to be unsafe and have raised their plight in Parliament on many occasions. A succession of Ministers including the PM, have said leaseholders shouldn’t have to pay, yet the funding the Government have provided only addresses a fraction of the problem. Furthermore, Housing Associations are required to fund the full costs for tenanted properties, which destroys their development programme for new social rent programmes.

 All schools and students have had the most challenging 16 months in dealing with Covid, made far worse by the way the Government have managed the pandemic and failed our young people.  Even when they appointed Sir Kevan Collins as the School Recovery Commissioner to advise them, he said £15bn was needed (in line with other countries), but the Government only committed a tenth of that. Collins had no choice but to resign.

Meanwhile in June, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, Kate Green, launched an ambitious plan that not only tackles the impact of covid-19 on young people but addresses the decade of Government cuts to our schools. Labour’s plan includes: Breakfast clubs & after school activities, Mental health support, Training & development for teachers, Tutoring & investment for children who need it most, and Free school meals over the holidays.

You can read more about Labour's new plan here 

MY PARLIAMENTARY WORK IN JUNE:

• My first outing at the despatch box since returning to the front bench was for Housing Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) ministerial questions. I challenged the Planning Minister Chris Pincher, who I now shadow, about the need for environmental protections and targets within the planning system. I questioned the Government’s commitment to net zero given that the Government had not refused an application for a new coal mine in Cumbria
• I closed the Opposition Day debate on Planning Reform and focussed on the importance of local democracy in the planning system
• When Clive Betts MP presented his HCLG Select Committee’s report into the Government’s Planning Reform White paper I picked up on the Government’s lack of detail on Climate Change, and “Levelling Up”
• In a Statutory Instrument” (Regulation) session on planning fees for Permitted Development Rights (PDR), I noted the impact that PDR has had on communities since planning permission is no longer required for change of use of premises from shops, offices etc into housing. This is already having an impact on High Streets, as will as enabling sub-standard homes to be allowed, and all changes can happen without any public scrutiny
• I spoke in a Justice debate and expressed my concerns about delays in the court system especially for crimes involving violence against women & girls, as well as the need to deliver justice for victims of road traffic collisions.
• In June I twice spoke up for airport communities; first during a debate on aviation/travel and tourism, and then challenging Transport Secretary Grant Shapps at an Urgent Question session on the need to extend furlough and Covid recovery schemes to travel and aviation sectors. This is particularly important in communities like Hounslow, which now has one of the highest levels of unemployment in the UK, which will get worse once the current furlough scheme ends in September.
• The situation for the Uighurs and other ethnic minority groups in western China is getting ever more critical.  I spoke about gender-based violence against the Uyghur women and challenged the Government to address this specific issue.
• I wrote to Health Minister about research funding for Motor Neurone Disease

COMMUNITY UPDATE

As Covid restrictions ease, I am now able to attend more “in-person” events.  It’s so good to meet people in person!

After 220 years Hounslow’s Cavalry Barracks is closing and the large site in Hounslow West is to be developed for housing. The barracks was built in 1793 in the wake of the French Revolution, to guard against the dual threats of foreign invasion and domestic sedition, and most of its buildings are listed.  With Seema Malhotra MP, and Hounslow’s Mayor and senior Councillors, I attended the event to mark the closure of the Barracks. We were treated to an incredible musical parade from the Irish Guards’ band. The 1st Battalion Irish Guards have been based at the Barracks for six years, but will now be moving to their new home in Aldershot

SCHOOL VISITS

I visited the Green Schools for Girls & for Boys to hear from their students about the Diversity Fortnight they held on Cultural, LGBT+ and Ability Diversity. Students of all ages in both schools had been taking part in a variety of projects in promoting and celebrating the diversity of their school community. The Boys School steel pan band performance was excellent.  As it was also Windrush Day, I learned of the work that some of the girls had been doing about the Caribbean arrivals to the UK in the 50s and 60s.   I particularly enjoyed hearing about the personal connections that one of the girls had to the Windrush generation. 

At Chiswick School during their Diversity Week I met the Current Affairs GCSE group who told me about the work they had done to address sexual abuse and violence in and outside school.  They also quizzed me about Palestine.   I then met the school’s self-organised Rainbow Alliance Group of LBGTQ+ students. They raised a number of issues including; gender neutral toilets, access to sanitary products, LGBTQ+ in the curriculum, heteronormative society and neuro divergency. It was great to hear their thoughts on where they believed both government and society could improve on LGBT+ rights and how that could be achieved.

Printed from an email sent by Ruth Cadbury MP