Dear Friend, 

Boris Johnson is the biggest con artist of them all
 
Angry. Outraged. Betrayed. With each passing week revealing a new Tory scandal, these are the sentiments echoed by many constituents in Cardiff North.

I share that outrage and can only imagine the pain so many of you still carry as you followed the rules, unable to hold your loved one's hand in their last moments and for some, their loved ones tragically passed away alone. I share the outrage of knowing that whilst people across the country continued to make huge sacrifices – suffering unimaginable loss and loneliness – the Prime Minister and his Downing Street staff partied with impunity. 

The Prime Minister’s forced, non-apology after months of deceit, deception and denial was nothing short of insulting to all those who have lost mothers, fathers, sons and daughters in this pandemic and to the frontline workers who've risked their lives taking care of us. And the revelations which blow that non-apology out of the water keep coming. Should we have expected anything less from the man without shame? 

The Prime Minister lying through his teeth is a brutal kick in the teeth to every one of us. The Tory Party is riddled with liars and con artists and the Prime Minister is the biggest of them all. He must resign now.

With very best wishes,

Anna

People are struggling to pay their bills and are having to choose between heating and eating. Last week Labour forced a vote to back a VAT cut on home energy bills for a year to help keep energy bills low. The Conservatives shamefully voted against it instead of providing working families the security they need.

The justice system is letting victims down and criminals off the hook. Five Justice Secretaries over five years have promised, yet failed to deliver a Victims' Bill. While the Government has dithered, victim's confidence in the justice system has been destroyed, with many saying they simply wouldn't seek justice again because of how they were treated.

The Government finally listened to our calls and has launched a consultation in December to improve victims' experiences of the justice system. The inaccessibility and short timeframe of the consultation was condemned by survivors and the sector.

I wrote to Dominic Raab urging him to extend the consultation and ensure survivors' voices were heard if he was truly serious about putting victims at the heart of our justice system. I didn't receive a response.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill introduced by Priti Patel bill should have been an opportunity to tackle violence against women, shamefully low rape prosecutions and convictions, improve support for victims of crime and keep communities safe. However the Government's priority has been to use this as a  power grab and stoke division.

Many constituents have contacted me about the government's new and last-minute amendments to the Bill that they're trying to force through on protest laws. Amendments would give police wide-ranging powers to stop and search anyone in the vicinity of a protest, serious disruption prevention orders would apply to peaceful protestors in the same way as those of violent criminals and terrorists, bringing peaceful protestors into the criminal justice system unnecessarily. 

In the UK, we have an important, careful balance between the rights of protest and the rights of others to go about their daily lives. But the Bill in its current state undermines this democratic freedom. That is why Labour will oppose them and encourage the Government to implement our plan to keep the public safe.

Progress in Afghanistan has been irreversibly wiped out and the humanitarian crisis there is stark. I urged the UK Government to step up and convene a special conference to help prevent a winter of acute starvation for millions, as called for by Gordon Brown.