Dear Constituent,

Good evening and a very warm welcome to Denton and Reddish Weekly News. I hope you've had a lovely week and are looking forward to the weekend! 

There's been lots of news this week, from new cost of living measures in Greater Manchester, to Labour's plan to clamp down on antisocial behaviour, to the Reddish Roaring sculpture trail. Scroll down to catch up on what's been happening across Denton and Reddish.

Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has strongly criticised the Government after figures from the NHS reveal that 12,780 people across Stockport and Tameside had to wait more than four hours for emergency care at A&E during July.

Shockingly, 392 people spent more than 12 hours waiting for emergency care. Just 64% of people were seen within four hours in Tameside, and 61% in Stockport. The NHS says that 95% of patients should be admitted, transferred or discharged in that time.

Accident and emergency departments across the country are facing huge pressures. As the Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries recently admitted, a decade of Conservative mismanagement left the health service “wanting and inadequate” when the pandemic struck.

There are now also 6.73 million people on the NHS waiting list in England as of June 2022. This is the highest ever recorded. At the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, following a decade of Tory mismanagement there were 4.4 million people on the NHS waiting list in England, then a record high. Nationally, the standard of 92% of people seen within 18 weeks of a referral has not been met since 2016. Now, 1 in every 9 people in England are on the NHS waiting list.

The NHS went into the latest wave of Covid infections with the longest waiting list ever, understaffed and overstretched.

Commenting, Andrew Gwynne MP said:

“These figures are absolutely shocking. Thanks to Tory mismanagement, patients across Stockport and Tameside are being forced to wait for hours and often in serious pain.

Our NHS staff do a truly heroic job, but the NHS has been systematically underfunded and neglected by this Conservative Government over the last 12 years.

Our NHS is crying out for a change in government to give us the fresh start we need.”

Wes Streeting MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said:

“Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are living in a fantasy world where the NHS isn’t worth mentioning. The truth is the health service is facing the biggest crisis in its history, with one in every eight people waiting for care. The Conservative leadership candidates have no plans to even begin to fix this.

“Among those 6.7 million on waiting lists, there could be a huge number of undiagnosed conditions like cancer. Record waiting times have a cost in lives.

“More patients than ever before are left waiting an entire day to be seen for emergency conditions. 24 hours in A&E was just a TV programme, now it’s the reality under the Conservatives.

“The next Labour government will get patients treated on time by providing the NHS with the staff, equipment and modern technology it needs.”

Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has backed Labour’s national plan to tackle antisocial behaviour. It comes after Gwynne attacked the Tories for failing to keep local communities safe.

More than 14 million people last year had their lives blighted by graffiti, drug dealing and noisy neighbours.

Meanwhile, the total number of neighbourhood police across the North West has fallen by 41% in between 2015 and 2022. Nationally, the total number of neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs has fallen by 10,000 since 2015.

Labour have committed to restoring neighbourhood policing, with visible neighbourhood police hubs in local areas backed by new neighbourhood prevention teams made up of police, community support officers, youth workers and local authority staff.

These teams would prioritise being visible on patrols, preventing crime before it happens and working directly with communities to address local issues. They would pursue serial perpetrators of ASB or low-level crime, as well as dealing with visible signs of disorder such as broken windows, graffiti, fly-tipping, or drug dealing. Labour has also pledged to give victims of persistent antisocial behaviour the same rights as victims of crime.

Supporting the strategy, Andrew Gwynne said:

“Antisocial behaviour is tearing apart communities right across the country, yet the Tories seem to be sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending that it doesn’t exist.

Local police across Denton and Reddish work incredibly hard, but unfortunately, they’ve been let down by a Tory Government that has slashed police numbers, and made our communities more unsafe as a result. Britain deserves so much better.

Labour is the only party with a credible and serious plan to prevent crime and catch more criminals.

The last Labour Government brought in neighbourhood policing – and we’re committed to restoring it when we’re in power.”

Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has welcomed the announcement of a range of support measures from Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to respond to the Cost of Living crisis.

At last Friday’s GMCA meeting, local leaders from the 10 districts and the Mayor agreed the need for a strategic city-wide response to the crisis. On Thursday the 4^th of August, GMCA launched a new online resource to help guide residents to support available in their area. Helping Hand covers a variety of topics including help with food bills, energy, childcare costs, and more.

The Mayor has also pledged to fund additional Emergency Food Cards, which support children and young people who need immediate access to good quality food. The extension of the scheme bolsters a package of support schemes already in place, including through the No Child Should Go Hungry campaign and the cross-sector Greater Manchester Food Security Action Network.

Recent data commissioned by the organisation 38 degrees shows that over 80% of people in Denton and Reddish were experiencing more expensive energy bills and groceries. Almost a quarter of residents (23%) have seen reduced household income due to cuts in Universal Credit. The figures come as almost 100,000 people have signed a petition backed by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for an emergency budget that boosts Universal Credit.

Commenting, Andrew Gwynne said:

“I’m very grateful for the steps that local leaders are taking to support people as much as possible during this cost-of-living crisis. I just wish that the Tory Government would match these efforts, and give people the support they need.

With the expected increase in the energy price cap, many families will be forced to choose between heating or eating. That is not something that we should even be entertaining as a possibility in 21^st Century Britain.

I would strongly encourage anyone who is struggling to utilise these new Greater Manchester services.”

Those wishing to access Helping Hand can do so here. 

 READ: : In the latest edition of the Heatons Post, I've written about two initiatives brightening up our local area.

The sculpture trail 'Reddish Roaring' brings together local artists, communities and businesses, all while celebrating Reddish in a fun and engaging way.

'Heatons and Reddish in Bloom' aims to bring shopping areas across Reddish and the Heatons to life.

Read my full piece here.

 READ: Also this week, in the latest edition of the Tameside Reporter, I've written about Avanti's shameful decision to inflict a drastically reduced timetable between Manchester and London, and then to blame workers for their own failures of management!

This mess has reinforced my belief that to truly transform our public transport, we need to nationalise our railways and put the public back in control of our bus network (something we’re already working on here in Greater Manchester).

Read the full piece here.