Dear Constituent,

Good afternoon and welcome to this week's edition of the Denton and Reddish Weekly News.

Scroll down to read about another busy week locally and in Parliament, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has labelled the Government’s levelling-up agenda a ‘total scam’, after a new report laid bare the scale of regional inequality.

In Bloomberg’s 2023 Levelling Up Scorecard, it was highlighted that since 2019 – when the Tories promised to ‘level-up’ neglected regions across the UK – inequalities have widened and key prosperity indicators have fallen.

Across Denton and Reddish, it was revealed that local people have seen their salaries, access to affordable housing, life expectancy and broadband coverage all fall or remain the same since 2019. The report also shows that overall Government spending has declined in the local area.

Earlier this month, Gwynne slammed the Government after Tameside Council’s levelling up bid to transform Denton Town Centre was rejected. Rishi Sunak’s own constituency was awarded funding, leading to accusations of favouritism being levelled at the Prime Minister.

Commenting, Andrew Gwynne said:

“These findings reinforce what we’ve long suspected, that Tory levelling up is a total scam.

“The Government explicitly promised that they would level up swathes of neglected regions across the UK, but instead they’ve actively made things worse – it’s shameful.

“The Conservatives have been in power for 13 years, and we’ve nothing to show for it except lower salaries, worse living standards and skyrocketing bills.

“We need a General Election, and a Labour Government that works in the interests of local people”.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report. 

Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has called on the Government to tackle rising household energy bills, and backed Labour’s plan to ease pressure on struggling households.

As it stands, the Government’s current strategy exposes households to major new energy price spikes in April. Gwynne has urged the Government to stop the energy price cap going up from April, and called for ‘further short-term and long-term action’.

Labour’s immediate energy package, announced recently by the Party, would be paid for by a proper one-off windfall tax on energy giants and mean:

• A new measure to pass on savings to households immediately, by stopping the energy price cap going up from April. Right now, government plans expose households to a major new spike in prices in April.
• A new “insulation jump start” – a pot of funding that the government could use right now to supercharge home insulation across the country, saving families hundreds off their bills.
• Ending the scandalous penalty imposed on prepayment meter customers, saying they will ensure customers do not pay more than those paying by direct debit, alongside a 3 month moratorium on the forced installation of pre-payment meters.
• Offering off-grid households equivalent support, with funding available for households in Northern Ireland.

It follows Labour’s call this week for the government to rule out a fuel duty rise at the Budget, if OBR projections show it’s affordable.

If there is additional headroom in the upcoming Budget, the party is calling for it to go towards the cost-of-living crisis as a priority, starting by ensuring that fuel duty will not rise in the Budget.

Labour has also committed to radical long-term plans for clean power and retrofit, which could save households up to £1,400 off their annual bills for years to come.

Commenting, Andrew Gwynne said:

“People across Denton and Reddish are really struggling, and it isn’t right to leave households exposed to even further price rises in the April.

“I want to see proper-long term policies to improve our energy resilience, but also immediate action to help people now. That means freezing the price cap over April, supercharging home insulation, scrapping the absurd penalty imposed upon pre-payment customers, and helping off-grid households.

“This would be paid for by extending the windfall tax, closing the fossil fuel investment loophole, and taxing oil and gas profits at the same rate as Norway.”

  A MASSIVE WELL DONE to Alan Coates and British Motorcycle Preservation Society (Manchester) for their brilliant fundraising efforts this year.

They’ve invited me to join them at The Globe Cafe Dukinfield to present their cheque for more than £2,000 for Alzheimer's Research UK

They do such great work to raise funds for good causes. Their next one is towards ME. I’m always happy to support them! 

 WATCH: We have an Urgent Question on the issue of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children going missing after being placed in hotels by the Home Office.
 
I ask the Minister, given the seriousness of this issue, how many National Crime Agency officers are working on the issue of child trafficking and disappearances from hotels. 

He gives a non-answer. This isn't good enough, and I'll be following up for clarity on what action the Home Office and NCA will be taking to tackle criminal gangs engaging in child trafficking.

 WATCH: In health questions, I raise the fact that 50,000 more people died last year than anticipated. In response, the Secretary of State for Health said his Department 'don't accept those figures'.

After 13 years of Tory Government, an estimated 500 people are dying each week because of delays to emergency care.

I ask the Minister when her Government will stop shirking responsibility and start doing something to address the crisis in our NHS.

WATCH: This morning, the Chancellor addressed the nation and told everyone to be optimistic about our economy.

I have a bit of an issue with the Chancellor telling us all to cheer up after his Government crashed the economy, oversaw a decade of non-existent growth and local people are struggling through a cost-of-living crisis.

Britain has so much potential, but this Government is holding us back.

WATCH: On GB News this morning, I talk about shocking figures which show that tens of thousands of people are waiting longer than 9 minutes for their 999 call to be picked up.

Sadly, this is the consequences of 13 years of Tory mismanagement and incompetence. Ambulances are backed-up outside hospitals, patients are unable to be transferred out of hospital, and this is having a knock-on effect on call handler capacity.

Labour would implement the biggest workforce expansion the NHS' history, giving the NHS the tools, technology and reform it needs to rebuild and thrive.

WATCH: Nadhim Zahawi didn't pay his tax, and settled a multi-million pound tax dispute with HMRC while he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Rishi Sunak promised ''integrity, professionalism and accountability'' as Prime Minister, yet he hasn't even got the guts to do the right thing and sack his Tory Party Chairman.

In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, this whole sorry saga shows just how out-of-touch this Conservative Government has become.

READ: Seems my Health Question made it into The Mirror… behind the half man-half ostrich joke there’s a serious point about the state of the NHS and the impact it’s having on patient outcomes.

Read the full piece here.