Three and a half years on from the Grenfell tragedy there are still millions of people living in unsafe homes with flammable cladding. This is a Government failing of monumental proportions. 

Coronavirus 

As a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Night Time Economy, I’m working with other MPs and peers to address some of the challenges facing the nightlife sector because of Covid-related restrictions.

The group has launched an urgent inquiry into the impact of Covid-19 on UK nightlife and is investigating how the sector can reopen and recover from the pandemic and we want to hear people’s views on the nightlife sector, and what it means to them.

As surveys show increased levels of spending using Buy Now Pay Later products including Klarna and Clearpay during lockdown, I’ve joined more than 70 MPs from across parliament and Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert to call on the Government to protect consumers and regulate the Buy Now Pay Later industry.

Brexit

This is the first newsletter I have written with the UK outside the European Union.  December 31^st was a very sad day for many of us when the transition period ended, the UK officially became a “third country” and we lost the freedom to live, work, study and settle down in Europe.  I felt a huge sense of regret and sadness, but I know it isn’t the end. We will pick up the struggle for a future based on closer ties with countries which share our values. We are still European.

The Brexit debate in Parliament

This hardest of Brexit deals, for which there is no mandate, is one that cuts British jobs, sidelines our service sector, undermines hard won protections for the environment, workers’ rights, and consumers, and turns Kent into a diesel-stained monument to hubris and political myopia. 

It’s a deal that condemns us to living in a poorer, more unequal, more isolated Britain. 

And it leaves us less equipped to rise to the greatest challenges we face, the climate and nature emergencies.

CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2020 

At the start of my Christmas newsletter last year, I said it had been a tumultuous year in politics. It’s hard to believe that 2020 has been even more extraordinary in so many ways.  It is a year I think none of us will ever forget.   

The political agenda continues to be dominated by Coronavirus and the Government’s mishandling of the pandemic: the failing test & trace system, the lack of support for so many self-employed people, and the scandalous PPE procurement process to name just a few.  I spoke about some of these issues when I was a guest on the BBC’s Politics Live programme. 

Moving from lockdown to Covid restriction tiers 

The Patchwork Foundation do amazing work promoting, encouraging and supporting the active participation of young people from under-represented, disadvantaged and minority communities in democracy and civil society. 

Their MP of the Year awards celebrate and recognise those MPs that uphold the values of the Foundation, to champion disadvantaged groups.  The awards are adjudicated on by an independent panel who choose a winner from the public nominees. 

Many of you have written to me about the vote tonight on the Government’s new Covid restrictions, some asking me to vote for them, some against. 

Having listened carefully to the evidence, it’s clear that if we allow the virus to spread unchecked, infections would increase exponentially, and we risk the NHS becoming overwhelmed.  Coronavirus remains a serious threat to public health, and that’s why I accept the need for continued restrictions.