Weekly Round-Up

Tory Sleaze

Another week goes by and another raft of Tory sleaze comes flooding out of this crass and careless Government.

The Prime Minister latest alleged comments, that he would rather “let the bodies pile high in their thousands” than consider another lockdown were an absolute afront to the lives of those we have lost. They were not “bodies”, they were our grandparents, parents, siblings, children and friends and such a comment is beneath the Prime Minister’s office.

Alongside this, came the allegations around the funding of the elaborate revamp of the Prime Minister’s Downing Street flat. Having flatly denied any wrongdoing, it is becoming ever clearer that the PM has failed to disclose the true source of the funds which were spent on top of the £30,000 tax-payer allowance.

You would have hear some Conservatives and  the PM say that this doesn’t matter and that the tax payer doesn’t shouldn’t care who paid for the £58,000 decoration of the PMs flat because the tax payer hasn’t had to pay.

I believe it does matter that the most powerful politician in our country adheres to rules which are there to provide openness and transparency. It is important we know who donated the money in the first instance because we need to know who is potentially  buying influence over the Prime Minister.

If this donor is winning or being  given public contracts, like the Government have done with PPE contracts, then there is a cost to the tax payer and the public deserve answers.

The revelations that continue to come from this scandal show that this is a Government who care more about providing backdoor and dodgy contracts to their wealthy mates, than their duty of care to hard working people in Enfield North and across the UK.

Myself and Labour colleagues will continue to do everything we can to force this Government to be open and transparent about their dealings, and ensure they are fully accountable for their actions.


Forty Hall Visit

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of visiting the team at Forty Hall Vineyard to learn more about how they produce such consistently high-standard wine, but also their fantastic work supporting our local community.

As a social enterprise, Forty Hall is staffed almost entirely by volunteers and their team work tirelessly all year round to plant, grow and harvest the grapes which are turned into a variety of delicious wines.

Alongside this, the team run a range of award-winning community outreach programmes, including support for local refugee groups, and eco-therapy, allowing those struggling with mental health problems to spend time outdoors in a supportive, caring environment.

We are incredibly lucky to have such a well-run and beautiful resource right on our doorstep, and I very much enjoyed talking to the team about some of the exciting plans they have for the future

Committed and passionate people like the team at Forty Hall are what makes our community here in Enfield so great, and I would encourage everyone to pay a visit, and enjoy some of their excellent produce!

Dog on Dog attacks petition

I was delighted this week to present the petition of my constituent Emma Gambrill, concerning Dog on Dog attacks, to the House of Commons.

Emma’s petition outlines how current legislation in the form of the Dogs Act 1871 and Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 does not account for dog-on-dog attacks where the dogs behave dangerously and are clearly out of control of irresponsible owners.

This means that owners of dangerous dogs do not face robust action when their dogs attack other dogs. This problem was recently horribly highlighted for Emma, when her border collie, Blue, was attacked and mauled to death by two Cane Corso dogs.

I support Emma’s calls for the government to review current legislation, to set out whether this problem could be addressed by making dog-on-dog attacks a criminal offence, and to ensure that irresponsible owners of dangerous dogs face more robust action.


APPG on Armenia

In my role as a vice-chair on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Armenia, I joined a meeting earlier this week with Wendy Morton MP, Minister for European Neighbourhoods, about what the Government are doing to stop the serious rise in antagonism and Xenophobia towards Armenians, perpetrated by the Azerbaijani Government.

With last weekend marking the 106th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, now is not the time to sit idly by whilst the people of Armenia continue to suffer.

We must learn the lessons of the Armenian genocide and do everything we can to ensure that we never see such awful scenes again. Whilst the Minister ensured the Government will do everything they can to prevent further suffering for the Armenian people, I will continue to push with colleagues across parties to ensure the Government recognise the Armenian Genocide as an important first step.

Fire Safety Bill

This week saw the final stages of the vital Fire Safety Bill, which the Labour team in Parliament had worked incredibly hard on, to ensure the legislation protected leaseholders from being liable for ft the failures of reckless developers and building firms seeking to make them liable.

I am bitterly disappointed that the Government failed to adopt any of the amendments Labour put forward, meaning they have left leaseholders in a very precarious situation.

The Queen's Speech is in two weeks' time - it must contain a Building Safety Bill that protects leaseholders in law, which is introduced to Parliament immediately.

The Government could fix this problem now if they wanted to. They could bring forward funding to fix dangerous buildings and spare leaseholders the threat of bankruptcy. Every day they choose not to is a betrayal of leaseholders.