Weekly Round-Up
I hope you have had a good summer, and managed to spend some quality time with family and friends as we begin to return to the ‘new normal’ after the difficulty of the last 18 months.
With Parliament now returning, I wanted share some of the work my team and I have undertaken in Enfield North over the last few months, as well as some of the key issues that are on the agenda in Westminster.
Summer Visits
One of my favourite parts of being the MP for Enfield North, is having the opportunity to visit and engage with businesses and community groups across our local area and seeing first-hand the contributions they make.
Over the course of the Summer recess, I have been incredibly grateful to have been on a number of these visits.
One of these was to the navigation and radar equipment manufacturer, Hensoldt. Hensoldt provide over 500 jobs in our local community and it was great to discuss a range of programmes, including the potential for apprenticeships, which will further benefit local residents.
I also had the pleasure of visiting Capel Manor College for their Sakura Cherry Tree planting ceremony, alongside His Excellency Ambassador Hayashi of Japan. It was a pleasure to meet with college staff and learn more about the project, which is aiming to plant further trees across the UK to symbolise the UK’s friendship and partnership with Japan.
I was also able to visit Fortuna Mobility, a manufacturer of mobility aids based in Enfield North, to learn about the work that they do producing affordable mobility aids, and how they can be made as accessible as possible for local residents.
Afghanistan
The scenes we have seen in Afghanistan over the last few weeks have been deeply shocking, and there has been a catastrophic miscalculation of the capacity and legitimacy of the Afghan government, and the resilience of Afghan forces, which has led to this disaster.
We face the tragic rollback of those gains that UK soldiers, diplomats and NGO workers, and their coalition and Afghan partners, have worked so hard for. My thoughts are with the Afghan people, and there remains many questions to be answered by the Prime Minister about the failed political and development strategy of the last ten years.
My team have worked tirelessly in recent weeks to support a significant number of constituents who have got in touch on behalf of friends, family, and loved ones who have been stranded in Afghanistan, seeking safe passage out of the country.
I share the frustrations of a number of colleagues from across Parliament, that the Government have failed to provide adequate and timely responses to the enquiries that have been made. My team and I continue to do everything we can to support constituents through this difficult time, and I would urge anyone with concerns to email feryal.clark.mp@parliament.uk.
Health and Social Care Levy
The Health and Social Care Levy that the Tories have forced through this week is a manifesto-breaking, economically damaging, unfair tax on jobs.
This is the biggest rise in taxes on families for over 50 years, with no thought to the impact on working people in Enfield North and across the UK.
Under the Prime Minister’s plan many people will still have to sell their homes to afford the cost of care, doing nothing to solve the crisis in social care that pre-dates the pandemic.
This is a Government that has underfunded and weakened the NHS and social care for a decade. NHS waiting lists spiralled, up by two million, and crucial targets on cancer, A&E and mental health were already being missed.
The same is true of social care where £8 billion has been cut despite growing demand, with carers on poverty wages, without secure contracts, and over 100,000 vacancies. More than 32,000 care home residents died from Covid.
You can read my statement in full here: https://bit.ly/HealthAndCareLevyStatement