Weekly Round-Up

This week saw the start of COP26 in Glasgow, an opportunity not only to turn the tide on climate change, but for the UK to play a real leadership role, bringing the international community to a productive, and united position.

The decisions that are made and plans that are set this week are critical for our planet and could make or break the fight against climate change. I want to thank the many Enfield North constituents who have been in touch with me to share their views ahead of COP26.

Whether it be on protecting grasslands, investing in green energy, or improving the quality of air, I agree whole heartedly with the concerns raised by my constituents, and will closely monitor the progress made on these during the summit.

The summit’s overriding objective must be to put the world decisively on course to deliver on the ambition of the Paris Agreement and keep the hope of limiting global heating to 1.5C within reach – to keep 1.5C alive. 

The UK’s credibility in the role of COP President rests on the example we set at home, and the Government have consistently shown a frustrating lack of ambition.

You can read my statement on COP26 in full here: https://bit.ly/cop-26-statement


Tory Sleaze

This week we saw a shameful return to the days of Tory sleaze, as the Government whipped their MPs to support a move to tear up the standards process after it had found Owen Paterson guilty of an egregious case of paid lobbying.

If this were to happen in any workplace across the country – someone shown to have acted improperly, but instead of facing disciplinary action, have the boss intervene and say, “don’t worry, we’ll get rid of the HR department instead” – we would call it what it is, corrupt.

Whilst it is right that Owen Paterson has now resigned, it is a sorry end to the complete chaos caused this week, and the lasting damage this saga has done to the integrity of Parliament.

Over and over again, this Government shows total contempt for the rules. Let’s not forget, they defended Dominic Cummings when he mocked the British people by breaking lockdown rules, and handed billions of pounds of taxpayer money to their donors and friends during Covid-19.

The truth is, we have a Prime Minister who thinks the rules are for everyone else, not him and his chums. With his every action he signals to his MPs: do what you like. There are no consequences.

Constituents can be assured that myself and Labour colleagues will continue to hold the government to account on this, and work to develop plans to clean up politics for good.

UK Parliament Week

This week has been UK Parliament Week, which is a great opportunity for me as a local MP to get out and about and talk to people across our community, particularly young people, about the work of Parliament, and how they can get involved in democracy.

I had the pleasure of speaking to groups at Enfield Boys Brigade, Kingsmead School, Carterhatch Junior School, and St Andrew’s Primary School.

All the young people involved provided a really interesting discussion and gave me some very tough questions!

It was a pleasure to join all of them, and I look forward to continuing to get out and about across our community in the months to come.