Weekly Update
This week we have seen the fighting over the Tory Rwanda Bill, with the Prime Minister unable to answer where 4250 people are that were earmarked for the scheme have gone. He was asked four times during Prime Minister’s Questions, and with £400m of taxpayers’ money spent, you would expect answers.
Instead of wasting money on this expensive gimmick, the Government need to get a grip and tackle the current backlog, tackle the criminal gangs and provide safe, legal routes with family reunion schemes.
But this is not a government that operates this way. It is riven by infighting and chaos, incapable of responding and addressing the problems this country is facing. I therefore joined my Party in voting against the Tory Rwanda Bill this week for these reasons.
New Bill to allow Pubs flexibility to open
Today I spoke in the Chamber in support of the Licensing Hours Extensions Bill which would allow our Pubs to open and serve for longer during times of international, national or local significance.
An example of the issues with the current law came last year during the Women’s Euro’s final when venues could open from 10 am but not serve customers until 11 am.
Our pubs and restaurants have suffered so much in recent years, so I was happy to support and see the progress of this Bill in the Commons, to ensure venues have more freedom to request to extend their opening hours. The safeguards in place currently that allow locals to have a say remain in place.
Cyber Security
For the past 11 weeks, the British Library has been crippled by a major cyber-attack that shut down most of its services.
Personal data of staff and “readers”, as its regular users are known, was stolen by the hackers and offered for sale on the dark web.
This will cost the library up to £7m, and personal data has been stolen.
Protections therefore must be in place to defend non-departmental public bodies.
I asked the Government what they are doing to ensure they are not vulnerable to other attacks 👇
Home Office Questions
This week I got the opportunity to question the Home Secretary in my new role.
I focused on retail crime, and how the Government has ignored the police’s concerns about their funding formula and how it hinders their ability to tackle town centre crime.
The British Retail Consortium reports that there are more than 850 acts of violence or abuse against shopworkers every single day. This is sadly no surprise given the Tory Government’s hollowing out of neighbourhood policing since 2010.
Labour will introduce a new law to protect retail workers from violence and abuse, and create a standalone offence so that police can allocate appropriate resources to the challenge. When will the Government adopt our plan and stand up for shop workers?
Jewish Labour Movement Conference
It was great to open the Jewish Labour Movement One Day Conference last Sunday. Our panel session was on crime reduction and prevention and what this would look like under a Labour government.
We covered the rise in hate crime, knife crime, the fall in trust in police, youth support and tackling online fraud.
The Conservative’s legacy on crime and justice is one of damaging decline and collapsing confidence, and it is victims and communities that have paid the price.
Unlike the Conservatives we believe in an active government, we believe in high-quality public services. We want more police, but we will expect higher standards and we will introduce the reforms that make that possible. We will work in partnership with other government departments, and other agencies.
