Weekly Round-Up
This week has been dominated by the three by-elections in Selby and Ainsty, Somerset and Frome and Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
I want to start by congratulating Keir Mather and everyone who helped on the campaign on a historic result in Selby and Ainsty. The 20,137 majority overturned by Keir is the largest ever in a by-election, getting Britain closer to the Government it deserves.
Secondly, I want to say thank you to Danny Beales and everyone who volunteered in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. It was not the result we were hoping for, but there was a huge swing towards Labour and a big reduction of a Tory stronghold.
In Prime Minister’s Questions, the Prime Minister again was unable to take responsibility for failures under his watch. The NHS is facing crippling waiting lists due to 13 years of Tory cuts and austerity. Who does he blame? Anyone but himself. The Conservatives have run our country and our NHS into the ground and the sooner we have a general election to hold them to account, the better.
Parliament now goes into summer recess, but my office hours will not change. You can see further details on this below.
Rail Ticket Office Closures Petition
Please sign this petition to call on the Government to scrap the proposed closure of the railway station ticket offices at Brimsdown, Enfield Lock and Gordon Hill in Enfield North.
One in nine tickets are still sold at physical ticket offices. That represents over 150 million of the 1.4 billion rail journeys recorded over the past year, yet passengers in Enfield North have been given just 21 days to have their say.
Basic questions on how this will impact disabled and older passengers and the roll-out of technology in stations have been left unanswered.
Railroading this plan through without consideration for passengers only risks exacerbating the managed decline of the rail network.
I want the Government to come clean on the damage these closures will do.
Shelter Campaign
It was great to see Shelter taking over Parliament Square on Wednesday afternoon, to draw attention to the number of families with children who face losing their home every day because of section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.
After promising for years to end Section 21 evictions, the government finally introduced the Renters (Reform) Bill in May. However, despite ample time and opportunity to progress this crucial piece of legislation, the government has so far failed to set a date for its Second Reading.
I know Section 21 evictions have affected many in Enfield so I was happy to see and support Shelter campaigning for reform.
Contact my office
Despite parliament being in recess, if you have any issues over the summer, please contact my office as usual. You can find my contact details below.
Email: feryal.clark.mp@parliament.uk
Phone: 020 8804 4543