The creative industries are one of our country’s greatest success stories but the workforce is being let down by this Government. See my speech below calling for tailored support to keep these unique and world leading jobs alive. Proud to raise my constituents’ powerful stories today about having a new baby in lockdown. It is clear the Government must provide additional support during pregnancy and to parents of young children and I hope that they were listening. Our schools have done an incredible job to respond to the pandemic. Initially when the country went into lockdown, they remained open for the children of key workers and vulnerable children and since the reopening of society staff have gone above and beyond to ensure schools are safe to return to.
The task has been huge, but our teachers and school staff have stepped up to the mark. Sadly however, they have been let down by the absolute failure of the Government to get a robust testing system in place. I have had countless reports from parents and teachers who have been unable to access tests. In some cases, they are not able to get one within five days of symptoms developing and in others they cannot access one at all. Some have even reported it taking over a week to get the results. These delays are forcing many pupils and teachers away from the classroom, and risk further crucial periods of education being lost. I wrote to the Health Secretary about this and to the Education Secretary with regards to the unique circumstances of special schools both in September but have yet to of received a response. I invited all of the Headteachers in my constituency to a virtual meeting to discuss this problem and hear out their concerns. For example, schools have initially been given just 10 tests to cover their pupils and staff. This is nowhere near enough and as we enter the ‘cold season’ it is clear schools need far better testing in place otherwise they may risk having to close. Schools are also facing huge additional cleaning costs and costs associated with additional staff and supply teachers to cover and support bubbles. Schools budgets have already been cut to the bone over the last decade and without additional funding support now many will be pushed into financial uncertainty. Finally, schools need clarity on whether exams will be going ahead or not. It strikes me that given what pupils have been through over the last six months, some facing very challenging home conditions, the focus for the time being should be getting children back to some sense of normality. I have written urgently to Education Secretary outlining this complex situation and calling for answers. Without this, schools are being left in the dark having to make difficult decisions with no idea of what future support will be in place. For the work staff have already put in and for the sake of our children’s education we owe our schools clarity on these issues and the knowledge that they will be supported to the best of our country’s ability. I will keep pushing on the Government until they deliver this. Advice if you haven’t got the results you expected
If you haven’t received your predicted grades or the grades you expected, your school or college can appeal on your behalf. There is more information on how to do this here. Students who haven’t received the grades needed for their University offer are advised to contact the University admissions team directly. Universities have committed to be flexible and most are considering a wide variety of factors in addition to the grade awarded. Ofqual have advised that more information on appealing will be issued on Monday and we will update this document with further information when this is received. The Government have published a Student Guide to results which can be accessed here. Support phonelines:
Other advice: Universities UK have issued advice and guidance for students which can be found here. We are facing an economic & climate crisis which a return to business as usual will not solve. The Government must use this moment to deliver an ambitious green recovery plan that tackles climate change and rebuilds a resilient economy that benefits everyone. See my letter to the Prime Minister on this below.
Since the murder of George Floyd on May 25th by a Minneapolis police officer, I have not surprisingly received a very high number of emails from constituents to express their grief, anger and desire for real and sustained change. The widespread circulation of the video depicting George’s murder has rightly caused outrage across the world and has shone a light on the systemic racism evident throughout the US. It is starkly apparent, as shown by the protests across the world, that his murder was not an isolated incident. Instead, it is indicative of appalling racism and brutality against the black community.
I am shocked that in the US, the largely peaceful protests have been met with resistance and brutality, including the widespread tear-gassing of protestors, reporters and children who were posing no threat and exercising their right to peaceful protest. Tragically, I understand that David McAtee was shot dead by police while protesting in Louisville. I condemn this action and the excessive force used across the US. President Trump’s threat to use military force to suppress the protests is unacceptable and goes against fundamental rights. It is unacceptable too that the US appears to be misusing exported goods from the UK in order to suppress the protests. Following reports that the UK recently issued licences for the export of riot-control equipment to the US, the Labour Party has urged the Government to immediately suspend all licences of riot-related items. I welcome this and am a signatory to a cross-party letter calling on the Government to take immediate action. You can see the Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade’s letter calling on the Government to immediately address this here. However, it is clear that the ongoing injustice is not solely an ‘American problem’. There are very real issues of systemic racism and race inequality which must be addressed across the UK. At a national level, the recent Public Health England review into Covid-19 mortality rates confirms that BAME communities are disproportionately affected by coronavirus, with black men almost four times more likely to die from Covid-19 than white men. We know too that racial inequalities are prevalent across the criminal justice system, with black people in 2019 more than three times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than white people. These are gross injustices and must be addressed urgently by the Government at a national level. Locally, I am aware that several worrying videos have been circulated on social media showing apparent excessive force being used by police against Lewisham residents. Many constituents have rightly raised concerns about these videos with me, and I have met with the Mayor of Lewisham and with Lewisham Police to discuss this urgently. Myself and other elected representatives in Lewisham have made clear that we take this extremely seriously and you can read the detail on this in our joint statement here. As my constituency covers two London Boroughs, I regularly meet with the Borough Commander in Bromley and I will also be raising these issues directly with him. I encourage anyone who may have concerns over the way they have been treated by the Police to raise it directly with me and make a complaint to the IOPC, which can be done here. Yesterday, in memory of George Floyd and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, Lewisham Council joined with Councils across the country to light the town hall purple in support for the ongoing protests. I fully supported this expression of solidarity and have written to Bromley Council to request that they do the same. The outpouring of support and solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement is evident across the constituency, and I thank all those who have taken the time to write to me to express their views. We must work together to ensure that the tragic injustices of the past few weeks, and the widespread public outrage they have caused, catalyses into the real and sustained change which we so urgently need. I stand shoulder to shoulder with the BAME community and will call out racism and inequality wherever I see it – internationally, nationally and locally. I have been overwhelmed with emails from constituents expressing their anger, hurt and disappointment over the recent behaviour of Dominic Cummings and the Prime Minister.
I share that anger and I have previously set out some of my views on social media which you can see here and here. On Monday evening the nation was looking at the very least for an honest explanation and an apology. Instead, we received some frankly laughable excuses and no apology whatsoever. Cummings actions are inexcusable. It is clear he broke lockdown rules more than once and the right thing for him to have done would have been to apologise and resign. There are numerous contradictions in his statement and the trip to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight is an extraordinary excuse which I think most people would be hard-pressed to believe. Additionally, the explanation that he followed his parental instincts and did what any good parent would do is offensive. It implies that those families who were in similar or significantly worse situations but followed Government guidelines did not care about their families enough. Overwhelmingly, people have felt bound to follow the rules, no matter how difficult their circumstances. They have done so because they know it could save lives. In my view there are no exceptional circumstances in this case, he was in a position that families have found themselves in the length and breadth of the country. I also struggle to believe that the Prime Minister’s chief adviser would have had no childcare options in London had he and his wife become too sick to care for their son. The vast majority of people across our country have made extraordinary sacrifices during the lockdown. Families have been forced apart, sometimes in the most tragic of circumstances. But they have stayed at home to protect the NHS and to save lives. Meanwhile, the statements from Cummings and the Prime Minister have made it apparent there is one rule for Boris Johnson’s closest adviser and another for everybody else. Further, in my role as Shadow Solicitor General, I am extremely concerned that the Attorney General tweeted her support for Cummings’ actions. When there is still a significant question mark over whether a criminal offence has been committed this support destroys confidence in the Attorney General’s impartiality and the Rule of Law. The public reaction to what Cummings has done demonstrates his actions have undermined trust in this Government. I am extremely concerned that this may impact public compliance with necessary Covid guidelines both now and in the future, particularly if we enter a second wave of the virus. Therefore, in my view, it is extremely important that Dominic Cummings gives a full apology and hands in his resignation. If he does not then I remain clear that he should be dismissed by the Prime Minister. Finally, I want to thank you for doing what the vast majority have done - following the rules no matter how difficult the circumstances. We will beat this pandemic and we will do so by all working together following the rules that are set. We have come a long way since the beginning of the lockdown but there is still a way to go and to get through this we are going to need to ensure the Pandemic’s impact on people’s jobs and livelihoods is kept to a minimum.
With the economy necessarily being shut down, it was right that the government acted to protect jobs and incomes by launching the Job retention Scheme and the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). However, the limitations of these programmes are reducing their scope. For example, there are a number of significant gaps which have left many self-employed people falling outside of the scheme. This includes those who work through Limited Companies, those who have yearly operating profits of £50,000 and over, the newly self-employed and freelancers who fall below the 50% of self-employed income threshold. I have raised these barriers with the Chancellor and called for the inclusion of limited company directors in the scheme, a tapered package of support rather than a cliff edge at £50,000, an extended deadline for submitting 2018/19 returns and the option to submit 2019/20 returns early to calculate the grants on this basis. But the problems do not end here. Workers who have had recent gaps in their earnings because of maternity leave will receive less financial support as this is not exempt from the calculations for support. This discriminates against women and I raised this with the Chancellor last week but did not receive a satisfactory answer. In all, it is estimated that over 75,000 recent mothers could receive less income and two million self-employed people will be unable to access SEISS. I do not doubt the scale of the challenge facing the Government but without urgent reforms to the SEISS many of my constituents, and I fear many more people across the country, will face serious hardship in the coming months. It falls to us to do all we can to continue pressing the Government on this issue so they are true to their word and ensure that no workers are left behind in these challenging times. I am sure that constituents will have been keeping up to date with developments on the Coronavirus and can appreciate that this a fast-moving situation and I hope that everyone has been following the official guidance and is keeping safe.
To date, I have tabled numerous Parliamentary questions to get answers to the range of concerns I have, you can see these here. They include questions on what the Government is doing to increase the number of ventilators and ICU capacity, when testing for Covid-19 will be made available for NHS frontline staff and members of the general public and whether the Government will increase statutory sick pay to the European average. I have written to the Business Secretary to ask for guidance on what support businesses will be receiving from the Government and I have also written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ensure full sick pay and lost earnings protections are extended to all workers (including the self-employed) and that renters are not threatened with debt, insecurity and homelessness. I am also a signatory to a letter to the Chancellor calling for an adequate minimum level of support for people moving onto Universal Credit. In addition to this I have contacted Lewisham & Bromley Councils to find out what actions they are taking, especially to protect people with underlying health conditions, older people isolating, the homeless, refugees, those with no recourse to public funds, those accessing social care and families in crowded emergency/temporary accommodation. I have also contacted many of our local organisations and charities to find out about what efforts are being made in the community and to help coordinate the community response. The Government has announced an economic package to protect households and businesses, you can find out more on the Government website. I believe that the Government should be doing everything it possibly can to assure and secure all individuals and groups within our society. To this end I believe the Government should introduce measures for rent deferrals, mortgage holidays, measures to keep businesses afloat, an increase in statutory sick pay – commensurate to the amounts paid in other European countries - and lost earnings protection from day one of self-isolation and illness for all workers including insecure workers, low paid workers, and the self-employed. In addition to this I believe the Government should make the scientific evidence and their modelling publicly available. Publishing this information is very important to maintain public confidence in the Government’s handling of the outbreak and so that we can all come together and get behind the effort to protect our communities. Going forward if we as a community remain calm, work together to help those who are most vulnerable and follow the up to date health guidance I am confident that we will be able to get through this challenging period. If any constituents have any concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know and I or a member of my team will do what we can to help. Following the advice on social distancing my office is closed but my team is working as normally as possible from home and we can be contacted at ellie.reeves.mp@parliament.uk and 020 7219 2668. I hope this helps clarify everything to date and again please do not hesitate to get in contact with me if you need to. This winter has been an incredibly busy time. In the December election, I was extremely pleased to be returned to Parliament to represent my home seat. It has been an honour to represent Lewisham West & Penge since 2017 and I am extremely proud the community has put their confidence in me again to continue to serve the area.
The election was certainly eventful, with the birth of my second child occurring partway through the campaign. I want to pay tribute to all of the staff at the Birth Centre at Lewisham Hospital for their care and support. Thankfully I was able to get back out on the campaign trail with my baby after a couple of weeks, speaking to voters and listening to their views. After the election, I had to go to Parliament to ‘swear in’ in order to take my seat. However, when my son was 6 weeks old, I was finally able to start some maternity leave! Although my maternity leave means I won’t return to Parliament until after the summer recess, I am now spending a day or two a week on important constituency work like surgeries and casework. |
Archive
July 2023
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