Weekly Update - 23 June

Dear John

This week, we’ve seen yet another hike in interest rates and families across the country whacked with soaring mortgage payments. This is a crisis that the government created – after 13 years of Tory failure and a kamikaze budget that crashed the economy, it’s families paying the price. My constituents in Edgbaston will likely be worried. Analysis has revealed that 7,400 families in Edgbaston will face an annual mortgage payment increase of £2,600 this year. This is a disgrace. Labour has called on the Government to urgently adopt temporary measures to provide immediate relief to struggling mortgage borrowers. If people are worried about paying their mortgages, they should pick up the phone to their lender who'll help them come up with a plan. This week in Parliament, MPs also voted to approve the damning Privileges Committee Report on Boris Johnson, confirming that he repeatedly misled Parliament about lockdown parties at Downing Street. I was not able to be in Parliament due to illness, but I want to reassure my constituents that I would have voted in favour of the report and indorse the sanctions in full. The Government is consumed in law-breaking, chaos and infighting while families across Britain face a mortgage crisis. The Tories are wildly out of touch with the reality facing millions of families. Only Labour will bring financial and economic security back!

The Times Red Box

This week, I wrote a piece for The Times Red Box about Labour’s green development plan. The green transition depends on development, and development needs the green transition. Ultimately, as we shift globally to green energy, we must commit to delivering fairer finance for countries on the frontline of the climate crisis. In fact, this week dozens of world leaders have been at a Paris summit hosted by President Macron. Their aim is to do nothing less than starting to unlock the billions of additional finance needed to tackle climate change, poverty and global inequality in low- and middle-income countries. But Sunak didn’t show up. Once again, Britain is missing in action, breaking our word and international commitments. Labour will lead by example, reconnecting Britain with allies and partners to set up fairer greener finance and combat the climate crisis.

Women’s National Team of Afghanistan

This week, I and over 100 parliamentarians wrote to FIFA requesting they stand by their statutes and support the Women’s National Team of Afghanistan. The letter was inspired by a recent call to action from education activist Malala Yousafzai and former captain of the Women’s National Team of Afghanistan Khalida Popal, to support the team and defend women’s right to play sports competitively. When the Taliban regained power in the country in 2021, it immediately banned women’s representation in sports, meaning that women of all national teams, from the senior teams down to the youth teams, were denied the chance to represent their country at international level, in addition to the total abolition of women’s sports at a grassroots level. With this year being a World Cup year, co-hosted by Australia, the time for action is now.

Fly tipping

Fly tipping sadly remains a huge issue for our constituency, blighting our communities and leading to further problems like rodent infestations. I see this daily in the e-mails that land in my inbox and through the telephone calls made to my office. In the last month alone, I’ve received upwards of twenty individual reports of fly tipping in Bartley Green alone – all of which I have reported to the Council for urgent clearance. Last week, I took this issue to the top of government, tabling questions to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for which I received answers this week. You can find my questions and the answers provided by clicking the button below. I now plan to use the information provided by the Government to work with Birmingham City Council and others to tackle this crime. It must be made easier to report fly-tipping, information needs be more widely available to residents, and the Council must use all its resources to get on top of this issue and to ensure appropriate action is taken against those responsible. I will continue to speak up for residents to tackle this nuisance in our constituency.

Local News

It’s been revealed that Edgbaston is in the top-ranking constituencies for the uptake of The Healthy Start Scheme. 1,178 residents signed up to the Government’s Scheme – which provides pregnant women or pre-school aged children in low-income households with a weekly payment to spend on healthy foods – out of 1,704 who were eligible. To commemorate 75 years of the Windrush Generation, The National Lottery Community Fund donated £10,000 to Wheelchair Recycling We Can Do, a charity based in our constituency. The funding was used to put on a full day’s activities to mark the milestone of the 75th year of Windrush. The project aims to educate people to understand our Windrush Elders' struggles to build Great Britain and provide the necessary support. The Mobile Household Recycling Centre will be visiting Kelmscott Road (B17 8QW) on 28th June and Hasbury Road on 29th June (B32 4EE). The Recycling Centre will be there between 07:00 and 12:45. Please come along if you’re local and have bulky household waste to dispose of.

Preet Kaur Gill MP, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston covering Bartley Green, Edgbaston, Harborne, Quinton and North Edgbaston

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