Dear John,

For the first time in several weeks all parts of Birmingham reported new Covid cases. I was extremely concerned to see Edgbaston enter on to the list of wards with the highest Covid rate in the city, with a rate of 285 per 100,000.  
 
The way we combat this is through regular testing. Regular testing is for everybody, regardless of whether you’ve had two vaccines or not, as you could still unknowingly be spreading Covid. To order free lateral flow tests, it couldn’t be simpler, just click here and follow the instructions.  

However, if you have Covid symptoms or a positive lateral flow test, please make sure you order a free PCR test here.

Earlier this week Quinton’s Councillor, Kate Booth, and I invited Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Cllr Waseem Zaffar, to come to the constituency and take a look in person at the state of our roads.  
 
This has been a growing issue that many constituents have contacted me about and I have continued to challenge the council on this. It isn’t right or fair that residents should have to put up with the disrepair of our roads or the number of potholes that inevitably add to the costs that car owners must pay to maintain their vehicles.  
 
Now, the council has announced that it is investing £100 million into maintaining and resurfacing roads. I invited Cllr Zaffar to Quinton to show him how vital it is that this funding is spent on roads like Ridgeacre Road, Firsby Road, Gorsey Road and many others across the constituency. 

This week saw Kim Leadbeater win a fantastic victory in the Batley and Spen by-election to follow in her sister’s footsteps and become a Labour MP. Kim led a campaign based on hope, focused on issues that matter to local people. In the face of intimidation and violence, Kim remained positive, refusing to accept the division that some travelled to Batley and Spen to sow.  
 
It was an honour to join Kim’s campaign door knocking in Batley last weekend and again to join with Labour volunteers from across our constituency in Edgbaston this week, where we ran a phone banking session in support of Kim. I look forward to working with her in Parliament, putting our constituents needs first and holding the Government to account. 
 
However, there’s still more work to do. The Government is moving forwards with their plans to introduce Voter ID. I strongly oppose this move as it will make more than one million people across the West Midlands ineligible to vote.  
  
While voter ID seemingly sounds harmless, in practical terms, it would require voters to have accepted forms of ID to take to the ballot box.   
In the West Midlands, only 79% of people have a passport. That’s 1,149,137 who would no longer be able to vote. This number drops even further, to 75%, when talking about the number of voters with a driver's licence.   
At the last General Election, there were no cases of voter fraud in Birmingham. This means the Government would not only be limiting the fundamental right of citizens to vote but spending £20 million on an issue that doesn’t exist.  

Earlier this week I wrote to the Building Safety Minister questioning the Government’s commitment to solving the national cladding scandal that has affected thousands of people including over 340 residents in Edgbaston.  
 
Four years on from the Grenfell tragedy, the Governments plans to fix the cladding scandal face further delays that are entirely of their own design. It is entirely unreasonable for leaseholders to be expected to live in unsafe conditions, in homes that have been rendered uninsurable and unsellable due to fire risks for which they bear no blame. Yet, this is what they are being made to endure. 
 
The Government’s Building Safety Fund (BSF) is designed to cover costs for remediation work to unsafe buildings. However, the way the scheme has been managed, has been widely criticised for the glacially slow pace it is moving as well as for its limitations - it excludes funding for many fire safety faults such as defects with balconies, insulation, and fire breaks.  
 
The Government has warned that remediation works must be ready to start on site by 30th September 2021 or risk losing funding. However, with many questions still to be answered, we need a clearer response from Government. For example, would the Government expect applicants to move forward with partial remediation projects that do not address the full gamut of fire safety faults that have been identified, despite this undoubtedly inflating overall costs, or would the Government withhold funding until on site work is able to begin in full? 
 
All of these unanswered questions and delays add pressure, anxiety and worry to the very people who the Government say shouldn’t be made to pay for the crisis, leaseholders. In response to my letter, I hope to see more urgency as well as clear responses from Government. 

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has announced the dates for the West Midlands ticket ballot. From 14 July to 30 July people in the West Midlands region will be encouraged to ‘be first in line’ to apply for tickets for the Games. 
 
A West Midlands Ballot will give people in our area the best opportunity to experience the Games happening on their doorstep, by offering access to an early release of tickets. This will be followed by the main ballot in September for the wider ticket release. 
 
For events in the West Midlands, Games tickets will include access to public transport in the local area on the day of your event, with full details being issued later this year.