I hope you are all keeping safe and well. We are sadly still living in very dystopian times, with a lockdown still in place, and many struggling in our communities. I am so very grateful to so many of you who are out and about, working with charities and in our communities and trying to make a real and positive difference.
So many have lost work already, and many
more are likely to be at risk before this crisis ends. I am referring more
people to food banks for support. It is a damning indictment of the Tory
Government’s handling of this pandemic and is why those of you who follow my
Twitter feed have seen me being so persistent in trying to garner support for
West Ham Foodbank’s campaign. Should any of you not have seen this
campaign, or wish to donate, it can be found here.
We all know how hard this is on our
children. Many will be going without toys this year, not understanding
that it’s not their fault Father Christmas has forgotten them. This year, AAA
charity is again organising a Toy Appeal. If you are able to promote the Toy Appeal or Foodbank campaigns
on social media, or to donate, I would be very grateful.
I can see the impact of the ongoing crisis
from my casework, which is hugely higher than normal, and normal was already
very high. The level of new cases coming in a month is roughly double what it
was at the start of the year, and my staff are now sending out almost 1,000
emails a month to constituents just on casework alone, and that doesn’t account
for the calls or letters my office have to handle on top.
As a result of those extreme levels of
correspondence, we have had to deprioritise responses to policy requests a
little. The number of policy letters coming in has also been much higher than
normal this year, and it is taking us a much longer to respond to many
requests. If you are waiting for a reply, please bear with me.
Since my member’s update in November, I
have spoken in Parliament twice. On Monday 23rd I spoke about the
human rights abuses and terrible violence that protestors against police brutality
and corruption in Nigeria have faced, which you can see here.
I also spoke in an Urgent Question on the Government’s plans to make leaseholders responsible in
some circumstances for the bills to make their homes safe from
fire. As we know, the terrible tragedy of Grenfell has exposed the
fire risks in many homes across the country and hundreds of constituents are
writing to me about their plights. They’re trapped in homes that they’ve been
told aren’t safe, they can’t sell because their homes are effectively worthless
and the Tories expect them to foot the bill to put it right. I’ve managed to secure
a meeting with the Minister to argue our case.
You can see everything I do in Parliament
by signing up to e-mail alerts at TheyWorkForYou.
I am sorry that this newsletter is not
full of festive fun and greetings. I will try and make up for that with
an e-card just before Christmas
Until then, please stay safe and keep well
and thank you all for what you do in and for our communities
Lyn
2 comments:
I guess it must also be therefore a "damming indictment" of the Labour Government in Wales that tonight the Army are having to drive the ambulances? Funny how the problems are all the Tory Government until the Labour Government in Wales get into problems? Strange that?
Maybe Covid has something to do with this? as if we haven't had service men and women building hospitals and carrying testing for the last 8 months in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland!
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