Category: My work

I have campaigned for many years on environmental issues, including the damaging effect of plastic pollution. I have consistently raised the issue of plastic in and out of Parliament. Plastic pollution is unquestionably one of today’s great environmental scourges.

In January 2018, the Government pledged to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste in the UK by 2042, but this is far too late, and the government is failing even on that. We should stop all single use plastics much earlier, such as a 50% reduction by 2025.

Sadly, the Government has delayed the introduction of policies to combat plastic pollution until at least 2022; by that time up to 700,000 tons of plastic will have been thrown away. It is a scandal that our plastic waste has been shipped abroad where it has just ended up being dumped; so, the UK must stop sending plastic waste overseas.

But even stopping single use plastics and plastic waste is not the end of the problem. There is another extremely worrying situation, that of plastic fishing nets. It is estimated that discarded fishing nets in our oceans comprise at least 45% of all plastic waste. And it is sitting there in the sea, gradually breaking down into micro-plastics which are entering the oceanic food chain.

This means that we are literally eating plastic whenever we eat seafood. Those nets will not get retrieved or recycled; therefore, we have to address this as an emergency just as we need to stop single use plastics.

In 2019 I signed Greenpeace’s ‘Plastics Pledge’, and I will reaffirm that pledge again.

I will continue to speak out and challenge the government on its plans to reduce plastic pollution.

It breaks my heart to see the Government cutting back on essential support and services that the needy and vulnerable families depend on to survive and thrive, using the cost of Covid to justify that. And children suffer, not just in the short term, but their life chances are unfairly and negatively affected.

In 2019 I stood on a promise to provide free school meals for all primary school children to ensure no child goes hungry at school; to halt the closures of Sure Start centres and increase the amount of money available; to expand universal childcare. I also pledged to end the benefit freeze and replace social mobility with social justice.

The Government, in introducing benefit caps and the two-child limit for child benefit due to Covid, has acted in a cruel and callous way, affecting more than 600,000 families and 2 million children. This has just made things even worse and pushed more children into poverty – child benefits must be restored for all children and indeed enhanced.

Last year the New Economics Foundation called for a minimum income guarantee – via an increase to Universal Credit and legacy benefits – of £221 per person per week. The TUC also called for the basic level of Universal Credit to be raised to £260 per week. Both of these I support.

A child growing up in a shipping container or a B&B, or going to school hungry, cannot be expected to reach their full potential. The measure of our society is how we treat our most vulnerable. And who could be more vulnerable than a child living in poverty or even homeless?

The current situation in Colombia is grave indeed and I share many of my constituents’ concerns regarding the extraordinary events that have unfolded following the ongoing national strike that began on 28 April.

I stand in solidarity with the people of Colombia who, despite the violence and abuse of power from the police force, continue to peacefully demonstrate to demand change.

It is imperative that the international community, including the United Kingdom, condemn the ongoing violence, and call on the government of President Ivan Duque to protect the right to peaceful protest and put a stop to the human rights abuses perpetrated by the police and armed civilians targeting protestors, activists, and social leaders.

I signed this Early Day Motion (EDM) 4 tabled by 6 MPs soon after it was tabled; it has now attracted the signatures of 84 MPs, a significant number and reads as follows:
That this House expresses profound concern on reports of excessive use of force by the Colombian police, against overwhelmingly peaceful social protests as confirmed by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights across Colombia from 28 April 2021, as part of a national strike; believes the right to peaceful protest and freedom of assembly are essential tenets of democracy; condemns serious human rights violations allegedly carried out by the police, including the use of live ammunition resulting in the deaths of over 30 protesters, numerous cases of sexual violence and serious injuries, over 100 people reported disappeared, over 800 arbitrary arrests, and targeted attacks on civil society organisations and human rights defenders, some of whom were trying to monitor the police; also condemns the small minority who infiltrated the peaceful protests and perpetrated violence; notes with alarm the Colombian Government’s order to militarise the cities and urges them instead to enter into a meaningful dialogue with the protest organisers to address their legitimate grievances; calls on the Government to review its training of the Colombian Police, suspend the sale of riot control materials and review all other arms exports to Colombia in light of the current situation; and further calls on the Government as pen holders for the Colombian peace process at the UN Security Council to promote substantive reform of the Colombian security services and full implementation of the Peace Accord.

I will continue to monitor the situation in Colombia closely and I offer my heartfelt solidarity to those with friends and family in Colombia at such a difficult time.

The UK is a guarantor of Cypriot independence under the 1960 UN treaty, and I was very disappointed to see the latest round of UN-led peace talks end yet again without an agreement earlier this year, as they had done in 2017.

The Island of Cyprus should never have been divided. The illegal 1974 Turkish invasion, occupation and division does not change that. The 2004 Annan Plan saw most Turkish Cypriots voting for reunification in the plan’s referendum. Which reveals the underlying issue – Turkey does not want reunification, for their own political reasons and are interfering in the sovereignty of an independent nation.

The presence of Turkish troops in Cyprus since 1974 has always been a difficult matter to resolve. The UK recognises the sovereign right of Cyprus to its natural resources in the Exclusive Economic Zone and must continue to support those rights and the peaceful reunification of Cyprus. The United Nations, The European Union and the Council of Europe all support the reunification of Cyprus.

Upholding human rights remains high on my agenda and you may know that in 2017 I attended the Parliamentary launch of the Labour Party’s ‘Friends of Cyprus Group’.

I continue to campaign for action to achieve a united, stable, and peaceful future for Cyprus, in and out of Parliament.

I am deeply concerned about the high statistics that show the level of sexual violence, misogyny and microaggressions faced by women in the UK.

Reports have shown a rise in domestic abuse and reports of rape during the Covid-19 pandemic. Statistics from the 2020/2021 Report by Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) showed almost one in three women will experience domestic abuse, two women a week in England and Wales are killed by a current or former partner, and more than half a million women are raped, or sexually assaulted each year.

In my view, too many women have been left without protection and support.

Despite the Government promising £165 million for domestic abuse support services, campaign groups have estimated the real funding required for a safe and sustainable network of services is £393 million. The Government needs to do more and act swiftly to ensure women feel protected at home and in public.

I am in full support of the Green paper published by the official Opposition on 16 May providing a detailed plan on how to end the epidemic of violence against women and girls. The Ending Violence Against Women Green paper proposes a long-term, whole system response that provides justice and protection for survivors, as well as delivering effective prevention, and the tackling of the social attitudes, inequality and discrimination that underpins the abuse that women and girls face.

The plans embedded in the Green paper would make misogyny a hate crime, toughen existing sentences for perpetrators of rape and stalking, create new specific offences for street sexual harassment, as well as introducing bold measures to reverse record low conviction rates for rape. Our laws must send a strong signal that violence against women and girls will not be tolerated.

Together, we must continue to demand more from the current government and continue the campaign to ensure all victims of violence are seen, supported, and protected.

The occupation of East Jerusalem has no legal basis and the takeover of Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah cannot be legal under International Law. This includes the illegal Israeli settlements built in and around Sheikh Jarrah – building on occupied territories is illegal under international law.

In 2010 I visited Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem and met a family who at that point were being thrown out of their home by an Israeli government-backed plan allowing settlers to take over other peoples’ houses.

I fully condemn the illegal takeover of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. The suffering experienced by people who are forcibly evicted from their land and homes is an outrage and the act of expulsion itself is criminal.

In June 2020 I signed an early day motion (EDM) condemning the eviction of the Sumerin family from their East Jerusalem Home. In February this year I signed a Britain-Palestinian All Party Parliamentary Group open letter to Dominic Raab, Secretary of State, urging him to insist that Israel stop the illegal evictions and to take further diplomatic and trade actions if they didn’t.

Just last weekend I spoke out publicly, during a demonstration in London, against the terrible things that are happening in the occupied territories, including Sheikh Jarrah, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Gaza.

I also spoke out in Parliament calling for an end to the occupation, an end to the siege of Gaza and for assurance of peace in the future, something I have called for in and out of Parliament for years.

I continue to use social media and other outlets (Double Down News and Al Jazeera among them) to make it clear that the escalation of hostilities in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are a direct result of the home invasions by government-backed settlers in Sheikh Jarrah.

As a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs, I’ve signed an open letter to the Government, calling on it to:
• Demand an end to the siege of Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory
• Impose sanctions on Israel for its repeated violations of international law, place an embargo on arms sales and end trade with illegal settlements
• Demonstrate full support for the international Criminal Court’s opening of an investigation into alleged war crimes in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories
• Recognise the state of Palestine

The theft of land and homes in the West Bank, outside of the 1967 borders, is a continuing and illegal endeavour designed to thwart any chance of a Palestinian state. You can be sure that I will continue to raise the plight of the Palestinians in and out of Parliament.

We must stay active and engaged on this very serious situation.