Marie McCourt meeting with the Secretary of State for Justice
Marie McCourt and I had a good meeting with the Secretary of State for Justice recently. We have made solid progress and the Government is finally listening.
Putting Helen’s Law in statute to change the parole guidelines in law is a huge victory for Marie, the McCourt family, and the many other families in similar circumstances.
Marie has been a real driving force behind this campaign and the support we’ve received from people in St Helens has been incredible.
My Private Members’ Bill on Helens law received the unanimous support of the House of Commons three years ago and I don’t foresee any difficulty in getting this through Parliament. Marie and I will be working closely with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that Helen’s Law is introduced as quickly as possible.
Eid Mubarak
Eid Mubarak to all my constituents celebrating at the end of Ramadan.
I visited St Helens Mosque and the Iman Trust to meet with representatives of the local Muslim community in St Helens. It was good to see at first-hand the contribution this valued and important community make to our borough.
St Helens borough has strong and proactive faith communities who play a crucial role in supporting people in their everyday lives and at times of need. The Iman Trust and St Helens Mosque is a shining example of such fantastic work.
St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School petition to 10 Downing Street
I joined pupils and teachers from St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School in Windle to deliver a petition to 10 Downing Street as part of a campaign against school funding cuts, and afterwards they came in to the House of Commons for a tour and to see some of our proceedings.
Chronic underfunding by this Tory government is having a direct impact on the ability of our schools to provide the education that our children deserve. Schools like St Thomas of Canterbury are being forced to make cuts that will affect the education of pupils.
Mrs Hall the headteacher, teachers and staff at St Thomas of Canterbury do an outstanding job, as do many of our schools across the borough – but this commitment from staff can only be stretched so far without proper funding. A lack of government funding is holding children in St Helens back from achieving their potential.
The petition directly appeals to the Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds, to end the chronic underfunding the school is facing as a direct result of eight years of austerity. We need to equip our young people with the skills for them to succeed in the future. The Government must now urgently provide the funding that will enable our schools to do this.
the rise of rough sleeping in St Helens
I am absolutely appalled that between 2010 and 2018 rough sleeping in St Helens borough increased by 600%. This is a direct consequence of Tory austerity increasing levels of poverty.
St Helens Council, alongside voluntary groups like The Hope Centre, YMCA, the Salvation Army and Teardrops, are working hard to tackle homelessness and its root causes. They support the most vulnerable people in our community and prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place.
The Labour Party has committed to tackling this issue with a pledge to end rough sleeping within five years. The Tories must take action on this now.
Shocking figures from the Trussell Trust
Shocking figures from the Trussell Trust show that in the last year in communities across St Helens North, 6822 three-day emergency food supplies had to be given to local people in crisis – with 2564 of these going to children.
Nationally, the Trussell Trust network distributed 1,583,668 three-day emergency food supplies to help people in crisis, a record rise of 18.8% on the previous year.
This reflects the increase in families living in poverty as a direct result of Tory austerity. They are damaging the country, our communities, and families. We need a Labour government to ensure that no one in St Helens borough or across the country goes hungry.
managing wild birds
General licences GL04, GL05 and GL06 were issued under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for specified purposes enabling people, lawfully, to take certain actions in relation to various species of wild birds. This included the use of lethal control for purposes of public health and safety, protection of crops and livestock, and the conservation of wildlife.
I appreciate that the revocation of these licences has caused uncertainty and disruption for those who own and manage land. As I am sure you will be aware, the Government has now taken on responsibility for the future granting or revocation of these types of general licence. However, Natural England will continue to issue individual licences to anybody who needs to act within the law to control wild birds, where there is no reasonable non-lethal alternative.
On 4 May 2019, the Government launched a consultation on this issue. It is seeking views on the revocation of the specific general licences GL04, GL05 and GL06. This consultation closed on 13 May and there will be a separate review of general licences later this year. I hope the Government will listen carefully to all views that are submitted as part of the current consultation.
The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee will hold a one-off evidence session on this issue on 21 May 2019. I will follow developments on this closely.
Whirlpool tumble dryers
It is shocking that the OPSS says the risk from Whirlpool tumble dryers is low when consumers continue to report signs of fire in machines that have supposedly been fixed.
I am far from satisfied that the OPSS review was strong enough. I note, for example, that the Government has said interviews with affected Whirlpool customers did not form part of the review. Also, the Government says the OPSS is not aware of any evidence of lint fires attributed to a failure in Whirlpool’s technical modification designed to fix this problem. Yet according to consumer group Which?, one customer received a report from a Whirlpool engineer giving lint as the cause of her tumble dryer starting to produce smoke, despite the machine having been repaired.
The UK’s product safety regime has been out of date and not fit for purpose for some time. The Government established the OPSS in 2018 after years of reviews and consultations. I believed it was a step in the right direction. However, cuts to local authority budgets have reduced the ability of trading standards bodies to enforce product safety measures and it appears the OPSS does not go far enough in addressing the fundamental issues of our product safety and recall regime.
This issue requires serious action and I believe the Government is letting consumers down. Lives are on the line – it is vital that we do all we can to ensure that the products people buy are safe to use. I can therefore assure you that I will continue to monitor this issue and press for real action at every opportunity.