Letter from Parliament: Tony Lloyd MP

No end to the political soap opera at Westminster

Official figures show inflation running at a staggering 9%. People know from their shopping baskets that the story is very different with food price rises running at a record 19%. That is beyond staggering. How many people get to the sharp end of the queue taken aback by a bill that is now seemingly out of control? And how little are the government doing about it? It’s not just food, it’s heating and lighting, it’s petrol, it’s transport and the list goes on. The banks and building societies are putting up the cost of borrowing which hits those on mortgages, and it filters through to people in private rented accommodation. It’s really no wonder at all that those in work are looking for pay awards that go some way towards easing the pressure on family budgets. It’s a scandal that the government takes a hard line with our nurses pay whilst it gives away billions to higher rate taxpayers and to the so-called non-doms, the rich who live in the UK but are allowed to pay much lower tax rates in other countries.

Yet the Conservatives are pre-occupied with the soap opera in Westminster. Boris Johnson announced he was quitting Parliament on Friday over a report from the Privileges Committee, who were investigating whether he had misled MPs about lockdown parties in Downing Street. His resignation speech was more of a temper tantrum, he said he believed he was ‘improperly treated’ and if he really thinks this he should have stood up in the House of Commons and explained why he disagreed with the committee's findings, waited to see if there was a recall petition and fight a by-election. But typically for Mr Johnson, when it comes to the decisive moment, he jumps ship before the consequence of his actions become apparent and blames everyone else except himself. He accused the committee of being a ‘kangaroo court’ but it must be noted that kangaroo courts don't allow defendants to be advised by the best KC in the country, paid for in full by you - the taxpayer - with full opportunity to argue your case.

Rochdale dental closures

I responded to Bupa Dental Care’s plan to close, merge or sell 85 dental practices in the UK, including in Rochdale. The move will affect 8,250 patients, with the vast majority of these being NHS patients. I am regularly contacted by people in Rochdale who tell me how difficult it is to access an NHS dentist. Bupa have said this is simply a “portfolio change” with no recognition that this will have a very serious impact on people who use their services on the NHS. And across the country, around 4 million people can’t access NHS dental care without being able to afford to seek private dental care. Ministers have been promising reform on this since 2010 but it’s a problem they won’t fix. That’s why I’ve tabled a Parliamentary motion calling on the government to take action now.

If you, or someone you know, needs to access urgent care, the Greater Manchester Urgent Dental Care Service is available to all residents of Greater Manchester and can be accessed by calling 0333 332 3800.

Mental health waiting lists

I'm backing Labour’s plans to tackle long mental health waiting lists. Since 2010, the Conservative Government have cut one-in-four mental health beds across the country, as waiting times for treatment have soared. Across Greater Manchester, there were 23,510 children on waiting lists in December and 89,250 adults. These figures show how much adult and children in Rochdale are suffering after 13 years of Conservative government. Children should not be languishing in A&E because they can’t receive treatment in the community.

The next Labour government will prioritise a preventative plan for mental health services and will put patient care first. There must be access to mental health professionals in every school and an open access hub in every community, funded by closing tax loopholes. This is in addition to guaranteeing mental health treatment within a month for all who need it, by recruiting thousands of new mental health staff.

Abortion

Abortion evokes widely different responses from different people and is always controversial. The recent case of Carla Foster raises questions wherever you stand on the issue of abortion. To send a mother of three children, one of whom has special needs, to prison must raise the question as to what this sentence achieves. I think it is time to change the law and this debate must now come to Parliament.

Free School Meals

I joined the National Education Union, the Daily Mirror and other MPs in writing to the Prime Minister urging him to commit to extending Free School Meals to every child in primary school. Last year, over 4 million children experienced food insecurity, not having access to nutritious and balanced meals, or even having to skip meals entirely. The cost-of-living crisis is dragging too many families with young children into poverty. Free school meals for every child will put money back in parents’ pockets to pay for other essentials for their children, from heating and food at home to hobbies and after-school clubs. Teachers see the difference a healthy school dinner can make. When children are hungry, they can’t learn. It’s hard for them to concentrate and harder for them to reach their potential. Free School Meals for all would mean every child can learn and succeed.

Child poverty hits hardest in the North

I'm calling on the government to make sure families with children have enough money and security of income to meet basic needs, such as healthy food to eat and warm homes. A third of children in the North of England are living in poverty, living with food and fuel insecurity. In some parts of Rochdale, child poverty effects half of children with the bulk of their families having parents in work. That is a scandal.

The picture across the North of England is just as grim and this goes back to before the current cost of living crisis and the aftermath of Covid. New pressures have pushed vulnerable families to the edge and risks creating a disastrous situation likely to last for future generations. Sadly, poverty is not a new experience for many children in the North but there are things the government could do now to help, such as increasing child benefit by £20 a week and expand Free School Meals to all children whose families receive Universal Credit. The government must look at expanding and auto-enrolling the Healthy Start Scheme, ensuring consistent food provisions during school holidays and actions to improve the energy efficiency of homes.

 

Ukraine

The Labour Friends of Ukraine held an event with Councils to discuss the local government response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. One of the main topics discussed was the increasing rate of homelessness among Ukrainian refugees as the Homes for Ukraine scheme goes on longer than seems to have been expected or planned for by the government. In some cases, we are seeing relationships breaking down between refugees and their hosts as they don’t have the capacity to continue to host whether financial or otherwise, and there are also some cases of abuse.

The issue of dental care was also raised. It is incredibly difficult for anyone to get dental appointments now, but this is even more so the case for refugees who obviously aren’t already registered with a dentist here, and there have been cases of people going back to Ukraine for dental treatment (and other medical treatments as they cannot get appointments in the UK).

ASDA and EG Group merger

I've joined GMB Union in writing to the Business Secretary, urging her to make sure the Competition and Markets Authority intervenes in the debt-laden merger between ASDA and petrol forecourt business EG Group. The merger will see ASDA buy approximately 350 petrol forecourts from EG. There are serious concerns about the impact of this on fuel prices, with one company having a monopoly on access to over 700 petrol forecourts. It is essential that competition within the market is maintained and promoted to keep prices down.

Hotel accommodation for asylum seekers

Hotels are simply not the right place for families with young children to be housed for months on end. Serco has questions to answer about the basic quality of accommodation, their stewardship of the Home Office contract and dealing with legitimate complaints. I have raised this several times with Tory Home Office Ministers, and they now accept that hotels are not the right place to accommodate asylum seekers but they must raise their game and deliver a much quicker resolution for asylum claims. Hotels are not the answer, not for asylum seekers, not for the community and not for the taxpayer.

Fairer taxation of wealth

Last month, the Sunday Times released its Sunday Times Rich List 2023. In response a group of UK millionaires, Patriotic Millionaires UK, are calling for more robust taxation of their wealth so that they can contribute fairly to public services and infrastructure. I joined them and other cross-party MPs in calling on the government to review the way in which it taxes wealth considering the increasingly extreme concentration of wealth in the UK, coupled with stagnant growth and wages and struggling public services. Without addressing the concentration of money and power, the wealthiest minority will become even richer and the gap between them and the less well-off will increase. This matters because there is overwhelming evidence that we all do better when this gap is smaller, whether that's greater educational attainment, increased social mobility, less crime, or improved health outcomes.

The rights of Afghan women

I joined the female education activist Malala Yousafzai and cross-Party MPs in writing to the President of FIFA in support of the Women’s National team of Afghanistan. When the Taliban regained power in 2021 it immediately banned women's representation in sports, not just internationally but also at a grassroots level.

Article 3 of the FIFA statutes states that “FIFA is committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights.” Article 22 of the FIFA ethics code states that “Persons bound by this Code shall not offend the dignity or integrity of a country, private person or group of people through contemptuous, discriminatory or denigratory words or actions on account of race, skin colour, ethnicity, nationality, social origin, gender, disability, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, wealth, birth or any other status, sexual orientation or any other reason.”

I'm calling on FIFA to stand by their statutes and commit to supporting the preservation of the Afghan women’s freedom to play football.