😷 This week marked the year anniversary of our first national lockdown. Significant mistakes have been made by this Government. We cannot wait any longer to learn the lessons. I, along with my Labour colleagues, have been calling for an immediate public inquiry. I also spoke to BBC North about my reflections on the past year.
🏫 This week the All Party Parliamentary Group on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, which I chair, published the findings of our inquiry into the experiences of children and young people with SEND during Covid-19. Our most vulnerable children have been failed by the Government and schools & families have been left to pick up the pieces. I spoke to the Independent about the need for long term change. You can read the report here.
📘 I also this week questioned Government officials on their support for students, parents and teachers during lockdown, as part of our Public Accounts Committee inquiry. And I joined up with Sheffield’s Labour MPs to write to the Education Secretary about the need to overturn unfair further education funding rules that disadvantage students at Sheffield’s further education colleagues.
🏥 This week I spoke during a Westminster Hall debate on NHS Pay. You can watch my speech here. NHS workers don’t just need a pay rise because they’ve worked so hard the last year. They need a pay rise because they’ve had repeated real-terms pay cuts for the last 10 years.
🚨 Following my speech in Parliament during the debate on the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill – which you can watch here – I am continuing to campaign against the bill. This week I joined campaigners in Sheffield to discuss how we can build a campaign against this dangerous legislation.
💡 I have also been working with local campaigners to call for a much larger package of funding to reverse local authority cuts and make our streets safer, as well as more far reaching action to address the deep structural causes of violence against women.
🌎 In response to Alok Sharma’s statement to Parliament, setting out his four aims for the COP26 climate talks later this year, Nadia Whittome MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Clive Lewis MP and I have set out our four priorities ahead of the negotiations. Climate Action must be democratic, accountable, transformative & just. You can watch our video message here.
🛒 I have also announced our next Hallam Citizens Climate Assembly – where we will discuss how we can build an alternative food system that works for people and the planet. Sign up here!
🐦 This week I wrote to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, calling on him to end the badger cull which has seen an estimated 164,000 badgers killed. I am also excited to have become a Hen Harrier Species Champion and am looking forward to working with the RSPB to protect this amazing species.