Welcome to my regular newsletter, keeping you updated on my work as your Member of Parliament.
In some exciting news, earlier in the month I was appointed the Shadow Minister for Nature, Water and Flooding. I’m so proud to be joining the Shadow Environment team, to be nature’s voice in Parliament. We are living through a climate and ecological emergency and need radical change if we are to protect our communities and the natural world. From worsening flooding to a decline in precious species, we can see the impact with our own eyes here in Sheffield. l am really looking forward to working with campaigners and experts from our city and across the country to develop a rescue plan for our natural world.
It has been a busy first few weeks in this role, and I have already hit the ground running. I am currently organising a Nature Emergency Summit in Sheffield, after campaign groups and individuals across Sheffield declared a Nature Emergency last Friday. The Environment Bill also finally returned to Parliament, and as a Shadow Minister I sponsored a number of important amendments, including an amendment calling on the Government to fully ban burning on upland peat.
I have of course been continuing to campaign and speak out about a number of other issues, including the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, eating disorders and support for our social care staff. Please read on to hear about what else I have been getting up to, campaigns I hope you will join, and interesting events happening in Sheffield.
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• In my new role as Shadow Minister for Nature, and as MP for Hallam, I am organising a Nature Emergency Summit for Sheffield , to bring together everyone in our city to discuss the nature crisis we face. We’re living through a climate and ecological emergency which affects everyone. Together we must reverse the emergency and recover and restore our natural environment. I will be announcing more information about this summit soon!
• I have also been speaking out about the potential dangers of a zero tariff trade deal with Australia, which will put local farmers out of business and only increase emissions from imported food. We should be working to create a localised, green food system, which ensures everyone has enough food. The Government’s trade deal looks set to do the exact opposite.
• I have grave concerns about the Government’s new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which I know are shared by many of my constituents, so I have been encouraging Sheffielders to submit their concerns to the Joint Committee of Human Rights’ consultation.
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• I met with the CPRE Yorkshire, The Sheffield Star and Councillor Anne Murphy about a project we are launching to erect a blue heritage plaque near the birthplace of Hallam born environmental campaigner Ethel Haythornthwaite.
• I spoke at the RSPB’s Sky Dancer Day a few weeks ago, as a Hen Harrier species champion. It was great to hear everyone’s passion for our uplands and this amazing species.
• I also met with Deliveroo bosses to share my concerns about their treatment of workers in my constituency. I will continue to press them to improve workers’ conditions & contracts, and for an end to precarious work.
• Following the local elections, I spoke to BBC radio Sheffield about the importance of developing a Labour policy agenda which unites the country post Covid, rebuilds our NHS and tackles the climate emergency.
• I also attended a Q&A with year 12 students, and was asked about a range of important topics including the climate crisis and the situation in Palestine.
• Thank you to everyone who came to our #HallamClimateManifesto event this week and to the great speakers from Friends of Loxley Valley and ACORN Sheffield. There was a lot of interesting discussion about better facilitating active travel, ensuring equitable access to green space and creating a zero carbon city.
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• Earlier in the month the Government announced their policy priorities for the year ahead in the Queen’s speech. Along with my Labour colleagues, I have been holding them to account over their undemocratic plans to introduce Voter ID, their failure to address the crisis in our social care system, and the lack of legislation to help address the unemployment crisis. I also signed this letter calling on the Government to introduce the climate and ecological emergency bill into their policy agenda – unsurprisingly the Government brought forward no legislation to tackle the climate emergency.
• This week the Environment Bill returned to Parliament. As it stands the Bill is not fit for purpose and will fail to tackle the climate and ecological crisis we are facing. Labour tabled five amendments to the bill to improve the worst aspects. I was particularly proud to sponsor an amendment calling on the Government to ban the burning of all upland peat, a campaign I have been pushing for since I was elected. Sadly the Government refused to adopt these amendments. I will be working with my colleagues on the Shadow Environment team to continue to press them over the flaws in the bill.
• I signed a Parliamentary motion calling for the removal of barriers which cause migrants to become undocumented and the introduction of new routes to regularisation.
• I also spoke to the Guardian about the UK’s furlough scheme. When companies are taking large chunks of public money, questions have to be asked about why big bonuses seem to be paid. You can read the full article here.
• On ME/CFS awareness day I recognised the millions of people worldwide – including ~250,000 people in the UK – who suffer from ME/CFS and other chronic immunological/neurological illnesses, and committed to continue to push for more research into this poorly understood condition.
• I have tabled a Parliamentary Motion calling on the Government to recognise the efforts of social care staff through specific funding to provide mental health support for this group, and provide an urgent fair and long-term funding settlement.
• I attended an insightful and moving round table with Epilepsy Society, discussing the urgent need for more funding into research for Antiepileptic drugs in pregnancy.
• I also spoke during the debate on the Government’s Obesity Strategy . Whilst I support many aspects of the strategy, I urged the Government to rethink their policy of calories on menus. Constituents have raised their concerns about this directly and I worry that without more thought this will bring huge challenges to those suffering or at risk of developing eating disorders.
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Please take five minutes to submit your thoughts to Labour’s Rural England Policy Review. It doesn’t take long and you don’t need to be an expert! We must reverse the years of Tory austerity and neglect, which has damaged so many of our rural communities.
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After a constituent got in touch to tell me about their work, I met with Refugee Tales, who call for an end to indefinite immigration detention in the UK through sharing the stories of people who have experienced detention. I am really looking forward to working with them on their Walking Inquiry! You can get involved below:
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I attended the Epilepsy Society #SafeMumSafeBaby roundtable this month. There were some really powerful personal stories from women with epilepsy, including Lauren who lives in the constituency. Please get involved in the campaign and sign their petition calling for more research funding for safer epilepsy drugs.
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2nd June: A Festival of Debate are holding an event on the intersections between Disability and gender-based violence.
3rd June: The Neighbourhood Democracy Movement, hosted by the Centre for Welfare Reform, will be exploring new forms of local democracy that have emerged as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
9th June: Sheffield Creative Guild are holding a workshop for arts practitioners who want to develop or refresh their community engagement skills.
10th June: Don’t miss our next #HallamClimateManifesto event on the 10th June! We will be joined by Sheffield Renewables, Power for People and Joe Cullinane, Leader of North Ayrshire Council, to discuss how we can build a clean, green energy revolution in our city and across the country to tackle the climate emergency. You can sign up here.
12th June: St John’s Church in Sheffield will be providing a space to reflect on the climate and nature crises in the lead up to COP26.
23rd June: In partnership with Groundwork, the People’s Powerhouse are bringing Northerners together to decide what a greener, fairer future of the North should look like.
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Thank you for reading my newsletter. If you would like to share it with your neighbours or friends in Hallam, you can share the sign up link with them here.
As always, please get in touch if there are issues you would like me to raise or campaigns you would like me to get involved with!
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