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Dear *|FNAME|*

What’s the purpose of Government’s first Bill in the new session of Parliament? Helping people with sky-high energy bills? Tackling the climate crisis? Ending chronic NHS staff shortages? Of course not. It’s another piece of authoritarian anti-protest legislation to make it harder for people to protest against them for failing to tackle any of these things.

From the Abolitionists to the Suffragettes and the Chartists, our country’s rich tradition of dissent paved the pathway for the rights and freedoms we all enjoy today. This Bill comes hot on the heels of the Policing, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Act. I’ll be campaigning inside and outside Parliament to stop this. I tabled a reasoned amendment to throw this Bill out, which has received cross-party support from Labour MPs along with Plaid Cymru, the SNP and the Greens.

In Parliament

We Need Action on the Cost of Living Crisis

In this week’s Tory budgeting tips, the Government told people struggling to afford the basics that they should “take more hours or move to a better job”. A ridiculous comment coming from the party of zero-hours contracts, stagnant wages and benefit cuts. Labour gave the Government a chance to help people instead of lecturing them this week, proposing an emergency budget and a windfall tax on the North Sea oil and gas companies making millions of everyone else’s misery. But the Government voted these both down, leaving all but a tiny minority of shareholders high and dry.

The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh – Urgent Question

Last week, Al Jazeera reported that their journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper whilst covering an IDF raid on a refugee camp in the illegally occupied West Bank. She was wearing a flak jacket with “Press” written on it. Her producer was also shot in the back. In this week’s Urgent Question on Shireen’s murder and the attacks on her pallbearers and mourners as they tried to lay her to rest, I made two points. Firstly, that Palestinians are being denied dignity even in death. Secondly, that the Government’s failure to recognise Palestine and treat Palestinians as an equal party in the peace process is a massive stumbling block. How can they say they want a two-state solution whilst refusing to recognise one of the states involved?

New Vision 4 Women Empowerment Workshop

It was a pleasure to welcome New Vision 4 Women and Amazing Women Global to Parliament to deliver an empowerment workshop this week. Founded by my constituent Nighat Khan, New Vision 4 Women run a range of services to transform the lives of women, helping with everything from family life to employment skills, digital learning, health and civic education. I’m always proud to support them in all they do.

Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day

Every year, Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day is observed by Tamil people to remember the tens of thousands who died in the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Our Government has received several significant submissions detailing the human rights abuses inflicted in Sri Lanka but has not acted on them. Labour’s 2019 manifesto promised to work through the UN and the Commonwealth to insist on the protection of human rights for Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil and Muslim populations. I was proud to join Tamils for Labour this week and reiterate my commitment to holding the perpetrators of these atrocities accountable, including through sanctions.

In and around Streatham

Making Streatham Safer

I understand people are really concerned by last week’s shooting on Brixton Hill and the other recent shootings in our area. Making Streatham safer for everyone is an absolute priority for me as your MP. I’ve been in touch with the Borough Commander and will be meeting with the Police and the Council to discuss their plans to keep the community safe over the summer months. As well as responding to incidents of serious violence, we also need a long-term strategy with a laser focus on prevention: a public health approach to violent crime which encompasses everything from early interventions and mental health support to reversing youth service cuts, ending school exclusions and a much greater emphasis on community policing.

Save Streatham’s Station Ticket Offices

Recently amended guidance around changing ticket office opening hours appears to clear the way for train operating companies to close down rail station ticket offices across the country, including all three of Streatham’s station ticket offices. Our station ticket offices are absolutely vital for accessibility and passenger safety. That’s why I’ve launched a petition this week with our Labour Councillor for St Leonard’s, Martin Abrams, to save our station ticket offices. Please sign and share it to protect jobs and keep our stations safe and accessible.

Giving Kids the Best Start in Life

LEAP Lambeth helps give 0-3 year olds in our area the best possible start in life, supporting local families with their children’s nutritional, social, emotional and verbal development. It was great join their annual awards ceremony this week to celebrate the work of local family-oriented organisations and hand out a Unique Innovation Award to local children’s activity group Whippersnappers for their engaging work helping children to express themselves.

Eid Party for Refugees

Thank you to everyone who came along to my Eid Party for local refugee families last weekend but particularly to New Vision 4 Women, Ash Shahada Housing Association, and all those who painted faces, contributed gifts, prepared food and helped to put a smile on everyone’s faces. With the Government’s ongoing attack on refugees, it’s always good to remember that these aren’t the values of our welcoming community.

Dementia Action Week

It was great to round off Dementia Action week with a with a team dementia awareness session in the constituency office, kindly facilitated by Alzheimer’s Society. Every year, the Alzheimer’s Society works with individuals and organisations across the UK to encourage people to ‘act on dementia’ and make communities more dementia-friendly.

Catching up with Local Nurses

This week I also met with the Royal College of Nurses to hear about the realities of nursing in South London. Our NHS staff are doing an incredible job under incredible strain. There’s a Brexit-shaped hole in our NHS, with EU recruitment down 90% since the referendum result. NHS England has nearly 40,000 unfilled nursing posts, with the number of nurses leaving our NHS hitting a four-year high this week. With so many nurses facing burnout, it’s clear we need a long-term workforce plan, safe staffing levels, better mental health support and a proper pay rise for NHS workers.

As ever, if you have any questions about the work I’m doing as MP, please get in touch at this address: bell.ribeiroaddy.mp@parliament.uk.

Best wishes,

Bell Ribeiro-Addy,
Labour MP for Streatham

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