The Boundary Commission for England has published its initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries and there is an important opportunity to have your say. You can find out more here: BCE Consultation Portal (bcereviews.org.uk)

What is the Boundary Commission for England and what does it do?

The Boundary Commission for England is an independent body established by Parliament to review Parliamentary constituency boundaries periodically.  The main purpose of the review is to even out the number of electors living in each constituency in England so that each MP represents similar numbers of residents.

This review is long overdue, as a result of a plan by the Government to reduce the overall number of constituencies which was abandoned at the last stage before implementation.  The review needs to happen, and the new constituencies will be implemented in July 2023.  General elections held after this date will be held with the new constituency boundaries in place.

What do the Boundary Commission’s proposals mean for Dulwich and West Norwood?

The current Boundary Commission proposals are bad for our area.  They abolish the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency, and split our area between four separate new Parliamentary constituencies.  This breaks long-held community ties, would result in several local communities being divided between different Parliamentary constituencies and could reduce the quality of parliamentary representation some communities have in the future.

Specifically, the proposals are as follows:

The Dulwich wards of Dulwich Village, Dulwich Wood, Dulwich Hill and Goose Green would join a new ‘Dulwich and Sydenham’ constituency, the rest of which is in the London Borough of Lewisham.

Herne Hill and Coldharbour wards would join a new ‘Clapham and Brixton’ constituency.

Thurlow Park ward would join a newly configured Streatham constituency.

Knight’s Hill and Gipsy Hill wards would join a new ‘Norwood’ constituency, the rest of which is in the London Borough of Croydon.

This evening I will be voting against the Tories’ shameful Nationality and Border’s Bill. The bill betrays the UK’s long tradition of welcoming and providing a safe haven to some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Globally, 82.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes and are currently displaced. In this face of this unprecedented refugee crisis, this Tory Government has decided to cut international aid, to close down safe routes for refugees to travel to the UK including the Dubs scheme, and place asylum seekers in appalling, illegal conditions in Napier and Penally Barracks.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has taken the unprecedented step of saying that this Bill ‘…will undermine the 1951 Refugee Convention and international protection system, not only in the UK but globally’.  In this afternoon’s debate, I urged the Minister to withdraw this damaging bill and instead look at ways to support communities to resettle refugees in their area and to reopen safe routes like the Dubs Scheme. You can watch my speech here>>

Since 2013, knife crime has been increasing in every area of the country.  As we emerge from lockdown, we are once again seeing young people being killed and seriously injured on our streets. I have been contacted by many families tragically affected by knife crime and know how anxious many of my constituents are to keep our young people safe this summer. There is fantastic work being done by local organisations, our local councils and the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit to support young people but we need this to be supported by an effective plan and resources from national government.

The government’s Serious Violence Taskforce was set up in 2018 to bring together Ministers, experts and young people to develop a long term strategy to end serious violence and knife crime. The Taskforce has not met since 2019 and the Government refuses to explain why its important work has been abandoned. Instead we have seen paltry, piecemeal funding announcements which just aren’t enough to address the root causes of violence. Earlier this week, I called on the Minister to explain why the Taskforce has been disbanded and to take the action needed to stop knife crime >>

Today I will be voting against the Government’s Health and Care Bill. 

We owe our NHS and social care staff an enormous debt of gratitude for all that they have done during these past 16 months of the Covid-19 pandemic.  They have worked at the frontline of this terrible disease, often putting their own health at risk to provide treatment and care to those in need.  The burden of the Government’s failure to prepare for a pandemic fell on them, as has the impact of more than a decade of austerity.

Our NHS and care staff need more than clapping, they need this government to step up and deliver the resources and investment to fund properly a reformed NHS and care sector, starting with a decent pay rise ensuring that every staff member is paid at least the real living wage.

They need buildings fit for the future of care, not crumbling and leaking relics of yesterday, they need investment in equipment, and they need a credible workforce strategy that helps to deliver the next generations of highly skilled well paid staff to fill the huge gaps in recruitment and problems with retention they have to deal with each week.

Staff need these things so that they can focus on the top priority of bringing waiting times down and delivering the best possible treatment, care and support to everyone who needs it.

But what they categorically don’t need - and no doctor, nurse or carer has ever asked me for - is this Bill. They do not need a Bill which will deliver a top down reorganisation of the NHS, and which bypasses the reform and sustainable funding of social care completely.

I am proud to represent a constituency with a very direct connection to the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush in 1948. Around 200 of the Windrush passengers found temporary accommodation in the Clapham Common deep shelter, and from there came to find work at the Labour Exchange on Coldharbour Lane and settled in the surrounding area working in our NHS, for London Transport, in the rebuilding of post-war London and setting up shops and businesses helping to build the Brixton we know today. On Windrush Day, 22 June, we celebrate the enduring contribution of this remarkable generation.  After 15 months of the coronavirus pandemic, we cannot mark this year’s Windrush Day without remembering the significant role that the Windrush generation played in the founding of our NHS, and the extraordinary service of all those who have come from overseas to serve in our NHS and social care, and who have given so much during this very difficult time.  We owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

Yet, as we mark the contribution of Windrush citizens we must also remember the appalling injustice suffered by the victims of the Windrush Scandal. The Home Secretary has promised to right the wrong of the Scandal, but the Windrush Compensation Scheme is not working. Tragically, 21 victims of the Windrush Scandal have died waiting to receive their compensation.

The Windrush Compensation Scheme must urgently be taken over by an independent body. It is also important that the Windrush Scandal leads to cultural change in our country which must start with listening to the lived experience of Black people, rather than – as the Government has done – denying that structural racism exists.  This morning I led a debate in Parliament to mark Windrush Day 2021. You can see a clip of my speech below >>

The planning system has a vital role to play in our response to the climate emergency and in delivering the homes and infrastructure needed to end the housing crisis. It should be a framework for fairness, ensuring that new development is focused on meeting the needs of local communities and not the profits of developers.

The Tories’ plans to reform the planning system will shut local communities and local councils out of planning decisions and do nothing to deliver the genuinely affordable, zero-carbon homes we desperately need. Yesterday I urged the Government to think again and put the climate emergency and delivering genuinely affordable housing at the heart of planning policy, and people at the heart of the planning process.

At the start of the pandemic, many of my constituents in the East Dulwich and Dulwich Village areas covered by the SE22 postcode area reported that Royal Mail delivery services had become completely unreliable. For months residents were left without a regular service and at times waited weeks between deliveries.  This was not the fault of our posties who worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic as vital frontline workers, often providing the only conversation of the day for residents who were spending lockdown alone.  The problems in SE22 can be traced back to Royal Mail’s disastrous decision to close the SE22 delivery office on Silvester Road without opening a new delivery office in the SE22 area. Royal Mail should never have been privatised, and the sale of sites such as the Silvester Road delivery office to the highest bidder is just one example of how privatisation has failed.

I have raised these issues repeatedly with Royal Mail and with Ofcom, but it is clear that there is a need for stronger regulation to ensure the reliability of Royal Mail services. This includes the need for delivery office closures to be subject to public consultation and requirements for Royal Mail to take on more staff in times of emergency. There is also an urgent need for more transparent monitoring of services. Royal Mail refuses to provide data at a postcode level making it impossible to accurately assess the quality of service. Ultimately, we need an end to the failed privatisation of this vital public service.  You can see part of my recent speech below>>