It was an honour to see the Shikshapatri at the SKS Swaminarayan Temple in Woolwich with Linda Bird, Mayor of Greenwich. I was fascinated to learn about the temples significance in the community, be able to tour the temple and learn more about the scriptures.
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I was pleased to attend the Fireworks Impact Coalition event in Parliament on 12 November to hear firsthand from organisations and individuals about the impact fireworks can have on animals, vulnerable people and communities. I know this is an issue many constituents in Erith and Thamesmead have raised with me, and I take these concerns very seriously.
While the vast majority of people use fireworks safely and responsibly, it is important that we continue to minimise the risk of harm. I therefore welcome the Government’s ongoing work to engage with charities, businesses and consumer groups to examine the current legislation and gather evidence on where improvements may be needed.
I am also encouraged by the Government’s fireworks public safety campaign for this year, which provides clearer public guidance and highlights the risks of misuse. I will follow developments closely, including the progress of the Fireworks Bill, and continue to represent the concerns of my constituents on this issue.
Thank you once again to all those who have raised this issue with me.
In recent years, fly-tipping has skyrocketed by a fifth whilst the number of prosecutions has fallen by the same amount. The failure to punish these criminals has left our high streets, roads and countryside buried under an avalanche of rubbish.
Having campaigned on this issue during my time in opposition, I strongly welcome the new Government’s tough stance on fly-tipping and waste crime. For far too long, under previous Governments, waste criminals and fly-tippers who blight our communities went unpunished undeterred. That ends now.
Councils will now have the power to work with the police to identify, seize, and crush vehicles used by waste criminals. Drones and mobile CCTV cameras will be deployed to track down the cars and vans used by fly-tippers so they can be taken off our streets and destroyed.
Those who operate illegally will face serious consequences – with new legislation introducing prison sentences of up to five years for those caught transporting or dealing with waste unlawfully.
These are strong but necessary steps to clean our streets, both here in Erith and Thamesmead and across Britain as well. I will continue to keep a close eye on how this policy is implemented locally, and I welcome any concerns or suggestions constituents may have as we work together to tackle this important local issue.
Pleased the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs personally addressed this vital issue facing Erith and Thamesmead in the video above.
My Post on Social Media supporting the Government Announcement:
It was important to attend the first meeting of the Flood Resilience Taskforce as Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office. The Taskforce is led by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The task force brings together leaders from local government, the emergency services and local resilience forums to make communities more resilient against flooding.
Last month, I was pleased to visit the Oxleas Goldie Leigh site and officially open the new Woodland Walk. I was very impressed with this new development and excited to hear how it will support the wellbeing of staff, patients and visitors.
It was great to meet with those involved and hear about their vision for the future of Goldie Leigh. I was particularly impressed with the plans for the Health and Wellbeing Centre, which will be an excellent asset to the community.
I was delighted to pop in and see the new defibrillator at Lesnes Abbey Lodge this month. It was great to be invited by Lesnes Abbey Friends to meet them and hear how they raised an incredible £2,000, with support from local organisations, to install this life saving device.
You may be aware that increasing access to and awareness of defibrillators is an issue I’m incredibly passionate about. In July this year, I organised a Westminster Hall debate on this issue and challenged the Government to do more where possible on public access to defibrillators. In the debate, I said:
“Defibrillators represent an incredible technical advance. They are lightweight, easy to use and designed only to help and not harm the patient. The issue is not about their design but their distribution and public awareness of what they are and how to use them.”
It was great therefore to join Lesnes Abbey Friends as they celebrated adding this important device to our community.
I also got the opportunity to join Lesnes Abbey’s first ever Woodland Festival. This event involved a jam-packed day of events and activities and was a great celebration of Lesnes Abbey and Woods.
At the end of May, I visited Nepal with WaterAid UK and the Coalition for Global Prosperity to see the impact of development projects supporting access to clean water.
It was wonderful to be able to visit the beautiful country of Nepal and meet so many people doing life-saving and transformational work. Visiting some of the programmes that WaterAid is undertaking illuminated the extent of the hardship and poverty that so many in Nepal are facing. It also showed the amazing progress that has been made.
Poor access to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) presents some serious challenges to vulnerable communities in Nepal. These include the proliferation of water-borne illness, poor sanitation, and restrictions on the opportunities afforded to citizens.
What I found particularly worrying was that these issues disproportionately affect women and young girls. A lack of sanitation has been related to a disproportionately smaller number of girls attending schools, particularly affecting those on their menstrual cycles.
For instance, only 39% of schools have separate, female-friendly toilets, meaning many young girls are left without a safe space to clean themselves and manage the difficulties associated with menstruation. This can discourage girls from attending school altogether, through fear of judgment, embarrassment and even harassment.
It is therefore great to see the outstanding progress that WaterAid have made with their WASH programmes. Citizens in these areas have experienced vastly improved quality of life, with improved access to safe water, better toilets, and improved hygiene.
Young girls have been offered safe spaces, which has succeeded in breaking down some of the barriers that might stop them from receiving an equal education to their male counterparts. It’s a really promising story that I am keen to see continue.
The Government should end the ban on onshore wind. Removing the onshore wind ban will make Britain a clean air energy superpower and open up new investment and growth opportunities.
Keeping the ban will contribute to energy bills being £16 billion higher between now and 2030. This isn’t sustainable for households who are facing difficult choices in a cost of living crisis.
You can watch my speech using the following link here, and you can read my speech here
Edible Oils Limited (EOL) recently hosted me at the site in Erith where I officially opened the newly renovated bottling facility following an investment programme worth almost £24m. I took a tour of the both the Erith and Belvedere facilities ahead of a ceremony to mark the completion of works.
Abena Oppong-Asare MP said: “It is fantastic to see Edible Oils bring new investment into Erith and Thamesmead with the expansion of the Erith site. It is quite the achievement to have successfully completed this venture during the pandemic. As one of the largest employers in the constituency, the expansion demonstrates their commitment to the area and it is great to see more high-quality local jobs and opportunities for residents.”
Managing Director Mark Church said: “We’re delighted to have completed this investment programme which is a major milestone for the business and reflects several years of hard work by our teams and partners, including of course through the height of the pandemic. The investment has significantly boosted our capability and capacity by bringing 5 litre production in house we have been able to lightweight the bottle and will eliminate around TBC tonnes of plastic every year”
“It has been a pleasure to demonstrate the scale of this investment to Abena and our continued commitment to provide high quality employment opportunities in the area.”
Dozens of constituents have written to me about fur sales in the UK. I strongly believe that we should implement a ban on the import and sale of fur in the UK. This outdated and unnecessary trade should have no place in the UK’s fashion industry.
According to Humane Society International, more than 100 million animals are killed for the global fur trade every year. Animals are treated terribly in the fur trade: farmed animals are kept in small cages for their entire lives and wild animals are caught using cruel leg-hold traps.
I am proud that the UK was the first country to ban fur farming two decades ago. Since then, the EU has also banned the importation of dog, cat and seal fur and this has been retained in UK law after Brexit. However, as many constituents have raised with me, although many retailers now refuse to stock it, fur from other species can still legally be imported and sold in the UK. Consumers may also be misled into buying real fur, believing it to be fake.
I believe we should ban the importation and sale of fur all together and I urge the UK Government to implement such a ban, starting with a public consultation. We should not have a fur trade that relies upon the suffering of animals abroad.
The UK Government says that during the transition period, it is not possible to introduce restrictions relating to the fur trade. It says that once our future relationship with the EU has been established, there will be an opportunity for the Government to consider further steps it could take in relation to fur sales. However, I believe they should offer clarity on their intentions now.
I have asked the following question to seek further clarity about their intentions:
“To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what further restrictions on the fur trade his Department plans to make once the transition period of exiting the European Union is over?”
I will continue to call for a ban on the import and sale of fur to be implemented at the earliest opportunity.
