This week in Parliament

A great final week down in Westminster as the house rose on Thursday for the Christmas recess. The week began in Oldham with the Sports Town roundtable at Boundary Park before heading to the station. Parliamentary activity began with a Westminster Hall ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ข๐—ป๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜† ๐—”๐—ฐ๐˜, where I pressed the Government to makeContinue reading “This week in Parliament”

BIG NEWS: Landmark moment as biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation becomes law

Labour promised a new deal for working people, and we have now officially delivered it: Exploitative zero-hour contracts – ๐—•๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ Fire-and-rehire – ๐—˜๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ More day-one rights – ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น A genuine living wage – ๐——๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ Statutory sick pay – ๐—˜๐˜…๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ to 1.3 million of the lowest earners Labour’s landmark Employment Rights Act will todayContinue reading “BIG NEWS: Landmark moment as biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation becomes law”

A better deal for Oldham’s local services

Council funding matters because itโ€™s about the services people rely on every day, and there is no doubt the 14 lost years under the previous government took it’s toll on the very services which make places decent. As a former Minister in charge of council funding, Iโ€™ve seen first-hand how decisions made in Westminster landContinue reading “A better deal for Oldham’s local services”

The Online Safety Act does not go far enough in protecting people online – more needs to be done

Social media was meant to be a movement of the people; a way for us to connect, organise and be heard. That potential is still there. But letโ€™s be honest: itโ€™s been deliberately designed not for the public good, and too often it puts profit before people. The Online Safety Act is a step forward,Continue reading “The Online Safety Act does not go far enough in protecting people online – more needs to be done”

Oldham SportsTown Roundtable at Boundary Park

Great to be up in the Oldham Events Centre in the Joe Royle Stand at Boundary Park yesterday for a really positive roundtable discussion about the next steps for the SportsTown project. This is a project we have supported & championed for a long time and its impact is clear by the wider ranging andContinue reading “Oldham SportsTown Roundtable at Boundary Park”

We promised to take action to end the housing crisis & rebuild our infrastructure – we have delivered

Oldham has ๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฏ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜€๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป, too many families priced out of the community they call home, trains running on Victorian rails, and barriers holding back the new schools, hospitals, GP surgeries and police posts we need. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† – ๐—ถ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. Thatโ€™s why weโ€™ve pushedContinue reading “We promised to take action to end the housing crisis & rebuild our infrastructure – we have delivered”