This week another life was taken as a result of a road traffic collision in Royton. Another family has been left devastated, and my thoughts are with them.

Our borough saw 8 people killed in 2024, that’s the highest number in a decade and of those 6 were pedestrians. There were more pedestrians killed in that single year than the previous three years combined, including children simply walking on the pavement.

None of us want to worry that our children going out to school or to meet friends might not come home, or a partner simply going to the supermarket not to return.

This is a public health emergency, and though I welcome hotspot police operations, the truth is we need more patrols on the streets every day.

There is a problem in Oldham we have to address, dangerous driving is contributing to the needless loss of life and serious injury. The data shows that the borough has 11 fatal incidents per billion miles travelled, that’s the highest in the North West of any other town or city, and it sits in 8th highest in the whole of England. The borough seen 45 lives lost on the roads and pavements over the past decade to 2024 and seen 737 serious injuries in the same period.

I will continue to press Greater Manchester Police for routine enforcement, and I’ve asked for a debate in government time on traffic policing and reducing deaths by dangerous driving.

As Ramadan draws to a close, I’d like to wish all Muslim constituents across Oldham West, Chadderton & Royton a prosperous & peaceful Eid-al-Fitr.

Local parks, lanes and country parks are being used as dumping grounds by rogue developers, landlords and dodgy waste firms. New proposals announced by this Labour government can’t come quick enough:

20 hours of community service for fly-tippers to pick up their own rubbish

Fines of up to £300

Courts given powers to punish illegal dumping by adding penalty points to criminals’ licences

Potential to be banned from driving

This new crackdown on waste criminals to tackle the scourge of fly-tipping is important. What they do is selfish and ruins the quality of life for local people, not to mention the cost to taxpayers for clearing it up.

That’s why our local Don’t Trash Oldham campaign was relaunched in November. It is more than just a tidy-up, it’s deep cleaning, rapid fly-tipping removal and a zero-tolerance approach, street by street across Oldham.

Werneth, Medlock Vale, Coldhurst, Hollinwood, and Chadderton have already seen major progress, with teams working alongside residents to tackle the root causes and create a culture change to rebuild pride in our neighbourhoods.

Since November, community support has grown and credit goes to the Labour Council for backing this work with real action, and this is just the start with it being rolled out to Royton & other areas across the borough in the weeks & months ahead.

We want to send the message locally & nationally that if you dump rubbish on our streets, you will be caught, join a clean-up squad and pick up the bill.

It was a pleasure to meet with Ukrainian MPs visiting the Parliament this week with the Inter-Parliamentary Association as part of their delegation to the UK, many of whom we met during our cross party delegation to Kyiv a few weeks ago.

President Zelenskyy was also in Parliament to address MPs and Lords at the invitation of the speakers, and in Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister.

Yesterday’s new UK–Ukraine defence agreement – a new world-leading partnership to boost global defensive capability and our national security sends a clear message that we stand with Ukraine, not just in words, but in action. Our friends in Ukraine have had to build new skills in realtime on the battlefield, and they’ve paid the price in the loss of life, injury and displacement of over 8 million citizens internally and beyond its own borders.

I saw that strength first-hand when I visited Ukraine last month with colleagues, marking four years since Putin’s illegal full scale invasion. The reality on the ground stays with you.

I hope they got a lot from their time in parliament. Slava Ukraini.

Yesterday the Labour government boosted apprenticeships with £3k Youth Jobs Grant for employers who take on a young person unemployed for 6 months; and a £2k bonus for small and medium sized businesses taking on a young apprentice. An extension of long term unemployed jobs guarantee to 22-24 year-olds was also announced.

𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔, 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.

I left school at 16 and started my career as an apprentice, my sons the same, so I know the difference they can make.

But we’ve got to make apprenticeships work for young people leaving school. That isn’t happening and it’s contributing to the rate of young people not in education, work or training, something I’ve been campaigning on.

Why? Well given that young people leave school after their exams you’d expect most apprenticeships to quickly follow, they don’t. As it stands only about 16% of the nearly 100,000 vacancies were advertised when school leavers actually need them, from exams to the summer holiday.

Instead, the biggest peaks come in January and February, six months later! That mismatch just doesn’t make sense. We’re asking young people to be ready for work, but the opportunities aren’t ready for them.

𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈.

Around 1,600 people in Oldham West, Chadderton & Royton started an apprenticeships last year, and it will give most the pathway to a rewarding career building confidence, skills and experience.

Wishing all in the Irish community across Oldham West, Chadderton & Royton and the 70 million people around the world of Irish descent a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day.

𝘔𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰́ – 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨

It’s been another full-on week in Westminster, covering everything from supporting workers & families to protecting our communities, strengthening democracy, and backing co-operative farmers, all while keeping an eye on the big challenges facing the country abroad.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀

I raised an Oral Question to the Chancellor asking HMRC to refresh mileage rates for workers using their own cars for work. The Chancellor confirmed a review is under consideration ahead of the next Budget, a big step forward in our campaign to end this injustice.

𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗮𝘄

Parliament passed legislation abolishing hereditary peers, another manifesto pledge delivered while we modernise our democracy.

𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿

Members voted on measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that will expand access to free school meals and help lift around 100,000 more children out of poverty.

𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁

During the votes, Parliament also backed flexible powers for ministers while the Government’s consultation continues on a possible social media ban for under-16s.

𝗧𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶-𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗺 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆

The Government set out a definition of anti-Muslim hostility to help strengthen action against discrimination and hate crime. Almost half of all religious hate crimes target Muslims, and numbers are at a record high.

𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼-𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁

I pressed the Leader of the House to make time for a debate on strengthening agricultural co-operatives. Food security is national security, and co-ops have a huge role to play in building stronger supply chains.

𝗡𝗛𝗦 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲𝘀

Some encouraging news: waiting lists fell by 43,000 in January, down 374,000 over 18 months. Ambulance response times for heart attacks & strokes are now the fastest in five years, and A&E waits the shortest for four years, despite a hugely demanding winter.

𝗖𝗼-𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆

As Chair of the Co-operative Party, it was great to catch up with colleagues at the Parliamentary Group to keep pushing the case for co-operation and community empowerment across our economy.

Heading back home now to Oldham for the weekend to reconnect with the community, and keep listening to the people who matter most – local residents in Oldham West, Chadderton & Royton.