Statement on UNRWA

Many constituents have made representations on the conflict in the Middle East and the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza as the issue continues to be grave for so many civilians including innocent children.

The news that the Israeli Knesset has voted to effectively ban the UNWRA from administering aid into Gaza is deeply troubling and sets a dangerous precedent. It opposes the UN Charter and will put more lives needlessly in danger.

Israel must allow the safe and free passage of aid into Gaza to stop more innocents needlessly dying in this conflict. This decision should be reversed immediately; there is no alternative to the UNWRA when it comes to the scale and pace of delivery of aid they can provide.

The last Labour government restored funding to the UNWRA, they provide essential and life saving humanitarian aid and basic services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and throughout the region. With this work being barred from taking place, many more lives could be lost in the aftermath without the support the UNWRA provides.

The move jeopardises the entire international effort for a ceasefire, to save lives and get the hostages out of Gaza safely.

We stand with our international allies in urging the Israeli Government to reverse this decision in the name of saving lives and finding a resolution to this conflict.

£500 million more to fix local roads

We pledged in our manifesto to fix a million more potholes a year, this announcement of £500 million will mean we will exceed that commitment.

Potholes on Britain’s roads are a sign of the decline we suffered under the Tories. But Labour’s changes will rebuild and modernise our country’s transport infrastructure.

Doing so will ease the cost-of-living, increase efficiency for businesses, and deliver on my priority of decent homes for the people of Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton more widely by improving neighbourhood streets.

What the Budget Means for You

Today we prioritised making the right decisions for working people.

This is what the Budget will mean for Britain and for you👇

✅ No increase on National Insurance, VAT, or Income Tax

✅ No return to austerity

✅ National living wage increase of 6.7% rising to £12.21 per hour

✅ Compensation schemes for victims of the infected blood and post office horizon scandals

✅ Funding to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ Day

✅ Households on the lowest incomes benefitting the most from policy decisions

✅ £1bn for the Household Support Fund

✅ £3.4bn for the Warm Homes Plan

✅ Biggest increase to the Carers Allowance since its creation in 1976

✅ 2 million extra NHS operations, scans, and appointments every year

✅ £1.4bn to rebuild 500 schools

✅ £30m for free breakfast clubs

✅ Significant investment into our railways and bus networks

✅ £500m to fix local roads and fill in potholes

✅ Investing up to £2.3bn in prison expansion

✅ Cheaper pints in pubs

✅ The largest settlements in the history of devolution

Stability over chaos.

Budget 2024

Today’s budget is the first step in rebuilding Britain and achieving economic stability after 14 years of Tory chaos. We have made our ambition clear: fix the foundations, invest in our future, and deliver on the promise of change.

We can’t underestimate the scale of Tory chaos; an NHS on its knees with record waiting times, schools falling apart meaning children missing out on the greatest start in life, and councils neglected with no funding or support.

This budget turns the page on chaos.

🌹 Investment into our NHS with the largest funding increase since 2010, a £22.6bn increase in day-to-day spending, and the delivery of 2 million extra operations, scans, and appointments every year.

🌹 £1.4bn to rebuild 500 schools, £30m to provide free breakfast clubs, and a £1bn uplift in funding for SEND provision.

🌹 Uplift and support to every council so that they can provide the essential services that we all rely on.

A Labour Government promised change. Today we are delivering it.

GB Energy will drive-up living standards and create good jobs for local people

I prioritised good jobs for local people at the election, and the GB Energy Bill, which has its third reading today in Commons, is one way in which we are delivering more decent and well-paid jobs.

It will create a new publicly owned, clean power company to lower bills and drive-up living standards for people in Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton – which is vital because despite the fact energy bills are now coming down, they are still roughly 42% higher than before the Tory cost-of-living crisis.

We are changing Britain. We are turning away from 14 years of chaos and decline; and turning towards the lowest inflation in over 3 years, £24 billion of private investment being secured for clean energy projects, £22 billion being invested in carbon capture in our northern industrial heartlands.

Our decade of national renewal is well underway.

Answering Parliamentary Questions as Minister

With multi-year funding settlements and the ending of wasteful bidding processes, our Labour government is creating the structures to put councils like Oldham across the country on a sure financial footing for the long-term.

Children’s services both fall below standards people rightly expect while also increasingly are driving the funding pressures councils are facing across the country.

In Oldham, there has been a borough-wide increase in demand for children services of 50% with 500-600 referrals each week. I commend the work done locally to achieve a “Good” Ofsted judgement across all areas of its Children’s Services in Oldham, but councils like Oldham of all stripes across the country are all in desperate need of support.

It’s not for communities to navigate a broken system, instead we need to re-wire the state so that it works for people. The Labour government knows this and we are working hard to address the problems we have inherited.

LGA Conference 2024

Fantastic few days in Harrogate at the 2024 LGA Conference setting out the government’s ambitious plans for local government.

Local councils are at the heart of the government’s vision and a genuine partnership between them and central government is vital to delivering better outcomes for communities like Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton across our country.