Reports of IT issues at the Royal Oldham Hospital, which was declared a critical incident, appears to have caused significant disruption and has massively impacted the running of Royal Oldham Hospital
This is of great concern to myself and Debbie Abrahams as MPs for the area and we have therefore written to the chief executive and the chair of the Northern Care Alliance seeking assurances that this is now being resolved and to ensure there are safeguards for the future.
Any constituents have been impacted by these issues at the Royal Oldham Hospital, should ensure the hospital is aware and please do get in touch with myself or Debbie so that we can ensure all issues are resolved as quick as possible.
Further to this, today myself and Debbie Abrahams MP have written to the Chairman of the Conservative Party to raise concerns about the conduct of members of the party in Oldham and their coordination with far-right political activists during the recent local elections.
There is significant concern from longstanding Conservative members, and Councillors, that the local Party has been infiltrated by those who want to mainstream a toxic and divisive political culture.
We cannot and we will not allow this nasty and divisive politics to take over our town, most of us in Oldham just want to get on with making our town a better place whilst others are determined to drag us all down into the gutter with them.
This morning I asked the Secretary of State to make a statement on food price inflation, and I was staggered by his response.
He sounded like a commentator rather than the Minister responsible for food security in this country
The reality for many people in Oldham and up and down the country is: work is no longer a route out of poverty after 12 years of this rotten Government. Too many people are working multiple jobs and still struggling to make ends meet, 68% of people in poverty are in work! Working is not a route out of poverty after 12 years of this rotten Government.
I see it in Oldham, people who are coming for food parcels now are not in temporary crisis, but permanent crisis, in debt! They’re wearing NHS uniforms, coming to collect food parcels to put food on the table.
Let’s look at the public sector you know, bear in mind, the NHS serve 140 million meals a year schools 600 million meals a year, prisons 90 million meals a year those cost inflations have an impact on frontline services as well as household budgets.
And for households, it’s on top of inflation, on top of energy on top of mortgage payments going up on top of petrol and diesel going up and on top of taxes going up.
And what intervention has the Government actually made in practice?
‘Take the bus for a ride for the day to keep warm’.
‘Try and live off 30p a meal’
or, ‘Do you know what, just work that bit harder and you’ll be fine’.
Well the number of working people in poverty is the highest since records began.
Last night I voted for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies to help cut your bills.
It’s shameful that Tory MPs lined up to vote against it. A chance to stand up for working people feeling the pressure blocked by this Government!
And this morning as inflation hits its highest point for 40 years it’s time for some real action from the Government, Labour are calling for an emergency budget and a plan for growth to help end the cost of living crisis.
The rise in inflation is hugely worrying for families up and down the country.
Scary numbers can sometimes be hard to fathom but the reality is people are struggling to afford food and heat their homes. Households on the lowest income will feel the pressure from this rise harder than others.
More and more people are being pushed to crisis; bills can’t be paid, further debt, missing meals, and experiencing huge stress which destroys families.
Labour has a plan to help, now it’s time for the Government to act before things get harder.
Labour to force vote on windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits
Today (Tuesday, 17 May) Labour is urging MPs of all political parties to vote for a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits, as the cost-of-living crisis continues to escalate.
Labour’s amendment will be voted on during the Queen’s Speech debate on Tuesday. Unlike how the Government treats opposition day debates, MPs are required to vote on the amendment.
Labour first called for the windfall tax on 9 January, to fund a VAT cut on home energy bills and expand and increase the Warm Homes Discount, saving families struggling with soaring costs up to £600 off their bills.
Since then, the party has called on the Conservative Government to bring forward this change almost 250 times.
It comes as BP and Shell alone have made £12.37bn of profit in the first three months of 2022 – despite Cabinet ministers describing these companies as “struggling” when defending the Conservatives’ refusal to implement a windfall tax.
Analysis by the Labour Party on Sunday showed the expected profits of North Sea oil and gas firms in 2022/23 are higher than the combined rise in energy bills for every household in the UK.
As well as growing support from the Conservative backbenches, there is also widespread public support for a windfall tax, including senior business figures such as the chairs of Tesco and John Lewis.
Jim McMahon MP said:
“As energy bills for thousands of families in Oldham rise by record amounts, it is shameful that Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak still refuse to back a windfall tax that could help tackle the cost of living crisis.
“Today, Labour will give MPs another chance to support our one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits to bring down bills.
“This fair and principled measure now has support from business, trade unions, across the political spectrum and most importantly, the overwhelming majority of the public.
“Conservative MPs must now join the British people in calling for a windfall tax – or explain why they continue to oppose measures that would ease the cost-of-living crisis.”
Thank you to all who cast 16,071 votes for Labour candidates standing in Oldham West and Royton this week.
The backdrop to the campaign was intense throughout the constituency and I am deeply proud of the hard work, resolve and integrity shown by each of our candidates.
My congratulations to Colin McLaren and Barbara Brownridge who were returned as councillors in Chadderton, to Jean Stretton in Hollinwood, Shoab Akhtar in Werneth and Marie Bashforth in Royton. My warmest welcome to newly elected councillors Sajed Hussain and Umar Nasheen who together now represent Medlock Vale.
Polling station
As the dust settles on a mixed evening count there will be the usual further analysis and response, but for now I want to place on record my thanks to outgoing leader of the council Arooj Shah, Hannah Roberts, and Abdul Malik who were not returned as councillors on the night.
Arooj has been the leader of the council for a year and in a short time began to make the changes local people wanted to see; a cleaner, safer, and greener borough we can be proud of, launching the Don’t Trash Oldham campaign which has begun to make a difference.
I would be failing if I didn’t call out Oldham Conservatives for the way in which they coordinated a disgraceful campaign with Raja Miah, a political activist and former CEO of the Collective Spirit Free School which closed following a series of failures and scandals, who recently featured in Hope Not Hate State of Hate report.
The leaflets question made false allegations that she played a role in the cover up of child abuse and focused heavily on her ethnicity and religion before reminding voters the ward was ‘white majority’, seeding doubt about the character of the Labour candidate. The coordination of this sustained attack, which followed the same pattern which cost the previous leader his seat in nearby Failsworth, clearly had a material impact on the outcome of the election, as shown in the significant canvassing data gathered during the campaign.
The dignity in which Arooj Shah responded speaks to her character; to lose with integrity is better than to win with none.
For all those elected across all parties who acted with honesty, decency, and goodwill; Thank You. To come into public service demands much, but it matters that good people stand up to be counted.
Oldham West and Royton MP and Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Jim McMahon has called out the Government for their failure to address poverty and food security.
After raising the issue with the Secretary of State at DEFRA Questions on Thursday morning in the House of Commons, Jim said, “Britain is besieged by a cost-of-living crisis, tax hikes and rocketing bills are making life harder for working people, 4.7m adults and 2.5m children live in food poverty, with 2.1m food parcels issued last year and 1million people will not eat at all today.”
“And figures from the Trussell Trust show that foodbank usage in Oldham is higher today than it was pre-pandemic, people are going hungry and this shouldn’t be acceptable in modern Britain.”
“The Government know the cost of food will get much higher as farmers grapple with increased costs and govt inflicted labour shortages.”
“Government should convene a summit to address food security, with the food industry, devolved and local government and charities to finally get ahead of this issue, but this government is just out for themselves, out of touch and completely out of ideas.”
Jim McMahon OBE MP 