How the Budget will create A Safe Place

Local shops are at the centre of our community. It has been horrific, therefore, to see the increase in retail crime over the past few years. Not only does this put shop-workers at risk, but it also threatens the very heart of our community.

USDAW found that 70% of retail workers have experienced verbal abuse at work, 46% have been threatened by a customer and 18% have been physically assaulted. Shoplifting also hit record highs last year with 50 offences being recorded every hour.

I committed at the general election to make Oldham West, Chadderton & Royton a safe place to live. This can’t happen when our highstreets are polluted with crime, antisocial behaviour, and abuse to workers.

No one should be in fear at work. I have long campaigned, as the Chair of the Cooperative Party, for and alongside retail workers to ensure the strongest potential protections to make our highstreets a safe place to work and to live.

I am proud that we have committed to steps in the budget to end retail crime once and for all. By scrapping the effective immunity for low-value shoplifting and providing additional funding for training to prevent shoplifting, we shall hopefully see a dramatic decrease in retail crime and a return to safe highstreets.

This government is proactive in tackling retail crime, reclaiming our highstreets, and protecting our communities.

How the Budget will deliver more Decent Homes

This Labour Government is committed to the biggest increase in affordable housing in a generation, and at this Budget we’ve taken our first steps to achieving that.

We’ve inherited the most acute housing crisis in living memory; 150,000 children living in temporary accommodation and nearly 1.3 million households on social housing waiting lists. Despite this, the previous Government handed nearly £2bn in grant funding for homes back to the Treasury, showing their complete disregard for people in desperate need of a decent home.

This harsh reality is not lost on Oldham. We currently have 7228 households on the social housing register, with 793 children living in temporary accommodation.

Oldham Councils Housing Options Front Door at the Civic centre, providing vital housing support, currently averages 100 residents a day showing how deeply the housing crisis is felt in Oldham.

Housing services can not confront the crisis through underfunding, undersupply, and a lack of support from the government. This government promised change, and our Budget has shown we will deliver on that.

The Chancellor has set out that we will make an immediate injection of £500m of additional capital into the current Affordable Homes Programme for next year. This will support up to 5,000 new social and affordable homes and takes overall investment in housing supply for next year to over £5bn.

This Labour Government is kickstarting the biggest boost to social and affordable housebuilding in a generation – protecting stock, building more homes, and providing certainty and stability for providers.

At the general election I pledged to you that my priority is for everyone in Oldham West, Chadderton & Royton to have access to a decent home. We now have a government also committed to this goal, and as your MP, I will work with the council to turn the page on Oldham’s housing crisis.

Oldham Winter Cost-of-Living Support

As we approach the colder months, I know households in Oldham will really feel the effect of the cost-of-living crisis. 14 years of Tory economic mismanagement, slashing of public services, and austerity has made it harder than ever for lower income households to make ends meet.

Change has begun under the Labour Government, but this won’t happen overnight. That is why I want to echo Cllr Arooj Shah; ‘We have a simple message to everyone in Oldham this winter: do not go cold or hungry. Anyone who needs help will receive it.’

This week’s budget prioritised the lowest income households, with policy decisions directed at benefitting them the most. For instance, the extension of the Household Support Fund with the commitment of £1bn new funding will help councils to support those in need with the cost of essentials like food, energy, and water. There is also the Warm Homes discount currently available with an additional payment of £150 for low-income households.

Specific to Oldham, it is great news that the Council has secured a support package worth nearly £2.5m to be able to provide payments to people who can’t afford to heat their homes, food vouchers to families who have children eligible for free school meals over Christmas, and local community groups will be given resources to help people.

I know many constituents are also worried about losing the winter fuel payment. Firstly, I would urge all pensioners in Oldham to check if they are entitled to pension credit and the winter fuel payment. 3,200 people in Oldham alone are not claiming what they are currently entitled to meaning there is as much as £7.8m still waiting to be distributed. Secondly, if you are just above the threshold and are worried about the cost-of-living this winter, don’t hesitate to contact my office or the council for assistance.

Support is available, please use it and get in touch if you are struggling in any way.

How the Budget will provide more Good Jobs

The Budget has been about tough decisions, but also about Labour choices, Labour values, and the Labour ambition to protect working people. We have kept our manifesto commitment not to increase income tax, VAT, or employee national insurance. Working people will not fit the bill for the £22bn Tory black hole.

In Oldham we have a higher employment rate than the national average, as well as it being over 2% higher than the rest of the North-West.

The National Living Wage will rise to £12.21 per hour, and there will be a 16.3% wage increase for 18–21-year-olds. More than 7000 people will directly benefit from this in Oldham alone.

My pledge if re-elected was to prioritise good jobs for the people of Oldham West, Chadderton & Royton. A key step to making this happen is by ensuring work pays and people feel the benefit in their pocket.

The party of working people, on the side of working people.

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.