Articles

We stand with Barcelona. How many more times will we have to mourn the loss of innocent lives? People enjoying a visit to an iconic cultural spot, the youngest life lost – a 7 year old.

My emergency debate in the last week of the Parliamentary term was a polite parliamentary request to grant the Opposition a chance to hold the government to account on their policies.

One of the benefits of the general election campaign was that I was able to meet many more parents of schoolchildren in my constituency when out campaigning on days when I would usually be working in the House of Commons. A big topic of discussion was school funding. The Conservative government was and still is planning on making huge cuts to the funding of schools in Walsall. For example Moorcroft Wood Primary School will lose funding that amounts to a cut of £514 per pupil or the equivalent of losing 3 teachers.

Much has happened since I last wrote this column in April with our country suffering murderous terrorist attacks, and last week the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy. We witnessed exemplary responses from our emergency services, local communities and those caught up in these events. Our thoughts and prayers remain with those bereaved and those recovering from physical and psychological injuries.

We live in a free, democratic society which is something we take for granted. Yet the events of last Wednesday remind us sharply that we sometimes have to defend these values against attack. The cost can be high – PC Keith Palmer losing his life in the act of protecting Parliament and all of us who represent you there, and all the staff who work there. We mourn too Aysha Frade, Kurt Cochran and Leslie Rhodes who were killed whilst crossing Westminster Bridge.