It seems every aspect of our lives has changed in some way, particularly the things we often take for granted.

From going to school, to having a medical appointment, from the weekly shop, to using public transport, the coronavirus pandemic means that the past 12 months will be one which we will never forget.

The pandemic has gone to reiterate what all of us already knew. That our public sector workers make a unique contribution to the running of our country, and are there for us even in the most challenging of times.

Last Saturday I visited the brilliant team at The Glen Covid Vaccine Centre in Hebburn, to see for myself the well-organised and friendly way that the vaccinations are being carried out.

I can’t speak highly enough about those on the frontline who are keeping our country running, from everyone in our NHS and Social Care staff to the Emergency Services, Shop and Postal Workers, Police Officers, Teachers, Supermarket staff, and many more. Each and every one of those workers deserve our thanks and our gratitude.

The past year has thrown up some true heroes who have kept our communities working and kept it moving during these tough times.

Right now, food bank volunteers are on the front-line helping families during the pandemic, working around the clock to deliver food parcels to local people and their families who are in desperate need of help.

People have really gone above and beyond to support each other during these exceptionally challenging times.

Of course, in this day and age food banks should not be needed. However, I can’t praise highly enough the selfless people who work, and generously donate to our foodbanks across the Boroughs. People such as Jo Durkin and Angie Comerford from one of our wonderful local food banks, Hebburn Helps, Tracy Beaton at Bede’s Helping Hands at the Former Primrose Library in Glasgow Road, and the volunteers at Boldon Community Association, Gateshead Foodbank, Key 2 Life, and Hospitality and Hope, who regularly deliver food parcels in this area to ensure food is available for those who help the most.

And there is also Pub Landlord Lee Hughes, from the Red Hackle, and Nico, a local shopkeeper on the Scotch Estate in Jarrow, who have also gone above and beyond through these difficult times to help others.

The examples of these selfless people have shown that community spirit continues to thrive.

It’s truly inspiring that people are helping their neighbours, their friends, and their families, by making such a big difference and bringing a smile to someone’s face.

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has played a part in supporting our communities and will continue to do so in these difficult weeks ahead.

Creating food parcels for vulnerable members of the community, making PPE equipment, and fundraising to support others, are just a small part of many acts of kindness.

As always if you need any assistance from me or my team please contact me at [email protected] or call 0191 466 1509 and I will do everything I can to help.

This Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that there are many things in life that we can’t plan for.

Who would have thought that almost a year ago the world would experience a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, causing so much human suffering and loss of life, dramatically affect our relationships with other people in our communities and our families, and create a new way of living.

The coronavirus pandemic has placed enormous strain on our NHS and robbed individuals and businesses of their livelihoods and we face many more difficult months ahead.

What this pandemic has also showed us is that we need a social security system we can rely on.

We entered the crisis with an inadequate benefit system which has been hit by years of freezes and cuts by this callous government, leaving low-income families struggling to make ends meet.

In March last year, with our social security system unable to keep many families above the breadline, the government were left with little choice but to implement a £20-per-week uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit for a year.

This uplift has been a lifeline to many working families, many of whom are on low pay, or have seen their incomes drop because they have been furloughed.

This would mean over six million low-million families would lose £1,040 from their annual income from April.

This would also create serious financial hardship and pull 500,000 people into poverty, including 200,000 children.

I can remember when the government said at the beginning of the pandemic that they would “put their arms around” us.

But those words will certainly ring hollow when they intend to take £1,000 a year off Britain’s poorest families during the pandemic and that’s why Labour forced a vote in Westminster this week, to highlight this.

I pressed the Chancellor on this issue only last week. It is vital that the Government must change course, and accept that this uplift must be extended but also extend the uplift to all legacy benefits too.

It is inexplicable that the Tories are now apparently ready to take this lifeline away from struggling families.

Almost 9,000 people in the Jarrow constituency will see their household income drop by around £1,040 a year and around half a million more people, including 200,000 children across the country, will be pushed into poverty.

To remove this vital support for struggling families at this difficult time is taking away help from the very people who need this financial help the most.

This is against a backdrop where unemployment is forecast to hit 2.6 million by the middle of the year.​​

Alongside this, support provided by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is set to end after 30 April 2021, likely resulting in further redundancies, increased unemployment and more people needing to claim Universal Credit.

This extra £20 a week does not afford applicants a lavish lifestyle. Instead, it has provided a lifeline to many families who have already seen their already meagre incomes squeezed during the pandemic because they have had to spend more on food, gas and electricity, internet connection, and home schooling. That’s why it must be extended.

The roll-out of the vaccine has given us hope but needlessly and heartlessly cutting family incomes will heap more financial pressure on them.

The government did the right thing last year with the uplift in Universal Credit, however, the level of need has not changed. The pandemic continues to hit us hard, so they must extend this uplift and extend to people on legacy benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support, who haven’t received an equivalent uplift to their benefit awards.

With continued restrictions and the added costs of lockdown it is critical families keep this added support and are told so now, rather than facing weeks of uncertainty ahead.

The MP for Jarrow has come out against proposals for a flyover development after hundreds of constituents signed a petition opposing the project.

South Tyneside Council is weighing up plans to replace two level crossings in Boldon through a separate scheme, which is supported by Network Rail.

The council says ‘Tilesheds Flyover’ proposals are being considered as an alternative to an East Boldon ‘road-over-rail’ bridge development that would see existing half-barriers at Tileshed Lane and Boldon Lane replaced by full ones.

The flyover plans have, however, sparked a considerable backlash among residents and environmentalists.

An online petition that has garnered more than 4,000 signatures overall and several hundred among area residents has prompted a response from Jarrow MP, Kate Osborne, ahead of a council meeting where the petition is due to be discussed.

The council meeting will be held later today.

“I have closely looked into the proposals and I strongly believe that the construction of a bypass and bridge will have a hugely detrimental impact on the environment and the lives of people who reside, travel or work in the area,”

Ms Osborne said.

Just over a month ago, the Green Party opposition councillor, David Francis, requested the plans be considered by the Place Select Committee, one of the council’s scrutiny panels.

Councillors were told then that the proposals had come about as a result of Network Rail’s plans to install full barriers at the site, with the current half-barriers having been considered a “serious risk”.

Campaigners opposed to the scheme argue that the green belt area’s protected features – including its designation as an area of Special Scientific Interest – make the project unworkable.

They point to the borough council’s climate emergency declaration, which the Jarrow MP also highlighted, saying that “these proposals, were they to come to fruition, would completely go against the local authority’s commitment to a carbon neutral future by 2030.”

A council spokesperson previously said no decision has been made and there is a substantial amount of work still to be done, including a full detailed design and environmental assessment of the bridge option.

Should the council’s cabinet decide to progress with the proposed bridge it would also be subject to the planning process.

To find out more, visit: www.southtyneside.gov.uk/btlc

The MP for Jarrow has called for a number of rapid social measures to protect constituents, as lawmakers prepare to vote on yet another lockdown bill.

Kate Osborne recognised the announcement of a third national lockdown since March 2020 was a ‘necessary’ decision, while noting that the Government had lost control of the rate of infections.

Critical care units in London and the South East have been operating at above 100% capacity since the Christmas week.

Ms Osborne echoed certain demands made by the MP for South Shields, Emma Lewell-Buck, who blasted Number 10’s “incompetence” in managing infections over recent months.

“The news of tighter restrictions is disappointing but unfortunately necessary, as the virus is clearly out of control. “Over the festive period, the relaxation of restrictions would not have helped and will have contributed to towards the increasing infection levels.”

The Jarrow MP said

Ms Osborne told The Gazette towards the end of last year that she feared a “tsunami of redundancies” could be on the way in 2021, as the economic hangover from the pandemic begins to kick in across the borough.

She now argues the Government must prioritise disadvantaged schoolchildren and working residents, who have disproportionately borne the brunt of the economic fallout from covid.

Last year, food banks in the borough recorded a huge increase in demand for their emergency services, while predicting unprecedented levels of need in 2021.

The two MPs in South Tyneside have also highlighted the need to make provisions for schoolchildren in the area, as it was revealed last autumn that hundreds of disadvantaged pupils across the borough were denied IT support devices previously pledged by the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.

“We now need adequate support to be put in place for businesses who have to close and people who are forced out of work,” Ms Osborne added.

“IT equipment and broadband should be provided to all those children who need it as they continue to learn at home.

“There also desperately needs to be a significant increase in Statutory Sick Pay to ensure people who fall ill can afford to get through these difficult times with the correct support in place.

“The health, well-being and livelihoods of people should be the priority for this Government.”