On Wednesday I asked the Prime Minister a question on the latest scandal from this rotten Government – that of s**t coming through our taps.
This Government expects us to literally swallow their crap – 14 long years of consecutive Conservative governments have destroyed so much to the extent that in 21st century Britain, our water is no longer safe to drink.
I asked constituents what they thought I should ask the Prime Minister and the response was overwhelming – from protecting our greenbelt to the crisis in Housing, the NHS, Waspi women, the Post Office Scandal, the Infected Blood Scandal to inflation – the one thing they all have in common – they were crisis caused by the Tories, crisis then ignored by the Tories, crisis made worse by cover-ups and gaslighting from this Government.
Just hours before he finally called an election he was still attempting to gaslight the country into pretending nothing is wrong.
As this paper went to print, Sunak called a General Election for July 4 – and it’s about time too. We need a Labour Government that will fix the mess the Tories have made.
As with all the crisis – the water crisis is Tory made, it is the Tories that weakened regulation letting companies stop investing in infrastructure – it was the Tories that let water companies illegally pump raw sewage into our rivers lakes and seas and it is the Tories letting companies raise our bills by up to 91%.
Of course whatever I asked would have got a response full of bluster and that’s exactly what happened – my question highlighted the problems with dumping untreated sewage in our rivers but also that disgustingly even treated sewage which is continuously discharged into rivers and seas contains faecal matter.
So I asked why the Prime Minister is allowing these companies to destroy our waterways and make obscene levels of profit whilst making people ill?”
The Prime Minister’s response shows how little he cares about people’s lives – attempting to gaslight people into believing this Government is taking action!
It is a disgrace that the Tories allow this environmentally criminal behaviour to continue. Allowing private water bosses to take home 78 billion in dividends – polluting for a profit.
A Labour Government will bring in automatic fines for sewage dumping and mandatory monitoring of sewage outlets, stopping water bosses’ bonuses until they stop dumping sewage into our waterways.
It’s hard to list out who is suffering most from this callous Government – the visuals of pensioners dying in cold homes and children being hungry in school – from cradle to grave our communities are being failed.
Age UK has reported that there were 2.1 million pensioners living in relative poverty in 2022 – 18% of all pensioners. Your elderly neighbours will be living in poverty.
And, for pensioners living in the private rented sector, it’s even higher with one in three living in poverty.
Of course for women pensioners the situation is even worse, the WASPI women’s campaign for women born in the 1950s have been campaigning tirelessly for the justice they so rightly deserve.
Yet they are met with empty promises from Ministers in Parliament, as of March 2024, an estimated 270,000 WASPI women have died without getting justice – in fact a WASPI women dies without justice every 13 minutes – this needs to end.
Yet Rishi Sunak still claims to be delivering for pensioners… whilst the Prime Minister, along with his wife, has an estimated net worth of £529million, more than one million pensioners are reported to have no savings at all.
The North East, once again, is being hit harder than most with nearly a thousand individuals dying before receiving their state pension in 2022 across Gateshead and South Tyneside local authorities.
Comparatively, there were just five in the City of London.
This is a disgusting injustice.
And it isn’t a coincidence, this is the result of the Government’s deliberate negligence and managed decline of the country and particularly the North East.
A staggering 28.5% of my Jarrow constituents are living in fuel poverty, with many more struggling to meet day-to-day costs.
6,000 kids in Jarrow were living in food poverty last year – enough kids to fill 200 classrooms.
7.5 Million people on NHS Waiting lists.
We now have some hope with a General Election – a hope for a Labour Government
A Labour Government that will fix the inequalities that 14 years of Tory Governments have created not just for Jarrow but for the North East and the entire country.
A Labour Government that will be for working people, for families, for pensioners and for women and equalities.
A Labour Government that will protect the Pension Triple Lock.
A Labour Government is what my constituents, and the entire country, need and deserve.
