Labour Leader also calls for emergency meetings with EU leaders and COBRA

Harriet Harman MP calls on Camila Batmanghelidjh to give the London Borough of Southwark the information they need to help vulnerable children and young people affected by the closure of Kids Company.

Harriet Harman MP has today also written to the Cabinet Office to ask the Government to provide the necessary resources for Southwark Council to enable them to support these children and young people.

She thanks the staff of Southwark Council for their hard work in seeking to protect vulnerable children and young people from the impact of the closure of Kids Company.

Notes to editors:

 1. Kids Company was based in Camberwell and supported many of the children and young people in Harriet Harman’s constituency

 2. Full text of the letter to Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster:

Dear Oliver,

Re: Kids Company

Following the closure of Kids Company, Southwark Council has been undertaking a great deal of work to make sure that vulnerable children and young people do not suffer because of the closure.

As you know I am very concerned that Southwark Council has the resources it needs to be able to protect these children and young people.

I am writing now to ask what additional resources are being made available to Southwark Council.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Harriet Harman

Ends

For further information contact Rachel Smethers on 0207 219 2057 or email [email protected]

Tax credits which help families make ends meet are set to be cut by the new Conservative Government.  They announced this in their Budget last month.  We agree that the deficit needs to be brought down but this is absolutely the wrong way to do it and Labour is against it.

Tax credits go to families on low incomes - most of them in work but on low pay.  The Labour government brought them in to tackle in-work poverty, where even though people are working, they don't earn enough to live on.   And Tax Credits "make work pay" by topping-up low pay so that people are better off in work than on benefits.

In Camberwell and Peckham alone 64% of families get Tax Credits.  Even with the National Minimum Wage those families need the tax credits to make ends meet.  The Government is going to put the Minimum Wage up - and that's a good thing.   But the cuts in the Tax Credits are much bigger than the increase in the Minimum Wage and so around the country 3 million families will be, on average, £1,000 a year worse off.

Of course it's right that employers should increase pay.  But it's wrong for the Government to cut Tax Credits before that happens.

The Conservatives said before the election that they would cut £12billion from the welfare bill.  But they always ducked questions about cutting Tax Credits, inferring that they would be safe.  They said they would not "balance the books on the backs of the poor".  Yet that is exactly what cutting Tax Credits would do. So they have no democratic mandate to do it.

And they plan to do it in an underhand and undemocratic way.  Even though this is a £3.6 billion cut which will effect around 3 million people they plan to sneak it through without proper scrutiny by the House of Commons.  They plan to cut tax credits in a Committee with no more than 15 MPs in a meeting in a room upstairs in the House of Commons lasting no more than 45 minutes.  I’ve written to the Prime Minister saying:

*That it was not in their Manifesto

*That it is a big measure involving 3 million families and £3.6billion

*That it is highly controversial - they say that families will not be worse off because of the increase in the Minimum Wage but we, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies dispute that, and so it should first be scrutinised by the all-party Select Committee for the Department of Work and Pensions and if the Government then intend to go ahead with it they should put it in a Bill that will be scrutinised by the whole House of Commons and the House of Lords before it becomes law.

It is shameful that the Government is planning to sneak this controversial and harsh measure through without proper scrutiny at the same time as they are cutting tax for millionaires.  We are determined to campaign against this and make it our task, as Opposition, to seek to prevent them.

Responding to reports that local charity ‘Kids Company’ may close, Harriet Harman MP for Camberwell and Peckham today said:

“Kids Company work with some of the most deprived and vulnerable children and young people in South London, and in other parts of the country.

“Whatever happens to Kids Company, these children and young people must be protected and supported. Such vulnerable young people must not suffer as result of the breakdown of government confidence in Kids Company.

“The Government must ensure that local authorities and voluntary organisations have the resources they need to make sure that the children and young people who are being supported by Kids Company will not be without that support if the charity closes.

“The Government must publish a full report showing what funding decisions they have made in regard to Kids Company, and on what basis”.

On Friday 31^st July I signed ONE’s ‘Just Say Yes’ campaign pledge to help end extreme poverty.

The pledge reads:

‘I believe the UK must keep its promises to the world’s poorest people. Throughout the next Parliament, I will do my part to help end extreme poverty and preventable disease in Africa, with most UK aid focused on countries that have the least, girls and women at the centre of development and all parts of government working together to build a better and safer world.’

You can sign online by adding your details here: http://www.one.org/international/take-action/sign-the-just-say-yes-pledge/

Thanks to Zainab and Ewa for coming to see me at my advice surgery. 

Interim Labour Leader Harriet Harman MP has today written to the Prime Minister to call for compensation from the French government to be paid to Britons affected by the chaos at Calais.

In the letter, she says David Cameron’s government has ignored repeated warnings from Labour and hauliers about the growing crisis at the port.

She writes that it is wrong for UK businesses and families to bear the costs of the situation in Calais and calls for diplomatic pressure to be applied to the French government to seek compensation for hauliers, businesses, self-employed people and holidaymakers caught up in the crisis.

Harriet Harman MP, Labour’s Interim Leader, has written to David Cameron calling on the government to bring forward primary legislation on the substantial planned changes in tax credits.

At the moment tax credit changes costing working families £1,000 a year could be imposed with the scantest possible parliamentary scrutiny, through a Statutory Instrument which will not be debated by the whole House of Commons.

Labour is calling for changes to tax credits to be first examined by the Treasury Select Committee and thereafter included in primary legislation.

The full text of the letter is below

Dear Prime Minister,

You have proposed substantial measures to cut tax credit work allowances which the IFS say will cost 3 million families an average of £1,000 a year each – a total cut of £3.4 billion.

The cuts in tax credits of £3.4 billion were not in your manifesto. During the election campaign you gave no indication that your government had plans to do this. Indeed on 30 April 2015, in response to a question on whether you would cut Child Tax Credit, you said: “No I don’t want to do that”.

This is a controversial measure. You assert that working people will be compensated for the cuts to tax credits by the increases in the minimum wage. This is contested by the IFS who say that it is “arithmetically impossible”.

It appears that you are proposing to implement your cuts to tax credits with the scantest possible parliamentary scrutiny, through a Statutory Instrument which will not be debated by the whole House of Commons. It will only be considered by a committee of no more than 15 MPs and is likely to be concluded in no more than 45 minutes. It will not be possible to amend it in the House of Lords.

Parliament needs to be able to scrutinise this measure which was not in your manifesto, and is substantial and highly controversial, and which we oppose. These cuts to tax credits hit working families in every constituency, and must not be sneaked through the back door without the chance for MPs to subject them to proper scrutiny.

I am writing to ask you to undertake that this is not implemented by way of a Statutory Instrument. I propose that it is first examined by the Work and Pensions and Treasury Select Committees, who can take evidence on the extent to which the cuts to tax credits will hit working families and the inaccuracy of your claim that those who lose out will be compensated by a higher minimum wage.

Thereafter, if you persist in taking these measures forward, I propose that you do so in primary legislation which can be considered at a Second Reading on the floor of the House of Commons, then in a full Committee Stage, then again by the whole House of Commons at a Report Stage and Third Reading, and then by the House of Lords.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Harriet Harman

You can read my Parliamentary report for July here

Today at Prime Minister’s Questions, I challenged David Cameron over some of the measures in last week’s budget, including his cuts to tax credits which will make millions of working families on low incomes worse off. I also questioned him over changes to party funding and trade unions. There is an issue about big money in politics but it must be dealt with fairly, it must be done on a cross-party basis. It cannot be one rule for the Labour Party but something completely different for the Tories. 

During the last three weeks constituents in Camberwell and Peckham have sent me 543 emails on 66 different policy issues – from the Budget to the future of British bees. Here’s a full breakdown of the issues people have raised.

• Concern at Government plans to cut support for people placed in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), down to the rate paid to people on Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA).

• The need to crack down on tax avoidance

• Condemning Government plans to cut Working Families' Tax Credits

• The one year anniversary of Andargachew Tsege’s detention, a British National in Incommunicado Detention in Ethiopia

• The need to protect the future of Britain’s bees

• In support of the Assisted Dying Bill

• Against the Assisted Dying Bill

• The Climate Coalition’s National Lobby of Parliament on 17^th June

• Call on the Government to invest in early years education and child literacy in the Budget

• Support for the Hunting Ban

• Against the Hunting Ban

• Against Heathrow airport expansion in response to the Howard Davies Airport Commission report on additional airport capacity

• Support for compulsory sex and relationship education in schools

• Against the privatisation of National Gallery security and services

• Against the income threshold requirement of £18,600 for a spouse visa

• Stop the War, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Campaign Against Arms Trade’s report: ‘Arming Apartheid: UK Complicity in Israel's Crimes Against the Palestinian People'

• Support for the ‘Back Off’ Campaign to provide more protection for women using abortion clinics

• Against the potential taxation of Personal Independence Payments

• Supporting Debbie Abrahams MP’s call on the Government to publish the number of people who have died within 6 weeks of having their Employment and Support allowance stopped

• Anti-military action in Syria

• UNICEF campaign to ensure the UK takes a leading international role to end violence against children

• Wateraid’s ‘1858’ sanitation event

• Concern to ensure that disabled people are protected from the Government’s £12 billion welfare cuts

• Concern to ensure that children with sensory loss are protected from the Government’s £12billion welfare cuts

• Concern at food waste and supermarket disposal of edible food

• Against the use of wild animals in circuses

• In favour of more provision of talking therapies in Camberwell and Peckham

• In support of the Rethink Mental Illness campaign to help make mental health funding a priority in communities

• Concern at European Union decision to ask the UK to remove its tax exemption for small scale producers of cider.

• Trident and the Strategic Defence and Security Review

• Make sure the River Thames Garden Bridge is good value for the tax payer

• Improve dog breeding regulation and legislation

• Support Anthony Nolan’s ‘Destination Cure’ Campaign to support research of blood cancer

• Macmillan Cancer Support

• Cancer Research UK’s Parliamentary drop-in event – Wed 8 July

• British Heart Foundation's (BHF) call to maintain science funding in the Budget

• Crisis’ ‘No One Turned Away’ campaign to ensure vulnerable single people can access social homes

• To oppose the Housing Benefit cuts to 18-21 year olds

• The need to do more to help the world’s refugees

• Supporting the introduction of a guardianship law to protect a missing person’s financial and legal affairs

• Protect seals from the impact of the British fishing industry

• Condemning the conflict in South Sudan on South Sudan’s 4^th Anniversary of independence

• Concern at actions of the Nigerian military and their civilian militias in North Nigeria

• Oppose the Anti-Semitic Demonstration in Golders Green on 4th July

• Protect people at Yarlswood Immigration Removal Centre

• Ensure private hire taxis are held to same standards and regulation as black cabs

• Concern at the privatisation of criminal fine and compensation enforcement

• Reduce the amount of antibiotics used on farm animals to help fight the antibiotics resistance crisis

• EU Referendum – Campaigning for the UK to stay in Europe

• Make tackling climate change priority in Government

• Maintain Overseas Development Aid at 0.7%

• Make Shared Ownership Properties more affordable in London

• Ensure Shared Ownership properties are included in the extension of Right to Buy for social housing

• Stop the deportation of Dominicans of Haitian descent from The Dominican Republic

• Stop the deportation of Raja Bachir Khouja

• Support for ZP Dala, a Muslim South African Writer attacked for public praise of Salman Rushdie’s work

• Stop trading Israel’s illegal settlements goods

• Free West Papua Campaign

• The need to resettle more Syrian refugees

• Condemning Saudi Arabia's actions in Yemen

• Provide a comprehensive and mental health service

• Concern for the pregnant woman attacked in Peckham

• The need to take action to minimise noise pollution in South London

• Against fracking in Southwark

• Performers’ Alliance All-Party Parliamentary Group – protect independent music venues from closure due to new residential developments and noise complaints

• Concern at banks’ actions around the world and their impact on global inequality

This morning I held an advice surgery on the Glebe Estate in Camberwell. Thank you to Maureen Moseley and Bev Hayes from the Tenants and Residents Association for helping to organise it and for showing me around the estate along with local councillors Radha Burgess and Ian Wingfield.

Today the Chancellor delivered his budget speech in the House of Commons. It leaves working people worse off and fails the test of building a more productive economy to bring the deficit down. David Cameron and George Osborne’s decision to cut tax credits will hit 3 million working people – completely undermining their argument that this is a Budget for working people. The full text of my response can be found below:

At Prime Minister’s Questions this week I challenged David Cameron his plans to water down the Human Rights Act, the fall in the number of people participating in sport since the Olympics, and his failure to consult on proposals for English votes for English Laws. The full text can be found below:

Harriet Harman MP for Camberwell and Peckham today said:

“There is evidence of the need among children and young people in Southwark for what Kids Company provides.

“They work with some of our most deprived and vulnerable children and young people.

“The Government made a promise to them before the election to fund them. They should keep their promise.

“The Government should work with Camilla Batmanghelidjh who is the founder and inspirational leader”.

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Background

Local charity Kids Company was founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996. They provide practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable children, young people and families from Camberwell and Peckham and across London, Bristol and Liverpool.They reach the most deprived and at risk children whose parents are unable to care for them due to their own practical and emotional challenges.

I gave a speech today at the LGA conference in Harrogate outlining the challenges faced by local authorities, including housing, devolution, diversity, as well as highlighting the important work done by councillors across the country. The full text from the speech is below:

***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

Harriet Harman MP, Acting Leader of the Labour Party, in a speech at the LGA Annual Conference in Harrogate, said:

Today at Prime Minister’s Questions, I raised Britain’s response to the recent terrorist attack in Tunisia. I also challenged David Cameron on the proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport. Cameron gives the impression that there is going to be a proper process, but something very is different coming out of No. 10, because it is briefing that it is not going to happen.

Today following events in Tunisia, where 18 innocent Briton have been murdered and many more seriously injured in the biggest terrorist attack on our citizens since 7/7, I responded to the Prime Minister’s Statement in the House of Commons on this and recent European Council meetings. Below is my response:

Manny Amadi

Vice Chair, The Charter School Educational Trust

c/o The Charter School

Red Post Hill

London SE24 9JH

26^th June 2015

Dear Manny,

Submission to the public consultation on The Charter School East Dulwich

I am responding to the consultation on the plan to build a new secondary school - The Charter School East Dulwich.  

I fully support the plan to build a new secondary school on part of the site of Dulwich Community Hospital. 

I fully support the school being run by The Charter School Educational Trust - The Charter School is rated by Ofsted as an outstanding school and is oversubscribed with more applicants than there are places.

There needs to be full consideration given to, and consultation on, the 'nodal finish point' for admissions because there is a long standing and acute problem with secondary school provision of the quality parents want. And we know that many parents fail to get any of their six choices for secondary school.

It's important that all parents, and other local stakeholders, are given the chance to have their say.

This is about building a great new school to serve the needs of the diverse community by providing an excellent education for its young people, and it has my full support.

Best wishes,

Harriet Harman

Today, in the House of Commons chamber, I challenged David Cameron on the impact on families on their plans to cut tax credits for working people. Cameron says that he is tackling low pay; but he is not, he is attacking the low-paid. I also raised the current migrant crisis in Calais, and asked the Prime Minister what actions he is taking to resolve it.

Every summer Camberwell College of Arts showcase the work of their 3rd year undergraduate students. This is their final show before they graduate and launch their careers into the creative industries. Each year the work is of a consistently high standard and this year was no exception - the students work was amazing. The exhibition is on for the rest of this week at Camberwell College of Art, 45 Peckham Road – you can visit anytime between 10am and 8pm, culminating in an open house on Saturday.