Suzy Stride is Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate in Harlow for the next General Election. I attended her fundraising dinner this evening in London. Over 120 people attended the dinner including, Councillors, council candidates, members of the Labour Party, youth and community workers and Trade Union members. I spoke about the fact that whilst working people are being told by the government that the economy is recovering, people are not feeling the benefit. It is only the Labour Party who has a plan which it would put in place to deal with the cost of living crisis. I also spoke the benefit having Suzy in Parliament would make to Parliament, the Labour Party but most importantly for the people of Harlow. 

This evening I joined Iain Dale for the next instalment of my regular monthly phone in at LBC.

We took calls and answered texts on the topics that are currently leading Britain's conversation. We discussed Labour’s six point plan for Britain, welfare, the economy and Europe.

Local people, the Mayor, councillors, civic leaders and members of our armed services paying tribute at a service of remembrance at the war memorial on Borough High Street in Southwark.

Joining local Labour Party members and councillors to talk to people on the Brimmington Estate in Nunhead about the issues they are concerned about.

Packed conference for Southwark Council tenants and leaseholders to discuss affordable housing in Southwark.

Joined a packed meeting of local Labour Party members at the community hall in Peckham Rye for their monthly branch meeting.

Welcoming constituents Henry & Margaret Quenelle to Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.

Southwark Music Hub is a partnership of 60 organisations working in Southwark to create opportunities for all young people
to learn music. Southwark Music Service, led by Denise Barber, is the leading partner for the Hub and works closely with schools in Southwark offering lessons and musical activities using a wide range of instruments and a variety of musical styles. They also support the Southwark Youth Orchestra, the Saturday Music Centre at Walworth Academy, and in partnership with the David Idowu Foundation, they support the David Idowu Choir, open to young singers throughout Southwark.

This Government talks a lot about devolution and supporting the regions but when it comes to the arts they are not walking the talk.

Joining South Camberwell members and councillors for campaigning in Dog Kennel Hill. Despite the lashing rain, lots of Labour support on the doorstep!

This year’s North West Regional Conference was held in Blackpool and was attend attended by over 600 members.

At the Wickway Community Centre on the Gloucester Grove estate in Peckham to celebrate its recent refurbishment and 35 years of service provision to the community with local residents, volunteers and Little Angels Nursery.

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of the internet, to every business and household, in every region and for every community.

Margaret Bondfield, born in 1873 was the first women to attend Cabinet in the UK. She was also MP for Northampton North. In memory of these achievements, Sally Keeble the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Northampton North and former MP for the area holds the annual Bondfield Lecture. 

Joining Londoners of Sierra Leonean origin who were out in force today supporting efforts to tackle Ebola. Thanks to Abdul Seisay for organising the march to Westminster.

Dulwich books hosted an event with author Laura Bates this evening to discuss her new book Everday Sexism. I chaired the discussion in which over 40 women joined us in conversation. We talked about the experiences detailed in the book, talked about feminism today and shared our thoughts on how different social media outlets can contribute to the ongoing sexism debate.

At a packed reception for new members of Camberwell and Peckham Labour Party, I was joined by Val Shawcross, Assembly Member for Lambeth & Southwark, and local councillors. It was a pleasure to meet lots of new people and to highlight the important work our local members and councillors do.

Team Labour in the East Midlands held their annual conference in Leicester this weekend. The conference  is attended by over 250 people from across the region including MPs, Parliamentary Candidates, Councillors, Trade Unionists and members of the Labour Party.

Queen Edith’s ward in Cambridge will have a by-election on 13th of November. I joined Labour’s candidate Rahima Ahammed and Daniel Zeichner, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate to speak with student activists from Homerton College, Cambridge.

The NHS is incredibly important to people and is rightfully one of Britain’s, and Labour’s, proudest achievements. But the NHS today is now one of people’s biggest concerns. People have to struggle to get to see their GP; many are having to wait longer in A&E; operations are being cancelled; and NHS staff are demoralised while billions of pounds are squandered on an NHS reorganisation that no one wants.

Staff are working hard every day despite the chaos inflicted by the Government’s reorganisation which has dragged the NHS down. Patients, doctors and nurses told the Government to stop it - knowing it would cause chaos - but they refused to listen.

Kings has one of the busiest and best A&E departments in London. And they do an excellent job with the resources they have. But they have recently taken on the running of the Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley and its A&E department, and the challenges it faces are significant.

I’m extremely concerned by the latest figures on waiting times and patients having their operations cancelled. The number of patients waiting over 4 hours in A&E at Kings is currently 7% of those admitted. And since April this year, 331 patients have had their operations cancelled.

People are also finding it harder to see their GP. Many constituents have contacted me directly and a survey at my advice surgery showed over half were not able to get an appointment on the same day and three quarters said they had to wait over 48 hours to get a GP appointment. Most worryingly, over half of the constituents surveyed said they had had to go to A&E because they couldn’t see their GP when they needed to.

NHS midwives, nurses and ambulance crews recently went on strike over their pay and conditions. Local staff at Kings tell me they don’t want to strike, that patient safety always comes first. And they don’t want to hurt Kings because the people who work there love it. Even on the strike day the midwives kept their uniforms on so they'd be ready to rush to a delivery. But they say the Government is not listening to them and that this is the only action they can take.

It is dedicated hospital workers, doctors, and nurses who deliver the NHS. We need to make sure our NHS is strengthened and protected. That is why the next Labour Government will repeal the Health Act which has put the NHS on a fast-track to privatisation. We will restore the core principles of the NHS and make frontline care a priority because we know these are the values the overwhelming majority of the public, NHS staff and patients support.