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. 

You can read my Parliamentary report for July here

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.

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”.

Ends

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.

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

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.

You can read my Parliamentary report for June 2015 here