Chuka Umunna MP

For Londoners today’s Autumn Statement means

• Rising travelcard costs and no end in sight for farepayers. Only Ken will cut fares and set a course that ensures a fairer deal for Londoners.

• Tory Mayor Boris Johnson has failed to get a decent settlement for London out of the Autumn Statement. He has been awarded 4 out of 40 projects for the Infrastructure Fund lower than almost every other English region. Of the 4 projects that have been announced, only two are actually funded.

• George Osborne’s remarks about a Silvertown river crossing and a Northern line extension are little more than warm words. There is little or no detail on how the projects would be delivered or funded.

• The Government should take up Labour’s five point plan for growth and jobs – which will give up to 334,000 London firms a tax break to take on more workers, create 11,500 jobs for young Londoners and build 5,000 new homes.

More Tory fare rises

Today’s fares announcement by the Tory Mayor and Tory Chancellor means rising travelcard costs and no end in sight for farepayers:

• This is the fourth consecutive year of inflation-busting fares under the Tory mayor

• Fares in London have risen faster than anywhere else in the country during tough

economic times. Boris Johnson should use the £729 million of surplus money in his TfL budget to keep fares low.

• If Ken is elected Mayor in May 2012, in October 2012 he will cut fares, then freeze them the whole of the following year and ensure that they rise by no more than inflation in the following two years.

London’s economy in worse state

The London economy is in a worse state than it has been for more than 15 years

• 410,000 people are now unemployed in London, almost one in ten of the population. Unemployment in London is now higher than it has been at any other point since 1994. According to the latest estimates from ONS, more than one in four young people in London is unemployed.

• Only 56 affordable homes were built in London in the last 6 months, and the number of housing starts in the last quarter went down by more than 50% on the previous year.

• Between January and September, the number of 18-24 year olds on the dole for more than 6 months has doubled in more than half of London’s boroughs.

• A survey by Travelex yesterday showed that 59% of small and medium sized businesses in London expect to go into a double dip recession.

Infrastructure projects cut

The government is cutting not investing in infrastructure.

• Only 4 out of the 40 infrastructure projects outlined today are in London, less than the 10 in Yorkshire and the Humber, and less than the West Midlands, the North West, the South East and the East of England. This is despite the fact that unemployment is higher in London than anywhere else apart from the North East.

• The Tory-led Government got rid of the London Development Agency as well as agencies to promote tourism and inward investment in London

• And even these 4 are beginning to unravel once the detail emerges:

I. The Northern Line extension is a wish not a commitment. London will get no money from the Government for the Northern Line extension, and no guarantee that it will be allowed to borrow. At the earliest, this project will only begin in mid 2013.(In the Autumn Statement it says “Subject to commitment by April 2013 from a developer to develop the site and make agreed contributions, the Government will consider allowing the Mayor of London and partner authorities to borrow against the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to support this scheme.”)

II. If London receives the same as the other super-connected cities – it will get only £2 million of funding next year – 26p for every citizen

III. There are no commitments on where or when new river crossings will be built or how they will be funded. (In the Autumn Statement it says “the Government will work with the Mayor of London and Transport for London to explore options for proposed additional river crossings, for example at Silvertown.”

Child tax credits cut

As a result of George Osborne’s cuts to tax credits:

• 561,900 families in London will lose out as a result of the changes to the child element of the child tax credit

• 323,600 families in London will lose out as a result of the freeze on the couple and lone parent element of the working tax credit.

In 2008 Boris Johnson axed the childcare affordability programme which had delivered affordable childcare for thousands of London children.

Pay freezes

As a result of George Osborne’s further reductions in public sector pay

• 719,000 public sector workers will experience just 1% pay increases in the two years after a pay freeze ending in 2013. This will impoverish well over a million households in London, who will experience falling real pay every year for the lifetime of the Tory-led government

Labour’s 5 point plan in London would:

1. Create up to 11,500 jobs for young people and build 5,000 homes

2. Bring forward investment projects like new school buildings

3. Temporarily reverse the Tory-led Government’s VAT rise – a £450 boost for families with children

4. Cut VAT on home improvements to 5% for a year

5. Give up to 334,000 small firms a tax break to take on extra workers

Chuka recently met with Bilal Ahmed, one of his young constituents who is raising money for victims of famine in East Africa. Bilal wrote to the Weir Link Centre to ask if there was anything they could do to help, so they organised the ‘Small Hands Can Do Big Things’ fundraising event and local children donated a pound each to attend in fancy dress. The money raised was sent to the Disasters Emergency Committee – if you would like to donate, please do so here.

Chuka attended the launch of the Lambeth ACTIVE! Parent and Carer Forum, an initiative for parents and carers of children with disabilities or additional needs.

The forum enables parents to work together to learn from and help one another, and to collaborate with Lambeth Council to provide better services for disabled children. At the event, parents and carers spoke with Chuka about the support which they receive and discussed ways in which policies can be improved to better assist carers.

Chuka visited Lambeth College this morning with shadow Education Secretary Andy Burnham and shadow minister for further education Gordon Marsden to talk with students affected by the government’s abolition of education maintenance allowance.

Lambeth College is located in the fifth most deprived borough of London and 60% of students receive EMA, of these 85% receive the full amount of £30 per week. In the academic year 2009/10, 90% of students receiving EMA completed their course compared with 75% of non-recipients.

Commenting on the cut, Chuka said

“More than 60% of students at Lambeth College receive EMA and it makes a real difference – those getting the support are more likely to achieve a qualification and less likely to drop out of their course as a result.

“The number of young people from Lambeth going to university went up by more than 80% between 1997 and 2009. The government’s withdrawal of EMA threatens to undo this good work and prevent talented young people from staying on in education.”

Luke, a former student from the college, then took part in a roundtable discussion chaired by Andy Burnham to a in Westminster, where he spoke about the positive impact of EMA and how it enabled him to pursue his ambition of going to university.

This afternoon, Chuka spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on the future of support for further education students to defend EMA and pass on comments made by students at Lambeth College this morning.

Streatham MP Chuka Umunna has questioned Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander on upcoming cuts to child benefit which will affect 250,000 families in London alone.

The Chancellor and Chief Secretary to the Treasury appeared before the Treasury Select Committee, on which Mr Umunna sits, to answer questions on the impact of the Spending Review.

At the Conservative Party conference in September, Mr Osborne announced that those in the higher income bracket, earning above £43,875, will no longer be able to claim the benefit. He said the measure was ‘tough but fair’.

However, an anomaly soon became apparent: a single mother earning £45,000 stands to lose her child benefit, while a two-parent family, with each parent earning £43,000 – totaling a household income of £86,000 – will still be able to claim it. Under the current system, mothers are paid £20.30 per week for their first child and £13.40 for any children thereafter.

Mr Umunna took Mr Alexander to task on the fairness of the child benefit cut, saying the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government had made a ‘dog’s dinner’ of the changes. Mr Umunna also cited the comments of the government’s new joint director of the Office of Tax Simplification John Whiting. Mr Whiting had warned that the cost of clawing back child benefit from taxpayers through the tax system would be “intrusive” and involve lots of form-filling.

On June 7, the Prime Minister made a speech in which he said that spending cuts would affect “our whole way of life. The decisions we make will affect every single person in our country.” Referencing these comments, Mr Umunna asked Mr Osborne how the Comprehensive Spending Review had affected his way of life

Mr Umunna questioned the fairness of the change. Earning roughly £134,565 a year, a cabinet minister like Mr Osborne with two children will lose £1,752 a year, only 1.3% of his income. In stark contrast, a family with a single earner just above the threshold will face a reduction of more than 4% of their income.

There are also concerns that it will not be possible to implement the changes due to the tax system, which takes into account the income of individual earners in a household rather than of couples. Under the current system, women are not obliged to reveal whether they claim child benefit or not to their partner.

Commenting on the government’s handling of the child benefit cut Chuka Umunna MP said: “This is an ill-thought out plan. It is deeply disappointing that, when a huge change like this affects so many families, the government could not take the time to consider fully the impact such a proposal would have.

“With this change they are hitting middle income earners hard – most of whom are not millionaires – who often struggle to make ends meet while the bankers who caused the problems in the first place get off lightly.”

Chuka Umunna, Member of Parliament for Streatham, has hosted a reception at the Palace of Westminster to celebrate the fifteenth birthday of local children’s charity KidsCity.

The evening event was organised to thank parents, volunteers, friends and contributors to the charity, all of whom were in attendance alongside representatives of Lambeth Council, school governors, headteachers and KidsCity staff.

KidsCity, which is based in Brixton, provides afterschool activities for children aged 3-11 years and creates training and employment opportunities for adults in areas of high unemployment. It has provided jobs to 28 local young people through the Future Jobs Fund, set up under the previous government.

Mr Umunna made a speech at the event, alongside former Woodmansterne Primary School head teacher Anita Wright, Andy Marks, head of Eardley School and Angela Spatharou, KidsCity chair of trustees.

The speakers discussed KidsCity’s long standing relationship with local schools, striking a positive note about the importance of KidsCity’s work, its contribution to the community and its dedication to children’s wellbeing.

KidsCity began operation at Eardley School in 1995 and has grown since then and now works at dozens of South London schools.

Commenting, Chuka Umunna said: “I was delighted to host KidsCity’s fifteenth birthday celebrations in Parliament.

“The charity does great work in our area, providing activities for children as well as opportunities for adults. I am proud to represent an area which has such a vibrant and diverse range of charities and social enterprises.”

Jackie Nunns, Chief Executive of KidsCity, said:

“It was a privilege to share this milestone in Kids’ City’s history with so many dedicated people, in such an impressive venue. Looking back over the last 15 years it seems to have passed in a flash but equally for it to be taking far too long for children to be able to take things like Kids’ City for granted.

“I am very grateful to Chuka Umunna MP, Anita Wright, Andy Marks and Angela Spatharou, for their insight and continued support for the charity’s work as well as the many hundreds of others that make sure that the right people are in the right place at the right time for play.”

A project to build four new and improved children’s playgrounds in the Streatham constituency next year is under threat as a result of government spending cuts.

The Play Pathfinders scheme, set up under the previous Labour government was set to deliver 20 new play areas across Lambeth between 2008 and 2011 with new, safe play equipment and environments.

The four planned playgrounds are located at Streatham Vale Play Project, Streatham Common, Streatham Hill Estate and Notre Dame Estate. A new playground was completed at the Tulse Hill Youth and Play Project last year and another project at Agnes Riley Gardens is set for completion by the end of this year.

Lambeth is one of 30 authorities across the country taking part in the scheme, but in June 2010 the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition government announced it would be entirely removing the ring fence for the Play Pathfinders grant.

Following this, the Department for Education has written to all Play Pathfinder authorities to explain that it is reviewing the scheme’s funding for 2010-11 financial year despite the fact that they have already been allocated. The government has also asked local authorities to identify savings in the scheme.

Member of Parliament for Streatham Chuka Umunna, said: “After the government’s cuts to local school building projects earlier this year, the threat to funds for local playgrounds is a further blow for children and young people in our area and their parents.

Chuka Umunna, Member of Parliament for Streatham, has congratulated students on excellent exam results across the board.

Commenting, Mr Umunna said:

“Congratulations to all our students, who have worked so hard and achieved these fantastic results. Our young people have done us proud once again.”

“Particularly given the huge expansion in young people from our area going to university, I am concerned by reports of a lack of available university places and I hope there will be a place for everyone who was hoping to start a course this Autumn.”

Chuka has become one of the first Child Poverty Champions – pledging to work towards ending child poverty by 2020.

Shan Nicholas, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said that Chuka “stands out as one of the first to have signed a personal pledge committing to action. “We are delighted that Chuka Umunna MP is so strongly committed to ending child poverty”, he added.

Chuka has also pledged to work in Parliament on national action that will end child poverty for all UK children.

For more details of the excellent work done by the Child Poverty Action Group, click here.

This week, Chuka spoke in an adjournment debate in Parliament on the Liberal Democrat – Conservative government’s cuts to school building projects, making the case for the government to reverse its decision and for the crucial projects at Dunraven, Bishop Thomas Grant and La Retraite to go ahead.
You can watch Chuka’s speech here (it starts at 52m20s in).

To read the speech in full, follow this link

In our area, La Retraite and Bishop Thomas Grant secondary schools, which were due to benefit from new, state of the art buildings, have seen their BSF projects stopped. As a result La Retraite will remain the only school with post-16 provision in Lambeth without purpose-built sixth form buildings.

The other project at Dunraven School – as one of a handful of ‘sample’ projects nationally – has been put in doubt and placed under review. It is crucial that the government announces the time scale and terms of this review, which it has completely failed to do so far. Chuka has tabled a number of Parliamentary questions to Ministers seeking clarification on this for constituents.