Chuka Umunna MP will be holding advice surgeries in Brixton, Clapham Park, Streatham and Tulse Hill. Bookings are by appointment only, and can be made by calling 020 87695063. We are currently in the process of setting up Chuka’s Constituency Office, which will be open shortly.

On Thursday I was deeply honoured, humbled and privileged to be elected to serve the people of this awesome area as their Member of Parliament.

As I said during the election campaign, I will work tirelessly to serve the people of Streatham, a parliamentary constituency covering Streatham and parts of Clapham, Balham, Tulse Hill and Brixton.

There are lots of outstanding issues to tackle. I will do my very best to address them and improve things for the better for everyone here.

However, for now, I would just like to thank the people of this constituency so very much for voting for me and for putting their faith in Labour once again.

Best,

Chuka

P.S.  I am in the process of establishing an office and arranging my programme of constituency surgeries – further details will follow later this coming week on this site.

Chuka Umunna MP
Member of Parliament for Streatham

Yesterday morning, the result for the Parliamentary constituency of Streatham was announced.

Chuka was elected having received 20,037 votes, with the number of votes received by Labour rising from 18,950 in the last general election in 2005. Turnout in Streatham increased by 22.4%, standing at 62.8% compared with 51.3% in 2005.

The video above shows the declaration of the result and Chuka’s speech following his election. For the full result, please follow this link.

Today, voters across the Streatham constituency – which also covers parts of Brixton, Clapham, Balham and Tulse Hill – go to the polls to select a new member of parliament for our area.

Polling stations will be open across the constituency from 7.00am in the morning until
10.00pm in the evening. If you do not know where your polling station is, please enter your postcode on this page.

If elected, Chuka would become the first ever Member of Parliament for Streatham to have grown up in the constituency.

Chuka has pledged to open a constituency office; run regular surgeries and people’s question times; publish his full salary and allowances online and give up practicing as an employment law solicitor to work full time as Streatham’s MP if he is elected.

To read more about Chuka’s priorities and his election pledges, please follow this link.

Chuka is appearing on a special edition of Question Time for first time voters, which will be broadcast this evening on BBC Three between 8.00pm and 9.00pm

Alongside Chuka, the panel will include Miquita Oliver, Marcus Bridgstocke, Kwasi Kwarteng and Anna Arrowsmith, and will be chaired by Dermot O’Leary.

In this video, Chuka discusses Labour’s delivery for education locally outside Lambeth Academy in Clapham, which opened in 2004.

The manifesto outlines Labour’s determination to continue to bear down on crime and anti social behaviour, which is down since 1997 but remains a real issue in many areas.

• Crime has fallen dramatically under a Labour government
Crime is down by more than a third since 1997 – there are almost 1.5 million fewer violent crimes each year and almost 1 million fewer burglaries. Crime has not risen during the recession as it did in the 1980s and 1990s.

• Labour will protect frontline policing
Labour is committed to protecting central funding for police forces to maintain police numbers. In addition to the 3,600 Neighbourhood Policing Teams now in every area of England and Wales we will introduce a Policing Pledge which sets out clear minimum standards for local police forces in terms of response times, monthly beat meetings to set local priorities; and a commitment that local neighbourhood teams will spend at least 80 per cent of their time on the beat or in the community.

• Britain isn’t broken
Despite the Tories’ attempts to talk the country down, Britain isnt broken. Knife crime and gun crime are down, and with the help of communities we will continue to tackle issues like binge drinking and drug addiction with preventative measures like Family Intervention Programmes, and tough laws that give local authorities the power to ban irresponsible drinks promotions and punish persistent offenders from drinking in public, going to particular pubs or certain parts of town at night.

What this means for Streatham:
Streatham has seen a large reduction in crime over the past decade. Every ward in the consituency has a dedicated Safer Neighbourhood team of at least one sergeant, two police constables and three PCSOs to patrol local streets. Across Lambeth, burglary has fallen by 35% and violent crime by 16% between 2003-2008 and citywide, London now has 30,742 police officers, up 17% from 1998.

The manifesto proposals mean continued funding for our safer neighbourhood teams – which Tories will not guarantee to protect – to protect police numbers from public sector cuts and keep crime down.

Streatham residents will have the right to petition Lambeth council about areas they feel require CCTV cameras and have more say over neighbourhood surveillance plans.

Our area has already benefitted from Family Intervention Programmes – which have been proven to radically reduce antisocial behaviour and criminal behaviour – and which our manifesto proposes expanding to the rest of the country by 2015.

In this video, London Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark Val Shawcross CBE tells us why she is backing Chuka.

Continuing a more detailed look at the Labour Manifesto we highlight our provisions for a better and fairer education system: Fairer funding for schools with a high intake of students from more deprived families, no pupil left behind and a continued emphasis on the importance of Sure Start.

Frontline spending on Sure Start will continue to increase under Labour – it is such an important institution that we must ensure that it continues to flourish. Labour is committed to extending and improving the services offered by Sure Start, expanding education for under fives at children’s centres.

Labour is leading the way in pledging to provide greater flexibility in the provision of childcare, making sure that parents have the options that suit them.

Labour has pledged to extend the number of free early learning places to two-year olds from disadvantaged families, a step on the way to creating universal free childcare for this age group.

Although the number of underachieving schools has decreased over the last 13 years, Labour will not tolerate any schools that are not providing the best possible education for our children.

Struggling schools will be taken over by local school leaders, creating school groups and federations and where parents are concerned about a school’s leadership they will be able to ballot for a change in leadership. The introduction of school report cards will give parents full information about schools’ parental satisfaction levels, behaviour records and students progress.

Labour will ensure that no child is left behind in education. The commitment to giving disadvantaged families free access to broadband, ensuring that no child’s education suffers because of disadvantage. Labour will expand specialist teachers to help children with dyslexia and increase teacher training for children with autism.

Finally, free school meals will be extended to include a further 500,000 primary school children from families on low incomes and universal free school meals for primary children are being piloted in areas across the country.

If you are interested in reading the manifesto in more details then you can download it from the education manifesto page of the Labour Party website.

Today, the Prime Minister visited the New Testament Church of God in Brixton for a Sunday morning service and addressed the congregation, paying tribute to the contribution of faith groups to British society.