Bob Blackman
MP for Harrow East · Conservative · United Kingdom
“I hope that the Leader of the House will again provide protected time and prevail on his colleagues not to have too many Government statements, so that we can have a reasonable debate on the subject.”
“Since the changes, we have been inundated with requests from Select Committees to have statements in the House, which I welcome. Next Tuesday, before the two debates that have been scheduled, there will be Select Committee statements on the Treasury and Public Accounts Committee reports.”
“On Tuesday 20 October there will be a debate on manufacturing skills. On Thursday 22 October there will be a debate on compensation for Equitable Life policyholders. I am sure that the whole House will recognise the importance of hospital radio across the country.”
“Many of my constituents work at Heathrow airport. They have had to work extra hours, as the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) mentioned, and they have suffered abuse, too. I put on record my appreciation for all that they have done. Even more of my constituents use Heathrow for business travel and social travel.”
“I am sure that the Leader of the House will join me in congratulating Radio Brockley on this wonderful anniversary. Perhaps we could have a statement in Government time on the importance of hospital radio in the health service and the benefits it brings to patients and staff.”
“This is a sad day for the UK-Israel relationship, given the risks of what the Foreign Secretary is doing. Affecting the Israeli elections by making even moderate politicians even more hawkish is a huge risk.”
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“I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. More than a year ago in a vote in both this House and the other place, we agreed to repeal the 1824 Vagrancy Act, yet it seems as if the Home Office is trying to reintroduce it to deal with aggressive begging. I think the whole House would agree that people who are street homeless need to be helped and assisted, not arrested. When will we see the enactment of that legislation so that the police can be given the powers to help people who are street homeless rather than threaten them?”
“On National Numeracy Day, we aim to break the taboo that maths is scary, not cool or impossible. Indeed, maths is the gateway to many amazing opportunities. The National Numeracy campaign, the Government, local schools and Protect Pure Maths are always available to offer help and support. The message to people out there is: be sure to get in touch; if you fear your maths skills are not up to speed, look for opportunities to improve your capability, gain confidence, gain new abilities and, if nothing else, improve your basic skills. Finally, I thank all those at National Numeracy who made yesterday such a success and wish the charity all the best for the rest of the events it is hosting throughout May.”
“This Government, who I am proud to support, are a great champion of lifelong learning, and are investing £560 million in the Multiply programme to give thousands of adults the opportunity to gain employer-valued maths qualifications, and to improve their skills through Multiply’s easy-to-use and accessible digital platform. As I come to the end of my speech, I thank my colleagues for attending. I look forward to hearing others’ remarks—if not from the Back Benches, from the various party spokesmen and indeed from the Minister for Schools, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Nick Gibb). I hope that, if nothing else, this debate can inspire a few people to make a conscious effort to improve their numeracy skills and in turn unlock an unlimited number of new opportunities.”
“National Numeracy hosts a vast range of programmes, initiatives and campaigns to help adults to take the leap and improve their numeracy in a bite-sized and approachable way. Thousands of testimonies tell us that the programmes have boosted people’s confidence and drastically reduced the anxiety that surrounds mathematics for many people. The charity has found that the most influential way to support adults is to help them first to understand the value of numeracy in their lives, which is clearly important, and then to help them to experience quick success, which builds their belief in their ability and capability to use mathematics.”
“Many people only realise when they reach adulthood the impact of their lagging numeracy. I reiterate: it is by no means too late to improve, and it should not be something to be embarrassed about, ignored or avoided at all costs—far from it. We need to normalise later learning and asking for help, because doing so will open so many doors. People who face a challenge in getting back into the employment market can acquire these skills and therefore acquire a better job with better rates of pay. More than 9 million people in the UK rate their numeracy as low and 86% say that their financial knowledge is also minimal. Surely that emphasises the need for more later learning in such matters. This is a case of getting not just schoolchildren to catch up but also adults who may have been failed in the past.”
“For example, we have heard today of different companies requiring artificial intelligence and reducing the number of people involved. Well, if people have high mathematical skills, that will mean they will be able to do the higher-skilled jobs required in the future. I am encouraged that the Government have recognised the impact of the pandemic on education and responded by establishing a national tutoring programme, investing over £1 billion to bring children’s education up to speed. By 2024, over 6 million tutoring packages will have been delivered to support struggling children. That is an important provision to come out of the pandemic, because if children have not been in classrooms, it has been quite a challenge for teachers to teach them these skills, and recovering from that position is all-important.”
“I am very pleased that earlier this year the Prime Minister announced his ambition that all school pupils in England will have to study some form of mathematics until the age of 18. That does not mean that they will have to study in detail the sort of things that would be studied for A-levels and at degree level, but it does mean that basic mathematics will be understood by someone leaving secondary school. Some believe that that will have inconsequential results, but it will drastically increase the UK’s productivity and give stronger emphasis to the huge importance of possessing competent numerical skills. It will also equip school-leavers with a quantitative and statistical intellect, which is needed for many of today’s jobs and those of the future.”
“It is essential that they are taught such skills as youngsters to ensure that they do not lack the understanding once they have reached adulthood, and therefore are able to gain greater independence. When stripped of such skills, people are immediately dependent on others and have to rely on the honesty of others, subjecting them, sadly, to a high possibility of being taken advantage of. In many cases, people doing a big shop do not know whether the bill they are being charged is correct, because they are unable to add up in their heads the rough cost of what they are buying as they go. Only when they get to the till do they realise. Even then, they may not pay the right amount, so there is a real challenge to everyday life.”
“Teachers and learning assistants undergo vast training to get to their positions. They are advised on the syllabus and learning techniques that are required to educate, and hopefully have an in-depth knowledge of the subject. It is clearly far better to have those experts teach our children, so that the information they learn is accurate, rather than struggling to teach themselves at a much later stage, with a risk of misunderstanding and not being corrected. If a child does not have a good teacher, they often have to rely on their parents. If the parents are averse to maths, that can cause a challenging intergenerational cycle. If children are taught how to competently negotiate bus timetables, money and other numerical skills, interfrastically it prepares them for life.”
“There is also a distinct gender gap with regard to number confidence. Women are significantly less confident than men when self-assessing their numeracy skills—so much so that they feel twice as anxious about maths, and consequently are disproportionately affected by negative experiences with maths at school. Unless we encourage young women to take up maths and develop those skills, we will never close the gender pay gap, which we all wish to see removed. Children are undeniably far more impressionable than adults. The very make-up of those whippersnappers’ brains allows them to absorb information faster and much more efficiently. It is therefore of the utmost importance that nurseries, schools and education centres are taking the opportunity to equip our youth with the skills necessary to possess numerical competence and confidence.”
“Across the UK, low confidence and competence when dealing with numbers disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities, with deprivation of numeracy skills traditionally being passed on from one generation to another. It is even more important, therefore, that those people have access to easy, supportive and free recourses to help to improve such struggles, and prevent future generations from adopting those anxieties. Staggeringly, half of working-age adults in this country—more than 16 million people—have numerical skills equivalent to those of a primary-school leaver. That has led to more than half of young adults admitting that they have avoided a particular job, interview or qualification, thereby hindering their full potential, because they feared that it would involve using mathematics when they had no confidence in doing so.”
“As a nation, we are often regarded as one of the richest and most powerful countries globally. Despite this stature, our numeracy levels are significantly below the average for developed countries, ranking just 21st in the widely-recognised Survey of Adult Skills. The consequence is a cost to the UK economy of millions of pounds—in unemployment, poor health and treatment costs—as well as a widening of the skills gap between those who are highly skilled and those who are not. To give an idea of how much it is costing, Pro Bono Economics recently commissioned data estimating that up to £25 billion is lost in earnings each year owing entirely to low numeracy skills.”
“Practically, we use maths to negotiate journey times, plan the food shop, use cooking recipes, read the time and relate distances for travel. Recreationally, we might use the skills in music, when playing sport, to set time limits on phones or even with driving. It is prominent everywhere, and we must understand that maths is vital. For those who significantly struggle with numeracy or who lack confidence, it is extremely difficult to get through the basic tasks we undertake daily. Research has shown that people who have low maths skills are increasingly vulnerable to debt, fraud, financial exclusion and unemployment. In 2020 it was estimated that more than two thirds of unemployed adults possessed extremely low numeracy skills. This is a consequence of not acquiring the skills in school or early life.”
“Since 2012, through National Numeracy Day the charity has helped over 2.7 million people unlock new levels of potential, be that in school, work or their personal lives. One of the concerns is about the number of people who leave school without basic numeracy capabilities. It is not until we really think about it that we realise how prominent mathematics is in our day-to-day activities. It is crucial for developing logical thinking and for reasoning strategies. I will give a few examples of where mathematics come in. Financially, it is important to have the appropriate skills to understand our payslips, calculate mortgage rates or rental payments, account for bills or any other outgoings, pay for items either through cash or card, and make sure we are not being ripped off.”
“We do not use trigonometry or Pythagoras’ theorem when doing the weekly food shop, but basic numeracy crops up all the time. When writing this speech, for instance, I had to estimate how long to speak for to keep my colleagues interested and not allow them to doze off for too long. Numeracy is the ability to apply numbers in everyday life, solve problems, make informed decisions and seize the opportunities that are presented as a result. National Numeracy is an independent charity. It was initially funded by one of the big four multinational professional services networks, namely KPMG. Since launching, it has attracted a growing number of organisations that recognise the importance of improving the nation’s numeracy.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered National Numeracy Day. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Maria. I declare an interest as a graduate in physics and maths. I have had a particular interest in this subject for a long time; indeed, I have three maths A-levels. Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of National Numeracy Day—a day earmarked for the championing of everyday maths. We learn various different aspects of maths at school, but it is important to remember that the purpose of maths is to inspire everyone, at whatever age and from whatever gender or socioeconomic background, to possess the confidence and skills to competently understand numbers and be able to apply them in our day-to-day lives.”
“That is holding our country back, and we need to ensure that those people who possibly have a great fear of maths and do not want to share that fact get the skills they need, so that they can contribute to our society in a far better way. Dame Maria, I thank you and others for the debate. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing us to have it, and note the fact that we have managed to continue the debate long after the main Chamber has adjourned. That just proves how important mathematics is, not only in today’s society but in the future. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered National Numeracy Day.”
“One of the important points that the Government are taking action on is rolling out a clear programme for young people in schools and beyond, enabling them to acquire those skills. We need to combat the gender gap in maths as well, because at the moment, from bitter experience, young women tend to move away from mathematics in an unfair way. Those who do go into mathematics are highly skilled and brilliant and succeed in life, but we need to get this idea that mathematics is not cool—it is not for them—out of the system in many respects. Equally, I was glad that the Minister relayed some of the actions that the Government are taking to combat the lack of numeracy in older people.”
“Apart from writing “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, he also wrote “The Meaning of Liff”, and one of the great words I always remember from that book is “bodmin”—when a group of friends go out, the bill is presented and everyone puts in what they consider to be their share, there is always a balance left. That is a “bodmin”—the balance that someone has failed to calculate. I thank the hon. Member for his offer of taking up a mathematics tutorship, but I am looking forward to continuing to represent the good citizens of Harrow East for many years to come. My right hon. Friend the Minister, of course, has relayed exactly what the Government are laying out on numeracy.”
“Thank you, Dame Maria, for presiding over the debate, and I thank colleagues for their contributions. The hon. Member for Glenrothes (Peter Grant) posed a number of questions and highlighted a number of examples of the bad use of maths that, I suspect, would have had many of our colleagues scratching their heads, not quite understanding what he was alluding to. That probably demonstrates why so few of our colleagues have come to speak in today’s debate. The hon. Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan) reminded me of Douglas Adams, one of my favourite authors who is sadly deceased.”
“My right hon. Friend will be aware that Vahid Beheshti was carrying out his hunger strike on the opposite side of the road from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for more than 70 days before being taken to hospital. The good news is that he is likely to be allowed to leave hospital today. The bad news is that there are continued threats to his peace camp. May we have a statement from the Foreign Secretary about measures that the Government will take to combat the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the nefarious activities that it has launched in the UK, and about the literal epidemic of executions taking place in Iran right now, involving innocent people whose only crime has been to demonstrate against the current Administration?”
“On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker, on the Order Paper today is the matter of the Holocaust Memorial Bill Second Reading. Indeed, I understand that the Joint Committee on Examination of Bills is considering today whether this is a hybrid Bill. I declare my interest as co-chair of the all-party Parliamentary group on holocaust memorial, but could you use your good offices, Mr Deputy Speaker, to inform us how the result of that Committee will be communicated to this House so that we can get on with this very important project? The project is welcomed across the House, apart from a small numbers of Members of both Houses, but the key point is that we need to know what is going to happen, because the current projections are that it will take a very long time indeed.”
“Between 2016 and 2019, the Procedure Committee heard regularly about the thousands of statutory instruments that either had to be translated into UK law, repealed, or reformed in some way. The problem that the Secretary of State now has is that by taking the pressure off that timetable, there will be a concern among Members on all Benches as to what happens, after the sunset clause kicks in, to the statutory instruments and other laws that we would like to see repealed or amended. What is the timetable, and how will it work?”
“I add my congratulations to my right hon. Friend on her performance at the coronation. The wait for the renters reform Bill seems never-ending. It is important that we get the Bill right, but we are running out of time in the Session, particularly given the queue of legislation in the House of Lords. The other eagerly awaited legislation is the leasehold reform Bill, which has been pressed for in this House for a long time. Could the Leader of the House give us an update on when that Bill will come before us?”
“The position of those people who have come to this country as immigrants seeking to help this country is very different from those who have arrived illegally. We must consider those two aspects separately. I hope the Minister will be able to answer that during his summing up and that we can see real measures that will improve the plight of those very vulnerable people who currently have no recourse to public funds.”
“As we know, each case is unique and has to be properly assessed, but local authorities need guidance. The public purse must be protected, but, equally, we must make sure that vulnerable people are not forced to sleep rough on our streets through no fault of their own. Some people who have come to this country and provided their expertise and help for a long time, suddenly find themselves out of a job with no place to live, no ability to pay their rent and no ability to support themselves. Those people deserve our support and help and should not to be treated in an inhumane fashion. I recognise that this is a complicated area of public policy. I hope that, when he replies, the Minister can say what the Government are going to do to assist those in this position.”
“This is not just a London problem—it is a nationwide problem—but obviously London has a specific problem here. At the time of those figures, including my constituency, London boroughs were supporting 2,089 households with accommodation or financial support. That amounted to a staggering cost of £40.6 million. Of those households, 576 represented adults with care needs, at an annual cost of £11.41 million, and 513 were adults with children or dependent care leavers, at an annual cost of £10.87 million. That is a huge cost to the public purse, but not being financed properly by the Government. Therefore, I am delighted, obviously, that the Government are looking at this particular aspect. I commend the Work and Pensions Committee for recommending some measures that would help and support those vulnerable people.”
“I hope that all local authorities are following the process to ensure that teams are alerted when there is a problem so that there is no delay in accessing help, particularly where a family is involved. The teams then work together with legal services to fully understand the duties, as well as the limits of the support they can give using public funds. Clearly, the provision will be paid until such time as the children need no further support from the local authority. In June 2022—I ask my right hon. Friend the Minister to update us on this—there were around 166,000 people in various stages of the asylum system and, of course, those people have no recourse to public funds. Broadly speaking, they are not eligible for asylum support. Fifty-four per cent. of those people are from London boroughs alone.”
“In certain circumstances, local authorities can, rightly, provide support for those who genuinely need additional care—but that is where it does not stem from destitution, and that is the problem we face. I am delighted that in the London Borough of Harrow, the council provides vital care to those with NRPF where it is appropriate. The council has made such provision in cases where parents have NRPF but dependent children are involved. Harrow children’s services and the team work closely together to ensure that cases are dealt with appropriately in a timely, cost-effective and productive manner, making best use of the resources available. Clearly, that is being provided under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 and a process has to be followed.”
“Of course, that means that those people almost certainly ended up returning to the streets, which is precisely not what we want. It is right that people who come to this country, make it their home, contribute to the economy, work, pay their taxes and settle here should not have recourse to public funds in normal circumstances. That gives rise to the view among the public that people are making a direct contribution to the UK. However, the circumstances of the pandemic have changed things and we should recognise that. People who have NRPF clearly have difficulty in finding another job and they can then end up being destitute, and if their family is destitute, that is a disaster.”
“It is an honour to follow the right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), who set out the complicated nature of this problem that the Government face. I will not repeat all the statistics he gave, particularly in view of the time. The Minister for Immigration, who is on the Front Bench today, will recall that during the pandemic, the Everyone In project brought everybody off the streets, regardless of whether or not they had no recourse to public funds. However, we did not capture the data on those who had no recourse to public funds who were supported. When the Select Committee on Levelling-up, Housing and Communities took evidence, the Minister at the time could not even tell us how many people being housed under that scheme had no recourse to public funds.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Does he agree that the Windsor framework potentially gives the people of Northern Ireland the opportunity to trade with the Republic, as well as the rest of the United Kingdom?”
“I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Clearly, the culture and performance of regulators is one key consideration for firms when they choose to invest in the UK. What steps is he going to take to introduce key performance indicators for financial regulators to report on their delivery against the new growth and competitiveness objective in the Financial Services and Markets Bill? Is he considering adding any measures to the Bill that would strengthen the independent scrutiny of regulators?”
“Further to the excellent question from my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich East (Nicola Richards), Vahid Beheshti has now been on hunger strike for 69 days. He has had a meeting with the Foreign Office Minister for the area responsible, but he has not had a meeting with the Foreign Secretary, so may I urge my right hon. Friend—Vahid Beheshti is just across the road from the Foreign Office—to have a meeting with him on his route back to the Foreign Office? He will tell my right hon. Friend about the malign activities carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in this country and about the threat to UK citizens.”
“I thank my right hon. Friend for giving the House an update on the position in Ukraine. Clearly, we are going to be involved in providing more and more sophisticated weaponry and support to the Ukrainians. What role will our armed forces play in both this country and Ukraine in delivering those munitions and armaments, and will we get involved in an escalation of the war with Russia?”
“Let us have a vote on that, so that the Government can support it and then make it actuality.”
“I too was at St James’ Park, and I am still getting over it. At least Tottenham are refunding the gate money after that game. Today is the 64th day that Vahid Beheshti is on hunger strike opposite the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Last week, together with 125 other Members of both Houses, I wrote to the Prime Minister about the hunger strike. The letter was copied to the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, and drew attention to the plight of the poor people in Iran, and the need to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety. I am pleased that Mr Beheshti had a meeting with Lord Ahmad and the Security Minister relatively recently, but there is still no action from the Government. Can we have a debate in Government time on what measures we will take to proscribe the IRGC in its entirety?”
“I commend my right hon. Friend on the progress he is making and the calm way in which he is operating in very difficult circumstances. Clearly, we have a large number of UK nationals in Sudan and it is difficult for them to move around, let alone be airlifted out. What actions is he taking to enable our citizens to get away from Sudan by road or sea, if that is what they wish to do?”
“We would all encourage people to vape instead of smoke, but we do not know the long-term health impact of vaping at all. Reports suggest that one in seven young people are taking up vaping directly and therefore becoming addicted to nicotine, the most addictive drug known to humankind. What measures will my hon. Friend take to make sure that young people understand the risks of vaping?”
“I declare an interest in the issue of older workers. In addition to encouraging people who are 50-plus to get into work, it is also important that employers understand that such people have immense experience and capability to add to their organisations. What more is the Minister going to do to ensure that companies, and all sorts of employers, take the opportunity to employ older workers, as they can provide great benefit to their firms?”
“Nevertheless, we have been elevated to this Chamber as a result, and I am glad to see many Members here to contribute to the debate. At this time of year, we of course remember the late Sir David Amess, who would give a valedictory performance in these debates. I am afraid that I will not attempt to cover the number of subjects that he normally covered—”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming adjournment. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I place on the record my thanks to Madam Deputy Speaker for allowing flexibility this afternoon, enabling us literally to move from one debate to another, rather than this second debate starting strictly at 3 pm, as would normally be the case. That flexibility allows Members to contribute and indeed allows us to have a full and proper debate. The only shame, of course, is that the Government have chosen to put on a debate in the main Chamber today on a very important topic—the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement—rather than allowing us to debate these matters there.”
“That highlights how important the Bill is to the supported housing sphere. I have been lucky to visit India on several occasions recently, and I am pleased to have met a wide range of people: Government officials, ambassadors, businessmen and women, and the general public. It is clear that both countries are extremely supportive of the potential for the India-UK free trade deal. We are now on the eighth round of talks on the deal. Although we were promised it would be signed by Diwali last year, let us hope it will come into operation by Diwali this year. I chair the all- party parliamentary group for India (Trade and Investment). We plan a delegation in the very near future, and I am sure that parliamentarians will continue to strengthen and champion relations between the countries.”
“I have raised this matter already with the Education Secretary. I trust that her Department and the Government will continue to look at the opportunity. I am pleased that my private Member’s Bill—the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Bill—has gone through the Commons and will enter the other place on 21 April. I have been consulting local authorities, providers and stakeholders in the sector regularly to continue resolving any concerns or questions they have. I hope my Bill will fly through the other place. Lord Best is piloting it, as he did for my previous private Member’s Bill. It is crucial that rogue landlords are regulated to protect vulnerable tenants from exploitation. I recently learned of two tragic homicides as a result of irresponsible and negligent landlords.”
“I commend the bravery of the officials at the high commission, who, rather than protect themselves during the attack, simply replaced the flag with an even bigger version, demonstrating that they would not be cowed by the demonstration. Last week, I welcomed a group of Romanian MPs and ambassadors to Parliament for a series of meetings on Romania. They also participated in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office conference to strengthen our bilateral relations. In Harrow East alone, we have 11,000 Romanians, who contribute positively to society and our economy. One thing that shocked me was the lack of a Romanian GCSE in this country, despite the fact that there are about 350,000 Romanian young people living here. There is already a Polish GCSE, so why are we discriminating against our Romanian friends?”
“I was very careful about my words—I said that these were Khalistani militants—but sadly the people who put subtitles on social media decided to substitute “Sikh” for “Khalistani”. I made it very clear that the vast majority of Sikhs in this country are law-abiding citizens who behave properly and appropriately. Indeed, this country owes a big debt to the Sikh community for coming to our aid during the great war and the second world war. The fact is that these militants operate across Canada, the United States and Australia at the same time. We are harbouring a number of organisations that are proscribed by India—our friend. They are terrorists, and they should be proscribed and prevented from taking further action.”
“I will continue to urge the Government to include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of proscribed terrorist organisations and to work with our international counterparts to ensure that further sanctions are placed on Iran without delay. The recent attack on the Indian high commission was more than just a hullabaloo. The hooliganism of some Khalistani demonstrators outside the Indian high commission is a disgrace to this country. This is the sixth time in as many years that it has been attacked in a similar way. Security guards were injured, windows were smashed, an attempt was made to remove the tricolour, and further damage was caused. I drew attention to that at business questions last week.”
“In 2015, Iran launched a 40-rocket attack against Ashraf 2, the camp’s previous home, sited in Iraq, leaving 24 dead and forcing the other refugees to move to Albania. Albania does not always get good press in this place, but let us thank the Albanian Government for allowing Ashraf 3 to be set up and enabling those refugees to settle. I unreservedly condemn the Government of Iran’s actions in suppressing the protests in their country, and I deplore the violent behaviour of the Iranian police. I continue to be deeply concerned by reports of threats made to organisations in the UK that support the rights of protesters in Iran.”
“The list of Home Office cases with which my office is dealing is down from more than 180 to 26. We are still struggling with some long-standing cases, which are more complicated—the oldest started on 23 July 2021—and urgent and last-minute cases, one of which was referred to in the main Chamber this morning, on matters such as urgent visas, funerals and fast-track services that are not being dealt with in the time promised. As the protests in Iran rage on, I visited the Iranian Ashraf 3 refugee camp last month to meet Maryam Rajavi. It was deeply overwhelming to visit the museum that details the torture and deaths of as many as 120,000 MEK—Mojahedin-e-Khalq—supporters over the years of struggle for a democratic Iran.”
“All those were sent to the Mayor’s office some months ago but, instead of a personalised response answering each constituent’s concerns, in a Kafkaesque move, we received a generic send-to-all copy-and-paste, and now we are simply being ignored when we send chasers. I am pleased to have launched a ULEZ poll and petition. In just three weeks, we have had more than 250 responses. Surprise, surprise: 96% do not support the ULEZ expansion, with only 10 people—none of them with a car—saying that they do support it. More than 260 people have now signed the petition calling on the Mayor to reverse the ULEZ expansion to Harrow. Despite that, cameras are going up across the borough, to the obvious dissatisfaction of residents. To good news once again, Mr Mundell: Home Office responses to casework are improving.”