Risley Avenue Breakfast Club

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I visited Risley Avenue Primary School to see its new government-funded free breakfast club, which is helping to give children a positive start to the school day while supporting families with the cost of living.

The school has worked in partnership with the charity Magic Breakfast for several years to provide nutritious breakfasts and enrichment activities for pupils, creating a welcoming and supportive environment before lessons begin. Thanks to new funding through the Best Start free breakfast clubs programme, the club is now available free of charge to all families, helping to remove barriers to access and reduce stigma.

At the drop off, I met Idris, a working parent who previously couldn’t afford the cost of the club. He told me that, now, he can get to work on time and see his kids happy, energised, and enjoying a positive start to the day.

It was fantastic to see how the Risley Avenue Primary School community continues to place community support and children’s wellbeing at the heart of its work, providing not just education, but a wider network of care for local families.

Watch the video here!

Celebrating North Middlesex Uni Hospital

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This post is dedicated to the wonderful NHS team at North Middlesex University Hospital and all their hard work.

To celebrate International Nurses Day, I visited the North Mid to meet some of their fantastic nursing team on an inpatient ward and in the A&E department.

It was lovely to see the kindness, compassion, and care they gave to patients, as well as the organisation and planning that goes into running a hospital smoothly.

Thank you to each and every incredible nurse across Southgate & Wood Green.

Southgate Celebrates Festival

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Let’s celebrate Southgate!

It was wonderful to join Southgate District Civic Voice at their celebratory festival in Southgate’s Pocket Park.

This fantastic community event brought residents together through art, culture, and creativity and offered free workshops for all ages. It was wonderful to see so many people from across the community coming together to celebrate local talent and enjoy such a vibrant and welcoming event. Initiatives like this play a vital role in strengthening community spirit and supporting Southgate’s cultural life.

Well done Southgate District Civic Voice!

Mental Health Awareness Week

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This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and the theme this year is action, because while awareness matters, real change only comes when we act on it. 

To mark this, I met with my constituent, Alina Marinca, who has just finished an outstanding research project on children’s mental health. Too many young people in our community are struggling to access the support they need, whether through schools, GPs or specialist services, and the waiting times have been too long for too many years. I wanted to hear directly about their experience and what needs to change to deliver more effective mental health support for our young people. From speaking to Alina, it was insightful to hear more about the impacts of sleep disturbance as an underlying factor for many mental health conditions, and the role that social media can play in impacting mental health.

If you or your family are affected by mental health difficulties, I would encourage you to reach out. You can contact your GP, or call the NHS mental health helpline on 111 and select the mental health option.

Young people can also access support through Young Minds (youngminds.org.uk) or by texting YM to 85258. And as always, if you would like to discuss mental health services in our area or share your insights, please do send me an email. 

Debt Relief Roundtable with the Zambian High Commission

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Today, I visited the Zambian High Commission, to speak to members of the African Union Heads of Mission about my Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Private Member’s Bill. The discussion provided a good opportunity to get together with civil society groups and High Commissioners, and work together on bringing the Bill to the forefront of debate on international development in the new parliamentary session.

Many low and middle-income countries are spending more on servicing their debt than on healthcare or education, at a time when the withdrawal of US development funding is leaving the poorest nations more exposed to crises than at any point in recent memory. My Bill seeks to regulate the recovery of sovereign debts owed by developing countries, preventing private creditors from using UK courts to extract full repayment from nations that have defaulted on unsustainable debt and agreed new repayment terms with bilateral or multilateral creditors,  building on the principles established by the original Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act 2010 that was implemented by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

With the King’s Speech this week confirming that the Government will use next year’s G20 Presidency to drive global growth and reinforce global stability, I will be pressing for debt relief to be a central part of that agenda, and I look forward to reintroducing the Bill in this new parliamentary session.

Meeting with Director of Education Cannot Wait

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It was great to meet with Maysa Jalbout, the new Director of Education Cannot Wait, the UN’s global fund for education in emergencies, to discuss the UK’s ongoing commitment to children whose education has been disrupted by conflict, displacement, and climate disasters.

The UK is a founding donor of ECW and has committed £80 million over the period 2023 to 2026, making it the fund’s second-largest donor after Germany. Since its inception, ECW has reached 14 million children across 33 crisis-affected countries, with over half of them being girls.

At a time when more than 230 million school-age children worldwide are affected by crises, the work of ECW has never been more important. As Chair of the APPG for Global Education, I will continue to press for the UK to maintain its leadership on this issue, and I look forward to working with parliamentarians and civil society leaders to ensure education in emergencies remains a priority as the UK prepares to host the G20 Summit next year.

UN Tax Convention

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Recently, I wrote to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury calling for a review of the UK’s position on the UN Tax Convention.

The UN tax convention is an opportunity for a fair and democratic global tax system, which could raise billions in revenue and reinstate its role and responsibility as a global leader in tackling international tax abuse. With current negotiations going ahead in New York, which are due to end in September 2027, it is vital that the UK show its support. 

I received significant cross-party support for this private letter and am pleased to share both my letter and the Treasury’s response below.

UN Tax Convention letter to the Treasury-Download
HM Treasury response to UN Tax Convention letter. pdfDownload

Petition: Presented!

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The Use of Shops for Illegal Activities petition has now been presented to Parliament!

Many constituents have contacted me concerned that our local authorities have limited powers to tackle illegal activity and that efforts to do so are not always coordinated with local police.

Keep following this page for the next update.

SEND Roundtable

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Today, I hosted a roundtable in Parliament to hear from the real experts on SEND: parents and teachers.

Wonderful to be joined by the Minister for School Standards, Georgia Gould MP, who listened directly to headteachers and parents from Southgate and Wood Green on proposed reforms.

Thank you to everyone who attended and I look forward to following up on your concerns with the Department for Education. Your voices must be heard.

If you have SEND experience, please contribute to the consultation before it closes on the 18th of May: https://consult.education.gov.uk/…/send-reform-putting…/