St Leonard’s Petition
You’ll recall that last week I highlighted my Parliamentary petition asking the Secretary of State to put in place special exam considerations for the pupils at St Leonard’s school.
Although I am still recovering from my cancer surgery, I returned to Parliament to hand it in. It has been signed by thousands of people in Durham. It’s time for the Government to listen, and provide mitigating circumstances for pupils at St Leonard’s for their exams’ this year.
In Westminster
While I was in Westminster, I met with Fr Gabriel – a priest serving in Gaza – who informed MPs of what Palestinians are going through. I had previously raised the killings of two of Fr Gabriel’s parishioners in Parliament.
Listening to Fr Gabriel reinforced my view that we need a ceasefire.
Early Day Motion
I’m sure that you are well aware of my opposition to the two-child limit, which pushes many hard-working families into poverty.
I was pleased to table this EDM, which has been signed by several of my colleagues, calling for it to be reconsidered.
Knife Crime Taskforce
Although I was in Westminster, my team attended the latest meeting of the Northern Echo Knife Crime Task Force on my behalf.
You may well already know, but the Labour Front Bench has held meetings with affected families and representatives from the group, which has gone some way to informing Labour’s policy on knife crime. I was pleased to hear that the group is now considering how it can become a sustainable body moving forward, and how it can have a continuing impact on knife crime in the North East.
As always, I’ll continue to support this important organisation.
Please check in next week for more updates as we head towards polling day for an important set of local elections!
