21/06/2024
Tom sadly cannot attend this evening's hustings in Patcham, but he prepared answers in the earlier hope of attending. We also sent the answers to the organisers so they could be read out at the event. Please find the answers below.
1. RAW SEWAGE FLOODING IN PATCHAM
Labour is the only party who will come down hard on water companies. I’m shocked at how little has been done over the course of the past decades to alleviate this situation when we know that flooding is becoming more profound with climate change. What have our councillors and MP been doing? I would be looking for possible changes to regulation to make water companies responsible for waste that joins surface water via open sewers. The Labour Party is already committed to changing all of our planning law and only a Labour Government focused on failing water companies can begin to fix this mess.
2. ROYAL MAIL’S PROPOSED DEPOT ON PATCHAM’S LEGALLY PROTECTED AQUIFER
Let us not forget why we are in this situation. Our local authority, under both the previous Green administration and the present Labour one, have needed to look at capital projects to raise funds because the Tory Government have defunded our local authority to the tune of £100 million since 2010. Our Council very nearly went bankrupt last year, and it was only through careful planning that we succeeded in keeping our frontline services afloat. Going bankrupt would imperil social care, libraries, housing and waste management to name just a few services our Council provides. Local authorities with long-term financial settlements from central government are the best way to ensure they don’t need to sell off land and assets to cover basic costs. Only delivering a Labour Government will take this pressure off our Council. A vote for Labour is a vote for funded local authorities who, hopefully, do not need cash from land sales going forward.
I have never expressed any support for the PCF development. Live planning applications are guided by process and regulation, not by politics. Politicians who wish to pretend they can influence them are cynical and using the situation for political gain. I’m not a career politician and this kind of behaviour is simply not for me. Of the existing objections, I am concerned about potential noise, pollution, traffic and flooding risks. Drinking water is treated and cleared before it is supplied to our taps. Significant construction on the ‘aquifer’ like the A27, and much of Patcham’s housing, has never damaged our water supply so I’m concerned our community is being made to feel anxious and fearful unnecessarily. If elected on 4 July I will do everything in my power to protect Patcham residents and every member of the community and I will be writing to planning to make clear that the community’s objections should be given correct and due consideration and keeping a very close eye on how transparently such objections are dealt with. If that is not so, that is when I will object.
3. HEALTHCARE
We need to ensure the NHS can serve us now and in the future. Labour will cut NHS waiting times by creating 40,000 more appointments a week and restoring the 18-week referral to treatment standard. We will add 8,500 new mental health staff and launch Young Futures hubs for open access mental health services for children and young people. We’ll bring back the family GP and make sure kids can see an NHS dentist. Additionally, we aim to build consensus for a National Care Service. We must focus of prevention to stop every part of the system being overwhelmed, as it is now.
4. HOUSING
We’ve got to fix our housing crisis. We’ll protect renters: ban ‘no fault’ evictions, enable renters to challenge unreasonable rent increases, and hold landlords to high standards to protect the welfare of their tenants. We’ll build 1.5 million new homes – with first dibs for first-time buyers and a mortgage scheme so they won’t need a huge deposit to get started. Airbnbs have significantly reduced housing availability in Brighton, driving up rents and making it difficult to find affordable housing. I have always advocated for a licensing scheme and commend our Labour council’s work to license landlords.
5. MIGRATION
Labour will boost Britain’s skills by joining-up Whitehall systems to spot and tackle skills shortages – so we can fire up skills training rather than look overseas to fill skills’ gaps and end the days of sectors languishing on the shortage of skills list without a plan to deal with the problem.
We will reform the points-based immigration system, bringing down migration. We will instruct the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to partner with other government agencies to ensure joined-up action to deliver the skills needed for growth, including priority sectors for our industrial strategy. We will work to reduce the need for international recruitment, boost per-capita growth, and ensure quick responses to changes in the labour market.
New powers to ban hiring from overseas for employers and recruitment agencies who break employment law. An end to workplace exploitation, where migration is used as a way to undercut the terms and conditions of workers here.
6. ENVIRONMENT
Brighton’s Green Council neither had a Net Zero plan in place nor claimed a single penny of the Government’s multi-billion-pound Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which could have been used to decarbonise any of our local infrastructure. Bristol’s last Labour Council, on the other hand, has had a net zero plan in place for their city for 5 years. The Greens are simply not to be trusted to exercise power.
Labour have a green prosperity plan to decarbonise our national grid by 2030, build windfarms at speed and place a huge windfall tax on our gas and oil giants. We have an industrial strategy with decarbonisation at its heart creating 500,000 new skilled jobs. When I was a touring musician, my band attempted the first carbon-neutral tour of the united states 18 years ago. I think politicians should be judged by their actions not their words. The climate emergency is real and only a Labour Government will answer its call.
7. EDUCATION
We’re introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, driving up attendance, standards and making sure every child starts their day with food in their stomachs. We will provide mental health support in schools & communities for all our young people. We’ll put over 6,500 more teachers in schools and make sure everyone in our schools is treated with the respect they deserve. We’re introducing a broader and richer curriculum and a full review of how it’s assessed. Music and art is going to be cherished once again in our schools. We haven't finalised any plans as yet for universities.
8. COST OF LIVING CRISIS
With the creation of GB Energy, our publicly owned energy company, we will move to immediately lower everyone’s energy bills. We’re going to allow private renters to challenge rent increases and stop bidding wars. We’re going to make the minimum wage, a genuine living wage. Labour will end ‘one sided’ flexibility and ensure all jobs provide a baseline level of security and predictability, banning exploitative zero hours contracts and ensuring everyone has the right to have a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work. We’ll end ‘fire and rehire’. This will help working people to be able to plan and save for the future with security in their pay and terms. Also, we’ll provide economic stability, so inflation is kept down, and interest rates return to lower levels, so pressure is taken off your mortgage repayments.
9. GAZA
Recent events have been harrowing and extremely difficult to bear witness to. I have long backed an immediate ceasefire. The ICC guidelines must be followed. The offensive must stop. It’s imperative that the UN Security Council-endorsed ceasefire resolution is agreed and implemented immediately. Once it has, leaders must restart the peace process. That means sovereignty and security for Palestine and Israel in a two-state solution. Labour will recognise Palestine. We must commit time, energy and resource to finding lasting, sustainable peace in the region. This cannot go on.
