new Labour - the Party of Government

A busy week.. Keeping an eye on the health debate, Celebrating a 100 years of Women in Public Life

I have had a busy but every enjoyable Shoreham-related week. 

On Monday, Ricky Daniel and I attended the final West Sussex PCT public consultation meeting on the Fit for the Future proposals, held in Pulborough.  I was very interested to discover that the PCT is listening closely to the concerns about the implications of the proposals for local hospitals that the public has expressed. At the meeting John Wilderspin of the PCT made it clear that alternatives to the three proposals in the document are being actively considered – new suggestions that could mean significantly more accident and emergency services being retained at Worthing Hospital.  Sir Graham Catto, the President of the General Medical Council, has been appointed the chair of a new options assessment panel to look at new options.  I strongly urge the clinicians at Worthing to take advantage of this opportunity to press for a rethink, to ensure the best balanced configuration of local services and regional centres of excellence.

But it is worth remembering that these reconfiguration proposals come against the background of huge increases in public spending on the NHS locally and nationally. It is simply wrong to suggest that these are ‘cuts’- and politically inspired scaremongering to imply that our hospitals are ‘at risk’.  Remember; since the NHS was founded nearly sixty years ago there have been profound changes on medicine and medical technology which demand new types of treatment in new facilities.  Thousands more lives of stroke and heart attack victims are saved because of these advances, for example, because serious cases get access to high-tech specialist case in centres of excellence that could only have been dreamed about ten years ago.

At the same time, many treatments can and should be delivered closer to home – including debilitating radiotherapy or chemotherapy for example.  And it is entirely right for residents in a predominantly rural area like West Sussex to have concerns about journey times.  The PCT undertook a public consultation – and local people need to feel their legitimate concerns are being listened to.

All of these factors and many more need to be balanced up by the PCT.  With the Catto panel there is a welcome chance to look again at all the options and their implications. I feel that only with the Clinicians, Politicians and the public working together can we secure the best possible outcome for the people of West Sussex.

Then on Tuesday I was privileged to attend a wonderful event in Worthing hosted by the Mayor of Worthing. It was an afternoon celebrating 100 years of Women in Public Life, as this year marks 100 years since Women were elected into local government bodies. During the afternoon, I was privileged to hear speeches from Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone - Virginia Bottomley - who had some amusing tales of her political career, and the artist Rosa Branson. Also present was Jo Swinson MP, the current youngest MP of the house, and she was very supportive of my candidature and efforts to get young people involved, which was really nice of her. I was honoured to be invited to do a ‘talking heads’ session with the mayor on stage, where I got the chance to talk about some of the women in my family who were involved in politics, and also my hopes for democracy in Worthing today. We have made great strides in getting more Women into local and national bodies, but we have much more to do with women still being heavily under-represented (only 3 in 10 councillors are women). As is the case with getting more young people, and those from different ethnic minorities, we need to work to make representative bodies more representative of those they serve.

After a rehearsal all night on Wednesday, on Thursday I was invited to Oxford University to speak to the students at the Labour Club. While I felt apprehensive, as of course I am only now applying to the university, I had a great time and met some fascinating and engaging people. They asked some very taxing questions, and I hope I dealt with them well. I have been invited to other schools to talk about my experiences so far, which while it has not been easy, has been enjoyable and rewarding.

Don’t forget I want to keep hearing from all of you, just get in touch.

Hope you are all well,

Emily

+One World Week is launched at Shoreham Library

Hi Everyone,

I had a great morning today, as I went to Shoreham Library for the opening of the Churches Together’s ‘One World Week’ in Shoreham Library. I urge all of you who can to take part in the many events being run next week, at local churches, and to look at the exhibition in the library. I also had my carbon footprint calculated! While I was relieved that it was well below the national average, I’m well aware that there is still work to do to minimise the level of waste my house produces!

It is fantastic to see community groups taking the lead in what is one of the most pressing issues for humankind we face today. This is not a party political issue – this is a moral issue, so I was glad both I and Tim Loughton were able to be there to lend our support. Governments can only do so much, individuals and communities have to play their part – as they are doing in Shoreham this week.

The event was timely as just last week the Nobel Peace Prize jury decided to nominate both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change and former US Vice President Al Gore for the Nobel Peace Prize. They have recognised how we are going to have to work together as ‘one world’ to tackle this problem and that future peace can only be safeguarded if climate change is dealt with.

It’s been slightly disappointing reading some mis-information about me in the press. I did not attend a comprehensive from 11-14, I attended Wallington High School for Girls until I was 16. Wallington is full of fantastic students and I respect and miss them greatly. Unfortunately this paper had completely misread my previous blog on education, (which referred to my primary school) and did not bother to talk to me before printing. I moved to Saint Olaves last year, when I was 16 for 6th form, so I could study Latin for A level.

I hope you saw my letter to the Worthing Herald, in response to a letter the previous week from ‘let-down-of-Findon’. I know that there will be lots of questions about my age. But as I wrote in my reply,
the real question is not how old I am, but do I have what it takes to represent the interests of everyone in the area – not just the people who might vote for me, but everyone else in the constituency, as a good MP has to do.

I’ve even had some hate mail, (some sent via my school), much of which I have found amusing! I assure you neither I or my family are Russian spies, nor am I planning on ‘flashing my drawers’ to any men. I’m going to post more on this in a later blog, so will say more then. Thank you to all of you who have been so kind as to send messages of support – they are really appreciated, and help keep me energised and positive.

I’m looking forward to the next events I’m going to in the constituency. On Wednesday, the Worthing Youth Council has invited me to the launch of their Use It Don’t Abuse It project showing the film that young people have produced, written and acted in, and then, the next week, a celebration of ‘Women in Worthing’ for which I’ve had the pleasure of proposing Joy Hurcombe from EWAS (East Worthing Branch) Joy has been a bedrock of the local Party and has been responsible for the management of our local Labour Hall , a very well used local community asset.  She was also responsible for bringing to the public notice the story of the “local volunteers” who served in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, as well as the plight of Basque children who were welcomed into the local society.

Both of these are positive events, recognising the involvement of both individuals and the community in helping and supporting others. I’ll post again to tell you how they went.

That’s all for now, hope to see you out on the campaign trail!

Emily

Now that was a good conference!

Last week I took the Labour campaign for East Worthing and Shoreham to the party’s Annual Conference in Bournemouth.  I was lucky enough to be called to speak in the debate on prosperity and work on Tuesday afternoon – the day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave his fantastic address in which he set out his vision for our country.

In my speech I tried to get over just how important the last ten years of Labour have been for the people of East Worthing and Shoreham – the minimum wage, increased maternity and paternity rights, the New Deal among the many, many measures which have helped make people’s lives easier.  I pointed to the huge investments in health and education, which have helped transform educational achievement, and led to huge improvements in the treatment of, and the survival rates from, heart disease and cancer.

But as I said too, there is a lot left to do.  Too many young people – among them some of the friends I went to primary school with – still leave school at 16, unmotivated and disillusioned.  They don’t seem to believe that further education or training is for them.  So the really good achievements we get at 11 often seem to fall away.  Something is going wrong when young people don’t feel they have a stake in society.

And we need to take a long hard look at social care, about how we as a society treat senior citizens, whether the range of services is sufficient to enable older people to retain their independence for as long as possible, and whether the care they receive when they need to have more residential support is as good as it could be.

Above all, we need to address the issue of housing – as pressing in East Worthing and Shoreham as in other parts of the country.  It cannot be right that young people are priced out of the housing market, that key workers find it impossible to find accommodation at a price they can afford near their place of work, that social housing is too often not on offer to people who need it.  We need a housing revolution in this country, with government, local councils, housing associations and private builders all playing their part.

I was lucky enough to be interviewed by some of the TV, radio and print journalists covering conference, and I tried in those interviews to get some of these points across.

It’s true that many journalists picked up on the fact that I am the youngest candidate ever selected – but I tried to make it clear that being selected as the Labour candidate is a fantastic honour, and that I am going the use this wonderful opportunity to listen to the people of this constituency and help them make their voices count.

I may be young, but this campaign can be a symbol of what a new generation can do in partnership with people of all ages.  We can challenge cynicism, we can defeat disillusionment.  We can raise turnout as we show that politics matters to everyone.

No one knows when the next election is going to be – but we need to start campaigning in East Worthing and Shoreham now.  If you would like to help my campaign, please contact me via.
I came down to East Worthing and Shoreham today to meet Labour Party members – and to visit our Constituency Secretary Andy Bray, who is in hospital.  All of us wish Andy a speedy recovery and send him our best.

I will post details of my next campaigning visit later this week.  I hope to see you then.

Excluded from the Future, the waste of Potential

Excluded from the Future, the waste of Potential

I’ve just finished my last ever ‘first week’ back at school. As I start my 14th year of schooling, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the education system, its strengths and its weaknesses.

After all the annual fuss about A-levels getting too easy (which I can assure you, they are not), It seems funny to me that such a great amount of time is being spent on the 3% of people who get 3 As at A-level. But what about the million young people who have dropped out of the education system, are jobless and with little prospects for future success?

I think undoubtedly there have been remarkable achievements and great progress has been made in the Education sector during the past 10 years. Standards have gone up, results are improving, there is record investment and decrepit buildings have been transformed into new schools. But there is still work to do, as many young people don’t get the sufficient support they need to fulfil their potential. And this is a waste I am not prepared to accept.

Let me use my area as an example. I live in South Norwood, and area of South London between Croydon and Brixton. One of the most deprived areas of London, it has a high proportion of children living in poverty, with English as a second language the norm in a huge number of homes.

When I left my local primary school, I left with my classmates getting very good SATs results, and looking forward to getting good GCSE results in 5 years time. But something went wrong along the way.

I went off to a girl’s school some distance away, while the others mostly went to the local comprehensive. While this is a fast-improving school under an inspirational Head, last year over 40% of pupils still left without 5 GCSEs. What prospects do these students have?  The sixth-form provision in Croydon is shocking, with under-performing colleges or religious schools the only options.

I see them now hanging around the local parks, greens and alleyways. Most are in gangs, many are carrying knives and guns. Once they left after year 11 most have drifted for a year, with no further training or jobs. Once out of the system, it’s much harder to get back into training or education, and as I’ve said the options are severely limited around here. As a result, youth crime is a serious problem around this area, as is the supply and use of illegal drugs.

The school did not do enough to motivate and support those students. In having to deal with such a wide range of problems with children from deprived areas, focus was taken away from pushing thosemore academic students. The culture of schools like this has to change to recognise that it is so important to support those children who have the talent to succeed. And as more do well, it gives a fantastic example to other students that they can also achieve.

Of course there are success stories, but these are expectations rather than the norm. And most of them have succeeded despite the school, rather than with it. I was lucky in having parental support throughout my exams and school career. But not every child gets that structure at home, and thus the school has to provide it, or we will continue to see this waste of potential.

I don’t have the answers; it’s a complicated issue with differing opinions. Regardless however, something has to be done to help motivate the thousands of young people who need help the most. It is the same in many other deprived areas, including in EWAS. If you want to halt the trends of youth crime, education is absolutely vital. And allowing these children to drift through without fulfilling their own potential is something we should all feel guilty about., because we could really make a difference We have to provide the education and training systems, the out of school support and leisure facilities that can deal with the day to day challenges of life in deprived or marginalised communities. It should be our highest priority to focus resources on providing the context, support and training that will give the future back to these children. They will re-build their community from within in a way that no external agency can. And that is in all our interests.

A day out in our constituency

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would use this first post to talk a bit about one of my visits to the constituency last week - I had a great time looking around, getting a feel for the constituency. I saw for myself the issues I’ve been researching.

I started off with a visit to Shoreham’s historic airport (under the low railway bridge - lucky I was in a low car!) and its surrounding area.
Next stop: Shoreham beach, with that fantastic view from the footbridge. I then dropped in to the Adur Civic Centre.

Adur Civic Centre

Here I was able to chat to some of the friendly and helpful staff, and I picked up a lot of vital local literature, including the Fit for the Future consultation documentation.

Shoreham Community Centre

From there, I walked to the Shoreham Health Centre (passing a famous ‘KWASH sign’, which I’ll talk about later), and the Community Centre, to see what sort of local community groups were active. Then on to Worthing, where I visited the Labour Hall, and walked around the western wards of the constituency. 

Labour Hall

I was frustrated, however, by my quest to establish the exact boundaries of the constituency. At the Adur Civic Centre, I met with a very helpful man in election services, but he didn’t know the boundary (though he was able to provide me with lots of information on turnout). So, I moved on from there to Worthing – to the other council – where they didn’t know either, suggesting I try Adur! Finally, at Shoreham library, another very helpful man was able to reveal the exact boundaries. I was struck by how much of a problem, on a relatively small but fundamental issue, was caused by having two councils in the same constituency. I’ve been thinking about this, and will post more thoughts on a later blog.

I’m really eager to hear from all local members about issues they are concerned – or positive – about, so I can gain a thorough understanding of the issues local people want addressed. My email is emily_benn@hotmail.com, and you can call me anytime on 07990 946 350 – leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Huge thanks to those that have got this fantastic website up and running – its great to have a space to post and write thoughts for a wider audience!

More later…

Emily Benn