Yesterday was #WorldRefugeeDay and I was lucky enough to be invited by the UNHCR to Speaker’s House in Parliament to hear actors and poets, joined by Lord Alf Dubs, recite and perform to mark the day. Despite the happy event, yesterday was a day characterised by sadness – it provided a sobering reminder of how…
The key to breaking up the old boy network? Job-shares in the Labour Party
The Labour Party should be leading the way in promoting best practise in labour conditions. But in terms of promoting job-sharing, Labour is still years behind. With local elections in many areas coming up, and the reallocation of Labour group and local council positions, now is a good time to make the case for job-sharing. Job-sharing…
“When we are elected in May we will oppose a damaging Tory hard Brexit”, my speech to Wandsworth Council
It’s been 20 months since the EU referendum – a referendum that was not called in the national interest but to settle Tory party divisions and satisfy the personal ambitions of a handful of boys from the same boys’ club. Since then, we have had a serious devaluation of our currency. We have turned ourselves…
On National Offer Day, Wandsworth Labour promises it will ensure a fair provision of school places across the borough
Today is National Offer Day, when parents and children learn which school place they have been allocated by Wandsworth Council for September and I’m one of them! This September my middle child will be going to secondary school so like many other parents in the borough I am eager to be told he’s got his…
Owen Jones urges voters to help him “turn Wandsworth Council red”
Winning Wandsworth for Labour is not only something your local Labour team is dedicated to acheiving, it’s also something Owen Jones has put his weight behind. Watch this film to see why turning Wandsworth red is so important to Owen, to Sadiq Khan, Rosena Allin-Khan, Marsha de Cordova, Keir Starmer and Alf Dubs. https://www.crowdpac.co.uk/campaigns/5420/wandsworth-labour Wandsworth…
Celebrating 100 years of female suffrage #usethevotetheyfoughtfor
100 years ago today the first British women (those over 30, with property) were able to vote for the first time. The Representation of The People Act added 8.5 million women to the electoral roll. It also gave the vote to 5.6 million more men after their voting age was lowered to 21, and the…
After May’s reshuffle, can we have any confidence that the PM has the leadership skills to negotiate Brexit?
Here’s why I don’t think so. In office, but not in power…
Look what Wandsworth Council did to our common to try to save a few bob (at a cost of £80K)
The chopping down of Chestnut Avenue is emblematic of what austerity actually means for people. If you want to see the impact of cuts, walk down Chestnut Avenue… That this environmental vandalism, for the sake of saving a few bob, cost over £80k, is a scandal.
My highs and lows of 2017…in pictures
In January, over two thirds of the 80 homeless families who live in the Nightingale Square shelter – the largest homeless shelter in the borough – signed a petition asking for some play facilities for their children on a small area of disused tarmac. In January there were 113 children living in Nightingale Square…
2,588 Wandsworth children will be homeless this Christmas
This Christmas there will be 2,588 homeless children in Wandsworth, an increase of almost 400 on last Christmas, according to figures released by Wandsworth Council. As well as homelessness, foodbank use in the borough is also increasing. Wandsworth Foodbank described it as “sad beyond words” that on December 15 more households visited their Battersea St…
“Confidentially agreements, untruths, shifting sands, tall walls, guard dogs were all put in place to ensure the Council, not its residents, would be calling the shots”, speech by Cllr Candida Jones to Council
Last night, I went to a public meeting in Putney about the impact of government cuts to schools budgets which will mean schools in this borough will be worse off by over £9m over the next 3 years. Not a single Tory cllr was there. Justine Greening, MP for Putney and Secretary of State for…
Wandsworth; a disconnected Council that’s forgotten how to listen
The sad spectacle of Chestnut Avenue has touched everyone in our community. Just today I spoke to two local Tory voters on the avenue, both of whom vowed never to vote Tory again. The beautiful chestnut trees are gone but what has replaced them feels like a permanent rebuke from a Council that no longer…
