 This is the second time I have written about the climate but with last week’s announcement from the IPCC and activity in Cornwall from Extinction Rebellion highlighting the threat of rising sea levels and the extinction of marine life, I make no excuses for taking up column inches on the greatest risk we currently face.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have released a new report written by some of the most knowledgeable scientists on the planet which reports that the climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain human life and will worsen as temperatures rise. The report says global heating is increasing droughts, soil erosion and wildfires while diminishing crops in the tropics and thawing permafrost. The report is clear that we face a stark choice. We can continue to destroy forests and keep on with our current intensive farming practices which will in turn intensify the climate crisis. Or we can act now and allow soils and forests to recover and store carbon and cut meat consumption and food waste. It is time to address the climate crisis whilst we can. We have a limited number of years to stop global warming and Cornwall is ideally placed. We are creating a lot of renewable energy and at times our wind turbines need to be turned off as we've reached a maximum download to the grid. We could become self-sufficient for energy but all this government is doing is continuing to focus on fossil fuels that we desperately need to move away from to reduce CO2 emissions. They've increased VAT on renewables and allowed fracking, a hazardous procedure and one which contaminates vast amounts of water. The United Kingdom is now on course to miss carbon reduction targets and a legally binding 15 percent renewable target by 2020. The government are not taking the climate crisis seriously and heading in the opposite direction creating further damage. The temperature of the planet has already increased by nearly one degree and we are approaching a point of no return. Many biologists believe we are living through the sixth major mass extinction where more than 75% of species will become extinct. Whilst the planet burns, our new Prime Minister is spending money like there is a bottomless pit on a possible no deal, having increased money allocated to this to £6 billion. I’m sure the final bill will be much higher. Money that should be spent on addressing the climate crisis, creating a public transport system to help us move away from our reliance on cars, and helping the increasing numbers of people who are living in fuel poverty. A no deal Brexit will affect people who have the least most. Businesses are already suffering, and the pound has hit its lowest level for many years. We are predicted to be nine months away from a recession. There is a will to make change happen and address our climate crisis, many of us are trying to stop flying, reduce car use, change to green energy suppliers, eat locally sourced food, consume less meat and dairy, use seasonal produce and reduce food waste. We can do many things ourselves, but it needs government to respond and at present they only seem to be interested in making a horrid mess of Brexit, and the economy. Governments are best placed to introduce legislation to enable us all to cut down our reliance on fossil fuels and to embed net zero carbon policy at all levels and departments of government. As well as working internationally with other governments to make progress on taking action across the world. Labour have plans for a Green Industrial Revolution that takes the climate crisis seriously which will be good for the planet, people and business. Labour is committed to taking action on the scale that is required to address our climate crisis. We need a Labour government and we need it now. If you would like to contact me my email is felicity.ppclabour@gmail.com
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 The Liberal Democrats have won the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, leaving new PM Boris Johnson with a working majority in Parliament, of one. With many of the current Conservative MPs not prepared to back a no deal Mr Johnson faces more challenges than even Mrs May.
Theresa May cut the police force by 20,000 officers which Mr Johnson obviously realises was a mistake, which he is now reversing. These are not “new” or “extra” police officers, they are being recruited because the Conservatives made a mistake. One of the most stand out comments from a politician this week was when the Home Secretary Priti Patel announced “Quite frankly, with more police officers out there and greater police presence, I want (criminals) to literally feel terror at the thought of committing offences.” The Home Secretary isn't actually planning anything new. Her call for "zero-tolerance policing" is rather an unsubtle message to police officers that they can step up the use of stop and search powers with impunity. After what I would imagine were jaw dropping moments with her advisors Mrs Patel is now trying to distance herself from her wish to bring back capital punishment. Her appointment and her comments really do give reason for us to be scared of Boris Johnson’s premiership. It is a fact that tough words will not bring an end to soaring crime rates but a public health approach preventing crime arising will. Under the Conservatives, students are being priced out of a university education and they have cut the adult skills budget to the bone. The Conservatives have trebled tuition fees to £9,250 and students in this country will graduate with some of the highest debts in the world. This means the poorest students leave university with up to £57,000 worth of debt. They scrapped the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) which supported disadvantaged young people to stay in college, and Education Maintenance Grants, which helped thousands of students with the cost of living. They have cut the funding for further education, with per student spending now at a similar level in real terms to that 30 years previously. The Conservatives have slashed the adult skills budget by 40 per cent since 2010. There has been near 40 per cent fall in learners studying for a level three and four qualification since 2013. Which is not surprising. Through our National Education Service, Labour will invest to ensure that education works for the many, not the few. Labour will:
We will shift the tax burden from low and middle income earners onto the super-rich and large corporations to fund opportunities for all. We will end VAT exemption for private school fees which will pay for free school meals for every primary school child.
The £11 billion is an estimate of the actual revenues currently being paid to universities through fees, and this money will all go directly back into universities so they will not lose out. Education is a right not a privilege. Join Labour to fight for a fairer future. www.labour.org.uk  Boris Johnson as new Leader of the Conservatives and therefore Prime Minister (only because of the support of the DUP, which has cost us 1.5 billion pounds, so far) is bad news for Britain. It signals our move into populist politics where empty words replace reality and honesty. Mr Johnson is promising what he knows he cannot deliver as though he is still performing in the Eton debating society.
Mr Johnson has chosen his cabinet. An extremely right-wing cabinet, which is very disappointing but not totally unexpected. Mr Johnson gave his initial speech to parliament which was all bluff and bluster, but given the choice of people for his cabinet it is easy to see that he only cares about one thing; a NO Deal Brexit which would be disastrous for the UK. Jeremy Corbyn asked him ten questions but he didn’t attempt to answer any of them (which appears to be a Conservative trait). Mr Johnson speaks, promises whatever you want but is always, always short on detail. Let’s have a look at the people appointed to the high offices of state in his new Cabinet, many of whom had to resign previous positions because of being caught out in lies or mismanagement. Dominic Raab His leadership campaign went on the back foot once his voting record was examined together with past statements such as “People using foodbanks are just people with a cash flow problem”. He is famous for not knowing how important trade with France is for the UK and hadn’t read the Good Friday Agreement when he was Secretary of State for exiting the EU. Another member of the Conservatives who is very light on knowledge and fact. He believes “The government should shelve gender pay audits” and doesn’t back equal pay for women. Sajid Javed Sadly, it looks as if Sajid Javid isn’t a fan of the Human Rights Act either, as he voted to scrap it in 2016. He’s consistently voted against raising welfare benefits, including the controversial bedroom tax policy which was taken all the way to the Supreme Court over fears it was breaching the human rights of disabled people. Mr Javid has also regularly voted for mass surveillance of people’s communications and activities, something which can affect our lives and rights in all kinds of ways. Similarly, he’s voted for stricter regulation of trade unions, again something which is protected as part of our human rights. He’s also voted for a stricter asylum system. Priti Patel She has said and I quote “Once they are in the workplace the British are the worst idlers in the world. Leaving the EU would be an opportunity to cut EU and Social protections” This is our new Home Secretary! And she wants to bring back the death penalty. Right wing MP Esther McVey has been given the role of Housing Minister, and this after making such a disaster of Universal Credit. Spreading it out to other areas even knowing it had already caused harm in the pilot areas. The Conservative’s needless austerity programme has caused over 120,000 deaths. Right wing MP Nadine Dorries has been appointed a Junior Health minister. She is known for her gaffes and claimed the Irish border did not exist and has made many racist comments during in her time in office, Then let’s have a look at the new Liberal Democrat leader: Jo Swinson has been elected as leader of the Liberal Democrats and she probably doesn’t want you to be reminded that she was a minister in David Cameron’s Government. She backed the Tories in; Voting for the bedroom tax, starving Councils of funding, cutting payments for people with illness and disability, voting for a paycap on public sector workers, trebling University tuition fees after pledging never to do that and raising VAT while cutting billions in taxes for big business. Same old Tories in disguise with the same broken promises. And locally? Our current MP Steve Double has now decided to back Mr Johnson having previously backed Mark Harper who went out of the leadership race straight away. Mr Double has a record of voting for tax cuts for the wealthy, backing the austerity policies, cutting the nursing bursary and banning free school meals for some children from low income families. The Conservative policies have killed people, are unkind and unnecessary and have wreaked havoc on public services. During their time in power the rich have got richer and the poor poorer. Meanwhile on the side of fairness and helping people the leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn has voted for creating jobs for young people, voted against a reduction in spending on welfare benefits, voted for measures to reduce tax avoidance and evasion, voted against privatising the NHS, voted against University tuition fees, and voted for measures to prevent climate change. This is what I want to see a government in power do. Labour will build a better and fairer Britain.  Brexit has been divisive in our communities and has cost our economy an estimated £600 million a week, making the total cost in excess of £90 billion, which is far in excess of what we pay to the EU. A No Deal Brexit would cause severe damage to UK businesses and some have already suffered losses. The NHS has lost many workers who have not felt their future is secure. One in ten clinical posts in the NHS is currently vacant and loss of EU workers has contributed to this as well as the strength of the euro against the pound. Farmers are struggling to find workers that have traditionally come from Eastern Europe.
Labour accepted the result of the 2016 referendum. In our 2017 manifesto however, Labour committed to oppose a No Deal Brexit and the Conservatives Brexit plans – which threatened jobs, living standards, and the open multicultural society that we value so much. When I have been out canvassing in St Austell and Newquay people who voted leave have said if Remain had won then there would not have been any suggestion of a second referendum and we would have remained. I think this may be a true observation, but it is also worth pointing out that leaving with No Deal was not on the ballot paper. The shadow Brexit team held the Government to account during the process. This helped secure a meaningful vote on their deal, which was then defeated three times, including inflicting the largest ever defeat on any Government. And following their refusal to publish their legal advice, this Government became the first to be held in contempt of Parliament. Labour set out a compromise plan to try to bring the country together based around a customs union, a strong single market relationship and protection of environmental regulations and rights at work. This is a sensible alternative that could bring the country together. But the Prime Minister refused to compromise and was unable to deliver, so we ended cross-party talks. Now the new Prime Minister is threatening a No Deal Brexit, or at best a race to the bottom and a sweetheart deal with Donald Trump: that runs down industry, opens up our NHS and other public services to yet more privatisation, and shreds environmental protections, rights at work and consumer standards. I do not think anyone in this country wants to accept the US food standards with its chlorinated chicken, its higher antibiotic use in animals, its use of growth hormones in animal feed, and GM foods sold without labelling. Our farmers pride themselves on fresh healthy produce and good animal husbandry. A No Deal would bring an estimated £20 billion increase in custom costs. These increased costs will lead to UK goods becoming uncompetitive. The consequences of a No Deal Brexit will have a devastatingly detrimental effect on Ireland and will require a trade border to be established. This is seen as a route to a return of the Troubles in Ireland and not to be countenanced after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 which has achieved peace after decades of violence and turmoil. The new Prime Minister should have the confidence to put their deal, or No Deal, back to the people in a public vote. In those circumstances, Labour would campaign for Remain against either No Deal or a Conservative deal that does not protect the economy and jobs. Labour has a crucial, historic duty to safeguard jobs, rights and living standards. But no Brexit outcome alone can do that. We need a general election. After nine years of austerity, too many people in this country cannot find decent secure well-paid work, and have to rely on public services that have been severely cut back. Our country is ravaged by inequality and rising poverty, huge regional imbalances of investment, and the government is failing to tackle the climate emergency facing us all. That is why we need a Labour government to end austerity and rebuild our country for the many not the few.  This week I want to write about a subject that is becoming ever more critical for us all each day that passes. Action needs to be taken urgently on the environment and climate change.
Energy bills have increased, important energy projects have stalled and we are on course to miss important climate change targets thanks to this government. Labour will stand up for the many by reforming the energy market to keep bills down. We will build a fairer Britain by investing in the infrastructure to safeguard our future energy needs and to provide the jobs of the future. Instead of investing in renewables the Tories have instead decided to press ahead with fracking, even allowing it under National Parks. The United Kingdom is now on course to miss carbon reduction targets and a legally binding 15 percent renewable target by 2020. Labour will stand up for the many by keeping bills down and investing in the energy solutions of the future. I know that Labour will cap average dual-fuel household energy bills at £1,000 a year to protect consumers and to limit price increases. Labour will take energy back into public ownership to make our energy work for consumers, including supporting the creation of publicly owned, locally accountable energy companies and co-operatives to rival existing private energy suppliers, with at least one in every region. The Labour Party backs new nuclear and an expansion of renewable and low-carbon technologies to safeguard our energy security and meet our climate change targets. Labour would introduce a commitment to get 60 per cent of our energy from low carbon or renewable sources by 2030. Air quality improved under the last Labour Government but the Tories have failed to keep this improvement going and have been sued and lost three times in the courts, wasting taxpayers’ money in the process. I want us to see the introduction of a new Clean Air Act for a common set of air standards across the country. Over four million UK households (more than one in ten) were recorded as being in fuel poverty in 2014 and the Government is on course to miss its 2030 fuel poverty target. I welcome the recent action taken by Cornwall Council in declaring a climate change emergency and its subsequent actions to help spread the climate change emergency message to communities and to discuss ways to help. Doing nothing is not an option. We need to act now. In a recent Environment Agency report it was noted that “whole areas of England may have to be abandoned due to the threat of flooding caused by climate change. Communities near the coast or rivers could be forced to move as the country prepares to counter average global temperature rises of up to 4C”. Each of our communities needs to be informed and educated about what we can all do to help.  Felicity Owen column for 10th July 2019
Under the Tories our NHS is in crisis. Patients are waiting for hours in overcrowded A&Es, waiting lists are rising and hospitals are facing huge financial problems. Only Labour will stand up for the NHS. We will always give the NHS the money it needs and will join up services from home to hospital with a properly integrated health and social care service. Hospitals are in financial crisis. Trusts ended the last year hundreds of millions of pounds in deficit. Under the Tories, spending on mental health fell by £600m between 2010 and 2015 and there are over 5,000 fewer mental health nurses than in 2010. They’ve got no plan to tackle the financial crisis facing the NHS and social care – their reorganisation of the NHS has put hospital units across the country at risk, while beds are cut, staff numbers reduced & treatments rationed to save money. Labour will increase funding for the NHS by £30 billion per annum. Labour will halt and review the NHS sustainability and transformation plans, which are looking at closing health services across England, and ask local people to participate in the redrawing of plans with a focus on patient need rather than available finances. We will create a new quality, safety and excellence regulator – to be called NHS Excellence. The next Labour government will reverse privatisation of our NHS and return our health service into expert public control. Labour will boost capital funding for the NHS to ensure patients are cared for in buildings fit for the 21st Century. Labour will stand up for patients’ rights to high quality care. We will treat one million people who are currently on growing waiting lists and guarantee that patients can be seen within four hours in A&E. Labour will put safe staffing levels into law. We will bring back the nursing bursary and train more doctors. We will make sure that mental health is given the same priority as physical health; Labour will ring-fence mental health budgets and ensure funding reaches the front-line. Cornish issues NHS Kernow has finally got to a break-even position on its budget but still has an overhanging deficit of £87m from prior years. There is no current pressure to repay it but it is hanging over them. The CCG was told last week that the 3.4% annual increase in NHS funding for this financial year will come from the NHS capital budget and that their capital budget will reduce by 20% this year. The Conservatives have said they are increasing funding to the NHS by 20 billion pounds, but this is to be eked out over five years, and as the CCG has just found out, it is not new money but part of it will be coming from an already stretched budget. What a shameful con! Treliske is struggling with workload and lack of funding. In month one of 2019 (April 2019) it is already in dire straits with funding. CQC ratings show it requires improvement, as does Derriford. Three Community Hospitals have been closed, temporarily but all for 2 years or more and Edward Hain since March 2016. Will they ever reopen? Many are in a poor state of repair. The real crisis, perhaps the worst of all, is in care home provision, especially for Dementia sufferers. Shortage of places and staff mean owners can change thresholds, so they often only take the people requiring less care. It is scandalous to treat our older people like this. The Conservative cuts have led to £4.6 billion lost from social care budgets despite rising demand. Around 1.2 million older people have care needs that are going unmet. Care in the community has become a cover for unseen neglect. People living in St Austell are voicing concerns about St Austell Healthcare, the GP practice serving St Austell and nearby villages. If you are experiencing problems with accessing services with them, as many people have told me they are, I would encourage you to let them know as they want to provide a good service and would want to know. You can feedback direct to the practice both positive and negative views anonymously, to the patient participation group ppg.sahc@nhs.net or use the practices complaints procedure complaints.sahc@nhs.net or to the independent body Cornwall Healthwatch on 08000 381281. Let’s return the NHS to Labour safe hands at the next election. It’s great to see the warm weather return at last! This week I want to write about Education, both locally and nationally and ask whether or not our schools are being funded properly by the Conservatives? The answer is a definite NO. Nationally 91% of schools have had their pupil funding cut. For example Penrice Academy lose £715,675. I have been out campaigning with the local Labour Party members for some months now to get the message across that school cuts are damaging our children’s education.
As usual however, after denying that there was an issue, the Conservative Party have now realised that schools in Cornwall have been less well funded than schools in other parts of the country. Schools across the country have seen their funding cut. To get the full picture nationally please have a look at the website www.schoolcuts.org.uk I have been really impressed by the schools in St Austell both in my work and as a parent. My daughter went to St Mewan and Penrice and both schools were excellent, the teachers superb and very often doing far more than their jobs called for. In many parts of the country we read that some teachers bring in extra food for children who arrive hungry at school. Funds are short and parents are often asked to help supplement what in the past would have been provided by schools. This cannot be right. Labour will invest in schools and protect budgets. We will introduce a fair National Funding Formula in which no school loses out. We will reduce class sizes and introduce free school meals for primary schoolchildren. If you feel like I do, that schools should not have their budgets cut please sign the St Austell and Newquay Labour Party petition at www.staustellandnewqauylabour.com For many families finding money for new school uniforms is very tough. Start Clothing Bank St Austell has just put out a call for donations of school uniforms ready for the new term in September. If you can help please take your donations to the Swap Shop at 17 Duke St, St Austell, PL25 5PQ. It’s open Monday and Tuesday 9.30-15.30 and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 12-16.00. Thankyou, I know that some of you will be able to help. I also want to mention the charity Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change (CN4C), with whom I am a trustee. Sadly they have recently received a negative reaction in some quarters in connection with setting up at the Bank at the Bystro premises in High Cross St. CN4C work with residents and partners to transform disadvantaged neighbourhoods. CN4C works across Cornwall delivering a range of services that help local people make a difference. This includes: Employment support, Training, Youth Work, Community Development, Environmental projects, Play and Parenting programmes and holiday clubs. We already have a clothing bank and a swap shop in St Austell, and it has been suggested we use the great space in the Bank as a re-use/recycle/upcycle centre, a library of things (where you can donate or borrow tools and equipment that you might need on an odd occasion but not want to buy), a training venue, taking forward plastic free St Austell, and maybe even the development of an advice centre and town centre venue for other groups. Its up to residents to say what would be most welcome and helpful. It’s very early days yet but I think this initiative can only help everyone but particularly those in need. It’s good to see one of the towns empty premises being used too. If you would like to have your say you would be very welcome at any of the consultation events they will be holding over the summer and they will be advertised locally or email Clare at cjones@cn4c.org.uk to say what you think. I think there are many people that want to help those in need and make St Austell a better place to live. I am Felicity Owen and as reported in last week’s St. Austell Voice I am delighted to have been selected as the Labour Party's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) for St Austell and Newquay (StaN). I just want to tell you a little about myself here in this new column, which I hope you will enjoy reading.
I am a lifelong Labour voter and I joined the party in 2017. I was a member of the Royal College of Nursing Union from 1981 to 2015. I recently became a member of Unite. I am an active member of the StAN CLP and Branch and a member of the NHS group which campaigns against local Government cuts and privatisation. I live in the area, I worked here and I now volunteer here and know what difficulties the government’s policies are having on local people. I volunteer and am a trustee for St Austell Community Kitchen (STAK), a charity which supports the vulnerable, needy and homeless. I help in the kitchen providing lunch for whoever needs it. I’m also a trustee with Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change (CN4C) who started in Redruth but have been operating in St Austell for the last two years. They are in the process of setting up in the old Bystro at the Bank as a Community bank. If you are interested in helping with the new Community bank, please contact Clare Jones cjones@cn4c.org.uk I will be standing for Labour at the next general election so between now and then I want to tell you how the Government’s policies are affecting us all. The rich are richer and the poor are poorer, even people in work cannot afford to feed their families properly. Many have turned to foodbanks for help. St Austell Food Bank is a fantastic resource but they are running short of some items so please help if you can by contacting admin@staustell.foodbank.org.uk to offer what you can. They have run out of packet soup and pot noodles. They have a low stock of tins of meat, fish and soup. Shampoo and conditioner is needed as is dog food. They are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 13:00 to 15:00 and food can be dropped off between those times at the Light and Life Centre, Unit 4-5 Brunel Business Park, St. Austell PL25 4TJ. I worked for the NHS for forty years and I am appalled that the Conservatives have removed the nursing bursary which has led to a fall in the number of people training to become nurses. The Tories constant drive to privatise our NHS is very worrying. The NHS was founded to be free at the point of delivery and it was the best Health service in the world, it must be kept that way. As I’ve been talking to Labour members in St. Austell and Newquay, housing has been raised by most people as an issue needing urgent focus. In STAK we see a lack of suitable housing for people in difficulty. There are issues of homelessness, lack of affordable housing, low stock of council houses, house prices so high that they exclude the low paid, second homes standing empty, other empty properties, lack of temporary accommodation, homes unfit for human habitation and unscrupulous landlords. In Labour controlled councils like Plymouth, Nottingham, and Hackney council houses are being built. There are some council houses being built in Cornwall but very few and not enough to meet need. Let’s get more Labour Cornwall councillors and aim to make Cornwall Council Labour controlled & get a council house building programme underway to meet local need. I will be writing about the many issues the Tory austerity policies are creating in our area and Cornwall as a whole so I would like to thank The Voice for giving me the opportunity to provide balance. Watch this space. |
