Farewell Reception for Tony Blair

On Tuesday, all London MPs and Labour party members who were instrumental in helping Labour get to power in 1997 were invited to Tony Blair's farewell party. It took place at Stratford Town Hall, which was absolutely packed with people who had turned out to show their appreciation to Tony. It was like Beatlemania, the sort of excitement he produced in the crowd; everyone trying to shake his hand etc (and that was just me! Only joking.)

It was a great event (though blisteringly hot, there were so many people there!) and we even got a mention, when Tony recalled our fantastic victory in Edmonton in 1997. When you see the level of support and respect that Tony commands, it makes you realise how much he will be missed when he steps down this week.

60th Anniversary of Indian Independence

Off to the beautiful Durbar Court this evening, at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for a celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of Indian independence. It seemed a bit ironic in the circumstances that there were two imposing portraits of Warren Hastings and Clive of India looking down on proceedings -both somewhat controversial figures in Anglo-Indian history.

International Alert on Sri Lanka

Today I met up with representatives from International Alert - the independent peacebuilding organisation who do vital work in areas of conflict. They came to my office to discuss the peacebuilding campaign that they are carrying out in Sri Lanka, an area which has tragically descended into civil war once again. I'm the chair of the All Party Group on Sri Lanka, so my work naturally involves a lot of meetings with organisations such as these. They really do a fantastic job in areas where help is vitally needed. You can find out more about their work in Sri Lanka here.

Leader at Last!

It was great to see Gordon Brown's first speech as leader of the Labour Party on Sunday. It was an inspirational speech, and I was so glad to see that affordable housing is being made top of Gordon's agenda. As Chair of the All Party Group on Housing, this is something that I've campaigned on for years and it's great to see the issue being given the importance it deserves. Congratulations also to Harriet Harman for her impressive victory as Deputy Leader.

More Work on Housing...

I followed up Tuesday's question on housing on Wednesday, when I attended the Department of Communities and Local Government backbench committee meeting, chaired by Yvette Cooper MP. It was a really useful and productive meeting.

Asking Questions about Housing

I was able to ask a question at the Department of Communities and Local Government questions on Tuesday. I'm the Chair of the All Party Group on Housing and always try to get involved in debates on this subject where I can. Here's the text of my question.

I Get it "Wrong!"

On Tuesday I met up with Oscar winning animated star Wallace to help promote Wrong Trousers Day (WTD) 2007. I posed with the cheese-loving pair in aid of children's hospitals and hospices. Wrong Trousers Day is being held on 29th June and has a sports theme - Get your Kit On! Participants pay £1 for the “Right to look Wrong”. On Friday 29th June people in Edmonton can help Wallace and Gromit’s Children’s Foundation to reach their target of 1 million participants by ‘Getting their Kit On’ to raise money and help improve the quality of life for children in hospitals and hospices all around the UK.

You can take part in the event by visiting http://www.wrongtrousersday.org/ and registering for a free Wrong Trousers Day fundraising pack.

Members of Parliament are not known for admitting they’re wrong but on this occasion I’m more than happy to wholeheartedly support being wrong on Wrong Trousers Day, Friday 29 June 2007.

This is great opportunity to wear some really “wrong trousers” while at the same time raise money for a superb charity. Each year Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation raises hundreds of thousands of pounds to provide activities for some of Britain’s most poorly children who are undergoing traumatic treatment in hospitals and hospices throughout the UK.

MoneyHelp Schools programme

On Friday I went along to Salisbury School again, to receive a cheque for £1 million, together with pupils, on behalf of the A4e project. The money, donated by HBOS, will fund the Moneyhelp Schools programme. The scheme aims to help boost standards of financial literacy among 45,000 school children over the next three years, by providing lessons in personal finance. Salisbury School is one of only six areas in the whole of the UK to have been chosen for this programme.

The MoneyHelp Schools Programme is designed to help raise financial capability, teach pupils about managing money and the financial services they will need on leaving school, cover the basics of personal finance and explain basic financial terminology.

I was delighted to be part of this new scheme. What a great idea – so many people get into debt today and this sort of financial advice is therefore so important to our young people. I sat in on some of the MoneyHelp classes, and the pupils seemed to really take an interest in the lessons. This £1 million grant will make a huge difference to the school, and Salisbury have done so well in being chosen for this grant.

Jeremy Paxman, Eat Your Heart Out!

I got the chance to meet some law students recently at Salisbury School and they took the opportunity to question me about local issues. They asked me about a wide range of things - from the new shopping centre in Edmonton Green, to ASBOs, what I think of Tony Blair and even my being a Spurs fan! It was great to see so many of the students were really interested in what we do here at the Commons. They certainly asked some great questions, and an appearance on Newsnight would seem easy now after the difficult grilling they gave me!

Here are the names of the pupils on the photos : Clarrissa Allen, Lisa Chung, Charlie Fitzgerald-Bond, Rufran Hamid, Henna Ishaq, Mohamed Jassem, Dimitar Kehayov, La Cara Kutcherman, Shiyam Madan, Cadron Marlin, Waguahta Ogbab, Stephanie OHalloran, Tabassum Sultana. My thanks to all at Salisbury.

One Large Intervention

Friday started with an interesting visit to The Marsh Centre and Angel Community Centre, as part of the One Large Intervention project which Enfield Council is running. The scheme aims to target poverty in Enfield. 30 % of our children live in poverty, so I really welcome this important initiative. I called first at Marsh House, which is just opening its doors as an umbrella organisation for over ten existing voluntary services that work with children, young people and families. It will work to support families, children, young carers, children with disabilities, teenage parents and socially excluded children learning English and maths. It will also refer people to anti-worklessness schemes.

I then went to visit the Angel Community Centre which is a new local base for services to families in the South East of Enfield. It will provide a special learning and activity space for young people, as well as a multi-disciplinary team offering statutory and voluntary services to meet the needs of families in the area. These services will address family support, behaviour support, mentoring, education support and welfare. It will also work together with with Raynham School Children’s Centre and Kids Club.

I was so pleased to see how these two important centres have adapted to meet the needs of the people in the borough. They will make a real difference to so many people’s lives in the community.

Thurs 07 June: Affordable Housing

On Wednesday I spoke in the Chamber, asking Ruth Kelly, the Minister for Housing, about affordable rented housing. I was very pleased that we got this issue into the spotlight. Here’s the text of the question and answer;

Thursday 6th June

In the morning I sponsored a meeting with the Council of Mortgage Lenders. We had a very robust discussion on, amongst other things, inflation and the new Home Information Packs. A bit of a financial theme to the day because I went straight from there to another Treasury Select Committee meeting, this time on Saving for All and Long Term Saving Products. The most interesting debate took place with the Office of Fair Trading, who came to speak about the fallout from Farepak and discussing what could be done to avoid a similar crisis in the future.

In the afternoon, I went along to a Friends of Cyprus meeting. I’m heavily involved in working with this part of the world and try to attend events wherever possible. Today, Lord Hannay, who used to serve as the Special Envoy to Cyprus addressed the group.

I was delighted to meet Charlie Stong and Paul Dicken from the Enfield Independent in the evening. Charlie has just taken over from Kate Russell, who worked on the local Enfield press for years, and it was great to meet him and Paul and discuss issues in Enfield and Edmonton. I’m sure Charlie will do a fantastic job as the new editor, and that Paul has a great career ahead of him as a journalist. Here's Paul and Charlie: (L-R).

Tueday 5th June: Bankers, Biofuels and Booze

Busy day on Tuesday, starting off with a Treasury Select Committee sitting with the British Bankers' Association, all about Unclaimed Assets in the Financial System, which was a follow up to our visit to Ireland earlier this year. Unclaimed Assets have been a success story for the Irish government. Basically, they have released unclaimed assets from inactive and dormant bank accounts (of which there were a great deal more than expected, as it turned out) to charities and good causes. The Treasury Select Committee met to find out more about this, with a view to deciding if it would be something that would work in Britain too.

In the afternoon, I hosted a meeting with representatives of Calor Gas, where they announced a campaign to promote cleaner and greener fuels. This is obviously something that we can all welcome, with the increasing concern about climate change nowadays.

Finally I went along to the AGM of the catchily named APPW&SG Group (All Party Parliamentary Wine and Spirit Group, in other words, whose purpose is to promote and inform on the UK wine and spirit industry) As you’ll no doubt be aware from my blog already, I’m a member of a great many Parliamentary groups, and although there are many that I can’t attend regularly (such as this one), I do try and attend their annual general meetings, to keep up with events where possible.

Did you know...

.. that the world's first ever cash machine was introduced in Enfield? No, neither did I until recently, but it's pretty amazing, isn't it? Since that day, 40 years ago this month, ATMs have become an everyday sight in high streets up and down the country, and a vital resource in our local community.

In the Treasury Select Committee, we've been working hard to increase the number of free cash machine facilities available in Edmonton and Enfield. I've personally held meetings with prominent members of the banking world, to try and ensure that we get more cash machines built in the constituency, and that access to them remains free of charge.

Good News for Edmonton!

I was delighted to see the figures released today from the House of Commons research department, which show that unemployment in Edmonton has dropped by 5.2 % since last year. The number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance has fallen from 2,930 to 2,779.

The biggest change however has been to the unemployment rate since 1997. Since the Labour government came to power in 1997, unemployment has fallen by a massive 29.2 %!

However, it's important to remember that Edmonton is still 53rd in the list of constituencies with the highest unemployment, so there's still a lot to be done to tackle this problem.

It's definitely a welcome step in the right direction though!