My most recent Muswell Flyer article…

In September, I started my new ministerial job as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development. The days prior to reshuffles are always tense – so I was not only very relieved when Nick Clegg informed me that I would be staying in Government – but thrilled to bits to have this particular portfolio.

Though I absolutely loved doing equalities work in the Home Office, I was very happy to return to International Development, which I used to shadow in opposition. The Coalition commitment to 0.7% is a standout commitment – not only of doing what is right – but also doing what is smart and in our country’s best interests.

One of the highlights so far has to be my meeting with the president of Malawi, Joyce Banda. I was so pleased to have an early opportunity to meet with this powerful woman who is determined to move her country in the right direction – economically, constitutionally and to repeal the ‘bad laws’. We spoke about two key issues affecting Malawi – food security and gender-based violence.

My international visits will mainly cover sub Saharan Africa. However, my portfolio also includes the European Union and policy areas such as gender, climate change, health and education, post 2015 Millennium Development Goals, extractives, private education and disability – to name but a few that I have responsibility for!

It isn’t all new, though. In 2010 the Prime Minister appointed me the international ministerial champion for tackling violence against women and girls overseas.  As part of this role, I travelled to Ethiopia and Uganda in April this year to campaign for women’s rights and to see the issues they face in developing countries. This role comes with me to the Department for International Development. Women and girls will continue to be my number one priority in DFID.

I’m also very happy to be carrying on my work on Female Genital Cutting (FGC) – an awful practice which has the most devastating and long lasting effects on women and girls. This is a subject which has been largely ignored in the mainstream – but there is now real momentum in Africa to tackle the issue. It’s now my ambition to see FGC abandoned within a generation.

Judging by the number of emails and letters I receive – my constituents are also very interested in international development issues. I certainly look forward to being able to update everyone on what I’m doing in DFID, alongside my local work in Hornsey and Wood Green.

One of the things I particularly love about my constituency is the diversity. Where else are 100 languages spoken in such a concentrated area? And now, I consider myself very lucky to have the chance to visit many of the countries that my constituents are from!

All of my Muswell Flyer articles are available here

My column in Ham & High as published yesterday

I’m often asked why I got in to politics. There were a number of causes– but prominent amongst them was (and still is) complete and utter frustration with the Labour-run Haringey Council!

I live in a small cul-de-sac and whilst most dwellings here have one off street parking space (including me) many don’t. Some years ago now – Haringey decided to paint double yellow lines on both sides of the road – completely unnecessarily – which would have meant no parking at all. For those without off street parking this would have been dreadful. So I called a residents’ meeting with Haringey officers and the disaster was averted.

That started it for me – and ever since a great portion of my time has been spent dealing with the consequences of this truly awful administration.

And you don’t need to take my word for it. There are a catalogue of studies, reports and the like that all put Labour Haringey as the worst or near worst in the country at so many things. It is no surprise that Haringey is the fourth most complained about council in the country. The effects of the Labour’s incompetence – on our streets, services and people – are evident, and deeply concerning.

So here are just a few examples of just why it is my dearest wish to see my Liberal Democrat colleagues take over the Council in the local elections of 2014.

My office is inundated with complaints about broken pavements, pot holes and the safety hazard they pose to cyclists, pedestrians and cars. A study published by the Department for Transport recently reported that Haringey Borough has the worst maintained roads in England – one in five main roads is in need of some kind of repair.

The change to the new bin collection (fine in principle) was not consulted on properly and consequently local people are finding the resultant problems. For example in the Miltons in Highgate, residents have a sea of bins standing lining the streets because they have no appropriate frontage to store them. They not only look disgusting standing on the streets but overflow constantly. In Wood Green the bins are permanently overflowing with bursting bags covering the pavements and in Stroud Green piles of rubbish and litter are constantly dumped under the Welcome to Haringey sign!

To add insult to injury – Haringey Council’s response to the bin crisis? It applied for a bail-out from its own ‘diversity fund’ (meant to help tackle inequality) to repair the damage. Despite this, the problems still persist.

As for the tenants in Haringey Council properties – they have endless problems over repairs. They often wait for months for a vital repair to be done and then when and if it finally is done – the repairs are often shoddy with poor workmanship (and very expensive). On a visit to a local housing estate over summer, I discovered a highly dangerous staircase which had not been cordoned off properly. Only with my intervention and insistence were the repairs finally made.

Right now I am furious with Labour Haringey because they are unwilling to help local shops and businesses. In this time of great challenge – we need to ensure that our local shops survive. I and my LibDem colleagues are campaigning for parking charges on our high streets and broadways to be reduced – so people are more likely to stop and pop in to our retailers. The Council informed me that no further changes would be made to the extortionate £3 an hour rate. We are carrying on campaigning on this at it is vital that we help our shops.

I believe there should be an emergency lifting of the charges between now and Christmas – for starters. Christmas is vital to our shops – and where would all us local residents be without our local shops?

Children are also affected. Haringey Council has now received millions of pounds in extra funding from the Coalition Government to spend on schools. They received £8.8 million in pupil premium, and £7.3 million in the fairer funding settlement, to be precise. Despite this, Haringey has the largest number of underperforming primary schools, and some local children were not even offered a place in one of Haringey’s schools – causing many families huge stress and worry.

So what is Haringey Council spending its money on? Very recent figures show that Haringey Council’s spending on publicity has surged to £2.53m in just one year! Part of this huge amount was spent on posters and advertising at Westminster tube station – one of the most expensive sites in London. What were they thinking?

Labour-run Haringey also saw fit to give their outgoing Chief Executive a £300,000 pay off. They are simply wasting money while cutting back on essential services – whilst complaining about funding cuts!

Sadly – I could go on and on with this list of woes. But what I am saying is that local people deserve better than this. We have one of the highest council taxes but some of the poorest services in the country. I totally accept that there are lots of challenges in a borough like Haringey – but that is why local people need a local Council that operates at the best end of the local service spectrum – not the worst!

Labour have had over 40 years to improve Haringey – but they have let themselves and residents down. The borough needs a real change. The borough needs leaders that campaign for our local services, keep our roads and streets in good order, spend money wisely and proactively keep taxes down.

That’s why it is I am fully behind my Liberal Democrat colleagues’ aim to take control of Haringey Council at the next local elections in 2014!

Last week I spoke at the AIDS Consortium’s Faith and Criminalisation AGM.

I was happy to join the distinguished panel, and to emphasise the UK’s continued commitment to HIV treatment and prevention.

This is something I feel very strongly about not just because I, like many in the early days, lost several personal friends to AIDS but also because it is now possible to live with HIV and AIDS and yet there are still so many people who could be helped who are not yet being helped.

About six years ago I visited Johannesburg to see for myself the work going on there to encourage people to come forward, to encourage treatment and to remove the stigma At that time most of the work was being done by corporates who were establishing great health facilities to keep their workers healthy at a point when the Government was not engaged. Thankfully that is no longer the case.

Now I have moved portfolio to DFID and HIV and AIDS (along with malaria and TB) are in my remit. Hence my visit to the AIDS Consortium to make clear that the Coalition Government is committed to this agenda

The Government is also committed to ending discrimination on the basis of sexuality. I believe that the world as whole must work harder to empower these key populations whose life circumstances place them under increased risk of HIV. Faith based organisations play a vital role here – and I look forward to working with them during my time at the Department for International Development.

Read more about it here

Cooperating with Europe on police and justice matters is vital for keeping us safe. European measures are used by our local police and prosecutors. They help catch criminals who flee overseas, tackle international crime and kick out foreign criminals from the UK.

These measures have been hugely successful in breaking up paedophile rings, preventing terrorism and bringing criminals who flee across borders to swift justice.

For instance, greater cooperation enables English and Spanish authorities to launch ‘Operation Captura.’ As a result, many of the most wanted Brits were arrested in Spain and bought back here for trial.

In another case, James Hurley – a convicted killer of a policeman in London who escaped custody in 1994 – was brought to justice. He was arrested in 2007 in The Netherlands for drug offences and extradited back to the UK in 2011 to stand trial for murder.

It is great that Europe is working together on this and not letting crimes go unpunished. I was therefore shocked to hear that 102 Conservative MPs want the Government to withdraw from all European policing and justice measures.

13 former UK police chiefs recently wrote to the Prime Minister warning that pulling out of many of the measures would put public safety at risk. In short, the police say the measures are essential for our national security, public safety and leadership in fighting crime and terrorism.

So, these Conservatives must now choose what is more important: their dislike of all things European or keeping people in London and the UK safe.

Some Conservatives seem so blinded by an ideological hatred for European cooperation that they would sacrifice the safety of the British public and the rights of victims for it. We must put policing before politics. When crime crosses borders, justice must too.

How wonderful – The Haberdashery, a coffee shop in Middle Lane (Crouch End), has won the top slot as best coffee shop in London at the third annual London Lifestyle Awards. Well done to owners Greg Vukasovic and Massimo Bergamin.

And I love that they put down their success to community involvement – which they certainly major on. And their coffee is great too.

You can read a fuller write up here.