MP Lynne congratulates local student on winning letter to Prime Minister

Posted on 29th Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

To celebrate Rhodes Avenue student Ione Goodwin winning a national writing competition run by the Citizenship Foundation, Lynne Featherstone MP last week congratulated the ten year old at a special event in Parliament.

The Alexandra student won the ‘Dear Prime Minister’ writing competition, where primary school children from across the country got to write letters to the Prime Minister to-be as part of lessons about democracy in the run up to the general election.

Ione’s contribution, which focused on issues around education and locally sourced food, was selected for its ‘ingenuity in tackling big issues’.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“I’m so delighted that Ione has won with this brilliant letter to the Prime Minister. She writes with impressive insight and ingenuity for someone so young, and shows a real awareness of current affairs and the important issues of the day!

“And hats off to the Citizenship Foundation for a great competition. What a creative and clever way to make kids up and down the country learn more about politics and democracy.”

Rugby Football Union Women

Posted on 27th Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Talking of extending the range of sport on offer to young people – which is part of the Body Confidence project – last night I attended the launch dinner of the Women’s World Rugby Cup. This worldwide tournament is taking place from mid-August to mid September in Surrey – and our team is in with a real chance. You can find out more about the World Cup here.

What a committed group of both women and men (the sport is well integrated) completely dedicated to promoting and expanding participation in this game – on which I had a crash course during the dinner.

From even four years ago the women’s game has mushroomed. Amongst the guests were the real pioneers of the sport – those women who had pushed and pushed for the success they now have. From the time where there were so few women interested that to get a team together you had to gather girls from whole regions – nay – the whole of the north of England – now the numbers are growing.

Having the World Cup here – and it being televised by Sky (full marks to Sky for televising women’s sport – something other broadcasters might like to follow suit in) will undoubtedly spawn a whole new avalanche of interest.

Good luck to the team and look forward to watching you.

Local MP celebrates Proud of Pubs Week

Posted on 26th Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

To mark proud of pubs week and highlight the valuable role pubs play in the local community, Lynne Featherstone MP was chatting with landlord Nigel Oxford and pulling a few pints at the Three Compasses Pub in Hornsey.

The Hornsey based pub has been widely recognised for the role it plays in the community and in 2008 won an award for best community pub.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“I’m really proud to be backing pubs in Hornsey and Wood Green this week.

“Places like the Three Compasses become even more important in times of hardship, as places to meet and keep the local community together. So here’s to all the great community pubs in Haringey – cheers!”

Body Confidence 2

Posted on 25th Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Oh for goodness’ sake! Christina Hendricks is a fine looking woman and it is great to see a curvy woman rather than an ultra thin one. But that was hardly the point of the article in the Sunday Times! However the follow-on newspaper articles in other publications seem to focus only on Ms Hendricks.

The last thing we need is to move from one impossible idealised and unobtainable image of the super skinny kind to another impossible and unobtainable image of the curvy kind!

Body Confidence

Posted on 25th Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

The Sunday Times carried an article today by Marie Woolf on how the Liberal Democrat Body Confidence campaign which was founded by myself and Jo Swinson will be carried forward in government. In the coalition agreement – there is a reference to ‘responsible advertising and the commercialisation and sexualisation of children’. So it fits partly with that – but partly too – with the public health part of the agreement.

There is a growing army of programs, articles, etc because there is a growing awareness of the detriment caused. We always hear about eating disorders – but whilst there is some evidence of a connection in this regard – there are often more reasons than one for that devastating outcome. However, additionally, the constant pressure to look impossibly perfect, be like the skinny celebrities and conform to imposed stereotypes is creating a rising tide of low self-esteem, depression, anxiety and so on.

Gok Wan’s ‘How to Look Good Naked’, Susie Orbach; Erin O’Connor, Debra Bourne and Caryn Franklin’s campaign: All Walks Beyond the Catwalk; Girl Guides with their campaign on anorexia and bulimia – and many more – all recognising the pressure now applied to women, girls and coming up fast – men too – to conform to impossibly perfect images.

In the last session, Jo and I held a seminar on Body Confidence. There are so many groups out there working on this issue – because of the constant and unremitting diet of false images that is fed to us and the harm it is doing. Backed by academics and the Royal College of Psychiatrists – the campaign to make advertisements honest and transparent, teach children media literacy, get fashion schools to teach students to cut a range of sizes, encourage more and different sports for young people – found itself joining up with a whole host of work in the same direction.

That seminar was pivotal. When we saw the work and the need for a joined up push back at the fashion, beauty, food , magazine and advertising industries being fought by individual Davids against these mega Goliaths – we brought it to last Autumn’s LibDem conference as part of our new ‘Real Women’ policy paper – where it passed. It was also in our manifesto at the election.

The Conservatives too, have been very concerned about the pressure particularly on young girls – hence the inclusion of all of this in the coalition agreement.

In the autumn, we are gathering some of the key people who want to take this forward to a round table discussion on next steps. Amongst those will be representatives from: Girl Guides, YMCA, Mumsnet, All Walks Beyond the Catwalk, Susie Orbach and others.

We have no desire to impose regulation or restriction on advertisers or others – so we will be looking to work with the industries involved on a voluntary basis – in the first instance.

Equitable Life – movement at last

Posted on 23rd Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Before the end of the last parliament – I handed in a petition from local people who had been caught up in the Equitable Life mess. Instead of putting the petition in the sack that hangs on the back of the Speaker’s Chair – the petitioners had asked specifically that I present the petition in Parliament. To do this – you have to pre-arrange with the petitions office so to do in advance – and then after debate finishes (at 10pm) and before the adjournment debate commences – you get to read out the prayer in the chamber and then present the petition.

There were nearly fifty signatories to the one I presented for Hornsey & Wood Green. No doubt there were other victims locally – and no doubt victims throughout every constituency in the country. After years of waiting on Labour’s promise which was never honoured – the Coalition Government announced that it has introduced a Bill to compensate Equitable Life policyholders.

Commenting, my colleague Stephen Williams, MP and Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Treasury Policy Committee said:

“The Labour Government had 10 years to help the those who had their lives ruined by the collapse of Equitable Life and did nothing.

“In just 10 weeks the Coalition Government has taken real action to ensure that those who saw their pensions and life savings hit hard get the compensation they deserve.

“Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for proper compensation for Equitable Life policyholders and committed to it in our election manifesto. This announcement is further proof of our influence in Government.”

Oral Questions

Posted on 22nd Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Today at the Dispatch Box – myself, Theresa May, Maria Miller and Andrew Stunell were all on the front bench together – in a change to how things have been done in the past. Instead of Questions to the Minister for Equalities being only for myself and Theresa – as part of mainstreaming – Maria Miller who has Ministerial responsibility for People with Disabilities (from the Department of Work and Pensions) and Andrew Stunell (Minister for Communities and Local Government) who has responsibility for race – came together for joined up equalities questions.

The questions I got asked today were all on coalition commitments: the right for all to request flexible working; the extension of internships for Black and Ethnic Minorities across every department in Whitehall and the commitment to push equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Trans across the world.

These are all good news stories. The right to request flexible working for all will mean that lone parents, carers – anyone – will have the right to request flexible working. We have said we will consult with business about this and we will be doing so and then moving forward on that commitment. Flexible working is good for business and good for the employee. The pool of talent is widened, retention and recruitment improved – and a better, happier workforce means a better, happier business. In my own department, the Government Equalities Office – 57% of the workforce work flexibly and all posts are advertised as open to flexible working.

On BAME internships in Whitehall – I am working with the Cabinet Office who lead on this. The Cabinet Office is assessing where we have got to with current programs which run across some, but not all, departments, and which are mostly summer internships only. When the status quo has been quantified we will be meeting to work on taking forward our commitment for BAME interns to be in every Whitehall Department.

As to LGB&T rights abroad – we are we going to use all our influence through the Commonwealth and Europe to pro-actively address the issues of the abuse of human rights in those countries where homosexuals and transgender people face torture or death. I have already had some dealings in regard of Malawi and Uganda – but look forward to driving this agenda forward at every possible opportunity.

Lynne Featherstone kick-starts special summer celebration at Woodside High

Posted on 21st Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

To celebrate the summer and a day full of fun for the students at Woodside High, Haringey’s special sustainability school, Lynne Featherstone MP on Friday opened their summer fete.

The Liberal Democrat MP also got to do a special stint on the school’s very own TV channel, Woodside TV. The Hornsey and Wood Green MP got quizzed on issues around sustainability, business and enterprise by some of the school’s very own sustainability and business experts.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“What a fete! This is surely the way to celebrate summer and a year’s hard work, by strolling around the stalls, getting a head massage, learning some new dance moves or enjoying some tasty food.

“And judging from the gruelling questions for my interview on Woodside TV – the students have been working really hard this year, winning dragons den competitions, aiming to become an eco school, and learning a lot about sustainability and enterprise in the process. So a great celebration is certainly in order!”

Liberal Democrats in coalition – 10 weeks today

Posted on 21st Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

One of the questions I get asked and a frequent refrain in comments to the blog is why I support coalition with the Conservatives. Today it is 10 weeks exactly since the coalition was born. So here are some of the reasons that explain why I believe in coalition government.

In the little over two months since the Government was formed – we have been able to deliver a huge amount of our manifesto as well being able to greatly influence the Coalition and its agenda.

Going into the election we made clear that we had four key priorities: fairer taxes; a fair start for children with extra funding for disadvantaged pupils; a comprehensive clean up of our politics, including a fairer voting system; and a green, sustainable economy. Thanks to our involvement, the Government will deliver on each of these.

There are also a large number of other Lib Dem policies and pledges that will now begin to make a real, positive difference to people’s lives because of our role in the Coalition Government. These include everything from the rolling back of the surveillance state and giving people back their civil liberties, to prison reforms, fairer pensions, the ending of child detention and the scrapping of the third runway at Heathrow.

Delivering on our promises

Fairer taxes
The Liberal Democrats promised to make the tax system fairer by ensuring no one pays tax on the first £10,000 they earn and closing loopholes that allow the wealthy to pay a smaller proportion of their income in tax than people on low and middle incomes.

The Coalition Government has already taken a huge step towards achieving this by raising the income tax threshold by £1,000 in last month’s Budget and reforming Capital Gains Tax. The income tax threshold will continue to be increased every year during this Parliament.

The Liberal Democrats also promised to restore the earnings link to pensions, which will now happen.

We also promised wide scale banking reform, including a banking levy to make sure that banks pay for the financial support they received from the taxpayer. The levy, which will raise £2.5bn, was announced in the Budget.

A fair start for children
The Liberal Democrats promised to introduce a Pupil Premium to target extra money at disadvantaged children. The Coalition Agreement makes clear that this will now happen. (In Haringey Labour underfunded our schools for years and years – letting our children get £1300 less each than children in Islington or Camden).

We also promised greater freedoms for teachers over the curriculum, which will also be brought in as a key part of the Coalition’s education reforms.

Fair politics
The Liberal Democrats promised a comprehensive clean up of the rotten political system. This is now a key part of the Coalition’s agenda for which Nick Clegg has responsibility.

The plans include:
• A referendum on the Alternative Vote to take place in May 2011
• The right to sack MPs guilty of serious misconduct
• Fixed term parliaments of five years
• Reform of party funding
• Moving towards a wholly or partly elected House of Lords, elected by proportional representation
• A statutory register of lobbyists
• A radical devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups

A green, sustainable economy
The Liberal Democrats promised a raft of policies to help the economy recover and make sure that we build a new green and sustainable economy fit for the 21st century.

A huge number of these policies will now become a reality, including:
• Tough action to tackle the deficit
• Reform of the banking system to make sure that banks lend to viable British businesses
• An independent commission on separating investment and retail banking
• Measures to improve energy efficiency in homes and businesses
• Support for low carbon energy production and an increase the target for energy from renewable sources
• Enabling the creation of a national high speed rail network
• The creation of a smart electricity grid and the roll-out of smart meters
• The creation of a green investment bank
• The establishment of an emissions performance standard that will prevent coal-fired power stations being built unless they are equipped with Carbon Capture and Storage Technology
• Replacing Air Passenger Duty with a per-plane duty
• The provision of a floor price for carbon, as well as working to persuade the EU to move towards full auctioning of ETS permits

Other Lib Dem policies that will now become a reality
The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for the restoration of freedoms and civil liberties eroded under Labour and the rolling back of the surveillance state. A huge number of Lib Dem policies will now happen, including:
• The abolition of Identity Cards, the National Identity register, the next generation of biometric passports and the ContactPoint Database
• The repeal of unnecessary laws
• Further regulation of CCTV
• The outlawing of finger-printing of children at school without permission
• Extending the Freedom of Information Act
• Ending child detention for immigration purposes

There are also a host of other Lib Dem policies that will now happen under the Coalition Government. These include:
• Fair compensation for Equitable Life victims
• The modernisation of the Royal Mail
• Flexible working and promotion of equal pay
• Reform of the NHS to strengthen the voices of patients and the role of doctors
• A commission on long-term reform of social care
• Cutting Quangos and government bureaucracy
• Implementing the recommendations of the Calman Commission
• A referendum on further powers for the Welsh Assembly

Local Liberal Democrats celebrate refurbished children’s library after successful campaign

Posted on 20th Jul 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Local Liberal Democrats were on Friday celebrating the transformation of Muswell Hill Children’s Library after a successful four year battle to get it refurbished.

Lynne Featherstone MP and Councillors Gail Engert, Jim Jenks, and Martin Newton were chatting with excited children and parents at Friday’s special opening of the new space, which now has a medieval theme to go with a beautifully restored mural.

The children’s section, which until recently was in a sad state, with peeling wallpaper and cracked walls, finally got it’s much needed refurbishment after a successful campaign by local Liberal Democrats.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“This place is just magical! And what a transformation from the rather sorry state it was in before, with peeling wallpaper and cracked walls.

“They have really done a fantastic job, and the kids who are here today clearly love it – and surely that’s what it’s all about!”

Muswell Hill Councillor Gail Engert adds:

“It’s been a long, hard battle, but I’m so proud to say it’s been successfully fought.

“This space, where I am sure hundreds and hundreds of local children will discover magical worlds and the joy of reading, will be treasured for years to come. What a success!”