Latest news

The Conservatives have binned their pledge to protect early years scheme Sure Start from spending cuts if they are elected.

Speaking to Regeneration & Renewal, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Phillip Hammond, refused to re-affirm a previous Conservative guarantee that the overall budget of the Labour government's flagship early years programme would be ring-fenced. "We will be looking at individual projects and workstreams, but we haven't made announcements about individual budgets yet," he said.

Last year, at the Tory Party conference, Oliver Letwin, chair of the party's policy review, said that Sure Start would continue under a Tory… » Read more

To paraphrase Churchill's famous phrase following the Battle of El-Alamein in World War II: we may not have reached the end of the recent twin meltdowns of economic and political confidence, we may not even have reached the beginning of the end, but we may be at the end of the beginning.

Unprecedented shocks have been administered to the system, too many of them self-inflicted. Now we have to start to re-build. It is a time to take the big decisions, and to take them boldly, in the same way that bold, big decisions had to be taken last… » Read more

It has come to my attention that Westminster Council appears to lag behind drastically in action to convert its council buildings to be energy efficient and carbon neutral. This is disappointing because if we as a country are to meet our emissions targets of 80 per cent by 2050 we will need private and governmental institutions at all levels to deliver energy efficiency and carbon savings.

A reply recently received by Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg from the Council which I was shown - stressing, among other things, that Westminster's performance is not too far behind the national average of a Grade… » Read more

On Monday 17th June Karen hosted an event in parliament for local Headteachers and Chairs of Governors to introduce them to the award winning social enterprise 'Women Like Us' which Karen has long supported.

The organisation was recently commissioned by Westminster City Council to offer employment services to mum's in local schools.

'Women Like Us' is an organisation which specialises in helping women with children to find part-time work and giving them practical support to make work and familiy fit together.

» Read more

Josie Hinton

THE British National Party won two seats in the European Parliamentary elections as Labour suffered its worst post-war election result - and hundreds of votes were cast for the far-right party in Westminster.

The result signalled a shift to the right in British politics, with the Tories winning the Euro race and thousands of voters switching their allegiances to parties such as UKIP and the BNP.

In Westminster, the Conservatives won almost half of the vote with 15,248 supporters.

Some 6,565 Westminster residents voted Labour, 4,351 opted for Liberal Democrats, 3,877 for the Green… » Read more

Josie Hinton

A FAMILY of five has spoken out about the cramped and squalid conditions they have been forced to live in by Westminster Council.

Danielle Lenihan, 28, who is pregnant, lives in tiny one-bedroom flat in Penfold Street, on the Lisson Green Estate, with her husband and their three children - despite being named a top priority family by council officers.

The newly-married couple agreed to share the flat - which is plagued by damp and mould - after officers refused to let them trade their separate flats for a bigger family home. They were told… » Read more

West End Extra - by JAMIE WELHAM

Secured tenancy threat to ‘problem families’ would be ‘devastating’

KAREN Buck MP has leapt to the defence of council tenants, saying they should not be made to feel “morally inferior” amid fears that secured tenancies could be scrapped for “problem families”.
In a speech to the new Housing Minister John Healey, Ms Buck made a thinly veiled attack on City Hall’s new housing boss Dr Ian Rowley who caused a storm last month when he said he would support housing allocation determined by “behaviour and contribution to society” in an article… » Read more

Child Poverty Action Group – a leading charity campaigning for the abolition of child poverty in the UK and for a better deal for low-income families and children – has named Karen as the May addition to their shortlist for MP of the Year.

CPAG makes the nominations on the basis of the individual they believe has made the most important contribution to the child poverty agenda and welfare rights in the preceding two months. The winner will be chosen from the shortlist at the end of 2009.

On Monday 20th April Karen hosted a seminar in parliament for constituents concerned about the effects of climate change on the country and their own communities. The meeting was addressed by Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who also answered questions from constituents.

The issues discussed included issues as diverse as energy efficiency, Heathrow, renewable energy sources and air pollution on the Harrow Road.

If you'd like to find out more about Karen's work… » Read more

Karen has written to the Home Affairs Select Committee Chair asking him to open an inquiry into the policing of the G20 demonstrations following a number of complaints made by concerned constituents.

You can watch yesterday's session of the Home Affairs Select Committee in which the G20 policing was discussed by clicking on the link below:

http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/VideoPlayer.aspx?meetingId=3919

You can follow the inquiry by following the link below to the Home Affairs Select Committee website:

» Read more