North East Cambs Labour The official website of the North East Cambridgeshire Constituency Labour Party
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I am Anna Smith and I am standing to be your Labour Mayor in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. I have a track record of delivering for local people. Anna Smith, Labour's Candidate for Mayor
Sign the Wisbech Incinerator Petition!
Ban new waste incinerators and revoke permits where building has not begun
Introduce a moratorium on new waste incinerators like in Scotland and Wales, and ban new permits and require existing permits to be revoked where substantial construction has not begun.
We think incinerators detract from reusing, reducing, and recycling waste. They pollute the areas in which they are built.
From the files…
Press release: 5 December 2024
New investment for special educational needs places in local schools announced by Labour this week
In Cambridgeshire 12,707 children whose special educational needs are not being fully met could benefit from £740m capital spending nationally – announced this week by the new Labour Government – to create more specialist places in mainstream schools as the first part of major SEND reform.
This new funding can be used to adapt classrooms to be more accessible for children with SEND, and to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs.
This investment will improve the lives of tens of thousands of families across England – 12.3 per cent of children in Cambridgeshire have Special Educational Needs . The investment follows a damning National Audit Office report that exposed the special educational needs system in crisis.
Labour activist Cllr Janet O’Keefe said: “Children in Cambridgeshire with special educational needs deserve the best possible education – but for too long too many have been failed by a system in crisis.
“The Labour government is taking action – we are fixing the foundations of our schools system and our country to get Britain back on track. We know there is an awful lot more to do, after we inherited a country that was broke and broken from the Conservatives, but this is a big step in the right direction.
“Through these SEND reforms – starting with almost three quarters of a billion in capital investment to create more places for SEN children in mainstream schools – we are going to deliver for local children. Labour is ambitious for every child in Cambridgeshire, and the work of change to breakdown the barriers to opportunity has begun. ”
Press release: 1 November 2024
Sign-up campaign urges pensioners to check if they qualify for Pension Credit – and apply if they do
Well over a thousand people in Fenland District who qualify for the benefit which automatically makes them eligible for Winter Fuel Allowance aren’t yet claiming it. If the application isn’t in by December 21, it will be too late.
That’s why North East Cambs Labour is urging familes, friends and neighbours of less well-off pensioners who don’t already claim to make sure they check their eligibility, not weekly income alone, by going to https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/how-to-claim online.
If their income is higher than the £218 per week cut-off point (£333 for a couple), they could still get the benefit if they’re a carer, have a disability, or have savings of less than £10,000.
And if their total income is even a pound below the cut-off point they may qualify for very little Pension Credit yet be sure of receiving winter fuel relief.
Chairman of NE Cambs Labour Cllr Martin Field said: “We estimate from local and national government figures that 1,421 people in Fenland still aren’t claiming the Pension Credit they’re entitled to.
“Fenland Labour is determined to get as many local pensioners signed up for Pension Credit as we can. It’s easier and quicker than you’d think.
“So our message is clear – if you are a pensioner please check if you could be due extra money through Pension Credit, Winter Fuel Allowance and other associated benefits to help with bills this winter, and if you’re a friend, relative or neighbour of a pensioner please do everything you can to encourage them to apply.”
Check eligibility for yourself or on behalf of a pensioner by going to https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility, which also explains how to claim.
Press release: 9 September 2024
Extra help with rising bills for struggling Fenland families this winter
One in five Fenland families with children under 16 now struggling in poverty will get support towards bills for energy, food and water from an extra £421m rolled out by the new Labour Government.
New figures from a local Labour analysis of DWP statistics for Fenland district reveal the percentage of children living in poverty here rose each year of Conservative rule from 17.7 percent in 2015 to a shocking 21 percent last year – above the national average.
Publishing the figures, Chairman of North East Cambs Labour Party Cllr Martin Field said: “The Conservatives left Britain broke and broken – but here in Fenland the new Labour government is already taking action to fix the foundations of our country and get Britain moving again.
“The Tories mismanaged our economy so badly that we’ve all taken a battering in recent years and disgracefully children of families pushed into poverty have been hit harder than most, their parents dreading rising bills this winter.
“That’s why Labour has announced the £421m extension to the Household Support Scheme – to help families in places like Fenland get through the winter ahead. Further details on the latest scheme for local authorities to deliver will be released in the coming weeks.
“And Labour won’t stop there – the new government is taking further action to fix the foundations through our plans to grow the economy, make work pay and get Britain working again.”
Since Tory policies started to bite around 2012, well-meaning people in the Fenland community have voluntarily stepped up to address the growing need.
Food Banks run by local volunteers are harder at work each year in all four Fenland towns and many groups, such as Fenland Families and Baby Bank, March FACT Community Fridge and Feed Fenland have sprung up offering emergency support for families.
Wisbech Food Bank’s figures reveal the number of children served in July 2024 is 12 percent up on July last year though eight per cent fewer adults needed aid, showing that more families than singles or couples are currently in need.
Javeria Hussain has been selected as Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for North East Cambridgeshire
Javeria Hussain has today [24 May 2024] been selected to stand as Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for North East Cambridgeshire.
Javeria grew up in a working-class family in Luton, and currently works for an international law firm with a career in regularly risk, governance and compliance.
Currently a serving councillor in Luton, Javeria is also a Director of Luton Rising (trading name of London Luton Airport Limited), the Luton Council-owned economic development company which owns a number of commercial developments including the local airport with the purpose of delivering social value to Luton and surrounding communities. Through this, Javeria has also supported the Oxford-Cambridge Arc initiative and East of England All-Party Parliamentary Group.
She also stood as a Labour MEP candidate for the East of England in 2019.
Like many in rural North East Cambridgeshire, Javeria is keen to champion and support those suffering from the housing crisis, long NHS waiting lists and the explosive rise in the cost-of-living.
A Labour government will bring a decade of national renewal that will transform the lives of the people in North East Cambridgeshire.
Speaking after her selection, Javeria Hussain said:
“I’m thrilled to be chosen to stand for Labour in North East Cambridgeshire, where I was honoured to be on the local ballot as a MEP candidate in 2019. I also have friends and extended family living in the wider county of Cambridgeshire for many years.
“I see the challenges faced by the local community after 14 years of a disastrous Tory government. Steve Barclay’s fingerprints as a minister are all over this truly terrible administration.
“I think it is important that the people of Whittlesey, March, Chatteris and Wisbech have an opportunity to vote for a Labour candidate and to support the policies that will transform the local area and Britain.
“Only a Labour government can deliver the change that North East Cambridgeshire needs: getting the NHS back on its feet and taking back our streets to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
“I will give voice to the hard-working people of this community and fight to make sure that jobs and opportunities are brought back to North East Cambridgeshire.”
Richard Howitt, former Labour MEP for the East of England and Cambridge County Councillor said:
“I’m really pleased to see Javeria Hussain selected as the candidate for North East Cambridgeshire constituency, and I’m looking forward to working with her to deliver the change our towns and villages desperately need.
“People in North East Cambridgeshire’s towns and villages want an active, visible MP that will listen and respond to their concerns. That’s not what the Conservatives have offered, but I know Javeria will be that representative.
“I wish Javeria every success in the General Election and look forward to welcoming more Labour elected representatives to the county.”
Mayor Dr Nik Johnson saves Littleport to Cambridge bus route
On Thursday 2 May, voters across the country will have their say in this year’s local elections.
On the ballot is the record of a Tory Government that has been in power for 14 years. With soaring mortgages, a record-high tax burden, a Prime Minister who can’t keep his party happy, the cost of constant Conservative chaos is hitting the country hard.
These elections put that into focus. Despite the Tories promising to ‘level up’ every region five years ago, no serious plan was ever pursued to address regional inequality and their economic incompetence threw Britain into a recession and a cost of living crisis, with working people forced to pick up the pieces.
In contrast to Rishi Sunak’s Government limping on, failing to address the problems the country faces and running scared of the British public by pushing back a general election, Labour has a plan to spread power across the country and kickstart economic growth.
Labour will deliver:
Growth in every corner of the country, so that every town, village and city has a role to play, and can reap the rewards of a decade of national renewal.
More money in people’s pockets, improving living standards everywhere and helping working people keep more of the wealth that they create.
And people taking back control of what matters to them in their lives and their communities: from decent access to public services and thriving high streets to the basic promise that their children’s opportunities will not be determined by where they grew up.
