End of year message to West Derby constituents from Ian Byrne MP
Dear Friend
I hope this message finds you well as we reach the end of another exceedingly difficult year - and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones all the best for a happy and healthy new year.
My team and I are available over the holiday period for urgent casework. If you have an urgent enquiry please email my office at: ian.byrne.mp@parliament.uk with URGENT in the subject line so that it can be prioritised.
Please also find below some links to advice and support:
Help in a crisis - Liverpool City Council
Careline adult services - Liverpool City Council
Coronavirus updates - Liverpool City Council – (includes links to help and support)
Find your local councillors - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
It has been another challenging year politically, with a Government enjoying a significant majority in Parliament shaping the national response to the Covid-19 public health crisis. This has been alongside the Government pushing through a series of harmful measures, such as the shameful cutting of £20 a week to Universal Credit, and the Health and Care Bill, which opens up our NHS to privatisation, deregulation and cronyism.
What has been heart-warming and a ray of light, however, is how our communities have continued to come together to care for each other. The support and solidarity of people in West Derby has helped many through a tough year.
I hope we can build on the solidarity shown as we move into 2022. It is vital we all do what we can to ensure no one in our communities slips through the gaps.
Here is just a small snapshot of some of the work I have undertaken this year:
Supporting West Derby hospitals, schools, and care homes
I liaise regularly with West Derby hospitals, schools and care homes and I would like to once again thank all staff working in these sectors in West Derby for their incredible efforts this year.
Access to justice at Vauxhall Law Centre
I passionately believe in access to justice for all and my office and Vauxhall Law Centre now work together to provide all West Derby constituents with an advice service on benefits and debt issues, including claiming Personal Independence Payments for people who are sick and people with disabilities, Universal Credit, housing advice support and representation if needed. Please call Vauxhall Law Centre on 0151 482 2540 or email: advice@vauxhalllawcentre.org.uk
Current Campaigns:
The Real Truth Hillsborough Legacy Project
The aim of ‘The Real Truth’ legacy project is to educate future generations about the injustice and comprehensive establishment cover-up of Hillsborough and its aftermath, so as to ensure it can never be repeated.
The campaign contains two main elements:
First is a political education toolkit which can be used by trade unions and Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) and like-minded organisations who wish to learn more about Hillsborough. Political education on ‘The Real Truth’ at Hillsborough will be made available, with significant input from families, survivors, and leading Hillsborough campaigners. Hillsborough ‘The Real Truth’ will focus on the fight for justice and provide a definitive record of the social history of Hillsborough.
The second element of the project is the campaign to get education about Hillsborough onto the National Curriculum, including a dedicated “Hillsborough Day” to take place on the nearest Friday to the anniversary of the tragedy on 15th April each year.
The ‘Right to Food’ campaign & Grow West Derby
The food poverty that we are seeing in communities across West Derby and indeed the entire nation in the fifth richest country in the world is unacceptable.
One third of the people in the city of Liverpool are food insecure, according to a new report from Feeding Liverpool.
Eleven million people in the UK are experiencing food insecurity. The Trussell Trust Foodbank data collected between April and September 2021 shows that the need for emergency food remains well above pre-pandemic levels. It is likely that this situation will continue to worsen, especially following the Government’s £20-a-week cut to Universal Credit which is pushing more families into poverty.
Things must change.
I launched the Right To Food campaign with Fans Supporting Foodbanks in November 2020, in a bid to see the ‘Right to Food’ become law, ending the scandal of hunger and foodbanks once and for all.
Please get involved - sign and share this petition to the Prime Minister to make access to food a legal right and visit our Right To Food campaign web pages.
Food parcels and foodbanks are a sticking plaster, so on a local level I have also set up an initiative called Grow West Derby to:
- Give residents of West Derby access to green space in which to grow their own food, with any excess food used to supply our local food pantries.
- Provide education on sites across the constituency via Myerscough College, from basic growing skills to a free City & Guilds in horticulture available on our food pantry plots at Marlborough allotments, Croxteth Community Garden and La Salle Hotel School.
All West Derby residents are warmly invited to get involved in Grow West Derby. Sign up at our Grow West Derby web pages or contact my office.
Once again, I wish you all the best for 2022. Please stay safe and look after one another.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Byrne
Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby