Season’s Greetings - and a Message to all my Constituents
I hope this message finds you safe and well as we near the end of an exceedingly difficult year. It is just over a year since I was elected as your Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby 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.
Due to the ongoing pandemic we have had to change the way we engage within the restrictions whilst meeting the needs of our constituents. My office is fully functioning, and my team are available via phone on 0151 222 2345 and email at ian.byrne.mp@parliament.uk. I am holding regular virtual surgeries with appointments or phone calls on request.
It has been a challenging year politically, with a Government enjoying a significant majority in Parliament and shaping the national response to the Covid-19 public health crisis, plus the increasingly fraught Brexit negotiations with no understanding or empathy of how these issues impact on our community. What has been heart-warming and a ray of light in this gloom is how our communities have come together to look after each other in these times. I hope we can build on the solidarity shown moving into 2021 in what will be a difficult time for so many across our constituency.
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 and our response to Covid-19 pandemic:
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.
Food parcels and emergency food supplies
Fans Supporting Foodbanks, which I co-founded, raised more than £100,000 in funds in just under a month after the football season was suspended in March due to coronavirus. We set up an online donation page to enable fans to continue to donate when they could no longer attend matches during lockdown. The funds raised enabled us to establish a food distribution hub from where food parcels of none-perishable goods fruit and veg and fresh bread were packaged and distributed across the city by our volunteers to people who were self-isolating or in need of food. An online referral system was established so that any one in need of a food parcel can contact my office for a code to collect or, if isolating, have it delivered.
Emergency PPE Hub
During the first national lockdown I worked with Fans Supporting Foodbanks, local businesses and school staff to produce and distribute emergency PPE for health and social care workers on the front line of the fight against Covid-19. We teamed up with Lydiate Learning Trust (LLT) at Wavertree Technology Park to make the vital safety visors using 3D printers. Materials were donated and more than 30,000 vital PPE visors were produced for local hospitals, care homes, paramedics and other frontline workers.
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 all benefits and debt issues, including claiming Personal Independence Payments for people who are sick and people with disabilities, Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, debt and more. Call Vauxhall Law Centre on 0151 482 2540 or email: advice@vauxhalllawcentre.org.uk
Supporting Maria Eagle MP’s Public Advocate Bill (“Hillsborough Law”)
In April I was proud to co-sign my Labour colleague Maria Eagle MP’s Public Advocate Bill, which aims to create a dedicated independent advisor to work on behalf of families bereaved in major tragedies. This Private Members' Bill was introduced to Parliament on Wednesday 22 April 2020 and its next stage is a second reading scheduled for Friday 8 January 2021.
Right to Food campaign
I am working with Fans Supporting Foodbanks on the “Right to Food” campaign, which aims to see peoples’ “Right to Food” enshrined into UK law. This would clarify Government obligations on food poverty and introduce legal avenues to hold Government to account for violations. At present, 10 million people in the UK face food insecurity and 4.5 million children live in poverty. Between April and September this year, the Trussell Trust handed out 1.2 million emergency food parcels to people in need. We want to look beyond the ‘sticking plaster’ approach to food poverty that has dominated the last twenty years and address instead the structural imbalances in society that lead to food poverty.
Grow West Derby
Grow West Derby is the local community project I have recently launched to link in with the national “Right to Food” campaign and to enable Liverpool West Derby constituents to access good quality food, learn new skills and get involved in building a community project. The initiative links up with Marlborough allotments and Myerscough College to support residents to grow their own food and supply local food pantries with any excess food they produce. All Liverpool West Derby residents are warmly invited to get involved in Grow West Derby. For details and to sign up, please visit the Grow West Derby page on this website or contact my office.
Wishing you all the best for the festive season and a happy, healthy, safe New Year.
Yours sincerely
Ian Byrne
Member of Parliament, Liverpool West Derby
[image description: A photograph of the Liver Building in Liverpool at night time with the Fans Supporting Foodbanks mobile pantry bus driving past. The bus is lit up with Christmas lights as part of the Liverpool Christmas convoy on 20th December. Overlaying the photo are snowflakes and a message in gold letters that reads "We wish you a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Best Wishes, Ian Byrne MP". At the bottom of the image in white letters are the words "# Right to Food".]