Barry raises constituent's case in violence against women and girls debate

Barry intervened during Labour’s Opposition Day debate today to powerfully raise an incredibly concerning case of a constituent he met over the weekend.

The young woman had gone to the police to report violence from her partner, against her. She was concerned that the officer hadn’t taken the issue seriously and raised a complaint against the officer.

She was then subsequently charged with stalking the person that had committed violence against her.

During his contribution Barry said; “This is the way in which our police I am afraid in London have got things entirely wrong”

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that she would like to meet with Barry discuss with him further to discuss the individual case.

Barry challenges Liz Truss on humanitarian efforts for Ukrainians

Barry spoke up today on behalf of constituents who have relatives who have fled to Ukraine to Poland and asked Liz Truss what conversations she has had with her Polish counterparts with regards to swift flights being arranged to bring them here.

Barry also asked what conversations had been undertaken with the Home Secretary with regards to the matter. The full exchange can be viewed below

Barry calls for an urgent windfall tax to help leaseholders stuck in limbo

Barry asked a question to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Housing, in his statement on Building Safety.

In his question, Barry said that the Secretary of State’s statement focused on cladding, when the vast majority of leaseholders in unsafe homes are suffering from other insulation and fire stopping defects.

Barry also noted that many of the companies who will be asked to ‘pay up’ have gone into voluntary liquidation. Barry asked the Secretary of State whether he will implement a windfall tax on the whole industry now.

Many leaseholders in Brent North and around the country have been waiting 3 years in purdah and need some urgent clarity and leadership from the government on this issue.

You can watch his question in full below.

Barry responds to the Autumn Budget

Barry responded to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget in the Chamber. In his speech, Barry touched on matters such as:

  • This Budget is the result of 11 years of austerity and under-investment.

  • No Government since the war has implemented a higher tax take from the people of this country.

  • Growth in the next three years will slow to a sluggish 1.3% and our country’s debt stands at the astonishing figure of £2.2 trillion

  • The growing deficit

  • The total lack of strategy to tax wealth on unearned income

  • The failure of the Government to work towards a net zero economy

You can watch Barry’s speech in full below.

Barry speaks in Westminster Hall debate on Sustainability and Climate Change in the National Curriculum

Barry was pleased to speak in the debate on the vital topic of Sustainability and Climate Change in the National Curriculum. A debate that was introduced by Nadia Whittome MP.

Barry spoke about how young people today should be angry. Angry with the way that successive generations have left them a world that they are going to have to cope with. The problems that we have created are the problems that they will have to deal with.

Barry agrees that there is a strong need for us to teach about climate as an integral part of the curriculum and not just a tick-box exercise within schools. He also spoke about the hope that the Dasgupta review brings- an economic review commissioned by the Treasury to look into the integration of biodiversity and the natural world with economics—something that is long overdue.

You can watch my speech in full below

Barry speaks in debate on COP26 and limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees

Barry joined colleagues from across the House for a Backbench Business debate this afternoon to discuss the pressing need to keep global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. This debate comes less than two weeks before COP26, which the UK Government will host in Glasgow. Barry spoke of the importance of the ‘Green Grids’ initiative he is championing with the Climate Parliament group which will aim to create a connected electricity grid across many countries in the global South harnessing wind, solar and tidal energy. He also spoke about some of the plans in the Government’s Net Zero Strategy released on Tuesday, including nuclear which is not as cost-effective as renewable sources.

You can watch his full speech below.

Barry speaks in Backbench debate on Kashmir

Barry spoke in a backbench Business debate on Kashmir.

Barry spoke of the Importance of people understanding the connections between democracy, pluralism and human rights, and the equally strong connections between fundamentalism, terrorism, insurgency and the loss of human rights.

Barry also spoke about the complicated political history of the area, as well as the human rights abuses faced by many religious groups, as well as women.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints in the debate Barry was not able to conclude his speech.

You can watch his speech below.

Barry speaks in debate on Afghanistan

Parliament was recalled from recess for a special debate on the ongoing situation in Afghanistan

Barry started by saying that “There is no point in criticising the Government’s strategy; there has not been one. When President Trump announced his decision to withdraw troops last year, our Government should have prepared to relocate all those Afghan families to whom we owed a debt of honour: the interpreters, the medics, the aid workers. They should have; they did not. They should have fast-tracked all the outstanding settlement applications from British citizens wanting to bring their children and partners from Afghanistan. They should have; they did not.”

Barry then went on to mention cases of constituents who are stuck in Afghanistan and have been let down by the lack of foresight and poor responses from the Home Office.

Barry finished by saying “The Afghanistan that we hoped to build 20 years ago may be lost for now, but our Government need a plan and a vision for the sort of world that we want to build. Afghanistan will be how we are judged in future. Are we to be trusted? Do we keep our word? Do we have the will to support the values that we preach? Do we have the foresight to prepare against the things that we fear will happen? Any dispassionate observer of this Government would have to answer no, but this is not just a political failure. It is a moral failure of which the price is now being paid by others: British citizens with family members trapped in Afghanistan, those who fought and served alongside our own valiant troops, the women, the religious minorities and all those who now face a well-founded fear of persecution.”

You can watch his speech in full below.

Barry calls out Government incompetency in Building Safety debate

Barry spoke in today’s second reading of the Building Safety debate, which follows on from multiple speeches he has made in debates relating to the previous Fire Safety Bill.

Unfortunately, he was cut off by Madam Deputy Speaker before he could conclude. So copied below is the text of his whole speech, that he would have delivered if time allowed. You can also watch the speech he made at the bottom of this page:

I am not sure what is worse for leaseholders, the fact that they are in constant fear because their homes are unsafe. The  fact that they cannot afford to make them safe and are being harassed by greedy managing agents, or the fact that they are  "trapped" in their  flats without any easy  option to sell and move on with their  lives.  Today’s Statement and this Bill does not fundamentally change that for all the reasons the Father of the House set out in his brief but excellent speech.

During the passage of the Fire Safety Bill Ministers promised these issues would be addressed in the Building Safety Bill.

 Lord Greenalgh said:

“it is unacceptable for leaseholders to have to worry about costs of fixing historic safety defects in their buildings that they did not cause”

“building owners are responsible for ensuring the safety of residents”, and he said they should “protect leaseholders from the costs of remediating historic building defects.”

I don’t know what the correct term in parliament is for someone who makes promises they don’t keep, but I know what they call them on the streets of Brent North. They call them a government minister!

Extending the scope and duration of the Defective Premises Act (DPA) in The Building Safety Bill shows the government does not understand the extent of the problem.

I would ask the Minister to explain to my constituents who live in the Wembley Central Development how this will help them?  The original Developer of their homes-  St Modwens have washed their hands of these defective properties. They sold them to an off-shore company in Jersey in 2018 following the introduction of the new Building Regulations.

They were in partnership with Sowcrest, who are now in a very convenient liquidation. So who exactly does the minister think my constituents can chase here?

What is the government prepared to do about buildings with obscure corporate ownership?

I first contacted St Modwens in 2017 immediately after the Grenfell tragedy. They repeatedly assured me these buildings were safe and in 2018 confirmed in writing that no fire safety defects had been identified.  I am now told the cladding on this building is the same as used for the Grenfell Tower and the Fire Safety Report  has identified fire stopping defects throughout the construction process.

But In May of this year St Modwen agreed to a takeover bid of £1.2 billion from Blackstone.  Can the Minister tell me how this Bill will make them accountable for their actions?

It wasn’t the leaseholders who decided to use flammable cladding, to leave out fire stopping in voids or cut corners. Developers made those decisions.

 My constituents do not have either the deep pockets or the legal expertise to fight these corporate chameleons who start off in London and end up in Jersey as a different company. And this Bill shows the government either does not understand or does not care.

The companies can afford lengthy litigation.  Leaseholders cannot.

 Finally The Minister must explain why there is so little progress on the Building Safety Fund?

I wrote to St Modwens on the 23rd June 2021. I still await a response.

I have also written to Fidum/Fox Cooper, the new managing agents for the New owners based in Jersey.  I asked them about their application to the Building Safety Fund BSF for the removal of the unsafe cladding.  I have received no response.

But Fidum have now told residents that they missed the closing date of the 30th June for the second application because they are still waiting to have eligibility confirmed for the first! And therefore cannot move to stage 2 of the application process.   I contacted the BSF directly on the 23rd June and was advised I would receive an urgent reply from the Ministry of Housing – now precisely 4 weeks later I have received no response.  All of us knew that the system that government had put in place was inadequate.

What we didn’t expect was that it would be incompetent as well.

 

Barry speaks in Environment Bill report stage debate

The Environment Bill returned to the House of Commons just before parliamentary recess for the second day of report stage. Barry voiced his support the Labour frontbench amendments on banning burning of vegetation on all peatland areas to protect the UK’s most vital carbon sinks. Barry also called for the House to support amendments on food labelling, so consumers could make informed decisions on the products they purchase based on their climate and ecological footprints. Finally, Barry spoke of his support for New Clause 12 to revoke existing fracking licenses following the loopholes in the Government’s moratorium on fracking in place since the end of 2019.

Barry draws attention to the impact of ESW1 regulations in Fire Safety Bill speech

In this speech, Barry focused on the impact of the EWS1 regulations and the callous way vulnerable residents in Blackberry House are being treated.

Barry goes on to say “ Charitably, EWS1 forms are the Government’s attempt to force a proper assessment of fire safety defects. Less charitably, they appear to be an attempt to outsource the crucial work of assessing dangerous buildings after Grenfell Tower to an unregulated private market.”

You can watch Barry’s speech below.

Barry once again calls out Government over their deplorable treatment of leaseholders

Barry has spoken in the recent Fire Safety Bill- Lords amendment. Barry referenced constituents in Wembley Central apartments, a large group of residential tower blocks in Brent North.

Barry spoke of his dismay that leasholders are being forced by government to pay billions of pounds retrospectively for the misconduct of others: such as the builders, the developers or even those producing the government’s own advisory documents, and, in particular building regulation control.

It is vital that the government focusses on addressing the very real issues in building control regulations that allowed this scandal to happen in the first place.

You can watch Barry’s speech below.