T: 020 79835545 E: fiona@fionatwycross.org.uk www.fionatwycross.org.uk Facebook/fionatwycross @fionatwycross

Campaigning on issues that matter to Londoners

Make Work Pay – London Living WageAs Economy Spokesperson on the City Hall Labour Group, I am delighted that Labour will introduce measures to encourage more employers to pay a Living Wage as a minimum. The number of people earning less than the London Living Wage is now higher than in 2007.

Around 600,000 workers in London were paid below the London Living Wage last year and the number of people paid below the living wage is rising. So far voluntary measures have not achieved sufficient progress. A recent report commissioned by Unison has demonstrated that far from putting jobs at risk, introducing a statutory living wage could lead to an increase in employment.

Boris Johnson is failing Londoners. On his watch, increasing numbers of Londoners are facing a choice between heating and eating.

In this report, I cover some of the main areas of my work over the past six months. From

continuing my focus on tackling food poverty, to challenging Boris on housing, low pay and fire cuts, I hope it gives you some insight in to my work.

Learning about Network Rail’s apprenticeship scheme with Catherine West, Labour’s candidate for Hornsey and Wood Green

Winning design in my Assembly Christmas card competition supporting charity Magic Breakfast

Winter Report 2013/14

On the current rate of progress, it would take well over 400 years for the living wage to be introduced across the board in London. With average wages falling in real terms and prices rises, London is increasingly unaffordable for many working people particularly those on low pay. As a result, we are seeing increasing levels of in-work poverty in one of the richest cities in the world. If voluntary measures and incentives fail to speed up progress, the statutory minimum wage should be upgraded to make work pay.

Poverty pay is unacceptable. Increasing pay for the lowest paid workers will help reverse the increase in child poverty. It will increase tax revenue and reduce the benefits bill. The

money saved by government could be used for infrastructure investment or schemes to help people back in to work. The Mayor is failing to tackle the unacceptably high levels of long-term youth unemployment in London. With over 50% of young black men in London not able to find work more money should also be invested to give our young people a decent start in life.

A third of children in London experience hunger during the school day that prevents them from concentrating. The government has recognised the value of free school meals and is introducing them for infant schools from next autumn but, while welcome, this doesn’t go far enough.

At Labour Party conference, I spoke at the launch of a Labour campaign on Free School Meals for All which I have been working on with Cllr Richard Watts, Leader of Isligton, and the GMB Trade Union. The campaign aims for free school meals for all to be a key policy in our next manifesto and promote it as a policy for Labour in local government. The policy of free

Healthy Free School Meals for All?school meals for all is a very practical way to make sure children get at least one healthy meal a day and tackle the long term health implications and costs of poor diet and obesity. As well as improving results, the policy also puts up to £500 per child back in to the pockets of families. Please get in touch if you would like a copy of the Free School Meals for All pamphlet outlining the benefits of the policy of free school meals for all or would like a speaker on the issue at a local meeting.

Campaigning on issues that matter to Londoners

T: 020 79835545 E: fiona@fionatwycross.org.uk www.fionatwycross.org.uk Facebook/fionatwycross @fionatwycross

Boris’s Housing Let DownBoris Johnson is letting Londoners down on housing. Despite previous claims that he didn’t want a ‘Kosovo-style social cleansing’ in London, he is ignoring the impact of increasing rents and the welfare reform that is seeing people in low income households increasingly pushed out of inner city London.

The number of people living in poverty in the private rented sector in London has gone up by 460,000 in the past ten years. There have been inflation busting rent rises with Inner London seeing rents go up by over 13% in the year to January 2013. With wages effectively continuing to fall, the ever increasing rents are putting added pressure on Londoners’ budgets. The Mayor is refusing to even consider the recent recommendations on pilots of

rent stabilsation in a report on reforming the private rented sector by the London Assembly’s Housing Committee. This is despite admitting in May that it would take ten years for sufficient housing to be built to address private sector rent levels through the market alone.

To make matters worse, Boris’s recent revision to the London Plan means that new ‘affordable’ rented housing can be set at up to 80% of the market rent putting it beyond the reach of many Londoners. His change was voted through by Tory Assembly Members, four of whom sit on Tory councils opposed to the plan.

In response to most questions on housing, the Mayor blames the lack of supply but without taking responsibility for the lack of new homes being built in the city. With just 18,000 new homes completed in

London last year he is failing to deliver even half the number of homes his own 2020 vision says is required. As early indications suggest that Help to Buy appears already to be leading to further price rises, with a leap of 10% in house prices in October 2013, Boris is failing to address the housing crisis in London.

This makes London one of just two cities in the world that has made this commitment (the other one is Mexico City). While this is welcome, this is a Mayor who has refused to visit a food bank to better understand why people are so desperate they are driven to food aid in one of the richest cities in the world. I will continue to challenge him on poverty in London and to properly resource work to tackle hunger on our doorstep.

Despite the government’s claims on the economy, the cost of living crisis is hitting people hard in London and 57% of children and adults living in poverty in London are now from working households.

Who Benefits?

Boris Johnson used bully-boy tactics to force through his fire cuts by directing the Fire Authority to vote for the Fifth London Safety Plan (LSP5) and his cuts outlined in it. The Fire Authority received entirely unambiguous legal advice that meant that the opposition groups no longer had a realistic legal option of blocking the cuts despite having rejecting them four times previously. The cuts plan was subsequently voted through by the Conservatives with the Tory Chair using his casting vote to push the cuts through.

Initial plans last year revealed that 31 fire stations were initially under threat. Ten stations now face closure in January 2014. Although we believe this is 10 too many, this reflects the efforts of all

Labour members who have campaigned alongside their communities and alongside the Fire Brigades Union.Over four million Londoners will see an increase in the time it takes a fire engine to attend an incident in an emergency as a result of the cuts. The Mayor has failed to listen to the concerns of 94% of Londoners taking part in the consultation on the London Safety Plan who opposed the cuts. He also ignored the Assembly and the Fire Authority both of which voted against his plans and had made alternative proposals that would have avoided the need for station closures.

A number of boroughs have taken the campaign to the courts by seeking a judicial review of the Mayor’s decision with the hearing due at the end of November 2013.

London Labour NHS CampaignThe news that the Court of Appeal threw out Jeremy Hunt’s appeal on the reprieve for Lewisham Hospital was welcome to local residents. It is also a relief to all those reliant on nearby hospitals such as Kings that would have faced added pressure as a result. With other services still under threat and the health service in London showing increasing signs of stress, campaigning for a positive future for our health service is even more important. I have been involved in a Labour Party regional working group on a London Labour NHS Campaign. This was launched at a meeting in October. Details about the campaign are on the regional website – www.labourinlondon.org.uk.

Campaigning for a Zero Hunger City - an update

Over recent months, our city’s food banks have continued to report an increase in the number of people using and the overall the number of foodbanks continues to increase. Earlier in the year, I attended the opening of one a bit too close to home on the Kingswood Estate in South East London. Foodbanks and their volunteers do a great job making sure local people get food in a crisis but as Labour Party members we must do everything we can to make sure they do not become a permanent formal or informal feature of social security.

I’ve been delighted with the response by boroughs to my report Zero Hunger: Tackling Food Poverty in London and recently held a roundtable meeting looking at practical ways boroughs could work towards becoming Zero Hunger boroughs. I will be circulating a checklist for consultation to boroughs following the meeting and would welcome suggestions on what measures boroughs can take to address hunger at a local level. With ten councils now having completely removed meals on wheels for elderly and vulnerable residents due to budget cuts from central government, urgent action is required.

In response to the report on food poverty for the London Assembly I published in March 2013, the Mayor has committed to making London a Zero Hunger City.

I was delighted to sign up to the campaign ‘Who Benefits?’ recently launched by a number of charities. The campaign aims to reframe the debate around social security to demonstrate the value of a safety net to society using real life stories of those relying on benefits.

Meanwhile, London’s Mayor is in denial about the impact of the Tory-led government’s welfare reforms. Even with a UN Special Rapporteur, describing the bedroom tax as a ‘shocking’ policy and calling for it to be scrapped, Boris Johnson still steadfastly supports the policy.

“I support the introduction of the spare room subsidy”Boris Johnson, September 2013

Speaking about the Zero Hunger Challenge in the House of Lords

Bully-boy Boris forces fire cuts through“I will certainly take everybody’s views in to account”Boris Johnson on the fire consultation at Mayor’s Question Time, July 2013

At a protest against cuts to London’s Fire Service

Zero comment on Zero Hours from Mayor Over recent months, I have been calling on Boris to state his position on the use of Zero Hours contracts in London. He has so far refused to comment or commit to looking in to the use of the practice in London. At the launch of Who Benefits? campaign

Get in touchOne of the main ways I can hold the Mayor to account on your behalf is by submitting questions to him. Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to raise on your behalf.

Name:

Mobile:

Email:

Home address:

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Please ask the Mayor the Following Question:

The issue I think Labour should be campaigning on in London is:

I would be interested in (Please tick): Joining a Labour campaign for universal free school meals

Getting more involved in campaigning

Coming on a tour of City Hall and finding out more about the work of

the London Assembly

T: 020 79835545 E: fiona@fionatwycross.org.uk www.fionatwycross.org.uk Facebook/fionatwycross @fionatwycross

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Return address: Fiona Twycross AM, City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA

Handing in a petition against the

Beddington Incinerator

Campaigning on road safety in Tulse Hill

Speaking at Fire Brigades Union rally on cuts to firefighter pensions

What do you think of plans to rebuild the Crystal Palace?I would love to hear what your views are of the recently an-nounced plans to rebuild Crystal Palace. Please get in touch to let me know what you think.

A Londonwide Assembly Member since 2012, I was recently elected Leader of the Labour Group on the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. I am spokesperson on the Economy for the City Hall Labour Group, joint spokesperson on Social Security and the Group’s Campaign Co-ordinator.

I was born and live in South London and am Chair of Dulwich & West Norwood CLP. As an elected Labour Party National Policy Forum member, I sit on the Education and Childcare Policy Commission. I am a member of the Friends’ Committee at the Horniman Museum and Chair of Governors at Lambeth Academy

Out and about around London

Supporting Neil Coyle’s campaign in Bermondsey

and Old Southwark

Chairing Southwark Labour’s 2013 Conference

As a Labour Londonwide Assembly Member, I’ve continued to enjoy getting out and about across London – on the doorstep with members and speaking at local meetings – and welcoming groups to City Hall. If you would like to come in to see the building, or attend one of the public Mayor’s Question Time Sessions, please get in touch.