This week marks 4 years since I was first elected to be the Member of Parliament for Swansea East. Not a day goes by when I’m not brimming with pride that constituents have put their trust in me to represent them in Parliament. And what a busy week it’s been, as well! As ever, I’ve been campaigning on many different issues which affect our communities and speaking up on behalf of constituents.
At the start of the week, I was pleased to take part in an important roundtable discussion with the Centre for Social Justice. As part of this, we shared ideas about how we can keep up the political pressure to rid our society of modern slavery once and for all. This exploitation cannot be allowed to continue and it’s a travesty that there are people living in our communities who are effectively being treated as slaves behind closed doors. The government’s warm words on this issue must be met with real and meaningful action to stamp this vile practice out for good.
This week, I also chaired another meeting of my All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Related Harm. This was a really positive opportunity to discuss the issues facing gambling addicts and what support is currently available to them. Members of the APPG were delighted to be joined by Lee Willows, Founder and Chief Executive of the Young Gamblers Education Trust, Anna Hemmings, Chief Executive of GamCare, Dr Stephen Sharman, University of East London, Helen Undy , Chief Executive of Money and Mental Health, Duncan Stephenson, Director of External Affairs at the Royal Society of Public Health and Caroline Norrie, Kings College London. It’s essential that we work with as many different stakeholders as possible to tackle the issues relating to problem gambling and my confidence grows by the day that this cross-party group is well placed to achieve real change to tackle this scourge.
Away from Westminster, I was delighted to hear the very welcome news that Swansea City Council’s Planning Committee have rejected the proposed incinerator in Llansamlet. I sent along some of my constituency team to support local residents who were protesting the decision and I was so pleased to hear that the proposal was unanimously rejected. Congratulations to all of the local residents who have campaigned so hard to prevent this ill-advised project from becoming a reality.
And just today, I’ve been meeting with Shelter Cymru to discuss their work supporting constituents across Swansea East. The advice and material support they offer is invaluable, particularly given the numerous issues constituents are facing with Universal Credit and housing costs. I’ll be continuing to work closely with charities like Shelter Cymru to support constituents and always welcome the opportunity to share information with them as to how I as an MP can help their work.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. As ever, please do get in touch with me if there are any issues or concerns you would like to raise with me. You can email me via Carolyn.harris.mp@parliament.uk or call my constituency office on 01792 462054.
