Only a few hours after leaving a wet and windy Swansea station early Monday morning, I was representing Labour’s Shadow Home Affairs team on the House of Commons front benches. I spoke spoke about the terrible attacks on some volunteers working in charity shops, ranging from verbal abuse to physical assaults. The Charity Retail Association has released data showing that such incidents are on then rise, and I called on the Minister to include retail volunteers in his current review into assaults on shop workers. You can feed into the review here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-and-abuse-toward-shop-staff-call-for-evidence
Later that day, I was delighted host an event for the Welsh Air Ambulance, a charity that does such phenomenal work across Wales – saving, improving and transforming lives week in, week out. The event was a great success, with Welsh MPs and colleagues from further afield having opportunity to hear first hand about the many services the charity are delivering.
I was back on Labour’s front bench on Wednesday for Women and Equality questions, where I pressed the Minister on having mandatory specialist gendered support in probation services. I also spoke in my colleague Neil Coyle’s Westminster Hall debate on domestic abuse and homelessness. It was a timely and well-attended debate on a hugely important issue, and I was able to raise the difficulty victims of Domestic Violence have leaving their abusers because of insecure housing options.
There was some mixed news Wednesday morning from Whirlpool regarding a recall of their defective tumble dryers. Following pressure from campaigners, customers and MPs including me, Whirlpool were effectively forced to recall dryers; however, then recall announced this week was partial – and it remains a scandal that they did not do so of their own accord.
I’ve been working closely with Electrical Safety First and we’ve long demanded this full recall. Put simply, where issues of consumer and public safety arise, the first priority of companies like Whirlpool should be to keep people safe. We’ll be keeping the pressure on Whirlpool.
I was invited by my good friend and fab Welsh Labour activist Grace Davis to speak on an Oxford University Labour Club panel discussing female leadership in the Labour party. As Deputy Leader of Welsh Labour, and a member of UK Labour’s Shadow Front Bench, I was able to share some of my first hand experiences, both good and bad! I was joined by Oxford Councillor Shaista Aziz, and we both received a warm and engaging welcome. I left feeling genuinely inspired, and hopefully having passed on a few tips to the next generation of Labour leaders and campaigners.
I hope you all enjoy your weekends. 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.
