Naz Sarkar: Your voice in Reading West

Reading 2 Liverpool 1
Result!

I think the title says it all.

Both I and Labour’s candidate for Reading East Anneliese Dodds would like to put on record our thanks to all Reading’s “snow angels”.

Throughout the freezing cold snap, a wide variety of individuals and organisations have sprung into action to help others. Many residents formed teams to help motorists caught in the snow, with the Salvation Army and local churches offering shelter to stranded people, and St John’s Ambulance providing medical support. Local shops have stayed open despite the snow. Staff at Reading Buses and at Reading station have been working hard to keep services running. Community wardens have worked hard to clear steps and get shopping for elderly residents. Care workers have trudged through icy conditions to ensure they get to service users. Doctors on call have driven through terrible conditions to ensure they can make house visits to those unable to travel in the snow. And Reading Borough Council workers have been doing their best to keep council services open and accessible where possible, and deal with the worst of the snow fall.

I know that Jo Lovelock, Reading’s Council Leader, has asked the Chief Executive to call a meeting with neighbouring authorities, the emergency services and the Met Office to ensure they can all contribute to future plans.

I very much support that and hope that we can use the expertise of our dedicated front line public sector workers who worked so hard in Reading, to ensure those plans reflect any suggestions they have to make and that they get the best possible support when they are out there in freezing conditions ensuring the most vulnerable are protected.

Both Martin Salter MP and I are totally behind Gordon Brown and believe that Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt’s actions of the last few days are a total distraction.

In the lead up to the election Reading West residents tell me on the doorstep that the biggest issue facing them is the economy. There is a clear difference between how we and the Tories would deal with it.

The Tories measures would deepen the recession and threaten the jobs hard working people here in Reading.

In particular I am concerned that they would impose harmful cuts on our schools here and possibly axe vital services such as a Sure Start centre or two. I would call for them to make the same commitment that Labour has made not to axe and Sure Start centres in this constituency but doubt that such a commitment will be forthcoming.

There is no politician at a national level with more experience and ability to help us put  in place measures that will tackle the recession and help hard working families through it then Gordon Brown. And this is why he has got my wholehearted support in the run up to the next election.

Below you can read Martin Salter’s response to Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt.

Dear Geoff and Patricia,

I have to say that I agree entirely with Lynne Jones about your ill-judged circular calling for a leadership ballot.

I also happen to feel that it is inappropriate, to say the least, for a former Chief Whip and a current member of the Board of British Telecom – who is standing down at the next election – to be advising hard-working and full-time Labour MPs on who would be best placed to secure a Labour victory and their future employment prospects! The fact that you have chosen to broadcast your views to the media rather than in the confines of a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party speaks volumes about your true intentions.

Yours,

Martin Salter

David Cameron is reported to be coming to Reading on Friday 8th January to talk about the NHS. We all know there are clear differences between Labour and the Tories on the NHS. They are shown in the letter below which I and the candidate for Reading East Anneliese Dodds have written to Mr Cameron. The difference that is most personal to me is the one week cancer screening guarantee. In 2007 I had a suspected melanoma and was seen very quickly by a specialist under the NHS. Thankfully I got the all clear but the wait for the results was short and for those who are diagnosed with cancer a quick diagnosis could mean the difference between life and death. The Tories are not prepared to endorse Labour’s target of bringing down the wait to see a specialist to one week. When David Cameron comes to Reading on Friday I urge Reading West constituents to ask him why.

Dear Mr Cameron,
We were pleased to learn that you are coming to Reading to talk about the NHS. We may not be allowed to come to your meeting. So, we thought it would be helpful to set down the questions that we would like you to answer.
Local people well remember the NHS under the Conservatives as subject to a permanent financial squeeze. Berkshire was appallingly funded for its population relative to the rest of the country. Facilities were crumbling with the lack of investment, and staff wages and conditions were constantly under threat.
The last twelve years of Labour Government have seen massive modernisation of our Royal Berkshire Hospital, making it one of the top hospitals in the region. The dismal old mental health hospital at Fairmile has been replaced with an excellent new hospital at Prospect Park. The quality of community services has greatly improved, waiting times for hospital treatment have dropped dramatically, many more people are involved in hospital governance though the Foundation Trusts, and while there are always still improvements to be made, peoples’ experience of the NHS is generally good.
So Question 1 is: What should the last thirty years in the life of the NHS locally tell us about the approaches of the Conservative and Labour Parties to running our health services?
And Question 2 is: Labour has guaranteed that nobody should have to wait more than 18 weeks for an operation. Under the Conservatives, waiting times in some specialties were 18 months or more. Will you retain this guarantee or is it one of the targets you want to scrap?
Every cancer specialist will tell you that the sooner a cancer is diagnosed and treatment started the better. So the next question is:
Question 3: Why will you not endorse Labour’s target that the wait to see a specialist should be brought down from two weeks, which this Government has achieved, to one week in the next Parliament?
On this and other such questions, please don’t say that you want to leave it to the professionals. A consultant can only see so many patients a day. So the next question is:
Question 4: Is the real reason you want to scrap targets, because you are not prepared to fund the number of doctors, staff and equipment that are required? And do you endorse the present target that nobody should have to wait more than four hours in Accident and Emergency, or would this also be scrapped?
Question 5: Do you agree with your party’s shadow minister for Health, Andrew Lansley, who has made it clear that if the Conservatives got into power, they would cut the pay of nurses and other health workers?
And finally, given the close link between social and health care:
Question 6: Will you denounce or endorse the decision of West Berkshire’s Conservative Council no longer to guarantee care in the community even for those in critical need, your Cabinet member saying that in future people will have to have greater need even than that?
We are in no sense complacent about the NHS. Medical advances continue to be made and we must always strive to improve quality and safety in our comprehensive health service, so that it provides the best possible care which is freely available at the point of need. We want to hear your answers to our questions because given your party’s history and the policies in successive Conservative manifestos, including that for 2005 which you helped draft, that you share Labour’s vision and Labour’s commitment.

I was lucky enough to attend 2 fantastic events to celebrate the 43rd Year of the Independence of Barbados.

Reading has the largest community of Barbadians outside Barbados itself and we really need to celebrate Reading’s diversity.

It was fantastic to be invited first of all to the Carson Small Foundation  Dinner and dance event at the Irish Club.

The Carson Small foundation raises money for local and Barbadian charities and is run by a committee including Reading community activist Peter Small.

I am pictured with the committee members of the Carson Small Foundation.

The second event was an excellent service at St Mary’s in the town centre. It is a pleasure to be a part of such a diverse community and I look forward to working with Peter Small and his colleagues in the future.

Today I launched a massive campaign to increase care for the elderly in West Berkshire where care is significantly different from the care in Reading.

 This is a postcode lottery. It shouldn’t be that just because you live in West Berkshire you get much worse care than if you live in Reading.

 Caring and working with the less well off is one of the things that motivated me to get into politics, it’s one of the things that drives me. We must be successful at winning this campaign and getting the Tories on the West Berkshire council to change their mind.

 At the moment Tory West Berkshire Council has changed it’s policy to say being with in the critical category doesn’t automatically entitile you to care. Reading Council currently helps 2,800 people who if they lived in West Berkshire wouldn’t be entitled to help.

Last Thursday I attended a meeting at RISC organised by the Greater Reading Environmental Network on the road to Copenhagen and what should be done about the dramatic changes in climate affecting the earth.

Speakers included Phil Thornhill, the national coordinator of the Campaign Against Climate Change, leading climate scientist Jonathan Gregory and outgoing Labour MP Martin Salter.

The most damning fact to come out of the meeting was  made by Martin Salter  and was that around 60% of the British public think that climate change isn’t due to man made actions and isn’t a priority. It is  important that we campaign in any way we can to change this and that is why I am proud to part of Ed Miliband’s campaign to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions.

I attended the Remembrance Sunday service at the Tilehurst Triangle. It was a truly moving service and made me reflect not only on those that had given up their lives in the 2 World Wars but also the men and women serving in current conflicts. This is especially poignant for me because I know of at least one ex pupil at Denefield who is currently serving out in Afghanistan.

My thoughts are with all the people that  serve in  our armed forces.

On Saturday night the Coley Park residents’ association organised a fantastic fireworks display.

 Labour ward councillors Paul Gittings, Debbie Watson and I  were at the event earlier in the day helping build the bonfire and then helped with collecting money at the display itself.

Everyone I encountered gave generously which was a true testament to the Coley Park residents hard work and the appreciation and support that the residents in the surrounding area felt for them running an excellent  fireworks display year after year. It was very satisfying collecting and because of the generosity of the public there must have been about £100 in the tin that I handed back to the organisers.