This week I attended the National Literacy Trust’s Literacy Leaders event to discuss the importance of literacy for levelling up our communities.
This is an issue I am passionate about and throughout my career as an MP I have worked to get children reading. As part of this work, I have chaired a cross-party group (APPG) for Libraries, launched the Summer Reading Challenge in Parliament, held literacy trust events at my Community Office and supported other initiatives such as World Book Day.
I was very interested to hear about the National Literacy Trust’s work to support vital early language and communication skills of children under five, and how important reading and literacy is to support these skills. Literacy has the power to help young people shape their future and fulfil their potential. Through reading, children can improve their knowledge, build confidence, and inspire their imaginations. In turn, this leads to better results at school and improves their future career prospects.
The Literacy Trust is a fantastic organisation, working directly with young people and their families in many different places, including nurseries, schools, and Young Offenders Institutions. I will continue to do all I can to support the trust’s vital work in using literacy to tackle poverty and improving outcomes for young people.
On Wednesday, we voted through the Illegal Migration Bill to tackle the issue of people entering the UK illegally via the English Channel.
Entering the country illegally is unfair on those who play by the rules and have genuine cases for asylum. Our capacity to help those in genuine need is taken up by people coming here illegally from countries that are safe or travelling through countries that are safe. That is why we are delivering a tough but fair approach; if someone enters the UK illegally, they will be detained immediately and removed to a safe country within weeks – with no ability to make spurious and late claims to frustrate removal.
The new Illegal Immigration Bill will change the law so that if people come here illegally, they will not be able to claim asylum in the UK; it will increase powers to detain and swiftly remove illegal migrants; it will mandate that all claimants must make their claims immediately; and will make sure the only route to asylum in the UK is a safe and legal route.
We of course have a duty to support people in desperate situations across the globe, which is why since 2015, our global safe and legal routes have offered sanctuary to over 450,000 people from many different countries, including Ukraine, Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Syria. Our new Illegal Immigration Bill will help us prioritise supporting these people over those seeking to enter the UK illegally from safe countries.
Finally, this week also saw Labour and the Liberal Democrats fail to back our fully-costed plan to tackle sewage and improve our water quality. This plan included implementing unlimited fines, along with new rules and robust targets requiring water companies to invest £56 billion into our water infrastructure – the largest infrastructure investment in history. I know this is a very important issue for many residents, so it was very disappointing to see Labour playing political games over supporting real action to clean up our rivers and beaches.
