Wera Hobhouse MP: New Covid variant means we must all think of others

With the emergence of the Omicron variant of the Covid virus, it’s even more important that we get fully vaccinated and boosted and use free home-testing kits to ensure that we do not infect others we come into contact with. We need to comply with mandates on mask wearing and be cautious in all settings. Please think of others, particularly those who are more vulnerable.

Many people are rightly outraged at the Tory corruption scandal. With the current Government, it’s one rule for you, no rules for them.

As an opposition, we tried to ban lobbying jobs where there is a direct conflict of interest. Sadly, the Conservative Party watered down our attempts to clean up politics.

No one should lose their homes to fund care costs. I voted against the Government’s social care bill because it will hit the poorest in our country the hardest. Social care is in crisis. Someone has to pay, but not those who can least afford it. Months after the Prime Minister announced his “plan” to fix social care, he has burdened struggling families further.

The 66% of young women and girls experiencing public sexual harassment feel that it impacts their confidence, mental health and self-esteem. I secured a meeting with the minister to discuss this vital issue, and tabled a bill to make misogyny a hate crime, which would stamp out the misogynistic culture which drives violence against women and girls.

I met the Environment Minister to discuss Bath’s gull crisis. I told the Minister that Natural England has put the wellbeing of urban gulls above the health and wellbeing of Bath’s human residents, making it almost impossible to get permission to have nests removed. Each spring, gull noise disrupts people’s sleep, and gulls drop faeces over garden furniture and children’s toys. Natural England has rejected the opinion of our environmental health officers that these persistent events pose a genuine risk to health.

Over 1,100 residents of the Bath Workhouse are buried in an unmarked grave next to the chapel at St Martin’s Hospital. Research from locals found that those buried there include craftspeople who built some of Bath’s iconic buildings as well as women, babies and children. I have launched a petition to save this site that is of special significance to Bath’s collective heritage. The history of our city’s working people is a key strand of our past which must be recognised and honoured.

I met with First Bus to discuss the ongoing challenges with buses. They are under huge pressure in part because of the Government’s decision to poach bus drivers to become HGV drivers. I met with the Transport Minister to express local concerns and to enlist support for a long-term plan to improve matters.