What’s up in Westminster?

EACH WEEK A FEMALE MP GIVES US THE INSIDER VIEW FROM PARLIAMENT

Bethnal Green MP Rushanara Ali is fighting to make housing safer, and enters the debate about whether ISIS brides should be allowed to return to the UK

While Brexit dominates our lives, many of us in Parliament have been campaigning on other issues, such as fighting cuts and ensuring the Government takes urgent action to tackle the climate emergency.

I’ve also been campaigning for the Government to fund the removal of dangerous cladding from private housing blocks. After the Grenfell tragedy, I met people living in social and private housing that has the same dangerous ACM cladding that spread the horrific fire. Working with campaign groups such as Grenfell United, my colleagues and I secured £200m nationally for private blocks and £400m for social housing blocks to remove the cladding. But there’s still work to be done and the Government keeps passing the buck to local authorities. Meanwhile, some people who watched Grenfell burn still can’t sleep at night because they have to put their kids to bed knowing they have the same cladding around their home.

‘ People who watched Grenfell burn still can’t sleep at night, knowing they have the same cladding’

Other issues that have come to the fore have included the debate around whether or not radicalised people who went to Syria to join ISIS should be allowed to return to the UK. My former constituent Shamima Begum is one such person dividing opinion. In 2015, the schoolgirl ran away to Syria to become an ISIS bride. Her family were devastated and the wider community was deeply concerned about the dangers of young people being radicalised, particularly via online media. With cases like this, the priority absolutely needs to be security and the national interest. But equally, it’s important we don’t go about rescinding citizenships. Shamima should return to face the consequences of her actions.

Sometimes it’s a challenge not to let the issues you want to fight for get overshadowed by the abuse you receive. Last year, I received a ‘punish a Muslim’ letter with an ominous red substance inside. A specialist police team wearing full safety suits came into my Westminster office to investigate. Harriet Harman is in the next-door office to me – she kept texting, checking if I was OK. Luckily, the perpetrator was recently jailed for 12 years. But, despite experiences like these, I’m proud of being an MP and I hope women out there who want to be in politics aren’t put off. There is a strong network of women MPS who support each other. We have every right to be here and I won’t be intimidated or deterred.