Please note: Change of Date for Next Immigration Surgery

PLEASE NOTE:

Barry’s next immigration surgery has now been moved to Friday 19th November. This will now be an Appointment Only surgery.

If you would like to book an appointment for this immigration surgery, then please email barry.gardiner.mp@parliament.uk and include a brief description of your case, as well as your full address including postcode.

This surgery is for Immigration matters only. If you would like to book an appointment for a non-immigration surgery then please email barry.gardiner.mp@parliament.uk. His next non-immigration advice surgery will be held on Friday 12th November.

Barry speaks in debate on COP26 and limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees

Barry joined colleagues from across the House for a Backbench Business debate this afternoon to discuss the pressing need to keep global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. This debate comes less than two weeks before COP26, which the UK Government will host in Glasgow. Barry spoke of the importance of the ‘Green Grids’ initiative he is championing with the Climate Parliament group which will aim to create a connected electricity grid across many countries in the global South harnessing wind, solar and tidal energy. He also spoke about some of the plans in the Government’s Net Zero Strategy released on Tuesday, including nuclear which is not as cost-effective as renewable sources.

You can watch his full speech below.

Barry visits Stockport to talk fire and rehire

Whilst in Manchester for Conservative Party Conference, Barry paid a visit to Stockport to see his friend and colleague Navendu Mishra MP and trade union representatives and local councillors to discuss how they can best support his Bill to stop fire and rehire as a negotiating tactic and how they can best lobby and put pressure on Government.

Barry speaks at Conservative Party fringe.

Barry was at Conservative Party Conference as invited by the NASUWT to discuss his Private Member’s Bill to Stop Fire and Rehire.

Barry spoke in a cross party nature with Conservative MP, Christian Wakeford on why the issue of fire and rehire is a moral issue and why compromise shouldn’t be a dirty word when bettering the lives of working people.

Barry attends Tory Party Conference protest

Barry was in Manchester this weekend to join with 20 thousand others to protest against the Tory Party Conference. The protest’s aim was to shine a light on subjects the government is currently ignoring from institutional racism, violence against women and girls, fire and rehire in the workplace.

During Barry’s speech he outlined his vision for a better country, tackling climate change, a proper living wage, stopping fire and rehire as a negotiating tactic and a return to decency in public life.

Barry speaks in Backbench debate on Kashmir

Barry spoke in a backbench Business debate on Kashmir.

Barry spoke of the Importance of people understanding the connections between democracy, pluralism and human rights, and the equally strong connections between fundamentalism, terrorism, insurgency and the loss of human rights.

Barry also spoke about the complicated political history of the area, as well as the human rights abuses faced by many religious groups, as well as women.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints in the debate Barry was not able to conclude his speech.

You can watch his speech below.

Barry to hold a special Afghanistan related surgery this Saturday

EMERGENCY AFGHANISTAN SURGERY THIS SATURDAY- Over the past week I have been contacted by hundreds of constituents who have family in Afghanistan and are desperately looking to bring them over to the UK. I have therefore decided to hold a special surgery so people can bring their cases to me in person. Please note that this is exclusively for cases related to Afghanistan and not general immigration queries. I will be resuming my regular advice surgeries in September.

The surgery will be held at Brent Civic Centre from 9am on Saturday 28th August. If you wish to attend please report to the reception area at Brent Civic Centre on the ground floor. Cases will be seen on a first come-first served basis. Please note that this is only for Brent North constituents and I will not be able to take cases on behalf of residents of other constituencies. To see which constituency you belong to please type your postcode here.

Please also bring with you relevant copies of documents pertaining to your case.

Barry speaks in debate on Afghanistan

Parliament was recalled from recess for a special debate on the ongoing situation in Afghanistan.

Barry started by saying that “There is no point in criticising the Government’s strategy; there has not been one. When President Trump announced his decision to withdraw troops last year, our Government should have prepared to relocate all those Afghan families to whom we owed a debt of honour: the interpreters, the medics, the aid workers. They should have; they did not. They should have fast-tracked all the outstanding settlement applications from British citizens wanting to bring their children and partners from Afghanistan. They should have; they did not.”

Barry then went on to mention cases of constituents who are stuck in Afghanistan and have been let down by the lack of foresight and poor responses from the Home Office.

Barry finished by saying “The Afghanistan that we hoped to build 20 years ago may be lost for now, but our Government need a plan and a vision for the sort of world that we want to build. Afghanistan will be how we are judged in future. Are we to be trusted? Do we keep our word? Do we have the will to support the values that we preach? Do we have the foresight to prepare against the things that we fear will happen? Any dispassionate observer of this Government would have to answer no, but this is not just a political failure. It is a moral failure of which the price is now being paid by others: British citizens with family members trapped in Afghanistan, those who fought and served alongside our own valiant troops, the women, the religious minorities and all those who now face a well-founded fear of persecution.”

You can watch his speech in full below.

Barry writes letter to Secretary of State regarding cuts to Universal Credit

I have written to Dr Therese Coffey MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to urge her not to go ahead with the planned £20 cut in Universal Credit. This would impose the largest overnight cut to the basic rate of social security since the foundation of the Welfare State.

In Brent, where families are still feeling the heavily impacts of Covid-19 and where poverty rates are the highest in Outer London, this will have a particularly detrimental affect on already vulnerable families.

At a time when families need Government most, they are turning their backs on them and instead focusing on balancing the books; I think this is shameful.

You can read my letter in full below.

Barry calls out Government incompetency in Building Safety debate

Barry spoke in today’s second reading of the Building Safety debate, which follows on from multiple speeches he has made in debates relating to the previous Fire Safety Bill.

Unfortunately, he was cut off by Madam Deputy Speaker before he could conclude. So copied below is the text of his whole speech, that he would have delivered if time allowed. You can also watch the speech he made at the bottom of this page:

I am not sure what is worse for leaseholders, the fact that they are in constant fear because their homes are unsafe. The  fact that they cannot afford to make them safe and are being harassed by greedy managing agents, or the fact that they are  "trapped" in their  flats without any easy  option to sell and move on with their  lives.  Today’s Statement and this Bill does not fundamentally change that for all the reasons the Father of the House set out in his brief but excellent speech.

During the passage of the Fire Safety Bill Ministers promised these issues would be addressed in the Building Safety Bill.

 Lord Greenalgh said:

“it is unacceptable for leaseholders to have to worry about costs of fixing historic safety defects in their buildings that they did not cause”

“building owners are responsible for ensuring the safety of residents”, and he said they should “protect leaseholders from the costs of remediating historic building defects.”

I don’t know what the correct term in parliament is for someone who makes promises they don’t keep, but I know what they call them on the streets of Brent North. They call them a government minister!

Extending the scope and duration of the Defective Premises Act (DPA) in The Building Safety Bill shows the government does not understand the extent of the problem.

I would ask the Minister to explain to my constituents who live in the Wembley Central Development how this will help them?  The original Developer of their homes-  St Modwens have washed their hands of these defective properties. They sold them to an off-shore company in Jersey in 2018 following the introduction of the new Building Regulations.

They were in partnership with Sowcrest, who are now in a very convenient liquidation. So who exactly does the minister think my constituents can chase here?

What is the government prepared to do about buildings with obscure corporate ownership?

I first contacted St Modwens in 2017 immediately after the Grenfell tragedy. They repeatedly assured me these buildings were safe and in 2018 confirmed in writing that no fire safety defects had been identified.  I am now told the cladding on this building is the same as used for the Grenfell Tower and the Fire Safety Report  has identified fire stopping defects throughout the construction process.

But In May of this year St Modwen agreed to a takeover bid of £1.2 billion from Blackstone.  Can the Minister tell me how this Bill will make them accountable for their actions?

It wasn’t the leaseholders who decided to use flammable cladding, to leave out fire stopping in voids or cut corners. Developers made those decisions.

 My constituents do not have either the deep pockets or the legal expertise to fight these corporate chameleons who start off in London and end up in Jersey as a different company. And this Bill shows the government either does not understand or does not care.

The companies can afford lengthy litigation.  Leaseholders cannot.

 Finally The Minister must explain why there is so little progress on the Building Safety Fund?

I wrote to St Modwens on the 23rd June 2021. I still await a response.

I have also written to Fidum/Fox Cooper, the new managing agents for the New owners based in Jersey.  I asked them about their application to the Building Safety Fund BSF for the removal of the unsafe cladding.  I have received no response.

But Fidum have now told residents that they missed the closing date of the 30th June for the second application because they are still waiting to have eligibility confirmed for the first! And therefore cannot move to stage 2 of the application process.   I contacted the BSF directly on the 23rd June and was advised I would receive an urgent reply from the Ministry of Housing – now precisely 4 weeks later I have received no response.  All of us knew that the system that government had put in place was inadequate.

What we didn’t expect was that it would be incompetent as well.