It is the honour of my life to be elected to represent the wonderful people of Reading West and Mid Berkshire. Thank you for all of the kind words over the past few weeks.
I have now set up my constituency office and I am in the process of securing a suitable permanent location. In the meantime, if you want to get in touch, you can email me at olivia.bailey.mp@parliament.uk. I held my first constituency surgeries last week in Tilehurst and Burghfield Common and will shortly publish a calendar for the autumn onwards.
Labour’s first King’s Speech clearly showed that this is a serious government with serious plans to fix the basics and get our country back on track. We have a packed legislative agenda which will take the brakes off our economy and restore our politics to service of the people. I was particularly pleased that we will legislate for an independent football regulator, which is so important for the future of Reading FC, and I am meeting with the Royals fan-led pressure group Sell Before We Dai this week to hear what they want to see in the Bill.
However, it has become abundantly clear that the Conservatives left the country in a chaotic state. Recently published National Audit Office reports have lifted the lid on an eye-watering waste of taxpayers’ cash and ‘unprecedented’ challenges left in our NHS, leaving a £22 billion black hole in Britain’s public finances.
And, I am really angry that the Conservatives promised new hospitals, while covering up they had no money to pay for it. This Government will end the deceit and conduct a review of the New Hospitals Programme, so that we can deliver a costed and realistic new plan.
I will fight tooth and nail to make the case for a new Royal Berkshire Hospital as part of this review and am confident in the strength of the case developed by the excellent team at the hospital. I will keep residents informed as the review progresses and encourage them to participate in the consultation currently being run by the Royal Berks.
I am meeting with the police in the near future to talk to them about what action they are taking to deal with the distress illegal bikes are causing in Tilehurst and West Reading. Everyone should feel safe where they live and that’s why cracking down on antisocial behaviour is one of my priorities and a priority for the Labour Government. We will give police the powers they need to take illegal, dangerous and antisocial bikes off the streets for good.
During the last Parliament, the Conservatives promised to deliver one million homes in the last Parliament, but they missed their own housing targets every single year. As a result, we have the most acute housing crisis in living memory with a generation locked out of home ownership, skyrocketing private sector rents and people driven to homelessness. I believe that people in Reading West and Mid Berkshire and their children deserve more than this – the security of a decent roof over their head and the opportunity to buy their own home.
What’s more, I was pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister confirmed, in answer to my question in Parliament this week, that the Labour Government will ensure that the necessary infrastructure, such as schools and doctors’ surgeries are built alongside desperately needed new housing, and that new development will not come at the expense of green open space.
