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Last week I met with licensees and retailers from Childwall, Allerton Road, Rose Lane and Penny Lane. The group work together to ensure the area is a safe place for residents to shop and socialise.
They have recently introduced a Banning Order initiative which means that any offender who has been banned from one retail/licensed premises may automatically be banned from all premises. The banning Order has been welcomed by Merseyside Police and Liverpool City Council.
If you would like to know more about the organisation please contact Alice Mintz – mintz.a@me.com
Ed Miliband MP has written to the Prime Minister over inaccurate claims which he made in response to questions in Parliament today.
The text of Ed Miliband’s letter is below:
Dear Prime Minister,
I wanted to write following this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions to draw your attention to some inaccurate claims you made today.
In an answer to me, you said that “There are more people in work today than there were at the time of the last election”. In fact, the most recent employment figures from the Office for National Statistics show that total employment between May-July 2010 and September-November 2011 fell by 26,000.
In an answer to Lindsay Roy MP, you said that the Merlin agreement “actually led to an increase in bank lending last year”. In fact, the latest Trends in Lending report from the Bank of England, published last Friday, said that “the stock of lending to SMEs contracted between end-April and end-November 2011”.
In an answer to Paul Maynard MP, you spoke of “the real shame… that there are so many millions of children who live in households where nobody works and indeed that number doubled under the previous government”. In fact, according to the Office for National Statistics, the number of children living in workless households fell by 372,000 between April-June 1997 and April-June 2010.
In an answer to Rt Hon Anne McGuire MP, who said that your Government was planning to cut benefits to disabled children, you said that “The Hon Lady is wrong”. In fact, according to page 28 of the Department for Work and Pensions’ own impact assessment on the introduction of universal credit, your policy of mirroring for disabled children the current adult eligibility for Disability Living Allowance means that the rate paid to those disabled children who do not qualify for the highest rate of the DLA care component “would be less than now (£26.75 instead of £53.84)”.
I am sure that you will want to take this opportunity to correct the record.
Yours sincerely,
Ed Miliband
The British recovery has been stalling since the government’s spending review in the autumn of 2010, but now the economy has gone into reverse. Since the Chancellor’s spending review the economy has grown by just 0.3% compared to the 3.0% the government predicted.
As for the eurozone crisis being to blame, it is only rising exports that kept us out of recession last year. By clobbering the economy with spending cuts and tax rises that go too far and too fast, the Government has left us badly exposed if the Eurozone crisis deepens this year. This was entirely avoidable and the Chancellor cannot say he wasn’t warned.
These figures are a damning indictment of David Cameron and George Osborne’s failed economic plan. Families, pensioners and businesses know it’s hurting – but the evidence is now overwhelming that on jobs, growth and the deficit it’s just not working.
A flat economy will not generate the job creation needed to bring down unemployment. 2012 could well be another hard slog for workers and businesses.
There is a better way. We need a real plan to get our economy moving again and to create jobs here in Liverpool.
Labour has set out a clear five-point plan to create jobs, help struggling families and support small businesses. Our jobs plan includes tax breaks for small businesses taking on extra workers, a temporary VAT cut which would give families a boost of around £450 and tax on bank bonuses to fund 100,000 jobs for young people.
The Government should take this action now to support our economy and get Britain working again.
 Last week in Parliament I called for an urgent update on how many businesses are still waiting for compensation following last summer’s disturbances. This followed correspondence I received revealing that businesses in Liverpool have yet to be paid a penny.
In August the Prime Minister said that he would help affected businesses to get back up and running quickly. Unfortunately, due to the complex and bureaucratic application process, nine out of the 14 businesses affected in the constituency are yet to receive anything. As result they are now struggling to run their businesses, through no fault of their own.
I was grateful that the Leader of the House pledged to take up this matter with Government ministers and I hope those affected will get the support they were promised as quickly as possible.
You can watch a video of my question here (skip to 01:17:32).
 Last week I signed a Book of Commitment in the House of Commons, pledging my commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and honouring those who died during the Holocaust.
Friday January 27th will mark the 67th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration and extermination camp which is the site of the largest mass murder in history.
In the weeks around Holocaust Memorial Day, thousands of commemorative events will be arranged by schools, faith groups and community organisations across the country, remembering all the victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.
This year, people will also be encouraged to take a stand against racism and prejudice today, and to speak out against hatred wherever they encounter it.
Holocaust Memorial Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau – and is an important opportunity to remember the victims of all genocides. I encourage all constituents to mark the day and to commit to speaking up and speaking out against prejudice today.
It is vitally important that we both remember and learn from the appalling events of the Holocaust – as well as ensuring that we continue to challenge all forms of bigotry today.
 One of the world’s leading street theatre companies is bringing an event to Liverpool in April.
The spectacle, ‘A Little Girl Giant’, is a love story which takes its inspiration from the story of the Titanic which infamously set sail from England on April 10th 1912.
The street company Royal De Luxe will put on the show from Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd and will be a free event. The show won’t be a traditonal theatrical event however. The story will unfold across the city with many key city spaces being involved in the story telling.
The Royal De Luxe are renowned for putting on amazing theatre. Their last UK event attracted 1.5 million people and I for one am really looking forward to it.
 New figures today show that unemployment has increased to a 17-year high after a rise of 118,000 in the number of people out of work across the UK.
I’m very worried that here in the constituency right now 11% of people can’t find work. Not enough jobs are being created and there are 16 people chasing every vacancy.
Today’s statistics also reveal the shocking rise in long term unemployment amongst the over 50s here in Liverpool Wavertree. New research released by Labour has shown that in the last 12 months there has been a 78% rise in people over 50 on the dole for six months or more.
This shows the Tory-Lib Dem Government’s economic policies are hurting but they’re not working. Their tax rises and spending cuts which go too far and too fast have choked off the recovery.
Our country needs a new plan. Labour has shown there is a better way: our 5 point plan to create jobs and economic growth. I’ll be pressing the Government to adopt this plan and to make sure that those who are out of work get all the support they need and their benefits on time.
Growing our economy and getting people back to work is the safest, surest way to get the deficit down and put Britain on the right course for the future. Complacent and out of touch ministers need to wake up to the jobs crisis they’re responsible for and take urgent action now.
 Following six months of consultation, Liverpool City Council has now come up with an innovative scheme which will keep every one of the 26 Children’s Centres in the city open. This includes Church & Mossley Hill and Childwall & Woolton which were under threat as a result of Government cuts.
Liverpool City Council has lost a third of its Children’s Centre budget. It used to get £14.6million from the Government. Following Government cuts, this was reduced to £7.7million. This is a huge cut of 47%. Closing the Centres was part of a plan to save £1million of this money.
But following months of discussions between Council Leader Joe Anderson, Cabinet Member for Education Jane Corbett, MPs, Labour councillors and the staff and parents of the Children’s Centres, a scheme has now been put forward that will keep every centre open – while still making the same level of savings.
Consultations were held with all four centres previously under threat. Petitions were handed in from these centres, and public meetings were held at every centre. I attended both centres a number of times and spoke to staff and parents. The Leader of the Council, Joe Anderson visited each centre to listen to staff and parents and we were both deeply impressed by the passionate campaign run by the staff and families of the Children’s Centres. The ideas put forward as part of the consultation were innovative and some of these have fed directly into the new proposals.
Liverpool’s Children’s Centre provision across the whole city will be completely reshaped. Some Centres will become Family Centres, which will act as satellite centres, linked to neighbouring centres.
I know from my email box how pleased and relieved parents are with this decision.
 Last week I attended the launch of Live and Learn like a Champion at Wavertree Tennis Centre. The launch marked 200 days to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. 150 students attended the launch along with Beth Tweddle, the Olympic Gymnast. An inspirational talk was given in groups to the children by Paralympic medallist in archery, Mel Clarke.
It was a great event and the aim is to inspire 20,000 young people in Liverpool to be involved during the year.
Live and learn like a Champion will include both sporting and cultural activities for students from drama to fashion to dance along with other core areas of learning. The key aim is to motivate young people in many areas relating to the Olympics in addition to Sport.
The programme encourages children to complete activities that develop seven core values: friendship, respect, excellence, equality, courage, determination, and inspiration. Each activity will be recorded in the ‘Legacy Log’ to document their journey before being awarded a certificate in either bronze, silver or gold.
For more information contact kwilkes@lssp.co.uk
Yesterday in the House of Commons I challenged David Cameron about his Government’s cuts to heating help for pensioners this winter. Across Liverpool over 80,000 people will be worse off by as much as £100, after the Tories and the Lib Dems cut the Winter Fuel Allowance – even after they promised not to before the general election.
All of us are feeling the squeeze this winter as the cost of food, transport and keeping warm is all going up, but our wages don’t stretch as far as they used to. It’s wrong that when we are struggling to pay gas and electric bills which have risen by as much as 17%, energy companies’ profits are soaring to around £100 per customer.
This hurts all of us but it hits pensioners the hardest. Labour’s plan is to force energy companies to guarantee that all their customers over 75, will automatically be placed on the cheapest tariff for gas and electricity. This would mean lower bills for up to 4 million pensioners and wouldn’t cost the Government anything.
Unfortunately out of touch David Cameron is cutting support like the Winter Fuel Allowance, letting the energy companies off the hook and leaving pensioners stranded. He should get tough with the energy companies and back Labour’s plan to help those over 75.
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