Labour MP Stephen Kinnock visited Twickenham this week at the invitation of the Twickenham Labour Party.

Speaking in St Marys Church Hall to a crowded meeting the MP, the son of former Labour Leader Neil Kinnock and ex MEP Glenys Kinnock, praised the Labour Party Leadership for a well fought election campaign that saw the Party defy its critics to take Parliamentary seats such as Kensington and Chelsea. He observed that the campaign had proved that the Labour Party now had a new unity of purpose.

The MP, who grew up in London, attended state schools in Ealing. A former Business Shadow Minister, he spoke about the General Election and, in particular, the need for the UK to develop a strong economy to meet the challenges of Globalisation and Brexit.

He began his speech to ninety of Twickenham Labour Party’s 1600 members, by observing that Jeremy Corbyn had done a “brilliant job” during the election, and that Labour’s Manifesto had been both radical and realistic, delivering “a clear message of hope”.

He attacked the Conservatives for displaying narrow self interest in their attitude to both the Referendum and the General Election and making a sordid deal with the DUP to keep in power. He criticised the Conservatives for encouraging narrow personal interest that had produced a toxic political climate, where tax dodging by large companies was encouraged.

He observed that the Tories were weak on business, in particular failing to stop the Chinese companies dumping steel on the British markets, which led to a crisis in the British steel industry. He accused Conservatives of being in danger of turning the UK “into a floating Hedge Fund”.

He also reminded the meeting that local Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable had spent five years supporting the Conservatives in power from 2010-2015. He also noted that the Courts had recently reversed Cable’s ruling that workers who were unfairly dismissed could only take their employer to court if they paid high fees.

Twickenham Labour Party’s Chair Person Rhonda Evans commented:

“We were very pleased to have Stephen Kinnock speak to us. It was an excellent meeting. We are looking forward to having other national speakers in coming months. We are immensely proud that we have a large, active and growing number of members in the Constituency. “

At Full Council last night the new Tory Council Leader, Cllr Paul Hodgins, refused to support Labour Councillor Jennifer Churchill’s motion acknowledging a funding crisis in Richmond’s schools.

Councillor Churchill’s motion, backed by the Lib Dems, stated “This Council acknowledges a funding crisis in its education services, and calls on the Cabinet to hold emergency talks with its Conservative colleagues in Government to commit to the funding necessary: to meet its statutory obligations in SEND education, school improvement, and Early Years provision; and to avoid desperate measures across all our schools including shortening the school day and losing essential members of staff. “

The Tories put an amendment which removed the word crisis, or any mention of Early Years or School Improvement.

Cllr Churchill said: “Initially schools were protected from austerity, but this ended in 2015. A decision was made to freeze Per Pupil Funding until 2019, which was, according to the Financial Times at the time, equivalent to a 7% real terms cut. Richmond borough’s schools are set to lose the equivalent of 249 teachers – £432 per pupil per year. Other parents like me will have received letters from their school asking them for financial contributions – it is a regression back to the 19^th century. This was a key issue in the General Election, and the issue has not been resolved.

“The crisis spreads wide. The news is bad for those with special educational needs. A recent Achieving for Children (AfC) survey found that less than one in three headteachers across Richmond and Kingston feel that they are fully delivering support specified in EHCPs and statements. The problem, according to those heads, is a lack of funding.

“The Borough is also nowhere close to being able to meet the new requirement from this September to ensure all 3 and 4 year olds receive 30 hours of free Early Years Education. There has been no capital investment to expand the space in school-attached nurseries, and no revenue support offered to private providers.

“This week, the Education Secretary wavered in her resolve, indicating that she wanted the Government to tear up its manifesto, still barely weeks old – and commit the funds necessary to avoid any further cuts to per pupil funding.  I was hoping the Council would do everything thing in its power to support her in this desire, and support our schools. Sadly I was disappointed. “