Letters

After completing our review of the Modern Slavery Act, which the government asked us to undertake, Maria Miller MP, Baroness Butler-Sloss and I have gone on to conduct an inquiry into trafficking for sexual exploitation. As part of our evidence-gathering sessions, we heard from representatives from immigration enforcement and Border Force teams. What they told us was shocking and leads me to believe that our country risks cases like the awful tragedy of the lorry found in Essex being far from unique

The costs of school uniforms and PE kits for the new term can total many hundreds of pounds.

The government’s aim should be to retain a universal TV licence exemption for over-75s, as well as a universal winter fuel payment. This is the most effective method of ensuring those pensioners in need of support continue receiving it. ?However, as part of each scheme, arrangements should be made for those who wish to do so to be given the option of contributing sums on a voluntary basis, equivalent to what they would have received in exemptions or allowances, into a national fund that pays for less well-off families of working age either to gain exemption from licence fees or to receive help with their fuel bills.

Joint letter to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Amber Rudd MP

Letter sent to Michelle Bachelet Jeria regarding the Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on his visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Alice Thomson issues a rallying cry for the government to rescue the life chances of children born into the most disadvantaged households

Simon Jenkins hits the bullseye. HS2 would merely have the effect of turning Birmingham into a London suburb. We need a major investment programme in high-speed rail that runs from Liverpool to Hull, and up to Newcastle. This programme must also link up all of the cities and smaller towns in between so that people can access decent-paying jobs without having to up sticks and move away from home. Both for the sake of justice, as well as on economic grounds, such a programme should take precedence over HS2.

There are two ways of building on the success of the national living wage (NLW) in countering low pay.

The idea that, at this late stage, the UK should crash out of the EU without a deal is absurd. Large numbers of firms and jobs in manufacturing would disappear. The prospect of no deal has been kept on the negotiating table for two years, to give our negotiators some leverage, but any last-ditch attempts at seriously pursuing this destructive fantasy must be stopped. I voted last night to take no deal off the table.