Author Archive: Hilary Benn
I am Member of Parliament for Leeds Central, which includes all of LS10 and LS11 plus the city centre, Woodhouse, Richmond Hill and Osmanthorpe.
To contact me please go to my website: www.hilarybennmp.com
MP’s notebook: rough sleeping
It is sadly all too common in our big cities these days, Leeds included, to see people sitting on the ground asking for money, or huddled up against the cold sleeping in doorways. Homelessness is on the increase, but the vast majority of people affected contact their local council to seek help or stay with […]
MP’s notebook: trains, floods and Albert Johanneson
Last Saturday, I went to Leeds station to talk to the guards who are in dispute with Northern Rail over their future role. They are opposing driver-only operation and campaigning in support of keeping guards on the trains. I think they are right to be doing so for many reasons, including safety – what if […]
MP’s notebook: Struggling to get by
We are told that unemployment is at a 40 year low and yet demand for food banks in South Leeds has never been higher. How can this be? There are lots of reasons, so let’s look at each of them in turn. First, it’s the result of benefit cuts, sanctions and family crises. People suddenly […]
MP’s notebook: Family histories
Recently someone tried to set fire to two local places of worship – the mosque in Hardy Street and the Sikh Gurdwara in Lady Pit Lane. In both cases the doors suffered damage but thankfully the fires did not spread. I spoke to the Mosque and the Gurdwara to offer my sympathies and support but […]
MP’s notebook: Plastic
“Why are they still using plastic like this when it isn’t recycled?” My wife Sally was standing in the kitchen waving a black plastic tray at me that moments earlier had been home to some prawns. It wasn’t the first time I had been on the receiving end of this particular complaint. Indeed, it took […]
MP’s notebook: Zero hours contracts
They are becoming a familiar sight in parts of our big cities. Cyclists and cars delivering hot food for firms like Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Hungry House and others. All of them make use of the latest technology to link customers to restaurants and takeaways, and riders and drivers to orders. We sit at home, use […]
MP’s Notebook: Facebook, dentists and inventors
A relative in the US recently emailed to tell me that “for reasons of security, privacy and ethics, I’ve dumped my Facebook account.” The revelations about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have probably got us all thinking about who knows what about our lives. The internet is a wonderful thing, Facebook is a great means of […]
MP’s notebook: Clean air, Royal Mail and PIPs
It’s time to talk about the air we breathe. High levels of air pollution can make asthma symptoms worse, damage our lungs and is linked to an estimated 40,000 premature deaths in the UK every year. The elderly and people with particular medical conditions like heart and lung disease are most at risk. Leeds is […]
MP’s notebook: Problems of deregulation
I’ve been dealing with two problems recently where local residents have been on the receiving end of sharp business practice with distressing consequences. The first involves constituents who purchased leasehold properties from Miller Homes on their new development in Hunslet. The homeowners thought they would be able to buy the freehold for a reasonable sum […]
MP’s Notebook: Time to re-nationalise the railways
Seeing the New Year in has its own special traditions, but one that is less than popular is the annual rise in rail fares. This year they are going up by around 3.4% – the largest increase for five years. Comparing the rise in fares on over 80 routes between when the current Government came […]
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