It was fantastic to be out in the gorgeous Peak District to support my friend and High Peak's next Labour MP, Jon Pearce. We first visited the Glossop Arts Project to see the amazing work they do, using art to support young people's mental health - of course, we had to indulge in the offer of a free toastie and cuppa too!

On the doorstep afterwards, we spoke to so many people fed up with the Tories, both locally and in Westminster. There are council elections coming up in May and Labour has every chance to take full control of the council here! The views were incredible, the people lovely, and I can't wait to be back!

Fresh off the back of our trip to South Wales yesterday, Luke Pollard MP and I continued to take the fight to the Tories today, this time in Reading.

We kicked off the day with a doorknocking session in Reading West, another Tory-held marginal seat where it is essential Labour wins at the next general election. We were delighted to be joined by my colleague, Matt Rodda, MP for Reading East, who took us to a community-run cafe to show the empowering work that local people are doing on a daily basis.

Reading is a great example of what Labour can do in power - the town's carbon emissions have been reduced by 70% in the last 12 years and the Council is currently investing £88 million in over 300 new social housing homes across Reading.

Today, my friend Luke Pollard MP and I visited the lush landscape of South Wales in order to continue our fight to put Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street.

We visited Barry Island (cue many Gavin and Stacey references!) in the Vale of Glamorgan seat and Chepstow in Monmouth - two vitally important areas that Labour needs to win to form a government. Labour took control of both Vale of Glamorgan & Monmouthshire Councils after the May elections and I greatly enjoyed campaigning with local members, building on that momentum in order to elect two new Labour MPs at the next election.

Of course, a trip to Barry Island would not be complete without a wander down the beautiful seafront, complete with ice cream. Lloniannau!

Tooting Bec Athletics Track reopened this summer after a successful community campaign against its closure. It was great to be at their official reopening along with local Councillor Judi Gasser.

It was great to meet some young athletes and see the wide range of facilities that they offer, including a seven-a-side football pitch, an eight lane track, and a state of the art fitness centre. I am so grateful we have this brilliant resource on our doorstep in Tooting.

The fantastic facilities at Tooting Bec Athletics Track will be vital in helping Tooting’s children become the Olympians of tomorrow. I have no doubt that future Team GB medalists are already training here and I look forward to seeing what they all go on to achieve.

​Today, I spoke with GMB and Royal College of Nursing frontline NHS staff at St George’s Hospital to hear their views on the Government’s latest pay offer. 

The last 18 months has impacted our beloved NHS immeasurably, and staff have made significant sacrifices in order to save lives. 

I stand in solidarity with my NHS colleagues. They deserve far more than just claps. They need a proper pay rise.

It was a pleasure to get out on the doorstep with our Greater London Authority candidate for South London, Candice Atterton, today!

Alongside Candice and Ruth Cadbury MP for Brentford and Isleworth, it was a privilege to visit Hounslow Youth Counselling Service. The post-pandemic recovery must have young people at its heart, so it was fantastic to spend the morning hearing about the great work taking place in Hounslow to support and champion young people’s mental health. 

With her background in youth work and youth justice, Candice is determined to focus on support and opportunities for young people. 

I have no doubt that she will be a great addition to Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Labour Team in City Hall!

Today, Trans Visibility Day, is a day that we celebrate each trans and nonbinary person, whether you choose to be visible or not, and reaffirm our commitment to stand against discrimination, bigotry and all forms of trans exclusionary behaviour.

When wider society discusses trans issues, too often trans people have to deal with vitriolic and discriminatory language which has a profound impact on wellbeing.

In October 2020, I organised and chaired a roundtable with leading trans charities to discuss mental health, discrimination, and how we can work together to tackle it. 

I will always be an ally of the trans community. As MP for Tooting and Shadow Minister for Mental Health, I want to be a voice for everyone - including the LGBTQ+ community - and I will continue to uphold LGBT+ Labour’s 10 pledges, which I signed up to during the 2020 Labour leadership race, outlined below. 

Former Labour MEP SEB DANCE explains why he is supporting Rosena Allin-Khan in the Labour deputy leadership race.

Britain has left the EU. As a former Labour Member of the European Parliament, as a Remainer, and as a proud pro-European, that’s still not an easy thing for me to say – but it’s the reality. There is no longer a campaign to remain. That doesn’t mean that Boris Johnson’s famous lie of “get Brexit done” has suddenly come true.
The ongoing negotiations with the EU will continue to define our country’s future for years to come. Perhaps one day the fight to join the EU will come. How soon that time comes depends on what we do next. Pro-Europeans must now fight for a close relationship between the UK and our friends in the EU and ongoing rights for UK citizens. The Labour Party must play a crucial role in that fight.
That’s why I’m supporting Doctor Rosena Allin-Khan to become the next deputy leader of Labour. Rosena was elected as the MP for Tooting the week before the EU referendum in 2016. Despite holding a shadow frontbench position, she refused to compromise on her principles or on the promises she’d made to her community, so she broke the whip and voted against triggering Article 50. Considering the shambles that followed Theresa May’s early triggering of Article 50, this has been conclusively demonstrated as the right decision.
Rosena was also the first shadow frontbench minister to come out publicly and call for a People’s Vote. This was an incredibly brave thing to do, at a time when Labour MPs and shadow ministers were being pressured not to speak out against the leadership’s position on Brexit. At a time when the leadership of Labour needed a firm push in the right direction, Rosena was the one brave enough to stand up and do it.
There are some voices in the Labour Party, who’ll try to convince you that Brexit was the only reason for Labour’s failure at the last general election – that backing a public vote cost us seats in the so-called ‘Red Wall’.
But this analysis is deeply misleading, and is simply not supported by the facts. Yes, of course Brexit was a divisive issue, for Labour as much as for anyone else.
The reality however, is that the overwhelming majority of Labour voters, members and supporters voted Remain, wanted us to stay in the EU and wanted a public vote on Brexit. That fact is as true of Labour voters in Redcar, Grimsby or Wakefield as it is of Labour voters in Oxford, Islington or Bristol – Labour’s share of the vote went down in 98% of all seats.
Labour’s position on Brexit was fatally undermined not because supporting a public vote was the wrong position for our voters, but because the leadership of the party took so long to get to that position. We sat in the middle of the road on the biggest issue of our time and neither side trusted us. We lost trust among all our communities.
Rosena knows this – she won’t stop standing up for our internationalist values. I joined the Labour Party because I believe in internationalism and solidarity across borders. So does Rosena. That’s why she’s worked across the world in conflict and disaster zones as a humanitarian doctor, and why she still does shifts in her local hospital as an A&E doctor alongside her work as an MP.
So if you are like me – a proud pro-European, an internationalist and a Labour supporter – and if you want someone as deputy leader who’ll stand up for those values, and who’ll fight for our country to maintain the closest possible relationship with the EU, protecting our workers’ rights, our environmental protections, our food standards, our NHS, and most importantly the rights of EU citizens living in the UK – then vote for Doctor Rosena. Together, let’s take Labour forward.