I thank the Leader of the House for the business statement
and for announcing that next Thursday will be Backbench
Business Committee business, with the Holocaust
Memorial Day debate and a debate on appropriate treatment
for myalgic encephalomyelitis—ME. That will free up the
time in Westminster Hall that we had put aside for the
Holocaust Memorial Day debate, and Westminster Hall will
now host a debate on Home Office resourcing for policing
and tackling knife crime, particularly in London, on that
Thursday afternoon.
I really welcome the House’s debating Holocaust Memorial
Day. Members might not be aware that I represent and live
in the midst of a large orthodox Haredi Jewish community in Gateshead. They
are my neighbours and friends. Many of them come from
families that fled to Gateshead in the 1920s and the 1930s,
and that is obviously something that hits home when we
remember the Holocaust on that day. I also remind the
Government that the Haredi Jewish community, being very
orthodox and having its own particular way of living within
its culture and creed, has been hit rather hard by the
two-child limit on benefits. That is something that we
should be aware of across this House, because that limit is
having an impact on culturally religious communities.
The Leader of the House talks about the many things she
believes the Government have done well, but I am afraid
that in my constituency unemployment in December was 1,060
higher than in the same month in the previous year.
Everything in the garden is not rosy everywhere.
