Gill Furniss MP

September community update

Celebrating our General Election victory

In August, I was delighted to catch-up with so many of our hard-working members and say a proper thank you for their part in delivering Labour’s historic election win.

I also want to thank Lee Pitcher MP, the new Member of Parliament for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme, for joining us on the night. As our twinned seat, many members from Sheffield made the journey to Doncaster to campaign tirelessly to make sure Lee was elected and ousted the former Conservative MP. Lee has hit the ground running in providing a strong voice for his constituents, and I know he will forever be a great friend of Sheffield.

Thanks to the dedication of members and volunteers, every single seat in South Yorkshire now has a Labour MP.

It was a fantastic evening at Wadlsey Bridge Working Men’s Club. Many thanks to everyone who attended and brought friends and family along.

Bringing rail back into public hands

I was proud to stand on a manifesto commitment to bring our railways back into public ownership.

I am pleased that implementing this has been one of the first steps of the new Government. I recently voted in favour of the Passenger Railway Services Public Ownership Bill, which will usher in a new era for our railways which puts passengers first.

The Bill has now completed its Commons stages. It will now go to the House of Lords for their consideration before becoming law and getting our railway system back on its feet and fit for purpose.

In recent years, our country was brought to a standstill time and time again by strikes on our railways. But in a matter of weeks, Ministers have agreed a pay proposal with ASLEF – something the previous Tory government dithered and delayed on.

This Government is already delivering for the British people and unlocking our country’s potential.

Casework Corner

Over the past month, my team and I have opened 309 new cases, helping people with their issues and concerns.

The most common issues raised with me were:

• Health services
• International affairs
• Environmental affairs

Parliamentary delegation to Washington DC

This summer, I joined a cross-party delegation of MPs to Washington DC alongside colleagues from both the House of Commons and House of Lords. We met with many local and national politicians to better understand the American political system and pass on knowledge about our own.

As well as spending time in the capital, Congressman Paul Tonko kindly hosted us in his District of Albany in New York. We spoke at length about the importance of the special relationship and how vital it is that we all stand up for democracy and human rights whenever these are threatened.

I pass my thanks on to the British-American Parliamentary Group for organising the event. The BAPG have been facilitating these exchanges for 70 years and have played a key role in facilitating the close friendship between Britain and the US.

Labour switching on Great British Energy

The previous Conservative government oversaw an energy crises which saw bills sky-rocket over the winter and our country beholden to foreign dictators for our energy supply.

The new Government is taking bold action to build our energy security. In his first few weeks in office, the Energy Secretary scrapped the ban on onshore wind and unblocked production of cheap solar energy.

The Great British Energy Bill has now been introduced to Parliament and will shortly be going through its legislative journey.

Great British Energy will be at the heart of the government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower. The company will be owned by the British people, for the British people, backed with £8.3 billion of new money over this Parliament to own and invest in clean power projects in regions across the UK. 

Through supporting the transition to clean energy, Great British Energy will save families money by ensuring electricity bills are no longer exposed to the kinds of gas price shocks which helped drive increases in the electricity price cap of over £1,300 for a typical household in the winter of 2022.

I wholeheartedly support this Bill, which will help people across Sheffield by lowering their energy bills and ensuring our supply is safe from global shocks.