12
INTERVIEW
LL Can I ask if you find it more
challenging to get your voice heard as a black woman in parliament ?
MC There aren ’ t many black women here but more than there used to be . I am often mistaken for other black women which isn ’ t really acceptable . The Labour Party has more women than men , but overall Parliament still sits at 34 % women , a long way from an equal 50 %.
Representation matters . If you have the right people in the room , then the issues we face will get heard . It ’ s about being that voice for the voiceless . The lack of representation was clear during the government response to the pandemic ; they weren ’ t thinking about the impact of policies on different groups . So , seeing the disproportionate , negative impact the pandemic was having on different minority groups – from women to disabled people to Black and ethnic minority people – I became labelled as one of the lead voices there ; how we responded to that was really important to me .
LL Yes , and that must also impact
on what challenges your constituents are facing today ?
MC We want to build back better for Battersea as we emerge from this pandemic – ensuring that businesses continue to thrive . While food prices and energy prices are all going up , wages aren ’ t going up . Some people are struggling and I want to ensure that all levels of government are working in a way so that they are not worse off as a result of this crisis . The £ 20 uplift to Universal Credit went a long way – taking that £ 20 away means people are literally making choices between food and fuel .
We talk about safe homes which means getting to the root causes of the cladding crisis and ensuring that the government put in place legislation ( which they haven ’ t done yet ) to ensure that no leaseholder has to pay for fire safety remediation work . We want to see more genuinely affordable homes at a decent standard and we want to see social homes properly maintained .
The impact of Britain leaving the European Union has led to many challenges from supply chain issues to bureaucracy to a shortage of labour because lots of people returned to their home nations in Europe .
Problems and challenges with Brexit have been masked and we ’ re going to see a lot more examples of where things are not going well for people .
And I want to see a greener , cleaner environment for my constituents as well .
LL That ’ s an awful lot ! Your
constituents are lucky to have you as an advocate alongside your understanding about longer term impacts .
MC It is an awful lot , but there are tangible steps that can be taken : if the government commit to taking action , we can alleviate the pressures that will be falling on families in the upcoming months . We run a very busy office – for what is a diverse , youthful , and fairly transient population of around 70,000 – and people are very engaged . I wouldn ’ t change it for the world .
LL How does being registered blind impact on being an MP ?
MC I was born with a condition called nystagmus which is an involuntary movement of the eye which causes me to be fairly severely shortsighted . I have a PA who is amazing and works really well to overcome the barrier of getting around .
I ’ ve had to live with this condition all my life and so I just crack on most of the time , but where things need to change I will come forward and ask .