Chuka Umunna MP

London MP Chuka Umunna, who is Chair of the London Gangs Forum, has spoken out after seven stabbings, one of them fatal, took place in and around his South London constituency between the 25th February and the 2nd March.

There has been a significant recent increase in the number of violent knife attacks in South London in recent days. Between the 25th February and the 2nd March seven young people, four of them in the Streatham constituency of Chuka Umunna, have been attacked and stabbed, one of them fatally.

The teenager who died was stabbed at 17:50 on 2 March, reportedly after being chased by two men whilst with a friend. Earlier on the same day, at 13:15 a teenager was stabbed and left critically ill in Ernest Avenue, SE27. Five stabbings took place on the 25 February. At 02:50 in St Saviour’s road a man received multiple stab wounds. Later that today at 16:30 one man was stabbed in Tierney Road whilst another was hit and stabbed in Streatham Hill. At 16:35 a man was stabbed in Streatham Place and at 19:45 another man was stabbed in Coldharbour Lane, SW9.

Chuka Umunna is the MP for the Streatham constituency, where four of the seven stabbings took place. As Chair of the London Gangs Forum since September 2011, Chuka Umunna has been working with others in the voluntary and public sector to develop a pan-London approach to combating serious youth violence and gang involvement.

Streatham MP Chuka Umunna, commenting on the recent incidents of youth violence and knife crime, said:

“I am deeply concerned about the recent spate of stabbings we have had in my constituency and in Lambeth over the last fortnight. Yet again we see very serious violence and, tragically in one case, a fatality, amongst our young people for no purpose whatsoever – it is totally unacceptable and we will not put up with it.

“I want to pay tribute to our youth workers working to prevent this violence, to the police who have to deal with this dangerous situation, to Lambeth Council which has worked so hard on prevention and to our Community Police Consultative Group that provides a vital link to the views of the wider community on this issue.”

Streatham MP Chuka Umunna hosted a reception in the House of Commons for Lambeth charity Trust which gave women helped by the organisation the opportunity to talk about the changes they have made to their lives.

Trust, founded in 1999, defines itself as a community based women’s project offering support and positive opportunities for women involved in or exited from street prostitution and women involved in, moving on from, or at risk of involvement in the Criminal Justice System. Trust considers prostitution to be violence against women and exploitative by nature; harming the individuals involved and the wider community; and is dedicated to providing support and empowerment to marginalised women.

Currently they provide eight main services in response to client need: Outreach; Drop-in; Advice and Key Working; Clinical Case Management; a three tiered Group Work Programme; Structured Counselling; Aftercare; and a Court Diversion Scheme. Their Court scheme has run since 2003 and their holistic ‘one-stop shop’ approach has resulted in many women’s increased stability, reduced drug use and offending behaviour, and for others; exiting prostitution and rebuilding new lives in the community, reflected by education, training, voluntary work, employment and family reconnection.

Trust is a national example of excellence in this area and their work is seen as a model when designing other services around the country. Their Criminal Justice work has been commended by the Home Office & House of Lords as effective gender specific work with positive and evidenced outcomes.

Chuka Umunna hosted the event in the House of Commons which was used to explain the work of the Trust, thank those who have helped Trust since its formation, as well as to allow some of the many women who trust has helped to speak about the involvement the charity has had in transforming their lives. Speaking after the event Chuka Umunna, in whose constituency the charity is based, said he was deeply moved after hearing of the way the charity had helped to transform the lives of the women there.

Commenting, Chuka Umunna, MP for the Streatham constituency, said:

“It was a privilege to have the opportunity to host this event and to pay tribute to the amazing work they do. Hearing from the women who Trust has helped, seeing their strength of character, as well as how they have transformed their lives, was deeply moving and I am keen to make clear my ongoing support for the immensely valuable work they do.”

“The amazing transformational difference Trust make to the lives of a particularly vulnerable group of women is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of the staff.”

Women helped by the Trust, who attended and spoke at the event, said anonymously: 

“I spoke at The House of Commons and it is my House of Commons! Having the opportunity to tell my story and highlight the amazing support I have received from Trust was fantastic and since the event, I feel like I am walking taller, walking on air!”

“It felt good to tell my story, a story that contains things I’m not too proud of, to people, important people who were interested in me for positive reasons, to speak to a Judge because she was interested in my achievements not because I was standing before her on a charge! When feelings enter my mind, and they do, of not being good enough, I say to myself “You spoke at the House of Commons” – I remember where I’ve come from and it helps me to stand tall.”

“If someone keeps saying to you that you are useless and worthless then you start to believe it, I was struggling so much now I’m, living my life more I’m waking up happy and Trust have built up my self esteem, I’m as important as everyone else and I can manage to achieve what I want to. Before I started I thought I was worth nothing, now I’ve found how important I am, Trust brought it out. It’s so sad that there’s not enough of the right kind of help but Trust is brilliant and I could never say enough good things about them.  Trust to me has been a Godsend. I had no hope or a sense of future, now I feel like the world is my oyster and there is nothing holding me back, I never expected to feel like this and its all down to Trust”

“I felt I had no future, that nothing was ever going to change, no matter how much I tried to make things better nothing was better, I couldn’t do it on my own,  it didn’t make any difference, they’ve helped lift me up out of the rut I was in and given me the tools I needed, gave me enlightenment and showed me a way forward that I couldn’t see before and I needed that help. Trust has just managed to lift me right out of that misery I was in, it’s like a sanctuary. Now I’m so happy to be alive. The future holds all the good things that I missed out on.”

Diane Martin, Trust’s Director, said:

“It was an honour to have our MP Chuka Umunna host a reception for Trust at the House of Commons. It was also particularly appropriate that our theme was ‘Community – Creating Change Together’; considering Chuka’s passionate commitment to the people of Streatham and his unwavering belief that we have a strong community that, working together, can create dynamic and lasting change.”

“It was quite humbling to be reminded of the extent of long-term relationships, good will and support that exists for Trust and we look forward to ongoing improvement and development that will allow us to support many more women.”

In 2008 in the Telegraph, Margaret Thatcher’s former foreign affairs adviser, (now Lord) Charles Powell, recounted how German Chancellor Helmut Kohl sought to win the friendship of the Iron Lady in the 1980s when the two were in power.

This included Kohl taking Thatcher to his home town in the Rhineland to sample his favourite dish – pig’s stomach. Despite Kohl’s best efforts, Powell tells how, when she boarded the plane home, Thatcher kicked off her shoes and said: “God, that man is so German.” She was not famed for her affection for the Germans – pig’s stomach was perhaps not the best way to woo her – but many have looked on in wonder at what Germany has achieved since Powell wrote his piece.

Both the UK and Germany were hit hard by the 2008/09 global downturn but the story of our countries since has been markedly different. Our economy contracted by 4.9pc in 2009, returning to growth of 1.4pc in 2010 thanks to the Labour government’s stimulus – it has since flatlined near the 0pc mark as a consequence of the Conservative-led government’s economic policies, which have choked off growth. Conversely, the German economy contracted by 4.7pc in 2009 but quickly bounced back with strong GDP growth of 3.6pc in 2010 and 3pc growth in 2011 despite trouble in the eurozone. And according to figures released last week, GDP in Germany is now 0.5pc above its pre-crisis peak, while here in the UK we are still 3.8pc below it.

The stock explanation offered for all this is that the Germans do far more real, rather than financial, engineering so were less exposed when the crash hit. They also have a competitive currency, export more and have benefited from labour market reforms pushed through by Kohl’s successor Gerhard Schroeder. But, while it would be wrong to suggest that we can simply transplant German policies and approaches into the UK, there are deeper cultural and institutional lessons from the German experience which we should draw on as we seek to build a New Economy fit for the future.

Firstly, there are the German Mittlestand – the family-owned businesses which make up the backbone of their economy. They look to pass on their businesses to the next generation, rather than to sell them on as is so often the case in the UK – in so doing, this institutionalises a business culture that looks to long-term value creation rather than the quick buck. Also, the “family” is seen as being so much more than the owners – the employees are seen as stakeholders as well, part of the wider family. This model has clearly served Germany well. We sought to bring about a culture change in the UK by, for example, pledging to maintain £100K tax allowances for companies investing for the long term in their businesses (allowances which have since been cut by the current Chancellor).

Secondly, there is Germany’s dual system of post secondary education. Technical and vocational education is afforded the same status and value in society as academia. Their centres of technical and vocational training and research – principally the 60-odd Fraunhofer institutes across Germany – are better aligned to the needs of their industry than many of our universities. This helps feed German industry with the job-ready, skilled people they need. As a result, Germany does not suffer from the British problem of too many people wanting to go into media, medicine, law or banking, and a dearth of people looking to go into engineering, science, and technology (incidentally, the Fraunhofer inspired Labour in government to establish the Technology and Innovation Centres being set up now).

Thirdly, the German banks better serve their small and medium-sized businesses unlike their UK equivalents. While their regional Landesbanken have a chequered record that we would not want to replicate, their local network of 426 German savings banks – Sparkassen – see it as their job to support and get credit to their local businesses. These savings banks restrict their activities to good, old-fashioned “boring” banking and don’t dabble in financial wizardry – consequently they didn’t run into the problems that our over-concentrated banking system got into.

Finally, where there is market failure they have a set of public institutions in Germany that are prepared to step in, fill the gap and adopt an active government approach. For example, in the 1940s the Germans established a state-backed investment bank – KfW – to finance reconstruction after the Second World War. KfW has since evolved and is now used to support enterprise during an economic downturn, fulfil financing needs where there is market failure, and to finance public infrastructure projects among other things. So in 2009, working though the Sparkassen, KfW stepped in immediately to help SMEs when credit conditions were tight – its loan financing to SMEs almost doubled as a result that year. We did not have an equivalent institution here that could move with the same speed, which is why are now exploring plans to establish a British investment bank.

The current occupants of Downing Street do not buy into this kind of active government approach because they, like Thatcher before them, are ideologically predisposed to leave it solely to the market, preferring to talk of “active enterprise”. This puts them at odds with leaders of British industry – like the chairman of Babcock, the engineering group, who has publicly called on the government to adopt an “industrial strategy” – and with our counterparts abroad, too. The Germans are not alone: that bastion of free enterprise, the US, has an incredibly active Small Business Administration for its small businesses and Singapore has a similar agency called SPRING to help their enterprises grow, too.

We started an important journey towards this active government approach for business and industry in office under Peter Mandelson’s leadership of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. We are 100pc committed to continuing this work in 2012 and beyond.

This article was published in the Daily Telegraph on Friday 24 February

Streatham MP Chuka Umunna has submitted a report to the Government, produced by Lambeth Councillors, which examines how to deal with rising numbers of incidents relating to the control of dogs.

Mr Umunna wrote to Jim Paice, the Minister responsible for the control of dogs, and asked him to give the report his full consideration. The Streatham MP wrote to Mr Paice after the Minister responded to parliamentary questions posed by Mr Umunna as to what steps the Government are considering taking relating to the control of dogs.

The report submitted by Mr Umunna was produced by the Lambeth Local Authority’s Dogs Scrutiny Commission, which was set up to examine how to deal with the rising number of incidents involving dogs in a manner that recognized the valuable role dogs play in many people’s lives and that the majority of dog owners are responsible dog owners.

The Commission was formed of an investigative panel made up of four Lambeth Councillors, and was chaired by Councillor Imogen Walker. In preparing the report the panel received contributions from the RSPCA, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the Metropolitan Police Status Dogs Units, as well as other experts and, importantly, local residents.

The report submitted by Mr Umunna to the Government was produced using this evidence and Mr Umunna has asked the Minister to write to him once he has considered the report, detailing how it has informed the Government’s position on the control of dogs.

Commenting, Streatham MP Chuka Umunna said:

“My constituents deserve the safety and confidence that comes from living in a community that has responsible dog ownership where all dogs are under control. The report I submitted to the Government could and should be used to inform the Government when it brings forward legislation on this issue.”

“I am pleased that, by submitting the report produced by Councillor Walker and the other members of the commission, I can help to ensure that we have national legislation that will improve the quality of life for people living in my constituency.”

“I hope that the Government will develop sensible and effective policy on the control of dogs and I will ensure that at all times they are informed by the needs and local knowledge of our community in Lambeth.”

Commenting, Dogs Scrutiny Committee Chair, Councilor Imogen Walker said:

“I am delighted that Chuka is looking into this issue and I hope the Minister will find the report of Lambeth’s Dogs Commission helpful when considering improvements to the current legislation. The commission’s findings, backed up by experts such as the RSPCA and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, has already had an impact in Lambeth. Encouraging responsible dog ownership both promotes animal welfare and helps people to feel safe and secure in our public spaces.”

Streatham MP Chuka Umunna has attacked the Government for presiding over record levels of youth unemployment whilst simultaneously reducing the quality and standards of apprenticeships.

The Streatham MP has urged the Government to redress their failings on youth employment and adopt the apprenticeship plan outlined by Mr Umunna’s Shadow Business Team. Mr Umunna said it was vital to young people in Streatham that apprenticeships offered credible training and urged the Government to make it easier for small local firms to hire apprenticeships. 

Mr Umunna has spoken out after it was revealed that the number of apprenticeships for those aged 16-18 fell by 1,500 in a single year. Concurrently, the number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance in Streatham has risen to over 1000 and the number of young claimants has increased by 21%.The number of apprenticeships rose fourfold under the last Labour Government but Mr Umunna said that the Government was undermining the value of apprenticeships.

A Government paper on apprenticeships raised concerns over ‘the increasing number of existing employees’ in the apprenticeships program. There has also been criticism, recognized by the National Apprenticeship Service, about the number and quality of retail apprenticeships offered. The vast majority of new apprenticeships created since the current Government was formed have been for those aged 25 and over.

Labour has urged the Government to adopt their apprenticeship plan. This plan includes using public procurement to expand apprenticeships; utilizing the Government Growth and Innovation Fund to boost the work of training organisations; promote best practice on ‘buddying’ to enable large and small firms to work together on apprentices; as well as ensuring that businesses and industry have a greater role in learning and training.

Mr Umunna will be visiting apprentices in the constituency in the coming months and is looking forward to talking about the work they are doing and the value they are contributing to local firms.

Commenting, Mr Umunna said:

“Apprenticeships can give wonderful opportunities to young people struggling in the worst jobs market for a generation at the same time as providing real value to the firms that train them. I have always been supportive of expanding apprenticeships in Lambeth and am proud of the success stories we already have.”

“I am not prepared to let the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats undermine the value of apprenticeships. By expanding apprenticeships for over 25’s and ignoring the young and unemployed the Government is compounding it’s record failings in providing jobs for young people.”

“I am calling on the Government to reverse the failings of its apprenticeship policy and adopt Labour’s plan. The plan put forward by my team in Parliament will ensure we have apprenticeships that work for the whole community, for the young people undertaking the apprenticeships and the firms that they contribute to.” 

“It is vital to young people in Streatham that apprenticeships offer good, credible training and I am urging the Government to do more to make it easier for firms in our community to hire apprentices.”

London MP Chuka Umunna, who leads Labour’s Shadow Business team, has called for a statutory code to regulate the relationship between large pub companies and their tenants.

Streatham MP Mr Umunna endorsed the BIS Select Committee’s 2010 report on pub companies and called for the Government to introduce a statutory code to reform the relationship between large pub companies and their tenants. Labour MP’s supported a motion in the House of Commons on the 12th January expressing disappointment with the government’s failure to protect local pubs and implement a statutory code to help them but the Government has so far refused to act.

The cross-party committee of MPs found that tenants of large pub companies are too often getting a poor deal from pub companies as a result of the Beer Tie which stops publicans buying beer other that which their pub company landlord provides. The cross-party report found restrictive practices of this type were unfair to small business owners running pubs and prevented smaller breweries from accessing much of the pub trade.

The Liberal Democratic Cabinet Minister Vince Cable previously promised the BIS Select Committee that he would honour the commitment of the previous government but has now reneged on this promise. The measures recommended by Labour have received strong support including from the Campaign for Real Ale, the Federation of Small Business as well as the All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group.

According to the Beer and Pub Association, nearly £21 billion a year is contributed to the UK economy by the production and sale of beer and the licensed trade industry paid £6.1bn in tax. It is estimated that 250 jobs are lost nationally each week as a result of pub closures.

Mr Umunna said the government’s policies on pubs were directly harming the pubs and jobs that form a vital part of community life in the area he represents. The MP said that the Government’s stance was having a direct negative effective on jobs in his constituency and that the government needed to act as Labour has proposed if it is to stop the widespread closure of pubs.

Commenting, Streatham MP Mr Umunna, said:

“Pubs in my constituency and all over London make a vital contribution to community life and our local economy. The action of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in Government is having a direct negative effect on jobs in my constituency.”

“The government are failing to follow through on the action plan set out by the Labour Party which has been welcomed by the industry as a key part of giving pubs the best chance of fighting their way through the current economic situation. We have set out a clear plan of action that the Government must take if is to avoid the widespread closure of pubs”

London MP Chuka Umunna has urged the Government to change course after the Office of National Statistics today revealed that London’s unemployment rate increased by 10.4%, meaning that 9.9% of Londoners are now unemployed.

The January release by the Office of National Statistics showed that there were now 424,000 more people unemployed in the London region, a rise of 10.4% over the year. The Streatham constituency represented by Mr Umunna was revealed to have 500 more people claiming JSA in the last month than were doing so a year earlier.

Chuka Umunna urged the Government to do more to get jobs and growth back in the economy. The MP said that the figures represent the human cost being paid for the economic plans of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Government which is cutting spending and raising taxes too far and too fast, choking off growth and job creation.

Nationally unemployment reached its highest level since 1994, with 118,000 more people unemployment than in the last quarter, meaning that there are now 2.68 million people unemployed in the UK. The figures, released today by the Office for National Statistics, reported that the employment rate had fallen to 70.3%.

The figures demonstrate the impact of high unemployment on Government finances, with 142,500 more people claiming Job Seekers Allowance than this time last year.

Commenting, Streatham MP Mr Umunna, said:

“My heart goes out to the families of all those affected by unemployment. The 9.9% of Londoners who are desperately seeking work need a Government that is on their side, helping business to create the jobs and growth we all so desperately need.”

“It is a disaster that unemployment in London has risen by 10% – a disaster of the Governments own making. This desperate situation represents the human cost of the Government’s failed economic plans.”

“The Government’s plans are now clearly failing – even by their own measure. The extra 142,500 people that are now claiming Job Seekers Allowance, 500 of them in my own constituency, is damaging the Government’s finances at the same time as their economic plans are pushing more people out of work.”

“The Government should immediately implement our plan for jobs and growth which will boost job creation and therefore ensure we reduce the deficit in the long term as the benefit bill reduces.”

Streatham MP Chuka Umunna is backing a community campaign to extend City Hall’s Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme further into South London as Transport for London figures reveal just 15% of the scheme’s coverage is south of the River Thames.

The Campaign, run by a Brixton campaigner and community activist, Tom Pollard, aims to extend the coverage of the cycle hire scheme to Brixton. The Campaign has been building momentum online using social media website twitter using the hashtag #Bikes2Brixton and also the Labour Party’s online community action website the ‘campaign engine room’.

Data from the Transport for London website reveals that just 65 of the 414 docking stations are located south of the river Thames. This means that just 15.7% of docking stations are in South London, many of which are around the London Bridge Railway station. The Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme was a project started by the former Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone but has been implemented by the current Conservative incumbent Boris Johnson.

The campaign to extend the Cycle Hire Scheme has received the backing of Mr Pollards’s MP, Chuka Umunna, who said the Mayor must give more thought to Londoners when making Transport plans and that extending the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme further into South London would give hard pressed commuters more options in the difficult economic climate.

The wider economic situation has had a deep impact in London and hard pressed commuters are looking to make savings where possible, as well as often having to travel further afield in search of work. South London MP Chuka Umunna said that extending the cycle hire scheme would go some way to mitigate the impact of four years of fare hikes by London’s Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson.

Extending the cycle hire scheme would give residents a further transport option and would enable some to save money. The traditional north/south divide in London transport provision has begun again to grow now South London residents, who often rely more on buses than the tube, have faced particularly high increases as the Mayor has chosen to increase bus fares at a faster rate than he has increased fares on the underground.

Commenting, Mr Umunna, MP for Streatham, said:

“The Bikes2Brixton campaign is a brilliant example of community action. My constituents deserve much better from the Mayor and it is time he started paying attention to the needs of those south of the river. The Mayor must give more thought to Londoners when making his transport plans.”

“Extending the Cycle Hire Scheme further South would give some opportunity for relief from four consecutive years of rising fares under Boris Johnson. The fare rises he imposed this January mean that for every year of his Mayoralty, Boris Johnson’s fare rises have been harming London business, harming London jobs and putting further unnecessary strain on the cost of living for Londoners.”

“It is time the Mayor woke up on transport and it is time the Mayor paid attention to Londoners south of the River. I hope very much the Mayor will listen to the mass of local support to extend the cycle hire scheme further into South London and would like to congratulate the campaign on the excellent work they have done.

Commenting, Tom Pollard, local community activist and leader of the campaign, said:

“Our Bikes2Brixton campaign to extend the cycle hire scheme in South London, including Brixton, has been hugely popular throughout the community.”

Commenting on the CBI’s “Vision for rebalancing” report published today, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna MP said:

“The CBI is correct to say that we must rebalance our economy which has become too concentrated in too few sectors, and in too few regions of the economy over the last 40 years under different governments.

“Government must use all the levers at its disposal to build a new economy and encourage businesses to invest for the long term so we can exploit the new high growth economies the CBI refers. But instead of providing the leadership and certainty needed to give companies the confidence to invest – the Tory led government has deterred investment by, for example, cutting investment allowances on capital expenditure over £25,000 and wrecking future success in our green industries with their disastrous changes to feed in tariffs.

“The CBI higlights the importance of infrastructure investment which is why we had been saying for months that the government should implement Labour’s five point plan for growth and jobs to kick start the recovery which includes bringing forward long-term investment projects.

“A new economy requires an active government working in partnership with British business to meet the aspirations of the British people – actions speak louder than words and by failing to provide leadership and to promote the certainty businesses need to invest, this out of touch government is failing to meet the challenges facing businesses and the UK economy.”

Streatham MP Chuka Umunna paid tribute to the families of three South London boys who died in a bus crash in Thailand in June following their six month campaign to win Government support for efforts to improve road safety in the South Asian country. 

On 27^th June this year, Bruno Melling-Firth, Max Boomgaarden-Cook and Conrad Quashie died in a bus crash while on holiday in Kam Phaeng Phet Province, Thailand. The three young men, who were due to start University this year, had each worked hard to save up for the trip to Thailand. They died within four days of their arrival.

Their families have since endured a six-month campaign to find out the facts of their sons’ deaths, improve awareness of the dangers of Thai bus travel, and to influence reform to improve the safety of Thai buses and road networks. Polly Cook, Max Boomgaardan-Cook’s mother, is a constituent of Mr Umunna’s and the MP has been working with the families since the crash.

After a letter to William Hague received an inadequate response, Mr Umunna organized a meeting between the families and Jeremy Browne, the Foreign Office minister responsible for Consular activities. The meeting, which took place on the 21^st December, was attended by Chuka Umunna and the mothers of the three boys; Amanda Bean, Polly Cook and Gillian Melling.

During the meeting the MP and families finally had a chance to the Minister to promise to make representations to the Thai Government on their behalf and raise their specific fears over the safety of bus companies in Thailand. The Minister also promised that foreign office officials would meet with Proffessor Pichai, a road safety expert who has been helping the campaign.

Mr Umunna said he would be working to ensure the Foreign Office properly examines the case for updateing travel advice for people going to Thailand. The MP wishes the Government to consider changing their advice on Thailand to specifically warn against bus travel. The families today urged any British citizen travelling to Thailand to use rail or air travel, and not to use the dangerous and barely regulated bus companies that operate in the country.

Commenting, Mr Umunna, MP for Streatham, said:

“I’d like to pay tribute to the families involved. I am full of admiration for the way that they have pursued this cause since the boys’ tragic deaths in June.”

“There is nothing that can bring back the gaping loss left by the boys’ deaths but if action can be taken to prevent such tragedy occurring in future it will at least be a lasting legacy to such promising young lives.”

“I will be working over the next few months to ensure the Foreign Office properly examines the case for updating travel advice for people going to Thailand and to see that awareness of the problem is raised in my constituency and elsewhere.”

“I would urge any of my constituents who are considering travelling abroad to take stay as safe as possible and would like to highlight the dangers on behalf of the families because many of my constituents will not know the dangers of bus travel in Thailand and it may be vital they find out.” 

Commenting, Polly Cook, Mother of Max Boomgaardan Cook, said:

“If I could see my boys again I would tell them not to travel on the buses and to fly or take the train even though it’s slower. I want other families to know that.”

“I’m very pleased that the Foreign Office has said they will contact Professor Pichai in order to liaise about the appalling state of Thailand’s roads.”