Residents carrying umbrellas indoors because of leaking ceilings, a heavy heater falling off a wall near small children playing on the floor, lifts breaking down on a weekly basis, and 30 flats left without light for weeks. These are the ‘life-threatening’ and ‘shoddy’ repair and maintenance services of the Circle Housing Group in Tower Hamlets.

Brexit must not mean exit for Britain’s banks. That was the message to the Prime Minister this week from Rushanara Ali MP. Many major banks are threatening to relocate their British headquarters from Canary Wharf and the City of London to Dublin, Frankfurt or Madrid following the referendum to leave the EU. Some may move as soon as 2017. The head of the British Bankers’ Association has warned that as many as 70,000 jobs are at risk.

The MP for Bethnal Green and Bow spoke in the Chamber to condemn shameful xenophobic, racist and intolerant abuse as police figures suggest a 57% increase in reported hate crimes across the country after the EU referendum result. She also criticised those who have used the referendum campaign to stir up division and hatred for their own political agendas.

In the fifth day of debate on the Queen's Speech in the House of Commons MPs debated aspects of the speech relating to education, skills and training. The Prime Minister claimed the Queen’s Speech has bold reforms to remove all barriers to opportunity for our young people by measures such as the new Education for All Bill and the new Universities Bill. Today, young people are suffering from what the Equality and Human Rights Commission says are “the worst economic prospects for several generations”.

Rushanara Ali MP spoke in a debate in the Chamber to raise her concerns about changes to a new national funding formula for schools. She asked the Minister to confirm if these proposals would mean a £260 million pound cut to schools in London.  

In Prime Minister’s Questions, Rushanara Ali MP demanded why the Prime Minister failed to put a stop to the cuts to Personal Independence Payments for disabled people sooner, given the Government’s drastic U-turn since announcing this policy in last week’s Budget. Personal Independence Payments allow disabled people to buy essential living expenses like walking sticks or wheelchairs and these cuts would have affected nearly 400,000 of the country’s most vulnerable people who could have lost out on £3,500 a year.

Rushanara Ali MP is supporting the introduction of an Air Quality Bill presented by Geraint Davies, Labour Co-operative MP for Swansea West. This Bill follows a report from the Royal Colleges that recently found diesel fumes cause 40,000 premature deaths every year from lung cancer, strokes and heart disease.

Last month the Guardian obtained a leaked copy of a report by a UN Panel of Experts which found evidence of Saudi Arabia targeting civilians in Yemen in violation of international humanitarian law in the course of their military operations. The crisis in Yemen is having a devastating effect on the whole country and as matters currently stand, an astonishing 82% of the population needs humanitarian assistance. Meanwhile, UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia, a key military presence in the region have totaled about £7 billion pounds since David Cameron took office in 2010.

As a result of recent government changes to housing policy, Londoners living in social housing with a total household income of over £40,000 will be forced to either pay market rent, use right to buy or move out.

Rushanara Ali MP attacked the Government’s recent decision to replace maintenance grants with loans for lower income students through the back door using a statutory instrument which avoids proper parliamentary scrutiny.