The below is an email from our local conservitive MP for Croydon
TTFN
Mr Bunny Chow
Dear Mr Bunny Chow,
Thank you to the hundreds of people who replied to the email I sent out on Tuesday with suggestions of what I should say if I was called to speak in yesterday’s debate on the riots in the House of Commons. Due to the huge number of people who responded, I wasn’t able to reply to each one individually but I stayed up most of the night on Wednesday to read them all and I really appreciate everyone taking the time to let me have their views.
In the event, I was the first backbencher called to speak after the Home Secretary and Shadow Home Secretary, something that is unlikely to happen again (normally longer-serving MPs are called first and new arrivals like myself have to wait till later but on this occasion the Speaker kindly called those MPs whose constituencies who had been worst affected first). If you’re interested, you can watch my speech here (fast-forward to 5 hours 25 minutes). I hope those of you who sent in suggestions feel I covered the points you raised – I had a 5 minute limit so it wasn’t easy fitting everything in!
Before the debate, the Prime Minister made a statement to the House of Commons updating MPs on the Government’s response to the riots. He made a number of welcome announcements, addressing issues that many of you raised in your emails to me including:
If you’re interested, you can read the Prime Minister’s full statement here.
Finally, as a small but visible sign of our solidarity in confronting the tiny minority who did such damage to our town on Monday, the Council have asked me to encourage you to ‘like’ the Facebook page ‘Support Croydon’s recovery’ by clicking here.
If I have the honour to go on representing Croydon in Parliament for many years to come, I hope I never have to go through another week like this week but if there is a silver lining to what happened it is that the vast majority of Croydonians of all ages and backgrounds are united that we have been too soft on those who break the law, too forgiving of those who show no respect for others and too indifferent to the divisions in our society. The real Croydon is not the few hundred people who started fire and looted shops on Monday night but:
It was a privilege to represent those people in Parliament yesterday.
Gavin Barwell
MP for Croydon Central
The life and photography of Mr Bunny Chow 