Josh Fenton-Glynn MP

Labour MP for Calder Valley. Member of @CommonsHealth Select Committee. Mediocre fell runner.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

Today would have been my big brother Luke’s 44th birthday. Sadly he passed away last Tuesday from cancer. He was a loving father and husband, successful academic and my best friend and I’ll miss him terribly.

I have spent a lot of the past few days trying to make sense of this. But sometimes things don’t make sense and all we can do is sit with our grief and hold the people we love close. The best advice I received from someone during my brothers illness was never leave anything unsaid. Tell the people what they mean to you.

Happy birthday bro, I love you.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

I am pleased to see that the new Prime Minister has confirmed he will act on social care. The country has been failed by successive governments of all stripes who have been afraid to grasp this issue.

I have challenged the last two health secretaries on social care as I believe that we can’t achieve our goal of fixing our healthcare system, shifting  from sickness to prevention, cutting waiting lists or giving our staff and patients across both the NHS and social care the dignity they deserve, without a functioning social care system.

Most attempts to fix the system have come-a-cropper on the question of who pays for it. This is important and needs to be solved- it is now 15 years since economist Andrew Dilnot developed proposals on this very issue. It is currently paid for largely from council tax which is based neither on need or ability to pay.

However, funding a broken system is not the same as fixing it. Unless we tackle its underlying flaws, we will miss a golden opportunity for lasting reform in social care. Because in the 15 years since Dillnot’s report we have seen the status of care workers fall even further compared to NHS staff and others. Care work is frequently paid less than supermarkets and is below other caring work like healthcare assistants in the NHS.

We must have a system of rigorous care standards and treat care work as what it is: skilled work. I’m excited to work with the incoming Department of Health and Social Care team on this issue.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

As a country we are not well equipped for the hot spells that now characterise our summers. In Calder Valley it can tempt especially young people to swim in reservoirs, rivers and other open water locations that may be dangerous.

In recent months I’ve been working closely with the emergency services, Calderdale Council, Royal Life Saving Society UK - RLSS UK, Calder Valley Search & Rescue Team and many others to see what more can be done to prevent anyone from drowning in open water. I’d also like to see a shift towards harm reduction in terms of providing signage about what to do and lifesaving equipment at the waterside in the right places.

On Monday the new water safety partnership are holding the first in a series of days of action across Calderdale, at Mixenden Activity Centre. The next one in early August will be in Calder Valley, and I’ll share the details as soon as they are confirmed.

Aimed at young people and families, you’ll be able to learn simple lifesaving skills as well as:

🛟 Bankside water safety guidance
🪢How to use throwlines and reach poles safely
🌊Live demonstrations with the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue water flume
🚨The hierarchy of rescue, showing the safest ways to help someone in difficulty without putting yourself at risk.

You'll also have the chance to meet staff from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Calder Valley Search & Rescue Team, West Yorkshire Police, Calderdale Council community safety wardens, and other organisations working together to keep people safe.

📌Mixenden Activity Centre, Halifax, HX2 8SH
📅Monday, 27th July
⏰ 12:00 - 4.00pm
✅Free to attend - everyone is welcome.

Remember, if you see someone in trouble in the water:

📞Call 999 and ask for Fire
🗣️Encourage them to float on their back to help control their breathing.
🛟Throw them something that floats if you can reach them safely.
❌Never enter the water to attempt a rescue, but stay on the scene to give information to the emergency services.

A few simple actions can make all the difference.

#WYFRS #BeWaterAware #FloatToLive

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

I wonder if @BACP take a view using being a psychiatrist to pronounce on someone they haven’t met.

Psychotherapy isn’t a regulated profession so you don’t need to demonstrate knowledge or skills to call yourself a psychotherapist. But this speaks poorly of his professionalism

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

@victoriadesmond @BACP He says he’s a psychotherapist though

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

@victoriadesmond @BACP Sorry you’re correct

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

I’ve spoken in a number of debates on the importance of our hospitality sector and I’m so pleased to see it’s one of our new prime ministers first priorities

[Andy Burnham @andyburnham]

I’m giving thousands of pubs, clubs and music venues a 20% cut in business rates.

I won’t stand by while these cherished local spaces disappear, replaced by boarded-up windows and ‘For Sale’ signs.

They’re the heart of our communities and it’s time we backed them.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

Reform deliberately spreading misinformation.

[Jo White MP @JoWhiteSays]

This is an edited audio clip which deliberately and fraudulently misquotes me speaking at a meeting with local residents last year.

What I actually said and confirmed by a resident who attended the meeting was “I don’t care who stops the boats, as long as they are stopped”

[John Mann @LordJohnMann]

Jenrick knows this is a doctored tape. After he tried the same smear last year. Deliberately doctored. He is unfit to be an MP. . Desperate desperate stuff.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

Sending love. I’m excited to see the other ways you contribute in future

[Natalie Fleet MP @NatalieFleetMP]

Honour of lifetime to be Minister for Safeguarding.

Quickly found contents overwhelmingly triggering.

Did bravest thing I’ve ever done & told PMs team I sadly couldn’t stay.

Victims deserve someone at their best.

I wish my successor well & will do all I can to support them.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

About 60% of the population outside London regularly use busses while about 15% regularly use trains. This is a policy that will impact a lot of people positively as well as helping the environment a win win

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

@pritipatel You lost your ministerial job because you were trying to run your own foreign policy on holiday. Perhaps fewer lectures on probity in public life from you.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

Support for objective fact is a reasonable basis for foreign policy despite detractors

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 NEW: The White House is “deeply concerned” by Ed Miliband’s appointment as Foreign Secretary

A senior source said he’ll be a “point of friction” due to his support for green energy projects

[@Telegraph]

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

Focusing on the cost of living isn’t with one big change but lots of little ones which add up to make people’s lives easier. Good to see Andy starting as he means to go on.

[HM Treasury @hmtreasury]

The new government is taking immediate action to give people some breathing space on the cost of living.

From 1 October, VAT will be removed from domestic electricity bills - helping households with energy costs this winter and funded within existing budgets.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

@jamesmurray_ldn @YvetteCooperMP Classy response as I’d expect from you James

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

@The_Gusman Did you watch the interview where I point to the NMC which strikes off or suspends about 1/4

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

For a few months now I’ve been pursuing the issue of accountability for doctors accused of sexual misconduct and rape.

FoIs I submitted found that only 6% of doctors accused of rape were suspended or struck off the register. Following the recent reports into maternity scandals which pointed to failings of regulators I discussed the findings of my research with Shelagh Fogarty

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

@The_Gusman Tribunals operate on the civil not criminal standard of truth, and notwithstanding that I don’t think you’re claiming that 94% of accusations are unfounded?

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

@9600 Some people are deeply attached to negativity

[Josh Fenton-Glynn MP @JoshFG]

This is a really powerful video. As someone who has been banging the drum on social care for a while I’m really pleased he’s going to focus on getting to grips with it