Fleur Anderson, Labour MP for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields, a true activist herself, has been dealing with a huge number of local issues, but has also been heartened by how her local community has come together in the crisis
Fleur Anderson only became an MP in December, driven by a desire to change things for the better for her local community. Before she assumed office, she had long been an advocate for the poor and under-privileged, previously working on international environmental and poverty campaigns for organisations such as Water Aid and Oxfam. Now her focus is local.
‘There are a lot of issues that people have, from education to health, to employment and businesses, to housing, all at once. The volume of requests and need for help as government policy has been changing, has gone right up.’
While sending out weekly newsletters to her constituents, she has found social media has been the best way to reach a local audience, highlighting areas such as the Putney Environment Commission, which she set up, helping to coordinate a list of 450 local volunteers and collecting food for Regenerate Rise, which supports older people in the community, and Age UK Wandsworth.
She loves the fact that so many people have been willing to pull together and help in the crisis: ‘There are people delivering community food boxes and packages, baby goods and cots. People are stepping up and helping out, either from their homes if they can’t leave, or by phone, or going out and doing things.’
Whilst for the most part, she’s worked mainly from home (she sat on a deserted tube for her one trip to the House of Commons), she is still asking questions and taking part in online debates in the House.
She says while Wandsworth Council stepped up almost immediately when lockdown began and were quick to support businesses, there are still issues, particularly for those businesses not getting any financial help at all: ‘They’re not getting the support as they’ve fallen between the cracks, like being a new start up or a limited company, so it’s a mixed picture of support.’
As well as working, Anderson has three of her four children (aged 22, 20, 18 and 14) living at home, the eldest opting to stay in Bristol, where she is at university. ‘They’ve enjoyed being at home and doing their own thing but they’re missing their friends, they’re missing their education and I worry about that.
‘Youth unemployment is a real worry. There’s going to be a whole generation of people who face very, very tough employment conditions.’
But positives have come out of this, she says, particularly seeing how locals have really become more of a community than they ever were before: ‘They’re concerned not only for the people in their streets, but beyond and people are so determined we’ll carry on, that it will last. That makes me happy.’
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