Rupa Huq Responds to 'Upward Spiral of Violence'

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Ealing Central and Acton MP says tide of police cuts needs to be stemmed

Rupa Huq MP with Cllr Praveen Anand and local Police at Gunnersbury Park recently

Rupa Huq the MP for Ealing Central and Acton has blamed government cuts in police numbers for what she describes as the ‘upward spiral of violence' in the local area.

Her comments come after three murders took place in the borough of Ealing within a week along with a spate of other violent attacks.

The latest incident saw a man in his twenties stabbed to death near Ealing Common on Tuesday evening (24 September).

Rupa Huq said, “My heart goes out to all the families of the young people affected by the shocking upward spiral of violence locally as behind every statistic is a human tragedy. As mother of a teenage son in the very demographic that seems to be caught up in this sort of incident I cannot imagine what those affected are going through.

“At one of her last PMQs I raised with Theresa May that Ealing, Acton and Chiswick feel like they are mutating from leafy suburbia to something out of the wild west and what she would do about it. She gave me a meaningless reply about a sum of money going back in after having slashed police numbers in Ealing. I will continue in holding the government to account in fighting for sufficient local police to fight this menace as cuts have consequences and meeting with local officers of the police and council as I have been doing to do whatever I can to stem this tide. The context of austerity and wider cuts to youth services and mental health funding have exacerbated matters.''

“If any Ealing Central and Acton constituent needs my support I am happy to meet – I do a weekly advice surgery, please contact rupa.huq.mp@parliament.uk.”

Earlier the same day as the Ealing Common fatality, police had revealed that 58-year-old Serafima Meshaka had been found bludgeoned to death in her home in Haven Green Court. The previous day a 22-year-old man had died from knife wounds on The Broadway in Southall.

Other recent attacks include the stabbing of a 14-year-old boy on Friday, 13 September near Elthorne Park and what has been described as an attack on a man with a corkscrew in Leeland Road, West Ealing on Tuesday, 17 September. There were local reports of a machete attack in Hanwell in the early hours of the morning on Sunday, 15 September.

Just over a month ago, 69-year-old grandfather Allan Isichei was fatally stabbed after he left the Plough Inn pub in Southall in the early evening. A man has been charged with his murder.

 

September 26, 2019