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The first member of parliament for the new Earley and Woodley constituency spoke about her duty to ‘renew democracy’ during her maiden speech to parliament.
Yuan Yang was elected the Labour MP for Earley and Woodley during the general election, and delivered her first speech yesterday (Tuesday).
Topics she covered included the renewal of democracy, supporting the diverse communities in the Reading area and protecting nature.
Addressing parliament, she began by paying tribute to her predecessors, before giving a brief history of the settlements in the constituency.
She said: “I want to ensure that future generations have access to nature and to affordable housing, because both have been at risk for too long.
“After the First World War, Reading contributed to the national campaign to house returning soldiers by building across Whitley and Whitley Wood.
“In the Second World War, Woodley was home to an Aerodrome, now Loddon Airfield.
“Most of the houses in Earley, including my own, were built from the 1960s onwards.
“At one point in the 1980s, the area was the largest housing development in Europe.”
During the speech, she mentioned key organisations within the community, including Shinfield Players Theatre and Whitley Community Development Association.
She also mentioned the innovation hubs of Shinfield Studios and the university.
“The research prowess of the University of Reading, as well as the Thames Valley cluster of tech giants, has made our area prosperous as well as diverse.
“Families have moved to Reading from across the UK and indeed across the world.”
“Reading is a success story for multiculturalism.
“And we are proud of our diversity: our diversity makes us stronger”
She also spoke against the ‘threat of distrust and populism.
“The politics of the past has failed to deliver.
“I fundamentally believe our democracy is worth protecting.
“The reason why lies in the story that brought my parents and me to this country.
“I was born in China a year after the Tiananmen Square massacre of students and workers.
“My parents were academics at the time. Like many, they tried to leave.
“Three decades later, another crackdown on democracy has led to hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers seeking refuge here in the UK.
“It is never easy to leave your country of birth. My father arrived first, and my mother followed with me as a four-year-old, with no support network and not a word of English between us. It took my parents many years to find stable work.”
“I still remember my mother, the evening before I started secondary school, telling me: ‘Don’t compare yourself to the other kids. Their families have money and connections. We don’t, and we don’t know anyone in this country’.”
Speaking on opportunities for people, she said: “To all those families arriving here, wherever you are from, I want to say that lacking wealth or connections should not be an obstacle to your children’s futures.
“I am proud to be part of a Labour government, which will do our utmost to break down the barriers to opportunity.”
Ending her speech, she said: “Our democracy has to be renewed through reform, through empowering our communities, widening participation in democratic processes, and ending the corrupting influence of money in politics.
“And our democracy has to be renewed through delivery, through building a fair economy that can once again deliver for people.”
