1. London and UK

Spring newsletter. My spring newsletter is now available. You can request a paper copy from my London office or download it here.


London Living Wage campaign. As part of my ongoing work on the London Living Wage campaign, I submitted a written question to the Commission, urging it to give stronger support for Living Wage policies at EU level, particularly in relation to procurement. The Commission makes clear that living wage clauses can be stipulated in contracts. The question and reply can be found here. I will continue to press for London Boroughs and other public and private sector employers to adopt Living Wage policies for all their staff and in contracts.


Air Quality and Heathrow expansion. I submitted another question to the European Commission on air quality. I previously asked the Commission about PM10 standards, but this time the question focused on the extent to which the UK is breaching NO2 levels, and relating Heathrow expansion to likely NO2 levels. I spoke at the demonstration against Heathrow expansion, outside Downing Street. It was the first major public protest following the Government's decision to press ahead with the expansion plans. Along with Green colleagues and many others, I will continue to fight the Government's plans to expand Heathrow and aviation capacity in general. More information is available here.


Climate Change. You can see my new short video on climate change here. I addressed a public meeting at Newington Green, alongside Hackney Green councillor, Mischa Borris, and campaigners from Campaign Against Climate Change and Friends of the Earth. The event focused on how to tackle climate change at a time of economic downturn.  I also spoke on an expert climate panel looking at social science and civil society perspectives on climate change, held at the Statistical Society, central London.

Climate Change and Migration. I spoke at this conference session at Portcullis House, which was part of a major week-long migration and trafficking conference organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. I also hosted another in a series of non-governmental organisation roundtable meetings on 'Climate change refugees', in association with the Climate Outreach Information Network (COIN). The roundtable hopes to feed into the Copenhagen climate talks.


Green Work. I spoke at a public meeting in Haringey, focusing on the need to invest in green jobs and training as a way through the current economic downturn. I cover these issues in detail in my Green Work report.


Ecobuild conference, Earl's Court. I was extremely pleased to speak at Ecobuild this year. Ecobuild is 'the world's biggest event dedicated to sustainable design, construction and the built environment'.  I spoke at a session 'Searching for a sustainable Britain', which was hosted by broadcaster and presenter Sarah Montague.


Trade Unions, Worker's Rights. Speaking alongside trade union representatives from CWU, PCS and TUSDAC, I participated in a Green Party Trade Union public meeting on green work, held in central London. I also participated in the major Climate Change Trade Union conference at King's College, where I spoke in the closing plenary.

I marked the TUC's Work Your Proper Hours Day by calling on workers to remember - and claim - their rights in the workplace. Over five million people in the UK regularly work unpaid overtime, handing their employers £26.9 billion in free work. I supported the TUC's call for workers to claim back some of this time for themselves.

My new Workers' Rights leaflet is now available. Free copies are available from my London office on request or you can download it here.


Older People in Europe - AGE event.  I spoke at this meeting, held at the Foreign Office, which highlighted the key demands of older peoples' groups in Europe.


Civil liberties. I participated in the extremely successful and well attended Convention on Modern Liberty at the Institute of Education. I spoke on the panel looking at Democracy and Liberty. I also spoke at a Green Islands Network public conference in Holborn examining surveillance in Europe, alongside Tony Bunyan from Statewatch and Guy Herbert from No2ID. I will continue to campaign against ID cards and erosion of civil liberties.


Peace. I spoke at a CND conference on missile defence in central London. As a longstanding supporter of CND, I am strongly opposed to plans for increased missile defence in Europe. More information about my work on peace, including a short video about peace and arms control, can be found here.


Global justice: 6 Billion Ways - 'making another world possible'. This day-long event was co-sponsored by War On Want, Jubilee Debt Campaign, Friends of the Earth, World Development Movement, People and Planet and the Rich Mix, and focused on development and the environment. I spoke on a panel focusing on the role of the European Union.


International Women's Day. To mark this, I wrote an article on women and the recession for the New Statesman online.

I spoke at a public meeting celebrating International Women's Day and highlighting the situation of women around the world. I spoke on a panel exploring the difficulties women face on daily basis - from fighting for basic human rights in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan to those badly effected by the economic recession around the world. More information is available here. I also recently spoke out about women being at greater risk of redundancy and violence. More information is available here.


Chinese New Year. I celebrated Chinese New Year in London's Chinatown, and gave a message of support from one of the stages.


Sri Lanka situation. Human rights abuses associated with the current conflict between government and the LTTE in Sri Lanka have generated a humanitarian crisis. This is being felt by the families and friends of Tamils living in London. I attended a massive demonstration in central London and met with the Thames Tamil Association in Greenwich. I have written to the Foreign Secretary raising issues of access to asylum and the humanitarian crisis. The European Parliament adopted resolutions on the issue in February and March, calling for an immediate ceasefire so civilians can leave the combat zone.  More information is available at http://www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk/news_detail.php?id=407 and http://www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk/news_detail.php?id=435.


Ice and Fire Theatre - Voices from the Edge. I recently became a patron of Ice and Fire Theatre, a London-based company focusing on human rights issues through theatre. I attended the premier of their new production, Voices from the Edge, at Union Chapel, Islington, as part of Poverty and Homelessness Action Week 2009. It is based on first hand testimonies of people who are living with homelessness and deprivation in the UK today. More information about Ice and Fire's work can be found at http://www.iceandfire.co.uk.


Dalit Solidarity Network protest. As part of my long-standing association with the Dalit Solidarity Network, I participated in a protest at the Indian High Commission. The protest also marked International Women's Day, since the majority of the 1.3 million people of ‘untouchable' caste status in India are women, and are forced to earn their living by doing dangerous and degrading work in appalling conditions. The protest called on the Indian Government to release a substantial pot of money set-aside for providing these ‘manual scavengers' with education, healthcare and decent jobs, emphasising that no human being should be considered "untouchable". More information is available here.


Newroz. I joined London's Kurdish community in Trafalgar Square to celebrate Kurdish New Year. Bringing together around 25,000 people, the event featured singers from Turkey and Iraq and talks from high profile Kurdish and UK politicians and traditional Kurdish dancing. More information can be found here.

2. Brussels and beyond

Primate experiments. I pledged my support for Animal Aid's Primate Day of Action, and the ongoing campaign for an EU-wide ban on primate experiments, as part of the review of Directive 86/609. Although I do not sit on the relevant committees I am urging MEP colleagues to support this ban and vote accordingly. There will be a plenary vote in April, when all MEPs will vote on the issue. More information can be found here.

Europe wide ban on the trade in seal products. Following the adoption by Parliament of a written declaration which called for a complete ban on the trade in seal products in the EU a parliamentary report has now been adopted in the internal market committee which retains the call for a complete ban with no loopholes. The committee report will now be voted on in the Parliament's April plenary session. Ahead of the vote, Jean and her Green colleagues will continue to do all in their power to ensure that this position is not watered down, and that a trade and import ban is rapidly implemented. They will, of course, also be voting in favour of a full ban with no loopholes in plenary.

Social fairness in sustainable development. A green and social Europe - I spoke at the very first European Commission Conference which brought together and made direct links between social and environmental issues, an agenda which I have been pushing in the Parliament for many years and am very glad to see being finally discussed at EU level.

Public services - pushing for universal access to quality public services for all is a real priority for me. I invited the European Public Services Union to the Green Group meeting to enable them to present EU Public Services Pledge and raised awareness and support from amongst the Green Group in the Parliament for this initiative http://www.epsu.org/a/4709.

Asylum. I have been appointed Parliament's Rapporteur for the creation of a European Asylum Support Office whose role it will be to facilitate practical cooperation on asylum between member states. I will be pushing hard for the office to have a role in assuring the quality of Member States asylum systems.

Peace Cyclists bring their voices and a petition to the European Parliament. I hosted an event which brought the voices of over 40 'peace cyclists', many of them London constituents to the parliament. They handed a petition, signed by over 17,000 people calling for a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and shared their experiences of cycling through Israel and the West Bank. For further info see - http://www.thepeacecycle.com.

3. Comment - Women and the recession

This is an edited version of my comment article which recently appeared on the New Statesman website.

"As we enter headlong into recession, we need to understand and act on the far-reaching impacts of the downturn on women.

The TUC has recently made clear the worrying reality for women. More likely to be in part-time, lower-paid or temporary employment, filling the roles that are often the first to go when employers are forced to make cuts, women face a disproportionately high risk of unemployment. Those returning to work after maternity leave will find familiar difficulties compounded as they compete for the few opportunities that do exist. Parity in the British workplace has yet to be achieved - the gender pay gap is still as wide as 36 per cent in part-time employment. And added barriers exist for women who seek to claim Jobseeker's Allowance.

We must also be alert to warnings from, among others, the Fawcett Society, which has reported an increase in the number of domestic violence referrals. Baroness Scotland, the Attorney General, has also said that the downturn is likely to increase pressure on women who already feel unable to leave abusive relationships because of limited access to finance or support.

Support for women who have suffered abuse or sexual violence is often woefully inadequate; the sad truth is that more difficult economic circumstances can only exacerbate this situation.

These problems, of course, are not new, and the downturn did not cause them. But it could make them worse. We need to increase support now to organisations working with families and those suffering or at risk of abuse. This would be money well spent."

4. Dates for the diary

1-2 April - G20 Summit, London. Also Alternative G20 Summit, Climate Camp, and a range of other protests.
2-5 April - No to NATO demonstrations, Strasbourg (60 Years of NATO)
6 April - Pensioners' Action Day
18 April - Incredible Veggie Show, VIVA, Royal Horticultural Halls, London SW1P.
22 April - 2 May - Real Nappy Week
25 April - World Day for Lab Animals National March,  Demonstration and Rally, Hyde Park to Parliament Square
25 April - Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions AGM, Camden. Jean speaking.
25 April - 250th Anniversary of Mary Wolstencraft's birth - public meeting, Newington Green Unitarian Church. Jean speaking.
27 April - TUC Green Growth Conference.
28 April - Workers' Memorial Day.