Local MP co-creates All Party Parliamentary Group for Compassionate Politics

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams has joined forces with former Conservative chair and member of the House of Lords, Baroness Warsi, to co-chair a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Compassionate Politics.

Explaining why she has co-created the parliamentary group with Baroness Warsi, Mrs Abrahams said: “Over recent years British politics has become toxic, but politicians like us want to put compassion back into the system.

“Society is slowly splintering and our nation feels fractured.

"Where we go next is uncertain.

“We want to transform Britain from a divided nation into one which offers care, support, and aid to all people of all backgrounds. 

“That is why Baroness Warsi and I are hugely proud to launch the new All Party Group for Compassionate Politics.

"This group will work to put compassion at the heart of the politics of the future, to provide a platform to voices and stories as yet untold, and to transform Britain from a divided nation into one which offers care, support, and aid to all people of all backgrounds.

“Our task is to reshape British politics is enormous.

"But after the Second World War parties came together and from that was born the NHS, the welfare state, and thousands of new homes.

"It was not the vision of just one party, it was part of a collective understanding of common values and universal needs.

“The values of our politics have drifted far away from the values that are instinctively British. Most people in this country want to live compassionately.

"And yet, somehow, our politics has given us rising inequality, worsening homelessness, and increasing child mortality.

"This is not the Britain most of us believe in.

“That is why, despite the enormous task in front of us, we are positive that our All Party Group, and the organisation behind it, Compassion in Politics, can make a difference.

“We will call out hateful language, discrimination, and intolerance.

"These are basic principles but at this time of rapid change, uncertainty, and pain they are principles worth repeating and embedding in our politics.

“We want to revise the code of conduct for MPs so the toxicity and nastiness we witnessed during debates last year can never be repeated.

“Our work is about people. It is about humanity. It is about what is just and fair.

“The current state of our politics doesn’t always represent those values.

"But, we both know that in all parties there are individuals and groups willing to speak out for change.

“We want to create the politics of compassion, the politics of cooperation, shape the politics of the future.”

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