I started the day by travelling into Central London for a breakfast meeting about the economy. Afterwards, I met with representatives from Community Links to talk about their new campaign, Need Not Greed. The campaign is hoping to make it easier for residents of Newham to move into secure formal work without falling into poverty.

After meeting with a journalist to discuss the current economic climate, and how effective the Government’s fiscal stimulus has been in helping to keep people in their jobs, I moved on to my next appointment. This was a meeting with representatives from a group called All4Recruitment. The organisation aims to provide sustainable employment opportunities for people who offend or have offended, so they can break that cycle and build a positive and crime free life.  I accepted their offer of speaking at their official launch later this year.

I then met with a local architect to discuss some of his plans for East Ham before making some calls to visit some house-bound constituents. I then met with a lady who is putting forward a proposal to create a network of Women's Business Centres in the UK.

Afterwards, I met with members of the Sri Lanka Islamic Forum. SLIF has been serving the Sri Lankan Muslim community across the UK since year 2001. Recently they have been heavily involved in addressing the humanitarian needs of the poor and needy in Sri Lanka. They have engaged in political lobbying and media campaign on Sri Lankan national issues.