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Pupils at Beaver Road Primary school, Parrs Wood High school, Barlow Hall Primary school, Brookburn Community school will benefit from more funding to improve their school building, as part of Labour’s long-term plan to improve the school estate.
The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) grants worth over £450 million will give 684 schools and sixth-form colleges funding to help to replace heating systems, mend roofs and update electrical works, among other projects, after years of declining buildings.
The funding forms part of a wider package of investment in programmes including the School Rebuilding Programme which is rebuilding and refurbishing schools across the country, including those whose buildings contained dangerous RAAC materials.
These programmes form part of Labour’s 10-year plan to renew buildings across education. By improving classrooms, Labour is providing the opportunities children need to succeed in education and prepare for future careers.
Applications for the Mayesbrook and Rippleside Pride in Place Board opened this week and Nesil Caliskan, MP for Barking, is calling on local community champions to apply.
In March, Nesil Caliskan MP successfully secured a £20m investment for Barking constituency from the government’s Pride in Place fund. Mayesbrook Park and Rippleside have been chosen by the government has the beneficiaries of the funding. The money is for investment in local projects over a 10-year period, and local people get to decide how the money is spent.
The projects will be steered by a Pride in Place Board, made up of local community champions, local councillors and the Member of Parliament.
Nesil Caliskan says:
“I’m so pleased that Barking has been given £20 million over 10 years from the Labour government’s Pride in Place fund to drive change and improvement in our local area. I campaigned in Parliament for Barking & Dagenham to receive more funding from the Pride in Place pot and I’m glad we can now make a material difference in our local area.
“I am forming a Pride in Place board made up of local residents and community leaders to decide how the money is spent. Applications are open now, so if you live in the area and want to improve your neighbourhood, please apply. I look forward to joining you to kickstart projects in Mayesbrook Park and Rippleside.”


Amanda Martin MP has spent recent weeks joining each neighbourhood police officer on patrols across Portsmouth North, seeing first-hand the work being done to tackle antisocial behaviour, shoplifting and local crime in communities across the constituency.
The visits come as the Government delivers its Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee ahead of schedule, backed by a £200 million investment to recruit thousands of additional neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs across the country, including up to 65 new neighbourhood policing roles in Hampshire.
Amanda joined officers in Baffins, Stamshaw, Cosham, Paulsgrove, Drayton, Copnor and Hilsea, speaking directly with police teams, local businesses and residents about the issues affecting their communities.
In Baffins, Amanda accompanied officers through Great Salterns Recreation Ground, around the pond and along Tangier Road, discussing concerns raised by residents about antisocial behaviour. During the patrol, officers also investigated reports from constituents in Whitecliffe Avenue, locating nitrous oxide canisters that had been abandoned in the area. Amanda also spoke with local shopkeepers about the impact antisocial behaviour can have on businesses and the importance of visible neighbourhood policing.
In Stamshaw, the Portsmouth MP joined officers responding to reports of youth-related antisocial behaviour. During the patrol, officers successfully recovered a suspected stolen bike after locating a group of young people attempting to remove identifying features from it.
In Cosham and Paulsgrove, they walked through the High Street and surrounding areas, discussing local concerns ranging from environmental issues to retail crime. She accompanied officers responding to a reported shop theft and spoke with local businesses about the challenges they face.
Meanwhile, in Drayton, Copnor and Hilsea, Amanda visited local parks and community hotspots where residents have reported youth antisocial behaviour. She also joined officers visiting local businesses, including the Co-op on Tregaron Avenue, following concerns raised by staff and constituents about repeated incidents affecting the area.
Amanda Martin MP said: “One of the issues I hear about most from residents is the need for visible policing in our communities. That’s why it has been so valuable to spend time with neighbourhood officers across Portsmouth North and see the work they do every day to keep our communities safe.
“Whether it is tackling antisocial behaviour in our parks, responding to concerns from local businesses, recovering suspected stolen property or addressing issues raised directly by residents, neighbourhood police officers play a vital role in our communities.
“For too long, neighbourhood policing was hollowed out, leaving many residents feeling that the police were simply not visible enough in the places where problems occur. That’s why I welcome this Government’s commitment to putting more officers back on the beat and strengthening the connection between police and the communities they serve.
“Throughout these visits I have heard directly from officers about the difference visible policing can make. I’ve also heard from residents and business owners who want to see a stronger police presence in their neighbourhoods.
“I will continue working closely with Hampshire Police and residents to ensure the concerns people raise with me are heard and acted upon.”
Under the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, every community will have dedicated neighbourhood policing teams, with increased patrols in town centres and local hotspots. The Government is also introducing new measures through the Crime and Policing Bill aimed at tackling persistent antisocial behaviour, protecting retail workers and giving police stronger powers to deal with nuisance vehicles and repeat offenders.
The MP for Portsmouth North added: “Everyone deserves to feel safe where they live, work and shop. These visits have shown the value of neighbourhood policing and why investing in local officers is so important for communities across Portsmouth North.”
Here is the list of officers covering Portsmouth North, useful to know who’s out and about in your community or if you want to raise something directly with one of them:
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Stephen Morgan MP has welcomed the Government’s announcement that the University of Portsmouth’s new dental school has secured half of the national additional training places allocated as part of the first sustained expansion of dental school places in nearly two decades.
This expansion is backed by £11 million in Government funding and will see additional dentists being trained across England from 2027 onwards. The Office for Students was asked to allocate new training places, prioritising areas that do not currently train dentists, including coastal communities like Portsmouth where accessing an NHS dental appointment has long been reported to be difficult.
The University of Portsmouth was chosen to be one of two institutions to deliver this expansion and will be allocated half of all new training places, bringing dental training to one of the cities that needs it most and helping to ensure that NHS dentists available to Portsmouth reflect the community they will serve.
Allocated dental places are part of the Government’s drive to train more home-grown dentists and boost the workforce in regions where there are currently too few and patients are left in pain for months on end. The allocation of these places will mean that all NHS England regions will now have a dental school.
This announcement follows the city MP’s visit to the University of Portsmouth with Health Minister Stephen Kinnock MP ahead of the dental school’s official launch to discuss the difference that local dentist training will make to local people.
Mr Morgan has been a tireless campaigner on improving access to NHS Dentistry, including securing additional urgent appointments in Portsmouth, resulting in 23,000 extra appointments for local people over the course of a year, and working with the University of Portsmouth to secure Dental Authority Status.
Examples of this can be read about in further detail here, here and here.
Commenting, Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“Under the last government, NHS dentistry had been left broken after years of neglect, with patients left in pain without appointments, or queueing around the block just to be seen.
“Under Labour, and thanks to my campaigning – this is changing. This Government is rebuilding dentistry – focusing on prevention, retention of NHS dentists and reforming the NHS contract to make NHS work more appealing to dentists and increase capacity for more patients.
“This will take time, but today marks an important step towards getting NHS dentistry back on its feet and helping to end the dental desert that Portsmouth became.
“As Member of Parliament, I am committed to making sure we have a local NHS fit for the future.
“Today’s news that the University of Portsmouth has been allocated half of the national additional training places for dentists – the first sustained expansion of dental school places in nearly two decades – is fantastic news for Portsmouth and for our city’s patients”.
Announcing the allocation, Health Minister Stephen Kinnock said:
“No one in the 21st century should struggle to access basic dental care or, even worse, be forced to take matters into their own hands.
“By bringing dental school places the University of Portsmouth for the first time, trainee dentists will put down roots in parts of the country that have for too long been left behind.
“These new places will help train NHS-ready dentists in the communities that need them most, meaning patients can get the care they need faster and closer to home.”
The new places are part of a wider package of measures to rebuild NHS dentistry. The Government has also invested in significantly expanding the number of places on professional registration exams for overseas-trained dentists, with up to 2,400 more dentists expected to be able to join the register annually by 2028 to 2029.
The Government is also reforming the NHS dental contract itself, to reward dentists more fairly, prioritise the highest-need patients, and strengthen preventive healthcare.
Recent reforms to the contract will create new long-term treatment pathways for patients with significant dental decay or gum disease with improved payments for dentists, alongside requiring practices to deliver a set amount of urgent care and pay dentists more fairly for this work.
Through the 10-Year Health Plan, the government is investing in prevention, improving access to dental care, and making it fairer for clinicians and patients.
The post “New dental school training places will help end city’s dental desert” says Portsmouth MP appeared first on Stephen Morgan MP.
Bitterly disappointed Whitbread’s Chief Executive has refused to meet to discuss the future of the Sandpiper.
Along with the local County Councillors for that area, Councillor Martyn Palfreman and Councillor Edward Skinner, I will continue to make the case for retaining this much loved and well used pub for the people of Llanelli and for the interests of staff and those who value the Sandpiper to be taken fully into account as Whitbread continues to consider its future.

Healthy Start value was increased by 10% in April. It’s been a long campaign. I am continuing to work with Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food And Farming, The Food Foundation, Feeding Britain and the Department of Health and Social Care as we push for maximum take up.
The post Healthy Start Scheme Bill appeared first on Emma Lewell MP.
George Freeman highlights that the UK’s most pressing national challenge is its persistently low economic growth and the structural barriers holding back productivity, enterprise, innovation, and investment. He calls on the Government to make a radical shift towards a “renaissance of enterprise and innovation,” including major reforms to regain control and unlock growth.
There is no more important issue for the country than the stubbornly low growth rate and the structural barriers to the growth, productivity, enterprise, innovation and investment that this country so desperately needs, solutions to which have defied successive Governments since the coalition and the political crisis that Brexit unleashed in 2016. It gives me no pleasure to highlight that, for my constituents in Mid Norfolk, the King’s Speech is irrelevant without real delivery on the ground. In Mid Norfolk, the small businesses on which we rely are shedding jobs; disposable incomes are falling; high streets in market towns such as Dereham, Watton and Attleborough are struggling; pubs are closing; farmers are moving away from farming food to take the Government incentives for solar panels and commuter housing estates; and public services are being overwhelmed by rising demand from new housing and an ageing population.
This is fuelling a surge in political anger, which explains a lot of the election results last week. Across Suffolk, Norfolk and the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, rural deprivation, rural poverty and the disproportionate impact of high energy prices on the rural economy—where, according to Treasury figures, every cup of coffee, schoolbook, pencil, lesson and journey costs 20% more than in cities, yet rural areas are underfunded—are driving real anger, based on real grievances. People are now paying European levels of tax for American levels of public services, and they are fed up. Unless we—this Government, this Parliament, this media, this Whitehall—respect and understand the grievance and set out a truly bold plan to deal with it, I fear that the rich will continue to leave this country, that the middle classes, the engine of growth, will conclude that it is no longer worth putting the work in, and that the poor will turn to the black market and crime.
For that to happen, Governments and Parliament must take back control, and successive Governments have divested themselves of that control by, as Simon Case said when he left office, giving more power to unelected and unaccountable bodies of all kinds and types. For the Government to act, they need levers to pull to make the kind of difference that my hon. Friend described, and Governments have less and less ability to do that, yet the King’s Speech does not address that fundamental need for a change of direction.
My right hon. Friend makes an important point. The King’s speech that my constituents loved was the King’s speech in Washington, in which he spoke for the very best of this country. My point is that it is in all our interests—I say this as a friend of mainstream politics and democracy—that we tackle this challenge more boldly.
I welcome the speed with which newly elected Labour MPs have realised the scale and urgency of the problem of public and voter anger, stubbornly slow growth, rising unemployment and demand for public services exceeding capacity, but they are in danger of going for the wrong prescription. What we need is a renaissance of enterprise and innovation across the public and private sectors. Convenient though it may be for my party politically, the idea that the answer is a regicidal political infighting crisis and a leadership contest in office is for the birds. Take it from me: my party has tested that idea to destruction, and we have all paid the price. We do not need a Labour party beauty contest. We need a Parliament and a Government that get more urgent about the many laudable things they have set out to do, but we do not have 10 years to deliver it—we have a couple of years.
If the Labour party knifes this Prime Minister, he will be the seventh who will have been got rid of because of the structural deficit. I remember, when I first arrived here in 2010, the brilliant Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies explaining what the structural deficit is, and it is worth repeating. The normal deficit is when a Government do not earn as much as they are spending; because the economy has taken a downturn, they borrow a bit to keep spending and then pay it back. The structural deficit is that bit of the deficit that goes up every year even when the economy is growing, and it is driven by four things. In 2010, it was being driven by welfare, public sector pensions, and—the big one—health, and debt interest was remarkably low. After the coalition, we had capped off the rise in public sector pensions, incredibly painfully, and we had capped off the rise in welfare, incredibly painfully. Health has continued to defy reform, and it is bankrupting the public sector. We are now spending more than 50% on health, welfare and social support. That is simply not affordable.
We cannot cut, borrow or tax our way out of this. The only way out is to grow, not through dumping cheap housing across the countryside, but by backing the industries of tomorrow.
I might press my hon. Friend a little further. The other way of dealing with that is to improve productivity, as I said earlier. He is right, of course, that the cost burden is fundamentally important, but it can be made better through greater efficiency. Indeed, the Government themselves have said that, as successive Governments have, but we must put in place measures—very often, tough measures—to deliver that kind of productivity.
My right hon. Friend makes an important point. I will make a slightly different point, which is that there are huge opportunities for good growth in this country. Speaking as someone who has had a 16-year career backing the industries of tomorrow, whether it is in fusion, SMR nuclear technologies, agritech, bioscience, the bioeconomy on Teesside, or the satellite economy in Glasgow, we have an opportunity to turn these into the industries of tomorrow. I welcome the Government’s industrial strategy commitment to do it, but it is at 50,000 feet; we need to drop down to some more tangible and bolder policies to back those industries.
I know the Secretary of State gave a tub-thumping speech about the 1980s, but the truth is we have made a lot of progress over the last 20 years. I was doing my work as the Minister for Life Sciences, for agritech and for Science and Technology following in the footsteps of Paul Drayson and David Sainsbury. In life science, fusion, AI and quantum, we have built an unbelievably competitive economy, but other countries are moving fast. Our competitors are more agile. We are terrible at adopting technology in the public services. Our scale-ups are not getting the finance they need in the city. Kate Bingham in The Times today is right.
How do we unlock this? I want to suggest a ten-point plan for renewal. I support the Government’s ambition. I say this because if all of us fail, the Benches to my left of pub populists who are promising everything will win, and we will see even deeper disillusionment. I am calling in this speech for, first, real honesty of a 1979 scale about the extent of the emergency; secondly, bold devolution to the people, cities and mayors who know how to do it better—frankly, they could not do worse than Whitehall—thirdly, serious Whitehall reforms, so that we end the juvenile process of His Majesty’s Treasury playing Departments off against each other for funding, which in the end comes very late and is taken back; and fourthly, a serious backing for the innovation economy.
I welcome the £20 billion of R&D, but how we allocate it is key. We need to allocate it in a way that attracts private investment. Fifthly, we need a bold revolution of tax incentives for enterprises—a new deal for new business. There should be no national insurance or VAT for a couple of years for someone starting a company and growing it. Sixthly, we need regulation for innovation. That is not just cutting regulations, but leading in setting the regulation. I welcome the Government’s work in setting up the Regulatory Innovation Office. We then have skills and patriotic capitalism. I do not think it is communism to get the city investing in British business. Boldness—

On 1 May 2026, the Renters’ Rights Act officially entered into force, giving 11 million renters across Britain stronger rights, better protections and more security in their homes.
14,647 renters in Clapham & Brixton Hill will benefit from these new laws, which include a long-overdue ban on ‘No Fault’ evictions, ending the practice of tenants being evicted without a reason.
These reforms are designed to give renters greater security, stability and fairness – helping people to put down roots and feel more secure in their homes.
These changes are designed to make renting fairer and more secure, while also giving landlords clear, modernised rules to follow. 1 May 2026 marks the first phase of implementation, with additional provisions coming in later this year and beyond.
This legislation represents a significant upgrade to renters’ rights and I welcome it wholeheartedly but there is still work to do to stop renters being evicted and exploited.
The post Renters Rights Act Comes into Force appeared first on Bell Ribeiro-Addy.
What I’ve been up to throughout March March has been a busy month, both in Westminster and in the constituency. In Westminster, a lot of my time has been spent on the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee, where we have been doing pre-legislative scrutiny of commonhold and leasehold legislation. I asked constituents to
The post March Update appeared first on Sean Woodcock, MP for Banbury.
I am getting a huge number of messages from people about potholes across Bassetlaw. Our roads are falling apart and it cannot go on like this.
Many drivers tell me they are worried about damage to their cars. They say they have to swerve to avoid deep holes in the road. People are facing huge bills for car repairs to fix damage to tyres. I have even heard about license plates being ripped from cars by deep potholes in some areas.
Recently, I was contacted by residents who live on Sheffield Road in Blyth. The road there is in a terrible state. Large lorries hit the crater holes at speed, and the impact is so strong that nearby houses shake, day and night. Some residents are struggling to sleep through the night because the vibrations are so bad. Some have even seen cracks appear in their brickwork. That is simply not good enough.
I am pushing for the whole road to be properly resurfaced, not just patched up. I am pleased that this request has now been put forward to the County Council as part of next year’s roads budget. I will keep pressing for it to be approved.
I see the ‘dob jobs’ taking place, but this is a quick fix and not a permanent solution. In some cases, the roads crumble again within weeks. The County Council recently spent £75,000 on flags for lampposts. While I love to see our flag flying, is this really the priority when our roads are in such a bad state?
We have heard plenty of excuses. The councillor in charge of roads has even tried to blame my husband, John Mann, the former MP for Bassetlaw. But I have lived here in Bassetlaw for over 25 years, and I have never known our roads to be in such poor condition. Over the past few months, I have reported over 50 potholes across Bassetlaw. But when I go to report them, I often see that they have been reported many times before, and no action has been taken.
Many people ask me what is being done about it. Here are the facts. Nottinghamshire County Council is in charge of looking after our roads. It runs this service through its company, VIA. The Council has been given an extra £8.3 million from the government to fix roads. This is on top of the £70 million it already has for road repairs. I plan to meet with the County Council very soon, alongside other Nottinghamshire MPs of all parties to discuss the issue.
The Council is saying it plans to buy a special machine called the JCB Pothole Pro. It costs about £200,000 and is meant to repair potholes more quickly. However, I am concerned that the previous Conservative administration looked at this in 2021, and found that the machine did not save money, could damage kerbs, and had problems on narrow roads. Most importantly, it did not fix potholes any faster than normal repair methods.
I will be keeping a close eye on how this money is spent. What matters most is that our roads are maintained and properly repaired. My message is clear, use the money and get on with the job.
The post Potholes are the main concern for Bassetlaw residents appeared first on Jo White MP.
Christmas is a very special time. It's when we come together with friends and family to take stock, and give thanks for what we have.
Some years – in the best of times, this is cause for celebration.
Other years – it's more complicated if we're missing loved ones,
affected by illness, or facing money worries, homelessness, or loneliness.
Sometimes – let’s be honest, for many reasons, Christmas can just be about getting through it, and that's ok!
Because regardless of the year that’s been, or the circumstances you find yourself in, Christmas offers everyone a precious gift – hope.
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