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The post An Update from your Local MP – 25th April 2025 appeared first on Bell Ribeiro-Addy.
Portsmouth MP Stephen Morgan has said a local environmental exhibition provides a great opportunity for Portsmouth young people to learn about the environment, climate issues and sustainability.
The city MP made the comments on a visit to the Southsea Model Village which is currently hosting a two-week installation promoting action from politicians to switch to green energy.
The installation, which ends on Saturday 26 April, includes a model of the Portsmouth South MP – a green champion who has a long track record of campaigning on environmental issues including promoting renewable energy and stopping sewage pollution.
During the visit, alongside renewable electricity supplier Good Energy, Mr Morgan toured the village which was equipped with handmade miniature heat pumps, solar panels and models of politicians who have been environmental champions.
The group discussed issues including the government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, the skills needed for future green jobs in Portsmouth and solar power investment.
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“It was a pleasure to visit the Southsea Model Village today to see their brilliant exhibition promoting green energy.
“As Britain becomes a clean energy superpower under Labour, it is more important than ever that local young people understand the skills needed for the green jobs of the future that are coming to Portsmouth.
“Initiatives like these are a great way to engage local young people and their families about these environmental issues and promote ways we can all live greener lives.”
Mr Morgan has made protecting Portsmouth’s precious environment one of his key priorities as local MP.
In May he will host a coffee morning in the city on Clean Air and the Environment. You can sign up here.
The post ‘A great opportunity for local young people to learn about sustainability’ says Portsmouth MP on visit to Southsea Model Village appeared first on Stephen Morgan MP.
Last week, Jeff Smith MP spent time with the dedicated group of volunteers at Parsonage Gardens, who meet weekly to maintain and enhance the beauty of the gardens.
Volunteers work hard all year round, and their efforts help keep this much-loved local green space in superb condition for everyone to enjoy.
New volunteers are warmly welcomed, and volunteers come from all walks of life. Some join to give back to the community, to learn more about plants and gardening, or simply for the joy of being outdoors, staying active, and connecting with others.
See below if you’re interested in supporting The Friends of Fletcher Moss Park and Parsonage Gardens: Find out more about volunteering, visit: Volunteering – Fletcher Moss and Parsonage Gardens
To donate and support the group’s work:
Friends of Fletcher Moss Park & Parsonage Gardens
40-31-20
11496107
Ref: your surname and last 3 digits of your postcode eg Smith2RW, plus your email if you wish to join as a member. £5 per household per year.
Happy St George’s Day!
Look at what I spotted in Pelsall, a St George’s Day Post Box Topper – thank you to the very talented Nikki for always putting a smile on our faces.
Impressive to visit the Faith in Families Cwtch Mawr Multibank in Swansea – part of a network of multibanks set up by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to alleviate hardship as families struggle to cope with the cost of living.
I’m keen to see the services of this Multibank expanded here to Llanelli and the rest of Carmarthenshire where it would provide back-up to existing groups and foodbanks who deal with families in need and who would be able to call on the Multibank to provide additional items that they are short of.
I am pleased Carmarthenshire County Council accepted a proposal by Councillor Martyn Palfreman to support its expansion into Carmarthenshire and I’ll be working with councillors and others to make sure this happens.
Landmark new figures published this morning show that, thanks to the Labour Government’s action, over 1,500 extra GPs have been recruited since 1st October, joining practices in the South East.
Amanda Martin MP has today welcomed the increased GP capacity that will help fix the front door of the NHS and increase appointments to bring back the family doctor. Bringing back the family doctor and ending the 8am scramble for appointments were key manifesto commitments in the General Election.
The news of 1,500 extra GPs recruited comes after the Labour government removed red tape which prevented surgeries from hiring doctors soon after coming into office. The recruitment boost, part of the government’s Plan for Change, will help end the scandal of patients in Portsmouth struggling to see a doctor. People will be more readily able to receive the timely care they deserve, helping to shift healthcare from hospitals to the community, easing pressure on local GPs and cutting waiting lists.
The Labour Government has also provided the biggest boost to GP funding in years – an extra £889million on top of the existing budget for general practice along with new reforms to free up GPs from red tape and box-ticking targets so they can spend more time caring for patients.
Since Labour came into power, the Government has delivered over two million extra appointments, meeting its target seven months early, and the waiting list has fallen five months running, down by 193,000.
Amanda Martin MP for Portsmouth North said: “We all know how important the front door to our NHS is. But when I knock on doors in our community, local residents regularly vent their frustration after enduring the ‘8am scramble’ and the difficulty that they have in getting a GP appointment.
“I promised residents in Portsmouth that we would help bring back the family doctor and I’m delighted to see over 1,500 examples of Labour continuing to deliver on that promise.”
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “Rebuilding our broken NHS starts with fixing the front door. We inherited a ludicrous situation where patients couldn’t get a GP appointment, while GPs couldn’t get a job. By cutting red tape and investing more in our NHS, we have put an extra 1,503 GPs into general practice to deliver more appointments.
“The extra investment and reforms we have made will allow patients to book appointments more easily, to help bring back the family doctor and end the 8am scramble.
“It is only because of the necessary decisions we took to increase employer National Insurance that we are able to recruit more GPs and deliver better services for patients. The extra investment and reform this government is making, as part of its Plan for Change, will get the NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future.”
The post Amanda Martin MP welcomes over 1,500 extra GPs recruited to help end ‘8am scramble’ and bring back family doctor in Portsmouth North appeared first on Amanda Martin MP.
Speaking in the emergency debate on the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill, George Freeman backs the Bill and calls for an active industrial strategy to secure UK sovereign industrial security for steel and other high growth sectors.
Does the right hon. Gentleman agree with me, as a card-carrying advocate of industrial strategy, that this argument applies to some of our other key high-growth sectors, such as fusion, quantum and space? We have to accept that the days of easy globalisation are over and be a bit more strategic about how we support our emerging industries.
Mr Speaker, you know that I could answer that question all day, but you would rule me out of order, so I will confine my remarks to the Bill. However, I agree with the hon. Gentleman. He is absolutely right, and that is why we have to work harder across the House to build a consensus about the big calls that we need to get right for our future.
The post Universal Studios Bedford Confirmed appeared first on Mohammad Yasin MP.
After fourteen years of Tory failure, our town centres and neighbourhoods are plagued by anti-social behaviour. Whether it’s street drinking, harassment or vandalism on the high street or noisy and intimidating off-road bikes, people in Leicester are fed up.
This action is long overdue, especially the Government action on shoplifting and supporting shopworkers, which cannot come soon enough.
The flagship Crime and Policing Bill is a vital step towards the safer streets for Leicester promised in this Government’s Plan for Change.
The post Labour Introduces Plan to Make Leicester’s Streets Safer appeared first on Liz Kendall.
Here in Bassetlaw, most people work hard all their lives, pay their dues and want to live comfortably. What unites many in anger is the known benefit fraudster, who lives down the street.
With billions of public money lost last year, it is time at long last for real action against the fraudsters. Those who are milking the system, be it the workshy or those feeding the coffers of organised crime. I have lost count of the number of times that I hear from local people that benefit fraud is happening and nothing seems to be being done about it.
I welcome the government’s new Fraud Bill, which will allow for the seizure of luxury goods, bags of cash, and mobile phones as evidence of fraud, and stronger powers to go after those who receive money they are not entitled to. Where there is an outright refusal to repay, it is right that their driving license should be taken away.
Banks and building societies will be able to flag when they spot fraud, such as expensive holidays aboard, or a wage going in whilst benefits are also being claimed. These powers will include strong safeguards, protecting the real vulnerable and the sick.
I cannot abide the thought of the hard-earned money of Bassetlaw people funding the luxury lifestyle of the fraudsters. Labour is the party of working people, and this is our values being put into action. I want to see the first raid take place in Bassetlaw.
This is also why I back the additional powers in this Bill that will pursue those who ripped us off during Covid pandemic, including the previous government’s greedy friends who grabbed the PPE contracts and the fake company owners who took the business loans. We cannot allow time limitations to act as a barrier. We want our money back, the thieves jailed and anyone who lined the pockets of their mates also feeling the long hand of the law on their collars.
The post Worksop Guardian Column 05/02/25 appeared first on Jo White MP.
An abridged version of this article ran in The Times on 3rd February 2025
In 2007, in the pages of this newspaper, I argued that Britain should seize the moment and move Heathrow to the Thames Estuary, freeing up the congested west London site for much-needed housing while creating a world-leading transport hub fit for the 21st century. It was an ambitious plan—perhaps too ambitious for a nation that has lost its appetite for grand infrastructure. Seventeen years later, what do we have? The same tired debates, the same dithering, and now, a third runway proposal that represents the absolute minimum of what could be done. It is not a vision; it is a concession to stagnation.
Throughout history, Britain built infrastructure that transformed cities and continents. The Victorians laid thousands of miles of railways across India and Africa. British engineers built the world’s first underground railway in London, the great docks of Hong Kong, and the vast shipping hubs that made global trade possible. Ours was once a nation that saw scale and complexity as challenges to be overcome, not reasons to prevaricate. Today, while China constructs floating airports in Hong Kong and Dalian, we are still arguing over a few extra miles of tarmac at an aging airport hemmed in by suburban sprawl.
The case for expanding Heathrow is undeniable. The airport operates at near capacity, with any disruption causing delays that ripple across the global aviation network. Additional capacity is needed. But the third runway is not a bold leap forward—it is an unimaginative compromise. The design is a relic of a bygone era when Britain was still willing to approve large infrastructure projects but had already begun its slow descent into cautious incrementalism. Surely for a solution we should be looking beyond the immediate horizon, daring to create something transformative.
Compare this to the grand infrastructure ambitions of Asia. Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok, which replaced the legendary but perilous Kai Tak airport in the 1990s, was built on reclaimed land. It was a marvel of engineering (mostly British), completed in just six years. Now, China is taking the concept even further: Dalian is constructing a floating airport, pushing the boundaries of what is possible. This is a country that doesn’t simply accept geographic limitations—it overcomes them. Britain, meanwhile, is paralysed by protest groups, endless consultations, and political hand-wringing.
A floating airport in the Thames Estuary—an idea proposed and swiftly dismissed—would have been a statement of ambition. London could have had its own Chek Lap Kok, a world-class hub unencumbered by the constraints of Heathrow’s location. Instead, we are left with a piecemeal expansion of an outdated site, in a project that will take decades and still leave Britain trailing behind.
The environmental argument against expansion is often cited as a reason for delay, but it is a red herring. Modern aviation is rapidly advancing towards lower emissions and greater efficiency. If the concern is air pollution and carbon footprints, the answer is not to stifle airport expansion but to embrace new technology, support cleaner aviation fuels, and invest in modern air traffic management. Britain should be leading these efforts, not using environmental concerns as an excuse for stagnation.
The economic cost of our hesitation is immense. Aviation is a key driver of trade, tourism, and investment. Heathrow’s constraints mean we lose out to European rivals, with airlines shifting long-haul routes to Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt. The third runway, even if built, will do little to reclaim lost ground. By the time it is operational—assuming it even survives the judicial challenges that will inevitably come—other nations will have long since surpassed us.
What Britain needs is a fundamental shift in mindset. We must stop viewing major infrastructure projects as necessary evils to be endured and start treating them as national priorities. This requires reforming our planning laws, streamlining approval processes, and fostering a political culture that celebrates engineering excellence rather than recoiling from it.
The third runway at Heathrow is not the answer—it is a symptom of our decline. Instead of an afterthought tacked onto an aging airport, we should be considering radical alternatives: offshore airports, high-speed rail integration to regional hubs, and a renewed commitment to infrastructure that places Britain at the forefront of global connectivity. We were once a nation that built the world’s most advanced transport networks, that pioneered engineering breakthroughs others only dreamed of. We can be that nation again—but only if we stop settling for mediocrity and start daring to think bigger.
The world is not waiting for Britain to catch up. While we squabble over a single new runway, China is building entire new airports on water. The contrast is stark, and the lesson is clear: boldness breeds success, hesitation ensures decline. If Britain truly wishes to remain a global player, we must abandon the timid incrementalism of the third runway and embrace the kind of audacity that once made us great.
Kit Malthouse 1st February 2025
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.
Rushanara Ali MP statement on the anniversary of Bangladesh’s Victory Day 2024.
Last week I was sworn in as the MP for South Shields for the fifth time, and each time it strikes me how incredibly honoured I feel that you have put your faith in me as the first female MP to represent you in Parliament. It was a truly historic night as the UK elected […]
The post It is the honour of my life to be re-elected as your MP for South Shields appeared first on Emma Lewell MP.
The post Toby Perkins MP supports Chesterfield Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation appeared first on Toby Perkins Labour MP.
Entries for submitting your photographs for the Rhondda Calendar are now open.
The top twelve entries will be show cased in the 2018 Calendar with prize money for the top three entries.
Proceeds from the sale of the calendar will go to local charities.
Deadline 31st August 2017!
The post Rhondda Calendar 2018 appeared first on Chris Bryant.