18 June 2026
Dear resident
Amid the national noise, my focus stays where it belongs: listening to people in Chelsea and Fulham and taking action.
The impact of social media on children has long been high on your list. More than 1,000 residents have raised this with me by email, in schools and at public meetings.
I’ve been pressing the government for action to protect our children – and am glad this is now happening.
From next spring, platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook and X will all be restricted for under-16s.
The measures will also stop children being contacted by strangers on gaming platforms or live streaming sites, and will restrict AI romantic chatbots to over-18s.
Residents have told me they’re concerned about enforcement and are clear that the onus must be on tech companies to change. Tech companies will face hefty fines for non-compliance, and I look forward to Ofcom setting out how age verification will work.
The fact that some children will try to get around this shouldn’t stop us acting. As the Prime Minister has said, the fact that some teenagers manage to get a drink doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop them buying alcohol.
Read on for what else I have been doing locally to support residents and our community, secure District Line improvements, strengthen EU ties and more – and for an explainer on the government’s new legislation from the King’s Speech.
Finally, I wish the England men’s team every success at the World Cup, including Chelsea’s Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah.
Please do get in touch if there’s anything I can help with.
Best wishes
Ben
PS To make summer with the kids cheaper, we’re cutting VAT on children’s meals and on attractions tickets from 20% to 5% until 1 September. Details here.
One of the most important parts of my job is getting residents a hearing and results. Here are some recent examples of what my team and I have been doing.
Money problems
A constituent finally received £30,000 in Civil Service pension payments owed for years after we intervened. Another was saved from eviction after we pressed the DWP to backdate housing costs. And a private hire driver is back earning again after three months without income now we’ve got his licence reinstated.
Family matters
Two sisters – one a young carer, the other a survivor of abuse – now have a stable home and the 16-year-old can sit her GCSEs after we secured them temporary accommodation. And a resident made it to their grandfather’s bedside at the end of his life after we secured an Emergency Travel Document at short notice.
Community wins
Residents at Barclay Close and Jepson House can use their lifts again, with replacements on the way, after we challenged the council. Veterans and older residents near Stoll Mansions are getting a long-overdue rain shelter at their bus stop after we pressed TfL to act. Chelsea Reach houseboat residents kept their loading bay when I joined residents in pushing back on TfL, who had turned it into an e-scooter dock. And residents with sickle cell disease can keep using our local Sickle Cell Emergency Bypass Unit after I won extended government funding.
If I can help you, please get in touch at ben.coleman.mp@parliament.uk
I’ve spent the past year pressing TfL and Network Rail to improve the Wimbledon branch of the District line, which hit rock bottom during last year’s tennis tournament. This has helped secure £500,000 of new investment, as I heard on a visit to TfL’s Hammersmith control centre.
Reliability should improve as it becomes easier to spot and fix faults before they cause disruption – through upgraded track circuits, new relay data logging and point monitoring, and repairs to damaged track circuit monitoring.
I’ll keep the pressure on. Meanwhile, fingers crossed for this year’s tournament!
Last week I co-hosted a visit to Brussels for a group of parliamentary colleagues – meeting key people at the heart of our ever-stronger relationship, from the EU officials leading negotiations with the UK to the British Chamber of Commerce and MEPs.
Those in Brussels should be in no doubt about Labour’s patriotic determination to rebuild ties – and visits like this are part of how we demonstrate it.
That commitment is already bearing fruit. The government’s new European Partnership Bill, announced in the King’s Speech last month, will allow us to deliver a new food and drink agreement with the EU at pace.
This will remove the paperwork, checks and fees that have driven up prices for businesses and shoppers alike – including small businesses in Chelsea and Fulham hit hard by rising costs and red tape. I welcomed the Bill in Parliament here.
Beyond trade, the government has signed a landmark defence and security treaty with Poland to protect British borders, tackle organised crime and bolster collective defences. This follows similar agreements with France and Germany.
The British Council has also been appointed to oversee the UK’s return to Erasmus+ and reopen doors that Brexit closed. I’ll be meeting them to make sure the new opportunities are open to people from all backgrounds in Chelsea and Fulham.
I’m deeply concerned that, after years of neglect, nearly a million of our young people – one in eight – are not in education, employment or training.
Former minister Alan Milburn – who is looking into this for the government – talks of a “bedroom generation” of young people whose social development was disrupted by Covid, who are constantly on social media and who find it harder to engage with the world.
The government is acting. Its “New Deal” for young people is targeting 200,000 new jobs and apprenticeships. Among the measures, businesses can claim £3,000 to hire young people aged 18-24 on Universal Credit, and new apprenticeships are being created in AI, clean energy and construction.
Locally, Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s unique Pathway Bond is joining up schools with over 100 local businesses, giving young people insight into the world of work. And in Kensington & Chelsea, the government is funding a new youth hub to give those aged 16 to 24 workplace skills and experience.
Alan Milburn’s final report comes in the autumn – I’ll report back on what it means for our area.
One of the most rewarding parts of representing our community is meeting the wonderful people and organisations who back others every day – like the Kensington & Chelsea Foodbank, which not only provides food but offers help with employment, debt, housing and mental health. One resident I met there was so inspired by the support she received that she signed up to volunteer.
Please consider donating or volunteering here.
On a visit to Glass Door, based in Fulham, I heard how they are supporting record numbers of homeless people – including under-35s penalised by housing benefit rules, people leaving hospital with nowhere to go, and pregnant women not getting the priority housing they’re legally entitled to. Their winter night shelters in Chelsea and Fulham help hundreds – but the need doesn’t stop when the cold does.
Please consider donating to their summer appeal here.
At Stamford Bridge, I attended the Blue Creator Collective‘s showcase of their first young creators’ season. In just one year, this partnership between Chelsea FC Foundation and SW6 Studios has given over 80 young people – 70% of them young women and girls – real mentoring in music, film and content creation, including from star rapper AR Dee.
At Bishop’s Park, I joined a dementia-friendly tennis session run by the Queen’s Club Foundation with support from H&F Council, hearing from the players how these sessions improve their lives.
And happy news: a generous donation from Cadogan has given the Chelsea Big Local, which helps so many on the World’s End Estate, a vital lifeline. I’m most grateful.
To help secure their long-term future, please consider making a donation here.
I’ve been encouraged by the government’s recent approach to procurement, including the Chancellor’s call for departments to “Buy British” and use the power of public spending to back homegrown industries like AI, shipbuilding, steel and energy infrastructure.
One place I think we should be applying that thinking is the NHS’s Federated Data Platform – the new system designed to connect and simplify access to health information across different parts of the NHS.
This is exactly the kind of situation where a “sovereign AI” approach makes sense. Britain is building real expertise in health data and AI. Contracts like this should be supporting that – developing world-class British capability, protecting our data sovereignty and giving our companies the track record to compete globally.
That’s the case I put to the government this week in the Health Committee in Parliament, pressing ministers on the Palantir contract with the NHS, which ends next March – with the government needing to decide whether to extend it by this December. I’ll keep pressing on this as the deadline approaches.
I was honoured to attend, alongside H&F’s mayor Cllr Sharon Holder, the unveiling of a new memorial to Jeanne Deroin in Margravine Cemetery, Fulham. My thanks to The Friends of Margravine Cemetery for raising the funds – and to the French Embassy for their support, which I was glad to secure.
A feminist, republican and socialist, Jeanne made this part of London her home after fleeing France following the failed revolution of 1848. Throughout her life she fought for equal rights, dignity at work and social justice.
Her story is a reminder that the rights we take for granted were won by people prepared to struggle for them – and that the same courage and conviction are needed in today’s politics.
Congratulations to the unflappable Andy Mitchell, the man behind the Thames Tideway super sewer in Fulham, and to my predecessor Greg Hands for being awarded knighthoods in the King’s birthday honours – and to the highly effective Tim Orchard, chief executive of Charing Cross and other hospitals, for being awarded a CBE.
In Chelsea and Fulham
In Parliament
Following the King’s Speech last month setting out the government’s agenda, here’s some of what we’ll be working on in Westminster to improve lives in Chelsea and Fulham:
And we’ve taken further action recently to ease the cost of living and support British businesses:
For those looking to make a difference where they live, here are three local charities well worth your support.
No one in our borough should go hungry
I recently visited the Kensington & Chelsea Foodbank, which does far more than provide food — offering support with employment, debt, housing and mental health too. One resident I met was so inspired by the help she received that she signed up to volunteer. Please consider donating or volunteering:
Homelessness doesn’t stop when the cold does
On a visit to Glass Door in Fulham, I heard how they are supporting record numbers of homeless people across Chelsea and Fulham. Their summer appeal needs your support. Please consider donating:
Vital community lifeline needs your help
A generous donation has given the Chelsea Big Local – which supports so many residents on the World’s End Estate – a much-needed lifeline. But to secure their long-term future, they need our help too. Please consider making a donation:
