7 July 2025
Dear resident
The best part of being your MP is connecting with local people. So I’m grateful to everyone who takes the trouble to share their views with me at the many local events and meetings I go to, as well as by email.
A particular pleasure is visiting primary schools and welcoming pupils to Parliament. Some ask: “Have you made any new friends?” More want to know: “What do you do?”
I see one of my main roles as being the squeaky wheel that gets the grease for my constituents – and I’m glad to have achieved results for the more than 2,500 people who have emailed me or attended my surgeries in the past 12 months.
Then there’s championing resident campaigns – saving the King’s Road Post Office, making Putney Bridge station step-free, supporting Chelsea Reach houseboat owners against their predatory landlord, stopping the North End Road McDonald’s from opening to 3am, and improving road safety in Chelsea.
Looking ahead, I’ll be deepening my work to get a better deal for residents on private developments and social housing estates from their managing agents or landlords.
In Parliament, I’ll continue to focus on issues affecting daily life – tackling the cost of living and the housing crisis, getting our NHS back on its feet, supporting Disabled children and adults, making healthy food cheaper, cleaning up our rivers, improving our environment and more.
I’ll also be holding the government’s feet to the fire as a member of the Health and Social Care Committee, and supporting British business with new trade and investment opportunities as the Trade Envoy to Morocco and Francophone West Africa.
Moving from opposition to government has been quite an experience for me and my party. We know no-one expects us overnight to sort out the mess we inherited.
But people need to see progress and feel hope. So I’m pleased the building blocks for a brighter future are falling into place.
NHS waiting lists are down, and Charing Cross Hospital has more funding and a date, albeit delayed, for full modernisation. As time goes on, the investments we’re making now will mean more affordable homes and cheaper, greener energy.
And in the face of international challenges, including from the US, the Prime Minister is strengthening our defences; winning trade deals with the US, EU and India; and rebuilding European alliances.
As I know so many of you want, I’ll be pressing for an even more ambitious trading relationship with the EU to reduce prices and boost business after the damage of Brexit – and to enable young British and EU citizens to work in each other’s countries.
We must have the courage to do what is needed to rebuild our great country and create hope for the future.
Best wishes
Ben
In the last few weeks, Parliament has voted on welfare reform, assisted dying and abortion. These are huge issues and my inbox has understandably been bulging with encouragement to vote one way or another.
Welfare reform
I welcome the government’s ambition to reform the social security system, support people into work and protect those who cannot work. As someone who seeks to be an ally to Disabled people, and following conversations with Disabled people locally, I was not convinced, however, that the Welfare Reform Bill presented to MPs for a “second reading” vote on 1 July would achieve this.
I worked with a large number of MPs to improve the Bill. This led to the government committing among other things not to change the Personal Independence Payments (PIP) system until after a review of PIP had been carried out in co-production with Disabled people – a much-needed development. On that basis, I voted for the Bill.
The amended Bill will be tabled for “third reading” on 8 July and, as matters stand, I intend to support it. I set out my thinking and actions in more detail here.
Assisted dying
On 20 June, MPs voted by a majority of 23 to pass the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at “third reading”. The House of Lords will now consider it.
After considerable deliberation, I felt that my concerns about protecting Disabled people from coercion had not sufficiently been addressed by amendments to the Bill. I therefore voted against it. You can read my detailed thinking here.
Abortion
On 17 June, MPs passed an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill so that women can’t be investigated, arrested or jailed for terminating their own pregnancies or for miscarrying. I voted in favour. The Bill has now gone to the Lords.
This decriminalisation doesn’t replace existing abortion laws, and medical professionals can still be prosecuted for abortions outside of the 24-week limit. But it should ensure that women across the country can access safe healthcare and decide about their own bodies and futures without fear.
I set out my reasons in more detail here.
We’ve had some good news on our campaign to make Putney Bridge Underground Station step-free and accessible to all.
TfL has listened to the hundreds of people who have signed my petition and has put the station on a longlist for a feasibility study for the work needed.
Now it’s time to get Putney Bridge onto the shortlist. Please can you sign my petition below and get others to do so, too?
I’m delighted that Chelsea and Fulham will benefit from millions in new investment announced at the Spending Review, including for health and education.
New funding already means that four local GP practices are creating more clinical space by digitising paper records, and three local schools’ buildings are being upgraded to help children’s learning.
Charing Cross Hospital is also getting a funding boost to upgrade its vital infrastructure, including new MRI scanners, modernised operating theatres, better energy security and a refurbishment of its ground and first floors. See my comments in Parliament here.
After so many years of NHS decline, the government’s 10-year rescue plan for the NHS is good news.
I look forward to putting meat on the bones of the idea of a “Neighbourhood Health Service”, so that people can get care as locally as possible, including at home, rather than having to go to hospital.
We need to get Chelsea and Fulham’s hospitals, GPs, pharmacists, mental health teams, district nurses, social workers, etc. all working together in a new way to do this.
It’s also positive that, with anxiety and depression on the rise, the government plans to create 85 new, 24/7 walk-in mental health emergency departments, and to enable people to self-refer for talking therapies rather than have to go through a GP.
We’ll be quizzing the government about the details of the new plans at the Health and Social Care Committee. As Vice-Chair of the Black Health All-Party Parliamentary Group, I’ll also keep fighting health inequalities, including the scandal of Black women being three times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth.
Thank you again to all the residents who signed my petition and saved the King’s Road post office.
I’ve recently caught up with Post Office bosses to hear the latest on their consultation plans for the site, including what services will be provided. I’ve been reassured that they’ll be consulting soon, and I’ll share the details with you when this goes live.
We need to keep the pressure on to ensure the King’s Road gets a full-service branch at or as close to the current site as possible, so please keep signing the petition below.
In my last newsletter I looked forward to a better deal with the EU. Now the government’s ambitious and pragmatic approach has achieved this.
Speaking at the Königswinter conference of British and German politicians, diplomats, academics and business people just after the UK-EU deal was signed in May, I noted the benefits for both parties.
At home, we have the prospect of lower food and household energy prices and more business activity and jobs by making it easier and cheaper to trade energy and goods.
On defence, closer UK-EU cooperation will keep us safer in an increasingly uncertain world.
And our young people will benefit from a youth experience scheme to travel, learn and succeed.
The government is also pursing bilateral deals to strengthen the UK. President Macron is in London this week to discuss migration, growth, defence and security.
And the UK and Germany are working on a wide-ranging bilateral treaty that will include defence, as well as illegal migration, transportation, and research and innovation.
I’m determined that residents – whether private leaseholders or social housing tenants – should be heard in making their estates safer and more pleasant to live in.
Challenging managing agents
On private estates, residents consistently complain to me that their managing agents are increasing service charges without transparency while standards fall. I’ve been working with a group of Labour MPs to address this.
The bosses of agents FirstPort, RMG and Rendall & Rittner have attended our Parliamentary hearings and promised to improve.
Now the government has agreed to consult on making management fees transparent, challenging fixed service charges and forcing property managers to qualify as professionals for the first time.
The consultation is here. If you’ve had poor experience with your managing agent, please help to improve things by responding.
Please also drop me a line if I can help you and your neighbours directly with your own managing agents.
Also for leaseholders, the government will publish a draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill later this year to reinvigorate the commonhold system and make a range of other reforms.
A fair hearing for social housing
In social housing across Chelsea and Fulham I’ve been hosting estate-wide meetings between residents and their landlords – and we’re making progress.
Discussions with the chief executives of Peabody and Guiness are already leading to improvements at their Lillie Road and Draycott Avenue estates respectively.
Meetings which I’ve chaired between residents from the World’s End and Cremorne estates with senior Kensington & Chelsea Council officers have led to progress on anti-social behaviour, repairs and works issues, although there is more to do.
I want to ensure that all social housing residents are listened to to make their estates better. If you think this would help on your estate, please get in touch.
I was honoured to stand alongside the many Fulham residents who mobilised successfully against the application from McDonald’s in the North End Road to extend its opening hours into the early morning.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s Licensing Committee rightly listened to the community’s valid concerns about anti-social behaviour, litter and crime, and rejected the application.
McDonald’s originally stated they would respect council’s decision, but now I gather they intend to appeal. This is disappointing and I will continue support residents to get the right outcome.
In Parliament
… allocated a record £39bn to build 300,000 new affordable homes, at least 60% for social rent.
… ended “no-fault” evictions for renters, stopped punitive rent-review clauses in contracts and extended protections against damp and mould
… expanded funded childcare, with 4,000 school-based nursery places from September, worth up to £7,500 a year
… extended free school meals to up to 2,900 children in Chelsea and Fulham whose parents are on Universal Credit
… launched new industrial and trade strategies, which will help SMEs win work from local councils, crack down on late payments and expand export finance
… committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% by 2027 and to giving our armed forces the modern equipment and tech they need.
… fined Thames Water £123m over sewage spills and shareholder payouts – to be paid by the company, not customers
… expanded the Warm Homes discount to people on means-tested benefits, saving households up to £150 per year
… put £9m towards sickle cell replacement therapy.
Promoted by Nikos Souslous on behalf of Ben Coleman, both at 28 Greyhound Road, London, W6 8NX
