Getting results
7 May 2025
Dear resident
A big thank you to everyone who has got in touch recently to share views or ask for my help. I was elected to support you and our whole community.
Housing and cost-of-living problems continue to dominate my inbox and surgeries, and I know how tough life is for many. Since becoming your MP, I’m pleased to have been able to help more than 2,400 people with the challenges they’re facing.
Working with residents, I’m getting results, saving the King Road Post Office and clearing the first hurdle in winning step-free access for Putney Bridge station.
I’m helping to give local people a new voice, whether it’s getting social housing providers to listen to their residents on the Peabody, Guinness and World’s End estates, or getting TfL to listen to residents in addressing the traffic by Cheyne Walk.
And I’m trying to help keep our neighbourhoods pleasant places to live. While a better night-time economy around North End Road in Fulham would be welcome, the McDonald’s application for 24-hour opening isn’t the answer. I’ve submitted an objection to the council’s licensing department and have encouraged concerned residents to do the same.
Nationally, step by step, the new government is trying to change things for the better. Waiting lists are going down, and we’re building more affordable homes and recruiting more police, all with funding from the last Budget – but there’s a long way to go to put right the damage.
We hugely need growth to rebuild our public services. For me, the swiftest route is to slash barriers to trade with the EU, the vast market on our doorstep. I’m urging the government to be ambitious at the UK-EU summit on 19 May.
This week, we’re celebrating the 80th anniversary of VE Day and I look forward to visiting parties on streets and estates across the constituency.
It is a huge privilege to be your MP. Please do get in touch if I can help in any way.
Best wishes
Ben
Campaigning for a step-free Putney Bridge Station
I’m campaigning alongside residents for step-free access at Putney Bridge station – the least accessible station in Chelsea & Fulham for people with buggies and older and Disabled people.
One group I’m working with is the Fulham FC Disabled Supporters Association (see photo), who are concerned that fans have to be funnelled down often-slippery outside staircases on matchdays, and have collected 1,600 signatures on their petition for step-free access.
I met Transport for London at the station in November to press for change, and followed up with meetings with the Transport Commissioner and the Deputy Mayor for Transport. I also wrote to the Deputy Mayor in April to urge progress.
The good news is we’ve just cleared the first hurdle – but there is much more to do.
TfL last week put Putney Bridge on a long list of 30 stations to be considered for a feasibility study to make it step free. Around 15 of these stations will proceed to a full feasibility study, starting later this year. We need to ensure Putney Bridge is one of the 15.
Please help me keep up the pressure to make Putney Bridge fully step-free and accessible by signing my petition below.
Looking forward to the King’s Road Post Office
Now that we’ve saved the Post Office branch in the King’s Road, Post Office managers have confirmed to me they will consult on the new franchise offer (services, customer access, etc.) in the second half of May.
I’ll let you know when the consultation launches so you can give your views.
Urging greater EU ambition in the British interest
From numerous emails and conversations, I know how much constituents want our country to improve its relationship with the EU. The previous government’s Brexit deal has weakened Britain, as have recent US developments.
In my maiden speech as a new MP, I welcomed the Labour government’s resetting of our European relationships. I’m now looking forward to it holding ambitious, determined and cool-headed negotiations at the UK-EU summit on 19 May to reduce barriers with the EU.
I’ve pressed for this in recent weeks in a debate in Parliament, in a letter to the government with 70 Labour parliamentarians and at the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly in Brussels.
It is clearly in the British interest to do away with the new customs and standards red tape hampering our trade with the EU. There is no swifter way open to us to grow our economy, protect jobs, fund public services and reduce prices.
Our young people, who Brexit deprived of opportunity, need a youth visa scheme that gives them new possibilities to build links with other European countries. That’s also in the British interest.
In the face of the growing Russian threat and of US demands that our continent spend far more on its own defence, Britain and the EU must deepen their defence collaboration. This will boost our industries and jobs.
As in all negotiations, there will need to be give and take, but it’s in everyone’s interest that the UK plays an integral part of the defence of our shared continent. Getting a UK-EU-wide security agreement should not be distracted by unrelated issues such as fishing rights.
As our government shows more ambition in rebuilding trust with the EU, I hope the EU will respond by showing more flexibility, supporting all our economies to grow together and strengthening our shared ability to defend our values and way of life.
Funding free breakfast for primary pupils in Chelsea
Free primary school breakfasts ensure that children start the day ready to learn and help families save on childcare costs. In Fulham, the Labour council has long offered all primary pupils free breakfasts but this is not the case in Chelsea, which has a Conservative council.
So I was delighted to visit Ashburnham Primary School in Chelsea on the first day the government made its breakfast club and “rise and shine” activity free for all children there. Ashburnham is one of 750 “early adopter” breakfast clubs feeding 180,000 children across the country, using funds raised by the last Budget.
Working for a healthier country
As your MP and a member of the Health and Social Care Committee, I’m fighting for better services locally and nationally. We’ve just issued a report on the cost of not reforming adult social care. I hope this will help the new Commission led by Louise Casey tasked with planning a national care service.
Locally, I’m delighted Charing Cross Hospital is now working on a full refurbishment of its ground and first floor. This will include making the front entrance more accessible, improving the toilets, a better food and retail offer, and improving signage, the reception and the patient advice and liaison service (PALS).
My Conservative predecessor repeatedly lied about having won the funding to rebuild Charing Cross. Unfortunately, the Tories are still at it – so along with Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith and Chiswick, I set the record straight in Parliament.
We have other wonderful health bodies locally. I learned about the life-saving work done by the Institute of Cancer Research on a memorable tour of their cutting-edge electron microscopes and cell culture labs in Chelsea.
I was honoured to receive a Parliamentary Champion award from the Londonwide Local Medical Committees of GPs after pressing North-West London health bosses not to impose a top-down system to improve GP appointments.
The fast-growing dangers of online gambling were brought home to me recently by a constituent whose son tragically took his own life after being bombarded with online advertising. Gambling addiction needs to be seen as a major health issue alongside drugs and alcohol, with risk-based regulation and advertising restrictions. The Health and Social Care Committee will be issuing a tough new report shortly and I’ll keep pressing for action.
The amount of sugar, salt and fat in lots of foodstuffs is damaging. So I’m pleased the government is consulting on extending the sugar tax to more products to make us healthier. As I said in Parliament recently, let’s use the tax to make healthy food far more affordable and available.
By the way, why not sign up, as I have, to the new NHS App? You can manage appointments, view prescriptions, access your health record and get notifications. The app has already saved 1.5 million appointments from being missed, which cuts waiting times.
What else I’ve been doing as your MP
- Got lighting fixed in Normand Park, following a night-time walkabout with police and residents.
- Won commitments to residents from Guinness’s top team to improve the Draycott Avenue Estate at a meeting I convened.
- Achieved a promise from RMG to explain their costs and engage properly with residents when I met them with other MPs as part of our managing agents campaign.
- Welcomed the government giving the police new powers to seize nuisance off-road bikes and e-scooters on the spot.
- Marked the 22nd anniversary of Labour’s introduction of statutory paternity leave at the wonderful Dad’s House in Fulham, who support single fathers, their children and families.
- Applauded four Chelsea and Fulham primary schools as they sang along to Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House after weeks of rehearsal.
- Opened a new Fulham riverside public space to mark the completion of the Tideway super sewer.
- Enjoyed talented young autistic artist Orlando Richardson‘s humorous, visually appealing exhibition at the Sands End Arts and Community Centre.
- Took a stroll with CEO Alistair Mackintosh around Fulham FC’s Riverside Stand, with its eye-opening medley of places to eat, drink and gather, and great views.
- Backed fundraising by Friends of Margravine Cemetery for a memorial to Jeanne Deroin, pioneering French feminist, author, teacher and suffragist. You can donate here.
- Urged the government to support UK firms who supply components to EU companies affected by the new US-EU tariff.
- Heard French businesses’ keenness for closer UK-EU engagement at a French Chamber of Great Britain event in Parliament.
- Hosted charity Sibs UK in Parliament for National Siblings Day, supporting the brothers and sisters of disabled children and adults.
- Pressed for appropriate, tailored support for people with Down Syndrome, as promised in the Down Syndrome Act.
- Advocated for the roll out of a British Sign Language GCSE to increase awareness and opportunities for the deaf community.
Making the country better bit by bit
To support our armed forces, we’re getting 36,000 military homes fit for heroes by bringing them back into public ownership, and a new “Valour” scheme will support veterans better across the UK.
To boost our NHS, we’ve delivered 3 million more NHS appointments and cut waiting lists six months in a row. We’ve also recruited more than 1,500 GPs since last October and will be updating 1,000 surgeries to speed up appointments. All with funding from the last Budget.
To build more homes, we’ve put a further £2 billion into the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.
To make our streets safer, we’re investing £200 million to recruit 3,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs over the next year, as part of putting 13,000 bobbies back on the beat. Police officers who fail a vetting check will face automatic dismissal.
To strengthen our borders, foreign sex offenders will be denied refugee status.
To save parents money, we’re limiting the number of branded school uniform items that schools can require to three, excluding ties. This should save the parents of over four million children more than £70 million.
To keep personal health costs down, we’ve frozen prescription charges for the first time in three years, saving patients around £18 million next year.
To help low-paid workers, we’ve increased the National Living Wage to £12.21 from the age of 21.
To help in old age, we’ve increased the state pension by £470, helping more than 13,000 pensioners in Chelsea and Fulham.
To get cheaper, greener energy, we’ve put £300 million into GB Energy to jumpstart clean energy supply chains, create 10,000 new jobs and boost UK offshore wind.
To protect industry, we’ve secured British steelmaking and the raw materials to save British Steel.
To clean up our water, water bosses who cover up illegal sewage spills now face up to two years in prison – the toughest measures ever.
To crackdown on fly-tipping, we’ll make it easier for councils to seize and crush vehicles, paid for by the fly-tippers themselves, who will also face five-year sentences.
To help make Putney Bridge station fully step-free and accessible to everyone, please sign my petition below.
