5 May 2026
Dear resident
This Thursday, your vote is about who you’d like to run services in your neighbourhood and lead our local community – so here are a few personal reflections.
In Hammersmith and Fulham, the Labour council delivers England’s third lowest council tax and still does more than most. It’s the only council in England to offer free adult home care. It pioneered free breakfasts for primary school kids. Its parks have won a record 25 Green Flag awards. There’s a 72-strong Law Enforcement Team, more CCTV than anywhere else in Britain and a dedicated gangs unit. H&F is now London‘s fastest growing economy with more than 17,000 new jobs.
H&F Labour now plans to go further by building 10,000 new homes, rolling out AI-enabled CCTV to keep residents safe, investing in playgrounds and parks, improving our high streets and offering new career opportunities to all young people through the Pathway Bond programme.
The alternatives are uninspiring and inexperienced – and in the case of the Conservatives, we know exactly what they stand for. Residents haven’t forgotten that the last time they ran the Council, they wanted to demolish Charing Cross Hospital and sell off local estates. It was H&F Labour that stopped them.
I dread to think what the Conservatives would do if they were to return, this time in a coalition with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
In Kensington and Chelsea, where the Conservatives run things, it’s a different picture. On the Kings Road, we saved the Post Office – but now council rent increases are threatening long-standing independent businesses that are part of the fabric of our community.
Meanwhile, social housing residents are neglected and ignored. The World’s End Estate has lifts that constantly break down – a senior council officer publicly admitted this follows “years of underinvestment.” On the Cremorne Estate, residents can’t get straight answers about a new heating system being introduced over their heads, which will mean months of disruption and higher energy bills.
The council’s cyber security failures have left residents with wrong tax bills and delayed benefit payments. And during a cost-of-living squeeze, the council’s priority has been to remove council tax relief from the poorest families – despite real need.
On 7 May, in Hammersmith and Fulham, I’d vote for H&F Labour and their proven track record of delivering for residents. In Kensington and Chelsea, I’d vote for change and the hope that things can get better through our local Labour candidates.
See below for what I’m doing to protect children online, support renters, improve healthcare, back learners and keep our streets and our country safe. As always, if there’s anything I can do to help you, please get in touch.
Best wishes
Ben
Hundreds of parents, teachers and young people across Chelsea and Fulham have told me of their serious concerns about the impact of excessive screen time and social media on children’s wellbeing – anxiety, poor sleep and the pressures young people face online.
I’ve been raising these concerns in Parliament and in local schools and I’m glad the government has committed to stronger protections for children online. Now it’s consulting on getting this right.
To make sure Chelsea and Fulham voices are heard, I’m hosting a community discussion on Thursday 14 May, 6.00–7.30pm at the Sands End Arts and Community Centre.
The proposals on the table include raising the minimum age for social media to 16, banning addictive features like infinite scrolling, and introducing overnight curfews to help teenagers switch off and sleep. What we hear on the night will feed directly into the government’s consultation.
Everyone is welcome – parents, carers, young people and anyone with a stake in children’s wellbeing. I’d love to see you there.
Please join us and sign-up below:
A lot of people in Chelsea and Fulham have been in touch about the war in the Middle East. Most think the Prime Minister is right to keep the UK out of offensive military action, while our forces protect allies from attack and keep British nationals safe. I agree.
The conflict is hitting closer to home, too. The blocking of the Strait of Hormuz is pushing up energy prices just as the economy was beginning to improve. The government is doing what it can to shield households – freezing fuel duty, extending the windfall tax on oil and gas profits until 2030, and overhauling Ofgem with tough new powers to hold energy firms to account and ban bonuses for failing bosses.
But the deeper lesson is that Britain needs its own energy sovereignty – so we’re not at the mercy of volatile global fossil fuel markets. That’s why we’re investing in British renewable energy, upgrading the national grid and building Britain’s first small modular nuclear reactors.
The conflict also brings home how much more we need to do on defence. So I welcome new procurement reforms which put British firms, UK steel and British shipbuilding first – directly strengthening the industrial base our security depends on. I recently met the French Ambassador and colleagues to discuss closer UK-French and UK-EU cooperation, including jointly building and buying the equipment we need to face down threats from hostile states. These conversations matter more than ever.
Renting in Chelsea and Fulham can be expensive – and until this month, renters had far too little protection. That changed on 1 May, when the Renters’ Rights Act came into force. Here’s what it means in practice:
No more no-fault evictions. Your landlord can no longer ask you to leave without a valid reason.
Rent rises limited to once a year – and you can challenge unfair increases without fear of being pushed out.
Bidding wars are banned, ending the scramble that has made finding a home in London so stressful.
Upfront costs are capped at one month’s rent, making it easier for those without large savings.
Renters now have the right to request to keep a pet – and landlords can’t refuse without good reason.
Fixed-term tenancies become rolling – stay as long as you like, or move on with two months’ notice even if your contract is for longer.
For the 20,693 people renting privately in Chelsea and Fulham, these stronger rights and protections will mean less stress, more control and, for the first time for many, a real feeling of home. Already, one renter has told me his landlord got in touch unprompted to agree improvements they’d been asking for months.
I’ve been proud to back my constituent Louise Thompson, known to many from Made in Chelsea, who has spoken openly and courageously about her own birth trauma and turned it into a national campaign for better maternity care.
Her petition for a national Maternity Commissioner gathered enough signatures – including hundreds from Chelsea and Fulham – to trigger a full parliamentary debate, where I spoke in support. You can watch a clip here.
The government hasn’t yet agreed to appoint a Commissioner, but there are positive signs. Baroness Amos is leading an independent investigation into maternity care failures, reporting in June. The Health Secretary Wes Streeting is personally chairing a new taskforce ready to act on her findings.
Closer to home, Charing Cross Hospital is getting new government funding to expand its Same Day Emergency Care Centre, finishing by December. More A&E space, more treatment chairs and trolleys, a larger waiting area, improved accessibility and extra staff — meaning more people seen, treated and home the same day. All part of ending the disgrace of corridor care.
The government’s new Women’s Health Strategy aims to ensure all women are listened to and taken seriously. Too many have faced years of being passed between appointments, long waits for diagnoses like endometriosis or fibroids, or inadequate pain relief.
The focus is on cutting gynaecology waiting lists, getting women to the right specialist first time, and ensuring proper pain relief as standard. On maternity care, it sets out some immediate steps but more will follow after Baroness Amos reports. You can read more here.
One of the strangest cases I’ve dealt with as your MP concerns a former Conservative councillor ordered by a court back in 2017 to sort out his derelict Chelsea property. Nine years later, Kensington and Chelsea Council has still let him get away with it – and residents and I have had to fight every step of the way to force any action at all.
Under pressure, the council finally brought the matter to its Planning Committee last month, which I attended alongside neighbours. They described sixteen years of misery: knotweed, rats, foxes, mosquito swarms, damp – even a decaying corpse in the basement.
The committee told officers to issue a new enforcement notice. Residents are understandably sceptical, given the council’s track record. So am I but I’ll keep backing them. Full story in MyLondon here.
Children with special educational needs and disabilities in Chelsea and Fulham are getting new backing. The government is giving our local councils £1.9 million to launch an “experts at hand” programme, bringing educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists directly into local schools. Too many families have had to battle for support – getting help in early could change that.
Morley College is also receiving over £1 million in new government funding to repair and maintain its buildings, including its Chelsea Centre for Creative Industries – a valued local hub for arts, design and creative skills.
Many of you know my passion for raising the quality of what’s in our food so it’s good to see school food standards finally being updated. New proposals include less sugar, no deep-fried food and more fruit, vegetables and wholegrains on menus. I’d encourage local parents, carers, schools and students to have their say before the consultation closes on 12 June. You can respond here.
My office has had a makeover, thanks to pupils at our wonderful local primary schools, who responded to my call to help jolly it up by sending me dozens of brilliant, creative paintings of their favourite places in Chelsea and Fulham.
I posted these online over the Easter holidays – you can see them here.
I am deeply sorry to hear that former Councillor Andrew Brown has died at the age of just 43.
Andrew was the respected leader of the Conservative opposition on Hammersmith & Fulham council until 2021. He combined a gentlemanly kindness and decency with a tenacity and passion for the things that mattered most to him.
My condolences go to his wife, children and all who knew him.
In Chelsea and Fulham
In Parliament
I was a bit surprised to see a Green Party leader claim this weekend that we ditched our manifesto pledges before we even took office. As we reach the end of our first Parliamentary session, here’s what we’ve actually delivered for people in Chelsea and Fulham. Judge for yourself.
Manifesto promises kept
Beyond the manifesto
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People often tell me they’d like to give something back to their community but aren’t sure where to start. Here are three causes well worth supporting.
No one should have to go hungry
I recently visited the H&F Foodbank, which is now feeding 2,500 people a month. They need more donations and volunteers. Please consider supporting them below:
Keep our community heart beating
Chelsea Big Local on the World’s End Estate has spent 11 years supporting everyone from children to a 98-year-old with art, health, befriending, boxing and much more. Now it faces closure. Please help keep this community lifeline going:
Justice shouldn’t depend on what you can afford
I’m a trustee of Hammersmith & Fulham Law Centre – one of our area’s unsung heroes. For over 40 years, they have given free legal advice to local people who couldn’t otherwise afford it, on everything from housing and employment to immigration and family issues. They’re taking part in the London Legal Walk this June to raise funds. Please consider supporting them below:
