MP's Update - August 2026

12 minutes ago
8 min read

Andy Burnham, our new Prime Minister, has hit the ground running making a stack of new announcements which have brought a bounce and hope back to politics for many.

· Committing to end rough sleeping – because everyone should have a safe home

· Building many more council homes to help address the housing crisis, provide affordable rents, support local jobs, and create long-term assets for councils.

· A cap on bus fares outside London at £2, cutting fares further for young people to make getting to study and work easier,

· Removing VAT from electricity bills,

· Ending rip-off discounts and subscription traps

· 20% business rate cut for pubs and live music

Providing new Mental health emergency units including one locally at Lakeside Mental Health service (in the grounds of West Mid)

I met Andy soon after his decisive win in the Makerfield by-election. We discussed the importance of investment in transport and in getting young people into meaningful training and work – two of my passions. Clearly his experience in Greater Manchester has helped shape his vision on each. There is also no doubt that his policies on housing, transport, devolution and energy will improve people's lives here in the B&I constituency, and across the UK.

Runway 3 at Heathrow: The Department of Transport’s consultation on Heathrow Expansion closes on Sept 1st. The westerly approach to a third runway would go over the north parts of Cranford and Heston, Osterley House, Central/North Brentford and the north side of Chiswick; the proposal will generate large amounts of traffic on our roads and create some more jobs, especially during construction. To have your say go to the Department for Transport Consultation page.

The Transport Committee evidence sessions into the Draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS) start on September 1st then we will continue twice a week until the conference recess, and again from the beginning of October. (The committee page on these will be updated regularly.)

MY WESTMINSTER NEWS

Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, briefed me on the excellent package of Government measures to break down barriers for young people getting into technical education, training, and apprenticeships. It’s excellent to hear since he became PM, that Andy Burnham is committed to these initiatives, and more, to support young people. They include more FE college places, funding for young people who take up apprenticeships, support for small businesses that hire apprentices and most important of all, in my opinion; raising the status of technical education so it is valued every bit as highly as the academic route.

Five years after the return of the Taliban to power, women in Afghanistan live under the most restrictive state-implemented restrictions in the world. Unable to leave their home without a male relative, work, study, travel, participate in public activity or even take their children to the park, it is important that we continue to highlight their situation. So I was glad to join MPs in welcoming the Afghanistan women’s football team to Parliament as part of their international tour of matches and meetings. I am also really pleased that FIFA agreed to allow the team to play in international matches, without the normally required approval of their Government.

Dangerous Fake eBikes: I was on the panel of the APPG Cycling & Walking Group’s that published “Unregulated and Unsafe” last year. We looked at fake and illegal e-bikes and found a strong link between them and the gig economy delivery sector. This is aided by the loophole in employment law that gives riders registered with a delivery company the ‘right of substitution’ which allows them to pass work to another (unregistered) person, thus creating a significant gap in accountability. I have written to new Road Safety Minister Justin Madders asking the Government to consider closing the loophole as part of its Road Safety Strategy.

IN THE CHAMBER

The delays in the Civil Service Pension Scheme have had a huge impact on many of my constituents, brought about by the previous Government awarding CAPITA the contract to administer the scheme - despite clear warnings about the risk.

In the Chamber, I urged the Government to look at the failures that outsourcing can bring- whether that's in local councils, agencies or Government departments. I was pleased that Minister Nick Thomas Symonds confirmed the Government had introduced a new public interest test to end outsourcing by default.

EES - Those travelling to and from Europe this summer shouldn't suffer because of delays and problems with the new European Entry and Exit System. In the Chamber I asked the Government what representations they were making to European Member states to ensure passengers do not suffer from this new system, particularly Brits departing for home from European airports – after so many have been queuing for hours and even missing their flights. I was assured that the Government are engaging with all EU countries on this issue.

Over the years I have met women locally who have been victims of abuse, too frightened to report what’s happened to them because their abuser (often a partner or former partner) threatened to weaponise their immigration status. A form of blackmail this has a massive impact on those here in the UK on spousal or 5-year skilled worker visas. In response to my question to her I was pleased that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that no woman should be afraid of coming forward to report domestic abuse, regardless of their immigration status or, indeed, any other status here.

MY CONSTITUENCY NEWS

The ongoing A4/ Ealing Road Roundabout/Traffic Lights saga: I have again written to Transport for London to ask what steps can be taken to resolve the congestion and delays that have been caused since changes were made to the lights a few years ago after work by National Highways was completed several years ago. TFL said then that the previously used 2-phase sequence at the lights was not in line with the national guidelines and changed it, despite there being very few collisions on the junction. Ever since, the new phasing has caused significant jams on all approaches to the junction; delaying vehicles, including the 65 and H91 buses, and spewing pollution into local homes. This is an issue that Hounslow Council and the ward councillors in both Brentford Wards have been trying to resolve for and I hope to soon have an update from TFL.

Paul Monaghan, the architect of the first phase of the Brentford Project (the developments along the south side of Brentford High Street), along with Ballymore’s Roger Black, showed me round the site. We visited two new residents in their flats, one who had moved from Chiswick and the other from further afield. Both said how much they valued living in Brentford with its vibrant and varied community and creative activities. Paul’s firm, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, has won a significant architecture award from RIBA for the scheme.

Brentford East Councillor Max Mosley met me to talk about our ongoing work to support residents across the GWQ estate in Brentford. For more than 6 months they have been facing issues with their hot water and heating. Max, Cllr Marcela Benedetti and I have been working with the estate’s agents as well as the two housing associations to try to resolve the problems.

Newmont Engineering in Isleworth is a small specialist firm making precisely engineered gears and splines for aerospace, defence, medical and metrology applications, including to the UK space programme. I was delighted to meet several of their staff of 25, some of whom are local residents who have worked there for decades. As they use high-grade specialist steel and alloys not produced in the UK, MD Roger Wingrove raised with me their concerns about the UK steel import tariffs, as well as the rise in business rates and rent for their factory. I agreed to write to the Government about these issues.

Regarding long-service, it was good to hear from Ormston Wire’s MD Mark Ormston. The company was founded in 1793 and is now based in Isleworth. Four of his staff have between them contributed more than 200 years of service to the company. Mark has thanked them for their continued dedication and contribution to the company’s ongoing success.

[l to r: Amalio, 60 years of service, Alan 35, Chitra 42 and Mickey 63]

One of the sites in Transport Avenue in Brentford is operated by Suez on behalf of West London Waste – to where household waste from Hounslow and Richmond Boroughs is brought, compacted and loaded onto train wagons that leave 6 days a week for a waste-to-energy plant near Bristol. Our brown bin/bag waste from our gardens is also brought here before going to a composting facility where it becomes useable fertilizer. And finally, scrapped items are delivered here before going on to be taken apart so all the useable components can be retrieved. It was helpful to see the different stages of the waste management process and speak to staff working on the site. I will be writing to the Government to follow up on some issues that were raised with me around the circular economy and the costs facing local authorities in disposing of our waste.

Summer is the time for people to come together to celebrate and have fun, and it’s been such a pleasure to spend much of my July and August weekends attending local fun days and large festivals organised by and for our many and varied communities. These included; the Clayponds Community Funday, Brentford Lock West’s barbecue, the Armenian Summer Festival, the UK Goan Association festival and the London Tent-pegging tournament. The last was incredibly exciting, with skilled riders galloping at full speed trying to spear and pick up a wooden “peg” that’s about 8 inches long. The sport is big in Pakistan, and whilst there have been tournaments in northern England for some years, the organisers told me this was the first tent-pegging tournament ever held in London.

I am so pleased that at July’s Council meeting, Hounslow’s Councillors agreed to join Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, that aims to give under-fives in the borough free books every month, as well as to increase library hours across all of Hounslow’s libraries.

Bridgelink Community Centre in Isleworth hosts a range of activities for local children over the school holidays. I met the children as they made their very own podcasts about subjects that mattered to them. They were using iPads donated by Sky and were being trained/supported at the workshop by Jabez from Vodafone’s ThreeDiscovery, which helps different communities learn how to access digital tools that more and more of us now take for granted.

Brentford Family Practice’s Patient Participation Group along with their lead GP, Dr Manal Karrar (centre, next to me) and her team showed me around Brentford Health Centre. They briefed me about the critical shortage of space they have in the centre. Despite the patient list doubling in recent years, and space being provided in new housing developments, the NHS seems incapable of delivering more space or even opening under-used space in the existing Centre. I have agreed to write to the NHS Property Services and our West/Central London ICB about this concerning issue.

Cllr Pamila Rodrigues and I had a walkabout in Hounslow Town Centre with the Police’s Town Centre team, a resource that we successfully lobbied the Met police for some years ago. It's important that shoppers and shopworkers on the High Street feel safe and that businesses have the support they need from the police. So, I was pleased to learn that the warning and serving of Criminal Behaviour Orders on persistent offenders is starting to reduce the extent of both criminal and anti-social behaviour on the High Street and on the piazza at Bell Corner.

I joined Osterley & Spring Grove ward Councillors Chaudri, Gill and Louki on their ward walkabout. All Councillors carry these out with Council officers from different departments joining them so improvements repairs and other issues that local residents have raised with us can discuss and draw up an action list.

It was good to catch up with Hounslow’s hero, Olympian Mo Farah, at an event in Parliament. He told me he really is keen to visit some of our local schools, including his alma mater, Isleworth & Syon school, so I am committing to arrange this.