Last week was another week with a huge variety of different topics debated in Parliament. The Government introduced a series of major reforms designed to modernize public services, support local businesses, and protect homeowners. This covers everything from how our streets are policed to how young people find work and how medical students are trained.
On Monday, the Government announced the most significant police reforms in two centuries. The goal is to move away from the current patchwork of 43 local forces and create a more organized system, with a bigger focus on neighbourhood policing – a key manifesto pledge for us at the last election.
We will create a National Police Service – a new national force that will handle major issues like counterterrorism, fraud, and organized crime. This allows local forces to focus their valuable resources entirely on community policing.
We also reconfirmed our manifesto commitment to get more neighbourhood officers on the streets – 13,000 by the end of this Parliament. 2,400 have already been deployed to the streets.
We will also be cutting administration, with new technology that will be used to strip away paperwork, moving uniformed officers from behind desks and back into the community where they belong. Antisocial behaviour in our local neighbourhoods is a big issue for many of my constituents, so I’m pleased to see our commitment to tackle this continuing.
The Government is also investing £7 billion to create 14,000 new prison places by 2031. However, they are also changing how sentencing works. Based on a successful model from Texas, prisoners’ release will now depend more on their behaviour while inside. These reforms aim to reduce the prison population by 7,500 places by 2028 while simultaneously keeping the public safe.
A new Medical Training Bill will ensure that UK medical graduates are put at the front of the queue for training posts. Currently, these graduates – whose training costs taxpayers £4 billion a year – often move abroad because of training bottlenecks. The new law will make it easier for our local talent to stay in the NHS.
To tackle youth unemployment, a £1.5 billion package has been launched. This includes Youth Hubs, located in every area to provide earning or learning opportunities.
There is also our Guaranteed Work pledge. 18 to 21-year-olds who have been looking for work for 18 months will be guaranteed paid employment.
Small businesses are receiving a £4 billion support package to help with business rates. Notably, every pub in England will receive 15% off their rates bill starting in April 2026, with their bills frozen for the following two years.
The Government is also moving to end what they call the feudal leasehold system. Measure will include making commonhold default: The goal is to make commonhold the standard for new flats, giving residents more control over their buildings.
Additionally, under current rules everyone in a building must agree to switch from leasehold to commonhold. The new rules would lower this requirement to just 50% of residents making this switch far easier.
Lastly, ground rents will be capped at £250 per year, eventually dropping to almost nothing (a “peppercorn” rate) after 40 years. I’m delighted at these reforms on the leasehold system – it is a big issue for many of my constituents here in Stretford and Urmston.
The new Armed Forces Bill focuses on improving the lives of those who serve. This includes the largest pay increase in over 20 years and a £9 billion investment to fix substandard military housing. The Bill also strengthens protections against sexual misconduct and makes it easier to call up reservists if needed.
Finally, Parliament paused to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 with the theme “Bridging Generations”. This served as a reminder of the dangers of hatred and the importance of fighting modern antisemitism. There was a welcome emphasis on the fact that education and preserving survivor stories are vital to protecting our multi-faith democracy.
Those who follow me on Facebook will have seen my survey on fly tipping. This is clearly a huge issue, affecting many people’s quality of life and I am grateful to those who shared their views and experiences. I want to pay tribute to all those who work to keep their neighbourhoods a nice place to be. Whether that’s as a member of one of our valued Friends of Parks groups, or just a resident with pride in where you live, keeping an eye on litter and fly tipping in your own street, I am really grateful to you for your dedication to our communities.
I have reported obvious hotspots to the Council, various housing associations, the Highways Agency and Northern Rail, asking them to step up monitoring of these areas and I intend to keep up pressure on these agencies in the future.
Many of you said tougher enforcement is needed with higher fines to deter fly tippers. Last year, the Government launched a crackdown on cowboy waste operators, giving local authorities more powers to seize and crush vehicles belonging to fly tippers, with the costs being covered by fly tippers themselves not taxpayers.
The reforms gave Councils more power to revoke permits, issue enforcement notices and hefty fines, but public intelligence will always be invaluable for catching these people, so I urge you to report every incident you come across on the Council’s website at https://www.trafford.gov.uk/environment/street-cleaning-and-litter/fly-tipping.
I appreciate how much this matters to residents and I will continue to campaign to clear up our streets and green spaces.