Richmond Park News: 11 July 2025

The age group that I hear from by far the least are those aged between 16-25 years old. My role is to represent all of my constituents, so it is important to me to understand what local or national areas young people in Richmond Park care about the most.

If you fall within this age category, I’d really like to hear from you. Please contact me with the RE line ‘16-25 email,’ and tell me about the issues that matter to you. 

CALL FOR DONATIONS TO RICHMOND FOODBANK SERVICES:

Richmond Foodbank services contacted my office this week to report that they are running seriously low on a number of items which are critical to enabling the charity to provide food for those who would otherwise go hungry. 

If you are able to make a donation to your local foodbank, you can do so by visiting the centre in-person or by making a donation online. You can find out more about where your closest foodbank centre is and how to make a donation by clicking here.

WESTMINSTER HALL DEBATE ON LONDON’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATIONAL ECONOMY:

London is an economic hub which generates revenue for the entire country as the capital’s contributions make-up nearly 25% of the UK’s GDP. However, London also has the highest rate of child poverty in the country and the highest cost of living, meaning that it is also vital that the capital is not overlooked for investment and funding from the government.

Over the past year, the Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, has been pleading with the government and the Mayor of London to provide his force with additional funding. The Met are currently faced with a funding shortfall of £260million, which will mean that Scotland Yard will have to cut 1,700 officers, staff and PCSOs to balance their budget. These cuts raise even more questions about the safety of London, and I also raised my severe concerns about the impact that the disbandment of the Royal Parks Police will have on Richmond Park.

Our constituency used to be home to 3 police stations, but we no longer have a single one in Richmond Park, while Barnes is 1 of 72 wards in London which is over a 13-minute drive from its nearest station. The cuts over the past decade have certainly been felt in Richmond Park and in London, and I urged the government to listen to Sir Mark Rowley’s calls and to provide the necessary funding to prevent even further cuts.

Perhaps the most obvious sign of the need for further investment in London and its infrastructure is the continued closure of Hammersmith Bridge. The bridge’s closure is more than just an inconvenience, as it is extremely impactful on disabled and elderly local residents who can no longer catch a bus into Hammersmith, and the failure to reopen the bridge has become emblematic of successive governments being unable to fix long-standing problems.

The government remains unclear as to whether the £1bn structure fund will be allocated towards Hammersmith Bridge’s repairs, and in the debate, I urged the government to not miss this opportunity to finally fix the bridge.

You can watch a clip of my speech by clicking here.

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS AND TRADE STATEMENT RESPONSE:

The Horizon Scandal resulted in mass injustices for sub-postmasters, as 900 were unfairly prosecuted after being accused of stealing from the Post Office, and even more had their reputations tarnished and faced extreme financial difficulties. While last year's ITV Drama raised awareness of this scandal, sub-postmasters have been fighting for justice for a number of years, and Sir Wyn Williams’ recent report on the matter highlighted that there was a ‘real possibility’ that 13 sub-postmasters committed suicide as a direct result of the accusations.

Following the release of the first volume of Sir Wyn Williams’ report, the government made a statement to the Commons to recognise the findings, and I responded to the statement in my capacity as the Liberal Democrats Spokesperson for Business. 

During my remarks I highlighted the appalling treatment that sub-postmasters had suffered and the subsequent impact on them and their families. It is shocking that victims of this scandal have had to wait this long for their rightful compensation and I welcomed the government's commitment to full compensation to the victims. Although a timeline for compensation was not presented. I therefore asked the minister to explain when victims and families could expect compensation.

I also asked the minister when the government will introduce legislation for a full duty of candour, as sub-postmasters and the victims of so many other scandals and disasters have called for this.

You can watch my full contribution here. 

CABINET OFFICE STATEMENT RESPONSE:

The government made a further statement on Tuesday, regarding the UK Government’s Resilience Action Plan, which I responded to as Cabinet Office Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats.

This Resilience Action Plan was a timely and important document to publish, with increasing global instability and threats to our nation. In my response, I called for the government to launch a national awareness campaign to support resilience-building across the UK, as well as to widen their methods of contacting people to ensure that those who do not use mobile phones are not excluded from alerts.

I also raised my concerns about the impact of the heat waves that have hit parts of the country recently. With many vulnerable people at risk, the need for the government to have a full mitigation strategy to deal with these heatwaves is urgent, a point I also raised with Thames Water last week who have stated they are preparing drought mitigation measures.

You can watch my full response here.

CABINET OFFICE QUESTIONS:

On Thursday, I represented the Liberal Democrats in Cabinet Office questions, as I challenged ministers on the opportunities that a comprehensive UK-EU Customs Union would offer to the UK, and the need for clarity on the recently announced reforms to the civil service.

Recent weeks and months have shown that UK-EU relations are at a turning point, with a small, but welcome trade agreement with the EU being signed, and the State visit of French President, Emmanuel Macron. The government must now take the opportunity before it to secure the trade deal that our businesses and economy desperately need. 

The government has also made a number of announcements on civil service reform, including significant job cuts and extensive relocation of thousands of roles. These changes are vast in scope, and could have a significant impact on public services, but the government has not given any meaningful detail on its proposed changes. 

I raised this to the Minister in the Chamber, and you can find a clip of both of my questions by clicking here.

PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE REPORT ON TEACHER RECRUITMENT:

After chairing a Public Accounts Committee session on the government’s plans to increase teacher numbers last month, scrutinising in particular Labour’s manifesto commitment to recruit 6500 additional teachers, I gave several interviews to discuss the results of our findings.

Concerningly, the Committee found that the Department for Education (DfE) lacks a coherent plan as to how to recruit these teachers, while the department also lacks a holistic understanding as to why teachers leave their jobs to begin with. The inquiry found that the proportion of ex-teachers citing pupil behaviour as a reason for leaving their jobs rose from 32% to 44% last year alone, and the Committee recommended that the DfE should develop a whole-system strategy to help frame how it will recruit and retain school and college teachers.

You can read my comments in more detail by clicking on the following Independent article.

CLIMATE COALITION LOBBY:

On Wednesday, I met with a number of constituents for the Climate Coalition Mass Lobby, where a number of environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and campaign groups came together to speak to Members of Parliament about the importance of protecting our climate.

It was excellent to see such a keen engagement on this matter from my constituents who attended the lobby day, as we discussed a number of things that the government should be doing to tackle climate change.

This included holding water companies that dump sewage into our rivers to account, protecting our nature through the Climate and Nature Bill, and the need to better retrofit houses to help reduce energy leakage and keep bills down.

I will continue to press the government to be more ambitious in tackling the climate emergency and protecting nature and biodiversity. I would like to thank all those constituents who came to Westminster to speak with me about this important issue, and I commend them on the work that they are continuing to campaign for a greener future for generations to come.

VISIT TO WANDSWORTH AND RICHMOND’S JOINT CONTROL CENTRE:

Last Friday, I attended Richmond and Wandsworth's Joint Control Centre to see the borough’s CCTV operation in action and I would like to thank Chris Cullen, the Operations Manager, for showing me around the centre.

The presence of CCTV cameras in public spaces is critical in many police investigations in enabling them to catch and prosecute perpetrators, and it was interesting to meet the team behind the cameras and to learn about how they assist the police with their operations.

It was also interesting to learn about the police’s new initiative, ‘Met Connect,’ which is a new way of detecting crime by allowing homeowners to provide their ring doorbell video footage to the police. This enables the police to have more video footage from where a crime has been reported, therefore increasing the possibility of conviction as more clear footage is provided. 

COMMUNITY NEWS:

HAM GREEN LITTER PICK:

This Sunday, ‘Do Something Green’ will be volunteering in the community to clean-up litter around Ham. The meeting point is by the curved wooden bench in the middle of Ham Green at 10:30am, with the work planned to last a few hours.

All volunteers are invited to have a coffee at a local café after the litter-pick, and if you wish to volunteer, you can do so by clicking here.

KINGSTON DRAGON BOAT RACE:

On Sunday 20 July, the annual Dragon Boat Race is taking place in Kingston. Tickets for the event are free, but the main purpose of the race is to raise money for The Silverlining Brain Injury Charity which supports individuals who have suffered from life-altering brain injuries, so donations are welcomed. 

A number of stalls and activities will be set-up also, with all proceeds going to charity, and the meeting point is just by the Boaters Inn. I would like to thank all of those who participate or donate, and to John Scorah, the Founder of MOBSTA, for sponsoring the race. 

If you wish to find out more information about the event, you can do so by clicking here.