A total of 146,825 hate crimes were recorded by police in the two nations in the year to March 2026, according to Home Office data.

Last week saw the appointment of Crawley’s first poet laureates. Congratulations to Woodzy and Iffat Rahman, both of whom gave a fantastic account of themselves through their work following the announcement. Nationally, the role of poet laureates is to bring poetry into public life, capturing significant moments in our national life, occasions which bring us together. In Crawley, they have the daunting task of uniting us through their work. In my lifetime, I can’t recall a time when society has faced greater attempts to divide us than today. Looking back through history we can certainly see times people have gained power through division and hatred.

Local families are set to benefit from expanded support for parents and babies as the Government rolls out its Healthy Babies programme to Crawley. The expansion will mean parents can access more joined-up support through Best Start Family Hubs, bringing together health, early years and family services in one place. Under the plans, families will be able to access infant feeding support, perinatal mental health services and help to build strong parent-infant relationships, alongside wider health visiting and midwifery support. The Government says the approach will draw on the principles of the former Sure Start programme by putting integrated services at the heart of support for families.

Young people across Crawley could benefit from a major new partnership between the Government and Britain's leading retailers, designed to give thousands of young people the experience they need to take their first step into work. The new programme will offer more than 11,000 two-to-four-week work experience placements to 18-24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training. It has been developed by the Department for Work and Pensions and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), with retailers including Tesco, John Lewis, Waitrose, Currys and Costa Coffee. Participants will receive 16 to 35 hours of hands-on experience each week, dedicated workplace support and interview experience.

Households in Crawley and across the UK are set to benefit from Government action to cut the cost of electricity this winter, with Andy Burnham announcing the removal of Value Added Tax from household electricity bills from this Autumn. In his first speech to the nation, the new Prime Minister committed to tackling the cost of living, beginning with the cut to VAT on electricity, funded by the cancellation of the Digital ID programme.

For people who work overseas, such as cabin crew, the overseas expenses rate sets the tax-free limit at which companies can reimburse expenses. With the rate having been left the same since 2014, there is now a real struggle making ends meet for many of those who rely upon expenses overseas. I recently secured a Westminster Hall debate to raise the issue with the Treasury.

The nationwide rollout follows a successful pilot, first launched by the Crown Prosecution Service in the West Midlands in June 2025 and later expanded to the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, and Cymru-Wales. The pilot has already seen cases continue that would otherwise have been wrongly dropped. From 13 July, rape and sexual assault survivors across England and Wales will have the right to ask for their case to be reviewed by an independent prosecutor before it is dropped.

As the National Health Service turns 78, Peter Lamb—Labour MP for Crawley—has paid tribute to the extraordinary dedication of NHS staff and the incredible progress they have made improving healthcare delivery over the last two years. The NHS, founded on 5 July 1948, remains one of Britain's proudest achievements, ensuring that every British citizen has free access to healthcare at the point of need and after a decade of declining performance, new investment and reform under Labour is putting the service back on the road to recovery.

Since VE Day’s 80th Anniversary, the House of Commons has been reading the names of members of the parliamentary community who lost their lives in the two world wars as part of a page turning ceremony of the Parliamentary Books of Remembrance. Last week, it was my privilege to lead the ceremony, remembering the sacrifice of 2nd Lieutenant Garnet Norman of the Royal Fusiliers.

Following the news that Morrisons plans to close their store on Ifield Drive Parade, resulting in a loss of the post office facilities currently provided within the store, Peter Lamb MP has been working to ensure that post office facilities will return to the neighbourhood. Local post offices play an essential role in not only enabling people to send post, but also the ability to access a range of government services, banking, insurance and bill payments.

With far too many in Crawley affected by unreasonable leasehold and fleecehold conditions, I spoke in support of the Government introducing a new independent regulator of property management companies.

Peter Lamb, MP for Crawley, took part in a hearing health clinic in the Houses of Parliament organised by RNID and Hear for Norfolk on 30 June. The event, delivered by RNID – the national charity supporting the more than 18 million people who are deaf, have hearing loss, or tinnitus – and Hear for Norfolk (the operating name of Norfolk Deaf Association), a Norfolk based charity providing a range of community ear and hearing health services, invited MPs to visit their mobile clinic to access a variety of ear health checks and learn about the current status of audiology and ear wax removal services in their own constituency.