The first two weeks of 2025 have certainly been busy for the Labour Government. We have seen the final stages of the transformative Renters’ Rights Bill that will fix the broken rental system and deliver protection for 11 million private tenants.
The Prime Minister set out his long term plan to end NHS backlogs and deliver a health system fit for the future including an announcement on new funding and reform to transform social care. Earlier this week, he also announced the Artificial Intelligence Opportunities Action Plan, which included 1,000 new jobs in the Liverpool City Region – right on our doorstep – bringing a huge boost for jobs and innovation in the North West.
The Government also announced a ban on ticket hoarding and a cap on ticket resale prices, giving the power back to fans. For far too long, fans have faced an uphill battle to find face value tickets to see their favourite artist perform or sports team play live.
Another, truly transformative piece of legislation to come through the House was The Children’s Wellbeing & Schools Bill which will introduce landmark reforms in uniform policy, the rollout of free breakfast clubs and so much more.
The Bill will help us to drive high and rising standards in schools through common-sense reform to put more qualified, expert teachers in classrooms, teaching a cutting-edge curriculum.
That’s really important because quality of teaching can make the single biggest difference to children’s life chances and I want young people in Chester North and Neston to leave school ready for work and ready for life.
The Bill will cut the cost of sending children to school to make life easier for families, with free breakfast clubs in every primary school and a cap on the number of branded school uniform items, an issue that was recently raised with me directly by the members of the West Cheshire Poverty Truth Advisory Board.
Breakfast clubs boost children’s attendance, attainment, behaviour and readiness to learn. But taken together, these measures could also save parents £500 per child, per year, easing the strain of the cost of living.
Crucially, the Bill will stop vulnerable children falling through the cracks through landmark reforms to safeguarding and children’s social care.
After so many tragic cases of children being failed by the system in recent years, we can’t have any more empty words or ‘lessons learned’. We need real action to keep children safe. This is the biggest piece of child protection legislation for a generation.