April 2025 Monthly Newsletter

This report is a brief account of my work during April in Parliament and in the Constituency. I have also included broader developments at Westminster that will also be of interest, all taking place at a time of great international uncertainty in areas such as trade and security.

To stay in regular touch in ‘real time’ with my Home Office, Parliamentary and Constituency work, please follow me on social media and see https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office and https://members.parliament.uk/member/1533/contributions.

You can find details of my work below.

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Working with the Bill

In my previous report, I set out an overview of the Government’s flagship Crime and Policing Bill that I am currently taking through its Committee Stage in the House of Commons – see https://www.dianajohnson.co.uk/post/monthly-newsletter. Either side of the Commons Easter Recess, further sessions of the Bill Committee took place, carrying out line-by-line scrutiny of the many clauses in the Bill that address many modern-day crime issues.

Anti-Social Behaviour

We have debated new Respect Orders which will combat anti-social behaviour, divert young people away from crime and clamp down on the nuisance caused by the misuse of off-road bikes.

Attacks on Retail Workers

We examined plans for a new criminal offence for assaulting a shopworker. This follows campaigns by groups such as Co-op and the USDAW union, who have lobbied for this to be a standalone offence for some years. During the Bill Committee meeting, I raised the case of my constituent Navin Sharda, a shopkeeper on Beverley Road who was hit in the head around 50 times in an unprovoked attack.  

Child Criminal Exploitation

In recent years we have seen the growing problem of county lines crime gangs using children to sell illegal drugs. The Bill Committee debated the proposed new offence of child criminal exploitation (CCE), targeting adults who exploit children to commit crimes like drug running or robbery, with a penalty of up to ten years' imprisonment.  

The offence criminalises recruitment, grooming, direction and facilitation of children into crime, even if the child doesn't follow through. It acknowledges that children cannot consent to exploitation and aims to hold adult exploiters, not victims, accountable. This measure seeks to improve conviction rates, protect children and deter offenders involved in exploiting vulnerable minors for criminal purposes.

Cuckooing

We have also debated Government plans to address the issue of cuckooing. This refers to the offence of exerting control over another person’s dwelling in order to carry out crime. This issue can have devastating impacts, particularly on vulnerable individuals, as well as groups such as children and those with disabilities. Currently, there is no specific offence to address this issue adequately. While authorities may recognise when cuckooing is happening, they often struggle to charge criminals without the victim's cooperation or proof of an underlying crime - such as drug possession.

The new offence plugs this gap and criminalises the act of controlling someone else’s home for criminal purposes, without the need for the victim to signal they haven’t consented or for another offence to be proven, like drug dealing. This approach acknowledges that controlling a person’s home is itself a serious and harmful abuse. It also empowers police and councils  to step in earlier before exploitation escalates further.

Violence against Women and Girls

We have also examined the Bill’s plans to combat violence against women and girls, which the Government aims to halve within a decade.

One measure in the Bill toughens the law on so-called ‘non-contact’ sexual offences, such as indecent exposure. This is especially important to us in Hull. After the murder of Hull University student Libby Squire in 2019, I have been campaigning for action on this issue for the past five years, alongside Libby’s mother Lisa.

Measures in the Bill on strengthening the law on stalking and a new offence of spiking were also debated.

Other new measures

Towards the end of April’s Bill Committee sessions, we looked at plans to tighten car security and pioneering measures to combat scams from fraudsters who use SIM farms. These are technical devices capable of holding multiple SIM cards, enabling criminals to send scam texts to thousands of people at once or set up ‘verified’ online accounts in large volumes. They increase the chances of innocent consumers falling victim to major financial losses.

On the issue of mobile phone thefts, we discussed the Bill’s proposals for enabling the police to enter properties where stolen smartphones have been detected, making it easier for the police to recover stolen mobile phones and get convictions of those stealing them.

The Committee examined the Bill’s proposals to guard against violence and vandalism at protests by cracking down on those who climb or deface war memorials, banning fireworks at demonstrations and restricting the use of face coverings to conceal identity

Committee members also debated Youth Diversion Orders to direct young people away from terrorist radicalisation.

We are also extending the use of drug-testing for those arrested so that people can be referred to drug treatment services and help tackle underlying issues that often draw people into crime.

The progress of the Crime and Policing Bill can be followed at https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938 and Bill Committee sessions watched at https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Commons.

 Progress Restoring Confidence in Policing

During April, the Prime Minister announced that 3,000 extra neighbourhood police and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) will be recruited this year. However, plans to boost the numbers of neighbourhood police, PCSOs and special constables by 13,000 during the current Parliament are only one aspect of improving public confidence in our police service.

This is why I brought in new vetting regulations for police this month, making it easier for police forces in England and Wales to remove officers who cannot pass vetting. From 14th May, police officers who fail a vetting check will face automatic dismissal.

This follows the scandals that have shaken public confidence in policing in recent years, such as the Sarah Everard murder. Issues around police conduct and accountability were a major part of discussions I had with the Police Federation of England and Wales when I met them in April.

Deadly Weapons

Two days after the violent incident in Leeds on 26 April, I responded for the Government in the House and spoke about our plans to restrict the online sale of crossbows. That morning I had met a family affected by a vicious attack with a crossbow. On the same day I chaired the latest meeting of the Knife Crime Coalition with families and campaigners working with the Government to cut knife crime.

VE DAY

On the 80th anniversary of VE Day in May, pubs will be permitted to open for longer to mark this momentous occasion and honour the legacy of all those who served. It was a privilege as a Home Office Minister at the end of April to approve the necessary legislation helping us to raise a glass to toast that wartime greatest generation who fought for our freedom.

Responsibility for the Fire Service

In April, governmental responsibility for the fire service switched from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This follows one of the recommendations that came out of the Public Inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire.  

As a result, at the Home Office I am now Minister of State for Policing and Crime Prevention, but no longer fire. It was a privilege over the past nine months to meet so many of the great people who work in our fire and rescue services around the country and see the challenges that they face.

Iron-clad guarantee for British Steel

On Saturday 12 April, the House was called back from Easter Recess for one day to pass the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill, which went through all its Parliamentary stages and became law in mid-April.

This Bill allowed the Government to save the British Steel industry from the Chinese owners who seemed intent on closing it. Self-sufficiency in steel is essential not only to our economy, but also to our defence industrial base and national security.

Since the Government’s intervention, British Steel has been able to secure a stable supply of raw materials to its two blast furnaces, Queen Anne and Queen Bess, and has confirmed withdrawal of the consultation that would have led to job losses in Scunthorpe.

Other New Laws

Amongst other Bills discussed in the House during April was the Football Governance Bill. This delivers on our manifesto commitment to establish the independent football regulator, license football clubs and introduce a new set of rules to protect clubs, empower fans and keep clubs at the heart of their communities.

The experience of Hull City fans over the past 15 years shows the need for these reforms, which implement recommendations from the fan-led review of football governance led by former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch. This Bill is now entering its Committee Stage.

Another Government Bill in the public eye during April was the Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill. This was introduced in response to planned changes to Sentencing Council guidelines on imposing community or custodial sentences. One of the proposed changes was intended to ensure that pre-sentence reports were usually provided where defendants are, among other things, from ethnic, cultural or faith minority communities. This raised the danger of ‘two tier’ justice and the Government’s Bill prevents this.

At the end of April, the Commons also debated the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error & Recovery) Bill. This introduces new powers to protect taxpayers from various forms of fraud following the surge under the previous government, especially during the COVID pandemic.

In the Parliamentary sessions from May through to late July, we can expect major progress on a number of other Labour Government Bills. Their progress can be followed at https://bills.parliament.uk.

Support for Education  in Hull North and Cottingham

Following the announcement at the start of the month that three schools in Hull North and Cottingham are in the first wave of those receiving new Government investment for school-based nurseries, April also saw the opening of the first seven school breakfast clubs Hull North and Cottingham. I am proud that the thinking behind this policy was first pioneered in Hull 20 years ago.

Green Energy

As part of Labour’s Plan for Change, April also saw an announcement of £300 million to jumpstart clean energy supply chains, create new jobs, and power up Britain using home-grown offshore wind. This is highly relevant to our future regeneration prospects around the Humber Energy Estuary.

Locals have their say

Anyone in any doubt about the need for the tough measures in the Crime and Policing Bill to combat crime and anti-social behaviour may find it helpful to look at the results of the survey that I have been conducting over recent months in Hull North and Cottingham.  

In Kingswood 90% of residents surveyed had witnessed a form of anti-social behaviour in the last six months. In West Carr and Central wards the figure was 86%.

In all wards, the most common form of anti-social behaviour was the use of motorbikes and other off-road bikes, followed by 'groups hanging around' and then shop theft. With Cottingham North Councillor Alec Duke, I recently visited fields off Bailey Lane in Cottingham where off-road bikes have been causing nuisance to residents.

Not surprisingly, over 90% of all people responding to my survey wanted tougher measures introduced. These are in the pipeline when the Crime and Policing Bill becomes law later this year. In the meantime, I am going to feed the responses of the survey back to local Police and other local organisations and I will be extending the survey to other wards in the coming months.

As ever, in April I was out and about in the Constituency. This included visiting Botanic Pharmacy in Londesborough Street to discuss the better coordination of GP and pharmacy services in our area.

Investment at stake

In April, I continued campaigning for Margaret Pinder, Labour’s excellent candidate for Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.  I am writing this on the last day of April and before the mayoral election results.

With Reform’s hostility to green energy and wanting to impose a windfall tax on our fledgling renewables industry, upon which much of the Humber’s economic regeneration depends, it is unclear what would happen to the £15bn of private investment in green energy projects that is currently on offer should Hull and East Yorkshire elect a Reform mayor.

Given that green energy regeneration in the Humber Estuary also drives the business case for electrifying the rails line to Hull, I also fear that our long-running campaign to improve Hull’s rail connectivity would also be undermined. There is therefore a lot at stake in the result of this mayoral election for the Hull and Humber area.

Investing in our future

I am sometimes asked whether the Government is returning to the ‘austerity’ of the kind we saw after 2010 and whether we are making the wealthiest pay their fair share in tax.

Let’s set out the facts to knock down this nonsense.  

George Osborne’s terrible austerity involved year-on-year cuts in public services, with many cuts aimed most heavily at the most deprived communities – such as Hull. What’s happening today is the total opposite. Spending on public services is rising faster than inflation in every single year, with a step change happening right now and funding is being made fairer for the most deprived areas.

By the next election, public services will be receiving £50 billion more per year compared to what the Conservatives had planned.  

Then let’s look at public investment – the kind that builds hospitals, fills in potholes and delivers the new generation of council housing that we badly need. Had the Conservatives won the General Election in July 2024, they would now be making big real terms cuts in public investment.

In contrast, Labour is investing £113 billion more over this Parliament than the plans we inherited. Rather than cutting public investment we’re lifting it to the highest levels that have been sustained since the 1970s – far more than the last Labour Government managed in much easier economic times.

What does the chart above show you? That the Labour Government is investing in our future. 

As a result of some tough decisions last Autumn, we enabled, for example, an extra £22 billion to go into health and social care. As a result, we've already seen the size of NHS waiting lists coming down for six months in a row and, among other recent announcements, we saw the freezing of NHS prescription charges.

These are real and tangible benefit to people’s lives. No-one is pretending things are easy and that the cost-of-living crisis in behind us. We know too that many improvements take much time to come to fruition – for example, training new doctors and dentists for our NHS takes years – longer than one Parliament.  

However, our focus on public services is already delivering, but how are we paying for it? By raising taxes in a fair way where the broadest shoulders bear the heaviest burden, including raising taxes on wealth. 

This can be seen in what we’ve done in just the nine months since the General Election:  

• Raising taxes on private schools... 

• ...and on private jets  

• Cutting back the exemptions rich individuals use to cut their inheritance tax bill – a tax on wealth 

• Doubling stamp duty on second homes – a tax on wealth. 

• Increasing Capital Gains Tax in several different ways – a tax on wealth. 

• Abolishing the non-dom tax loophole – to fairly tax wealth.  

I can tell you this is happening, because every week I hear the Tory and Reform fury as they oppose every single fair choice we’ve made on tax. Whenever you hear someone ask why this Government isn’t taxing wealth, you can tell them we’re not just talking about taxing wealth - we’re busy actually doing it. 

I hope that’s useful. Facts matter – a lot more than the memes of the social media keyboard warriors. Of course, there is lots more to do and I always value hearing from you about how we can continue to make progress.

But we need to be clear about the Labour choices we are making to start turning the country around and building for the long term.