June 2026 Monthly Newsletter

All Change

On 22 June Keir Starmer announced his resignation as Leader of the Labour Party, triggering a formal process to elect a new Labour Leader and Prime Minister. This will conclude in July.

Keir led Labour back from the 2019 General Election defeat to a landslide victory in July 2024, starting the process of change and renewal for our country under a new Labour Government. I want to thank Keir for his hard work, dedication and huge service to our country.

I have been listening to different views about the way forward and have decided to nominate Andy Burnham as Leader. Early in June, I joined many others in campaigning in the Makerfield By-Election and was greatly encouraged by the result. I have previously worked with Andy on the campaign to get a Public Inquiry on the Infected Blood scandal, as Police Minister and more recently on employment policies in the DWP.

On BBC Look North at the end of the month I was interviewed about the change of Leader and Andy Burnham’s plan to boost devolution and the North.

In the weeks and months ahead, whatever changes are going on around us, my focus will remain on delivering the change people voted for in 2024 and representing the interests of Hull North and Cottingham.

Remembering Jo

June marked ten years since the horrific murder of my colleague Jo Cox. I was proud to host my first ever Great Get Together event in Hull North and Cottingham. 

Inspired by Jo’s words that we have more in common than that which divides us, the Great Get Together was a wonderful opportunity to bring together the local community to celebrate connection and unity.

Rainbow Community Garden hosted the event where we shared cake and conversation, bringing people together from all walks of life in sunny Hull weather. We were honoured to have the Chair of the Jo Cox Foundation Baroness Jan Royall join us on the day, where she received a big Hull welcome!

I also attended the Great Get Together event held in Parliament alongside Jo’s family.

Save Post Office services in Bricknell

Bricknell residents face losing Post Office counter services in the ward when Morrisons in Fairfax Avenue closes in August. With Bricknell Labour Councillor Sharon Hofman I have launched a petition urging Post Office Ltd to secure another site in the ward for Post Office services.

The petition is also online at https://www.dianajohnson.co.uk/save-our-local-post-office or use the QR code above.

Refugees in Hull

For many years I have convened the Hull Refugee Roundtable, bringing together organisations working with refugees and asylum seekers across our city.  At our meeting in June, our discussion covered issues including access to legal advice, housing pressures, family reunion arrangements and community cohesion. It was valuable to hear directly from local organisations about the support they provide and the difficulties they face. 

Later in June, Emma Hardy MP and I had the latest in a series of meetings with Home Office Immigration Minister Alex Norris to make the case for ending the use of Hull’s Royal Hotel for asylum seekers.

The Minister accepted that the Hull Royal Hotel is an example of an hotel that is in the wrong place for accommodating asylum seekers and poorly suited for the purpose - the case that we have been making ever since the hotel began being used to house asylum seekers under the Conservatives in 2020.

With asylum seeker numbers falling overall, a reduction in the asylum backlog built up under the previous government and an increase in the removal of those with no right to stay in the UK, the Government has committed to closing all asylum hotels opened by the Conservatives by the end of this Parliament. We have already seen the closure of one asylum hotel in Hull. We are now very optimistic about the Royal Hotel being closed as soon as possible.

Faith in Hull

I hosted my regular coffee morning with faith leaders from across the constituency to discuss issues affecting our community, including local mental health services, youth employment, housing and homelessness.

As ever, it was valuable to hear about the important support faith groups provide across the city and the challenges they face, particularly in helping people who present with mental health problems and complex needs. We agreed to continue working together and explore how faith leaders can be better supported in signposting people to appropriate services.

Rail Exhibition Train reaches Hull

Rail services are rarely far from our minds in Hull and I was pleased to visit the Railway 200 Exhibition Train during its stop in Hull. This was part of the national celebrations marking 200 years of the modern railway. The interactive exhibition showcased the history of Britain's railways and highlighted the career opportunities available in the rail industry today. It was also a pleasure to meet some of the dedicated volunteers who helped bring the exhibition to life.

Humber jobs of the future

I visited Humber Freeport at Saltend Chemical Park to discuss with Chief Executive Simon Green the importance of the Humber region in the UK’s transition to cleaner energy. 

The Humber is one of the UK’s most important industrial regions. Bringing thousands of high-skilled jobs to the region will help the area flourish as part of our clean energy future. 

I also spoke at the opening of the Google Digital Garage event at the University of Hull where free digital and AI skills training was provided for local people and small businesses.

Great work in our schools

In June I visited two fantastic schools in my constituency: St Mary’s College on Cranbrook Avenue and Frederick Holmes School on Inglemire Lane. 

At St Mary’s College, I spoke with their Best Ambassadors from across the school to hear about their work to maintain the outstanding standards that have been set by the pupils at the school. 

I visited Frederick Holmes during their sports day and was shown around by headteacher, Helen Maddison. I was very impressed to see the dedication that their staff members put into supporting their pupils, aged 2-19, who have severe physical and learning disabilities.

Summer fun in the constituency

At the end of the month, I judged the cake competition at the Ella Street Festival, visited the annual Cottingham Day and – always a personal favourite – the first Sunday of Avenues Open Gardens.

Promoting work

My work as Employment Minister during June has mainly been centred on being out and about, away from Westminster, seeing many initiatives that the Government is backing to get people into work.

At HM women’s Prison at Bronzefield in Surrey, I saw work coaches helping women in custody prepare for employment.

On my visit to CERA in Hammersmith, I discussed recruitment into the care work sector. At the Shaw Trust in Acton, I marked the first year of the Connect to Work programme supporting into employment people with health problems, disabilities or other complex barriers to working. This is a nation-wide scheme, but sadly hasn’t yet started in Hull. I've recently been in contact with the Hull and East Riding Mayor, who has responsibility for this scheme locally, asking him to ensure that it is up and running as quickly as possible. 

At Smartworks charity headquarters in Islington, I saw for myself how being suitably dressed for interviews and work can have a huge effect on boosting confidence and success for women looking for work.

Back at Westminster, at the start of June I supported ministerial colleagues in a debate on the Milburn Review on young people not in education, employment or training. At the end of the month, at Work and Pensions oral questions, I answered questions on child poverty and rural employment.

I also made a number of national media appearances to promote the Government’s latest Youth Guarantee announcement to help get young people off benefits and into work. Further actions will be announced after Alan Milburn’s review into young people not in employment, education or training is published in September

Historic advance on abortion celebrated

With the Crime and Policing Act recently becoming law, abortion has now been decriminalised for women in England and Wales. At the start of June, it was a pleasure to meet many of those who campaigned in Parliament for so many years to modernise our Victorian abortion laws.

Early Years Teacher Boost for Hull

Evidence shows that children’s prospects are shaped in their earliest years, so we need high quality early years education.  Areas of deprivation such as Hull also see lower readiness to learn and shortages of teachers. That’s why Hull will be one of 30 areas getting an early years teacher bonus of £4,500 – attracting and retaining the best and brightest teachers in our nurseries and giving children the best start.

Skills revolution

A homebuilding revolution to boost social housing requires a skills revolution too. The Government has announced action to train the next generation of bricklayers, roofers, plasterers and electricians - with an investment of £96m to create tens of thousands of placements on building sites.

I'm pleased that Hull College is set to benefit from this investment, putting our local young people at the forefront of this skills revolution.

Need for Duty of Candour shown again

Like everyone, I was appalled by the findings of Donna Ockenden’s national maternity and neonatal investigation, and the report from Baroness Amos, into the widespread failings of NHS maternity services. The revelations showed a similar culture of cover-up that I saw in exposing the infected blood scandal and the need to get the new Hillsborough Law and Duty of Candour into law as soon as possible.

Keeping us safe

At the end of June, the long-awaiting Defence Investment Plan was published, announcing £298bn of spending on defence in the next four years and a 27% increase in real terms spending from 2023/24 to 2029/30.

This is a significant contribution to ensuring that our armed forces have the equipment they need to keep us safe from global threats and will generate thousands of new British jobs. There will clearly be more to do in the next Spending Review to reach our target of spending 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035. I saw some of the latest defence kit in which we are investing at Parliament during June’s Armed Forces Week.

Social media and children

Children will be given back their childhoods thanks to action by the Government to ban social media platforms from offering services to under-16s, with less time for scrolling and more time for play. 

The plans will set a new normal for future generations and drive forward the Government’s fight to give every child the best start in life. Thank you to everyone who wrote in to share their views on this issue. I read all the correspondence carefully and believe that we are making the right decision for our young people.

Lifelong learning

From September, people will be able to access student finance for shorter, flexible, bite-sized courses, known as “modules”, as well as traditional university degrees. The Government has confirmed the first 130 universities and colleges approved to offer the new smaller courses. This includes the University of Hull.

The change is part of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, as set out in the Government’s Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper last year, with people now able to see the universities and colleges across the country where they will be able to use the new funding system. Applications for funding will open in September 2026, with the first courses starting from January 2027.

Good causes at Westminster

At Westminster in recent weeks, I have also attended events to support causes such as the Summer Reading Challenge, Alzheimer’s research and, of particular importance to us around the Humber, the investment potential of Humber Hydrogen. I also had a meeting with members of Humberside Police Federation about the levels of racism that officers are having to deal with.