It was a pleasure to take part in the 1987 Committee ‘In Conversation’ series earlier this year to discuss my constituency, activism, community and the next generation of political activists and leaders. Watch it on You Tube: youtu.be/TWWhDyQ0QUI

Great to join the West Ham United Foundation earlier this month for their gala dinner at the Mansion House, to celebrate and support their community and youth work at The Foundry in Beckton. ⚒️

My last Parliamentary task was a visit by St Helens Primary School. One of the joys this year has been visiting schools. The children’s enthusiasm & interest along with their thoughtful questions is inspiring. If anyone says kids don’t care, send them to East London and we’ll prove them wrong!

Parliament has now adjourned until January. Me and my team will still be working locally in the constituency over the next few days. But as the Parliamentary and school holidays begin I’d like to wish everyone in West Ham and Beckton a very Merry Christmas.🎄

The Employment Rights Act has received Royal Assent. That means: An end to unfair zero hour contracts and fire-and-rehire practices. Sick pay, parental and bereavement leave all from day 1 on the job. Stronger protections from harassment and for whistleblowers.

This week, I was a judge at a debate competition between Newham schools: Lister, Rokeby, Eastlea and Sarah Bonnell. It was also lovely for Plaistow and Selwyn primary schools to join. Students from all of the participating schools were outstanding.

I welcome the publication today of the Government’s Violence Against Women & Girls Strategy. I will always speak up for the women and girls of West Ham & Beckton.

I recently met with Stonewall Housing, an organisation that provides specialist support for LGBT+ people facing homelessness. LGBT+ people are disproportionately affected by homelessness and Stonewall Housing has seen a significant increase in demand for their services from 2024 to 2025.

Please read our joint statement as Newham MPs on the proposed closure of Richard House. As your MPs, we are working together with the parties involved to find a sustainable solution that puts the welfare of the children supported by Richard House first.

I caught up with Fuel Bank when they visited Parliament to discuss fuel poverty, the work they do supporting families in crisis who prepay for fuel who’ve run out of money and how we can work with them to support families across West Ham & Beckton.

I recently met apprentices and trainees from the Thames Skills Academy at a Port of London Authority Event. It was great to meet people working and training on the River in East London including on Uber Boats and the Woolwich Ferry.

The last full week before Christmas. I started it with a visit to a very busy Beckton sorting office to meet our local posties and say thanks for all their hard work this year and over Christmas. 📮

Wishing everyone in West Ham & Beckton a happy Chanukah. Time with loved ones will feel more important than ever after the horrific attack in Sydney. Chanukah is a festival of celebration but also hope and light. This season may we challenge darkness with hope and light.

Delighted we could connect TfL Lost Property Office in West Ham & Kevin Jenkins Christmas Toy Appeal I joined them as unclaimed toys were handed over. Toys that never made it home will now ensure lots of kids don’t miss out this Christmas Donations are accepted until Xmas Eve: tinyurl.com/yzr276bx

Thanks to St John’s Church Stratford for welcoming us to the carol service on Friday night alongside churches from across Newham. Superb singing of carols and Christmas songs by Brampton Primary School choir & the East Ham Church of South India choir.

Getting in the Christmas spirit tonight with a fun dockside lantern parade this evening round Royal Albert Wharf. Lovely to see so many local families out tonight with all the kids carrying their lanterns, singing carols and enjoying mince pies and roasted chestnuts. 🏮

A successful Newham Labour fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestinians this week raising over £11,000 for MAP. Delighted to speak with my fellow Newham MPs; and great to be joined by Marwan Yaghi from the Palestinian Embassy alongside Forhad Hussain, Labour candidate for Mayor of Newham.

Please consider donating to The Kevin Jenkins Toy Appeal this Christmas. You can drop off toys at Arc in the Park in Canning Town or donate here: theaaazone.com/kevin-jenkins-… It’s good to work with Ambition Aspire Achieve again this year to give every child in Newham has a Happy Christmas.

Today is Save the Children's Christmas jumper day and here in West Ham and Beckton we've joined many other workplaces by getting festive to raise money and awareness for their work supporting children around the world. #ChrismasJumperDay www.savethechildren.org.uk/christmas-ju...

I recently attended an event where I met local uniformed youth organisations and cadets. These groups do good work building confidence, skills and opportunities for their members and many are expanding with growing membership numbers of local young people.

The Newham Chamber of Commerce Business Awards 2025 which celebrate the most innovative, sustainable and creative businesses in the borough. It was a fantastic night with lots of wins for businesses based in West Ham and Beckton.

I recently met with students from Curwen Primary School on their trip to Parliament. They had a tour, a session with the brilliant education team here and then I answered their questions about my job.

Sport, theatre, live music; it’s time to end the rip-offs! The government is banning resale of tickets for more than their original cost. Time’s up for ticket touts scooping up tickets & selling them on at massively inflated prices. We’re ending the rip-off mark-ups & putting fans first!

In HIV Testing Week I called for resources for opt-out testing & money in HIV services. The Government’s new HIV Action Plan includes: •3 more years for 91 A&Es to do opt-out HIV testing •£5m trial putting at-home HIV testing orders in the NHS App •Free forumla milk for babies of mums with HIV

It’s #SmallBusinessSaturday. Across West Ham & Beckton we’ve around 4800 small businesses who are a huge part of our local economy & our community I’ve been meeting & visiting small businesses. If you’re a small business & we can give you support or you’d a visit email: [email protected]

This week I was at Keir Hardie Primary School to meet with school councillors and prefects. Thank you to all the students for your questions and for sharing your thoughts on the issues affecting you and your community with me.

Proud to have served on the Bill Committee for the Public Office (Accountability) Bill - Hillsborough Law. It was a privilege to speak directly with the Hillsborough families. This law is firstly for them and to prevent anyone in future going through what they’ve experienced.

St Luke’s Primary School and Church now has 221 solar panels from E.ON Next which will help power the school and a portion will be shared with neighbouring homes. It’s a great scheme for our community, the environment and the school. Hopefully the first of many like it in Newham.

I attended the Battery Storage Awards with Telelink Infra. They’re a Bulgarian battery storage company I recently met during my trip to Sofia. Congratulations to Telelink Infra and their parent company IPS for winning in category Battery OEM of the Year

Yesterday, I turned on the lights of the charity Christmas tree at the East London Cemetery. You can write on one of the Christmas ornaments in memory of a loved one and know that your donation will be going to a good cause, this Bobby Moore Fund and St Joseph's Hospice will split the money.

November was a busy month of outcomes for constituents. If you email us we will reply and help where we can. Thanks to our office’s intervention constituents have received appropriate health equipment, renewed private hire licences and lots of other successful outcomes.

Today is World AIDS day and the launch of the government’s £170million HIV action plan for England to tackle stigma and end new transmissions by 2030. The plan will support people currently living with HIV and help to prevent new transmissions. #WorldAIDSDay

It’s important that we work with service men and women when they leave the forces to ensure they can find work and utilise their skills in civilian life. Good to see veterans charities working with business and meeting MPs to see what more we can do.

Gallions Reach Tesco on Friday with Newham District Foodbank for the winter food collection. You can help: put a couple of items from their shopping list to your trolley & donate them. Thanks to all who donated. It was a great response from shoppers. See how you can help: tinyurl.com/yvhc7a8n

Lovely to join the UEL open day at their Docklands Campus and joined in with the Art in the Docks activities. I met with UEL staff, spoke to future students and with local residents visiting the campus for the arts and crafts activities. And discovered my Christmas bauble making skills!

Meet Forhad Hussain, Labour candidate for Mayor of Newham 2026. Experience in politics, business, sport and the community; determined to tackle the challenges we face after 14 years of Tory cuts. I’m looking forward to working with Forhad & the council candidates to deliver for my constituents.

Marking Albanian Independence Day by joining Shpresa in Canning Town this evening to celebrate the opening of their new centre; the first Albanian Community Centre in the UK.🇦🇱🇬🇧 The new facilities will help them with the education, training, advocacy and advice work with the local Albanian community

Last week I gave a speech to Parliament on children with serious neurological conditions; the challenges families face, the options we need to look at to improve choices and support the children, families and carers need.

We cannot let settler violence in the west bank go unaddressed and unchallenged, I will continue to raise my constituents’ concerns in The House.

On Tuesday, I visited Eastlea Community School and met with students and staff. Year 10 Citizenship students asked interesting questions about what it’s like being an MP.

Today we got confirmation of the DLR extension from Gallions Reach to Thamesmead I joined Abena Oppong-Asare, MP for Erith & Thamesmead, marking this exciting news which will benefit both our constituencies We’re looking forward to working with all partners delivering this for our communities

How does today’s Budget affect us? ✅ An end to two child benefit cap affected an estimated 5,500 children ✅ Investment in apprenticeships and youth employment schemes ✅ An extension of the DLR through Gallions Reach and Beckton to Thamesmead And it was printed in Beckton!

This week I met with a delegation of MPs from Lithuania. It was a good chance to continue to build links between our countries. Which is particularly important for us in West Ham and Beckton as we have the third largest Lithuanian population in the country.

I recently visited West Ham Memorial Community Church. It was wonderful to see and hear their church bells which are a unique and poignant war memorial. Each bell is engraved with the names of men who lost their lives in the First World War.

I met with the junior governing body at Ellen Wilkinson Primary recently and answered their interesting and varied questions. It was also great to attend their end of term assembly and celebrate all of their wonderful achievements.

UK Parliament week starts today and 24 organisations in West Ham and Beckton have signed up. Sign up and access the resources here: ukparliamentweek.org/en/ Send us an email if you’ve signed up, if you would like to organise a visit or if you want to book a tour of Parliament.

I stopped off last week to see the display by the Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association on metal recycling. Over 80% of metal packaging is recycled. A great example of how the circular economy can work & a bonus for the environment by reducing use of raw materials & promoting sustainability.

Great to join Kings Cross Steelers as they celebrated their 30th anniversary in Parliament From a conversation in a bar in the 90s, becoming the first & longest running gay rugby club to inspiring gay rugby & many clubs that followed We’re proud to have them based in West Ham. Happy anniversary!

Great evening on Friday talking to the Guides in Plaistow along with Stephen Timms. Lots of great questions and a lively debate. A room full of bright future community leaders!

A #SmallBusinessShoutOut for the VA Salon in the Royal Victoria Dock. A hairdresser and beauty salon based in the docks since 2011. A thriving local business with a friendly team who are part of the local community too. #smallbusinesssaturdays