Last month, I warned that the economic situation in this country is increasingly bleak following the costly mistakes that the Government has made in the first sixteen months.
Last year, the budget raised taxes by £40 billion, and this year, the Chancellor came back for an additional £26 billion. The 2025 Budget, published online before the Chancellor got to her feet, repeats many of the mistakes she made last year.
While raising taxes on ordinary working people, the Chancellor has sought to appease Labour MPs by expanding the welfare state. What this means for constituents is that they will have less money in their pockets, and business owners will face higher rates, all the while the welfare bill continues to rise without a strategy for reform.
In other news, readers will be aware of my ongoing local campaigns to save the Urgent Care Centre at Mount Vernon Hospital and to save Pinner police station. I am grateful to all my constituents who have taken the time to contact me in support of these campaigns.
Since my last column, I have shared the anecdotal stories from constituents directly with Hillingdon Hospitals Trust. What is evident from my correspondence with constituents is that their experiences elsewhere have fallen short of what they had previously experienced at Mount Vernon. Residents have faced increasingly long waits at Hillingdon and Norwick Park hospitals because of the Urgent Care centre’s Closure.
I shared these stories because I had been assured that there would be a process to review the impact of the centre’s closure. While we are still in the early stages of this review, the trust must be reminded of the consequences of its decisions. While I have been assured that ‘patient experience’ data is being collected, I have pressed for the trust to disclose how this data is being collected and collated. I would continue to encourage residents to share their stories with my office so that we can build a more accurate picture of the local impact.
As we look at local police services, it is clear that the closure of front counters is making local policing less visible and accessible. I have long campaigned to save local front counters, including in Uxbridge and Ruislip. Sadly, if Pinner Police Station were to close, my constituents in Pinner and Hatch End would be without a local police station. I will continue the campaign alongside my council colleagues to save this valued local facility.
First published: My Local News, December 2025
