Preet Kaur Gill - My Weekly Update - 23 May
- Preet Kaur Gill MP
- 4 hours ago
- 12 min read
UK-EU Summit
Keir Starmer at the UK-EU Summit
On Monday, the Prime Minister hosted a EU-UK Summit at Lancaster House, where he confirmed a new partnership with the European Union which will deliver on his mission to grow the economy, backs British jobs and puts more money in people’s pockets. This deal is made in our national interest, and is good for jobs, bills and borders.
Extensive negotiations over the last six months have led to the third major deal struck by the Government in as many weeks, following the US and India.
It's fantastic news that the UK will develop a controlled youth experience scheme with the EU, which would provide young Brits with access to work, travel and study in 27 countries. As someone who worked abroad as a social worker when they were a new graduate, I know first-hand what a life-changing experience it can be to travel and experience new cultures, not least on your future job prospects. As the youngest city in Europe, this deal represents a massive boost for Birmingham.
The set-up of a new youth experience scheme would mirror existing youth schemes the UK has with 13 non-European countries. As with these established schemes, it would be visa-based, time-limited and subject to a cap on numbers. This would not enable long-term settlement, making it a far cry from freedom of movement.
In addition, the deal the UK Government has agreed will make it easier for UK citizens to go on holiday by confirming the introduction of EU e-gates, allowing for more time spent on holiday and less time in queues.
The UK-EU deal will boost trade with our closest neighbours and biggest trading partner, adding nearly £9 billion to the UK economy by 2040. The deal saves jobs in steel and energy; makes trade easier for farmers and fishers; and encourages investment in jobs across food and drink, defence, and in the North Sea.
The agreement will make it easier for food and drink to be exported by reducing the restrictions that placed burdens on businesses and led to lengthy lorry queues at the border. Some routine checks on animal and plant products will be removed completely, allowing goods to flow freely again, and bringing down food prices and increasing choice on supermarket shelves.
After the 21% drop in exports and 7% drop in imports seen since Brexit, the UK will also be able to sell various products, such as burgers and sausages, back into the EU again, supporting these vital British industries.
For businesses in the West Midlands, by cutting red tape, our government has opened the door to businesses in various sectors to invest more in the UK economy and create more jobs in our region.
Our deal with the EU will strengthen our defence and security. We have concluded the Security and Defence Partnership between the UK and the EU, which covers cooperation on Ukraine, cyber, the defence industry, crisis management and more. UK defence firms are also set to participate in the proposed £150 bn EU Security Action for Europe (SAFE) fund, supporting thousands of British jobs and boosting growth.
The Federation of Small Businesses, the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce, the Food and Drink Federation, UK Hospitality, Salmon Scotland, the British Meat Processors Association and Morrisons supermarket have all expressed their support for the deal.
You can read more about the agreement here.
Israel-Gaza
Joint Statement from UK, Canada and France
The UK Government has been clear that that the Israeli Government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in Gaza is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister signed a joint statement with the leaders of France and Canada threatening Israel with concrete actions, calling on it to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.
We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict. Netanyahu’s government talk of driving Gazans from their home and permitting them a fraction of aid that they need. Minister Smotrich has spoken of Israeli forces ‘cleansing’ Gaza, of ‘destroying what’s left' and of resident Palestinians being ‘relocated to third countries.’ This is dangerous extremism.
Israel suffered a heinous attack on 7th October. The Government have always backed Israel’s right to defend itself, condemned Hamas and their abhorrent treatment of the hostages. But Israel’s plan is morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counterproductive and it is not the way to bring the hostages home.
This government opposes any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank. The Prime Minister has been clear that Israel must halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians.
I will continue to work with the Government to push for an immediate ceasefire, an end to illegal settlements in the West Bank and a two-state solution for a lasting peace. You can read the Prime Minister's Joint Statement with the leaders or Canada and France here.
Diego Garcia Deal
Prime Minister Keir Starmer securing the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia
Diego Garcia is fundamental to British national security. It is a critical asset. It supports counter-terrorism, monitors hostile states, and enables the rapid deployment of US and British forces across the world, making it our most important contribution to the UK-US security relationship. This includes supporting counter terrorism operations against high value Islamic State targets in recent years. It is a launchpad to defeat terrorists, protect global trade routes and monitor nuclear threats. The British people are safer today because of this deal.
The new deal guarantees 99 years of secure access and full operational freedom, and the right to extend by a further 40 years by agreement. That includes control of installations, the electromagnetic spectrum, communications, berthing, logistics, and land use— protected by a legally binding treaty. Our allies back the deal. The United States supports it. President Trump called it a “very long-term, powerful lease.” Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and India also back it because they understand the base’s value to global security.
Without the deal we have signed today, we would face provisional measures which would make the base inoperable. Even if we chose to ignore such a judgement, our land, sea and air operations would be compromised. Even if we didn’t comply, allies and international organisations would —undermining operations and weakening our national security. The consequences would be severe. We may be unable to safely berth nuclear submarines, patrol the surrounding waters, or prevent China or other nations from setting up installations or conducting joint military exercises near the base.
You can read more here.
Immigration
At a morning briefing with West Midlands Police
Labour is taking back control of our borders. This week, the ONS stated that UK net migration almost halved in 2024, falling to 431,000.
Our government has already returned nearly 30,000 people since the election who have no right to be here.
Last week, we published our Immigration White Paper, the first step in taking back control:
It raises the skill level, so we ensure only the brightest and best can come to the UK.
It establishes new workforce strategies, so key sectors using the visa system have to train people at home.
It tackles student and graduate visa abuse, supporting genuine study whilst fixing loopholes that drive up numbers claiming asylum.
It raises English language requirements to support integration.
And it reforms settlement and citizenship, to reward contribution more than time served.
You can read more about our plans here.
Youth Guarantee
Thousands of young people are set to benefit from our new youth guarantee, which will provide people with targeted support into work.
The £45 million scheme, launching in Liverpool, will match young people to job or training opportunities and will provide all-important foundations for the national roll-our of the programme, ensuring all 18 to 21 year olds in England can access help to find work – breaking down the barriers to opportunity. You can read more here.
Teacher Pay Boost
At the new breakfast club at World's End Infant and Nursery School
Teachers in England are set to benefit from a 4% pay award from September this year.
The pay boost builds on the work already underway to deliver on the government’s commitment as part of its Plan for Change to drive high and rising standards for every child, in every school. This includes a stronger accountability system through reforms to Ofsted inspection, new regional improvement teams to tackle poorly performing schools, and a new, rich and broad curriculum so pupils are set up for life, work and the future.
Like the rest of the public sector, schools will need to play their part in getting maximum value from every pound of public money. Schools will be expected to find the first 1% of the pay award through improved productivity and smarter spending with the government providing significant additional investment of £615 million.
You can read more here.
Knife Crime
Speaking in a debate about knife crime in the West Midlands
I’m glad that more dangerous weapons will be removed from our streets through a new government surrender scheme in partnership with the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime.
The Home Office is funding 37 new surrender bins across the West Midlands, London and Greater Manchester – the three highest areas of knife crime in England and Wales.
As well as this, throughout July, knife crime activist and member of the government’s coalition, Faron Paul, will drive across the West Midlands, London and Greater Manchester in a purpose-built and fully secure van, encouraging young people to hand over dangerous and illegal weapons safely. Read more here.
I have been raising the issue of knife crime in Birmingham in Parliament and in the media for years. You can read my speech on tackling knife crime here.
Research and Development
BioNTech is investing £1 billion in the UK – bringing new jobs, cutting-edge research, and big breakthroughs in cancer treatment and AI. This is a real boost for science, health, and our economy. Read more here.
The Government is also setting 10-year budgets for R&D funding – giving researchers and businesses the long-term stability they need to deliver breakthroughs and drive growth. Read more here.
Sewage
A message from Steve Reed, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
This Government inherited a broken system where water companies got away with pumping record levels of sewage into our waterways.
We are cleaning up the Tories’ mess. A record 81 criminal investigations into water companies have been launched in England since the election, as part of the Government’s crackdown on sewage dumping. This is the largest criminal action against water companies in history.
But this is just the beginning, with the Environmental Agency on track to deliver 10,000 inspections next year using tougher powers gained through Labour’s Water (Special Measures) Act. Read more here.
Sentencing
With West Midlands Police
The last government left our prisons at the point of collapse.
We are building prisons in the largest expansion since the Victorians. We have opened 2,400 new places already, and are funding £4.7 billion over the next three years to keep us on track for 14,000 places by 2031. The last Government added less than 500 places in 14 years in power.
But we cannot just build our way out, so today we have announced we are reforming sentencing.
Release will be earned, for most offenders. There will be new minimums, ranging from 1/3 to half of a sentence, depending on severity of offence. This earned approach has cut crime and the prison population in Texas.
Some will be excluded, with no change for the most dangerous offenders (those serving "extended" determinate sentences). Life sentences will also not be affected.
There will be a huge uplift in probation funding and tagging. £700 million more for probation, a 45% annual increase. And enough to fund tens of thousands more tagged offenders.
Tougher community punishment will follow reforms to short and suspended sentences.
We will look at expanding the use of ‘medicines which manage problematic sexual arousal’ on sex offenders.
We are also introducing new measures to support victims, including:
Better identifying domestic abusers at sentencing
Tagging and monitoring more offenders
Redesigning exclusion zones, which currently restrict the movement of victims more than offenders
You can read more here.
Energy Bills
Ofgem have announced that the energy price cap will fall by 7% from July. The fall in energy bills is welcome news, and will mean working people can keep more money in their pocket.
This Labour government is supporting families and our plan for cheap, home-grown energy will bring down bills in the long term. Last week, the Great British Energy Act became law. This will lead to the creation of the first publicly-owned energy company in over 70 years - a domestic clean power champion, owned by the British people, for the British people. Read more here.
Local News
ASB in Council Properties
I am really concerned by the rise in council tenants contacting me to report antisocial behaviour. In the city, we’re getting around 5,000 cases of antisocial behaviour every single year. We need to think, how on earth did we get into this situation?
The council does have an effective policy to deal with antisocial behaviour in council properties, but we need to ensure it is complying with it. The council only has around 100 housing officers, who have a range of responsibilities, with antisocial behaviour being just one of them. We need to look at how the council is coping with this rise in demand. I spoke to BBC West Midlands, read more here.
Road Safety, Shenley Fields
At the Road Safety Premiere at Shenley Fields
It was a pleasure to attend the Shenley Fields Daycare & Nursery School Road Safety Video Premiere. The children have formed a Rights Respecting Steering Group and made a brilliant video explaining how to stay safe on our roads. You can watch their video here.
I want to assure you that I take reckless driving very seriously, which is why since I was re-elected in July, I have been working with both the police and City Council to call for improved safety measures across the constituency.
I am pleased that Birmingham City Council has responded to my calls and declared a road safety emergency. It has also established a multi-agency taskforce, Gold Command, which has begun to take action to address some of the issues around dangerous driving including changing the city road speed limits from 40mph to 30mph and increasing the number of police patrols in dangerous driving hotspots.
I’m glad to announce that a deal has now been reached by West Midlands Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Mayor to install more speed cameras. I am currently working with the council regarding the rollout of speed cameras across our constituency. I will update you when I have more information about this scheme that I have been working on.
Birmingham City Council is also currently looking at the possibility of introducing more 20mph speed limits across our city. You can read more here.
Coffee Morning
Last Saturday, it was brilliant to meet so many constituents at my coffee morning in Bartley Green. Thank you to everyone who came and raised the issues that matter to them.
I will be hosting more coffee mornings in the coming weeks and months, where I hope to meet more of you and listen to your concerns.
University and Hospital Parking Measures
Outside Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Recent expansions at the University of Birmingham and facilities on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital site mean that more people are now travelling to this area, creating additional pressure on parking in local streets.
The council has launched a consultation into their proposals for parking measures. You can read the full proposals and have your say here.
Buses
With Prime Minister Keir Starmer
The Labour Government has brought forward the Bus Services (no.2) Bill, which includes a range of measures to support local leaders to deliver better buses, end the postcode lottery of bus services and reverse the Conservatives’ ideological ban on publicly owned bus companies.
As your local MP, I want to hear how we can improve our bus network in Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency. You can complete the survey to help shape public transport in our area here.
National Express West Midlands have announced that from Sunday 1st June, there will be changes to timetables, services and routes across the West Midlands. You can read the full list of changes here.
Here are some of the changes that will affect people travelling around the constituency.
Timetable changes on 11A Birmingham Outer Circle (Anticlockwise); 11C Birmingham Outer Circle (Clockwise); 23 Birmingham - Bartley Green; 24 Birmingham - Woodgate Valley North
X21 Birmingham - Bartley Green: Timetable revised due to introduction of X20 service; X22 Birmingham - Bartley Green: Timetable revised due to introduction of X20 service.
New route: X20 Birmingham - Bromsgrove: New service introduced to replace the 20 & 20A between Birmingham, Q.E. Hospital, Northfield, Longbridge, Rednal, Catshill and Bromsgrove. Buses will run up to every 30 minutes between Birmingham and Rednal and up to every 60 minutes between Birmingham and Bromsgrove.
Routes withdrawn: 20 Q.E. Hospital - Bromsgrove: Replaced with new X20 service between Birmingham and Bromsgrove; 20A QE Hospital - Cofton Hackett: Replaced with new X20 service between Birmingham and Bromsgrove. Cofton Hackett will no longer be served.
Route changes on: 48 West Bromwich - Q.E. Hospital: The service will be extended to Northfield to cover the revised 76 route. Buses will now serve University Station instead of the Hospital Interchange; 76 Solihull - Northfield: Service will run between Solihull and QE Hospital. Revised 48 route will cover QE Hospital to Northfield. There will also be timetable changes across the week.
Government Consultations
The Government has various consultations now open, which I would recommend you to feed into.
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Planning for new energy infrastructure: 2025 revisions to National Policy Statements, closing 29th May.
Department for Health and Social Care: Call for Evidence, Men's Health Strategy, closing 14th July.
HMRC and Treasury: Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (Sugar Tax), closing 21st July 2025.
Labour Achievements
Here’s seven things Labour’s Plan for Change delivered last week:
📈 Thanks to our Labour Government, we now have the fastest growing economy in the G7
❌ New plan to end years of uncontrolled migration and take back control of our borders
⚡ GB Energy legislation passes through Parliament backed by £8.3 billion to bring energy security and good green jobs
👮 Announced plans to add 14,000 new prison places by 2031 to fix the Tory prisons crisis – including four new prisons
👩🔧 Committed £625 million to train 60,000 young engineers, brickies, electricians, and carpenters, prioritising British workers
⚽ 10,000 teachers will be upskilled to deliver high quality inclusive physical education to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities benefitting over 240,000 pupils
👨💼 Thousands of government jobs to be relocated outside of London to boost local economies as part of our Places for Growth programme
🔆 £730 million for energy upgrades for schools, hospitals, and businesses to cut emissions and lower bills
🏫 Almost 1 million more young people will get access to school mental health support this year
Best wishes,
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Preet Kaur Gill MP
Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston, covering Bartley Green, Edgbaston, Harborne, North Edgbaston and Quinton
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