Working to Ensure Hammersmith Bridge Benefits from Structures Fund
Report back from Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith and Chiswick
Andy Slaughter on the Silent Walk marking the eighth anniversary of the fire at Grenfell Tower
June 20, 2025
Since the Chancellor’s statement last week, we’ve had more detail from the Treasury and there is further good news for west London. Namely, the £725 Billion budget to be spent over the next decade to repair crumbling infrastructure that was starved of investment under the previous government – this includes a new structures fund to repair bridges, tunnels and flyovers across the UK.
Obviously, this is of significant interest to residents of west London given the ongoing closure of Hammersmith bridge and the struggle to secure funding for its repair. I have made an urgent enquiry to Ministers at the DfT to learn more about these funds and whether there is the potential to secure funding for Hammersmith Bridge and I raised it on Wednesday in the Commons with the Secretary of State for Transport.
As part of this infrastructure and maintenance budget there will be £6 billion per year to maintain our hospitals, £3 billion per year for schools and £600 million to repair our courts and prisons. This investment in our public services is desperately needed and I am really pleased by such a commitment from the government.
Chairing the Justice Committee is particularly busy at the moment, with a lot of investigations, reports and legislation. This week we questioned the former Lord Chancellor, David Gauke, on his radical proposals for sentencing, which will see a transfer of up to 10,000 people from prison to community punishments, and a whole new regime inside prisons. The aim is both to deal with the overcrowding crisis and to rehabilitate offenders more effectively to stop such high reoffending rates.
On Wednesday I spoke in the Crime and Policing Bill debate on the problems with the criminal justice system and also specifically on the Safer Knives Group proposals for reducing deaths and serious injuries from knife crime.
I have been continuing to speak in Parliament on the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the wider Middle East. Earlier this month the Government imposed sanctions on Israeli Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Both are among the loudest and most extreme voices calling for the annexation of the West Bank. While it is welcome news that they have been sanctioned, settlement building & forced displacement are accelerating. I raised in parliament that it is time to recognise Palestinian sovereignty - you can see my full comments here. With other Labour politicians, I published a letter on recognition.
The war between Israel and Iran and the increasingly bizarre statements from Trump make the whole Middle East a dangerous place but is important not to forget the mass killings still going on in Gaza.
On Saturday 14 June, I joined west London residents on the Silent Walk to mark the eighth anniversary of the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower that took 72 lives in the most horrific circumstances. This year's walk was all the more poignant as it will be the last walk to take place with the tower still standing.
Demolition work begins this autumn, with mixed feelings among residents. There is a fear that with the tower gone, it will be easier for the authorities involved to let the issue fall by the wayside. This is all the more concerning given the slow progress of the inquiry. The government has said it will implement all the recommendations of the inquiry, which is good news. We will continue to hold them to that.
Finally, let me plug a fantastic forthcoming music event. The Addison Singer's Summer Concert is being held on 12 July at 7:30pm with the choir performing a wide variety of choral music encompassing songs, part-songs and madrigals. The concert is at St Michael and All Angels in Chiswick and tickets are available here.
Best wishes,
Andy
andy@andyslaughter.com
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