Delivering in Government: your weekly round up of good news Labour stories

It was a busy week for the Labour government.

While the papers were awash with Budget speculation, there was plenty of tangible progress towards renewing the country.

Here are the seven most exciting breakthroughs and announcements this week that you can use, whether you’re on the doorstep, sparring on Twitter, or debating in the pub.

1. Nationalising the railways

Labour published its bill to nationalise the railways. The draft law will create Great British Railways (GBR), a new publicly owned company that will bring together the management of passenger services and rail infrastructure. [Previously, this has been…] MPs will debate the Railways Bill for the first time next week.

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Separately, a ticketing trial has expanded to South Yorkshire. Passengers tap in with an app that tracks journeys using GPS and charges them automatically at the end of the day. Like the Tube, this means they don’t have to buy a ticket in advance and always pay the best value fare.

2. A new national forest

Labour has announced the location of a second national forest. It’ll run between Oxford and Cambridge, and will come alongside a set of forest towns where homes will be a 10-minute walk from woodland.

A competition early next year will decide the location of a third forest in the Midlands or North of England. Together, they’re part of a £1 billion plan during this parliament to plant millions of trees and support the forestry sector.
The first new national forest was announced in March, and will stretch from the Cotswolds to the Mendips.

3. Foreign aid and relief

Labour has stepped up to its international commitments, delivering aid to war-torn and disaster-struck countries:

• Deploying the Royal Navy to Jamaica, where specialist teams will support recovery efforts after Hurricane Melissa.
• £5 million of life-saving support to Sudan, where 260,000 people are trapped in famine-like conditions and surrounded by violence.
• £6 million in crisis maternity funding for women in conflict zones, including Gaza.
• A bridge near Kyiv that was destroyed in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine has also reopened, following a UK-backed reconstruction.

4. Teaching life skills in schools

Labour is revamping the National Curriculum for the first time in more than a decade. Children and young people will learn how to spot fake news, and how to save and budget money, including how interest and mortgages work.

The government is also replacing the current, narrow computer science GCSE with a broader, computing GCSE, and exploring a new data science and AI qualification for 16-18-year-olds.

The reforms come as part of its goal to get two-thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning by age 25.

5. Protecting MPs from harassment

Labour introduced a new law to restrict protests outside the homes of public office holders, including MPs, peers, and councillors. It will make it a criminal offence to do so if the intention is to influence them in their role, or an aspect of their private life.

A survey conducted by the Speaker found 96% of MPs had experienced at least one instance of harassment or intimidation which made it harder for them to do their jobs.

6. Renovating military housing

Labour published its Defence Strategy, which includes a £9 billion plan to revamp military housing.

The government will modernise, refurbish, or rebuild 40,000 military homes. It also plans to build over 100,000 new homes on surplus Ministry of Defence land, for both civilian and military families.

This comes on top of the additional £1.5 billion that has already been announced to address the poor state of military housing.

7. Banning choking porn

Labour introduced a number of important amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill:

• A new criminal offence of possessing or publishing porn that depicts choking. It’ll also require online platforms to stop the spread of such images.
• Giving revenge porn victims more time to come forward. Perpetrators will be able to be prosecuted up to three years after committing an offence, up from six months currently.

Disregarding and pardoning ‘child prostitution’ convictions, recognising that young people who were historically criminalised should have been treated as victims. Their criminal records will be wiped.

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