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

It was a busy week for the Labour government.

While the government contended with anti-migrant protests on the south coast, government departments made plenty of tangible progress towards fixing the country’s problems.

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

1. UK-Belgium deal on illegal crossings

Labour has signed a new agreement to help police catch smuggling gangs faster.

The deal with Belgian police removes the need for courts to sign off on sharing some forms of intelligence, which means it can be shared and acted on immediately.

Joint enforcement between the UK and Belgium has already resulted in more than 50 arrests linked to migrant smuggling this year.

2. Banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements

Labour is banning the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements.

The ban also stops the advertising of settlement land and property in the UK, while new powers let ministers sanction the individuals and companies that profit from them.

The measures were announced jointly with France and Canada, adding to action already taken by Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Norway.

3. £1.5 billion for NHS maintenance

Labour is investing in hospital repairs, to tackle urgent problems with buildings and facilities.

The funding will enable more than 950 projects to fix leaking roofs, ageing heating systems, and broken ventilation, helping hospitals cope with both winter cold snaps and summer heatwaves.

It’s all backed by a record capital budget for health, which rises to £15 billion in 2029-30.

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4. Nude image and abuse-doll bans

Labour is strengthening protections for young people online and in the real world.

New legislation will force tech companies to prevent children taking, sharing, or viewing nude images, after voluntary efforts by Apple and Google fell short.

The Internet Watch Foundation recorded just 19 sextortion reports in 2022. By last year that had risen to 394, with 91% of child sexual abuse reports online containing images young people had taken of themselves.

Separately, the government is creating a new offence for making, selling, or owning child-like sexual abuse dolls, with prison terms of up to five years.

5. National register for landlords

Labour is requiring every rental property in England to be listed on a new government database.

It’ll give councils a full picture of who owns what in their area, making it easier to chase up landlords who break the rules. Landlords who don’t register face fines, and tenants will be able to check whether their own landlord is compliant.

The service launches region by region from December, starting in the West Midlands, with every landlord given a year from their area’s launch date to sign up.

6. Buses return to public ownership

Labour is supporting Liverpool City Region to take charge of its own transport network.

St Helens is switching over immediately, with the Wirral and the rest of the city region following by 2027, ending almost 40 years of deregulated bus routes.

The move comes with £86 million in government funding through 2029, on top of the £2 flat fare cap already in place. Together these measures cover the 93 million bus journeys made across the city region every year.

7. Guaranteed jobs for young people

Labour is funding new work placements and short paid contracts to help those under 25 into work.

The Opening Shift scheme offers two-to-four week retail placements of up to 35 hours a week, while a separate Jobs Guarantee provides six months of fully funded work for Universal Credit claimants aged 18 to 24.

It’s backed by £2.5 billion of government investment by 2029, with retailers offering more than 11,000 placements so far as the sector works towards its own target of 100,000 new jobs for young people by the end of this parliament.

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