Weekly Update
My Weekly Parliamentary Update
💷 The Spending Review 💷
On Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled the 2025 Spending Review, delivering a forward‑looking plan built on fiscal responsibility. This multi‑year strategy stretches through 2028-29 for day‑to‑day budgets and to 2029-30 for capital investment.
This Spending Review marks a clear break from austerity, instead grounding Britain’s resurgence in security, health, homes, green jobs, and digital modernisation. By front‑loading much of the investment, the government sends a strong message: renewal in every corner, without compromising fiscal safeguards.
It's rare to see such a comprehensive strategy - supporting frontline services, addressing housing shortages, tackling climate change, and laying tech foundations - all while staying within fiscal rules and avoiding immediate tax increases.
National Wins to Celebrate:
· Health & NHS: A record £29 billion boost annually, with NHS spending rising 3 % year‑on‑year—translating into more doctors, scanners and shorter waiting lists.
· Housing: A landmark £39 billion over a decade to build 1.5 million new homes—social housing gets a long‑term uplift.
· Defence & Energy: Strengthened defence with spending edging to ~2.6 % of GDP by 2027 and substantial backing for nuclear power, including Sizewell C and small modular reactors.
· Green Growth: Over £60 billion allocated to clean energy and green tech (plus £22 billion for R&D), positioning net zero squarely at the centre of economic renewal.
· Digital & AI: Investments include a £3.25 billion transformation fund, £2 billion for AI initiatives, and £1.9 billion to fast‑track digital priorities.
· Schools & Families: Schools receive a £4.5 billion annual uplift and £2.3 billion to fix aging classrooms, while universal free school meals expand—helping lift 100,000 children from poverty.
Enfield North Wins to Celebrate:
· School Rebuilding Programme: Chace Community School & St Ignatius College are set to benefit from Labour’s £2.4 billion-a-year plan to rebuild and modernise 500 schools across the country.
· Breakfast clubs: Carterhatch Infant School & St Matthew's CofE Primary School have received funding for a breakfast club.
· Bus Fares: The Labour Government is extending the £3 bus fare cap – due to end this year – by over a year until at least March 2027, covering 5,000 bus routes and supporting with cost-of-living pressures.
· Free School Meals: At the start of 2026, more pupils in Enfield North will become eligible for free school meals due to an expanded funding offer.
· Warm Homes Social Housing Fund National Scheme Challenge Fund: The Christian Action Housing Association in Enfield North is receiving £1 million. This funding will support vital improvements to local social housing, including better insulation, upgraded heating systems, and energy-efficient measures that reduce bills and cut carbon emissions.
I was delighted to hear the Chancellor mention Chace Community School during the Spending Review.
☕️ Southbury Coffee Morning ☕️
Thank you to everyone who came along to our recent coffee morning in Southbury - it was a fantastic opportunity to hear directly from residents about the issues that matter to them.
I was joined by local councillors Rick, Mahmut and Ayten, and we had valuable conversations with over 20 residents about both local and national concerns. Topics raised included tackling fly-tipping, support for Blue Badge holders, managing overgrown trees and requests for Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ)
It was encouraging to hear that many residents were pleased with the work their councillors are doing and understood the pressures facing local authorities.
We’ll be holding our next coffee morning soon so keep an eye on my website and social media for upcoming dates. We’ll also be doing a leaflet drop in the area to make sure everyone is informed.
In the meantime, if there’s anything I can help with, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at feryal.clark.mp@parliament.uk or pop into my office on the Hertford Road.
✨ London Tech Week ✨
It has been an extremely busy week in my role as Minister for AI and Digital Government. London Tech Week is the UK’s flagship festival of technology and innovation, drawing over 45,000 participants from across the world.
From AI and quantum computing to cybersecurity, cleantech, and fintech, the week-long programme celebrates the cutting edge of what’s possible in tech.
London Tech Week is where ideas become investment, where policy meets progress, and where tomorrow’s technologies are built today.
I was delighted to represent the Government at a range of roundtables and panels, showcasing just how serious this Labour Government is about establishing the UK as a global leader in innovation, inclusion, and ambition - a commitment clearly reflected in the Spending Review.
The War in Gaza
On 10 June, Hamish Falconer MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, addressed the House of Commons to provide an update and to offer reassurance regarding the situation involving the Gaza aid flotilla:
“In relation to the Madleen, I confirm that the UK pressed the Israeli authorities before its arrival to ensure that any action taken was in line with international law, would be undertaken with restraint and would be resolved safely for the passengers on board.”
“Maritime corridors … are an important but, ultimately, relatively peripheral part of any aid operation if it is to be at the scale required. There were maritime corridors supported in an earlier phase of the conflict and they did important work, but ultimately the three road crossings into Jordan, Egypt and Israel are the most practical, most viable, and most tried and tested routes to get aid in at the scale and with the flexibility required to meet the needs of those in the strip.”
The Labour Government said it would take tougher action, and it is doing precisely that.
Earlier this week, the UK sanctioned Israeli Government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in response to their repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities, showing that we will not sit by while extremists wreck the prospects of future peace.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains catastrophic. Desperate civilians who have endured 20 months of war should never face the risk of death or injury simply to feed themselves and their families.
We need action from the Israeli government now, to lift all restrictions on aid to enable the UN and aid partners to do their work.
We will continue to work for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas, the lifting of all Israeli restrictions on aid and a political pathway towards a two-state solution.