Here you can read the eNews for May 2025

 I signed a letter dated 23 May 2025 coordinated by David Bains MP with other parliamentary colleagues, to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander MP calling for medical professionals to be legally required to report patients with visual impairments that make them unsafe to drive.
The letter calls for:

Mandatory reporting by medical professionals when patients have visual impairments making them unsafe to drive
Creation of systems allowing safety-critical medical information to be added to police driver databases
Strengthened procedures to identify and remove unfit drivers from UK roads

The letter asks for a meeting with the Transport Secretary on behalf of the campaign group to discuss implementation of these life-saving changes and offer their support in delivering the legislative reforms needed to make Britain's roads safer.
 

My constituents who live in Bell Tower Close contacted me about their concerns with FirstPort Property Management. So I visited Bell Tower Close on Friday 23 May 2025 to hear from constituents on how they have been affected and we walked around the estate. 

I have written to the Chief Executive of FirstPort to raise various issues; the grounds being in a state of disrepair with overgrown hedges and bushes obstructing entrances and pathways. Constituents also had concerns that they have not been visited by nor given direct contact details for the manager of the site, as other repairs have to be dealt with including the return of the theft of the brass plates to the doors.  

On another estate managed by FirstPort, I wrote to the Chief Executive constituents who live at High View, Highgate Road also contacted me about their concerns about the mismanagement of their service charge funds and the running of the building, with severe damp and mould issues.  

It was great to visit the Nationwide Building Society as part of their 70 years on the High Street in Walsall Town Centre.

I met Sandra Wilkinson senior branch manager, Donna Hodgetts, Area Director Midlands and the Branch manager Bal Kaur. 

Nationwide in Walsall serve over 20,000 in Walsall and Bloxwich that is nearly a third of my constituents and they are committed to being present in every town until 2028. They also look after their staff with an Inclusion and diversity strategy. 

In the community the staff provide money lessons at schools from primary to high school including resources for the teachers. Locally they have worked in partnership with DWP at Bloxwich library on a session dealing with budgeting and with DWP organising a digital day for over 50s. 

 

 

Unlock Democracy held a drop in on 20 May 2025 to draw attention to people who are not on the electoral register. 

The event raised awareness of the need for automatic voter registration with experts presenting a detailed breakdown of regional data across England and Wales. The Electoral Commission estimate that over 6 million eligible citizens are not on the electoral register and reported that Sweden, which uses an automatic voter registration model, had a voting age population of 8.1 million with over 7.75 million people were registered to vote. Turnout was 84%. The data for the UK shows large inequalities between different groups:

Only 60% of 18-19 year olds are registered to vote, compared to 94% of over 65s.
Only 65% of private renters are registered to vote, compared to 95% of owner occupiers.
Only 72% of black and mixed-race citizens are registered to vote, compared to 87% of white citizens.

I am pictured with Tom Brake, former MP and Director of Unlock Democracy, with the letter I signed with other MPs and Peers urging the Prime Minister to include a commitment to automatic voter enrolment in the forthcoming Elections Bill.