At this time of year it’s important to appreciate all the brilliant people, workers and organisations in Salford. Those who have helped us or cared for us, protect us and kept us safe, taught us, entertained us and provided our public services – and those volunteer and gave their time to help us. All of those people helped transform our communities for the better and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done this year and continue to do.

People in Salford make me feel so proud and privileged to represent them in Parliament, and I will continue to fight for the future that everyone in Salford deserves.

Sending you all my love and wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2025.

Best wishes,

Rebecca

Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Member of Parliament for Salford

Christmas card competition

Congratulations to Esther from St Joseph’s RC Primary School for winning this year’s Christmas Card competition! And congratulations to our runners-up Avin at Lark Hill and Destiny at St Paul’s. There were so many wonderful entrants for this year’s Christmas Card competition, it was incredibly hard to choose a winner. Well done to everyone who took part!

Salford Foodbank

I recently visited Salford Foodbank and met the amazing team running it. Access to safe, affordable food must be a right—not a luxury. We know the cause of this crisis: 14 years of austerity-driven spending cuts, labour market casualisation and welfare reform, hammering the poorest and most vulnerable. Today, there are millions of children across our country who are going to bed hungry.

Charities and good people should not have to step in to provide for the most fundamental human need in one of the richest economies in the world. During a recent Parliamentary debate on foodbanks, I urged the Government to prioritise tackling child poverty, including through lifting the two-child benefit cap. I spoke about this during a Westminster Hall debate, which you can watch here (my speech was covered by Labour Outlook, and you can read my speech in full here).

This Christmas in Salford, foodbank demand is rising. Click here to find out how you can help.

State Pension Inequality for Women

This week Ministers said they wouldn’t pay compensation to millions of women hit by changes to the state pension age. The Ombudsman reported to Government that the DWP was guilty of maladministration and recommended an urgent scheme of redress for 1950’s women who suffered pensions injustice. The report was clear – ignoring most of its findings is virtually unprecedented, and I fear a very worrying new precedent has now been set for the importance placed upon the ombudsman as a vehicle for holding Governments of all stripes to account in the public interest. This remains a historic injustice that must be resolved and this must be revisited urgently. As co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality for Women I am now working with colleagues across the house to urge the Government to amend its decision and to provide the redress 1950’s born women deserve.

• I raised this in the House, which you can watch in full here.

• I spoke about this on Sky News (watch here) and on GB News (which you can watch here).

Salford Foundation

I was delighted to visit Salford Foundation’s Women’s Centre. The Foundation is a charity providing opportunities for young people and adults to create better futures and it was great to see the excellent work being carried out at the centre. I was delighted to receive a little Christmas tree that was made by one of ladies in their arts and craft workshop. It now takes pride of place in my office.

Pendleton Court Care Home

I recently visited Pendleton Court Care Home had chance to talk politics with some of the fantastic residents, who were also making Christmas cards, and staff including lovely Lesley who has worked there for over 10 years. You can read more about my visit on the Salford Now website here.

Salford Lads and Girls Club

Salford Lads and Girls Club has been saved from closure following their appeal which was launched in October. It needed to raise £250,000 by the end November or would shut, but in just six weeks communities in Salford and beyond raised £273,000. This is amazing news for the club — thank you to everyone who helped save this vital community asset. Read more about this in the M.E.N. here.

Salford Post Office

The news last month that hundreds of Post Offices are at risk of closure was deeply concerning. This affects the Post Office in Salford’s precinct. I joined forces with a group of over 20 cross-party MPs in writing the Chair and CEO asking for answers to a number of fundamental questions. You can read our letter in full here.

Guardian and Observer strike

I was pleased to join Guardian and Observer journalists on the picket line, who were striking to highlight real concerns about the proposed sale of the Sunday newspaper to Tortoise Media. We called for a need for engagement and the future of journalism due to company’s plans to hastily sell the Observer.

BBC Funding

As co-chair of the National Union of Journalists’ (NUJ) parliamentary group, I spoke in a Westminster Hall debate about BBC funding. The BBC has been at the heart of the UK’s national life for over 100 years, and it is at the heart of our constituency in Salford. It is there for the people of Britain, not for profit.

It has a more important function than just entertaining us; it reaches out to every community in the UK and gives them a voice. However, it has seen a 30% real-terms decrease in funding for UK public services in the last decade. Parts of the service have been at risk or have been cut completely, which puts the unique role of the BBC in jeopardy.

In the debate, I spoke about ways we could improve the BBC, particularly in how it engages with the public. The NUJ suggests that starting with genuine engagement and consultation with the public about what they value from their BBC will regain their input into its future funding and direction. It further suggests public and staff representation on the BBC board, improving diversity and reflecting the priorities of licence fee payers more fully. It calls for the reversal of initiatives that have diverted licence fee income away from core work, including the costs of free licences for the over-75s, which should be funded directly by the Government. It also calls for greater independence and the safeguarding of the BBC from perceived political interference, including by ensuring that the BBC boards and its chair are chosen by an arm’s length body.

I told Ministers that I hope they will consider those points carefully and will continue to champion the BBC, both in Salford and across the UK. You can watch my speech in full here.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

The debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was widely reported in the news. Unfortunately, I was not chosen to speak in the debate, but having scrutinised the Bill I decided to vote against it. I am concerned that the Bill in its current form does not provide adequate safeguards and robust enough definitions to ensure people are protected from potential coercion and misdiagnosis. The Bill defines someone with a terminal illness as one who is ‘reasonably expected to die within six months’; I am concerned that experts’ opinions can often differ on what is terminal and upon life expectancy itself, and so the definition in the Bill is not robust enough. Furthermore, the Bill does not provide adequate guidelines and regulations for ensuring the person wanting to end their life is not doing so as a result of coercion or from a feeling that they are a burden to their families. A doctor cannot reasonably be expected to identify this and there is also no requirement for a psychiatric assessment on every occasion, only when the assessing doctor has doubts about capacity. I feel strongly that these omissions leave considerable room for either abuse or the heartbreaking scenario where the person suffering has capacity but feels that they must protect their loved ones from the emotional and physical burden of their illness.

Secondly, I worry that the provision of quality palliative care would become even less of a priority than it already is. Our focus should be on investing and supporting improvements in the provision of palliative care and pain relief in order to ensure those with terminal illnesses feel they can die with dignity without taking their own life.

Thirdly, I fear that many disabled and elderly people may be made to feel like they are a burden to their family and society at large. In Washington State in the US, where assisted dying is legalised, 61% of those requesting to end their lives reported they felt a burden on their friends, family and care-givers. We would not want a similar situation to arise in Britain and as I have outlined above I don’t believe the Bill would prevent this from happening.

In terms of my previous and current approach to this sensitive issue I have been resolute that people deserve dignity in dying, and each person nearing the end of their life should feel reassured and safe in the knowledge they will receive the very best care and be supported at that time to make it as peaceful and painless as possible. I cannot imagine the heart break faced by a person suffering and their loved ones when facing a terminal illness that causes unimaginable suffering and destroys any shred of dignity.

I can completely understand why many would wish to have the right to choose how and when they pass on but I do not think that the Bill in its current form is an adequate answer to this pain and suffering, and there is a real risk that this Bill could mark a shift in the way our society regards human life, particularly how we view people who are terminally ill, elderly, disabled or otherwise vulnerable.

What happens next?

MPs will decide how much time to spend going through the Bill. But it is expected to sit for up to two days a week for several weeks from the second half of January, and public hearings will be held with experts invited to give evidence before proposing amendments to the Bill. It is hoped that towards the end of April next year, all MPs will have a chance to debate and vote on the changes proposed by the committee. I will continue to monitor the progress of this Bill.

Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities

£245 million has been cut from Salford Council’s budget in total since the Conservatives introduced their austerity measures back in 2010/11. Groups like Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA) advocates for fairer funding for local governments, and I was pleased to join the relaunch of this group and meet with Ministers and discuss the Local Government Finance Settlement for the next year for councils across England, and the Government’s wider ambitions for the sector over the course of this Parliament.

Reparations for LGBT+ Veterans

In September, I wrote to Defence Ministers about LGBT+ veterans who faced historic homophobia and I’m pleased the Government will now launch a reparations scheme. Applications are now open for veterans affected by this, offering financial support. Find out more here.

SLAPPs

Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, are essentially a misuse of the legal system through threatening claims that are brought to stifle lawful scrutiny and publication. They have been used to silence public participation by and suppress information from activists, environmental campaigners, non-governmental organisations, whistleblowers, victims of sexual assault and even people just posting negative product reviews online. Anti-SLAPP legislation will ensure that justice is accessible to all, not just to a privileged few who seek to manipulate the UK legal system. I spoke in Parliament about how we urgently need legislation tackling the issue, which you can watch here.

Nuclear Test Veterans

I spoke in Parliament urging Ministers to investigate recent media reports that historic civil servants gave factually incorrect and incomplete information in court statements about medical monitoring of nuclear veterans. You can watch my video in full here.

Global HIV Response

Following World AIDS Day and Number 10’s Reception which indicated the UK government is determination to make AIDS-related deaths a thing of the past, I co-wrote a letter to the Government urging the country to strengthen our commitment to the global HIV response. With the UK’s leadership on this, we can continue to play a leading role in ensuring that the most vulnerable are protected, the latest scientific advances are scaled up, and that we accelerate towards a future where there are no new HIV infections.

White Ribbon Day 2024

I was pleased to support the White Ribbon Day campaign; the day men show their commitment to ending violence against women and girls. It starts with men to raise awareness and take action to challenge harmful behaviours that leads to violence against women and girls.

John Prescott (1938 – 2024)

It was really sad to hear of the passing of John Prescott. John was a Labour Party giant who spent his life trying to improve the lives of others. My deepest sympathies and prayers are with his wife Pauline, his family and all who loved him.