Legal Aid Cyberhack, Third Runway and the EU Reset Deal

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Report back from Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith and Chiswick

Andy Slaughter MP

June 2, 2025

The last couple of weeks have been varied, two weeks ago I was in Parliament for a busy last week before Whitsun recess and last week, during recess I was in Hammersmith & Chiswick making the most of the opportunity to spend time in the constituency.

During the last week before recess there was a Justice Committee visit to the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate HQ. The Committee was shown how His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate conducts examinations of CPS files. The visit was informative for Committee members and allowed us to see the inner workings of a different part of our justice system. I am always grateful to the staff who give up their time to show us around and answer questions.

I asked a question at the statement given by the Justice Minister on the cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency. The attackers have claimed to have stolen a significant amount of data that the Legal Aid Agency held. This data breach is one of the worst we have seen in recent years, and we must future proof our IT systems to withstand the ongoing and targeted attacks from cyber criminals.

I also attended a campaign meeting for the No Third Runway Coalition to discuss the developments on the status of the 3rd runway. I tabled a written question to the Secretary of State for Transport to ask how many civil servants and consultants have been working on proposals for a third runway since the announcement at the end of January. The question is due to be answered after recess.

We had good news on a deal between the UK and EU as the Prime Minister starts to undo damage to relationships with our European neighbours caused by the previous Government. The deal focussed on lowering bills and food prices as well as working together on border security. The Prime Minister announced that these conversations have opened a path to agreeing a form of youth mobility scheme. All-in-all a positive step in the right direction and good news for my constituents.

The announcement from the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary on the situation in Gaza was a welcome shift in UK policy toward Israel’s continued atrocities in the region. I asked the Foreign Secretary about further sanctions and the need to recognise the state of Palestine. As always you can see all of my recent contributions in Parliament here.

Last week, Thames Water received a record breaking fine of £122.7m for breaching rules over sewage spills and shareholder payouts. Ofwat has confirmed that this will be paid not by customers but by the company and its investors. This is good news as water companies need to be held accountable, with recent price rises for customers they should not be profiting when there have been such clear failures.

There is some good news at Charing Cross Hospital as Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust announced that they have installed a new, state-of-the-art MRI scanner, which is set to improve diagnostic capability and help reduce waiting times. This is great news for the hospital and for patients.

The Friday before last, I was delighted to be able to attend the Young Legal Aid Lawyers 20th anniversary that also celebrated its founder, Hammersmith and Fulham Councillor Dr Laura Janes, being awarded an honorary Kings Council. It was a lovely evening and brilliant to celebrate such a great organisation and Laura’s achievement.

A by-election has been called in Hammersmith and Fulham in the Fulham Town ward. The election will be on the 3rd of July. If you live in the ward, to vote for your new councillor, you need to be registered to vote by midnight, Tuesday 17 June 2025. You can find out more information about the by-election here.

There has been a lot of discussion about the recently announced health and disability benefit reforms. I know this is an issue that concerns many of my constituents and I was very pleased to have the opportunity on Wednesday to attend an event where I could speak to disabled people directly about the reforms. The event consisted of a 90 minute Q&A where I, along with my colleague and Chelsea and Fulham MP Ben Coleman, answered questions put to us by those attending. We then had a further half hour to speak to people individually, it was a great opportunity to speak to constituents about their concerns. A big thank you to Action on Disability for organising the event and to all who came along on the evening and watched online.

There is an ongoing consultation which allows people to give their thoughts and opinions on some of the changes being suggested, the consultation closes on the 30th of June. You can read more about the reforms and find out more information about how to submit your thoughts here.

There is currently a wonderful exhibition on at the Irish Cultural Centre which I was pleased to be able to see last week. It is a brilliant exhibit of Wicklow-based David Stephenson’s photography and includes photographs taken in Ireland, Africa and Central America in the last 35 years. Do go along if you can, there is more information available here.

Best,

Andy

andy@andyslaughter.com

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