Alison Bennett's Monday Mail: Reading lists in a heatwave

Lindfield Village Day

After a long hot week, Lindfield Village Day was great fun on Saturday. The Haywards Heath Lib Dems always pull out the stops with their ever popular tombola. I did enjoy talking to lots of people during the afternoon - those who came up to our stall, and those who had their own stands too. Thank you to readers of this email who came to say that they enjoy the Monday Mail, it means a lot to get such lovely feedback.

Despairing of South East Water

I was very relieved that in Mid Sussex we did not have any major water outages during the heatwave but I do despair of South East Water who had 18,000 customers out of supply in Kent last week (and some are still relying on bottled water on Sunday afternoon). The problem is not with the water levels of Ardingly and Arlington reservoirs, which I now periodically check by visiting this web page, but it is with South East Water’s inability to treat enough water to meet surging demand during a spell of very hot weather. In the South East of England, we get several heatwaves every year. A water company whose one responsibility is to supply tap water should have the infrastructure to be able to anticipate and meet this demand regardless of whether the heatwave comes early in May or later in the summer. I am determined to keep banging the drum about this shambolic state of affairs in Parliament, as I have been doing, most recently on the Thursday before the Whitsun Bank Holiday.

Reading lists

We have exams in my house this summer, and in an act of solidarity, I have been upping my reading over half term. 

I read Tony Blair’s essay, and before I had time to read Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting or Kemi Badenoch’s responses, my initial thought was that Blair overlooked the most existential challenge that we face in 2026, namely climate breakdown. The uncertainties posed by a shifting world order, or a transformative technology like AI are immense, but nothing is as profound as the possibility that within the lifetime of our children, swathes of the planet will be uninhabitable. 

On the subject of young people, I think it is important that we take the time to read Alan Milburn’s initial report about Young People and Work. There are about one million young people who are ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ (the so called ‘NEETs’). Milburn rightly points to a complex set of circumstances that have led to an entrenched and growing problem. The causes are complex. It is not as simple as blaming the current government's taxes on employers making it harder for young people to get their first job. Nor is the previous government’s neglect for young people during the pandemic the sole factor here. And it is certainly not fair or accurate to say that young people themselves are responsible. We did not get to this point quickly, and unpicking it, and giving young adults a stake in society and the opportunity to secure a better future for themselves is a moral responsibility on all our shoulders.  

Getting in touch

My parliamentary email address is: alison.bennett.mp@parliament.uk. If you need my help, please get in touch.

Best wishes,
Alison

PS: If you’ve enjoyed this week’s Monday Mail, please spread the word and tell your friends by forwarding it to them. Anyone can sign up here.