Ian Sollom MP Newsletter - 4th February

Welcome to the latest of my newsletters, updating you on my work in Westminster and across St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire. 

It has been a turbulent start to 2026. From US military action in Venezuela to threats against Greenland, we're watching the rules-based international order come under unprecedented strain. I wrote about what this means for Britain in my recent Cambridge Independent column, which you can read here.

While these global developments are deeply concerning, my focus remains on the work I can do here - representing St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire in Westminster and supporting our local community. Below you can read about that and some of the issues you've been raising with me this month.

Children’s online safety & social media access for under-16s

The Liberal Democrats have long raised the alarm on social media harms as a public health crisis, and over the past month I have received hundreds of messages from local parents who are concerned about the consequences of social media on their children’s safety and mental wellbeing. As a parent myself, I absolutely share these concerns. 

In January, we announced our amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which calls for a ban on harmful social media for under 16s. Our amendment proposes film-style age ratings of up to 18 for the most harmful platforms, and a default rating of 16 for social media. This model, while protecting children from the worst of the online world and providing an incentive for platforms to remove addictive algorithms and harmful content, ensures that children can continue to use sites like Wikipedia for schoolwork, or WhatsApp to stay connected to family and friends. Both could be age-gated from children under a blanket under-16 ban. We think it’s important that children are able to access online crisis services such as Childline forums which are caught up in Online Safety Act user-to-user services. 

This harm-based approach is supported by children’s charities like the NSPCC and establishes a pioneering, age-appropriate standard for the online world, just like we have in the offline world. 

When this issue came to a vote in the House of Lords on 21st January, the Conservative blanket ban amendment passed with Liberal Democrat support. While we believe our age-rating approach would be more effective, we chose to support the Conservative amendment. This issue is too serious to allow parliamentary disagreement on methodology to delay action. Children and young people must come first, and this vote sends a clear message to Ministers that Parliament expects urgent progress on protecting children online. 

The Bill will soon return to the House of Commons, where the Government will need to respond to this amendment and I will continue to hold the government accountable for protecting our children online. 

You can read more about our approach here.

Paines Mill, St Neots – 30th anniversary celebrations

For 30 years now, Paines Mill has been providing supported accommodation for up to 19 young homeless people from across Huntingdonshire, and this week I was delighted to join the team to celebrate this huge contribution as they celebrated their anniversary. The staff at Paines Mill are on-hand 24/7, 365 days a year, to help residents develop independent living skills, and to offer support and advice about education, employment and training opportunities. Many of them have been working there for over a decade and are passionate about the importance of assisted living accommodation for young people. 

I was pleased to get the opportunity to speak with some of the current and former residents who had benefitted from living at the facility, and to have a tour of the fantastic building. 

Thank you to Paines Mill and its residents for letting us all into their home and allowing us to celebrate this special celebration year together.

f40 Initiative – Calling for fairer SEND funding for Cambridgeshire 

The f40 Initiative brings together the 43 lowest funded local authorities from across England in terms of education funding, and I was pleased to support the campaign at their event in Parliament this week.

Cambridgeshire is one of the lowest-funded councils in the country – receiving £5,000 less per mainstream pupil than the highest funded councils across the country.

But this is not just about numbers. I know from the messages I receive and the residents that I meet, that too many families across the constituency are struggling to get the education and support their children need and deserve. It is simply unfair that the National Funding Formula, designed many years ago and completely outdated, continues to have an impact on children and families like this, and I am committed to continuing to fight for fairer funding for our area.

Business rates for pubs, restaurants and high street businesses

Since the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget last year, the Liberal Democrats have been calling on the Government to cut business rates for all high street businesses to save them from disaster.

Last week, the Government announced its decision to deliver £100m in funding for pubs and music venues. While this was welcome news after our repeated calls to protect our pubs, it was disappointing to hear only a vague promise to “review the way that [hotels] are valued”, and no mention of further plans to support cafes, restaurants, and other high street businesses.

I have heard from so many businesses across St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire that the hike in national insurance at the 2024 Budget and ever-increasing energy bills are inflicting real damage on their livelihoods. The Government must move beyond piecemeal support and urgently introduce a sector-wide approach that leaves no high street business behind.

We Liberal Democrats have now written to the Chancellor, urging her to commit to a support package that reflects the true scale of the crisis facing our high streets.

Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visas and Government changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain 
 

A few months ago, I wrote in my newsletter about the concerning changes the Government has proposed to Indefinite Leave to Remain, and their potential impact on people from Hong Kong in our community who hold British National (Overseas) visas. 

Following the many letters and messages I have received on the issue, alongside Cllr Sarah Caine and Mayor of St Neots, Richard Slade, I recently held an online meeting with over 40 members of the Hong Kong community across St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire who had all contacted me with their concerns. These range from problematic new income thresholds to raised English language requirements and the fact that those on BN(O) visas are still required to pay overseas fees for their children to go to university.  

I have now written to the Home Secretary to add my voice to all those who are already raising these key concerns, and passing to her the powerful testimony of those affected in my constituency. I am also a member of the new Liberal Democrat Working Group on Hong Kong, which had its first meeting last week and will look to coordinate efforts to raise these issues to maximise impact. 

The Government is currently consulting on the impact of these changes and will be taking submissions until the 12th of February. If you are affected by the proposals and want to share your concerns, please submit them here. Once the consultation closes, I will hold a follow-up meeting, so please do contact me if you would like to be placed on the list to attend this. 

As always, if you have specific questions about an individual visa application you are making, please email me and one of my team will be in touch to support you.

Arthur Rank Hospice - Meeting with ICB and Health Minister to challenge funding decisions

My Cambridgeshire Lib Dem colleagues and I recently met with the Minister for Social Care and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) CEO to challenge the decision not to fund the beds under threat of closure at Arthur Rank Hospice, and to call on the Government to put in place long-term funding for palliative and end-of-life care.

This comes after good news that the hospice’s fundraising campaign secured donations to keep all beds open for the next 12 months. The ICB now needs to work with Arthur Rank Hospice on sustainable longer-term funding.

The current evidence to support closing the beds is not strong enough and does not reflect the reality of patients needing end-of-life care who would otherwise face crisis admission to hospital.

Over the next 12 months, we’ll be monitoring closely: Are the remaining commissioned beds adequate? Are people dying inappropriately in hospital? The evidence will show whether more beds are needed - and if they are, the ICB must act.

We secured a commitment to a follow-up meeting with the ICB CEO in two months to review progress.

Thank you once again to everyone who signed our petition and donated to Arthur Rank Hospice. The Lib Dems remain firm that hospices like Arthur Rank must remain a central pillar of end-of-life care in all communities.

Government U-turn on plans for mandatory digital ID 

After huge backlash from the public and its own backbenchers, the Government has now scrapped its plans to introduce a mandatory Digital ID system. Since the policy was announced back in October, we Liberal Democrats have been at the forefront of campaigning against it – the scheme threatens our right to privacy, it would cost the taxpayer billions, and it would do little to restore public trust in the immigration system.

Pretending that Digital ID will be voluntary is not something we should fall for. The danger now is that the Government continues to bring in digital ID by stealth, creating a national ID database that would be a gift to Elon Musk, the Russians or identity thieves.

We Liberal Democrats will continue to fight against Government plans to centralise people’s data. You can read more about my views on Digital ID here. 

24-hour ‘Liveathon’ at St Neots Citizen Hub – raising money for ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’

Each week, the Citizen Hub in St Neots runs a health and resilience day for people in the town, providing counselling, signposting to local support, and a safe, warm place for the community to gather. On the 19th January (on what is often called ‘Blue Monday’), the Citizen Hub hosted a 24-hour long ‘Liveathon’ – hosting conversations about wellbeing and lived experience with people from the local community for a full 24 hours straight. 

I was pleased to join Alex Hughes (co-founder of the Citizen Hub) and Danielle Bridge (Founder of ABC Life Support CIC and Chief Executive of Black Minds Matter UK), alongside Richard Shaw (Chair of the St Neots Initiative) on the sofa for a chat about all things democracy and community action. It is great that the event has raised over £5000 to support their continuing Wellbeing Wednesdays for the year ahead. 

You can watch highlights from our conversation here and learn more about Wellbeing Wednesday here.

Parliamentary Business

I always endeavour to represent residents of St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire in Westminster on issues you care about. Thank you to everyone who writes to me each week, expressing your views, sharing campaigns, and inviting me to attend various meetings in Parliament. 

• Showed my support for the Campaign for Gigi, hearing from parents whose trust was broken in the most devastating way and speaking to them about why urgent action is needed to make nurseries safer for children. 
• Voted against the Government’s Public Order Act, which would designate life sciences facilities as ‘key national infrastructure’, and therefore undermine the right to peacefully protest. 
• Met with Age UK at their ‘Ending Corridor Care and Long Waits in A&E’ event in Parliament, to hear from staff and patients affected by the corridor care crisis and receive a briefing on the impact of the issue across St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire.

Surgeries and Further Information

Each week I have been holding both in-person and online surgeries to speak directly to constituents about their issues. If you feel you have a problem I could help with, or you have a campaign matter you would like to discuss with me, please don’t hesitate to contact me at ian.sollom.mp@parliament.uk to request a surgery appointment.   

I will continue to keep you updated about my work to represent the constituents of St Neots & Mid Cambridgeshire. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch, volunteer or get involved with our campaigns.

If you are writing as a constituent, I will need to verify that you reside in the St Neots & Mid Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency to reply and deal with your case. Therefore, please ensure that you have included your full name and home address in your email.    

I receive a significant volume of campaign and casework emails each day. Therefore, I ask for your patience as my team respond to new emails. Please know your messages are being received and we are working as fast as we can to respond to every inquiry.

Best wishes,

Ian Sollom MP

St Neots & Mid Cambridgeshire