Tom Hayes is the Labour MP for Bournemouth East, and was elected in July 2024.
Playgrounds don’t often make national headlines. But when Parliament ignores them for 17 years, the neglect shows in every rusted swing, every patch of tarmac where equipment used to be, and every child shut indoors attached to a screen because there’s nowhere
One of the biggest surprises I’ve had in Parliament is discovering we’ve barely talked about playgrounds in nearly a decade. It’s remarkable, because if you wander through almost any neighbourhood and pause by a set of rusted swings or a boarded-up slide,
