Mail Weekly Column: 19 February 2024

Last week was half-term recess, meaning that there was no need to travel back and forth from Furness to London and instead I could spend a week here, enjoying a bit more time with my family, getting my head down on some (slightly) delayed projects, and getting to speak to more constituents - either through the two surgeries I held in my office, the street surgeries I did in even the most miserable of the recent weather, or at Earnse Bay to talk about Coastal Erosion, or at a speeding meeting that I held at the King Alfred on Walney.

Just before Christmas I was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Anti-Fraud Champion. Politics is a funny business - rarely are people with a deep understanding of a particular topic dropped into a role that matches that knowledge. Partly this is because the role necessitates that you have to have a shallow knowledge of many things, but partly it is a mix of timing, opportunity and availability that defines who goes where and does what job as much as anything. But I did work in fraud prevention for a decade before becoming an MP, so this is an area that I have a real interest in, and it’s been fascinating getting my feet back under the table and working with a fantastic team of civil servants to push the agenda along.

I mention this as last Monday we launched a major new campaign linked to fraud - Stop! Think Fraud. This is a large-scale public awareness campaign that will run across the United Kingdom for the next few years.

Fraud is the single largest crime in the UK, accounting for almost 40% of all offences, leaving behind it a devasting wake, with the impact very keenly felt by victims. Fraud can’t just be measured in the loss of pounds and pence, but also in the stress, worry and shame that its victims often feel. That is why in May last year the Government published the Fraud Strategy, setting out an ambitious plan to tackle this crime that causes so much harm to the public. It is my job to ensure that this strategy is delivered.

Fraud has fallen by 13% compared to 2022 but there is much, much further to go. Stop! Think Fraud joins together organisations from government, law enforcement, and the private sector to give people the information they need to better protect themselves. Just a fortnight ago I met with Victim Support in Furness to hear about some of the challenges they see from local people who have been referred through - the stories were awful to learn about, and I’m more convinced than ever that this work is crucial, especially now.

When I left my last job to become your MP, the world of fraud was disjointed and complex. It feels now like the key players are more engaged and want to work together to better protect the public, catch those responsible, and give support to the victims of fraud. And quite right too.

This stage of the campaign is about giving you to the tools to better protect yourself. But there is far more to come: we’re giving significantly more resource to the Police; holding social media firms to account (some 80% of fraud begins online); working with international partners to better go after the money and criminal gangs, and giving more support to victims too.

To learn more about this campaign and to protect yourself better, visit www.gov.uk/stopthinkfraud