A posting to new military housing isn't just a change of address for the families of our servicemen and women. It's uprooting their lives packing up everything familiar, moving to a base they may never have seen before, enrolling children in new schools, and adjusting to an entirely new environment. 

For the service personnel themselves, the challenges can run deeper. I saw this first hand on my visit to Warsaw with the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme. I met with personnel who were spending months - sometimes longer - away from home, family, and friends, often in arduous conditions. Given the sacrifice our brave personnel make, the very least we should be able to promise is that their accommodation will be a place of comfort.

One of the first actions I took after being elected in 2023 was to bring service families' concerns to Westminster Hall, holding a debate on the urgent state of their accommodation. Few will forget the challenges we saw two winters ago. Service accommodation hit crisis point. Images flooded social media of decrepit flats, mould, flooding, and water dripping through ceilings in the midst of a freezing winter. Repairs had stagnated, and our armed forces personnel had been forced to take to social media to share their experiences because they had lost faith that any other means of getting through was having an impact.

Many were left waiting hours on a contractor's helpline, if they got through at all, just to raise an urgent issue, and even then, they had little confidence it would be fixed quickly. It was unconscionable, as the then Conservative Defence Minister admitted, that people were moving into properties with mould.

Under this government, that begins to change.

Our Government's new Consumer Charter for Armed Forces housing is a step-change in how service families live. It cuts through needless red tape and restores everyday freedoms that most of us take for granted.

For the nearly 500 families here in Chicksands and Henlow, it means they can now keep up to two dogs, cats, or smaller pets without the long and frustrating approval process. For anyone who has spent a deployment apart from their loved ones, a pet isn't just an animal, it's a companion, a comfort, and often a lifeline for families adjusting to life without a parent at home.

It also means the right to decorate and personalise their homes is being restored. Military housing will still be maintained to proper standards, but the days of blanket bans on painting walls or putting up shelves are over. A child's bedroom painted in their favourite colour, family photos on the wall, planting flowers in the garden, these are small changes, but they transform a house into a home.

 Another important reform is that running a business from home will be simpler and more consistent. Whether it's a spouse running a small business, offering tutoring, or working remotely for a company, the new standardised process and named housing officers will make it easier to get the green light. For families who move regularly and can't rely on one employer or location, that flexibility is essential.

All of this is underpinned by serious investment more than £7 billion this Parliament to improve military accommodation, including £1.5 billion for urgent repairs and long-term renewal of family homes. Crucially, the landmark deal last year to bring 36,000 military homes back into public ownership means they can be maintained with proper accountability, not left to private contractors with patchy track records. No more endless phone calls to contractors.

I am proud to represent a constituency with such a strong connection to our armed forces. These national reforms build on other local efforts my office has been leading on. Like our campaign to ensure service families can access fair home insurance and aren't penalised for deployments abroad. Or the Hawker Hunter, a crucial part of our aviation history, celebrating our local service personnel at Chicksands and Henlow. Together we are fighting to keep the Hawker Hunter local, where it belongs. 

The pride we all feel in our armed forces should extend beyond Remembrance Sunday or Armed Forces Day. It should shape how we support service families every day. Saying "thank you" is not enough - we must back it up with homes that are truly fit for heroes. I'll be working with the government to do just that.