Hello and welcome to the Westminster Hour with me, Helen Kat and my guests.

Coming up in this edition, small boat crossings in the channel have again hit a new record.

And according to the polls, they're now one of voters' top concerns.

We'll look at whether promised social media crackdowns and efforts to speed up processing will help the government meet its pledge to smash the gangs.

We'll also hear from the MP for Southport, Patrick Hurley, about how the town is recovering a year after the murder of three young girls sparked violence on the streets.

And whether they're packing flip-flops and sun cream or hiking boots

and an an anirac, we'll take a peek at the summer reading that politicians are popping in their

suitcases. First though, let's meet my panel. Mary Boustid is a former leader of the National

Education Union. She began her career as an English teacher and still takes a close interest in the

profession as founder and chair of the

teaching commission. Mary joined the labour benches in the House of Lords earlier this year. So Mary,

the Lords has broken up for the summer now. Do you get any of the same end of term vibes as you did at school?

Definitely. I was waiting for the end of term and we've got a month off for August because it's been a very

heavy period and there's been a lot of three August because it's been a very heavy period and there's

been a lot of three-line whips and a lot of staying there till 11, 12 and 1 o'clock in the morning to get the government business through. So yes, I was waiting for the end of term. It's good to have the break. And I imagine when you were a teacher, you must have got heartily sick of people saying to Isn't it great? You've got six weeks off now.

Yeah, I always thought that anybody who said that should try and do it for a week.

Try and teach for a week and then you wouldn't say that again. Well, Danny Kruger is the Conservative MP for East Wilcher. He's joining us down the line from his constituency. He serves on Kemi Badenox's front bench team as shadow work and pensions minister. Now before getting into

politics, Danny founded a youth crime prevention charity and then worked as an advisor to David Cameron

and Boris Johnson when they were prime ministers. Now, Danny, I know MPs get very cross when it's

suggested that they are just going off to put their feet up for six weeks over the summer recess,

but are you getting any downtime, do you think? Yes, Well, thank you. Yes, yeah, we do. And, you know, these recesses always coincided with the children's school holidays. So that is good. But yeah, no, you just, you carry on working. You're just doing it locally. And it's the paradox. Everyone's desperate to get into Westminster to become an MP. and then once you there, you're desperate to get out and for recess to begin. So I'm glad we're here. Thanks. Now, Jill Rutter is a familiar voice on the programme. She spent most of her career in the civil service, notably in the Treasury and at number 10. She then moved into think tanks. She's a senior fellow at the Institute for Governments and the UK in a changing Europe. Now, she's hot-footed it here from the Oval today, but the summer is also a time when young people are often using the time to get experience in internships. And there has been some controversy this week about the government's plan to restrict civil service internships to working class youngsters,

to try and tackle what they say is a bit of sort of group think.

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