Alan Campbell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  It is unacceptable that people face delays due to medical conditions. We recognise that such delays have knock-on consequences. As I said, the DVLA is working hard to reduce delays and has introduced a new casework system that will improve things significantly, but I will take up the matter with the relevant Minister. If, as they monitor progress, a statement is required on our return, I will certainly give that some thought.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to raise the issue of the importance of parks. I am certain that Baysgarth and Bridge View parks are lovely places, and that their awards are well deserved. He talks about resources. Our flagship Pride in Place programme is giving up to £5.8 billion over 10 years to support 284 towns, and I hope we will be able to look at further ways to help. Pride in Place empowers local people to decide how best to look after their areas, and that includes deciding on what happens to their local parks.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  It is very much at the forefront of the Government’s thinking that we want not only to clean up local communities, but to put in their hands the powers to do so. If the right hon. Lady seeks a Backbench Business debate or a Westminster Hall debate, I am sure that her concerns about nitrous oxide and other things will be echoed across the House, and she will find others who will want to join her for that debate.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am sorry to hear of the situation that the hon. Gentleman raises. I will take that back to ministerial colleagues and see if we can get an update. Should he seek a meeting with Ministers, I would be happy to arrange it.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his work and the work of his Committee. On the time available for Backbench Business debates, he will know, because I just read out the business, that at the end of the day on which we return, we have found guaranteed time for the debate on SLAPPs that unfortunately could not take place last week. I anticipate that it will be a busy two weeks and two days, but I will certainly look for the time that he requests during that period; he would not expect me to do anything other than that. I will not make promises that I cannot keep—people want to prepare for debates, so I will not commit yet—but I am looking at that. I thank the hon. Gentleman for what he said about the next Prime Minister’s comments on social housing. If there are new Secretaries of State, I am sure that when we return they will want to come and set out what changes—or, indeed, continuities—there will be in their Departments’ policies, because the House will want to know that.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Lady suggests, the next Prime Minister was absolutely central to helping to deliver the Public Office (Accountability) Bill. It is crucial that we got that Bill through this place, and I hope it will see the statute book, but, as the hon. Lady has alluded to, that is just the first step. It is often about changing the culture in institutions. I know the next Prime Minister well, and he is not going to give up on this matter either.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for her tireless campaigning on this important matter. Across the last five financial years, we have spent more than £555 million on dementia research, including dementia diagnostics and trials of potential treatments. We are working to be at the front of transforming treatments and to be a world leader in dementia trial expertise. I will take back her comments to the relevant Minister and ensure that she gets an update, not just on what we are doing, but on our plans for the future.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his kind invitation—as ever, I will need to check my diary. On a serious point, common ridings are an important tradition, bringing communities together, preserving local history and putting on a spectacular display for visitors. I join him in thanking all the volunteers who make such events a success and in encouraging people to go and see for themselves what happens.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I certainly join the hon. Gentleman in paying tribute to everybody involved, including the medical staff. I hope that this will be the great step forward for Cheltenham that he is talking about. I hope that the council has heard his remarks. Of course, to some extent planning takes a little time, but we should be getting on with the project, because acting and doing more to tackle cancer, which this Government are absolutely committed to doing, is of such importance to local people and communities.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Before I get on to the comments of the shadow Leader of the House, let me join him in paying tribute to Ann Widdecombe. Ann dedicated her life to public service and the causes that she believed in. The circumstances of her death are extremely distressing, and my thoughts and, I am sure, those of the whole House are with Ann’s family and loved ones. I cannot claim to have known Ann well. We did not agree on many issues, but we agreed very strongly on the issue of foxhunting, on which she was extraordinarily brave in the stand that she took. We shared a belief in public service and that politics matters to people. I smiled at the anecdote that the shadow Leader of the House told and the reference to the nightcap. I suspect we will read about that in one of his books in the future. I also pay tribute to Lord Christopher, who passed away this week. He had an incredible career in public service. He was the oldest serving British parliamentarian and the last Member of Parliament to have served in world war two. My thoughts and, I am sure, those of the whole House are with his friends and family. On House matters, this morning the Modernisation Committee published a report on a formal scheme for acting Select Committee Chairs. Select Committees perform a vital role in scrutinising the Government. The recommendations will ensure that Committees can continue their critical work, even if their Chairs need to take a period of absence. It sets out a new framework for the appointment, status and remuneration of acting Select Committee Chairs. I thank the Liaison and Procedure Committees for their work in this regard, and I will put the matter before the House in due course. I join the right hon. Gentleman in thanking the England football team. It was not the result that the nation had hoped for, but the team showed passion and energy, certainly in the previous rounds, and we should be proud of them. On the Iran debate, I thought the right hon. Gentleman was uncharacteristically churlish. I watched much of the debate, and what I did not watch I read in Hansard . I have to say—maybe after my remarks on Tuesday I need to build some bridges—that the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) made a really good speech on Iran and set out her party’s position. Crucially, she set out the need for this House to show that we have a bipartisan approach to this issue. I would not want to undermine in any way—I am sure he was not trying to do so—the powerful speeches that were made by Members on both sides of the House. I felt that it was important before the recess to set out very clearly what this House thinks. I fervently hope that we will not need to recall the House over the recess, but if we need to on this or any other matter, we stand ready to do so. I will take up the point that the right hon. Gentleman made about broadband with the relevant Minister. I will close by thanking the shadow Leader of the House for his remarks about the Prime Minister, to whom I pay tribute. He has made this country stronger and fairer. The duty of a Prime Minister is to leave the country in a better place than they found it. Without question, the Prime Minister has done that. He leaves a lasting legacy. Just this week, he fulfilled his commitment to the Hillsborough families and secured the future of British Steel. I wish him well, and I wish his family well, for the future.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman will appreciate that a new Administration will want to look across some of the commitments that have been made to see whether they want to take them forward. The overseas visitor levy is welcomed by many, but it has caused some concern. I am confident that when we return after the recess he will have an opportunity either to take part in a debate on this matter or to seek such a debate, because we will be discussing it in the autumn.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My message to the young people taking part in my hon. Friend’s summer school is to enjoy themselves—to enjoy what they might learn, but also to enjoy working together in what is a fantastic field. Taking part in public life is an honour and a privilege, and we should encourage everyone who aspires to public service to be able to follow that ambition.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The DVLA has recruited more staff to the drivers medical casework team and its contact centre to deal with the sustained increase in the volume and complexity of applications, but I understand the frustration of my hon. Friend and his constituents—and of many people across the country, probably. I recommend that he seeks a Westminster Hall debate on this matter when we return in September so that he can make that case and hear from a Minister how the issue will be resolved.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right to support Fulwell community library and the National Year of Reading, and I pay tribute to Richard Beck and all the others who are helping to make these things possible. Public libraries open up opportunities for everyone to access information and knowledge, and provide vital community spaces. We are investing £1.5 billion to save more than 1,000 local museums, art venues, libraries and heritage sites, ensuring access to culture for everyone. This is a particularly exciting time for my hon. Friend’s city, not least because we will be enjoying European football next season.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Madam Deputy Speaker, let me join you in saying happy birthday to my hon. Friend. I join her in thanking those providing important services and advice in our local communities. We recognise that summer can be a challenging time, not just because of the heat but because of increased costs. I wish her well with the event she is organising. We have introduced the Great British summer savings scheme to help people enjoy a day out for less. Families will be able to enjoy discounted attractions and meals out this summer.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  First, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman—I am sure many of us envy him—on Stockton making the shortlist for town of culture, which is a great tribute to the work taking place there. The Government are of course committed to doing everything they can to address the crisis in the NHS, not least in respect of infrastructure. This Government are different from the last Government, in the sense that we are not just committed to bringing forward plans, albeit I understand the urgency; we are actually going to provide the money for those plans. That was the bit that was missing.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Points of Order · Hansard source

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  No, we did not. The decision was therefore taken to go with the situation in Iran, rather than hang around and wait for what the Opposition might come up with. [ Interruption. ]

• 14 Jul 2026 · Points of Order · Hansard source

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  Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I just want to thank the hon. Gentleman for making my point for me. He said— [ Interruption. ] No, he said that the Opposition have until the House rises to put down the— [ Interruption. ] I have not disputed that; he is simply confirming that when we made this decision, that was not clear. We did not know that.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for reminding us what tomorrow was going to be about, because we did not know. [ Interruption. ] Well, we might have known tomorrow, but we certainly did not know today. [ Interruption. ] That is the point, actually, because if the Opposition wanted to set up something that the hon. Lady says is so important, why was no motion tabled to set out what the debates would be? It is all right for the Conservatives to prepare for that, apparently. [ Interruption. ] If that is the case, it is irrelevant. I am talking about a situation that is erupting once again in the middle east. People who are listening to or watching this debate will be doing so with a degree of incredulity, seeing the Conservatives preferring to go down a route of playing some weird political game while the middle east is on the brink of conflagration.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I will not get into the disdain that the hon. Gentleman’s Government, of whom he was a firm supporter, showed for this House, because we simply do not have time. As I have said, when the new Prime Minister is in place, he will come to this House and set out his plans for the future. I will not try to speak for the hon. Gentleman, whom I hold in equally high regard, about what his constituents think, but if he thinks they are not concerned about the situation in the middle east, our brave servicemen and women in the region and the economic impact of what is happening, he needs to go and talk to them.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Again, the work of the Government will continue through the recess. The Prime Minister will make a statement to the House at the earliest opportunity. I am sure the right hon. Gentleman did not mean to do so, but he must not downplay what is happening in and around Iran. If he wants to talk about embarrassing performances, let me gently remind him of what he said from the Dispatch Box as a Minister. He might want to turn around to his right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton), the former Chief Whip, and apologise: because of the mess he made on that day, she lost her job.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I absolutely welcome many of the Conservative hon. and right hon. Gentlemen who are present, because we do not often see them in this place. Mr Speaker, it tells you something about the state of the modern-day Conservative party when its Members can turn out en masse for this statement, but not for debate on some of the big issues of the day.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am not sure that it is in the right hon. Lady’s interest for us to debate her time as Chief Whip. I agree that this is unusual, and it is not a decision that has been taken lightly, but I point out to her and to Opposition Members that the situation in the middle east is unusual. We could well be in the midst of a greater conflagration in that region. She talks about a crisis in this place; she is suggesting that scrutinising the Prime Minister is more important than the crisis that is unfolding in the middle east. She is a shadow Foreign Office Minister. I find that statement incredible.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I think the hon. Gentleman is making a bid for a role that does not exist but could be created: the shadow Minister for clichés. As I have said, the new Prime Minister will come to this House and set out his plans, but we deemed the crisis unfolding across the middle east to be of sufficient priority to change tomorrow’s business. I apologise that that is the case. Nobody wanted to do it, but that is what the importance of the situation demanded. I am sorry if the Opposition cannot get their head around that.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am slightly alarmed by the constant references to the respect in which I am held. I think today may constitute a seminal moment in that regard. This is not a binary issue. It is about deciding, with a relative shortness of time given that the House has voted for the recess to start on Thursday, what we believe should be the priority for the House to discuss. Should it be the conflagration in the middle east, or motions that we had yet to see?