Alison McGovern MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for being such a champion for his constituents, and for making sure that their voice is heard in the decisions we are taking. The situation he describes was chaotic and, as he said, people paid the price for that in their job security and in the services we all rely on. The difference is that we are taking a long-term approach, with a multi-year settlement, and funding according to deprivation means that where the need is greatest, the money will follow.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  Luton is an extremely important place, with great potential to grow our economy. Most importantly, we want to see those children in Luton thrive, because they are our future. Today’s announcement allocates significant investment in Luton, which I am really pleased to do, precisely because of that relinking to deprivation, and I have every faith in my hon. Friend and her colleagues in Luton to make that money work for our children’s future.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. I have every confidence in the details that we are publishing today. We will be working with local authorities, as I have said, to make sure that they can set their budgets in the normal way and move towards financial sustainability.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady mentions multi-year settlements alone not being the answer—no, but they do help. That relates to her two other points on SEND and social care, because multi-year settlements allow councils to plan properly and undertake commissioning activities over a longer period of time. That was our objective, which we have achieved with this. She asked for more details on SEND. I mentioned in my statement that local authorities will not be expected to fund costs from general funds once the statutory override ends in 2028. We will have more to say on that throughout this settlement process. The hon. Lady asked about adult social care. Significant reform is needed there, but I do not think that anybody could say that we have not done anything. We are building a national care service, backed by about £4.5 billion of additional funding for adult social care in 2028-29, compared with 2025-26, including £500 million for the first ever fair pay agreement. I will never forget visiting care homes after they had got through the hell of covid. All that we do on social care has to back those people who did the most when our country needed them.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers I have already given on rural areas. We have built that into this settlement, and I will work with colleagues in all rural areas to ensure that we can get services improved and make this work.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I have answered a number of questions on rural areas, so I refer the hon. Lady to the answers I have already given. I have real confidence in the latest indices of deprivation. The data quality is much better, so we are able to meet the challenge she sets.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I would first say to the people of Kettering that their MP has done a cracking job in making sure that their needs are represented in this place and in the decisions that the Government take. Their MP has spoken up for their future, their children, their council and their needs, and we are doing our best to meet those needs.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I most certainly agree. Having visited Hartlepool before—I hope to do so again—I know not just what it has been through, but what it has to offer. It has a fine champion in my hon. Friend as its MP, and I look forward to working with him and all my friends in Hartlepool to make good on the promise of the next generation in Hartlepool.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend, who chairs the Education Committee, will know that it is not just the cost of temporary accommodation to councils; it is also the cost of children’s schooling. Last week I set out our strategy to counteract that terrible phenomenon and I will talk in detail to councils in the weeks and months to come to do exactly as she asks.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for meeting me recently to discuss that issue, which was really helpful. As I said in my statement, decisions about financial support will be taken in the usual way, and I will of course work with her and other Shropshire MPs to make sure that her area is on a journey towards sustainability.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I feel like a bit of an old lady in the House these days, having been here in 2010 at the beginning of austerity. I saw the effects of it—

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I think I answered that question in my statement. I am just as concerned about the cost as the hon. Member is.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  It is excellent to hear that Anna Coles has done so well in providing local services. I do not recognise the figures mentioned by the hon. Gentleman and I would be happy to discuss them with him. Our objective is to get all councils back on their feet, particularly through the Pride in Place programme, in which Torbay is participating.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is extremely experienced in these matters and remembers, as I do, the impossible situation that councils, particularly in the poorest areas, were put in under the Tory Government. He is right to point out that the Lib Dems did play a small role in that, too. On his questions, I always read in detail the Select Committee’s reports, and I will do that with the ones he mentions. The Government have set out the pathway, making the immediate change that I said on social care and asking Baroness Casey to drive us towards that long-term vision that he points out. That is exactly what we need to do; we need to fix this for the long term.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I would be more than happy to do that.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  People have accused me of many things, but being in cahoots with Reform is not one of them. I am very, very definitely not in cahoots with Reform. I have heard what the hon. Gentleman has said. I made some remarks in my speech about the steps that we will take, particularly if people are already paying an average amount of council tax. I am more than aware about the situation that people are facing with the cost of living, so if he wants to write to me with some more details about what he has read in The Times , I will happily respond to him formally.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend, who is an impressive champion for his constituency; the people of Welwyn Hatfield should be proud of him. When we are thinking about deprivation, we are determined for it not to be a question of one part of the country against another. It is simply about being led by the evidence: identifying poverty and deprivation wherever it exists—including its cause, which, as my hon. Friend says, can be housing costs. We will keep doing that and take decisions on that basis.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I think those three questions have been answered in what I have already said, so I refer the hon. Gentleman to my earlier answers.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  Wherever there are challenges as we transition to this new funding formula, I will work really closely with colleagues. I will do that especially with my friends in Trafford, and I look forward to meeting with my hon. Friend again soon to discuss that.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I have to agree with my hon. Friend that it is not just the people of Bedford who are excited about Universal Studios; the excitement can be felt across the United Kingdom. Today’s settlement hopefully helps us on that journey, but I will happily meet him to discuss the impacts on Bedford and the wider area.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point, which is very apposite given the effects of climate change and other things. I am sure that the fire Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Chester North and Neston (Samantha Dixon), will have heard what she said, and we will all work together to make sure it is addressed.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his consistent championing of Peterborough in this House—and, frankly, in my ear—at all times. He always stands up for his constituents, and I have been pleased to visit Peterborough on a number of occasions. I want to see the significant investment that we are making in Peterborough help it to thrive. It has great potential and fantastic young people, and I look forward to being invited back to see exactly what is happening there.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to describe the serious and challenging situations that lots of parts of the country face. I am anxious to ensure that we make progress in Bradford, not only because Bradford and places like it suffer from the consequences of poverty, but because Bradford has one of the youngest populations in the country. It is part of our future: we must back our young people, and I want to see Bradford grow and its people do well.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady has made precisely the case that I was trying to make in my statement. We must fund councils properly, but if we do not get a grip on escalating costs it will do no good; we will still have unsustainable councils. I am already working with colleagues in the Department for Education, and if the hon. Lady would like to send me details of the case that she mentioned, I will be happy to investigate it.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I have a much greater level of confidence that we can find pockets of deprivation in rural areas, because the latest indices of multiple deprivation are much better-quality data. I will happily discuss that with the hon. Gentleman as we meet to talk about the finances in central Bedfordshire.