Alison McGovern MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  I will give way if the hon. Gentleman apologises to the 4.5 million children in this country growing up in poverty.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  I will continue for just a moment. All the young people who spoke to the commissioner could not have been clearer about the challenge of learning in overcrowded bedrooms. They were clear and direct about the shame of not always being able to keep clean because of a lack of hot water. I am deeply proud that we have committed funding for social housing to get children out of temporary accommodation, and expanded the warm home discount for all those on universal credit who are eligible. To ensure that the next generation of families experience a friendly face and have a place to play, we have expanded Best Start family hubs to every local authority. As I said earlier, those are just some of the changes being brought about thanks to the child poverty taskforce chaired by my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and for Education.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  I will ask the Minister with responsibility for family hubs to write directly to the hon. Gentleman and work with him on that suggestion. From the word go on taking office, the Prime Minister wasted no time in setting up the taskforce of Ministers to analyse the situation for our children in poverty.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  As my hon. Friend rightly points out, in the speech by the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately), we heard yet again from a Tory party that wants only to ignore the facts in favour of dividing people in this country, as it did for the many years it was in government. That is not what people want. People want this country to move forward together.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is not the only person who worries about it, and I will receive his intervention as a submission to the child poverty taskforce. The child poverty taskforce is looking at all the levers we can pull—across income, costs, debt and local support—to prevent poverty, including social security reform. Our universal credit review is considering ways that the system can improve in order to stabilise family finances and provide roots into good work. On the two-child limit specifically, the consequences of the Conservative choices made over the past decade and a half are clear for all to see. We have rightly said many times that we will not commit to any policy without knowing how we will pay for it. Taxpayers in this country—who include many parents, grandparents and those who care deeply about the fortunes of the next generation—have the right to know that they have a Government who will help grow our country and our economy. Poverty creates stony ground for that growth. It robs people of the dignity of being able to look after themselves and the choices about how to live their own lives. It robs children of what should be a worry-free time and makes them less able to take risks and try new things as they grow up. This makes bad beginnings for a country that needs its next generation to be innovators, to be inventors and to build our future. I say this as one of three in a family with hard-working parents where money was tight. We knew every day in those years when I was growing up that the Tory Government at the helm did not give a stuff about people like us—we knew that every single day. Families in this country who are struggling should know that this Labour Government think about them every day. We have taken action to improve life for our kids, and we will keep fighting for that every single day.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  I have given way a lot, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I am worried that you will be quite cross with me if I keep giving way, so I will make progress.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  I do not believe for a moment that it is just people in the Labour party who care about poverty in this country. Former Conservative Members of this House who were discharged from their duties by previous Prime Ministers, and many other Members of different parties over many years, have cared about poverty. We should deal with facts in this place, and I am merely repeating, for the benefit of the House, the Conservative Government’s record on poverty. I will cover the details of the child poverty taskforce in my speech. If the hon. Gentleman wishes at any point to make representations to the taskforce of Ministers dealing with child poverty in this country, I will happily receive them.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  I will come to the two-child limit in a moment, but let me correct the right hon. Gentleman: the issue then was Members voting to amend the King’s Speech. From the word go on taking office, the Prime Minister wasted no time in setting up the taskforce of Ministers to analyse the situation for our children in poverty and to identify the most cost-effective ways of helping them to experience better childhoods. Our child poverty strategy will be published later this year, but, as I have said, we have already taken steps that we believe will help to mitigate the worst effects of 14 Tory years. Just yesterday, the Chancellor announced the better futures fund, the world’s largest social outcomes fund, which will be backed by £500 million of Government funding over 10 years to support vulnerable children, young people and their families.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  I will mention a few contributions by the Children’s Commissioner for England, and then I will give way further. We heard from the commissioner that children think that free breakfast clubs and school meals are important. That is why we have begun the roll-out of free breakfast clubs in all primary schools and last month announced the expansion of free school meals to all on universal credit, lifting 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament. Young people told the commissioner about how they absorb their parents’ money worries. One 16-year-old girl said: “I worry about money quite a lot. I see myself as quite approachable to my mum so my mum will tell me absolutely everything.” Children need to grow up without that stress, so we have introduced the fair repayment rate for universal credit households, so that a debt to the Government does not keep families poor, which will help 700,000 households with children.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention and for reminding me of two of my predecessors. I cannot claim to have known the former, but I did know Frank Field very well. Frank and I talked many times, particularly with regard to Birkenhead, about his belief in the value of work. He wanted to see our shipyard thrive and young people in Birkenhead grow up with the pride of employment. I like to think that when the Prime Minister came to Cammell Laird shipyard recently to talk about the value of good work in Birkenhead, Frank would have felt very proud.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Child Poverty Taskforce · Hansard source

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  As the Secretary of State has already said, all policies that can lift children out of poverty are under consideration by the taskforce. We obviously will not commit to any policy without knowing how we will pay for it; neither, as I have said, will we wait to act if there are steps we can take immediately. I thank my hon. Friend for his question, which I will take as input to the child poverty taskforce. I also take this opportunity to thank all colleagues who have participated in the five parliamentary sessions that the taskforce has hosted since November 2024.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Child Poverty Taskforce · Hansard source

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  As Labour’s manifesto said, the emergency food parcels that we have seen are a “moral scar” on our country. That is why I am glad that, as Ministers have said, we are increasing the standard allowance for the first time in—as long as I can remember, certainly. I am also pleased that emergency food parcels were down this year.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Child Poverty Taskforce · Hansard source

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  Given our objective to reduce the number of children in poverty overall, I expect the impact of the child poverty strategy on children in Stroud to be positive, as all children benefit when the whole community can rely on children enjoying a good childhood. We will publish the child poverty strategy as soon as possible, but, as we have said, we are not waiting to act. The Secretary of State has listed a number of initiatives that we have already been getting on with.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Child Poverty Taskforce · Hansard source

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  Child poverty is a significant challenge in the north-east, and that is why it is right that Mayor Kim McGuinness participated in an early session of the taskforce and has shaped the agenda since then. The child poverty unit engages regularly with colleagues from the north-east and will hold a dedicated session on strategy with the north-east child poverty commission this week. Mayors have been absolutely critical to the development of the strategy, and we will continue to work closely with them.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Through the child poverty taskforce, we have been looking at the issue of incomes versus expenditures. We are taking steps urgently where we are able, but we will have more to say about that issue shortly.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  At the risk of boring the House, let me say that all levers are very much on the table when it comes to getting our kids out of poverty.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  This Government will always have the backs of working people, and I believe there will be a statement shortly on our modern industrial strategy. I know that Ministers from the Department for Business and Trade will be extremely engaged in the point that the right hon. Gentleman has just raised.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Universal Credit: Support into Work · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for bringing that important case to the House. Universal credit has no fixed hours requirement, but the connection between housing costs and universal credit, as she mentioned, is still a problem. I would be keen to look at the detail of her constituent’s case. Universal credit was introduced with the promise that it would move people off benefits and into work, but that clearly has not happened as we need it to happen, so considerable work is under way to deal with the inadequacies of the mess that the Conservative Government left us.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Universal Credit: Support into Work · Hansard source

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  Our Department is determined to serve businesses well. If the right hon. Member would like to help his local jobcentre do that and get good jobs into the jobcentre so that we can help his constituents, I am sure that I can facilitate that. However, he should be aware that employment is up and inactivity is down. We are moving towards an 80% employment rate, and the Chancellor’s investment plans, as she set out in the spending review, will help us move towards that.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Universal Credit: Support into Work · Hansard source

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  Specifically on the business that my hon. Friend mentioned, the Department’s rapid response service has worked with those affected and is keen to do more. I will personally ensure that he is put in touch with my colleagues in the Department so that he can help facilitate that, too. More broadly, like many industrial communities, my hon. Friend’s constituency deserves more good jobs. Our industrial strategy will help lead the way on that, as will the Chancellor’s investment plans set out in the recent spending review. I know that if my hon. Friend feels that we need to do more for his constituency, he will not hold back in telling us.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Universal Credit: Support into Work · Hansard source

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  We are building a new jobs and careers service for all, including those on universal credit, as the cornerstone of our Get Britain Working reforms. This new service will build towards an 80% employment rate, closing the gaps between disabled people and others and between parents and those without caring responsibilities, and dealing with the crisis in youth unemployment. We are also changing universal credit to stop people being left on the scrapheap, as per our “Pathways to Work” Green Paper.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Universal Credit: Support into Work · Hansard source

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  As the Secretary of State set out some moments ago, we are introducing the biggest improvement to employment support that the country has known. We will ensure that people receive the help they need to get into work and to stay in work.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Support into Work · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman mentions a problem that I think is central to the situation that we have inherited. That is why, as I mentioned in response to the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden), we are changing the way that DWP acts, so that we serve employers better and match people who actually want to move into those jobs. If the right hon. Gentleman would allow me, I will connect him with his local jobcentre manager, so that he can link up the businesses he mentions.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Support into Work · Hansard source

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  If a person is out of work and is offered a job, they are required to accept appropriate work that is offered to them. The focus of our Get Britain Working reforms is to address the current situation whereby nearly 3 million people are out of work sick and not actively looking for work, and 1.7 million people are out of work but are not getting the help they deserve from the existing jobcentre system.

• 17 Jun 2025 · Disabled People in Poverty · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for his point, because it is one of the other things I wanted to clarify. A number of Members have mentioned money being taken out of communities. Having been a Member of Parliament during the actual austerity years under the Conservatives, I can say that the benefit and other changes made under austerity clearly had a huge impact on certain parts of the country. That is why the spending review set out our investment plans. I have already mentioned the funding for the NHS and other areas through which we will be supporting the very communities that need to be lifted. I refer the hon. Member to the distributional analysis published alongside the documents last week, where he will see that this Government are prioritising lifting the communities that really need to be lifted. The hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Dr Pinkerton) has gone now, but I want to say that veterans can be supported through the armed forces independence payment, whether in work or not. That is separate from PIP, and no changes are proposed to it.