Andrew Pakes MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 11 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am aware that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, are a strong champion of animal welfare, so you might be pleased to know that tomorrow, for the end of our lido season, is a “bring your dogs to come and swim” day. You might also be pleased, alongside the Leader of the House, to know that this year over 37,000 people have visited Peterborough lido since it opened its doors in May. That is an incredible turnaround since we faced the risk of it closing earlier this year. I pay tribute to Clare Marshall, the Friends of the Lido and the staff of the lido for that amazing work. We can now look forward to the Year of the Lido in 2026, as the lido celebrates its 90th anniversary. I am not ambitious enough to invite the Leader of the House to come for a swim with me in the lido, but will he join me in congratulating everyone who supports our lido in Peterborough, and may we have a debate in Government time about the vital role that lidos play in so many of our communities?

• 4 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am aware that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House enjoys a tipple on occasion, so she will be pleased to know that the 46th Peterborough beer festival, which is entirely run by volunteers, was held last month. Over 21,000 visitors came to the festival this year, and over 58,000 pints of cask ale were served. I was pleased that Green Devil, by our very own Oakham Ales, was crowned the Campaign for Real Ale beer of the festival. Will she join me in thanking Mike Lane for organising his 39th beer festival in the city, as well as all the other volunteers, and will she make time in the House for a debate on the importance of volunteers to such community festivals?

• 3 Sept 2025 · Property Taxes · Hansard source

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  I am sure Hansard will correct me. The right hon. Gentleman just made some comments about high net worth or high value individuals. In my constituency, I am particularly interested in individuals on low incomes. In Peterborough, I represent a city with one of the highest levels of those employed on zero-hours contracts and in chronically insecure work. Does he not agree that his party often wants all the spending, but none of the funding for delivery? He talked about reducing taxation for some of those with higher net worth, but will he also talk about which doctors’ surgeries in my constituency would suffer cuts under his plans, which individuals would receive no protection for their employment rights, and how the people of Peterborough would be worse off because he wants to reduce the spending that will fix the foundations of this country?

• 3 Sept 2025 · Property Taxes · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 2 Sept 2025 · Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend not only for her statement, but for the care and determination she has brought to this role to centre the discussion and action around victims and young girls, and to work in collaboration with others—not just in this House, but those who are directly affected. May I just add to the points that the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) raised about loopholes in taxi licensing? One of the biggest issues that comes up in my constituency, both from taxi users and women’s groups, as well as from the vast majority of decent, hard-working taxi drivers, is that these loopholes, and ineffective and outdated taxi licensing, give a bad name to the system as a whole. I urge the Minister to work with her colleagues and to ensure that as we proceed with the national inquiry, we also proceed with the updating of legislation to give protection to all.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  Starting on a positive note, I thank the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for the Middle East for their work to secure an agreement to get students and young people out of Gaza to continue their studies. So many of our debates make us feel powerless, but we have demonstrated, at least in one part of this jigsaw, some power to change people’s lives by getting them here to study, so I thank them for that. If that is the best of humanity, this summer has also seen the worst of humanity, with the forced starvation of hostages and civilians waiting at food stations. One concern raised by my constituents is whether there will be a Palestine, west bank and Gaza left to recognise. Can the Foreign Secretary reassure us that this Government will strain every muscle to bring the international community together so that we do not just recognise a state of Palestine but start a process that will deliver it on the ground?

• 1 Sept 2025 · Borders and Asylum · Hansard source

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  Peterborough is a proud and generous place and has welcomed many people through its doors over generations. I pay tribute to the churches, mosques and community groups that are welcoming people and looking after them. But people are getting fed up with a system that is broken, and it was broken before my right hon. Friend became Home Secretary. Many of my constituents will welcome the record deportations and the focus on article 8 and making efficiencies in driving forward the system. But to be honest, the biggest issue in my constituency remains the hotel that was opened by Serco with no consultation with the police or the council beforehand. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that she will ensure that there is no single bureaucratic block and no stone left unturned in getting the Dragonfly hotel closed as soon as possible, as part of fixing this rotten, broken system?

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  Residents in Peterborough and across Anglian Water’s catchment area will welcome the statement and the bold action taken. They know all too well that the water system is broken. One of the issues we on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee have looked at is the need for water infrastructure. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that the drive and determination he has shown today to fix the water system will also drive forward the Fens reservoir and the infrastructure we need in the east of England? After a generation of delay on reservoirs, we now have the opportunity to succeed. Can he tell us that this will stay on track, and we will get the jobs and the water resources we need in the east?

• 16 Jul 2025 · Financial Services Reform · Hansard source

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  One of the first visits I undertook after the election was to my local branch of Nationwide, which for generations has been providing good financial advice and advice to first-time buyers in my seat, as have many other mutuals. In one of the previous periods of financial deregulation by the Conservative party, we saw a movement that led to the demutualisation of the building society movement, creating uncertainty for thousands upon thousands of potential homeowners and people looking for financial support. Can the Minister reassure the House today that the co-operative and mutual sector will remain absolutely essential to the everyday financial services that working people need?

• 14 Jul 2025 · Leasehold Reform · Hansard source

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  1. What steps she is taking to reform the leasehold system.

• 14 Jul 2025 · Leasehold Reform · Hansard source

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  I have been contacted by more than 300 residents in Peterborough about problems relating to FirstPort’s leasehold and management service charges. They face unfair charges, a lack of transparency, bad communication and poor services. Residents in, for example, Hammonds Drive and Manor Drive are fed up with getting a second-class service. What is my right hon. Friend doing to help residents in places like Peterborough get the peace of mind and justice that they so deserve?

• 9 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  I rise to support the removal of clause 5 and the associated amendments, and to comment on a few other amendments, based on what I have read and learned. Many things have been said in this debate, in the Chamber and outside, but it is undeniable that the system is not working for far too many people. We see a welfare bill rising, people trapped on benefits, and opportunities lost. The most heartbreaking part of all this is not the monetary cost, which we seem to talk about too much, but the cost to people of being written off, and spending a lifetime in a failed, broken system. We all hear stories every week, through our casework and in our surgeries, of people who want to work but do not have the necessary support; of the intrusive nature of assessments; of bureaucracy that needs a human touch; of people fearing to try work for fear of losing their benefits; and of disabled people who need more support. One of my hon. Friends, who is no longer in the Chamber, spoke about the broken social contract. While we approach this debate, and this subject, with the compassion and care that are needed, we should also be clear that the social contract is already broken. There is nothing honourable about denying or slowing down action to tackle the problem of 2.8 million people being thrown on the scrapheap for being sick, or long-term sick. There is nothing to cherish from the Conservatives, who left this Government a legacy of nearly 1 million young people thrown on the scrapheap, not in employment, not in education and not in any meaningful walk of life. No one can say that the system is not broken, and that is the spirit in which many of us in this Chamber have sought, from different perspectives, to approach this legislation. I want to speak against amendments that seek to delay or wreck this Bill, because whatever happens next, we need to get going. One of the criticisms of this Government that I sometimes hear is that we do not move fast enough. Now that we have started to fix our broken welfare system, we are being told by some that we are going too fast. I think we can move forward with a Bill that begins to fix the foundations of our welfare system, and do so with compassion for those most in need, and I welcome contributions that we have heard today. I also welcome the fact that Ministers have listened to our concerns about the Bill and decided last week to remove clause 5, because it caused anxiety not just to Members of this House, but to many people outside who saw the risk. Bringing the Timms review forward before any changes are made, and committing to fully involving disabled people and their organisations, is the right thing to do; the Government have listened. I recognise many of the points made in passionate speeches, and I support new clause 11, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Dr Tidball). I hope the Minister will address that, and assure the House that the sentiment has been taken on board, because the new clause will make the Bill better, not worse, and clear the fog. It is important that we push ahead with this Bill. As colleagues have said, work is central to Labour’s mission, because dignity comes from good work and from employers who embrace their employees and give people the ability to work. There is no dignity in allowing 2.8 million people to be thrown on the scrapheap, with no ability to get off it.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. He makes a powerful case for why our job today is to fix the Bill, not kill it. We should be passionate about the centrality and dignity of work. Unemployed young people in my constituency, and those who are disabled, are frustrated by a system that does not work, and they want the Government to work with them to fix it. That mission was true 80 years ago, when the post-war Attlee Government were elected to pick up the pieces following the devastation of the second world war. Similarly, our Government’s mission today is to fix the foundations of a broken welfare system and a broken economy. As I said on Second Reading, I am particularly concerned about the impact of the welfare trap on young people. I represent a city with one of the highest levels of—this is a horrible phrase—young people who are NEET, or not in employment, education or training, and who are starting their adult life on benefits. We know that the trend has not been helped by the failure of the mental health system and the health system, which has put pressure on people without offering them any help or support to get them through. I am a passionate advocate of apprenticeships. It cannot be right that so many young people in Peterborough and around the country are starting their adult lives on benefits, and I agree that we should not be paying benefits so that young people can stay at home. We should be investing in young people’s ability to earn, learn and train. I hope the Minister will expand on those points when he comes to respond to the debate, because it is morally, politically and economically right that young people should be earning and learning, and it is right that we proceed with this Bill. Following the removal of clause 5, I am content that this Bill begins the journey of fixing the system. It is the start, not the end, but it is a start we need to make.

• 3 Jul 2025 · NHS 10-Year Plan · Hansard source

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  I put on record my thanks to the Secretary of State for his statement today, and to the Chancellor for the financial and economic work she has put in. Labour Members know that governing well is a team sport, and it is when people in government work together that we succeed best for the people we seek to serve. Despite the best efforts of important surgeries such as Thistlemoor in my constituency, too many parts of Peterborough are left out as a result of two challenges. The first is the postcode lottery; too many things seem to happen in other parts of our county, and we know that working-class communities are too often left behind. The second challenge is that the NHS is just too complex. Even when we have services in the community, people struggle to know which bit to access—is it the pharmacist, the GP surgery, or the hospital? Can the Secretary of State confirm that the 10-year plan will seek to simplify the system, and to put patients in the driving seat and bureaucracy in the bin?

• 3 Jul 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Like most of us in this House, I am incredibly proud of the rich mix of communities that I represent. It was an absolute privilege last week to attend a meeting at the Faizan-e-Madina mosque alongside representatives from our cathedral, our chief of police, our fire services, the mosques and other faith and community leaders to discuss the implementation of our city-wide Islamophobia statement, which came from a motion against Islamophobia put forward by Councillor Jamil and—unlike some debates in this House—received cross-party support. Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Councillor Jamil and Mr Choudhuri on their leadership on this important issue, and will she ensure that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government continues to support communities such as mine as we develop important cross-community initiatives?

• 1 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  I will give way.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  As a member of a party that often debates clause IV, I welcome today’s news about clause 5, which I think addresses many of the concerns that hon. Members across the House, particularly on the Government Benches, have raised. There is an urgency to moving forward with the Bill and with change. Today’s system is broken. The legacy of the previous Government is shocking. Some 2.8 million people are outside the labour market due to long-term sickness. That is the same as the populations of Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool combined. One in eight young people are outside education, employment or training. The UK is the only G7 economy where sickness rates are higher than before covid, and as we have heard, health and disability-related benefits will cost around £100 billion over the next four years. That has a massive impact on our national resources. Economic inactivity not only holds back growth and makes us all poorer, but it blights the lives of those without work. That is why Labour Members believe that tackling worklessness is not just an economic case but a moral crusade. In conclusion, I want to see real support for people to get skills, opportunities and jobs. I want every 18 to 21-year-old to be offered a life off benefits through an apprenticeship or training. I want real support for people with poor mental health so that they can access the care they want. We need Labour’s Employment Rights Bill to be fully implemented to change the culture of work, so that employers work with disabled people to create the opportunities we need. Most of all, we need a system of social security that is there for everyone with a genuine need, so that no one falls into poverty because they lose their job and everyone who can work is given a path back into employment.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  Thank you—you have saved me the embarrassment. It is a great privilege to speak in this debate alongside so many passionate advocates who want to get this reform right. I think all of us on the Government Benches, whatever our differences of opinion on a point of policy, came into this House to make a difference and fix the welfare system, to liberate and create opportunities for people. I thank the Secretary of State for her statement yesterday and welcome news of the PIP assessment review, which moves us forward. It is vital that we engage those most affected by a failed welfare state in designing a successful one. We have put off change for too long. That is particularly true when it comes to young people. If politics is about choices, condemning nearly a million young people to the scrapheap of unemployment was the choice of the Conservative party. I want to focus my contribution on how these changes can affect young people and their life chances. Full employment and good-quality jobs have been a central part of Labour’s most successful Governments. That is why fixing Britain’s broken system of social security must be a priority for this Labour Government. There is no dignity in denying young people the opportunity to learn, earn or make a better life for themselves. As we approach the 80th anniversary of the 1945 Labour landslide, we must remember previous Governments who have dealt with such big challenges. Work was essential to that great 1945 Labour Government. William Beveridge’s landmark report in 1942 laid the foundation for Labour’s post-war welfare state, with an NHS, free education for all and full employment. The vision of Labour leaders such as Attlee, Morrison and Bevin was that every citizen would live a life free from want, squalor, disease or poverty, with meaningful help when times were tough. In return, every citizen was expected to play a full part in the social and economic life of the nation. Looking at the high number of people not in education, employment or training—NEETs, that terrible phrase—in my constituency, I see an economy that is still letting people down, a mental health system that is letting young people down and an NHS system that is trapping too many young people on a life of benefits. When the Minister winds up the debate, can he confirm that we will deliver the employment support that young people need and simplify the way that benefits and jobcentres work, so that young people get the support they deserve? Will the Secretary of State work with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to fix our broken mental health system, so that young people have a hand up rather than being pushed down? Our values should be about compassion, and our social security system should be about dignity for those who are unable to work or need support. That is why I welcome the protections that have been announced for people already on PIP. There has been a common theme in the debate. Many Members have raised concerns not with the fact that the Timms review will happen—it will begin to embed co-production, as the Secretary of State and many others in this House have said—but, I think legitimately, about its timing.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  On a long, hot, sweaty day like this, one of my hearing aids has collapsed in the middle of this session, so I am only half hearing you, Madam Deputy Speaker—you did call me, didn’t you?

• 1 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for making an important point. I would, if possible, give my right hon. Friend the Minister for Social Security and Disability Duracell batteries to turbocharge his work in this area.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Future of the Gas Grid · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. I think this is my second Westminster Hall debate, so I am still learning the ropes. Let me put on the record my GMB membership and the support that it has given me; and my previous role, before the election, as deputy general secretary of the Prospect trade union, covering workers in the gas and energy sector. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for securing this debate. I have learned this morning that he shares his birthday with the legend who is Derrick Stone, who also happens to be my dad and who is celebrating his 87th birthday today. Debates about the nation’s energy security are always of the highest importance, but given the ongoing events in the middle east and uncertainty around the world—as my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Tom Collins) said—debating the future and resilience of our energy system has become all the more necessary. The UK runs on gas; 40% of our energy comes from gas. Today every part of our country and economy still depends on it. Our national gas network collectively connects more than 30 large gas power stations, 24 million homes and half a million businesses. That includes several critical heavy industries—to name just a few, glass, chemicals, heavy machinery production, and sugar production and British Sugar around my constituency, in the east of England. They all need gas to produce their products for the British people and for us to sell to the world. We need those industries—and the 1 million jobs that depend on them—not only to stay in the UK, but to grow and thrive here and create more prosperity during the transition. Our gas grid, with our world-leading national transmission system as the backbone, will play a leading role in the transformation of our energy network. As the Climate Change Committee recently said, many industries—such as those that I have just named—simply cannot fully electrify; they will always need a form of gas to keep their operations running. The discussion on the future of the gas grid is not about whether it will continue to exist, but about what will flow through it—natural gas, as we see today, or clean, home-grown forms of gas, such as hydrogen, in the future. I am a passionate advocate for clean power and supporter of this Government’s green ambition. It will usher in industrial renewal and breathe new life into neglected towns and cities such as mine—Peterborough. It has the potential to create jobs, bring in new investment and deliver the long-term energy security that our country needs. This is not just wishful thinking or some hypothecated plan for 10 or 20 years’ time. It is happening right now in places such as my constituency. Peterborough is fast becoming the King’s Cross of hydrogen—a hub where innovation, infrastructure and ambition meet. At the Peterborough gas compressor station, the crossroads of our national transmission system, National Gas, as my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase said, has already announced £350 million to install new, state-of-the-art hydrogen-blend-ready turbines—an investment that initially will create 100 jobs and apprentices in Peterborough, with the potential to grow more across the UK. That investment not only will help locally to create jobs, boost the economy and grow our skillset, but will be vital in delivering the Government’s green growth mission nationally. Today that compressor station moves natural gas across the country to fuel heavy industry and power stations, but it is now able to move hydrogen instead, starting with a blend, and eventually moving to 100% hydrogen if we get there and decarbonising the country while protecting jobs in industry in all parts of the United Kingdom. That is the role Peterborough is playing in the green transition, and it is the future of the gas grid. Such projects show that hydrogen has a critical role to play in the future of British energy. I am proud that my constituency is playing a key role in supporting this Government’s ambitions and that transition. However, to really kick-start that revolution there are some quick, easy actions that the Government can take. I have a few questions, which I hope the Minister will be able to expand upon in his remarks. Can the Minister confirm when we might see the release of the consultation on hydrogen blending into the gas transmission system, which was promised by the last Government and, we are told, may be coming shortly? That would help kick-start the hydrogen economy and unleash a wave of investment in Britain. What are the next steps in the Government’s plans for a core hydrogen network, as recommended by the Climate Change Committee and others, and how will that build on the exciting and excellent steps we have seen in recent days with Cadent and others through the Government’s announcements around hydrogen? Finally, what assessment can the Minister give us of the skills need and skill potential in communities such as mine that are crying out for good, decent, unionised opportunities that the gas transition could provide, not just in Peterborough but throughout the UK? It has been a pleasure to speak with passion about my constituency again this morning, and also with passion about this Government’s drive to deliver us the green transition. Gas networks have helped build our industrial past and our current prosperity. Our gas networks of the future have the ability to power our transition and movement to net zero, while bringing communities with us.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Future of the Gas Grid · Hansard source

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  The Government are doing really important work on social justice and the environment, but my constituency is similar to my hon. Friend’s in terms of fuel poverty. Is he aware that, of the £300 million spent on the boiler upgrade scheme over the past few years, only 3% of grants in Cambridgeshire went to Peterborough, the poorest constituency? As we advance and develop these schemes, we need to root social justice alongside carbon reduction.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q13. In the spending review last week, the Government backed Peterborough with support for our new pool and a sports quarter in the city. That commitment has the power to turn years of campaigning into a reality, but that is not all: the Government have also recently approved the business case for our new station and have given us new police. Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that this is just the start and that places like Peterborough that were forgotten for too long by the Conservatives are now at the top of this Labour Government’s agenda?

• 16 Jun 2025 · Child Sexual Exploitation: Casey Report · Hansard source

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  I welcome the statement and the absolute determination of Baroness Casey and this Government to hold to account perpetrators and those who may have been involved in cover-ups. One of the report’s recommendations is about the confusion between different agencies, and a particular element of that is about taxi licensing and taxis from out-of-town areas. I know from my city of Peterborough the challenge to law-abiding, decent taxi drivers who are undercut by different licensing laws, but also to law enforcement and the safety of passengers when we have number plates from different areas. I note that that is the focus of one of the recommendations. Can my right hon. Friend give us more details on how we will move at speed to create a level playing field nationally, so that passengers are safe and drivers have the support they need to keep everyone safe?

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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