Andrew Ranger MP: speeches

Speeches

• 8 Jun 2026 · Progression of Bills through Parliament · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson) on his opening speech and thank the petitioners for the hard work that they have done on this issue. When I first came to this place, just short of two years ago, I came with a real zeal for reform of the second Chamber. Having said that, I believe—and it is important to say—that the House of Lords in its current form offers great value to our democracy. As has been said, unlike the way in which debates sometimes function in the Commons, the Lords has the capacity to discuss, scrutinise and add meaningful substance to the way in which our laws and legislation are made. Unfortunately, over the last parliamentary term, as we have been discussing today, a minority of peers conducted themselves in a way that has let down the Lords, undermined the way in which it functions and raised serious questions about the role that it should hold in the future, as well as public trust in the parliamentary process. As you can tell from that, Mr Wishart, my reforming zeal is still in place. We need only look back through history to find examples of the Lords blocking progress. They range from, way back in 1909, Lloyd George’s people’s Budget, which looked at old age pensions and national insurance, to the equalisation of the age of consent in 2000 and the Hunting Act 2004, among others. In all those cases, the Lords sought to frustrate the will of the elected Chamber. Scrutiny is important—indeed, vital—to our Parliament. I do not think anyone on either side of the debate about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would dispute that. But it became abundantly clear during the Lords process that to describe some of the contributions as scrutiny would be, at the very least, generous. There were speeches that were near identical in content and added nothing new to the debate, amendments tabled for the sake of amendments, and the use of egregious statements. One peer was quoted in The T imes as saying that there were “plenty of black arts that could be used to kill the bill off”, and it is clear that that approach was pursued. It is therefore not only ironic but factually untrue when we hear some opponents claim that the Bill received limited scrutiny. The facts do not support that. The Bill faced significant scrutiny—more than any private Member’s Bill in history and more than many other Bills—and that scrutiny began long before it reached the Lords. The Health and Social Care Committee inquiry had 68,000 responses from the public, more than 300 submissions of written evidence, two closed-door roundtable discussions and five oral evidence sessions, and reported in 2024. The Commons Bill Committee received evidence from 50 witnesses and 444 pieces of written evidence, and spent more than 100 hours scrutinising the Bill in 2025, as we heard. The House of Lords Committee, although weighted against assisted dying, with more opponents than supporters of the change, heard evidence from 43 witnesses. The scrutiny was there. It happened. Ultimately, the fall of the Bill represents the frustration of a decision made by the democratic Chamber of this country. The elected House voted for the legislation. The public, when asked consistently over many years, have supported it. I have been clear that I will support, in whatever way I can, the effort to ensure that the Bill is given its rightful passage through both Houses of Parliament and becomes law, as is the will of the elected Chamber and the will of the majority of the public. That is vital to restore badly needed trust in our political process. I hope that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House will be able to expand on how that can progress.

• 26 Feb 2026 · St David’s Day and Welsh Affairs · Hansard source

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  It’s a close-run thing. There is also a range of interactive and engaging cultural and educational activities for everyone to enjoy and take part in. Wrexham is bidding to become the city of culture in 2029 and our annual St David’s day celebrations, which are now embedded in our city and growing every year, demonstrate so much about what makes Wrexham a welcoming place for everyone. Last summer, Wrexham was the very proud host of the National Eisteddfod, reportedly attracting around 160,000 visitors over its week-long celebration of Welsh arts and heritage, drawing people from across Wales and the UK to enjoy all that Wrexham has to offer, as well as the plethora of fantastic events on the Maes. This year is also Wrexham’s “Year of Wonder”, marking 150 years since a significant number of events happened in what was then our town, back in 1876. That included the establishment of the Football Association of Wales. There was an art treasures exhibition, which shone a spotlight on Wrexham for the rest of the country. The first National Eisteddfod to be held in Wrexham also happened in that year. You would not expect me to speak about Wrexham, Madam Deputy Speaker, without mentioning a certain local football team that you may have heard of. Another reason to celebrate: this year, it has reached the fifth round of the FA cup for the first time in 29 years. We will be welcoming Chelsea in the next round, in a week or so’s time. We have past history of causing upsets against top-tier teams from London—I won’t mention which. We are also sitting in the play-off spots of the championship. It is a real football fairytale story, if ever there was one—back-to-back promotions and all that success. That has made a real difference to Wrexham: how we think about the place where we live and how we welcome people there from all over the world. We cannot walk around Wrexham now without bumping into Americans, Australians, South Americans or people from Europe. It is absolutely fantastic; things have changed in the last four or five years. Beyond the pitch, the Wrexham Association Football Club Foundation is impacting young lives through its programmes such as the Street Dragons and the Young Leaders programme. To continue this sporting theme, I also welcome recent confirmation from the Welsh Minister for north Wales, Ken Skates, that north Wales will be joining discussions alongside the northern mayors in England about a possible joint Olympics bid for 2040, in which Wrexham’s very own StōK Cae Ras would be a possible venue, along with many other venues across the whole of north Wales, north-west England and right across the other side. Let us go for that bid—we can do it, with the north of England and north Wales working together in partnership. We can build on the success of 2012 in London and do it even better. I turn back to 500 A.D. As many Members have mentioned today, one of St David’s most notable remarks was about doing the little things. In 2026, that phrase still holds dear in Wales: a nation of community, where people look after not just themselves but their neighbours too. People may try to divide us, but they will fail. That is at the core of our Welsh Labour politics. We believe in partnership working, which we saw at its best only last week with the announcement of the seven new railway stations across Wales—including the one at Deeside industrial park, which will make such a difference to people in Wrexham getting to and from work and other places. Alongside the improvements to the Wrexham-Liverpool line, there is the electrification of the north Wales main line and ambitious plans for North Wales metro. The £14 billion investment from the UK Government will be truly transformative for communities, our economy and the future of Welsh rail. We have seen many other further investments in Wrexham and across north Wales; they are transforming jobs, education, opportunity and north Wales as a whole. We talk about the AI zones, the small modular nuclear reactors in Ynys Môn, the Flintshire and Wrexham investment zone and Pride in Place, through which a total of £21.5 million has been invested in Wrexham. Local people will decide how money is spent, for the best of Wrexham. A big key to our Welsh identity in Wrexham and north-east Wales is our very proud links between north-east Wales and north-west England. That is about work, family, social life and culture—a two way relationship that we are stronger for, not poorer. At the heart is how the Welsh Government have delivered since devolution: small things—maybe big things—such as free prescriptions, keeping and not cutting student maintenance grants, the bus fare caps discussed today and the first wellbeing of future generations Act in the UK, never forgetting that a decision, however big or small, is important for what it does for the people of Wales. As we once again gather to celebrate our national day, I will remember to do all those little things. Of course, I wish everyone a dydd gŵyl Dewi hapus—a happy St David’s day.

• 26 Feb 2026 · St David’s Day and Welsh Affairs · Hansard source

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  Diolch yn fawr, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a real pleasure to speak in my second St David’s day debate in this Chamber. I begin by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones), Chair of the Select Committee, and the hon. Member for Ceredigion Preseli (Ben Lake) for securing this debate today. The story of St David began about 1,500 years ago, when, in the wake of the Roman empire’s departure from Britain, a unique Welsh identity began to take shape—one identity around community, language, culture and a resilience that lives on today. There is no better place to see that identity in action than Wrexham this weekend. At 12.40 on Sunday, the bells will ring out from St Giles church, marking an end to the traditional St David’s day church service and the beginning of our now regular St David’s day parade. The parade will be led by the Cambria band. It brings an array of colour and music to our streets, with community groups, schools and other organisations all playing their part. All weekend, there will be special events, including St David’s day markets in Queen’s Square and the surrounding area, where our fantastic local businesses and independent traders offer delightful products, food and drink, including what I am sure are the best Welsh cakes across the whole of Wales.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Railways Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Mr Reeve, do you have anything to add? Bill Reeve: My Welsh colleague’s point about the importance of culture and behaviours and how that is given effect through the MOU will be the real test. As drafted the primary legislation seems fine, and there is indeed an obligation to consult on services that cross the border both ways. However, I have no doubt from my experience that how we put this into effect will matter more than the words.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Railways Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q I live in north-east Wales, but across many other parts of the country the complexity of cross-border services is also significant. In the Welsh case, the Welsh Government own TfW, which carries out lots of services in north-west England and Manchester; there are other such examples around the country. Are the mechanisms in the Bill appropriate for managing those complexities? What about the implied extra level of agreement and the working with different bodies, such as mayoralties, local authorities and the new devolution going on around the country? I would be interested in your views. Peter McDonald: The Welsh Government view is that the primary legislation is taking a reasonable approach. There are a couple of extra, non-legislative layers to reflect on. The first is the provisions of the memorandum of understanding, which I will keep coming back to. That is really important for cross-border partnership. Then there is the culture of effective partnership. Currently, a large number of Transport for Wales and Network Rail officials and employees work together collaboratively; we want that to continue and think that can improve. We think there are lessons from the alliance model in Scotland. This is almost leaving the constitution at the door; it is more about a proper culture of partnership between the two organisations. We think that can be best led by an empowered and distinct Wales and borders business unit. That is not necessarily a matter for primary legislation, but it is really important for how this will operate on the ground.