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.

• 3 Mar 2026 · Small Charity Sector · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Roger. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) on securing this debate. The stories, as has been said many times, of small and medium-sized charities and the impact that they have can be seen across our cities, towns and communities. They are the ones directly impacting lives and making a day-to-day difference on the ground in our communities. We have much to thank them for, but also much to learn from them. One such charity from my constituency that I often mention in Parliament is WeMindTheGap. Every year it works with hundreds of young people for whom traditional education may not have worked, and who may have fallen through the gaps. Through its holistic programmes, including long-term mentoring, paid work placements, skills development and pastoral support, it often gives the young people that it works with a new lease of life, and 70% of “Gappies”—as they are known—move on to work, training or future education. WeMindTheGap works in and supports schools and similar organisations, providing specialist and targeted measures that they do not always have the capacity to provide themselves. Those partnerships make a tangible difference to both pupils and schools, with bespoke solutions in partnership with schools, colleges, businesses and others. This is the power of smaller charities. Programmes such as these are particularly timely given the recent release of CSJ’s “Lost Boys” report, which painted an increasingly bleak picture for young men from disadvantaged and working-class backgrounds, highlighting rising educational disengagement and economic inactivity. I ask the Minister to describe how the Government can help support charities such as these and the vital work that they are doing in that sphere. In the interests of time, I will conclude my remarks by thanking all the smaller charities in Wrexham and beyond for the vital work they do, year in and year out, in so many different but equally impactful ways.

• 21 Jan 2026 · Railways: Funding · Hansard source

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  Last year, the Welsh Labour Government introduced a £1 bus fare cap for young people. Since then, these reduced fares have been used on 2 million journeys. Earlier this month, Welsh Labour announced in my constituency that after the Senedd election in May, we will build on that success with a £2 bus fare for all fares and more than 100 new routes across Wales. Would my right hon. Friend join me in supporting this announcement, and can she update the House on what else the UK and Welsh Labour Governments are doing together to improve Wales’s transport infrastructure?

• 9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source

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  I welcome the clear ambition for our railways, and therefore for our nation, that the Railways Bill brings. Rail runs in my family’s blood: my late grandad worked on the railways, first for London and North Western Railway and then for British Rail in Crewe, one of the homes of rail and where I spent the early part of my childhood. My constituency sits on the border between north Wales and England. Our train services are vital for many people across Wrexham, but for too long they have simply had to accept that cancellations, delays and poor value for their money are just part of the deal. It is right that this Labour Government are following the Welsh Labour Government and taking our train services back into public ownership. We must be honest that privatisation has failed its users. They should not have to put up any longer with a service that is too often substandard and with ever-increasing prices. Regardless of who oversees our railways, it is important that that the passenger experience remains the No. 1 priority. Therefore it is right that this Bill brings forward a simplified and unified ticket system, as we have already heard, alongside the freezing of rail fares for the first time in 30 years, as recently announced. Likewise, the creation of a new passenger watchdog will ensure that Great British Railways will be held accountable in a way that private services never truly have been. A truly independent body and organisation that will ensure that standards are met, the passenger watchdog will be able to demand data and investigate and resolve disputes. The changes to the decision-making process around track usage and infrastructure will move us away from a system that prioritises profits over passenger experience, with track access based on demand and social value, not just revenue and profits. Timetables will be designed in one place, so different operators will stop working at cross purposes. Investment and engineering work will be co-ordinated to minimise disruption. There will be clear accountability when services fail, putting a stop to cases where popular routes are routinely packed or where people are often unable to even board them. My constituency of Wrexham is a clear case study in the complexity of the current system, sitting within the Mersey-Dee cross-border functional economy, where key rail assets for the rail network serving the local economy sit in both England and Wales. Chester station is the gateway to north Wales, sitting on the junction of the north Wales cost mainline and the Marches line. Chester is key for access from north Wales and Wrexham to places like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, London and multiple airports, yet the Mersey-Dee economy is served by multiple Network Rail regions and train operators, all with competing interests. The cross-party Growth Track 360 group campaigns for rail investment to improve economic growth and productivity, so we welcome the investment in the Padeswood sidings, which will enable direct services between Wrexham and Liverpool. Meanwhile, a new station at Deeside will improve access from Wrexham in north Wales to the many jobs on the Deeside industrial estate. That emphasis on integration and partnership working will help to simplify the system, improve accountability and improve the transparency of decision making.

• 10 Jul 2025 · Devolved Governments: Co-operation · Hansard source

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  This Labour Government understand the importance of partnership in power. One year on, I welcome that this partnership has delivered record funding for Wales to improve our railways, protect coal tips, and boost our economy and our public services. At the general election, we rightly recognised that the Welsh fiscal framework is outdated. Please could the Minister provide an update on the progress being made to address this?