Andrew Snowden MP: speeches

Speeches

• 23 Jun 2026 · Environmental Sustainability: UK-Indonesia Collaboration · Hansard source

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  It is always a pleasure to serve with you in the chair, Sir Jeremy. I thank the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) for securing this important debate and talking with what is clearly lifelong passion and lifelong experience. I thank her for the campaigning and work that she has done over a number of years. I also thank the hon. Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel) for his knowledge and passion around the largest deforestation project that is under way. I have listened to everyone talk about the visit to the orangutan school. I am beginning to feel like the only kid in school who was not on the trip, but it sounds like it touched a lot of people. I noted the description of the forest school teaching young orangutans how to behave in the wild, and the skills that they need—it feels a bit like what CCHQ does to Conservative candidates before we are released into the wild at a later date.

• 26 Mar 2026 · Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Craniocervical Instability · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. Given that this is a debate about a health condition that has a crippling impact on people’s lives, I beg the indulgence of the House to be allowed a moment for a personal diversion. Today is also International Epilepsy Day, and epilepsy is a condition that also impacts many of our constituents. My sister, Kimberley, grew up coping with it as a young girl in primary and then secondary school. The condition causes uncontrolled fits and seizures. Sufferers cannot go about their daily life the same way, and there are many other unpleasant and personal side effects that I will not disclose because I do not want to embarrass Kimberley. I saw at first hand the impact of living with that condition on my sister and the family. I distinctly remember the day that I was stood outside as she was effectively having her skull removed to have the cavernous angiomas that caused the epilepsy removed from her brain. The family went on a difficult enough journey with a well-known and well-established condition with pathways in place, so I can only imagine what it is like to go through something equally painful and life changing without clear pathways, a clear understanding and a clear recognition of what the condition is when talking to other people. My wife suffers with Crohn’s and colitis, which is an often misunderstood condition. People do not understand the daily pain and suffering. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for securing this important debate and for the way he has brought the experiences of people living with EDS and CCI to Westminster Hall. We have heard the personal stories of Connor, of Hannah from Ashfield, and of other constituents who have contacted their Members. We also had an excellent explanation of the condition from the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley). It felt like listening to a mini-podcast. In politics, we go to many events and debates without learning anything, but everyone in the Chamber can say that we learned something today. This debate matters, because it speaks to the experience of people who too often feel unseen by the system. For too many people living with EDS, the challenge is not only the condition itself but the exhausting struggle to be recognised, to be diagnosed and to get the care and support that they need. Too many patients face long delays before diagnosis, too many encounter limited clinical awareness, and too many are left navigating fragmented care across multiple services. They are passed from one part of the system to another without anyone taking real ownership of their care. Complexity in a patient should not mean confusion in the system, yet for many people with EDS, that is still the reality. For those living with CCI, the picture can be even more difficult. Patients and families describe serious problems not only in getting the condition recognised but in accessing the specialist assessments, imaging and care needed to understand what is happening to them. That can leave people facing delay, uncertainty and, in some cases, the sense that there is simply no clear pathway available to them in the NHS. The consequences are serious. Delays in diagnosis can mean worsening symptoms, loss of mobility, deteriorating mental health and patients being left to navigate a system that is not designed with them in mind. The previous Conservative Government recognised the wider challenge facing people with rare diseases through the rare diseases framework and subsequent action plans. Those rightly focused on earlier diagnosis, improving awareness among clinicians and delivering more co-ordinated care. That was the right direction of travel, but it is clear from what we know, from what we have heard today, and from experiences raised repeatedly by patients and campaigners, that too many people still do not feel that the system is working for them. The Government will point to neighbourhood health centres, multidisciplinary teams and personalised care plans. Those ambitions may sound encouraging, but for people with EDS and CCI, the key question is whether those commitments will translate into practical change: earlier diagnosis, clearer pathways and access to co-ordinated specialist care, including for those with the most complex presentations. I hope that the Minister can address a number of important points. First, what steps are being taken to improve awareness and understanding of EDS among frontline clinicians, particularly in primary care? Secondly, if integrated care boards remain responsible for commissioning services, how will the Government ensure that patients do not face a postcode lottery in access to diagnosis, specialist input and ongoing care? Thirdly, on CCI, can the Minister set out what work is being done to improve clinical understanding, diagnostic pathways and access to appropriate imaging for those with more complex presentations? Finally, given that the Department has acknowledged significant delays to diagnosis, what assessment has been made of the gap between the Government’s ambitions and the lived reality of patients today? People with rare and complex conditions should not have to become their own care co-ordinators just to be heard. People living with EDS and CCI deserve earlier recognition, better co-ordinated care and the confidence that the NHS will respond to complexity with competence and compassion.

• 16 Mar 2026 · Defence Skills · Hansard source

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  On that Chorley and Lancashire theme, it will not be possible to increase the defence skills in this country if the defence jobs of the future are not secure in that pipeline. I was delighted to hear the Secretary of State talk earlier about British jobs, British industry and British innovation—he can probably gather where this is going, judging from the whispering on the Government Front Bench—so I was confused when there was bragging about ordering from British companies for defence as to why American F-35s were ordered, not British Typhoons. Given that we will need around 100 aircraft to maintain the workforce at Warton for Tempest in the future, I assume, whenever the defence investment plan is finally published, we will see an order of 25 Typhoons for the RAF within it.

• 16 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T9. Earlier I asked the Secretary of State if he would confirm an order of 25 Typhoons for the RAF after claiming the Government were backing British jobs, but the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry deployed the power of waffle to avoid answering the question. Just to be absolutely clear, I did welcome Turkey’s order of Typhoons, but, as I know and as he knows, it will not come anywhere near close to closing the skills gap between now and Tempest. Would the Secretary of State like to clarify this: will there be an order of 25 Typhoons for the RAF in the defence investment plan?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I will come on to the UN’s stats on the amount of aid that has been misappropriated shortly. I thank the hon. Member for her intervention, but I think it is a tad rich to talk about one-sidedness when the word “Hamas” was hardly mentioned in many of the contributions that we heard earlier. The Government say that they have been calling for broader aid access, but calling for something is not the same as achieving it. We need to know whether Ministers have put forward specific, concrete proposals for the opening of individual crossings and entry points into Gaza, whether those proposals have been presented directly to the Government of Israel, and their response. Will the Minister tell us what quantity and type of medical aid has been funded and prepared for this moment? Where is it currently stationed? How much of it has entered Gaza? Which organisations are distributing it? Critically, what new safeguards are in place to ensure that UK aid reaches innocent civilians, not terrorist groups? Aid diversion is not a peripheral concern; it is central. Since the ceasefire announcement on 10 October 2025 and 11 February 2026, the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs notes that 1,532 aid pallets have been verified as being intercepted during transit within Gaza. Although the destination of the pallets cannot be confirmed, it does not require too much imagination to work out where they have ended up. That is why we cannot discuss Gaza’s healthcare collapse in isolation from the wider political and security situation—the two are inseparable. The ceasefire provides an opening, but a ceasefire is not peace, and the Government seem curiously reluctant to acknowledge what is needed to convert one into the other. If the ceasefire is to translate into something sustainable, Hamas must be removed from power once and for all, and their terrorist infrastructure must be dismantled. Events of recent days—the violence between Hamas and armed groups and clans within Gaza—underline precisely why Hamas cannot be permitted any future role in the governance of the territory. Hamas have no regard for human life or human dignity; they never have. That brings me to governance. Rebuilding Gaza’s health system without addressing who actually governs Gaza is an exercise in futility. Have the Government had any meaningful say in the composition of the transitional Administration? Has anything of substance on governance reform emerged from the so-called memorandum of understanding with the Palestinian Authority—a document that did not even address corruption or antisemitism in school curricula? If the Palestinian Authority is to play an extended role, it must implement the most significant reforms in its history. That includes on healthcare, welfare, education, and frankly, basic democratic accountability.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q9. As the ghost of Christmas past scoops up the Prime Minister from his slumber in No. 10 this year, I wonder what he will show him on Christmas Eve. Maybe it will be the devastated family farmer putting up the “For Sale” sign in the yard, or the children hugging each other as their independent school closes, or any of the 100,000 hospitality workers who have lost their jobs, or the millions of families who are trying to work out how they will pay their tax bills to fund the ever growing welfare state. Is it any wonder that the ghost of Christmas future has given up on this Prime Minister, and all that is left is for him to get his bag of coal from Santa and his P45 from his own MPs?

• 12 Nov 2025 · Typhoon Fighter Sovereign Capability · Hansard source

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  They do provide slightly different roles, but they have the same general one in air combat. Many people say that in aerial combat Typhoon will get the highest the quickest, and according to many pilots and those involved, that is one of the most important factors. I will address the difference in capabilities between the two aircraft later in my speech. I thank the hon. Member for his enthusiasm this early on a Wednesday morning. As I was saying, the Government’s decision has brought me into an alliance that, as a Conservative MP, I never thought I would be in: campaigning hand in glove with and on the same side as trade unions. I must say that they have put their passion and their all into standing up for the workforce that they represent in Lancashire, and I know they are watching today. Although an element of the F-35 is built by BAE in Lancashire, it is a drop in the ocean compared with what an order for 25 Typhoons would have meant for jobs and investment. The order book for F-35s is already extensive, so ironically the UK’s order will not have a noticeable impact on job security in Lancashire. In the meantime, the final Typhoons have already rolled through the assembly line at Warton. It is pretty much out of work, which is a terrifying prospect for the workforce, supply chain and community. Even with the order from Turkey, there will still be a two to three-year period when the assembly line at Warton will be sat empty, waiting. The skills on the line—not just to assemble a modern fighter jet but to certify and test its readiness for combat in simulations and live flights—are such a crucial part of our sovereign capability. To maintain the whole-cycle workforce, from production to assembly and testing, there would need to be getting on for around 100 Typhoon orders between now and the Tempest going live. That puts the need for an RAF order into perspective.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  If the Chancellor is looking for some quick-win infrastructure projects that will unlock economic growth, I recommend taking a look at a passing loop on the South Fylde line, which would better connect trains to employment and education sites through more reliable services. It would also act as a boost for the tourism industry on the Fylde coast; people across Lancashire—maybe from other great towns such as Chorley—like to visit Lytham St Annes and the Fylde coast, and would be able to do so on half-hourly rail services. Will the Chancellor take a look at that fantastic opportunity to boost economic growth in Lancashire and the Fylde?