Ayoub Khan MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 14 Sept 2026 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I agree wholeheartedly with the first part of the hon. Member’s intervention—of course we should uphold international law—but I am a little confused by the latter part. It is the Israeli state that drives policy, and one cannot distinguish between the Israeli state and the Israeli Government. I entirely agree that we must not conflate them with the Israeli people, because that would be wrong. I suspect that all Members in this House want to see the scourge of antisemitism tackled, as well as anti-Muslim hate. There was a massive increase in anti-Muslim hate following 7 October, across the city of Birmingham and across the country, and we must do whatever we can in this House—unified by one principle, the principle of humanity—to ensure that where we see wrong we address it, and do so without fear or favour. As I have said before, one of the prime reasons why we have independent Members of Parliament, why protesters came on to the streets, and why students at universities are protesting is the fact that they are not antisemitic. Of course, I accept that there have been occasions when there has been antisemitism, and we must all condemn it, but in the main, all those people were championing one aspect: the freedom of the Palestinians, who have been under oppression for so many decades. I return to my original point. We must all work together to prevent the rise of antisemitism in this country, as well as anti-Muslim hate, and we must all try to address that conflation. We have witnessed, for example, the suppression of doctors’ freedom of speech by their regulators when all they have done is question some of the actions that have been taken. Israel cannot claim to be a victim—not the people of Israel, but the state—when it prevents journalists from entering. We should say, “If you are open and transparent, allow journalists to come in, and allow them to document what is taking place.” However, I suspect that Israel will be unwilling to do that, precisely because of the genocide that we are witnessing. In Gaza, more than 73,000 Palestinians are officially recorded as dead—murdered. Homes have been reduced to rubble, aid has been obstructed, and entire bloodlines have been wiped out. I have no hesitation in calling out what everyone is seeing with their own eyes: a genocide, livestreamed for the world to see. Netanyahu’s Government have demonstrated an extraordinary contempt, time and again. Extraordinary reporting raises profoundly disturbing questions about what Netanyahu knew before that attack. According to Haaretz , the President of the United Arab Emirates warned him a week and a half earlier that Hamas were planning a major operation, and he did not pass that warning to his security chiefs. How absurd is the proposition that a Prime Minister informed of an imminent threat would not advise his chief security officer? Either he did not believe the information or “he wanted to see what they could plan so that then he could come down hard”. Those are not my words; they are the words of none other than Hillary Clinton. We were told for years that the destruction would stop when hostages were released—Netanyahu said the war could end if Hamas surrendered and returned them—yet Haim Rubinstein, a spokesperson for the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum, said as far back as 2025 that Israel rejected an early proposal to release civilian hostages if the IDF did not enter Gaza. This is the regime that we continue to do business with and are choosing to stand by—a far-right Government who have refused peace at every turn and in its place opt for bloodshed and gaslighting. Yet for far too long, western Governments have taught Netanyahu one lesson and one lesson only: condemnations will come, statements will be issued and red lines will be crossed, but meaningful consequences will not follow. Last week’s announcement can be remembered in one of two ways: it can be the moment Britain finally changed course, or it can become another intolerable status quo, with tougher words, narrowly drawn sanctions, business as usual elsewhere and yet another year in which the prospect of Palestinian statehood crumbles under the weight of Israel’s never-ending bloodshed. Acknowledging the problem cannot be the end of British policy. If we truly believe Palestinians have the right to self-determination, this must be only the start, because as the hon. Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) said, time is not on our side, and we cannot and must not wait until there is no Palestine left to recognise.

• 14 Sept 2026 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member may be aware that the United Nations inquiry revealed that the IDF was intentionally targeting children as a way to end the future generation. That inquiry should prompt this Government to take even further steps towards sanctions.

• 14 Sept 2026 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  Last week represented an important change in Britain’s approach to Israel and Palestine, and I welcome it. For the first time, this Government acknowledged the reality staring us in the face: that the occupation is unlawful, that illegal settlements are destroying any prospect of Palestinian statehood, and that in parts of the west bank Palestinians are being ethnically cleansed by what the Foreign Secretary himself called settler terrorists. Those are not my words; they are now the words of His Majesty’s Government. That makes the question before us today all the more urgent. If we finally recognise what is happening, why are we still refusing to confront those who are responsible for making it happen? This is not simply the work of a few rogue extremists. Under this Israeli Government, more settlements have been approved in four years than in the previous 20. Some 800,000 settlers now live across the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Foreign Secretary himself told the House that settlers had attacked Palestinian communities under Israeli military protection, and that Israeli Government Ministers had supported ethnic cleansing. We need to stop pretending that the settlements are somehow separate from the Israeli state, because the settlements are a monster of its own making. By tinkering around the edges with sanctions on settlers and leaving the Government at the heart of their enterprise untouched, this Labour Government are trying to tiptoe around the raindrops and not get wet; but, like the last Government, they will be soaked in complicity, and the sanctions do nothing to punish the real architects of this apartheid. Settlers are murdering Palestinians with IDF protection. The Israeli Government are giving them the land to invade in the first place. If we are serious about ending illegal settlements, where is the ban on trade with the nation of Israel itself? Government policy now contains an extraordinary contradiction. We will sanction the people who finance settlement construction; we will penalise companies that build settlements, and ban the products coming from within them; yet when the Israeli state allocates the land, approves the plans and sends armed forces to protect settler terrorists, the consequences suddenly stop. As I said only last week in a question to the Foreign Secretary, this is a litmus test of our most basic principles. If those who help to establish illegal settlements should be sanctioned, why not the officials who authorise them? Why not the institutions that finance them, and the state contractors that build them? Why should our wider trading relationship remain untouched when settlement expansion is official Israeli Government policy?

• 14 Sept 2026 · Water Sector: Public Ownership · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. By way of example, how can an organisation receive a four-star rating when it is performing so badly? Privatisation was sold on the promise that private capital would deliver investment and relieve pressure on the public purse, but with Thames Water amassing £20 billion in debt and due a Government bailout, that is clearly not the case anymore. Around the world, 90% of water is under public ownership, and yet 100% of ours is privately owned. It is not always wise to follow the crowd, but this is clearly something that we have gotten wrong. My constituents are not asking Parliament to pretend that public ownership has no cost; they know it has a price. All they are asking us is to find out whether the price can really be greater than chronic underinvestment, rising bills, sewage-filled rivers, flooded homes and a system in which the public carry the risk while private investors take all the reward.

• 14 Sept 2026 · Water Sector: Public Ownership · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Paul Davies) for opening the debate, which could not have come at a more poignant time for my constituents. Just weeks ago, flash flooding tore through properties, and more than 60 homes suffered internal flooding. In the worst cases, water reached a metre deep. Among those affected were an elderly man with limited mobility who had to leave his home, and a mother caring for her severely disabled daughter who was at risk of losing the electricity supply needed to maintain essential medical equipment. Those are just a few examples to show the severity of the challenge we face and the human cost that comes with inaction. Worse still, the problem is not new. Perry Beeches flooded badly 10 years ago. We have known for years that the neighbourhood is vulnerable, yet our infrastructure remains unfixed, our manhole covers remain blocked and our rivers continue to flow with sewage and waste—not to mention the subsidence across our city caused by leaking water pipes. The cost of our water companies doing nothing is paid in ruined homes, destroyed possessions and frightened families. What are my constituents paying for? Severn Trent’s average combined household bill has risen by around 10% this year, and yet constituents find themselves paying more for less. It is clear that the industry is broken when a company can record more than 36,000 sewage spills lasting more than 200,000 hours and still achieve the Environment Agency’s top environmental rating of four stars.

• 9 Sept 2026 · Jaguar Land Rover: Redundancies · Hansard source

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  Learning of these potential job losses was deeply concerning for me as a Member of Parliament for Birmingham, because job losses impact not just individuals and their immediate family, but local economies. The regional mayor has set aside half a million pounds, but that is not new money; it is money that he had for other projects. Will the Minister specifically state what funding this Government will provide to the local mayor and the local councils—and I am not talking about the £1.5 billion loan?

• 9 Sept 2026 · Education and Skills Reform · Hansard source

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  In my constituency, many families have been moved from pillar to post in temporary accommodation, which is often many miles away from the school the children attend. Those families are unable to take their children to school because they cannot afford the transport costs. Will the Secretary of State see what can be done to support Birmingham city council with additional resources so that those children can get to school?

• 9 Sept 2026 · Summer Health and Resilience · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for her statement and welcome the additional funding, which will help the infrastructure of our hospitals up and down the country. I also thank our NHS staff for their valiant efforts throughout challenging times. My question is about the numerous complaints I receive because the bodies of patients who were treated in hospital and unfortunately passed away there are not being released rapidly in order for burial to take place. Will the Secretary of State meet me, or get a relevant Minister to meet me, to see how we can improve the release of bodies from hospitals?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I was elected to the House not just because people saw injustice or hypocrisy from the previous Labour leadership but because this topic became a litmus test of credibility, integrity and morality for the British people, who could see what was taking place in Gaza and in the west bank. I saw the attacks on the Foreign Secretary, who was referred to as a “Jew hater” when he came out with this proposal, and the disgusting comments by the American ambassador, labelling him often as antisemitic for talking about justice and the rights of Palestinians. Will he work with colleagues on this side of the House so that we can forge stronger relationships between British Muslims and British Jews, preventing those actors and agitators—even in this House—who want to sow division in our communities?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Falkland Islands: Sovereignty · Hansard source

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  It is concerning to hear the sabre-rattling from Argentina towards a self-governing population who overwhelmingly identify as British. It is not just the United States that is fanning the flames, however. Israel’s sanctioned Minister of National Security has called for Israel to recognise the Falklands as Argentinian, and its President has stated: “Israel will act against Britain.” Ignoring the irony of an Israeli Minister accusing another country of illegal occupation, what discussions has the Foreign Secretary had on this matter with our supposed ally, which is trying to undermine British sovereignty?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Online Safety · Hansard source

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  I welcome the statement by the Secretary of State, the work she is doing and the work begun by the hon. Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips). Protecting our children is very important. My query relates to the allegedly robust complaints procedure provided by social media apps. For example, a constituent of mine faced serious harassment on TikTok. Numerous complaints were made, but nothing was done. In fact, the X account of the leader of Birmingham city council has been hacked for weeks now and cryptocurrency is being sold in his name, but very little has happened. What steps can the Government take to ensure that social media providers follow their complaints processes?

• 7 Sept 2026 · Dover and Portsmouth: Protests · Hansard source

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  One image in 2015 changed public opinion. It was of a toddler, Alan Kurdi, a two-year-old whose frail body washed up on the shore with his face buried in the sand. That changed public opinion, because as humans—and as a nation—we are compassionate. Some 250,000 Ukrainians came into this country, and we allowed them to utilise our services, but there seems to be selective outrage in this House. Does the Minister agree that we need proper safe routes that can prevent the exploitation by criminals and allow those who are desperate and fleeing war-torn areas sanctuary in this nation?

• 7 Sept 2026 · Rough Sleeping · Hansard source

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  My constituency has among the highest levels of deprivation. Unfortunately, subways and bus shelters are home to the most vulnerable. I know that £440 million has been allocated, but I do not know how much has been given to Birmingham city council. Will the Minister meet me to see how we can address this issue?

• 7 Sept 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  The concept of devolution and localisation is to empower local communities by bringing the decision-making process closer to them. In Birmingham, the city council is being forced to relinquish its planning powers to the regional mayor. That is anti-devolution. Does the Minister agree, and what will she do to ensure that the council does not lose its planning powers?

• 2 Sept 2026 · Rewiring the State · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the First Secretary on her post and appreciate the work the Government are doing on extreme weather. In my constituency last week, more than 60 families were left devastated by rainfall and flooding. I appreciate the £65 million that is being offered to farmers and the £100 million for emergency services, but will the First Secretary meet me and Birmingham city council to see what package could be offered to support those 60 families and to prevent a repeat of what took place last week?

• 16 Jul 2026 · British Steel · Hansard source

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  I welcome the nationalisation of British Steel, not least because it protects critical infrastructure needs, as well as local jobs and neighbourhoods. On procurement and competition rules, what assessment have the Government made to ensure British Steel does not fall foul of regulations on supplying steel within the United Kingdom?

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Thanks to the outsourcing of interpreter and translation services to private providers, qualified interpreters and translators are being exploited through lower pay and are often substituted by those providing substandard services. We have already seen the West Midlands police rely on Cintra for such services—to the detriment of the force, interpreters and my constituents—and NHS Birmingham and Solihull is now on the verge of doing the same through Word360. Will the Leader of the House consider setting some time aside to discuss these predatory practices?

• 14 Jul 2026 · Extreme Heat: Preparedness · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. I thank the hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) not only for securing this timely debate but for his detailed and comprehensive speech, which took me back a few decades to my school days, when my biology teacher talked about global warming. The chickens have come home to roost. What is happening not just in this country but across the world, with additional flooding and a warmer climate, demonstrates that Governments of all nations need to react. It is interesting that there are no Reform parliamentarians and few Conservative MPs in the Chamber. They often use the phrase “Drill, baby, drill”, not realising that additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can increase heat across the globe. I recently visited my local hospital—unfortunately, a family member needed emergency treatment, so I was in an A&E department—and it was shocking. Hospitals and A&E departments are already in crisis. I looked at the live data to see which hospital in the area has the lowest waiting time, and pretty much all hospitals serving the city of Birmingham had an average wait time of four hours, but that data was not live, and in fact people were waiting far longer than what it said online. It was shocking to see vulnerable people, elderly people and people with significant injuries sat in a sweltering waiting area, although the NHS staff were doing their level best by providing water and trying to assist the patients. It is really shocking that, despite hospitals receiving an enormous amount of investment, they are simply not adequate for treating the most vulnerable and needy when they need critical support. That experience brought home a simple truth: extreme heat is not a minor inconvenience, but a public health emergency. As hon. Members have said, during this heatwave alone, 2,700 people have died as a result of heat-related causes. That includes 368 deaths in the west midlands, which experienced its highest rate of deaths per head during the June heatwave. The buildings that are intended to protect us are unprepared. Although we do not yet have data from this summer, more than half of NHS trusts reported at least one overheating incident during the summer of 2022, and the number of NHS overheating incidents requiring risk assessments rose by 53% between 2016 and 2024. Hon. Members have spoken about schools and other public buildings. During the recent heatwave, about 1,000 schools closed or shortened their days, and there were reports of teachers passing out in classrooms that reached temperatures in excess of 40°C. The answer cannot simply be to send children home or tell patients and workers to drink more water. We need a properly funded national heat resilience programme. We must audit every school, hospital and care home, and install effective ventilation, external shielding, reflecting roofs and energy efficient cooling where necessary. We should create accessible community cooling centres and establish clear maximum safe indoor temperature standards. Extreme heat is already costing lives, and the Government must prepare for summer emergencies with the same seriousness with which we prepare for winter. Warm words and weather warnings will not cool a classroom, protect a hospital patient or prevent the next avoidable death.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Human Rights in Kashmir · Hansard source

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  The United Kingdom has many commercial agreements with India. Does the Minister agree that where the United Nations resolutions on human rights violations are not being followed, we should look at sanctioning it through our trade agreements?

• 7 Jul 2026 · Human Rights in Kashmir · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I thank the hon. Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) not only for his work on the APPG on Kashmir, but for securing this debate. There are two distinct issues: the first is around Indian-occupied Kashmir and the second is what we are now witnessing in the region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. In so far as Indian-occupied Kashmir is concerned, the people in that region have been oppressed for decades. That issue has been raised on numerous occasions on very different platforms, including at the United Nations. We know that many resolutions have simply been ignored. My primary point, which follows on from the speech of the hon. Member for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (Tahir Ali), is about the British Government’s position. Historically, it has been said that there are two nuclear power nations and that this is a bilateral issue. In my view, and I hope the Government can take away the position set out by several hon. Members in this Chamber, when there are two nations with nuclear capabilities, it becomes an international issue. In my respectful view, I suspect that if the British Government were to adopt a multilateral or international position, it would certainly help the region, which is the most militarised zone in the whole world. Torture, rape and extra-judicial killings frequently take place there. Coming back to what is close to home—I say home because we have all seen demonstrations here in London on multiple occasions—the United Kingdom is home to about 1.4 million British Kashmiris. They have heritage and family and friends in that region. I will not repeat what has already been set out. British Kashmiris can be found scattered around virtually every constituency in the United Kingdom, so it comes as no surprise that more than 70 Members of Parliament have signed a joint letter asking for diplomacy and dialogue. One of the biggest problems is that when there is a vacuum of information, we do not know what is happening. That has caused enormous anxieties for families that live in the United Kingdom and have heritage or family back in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Again, I am grateful to the chair of the APPG for his work. I have had several meetings with the acting high commissioner of Pakistan, who has been open and transparent about what they want to see and how they want to resolve matters. As someone who has direct heritage—like the hon. Member for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley, I was born in that region—I am more than happy to assist in mediation if our Government are in negotiations with the Pakistani Government, so that we can reach a sensible resolution.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Asylum Accommodation · Hansard source

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  I have spoken to many asylum seekers who have endured some of the most horrific and atrocious life experiences. The Minister will know that, historically, the courts have deemed an Army barrack unlawful because of the inhumane conditions within it. What assessment has the Minister made of the suitability of the new barracks being considered? Is not the real issue the processing of these asylum cases? I know that the Minister said that decisions are at a 24-year high, but there are no figures on how many applications have been processed and how many applications are waiting, not including those at the appeal courts.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Media Green Paper · Hansard source

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  I am confident that everybody in this House wants freedom of speech and freedom of expression. However, we are all against freely available misinformation and disinformation, whether it is about the lack of integration in certain neighbourhoods or international affairs. There is clearly distrust, so something needs to be done. I welcome the Secretary of State bringing forward a Green Paper, but how will the Government ensure that those with the deepest pockets do not get prevalence when we look at mainstream media?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Fly-tipping: Residential Areas · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Fly-tipping: Residential Areas · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Fly-tipping: Residential Areas · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) for not just securing this debate, but articulating each and every point that impacts the agenda of fly-tipping. It is prevalent not just in my constituency, but across the whole city of Birmingham, and, as has been said, across the whole country. The hon. Member said that repetition makes any argument more persuasive, but she has touched on all the key points that I was going to speak about. Fly-tipping is an eyesore. It damages the appearance of streets, parks and green spaces. It attracts vermin, impacts on health and obstructs pavements. Children and vulnerable adults are all impacted. Within certain parts of my constituency of Birmingham Perry Barr specifically, there is an ageing community. While they take pride in their neighbourhood, unfortunately the fact that they are old and vulnerable means that they cannot deal with the issues like fit and able people can. The ageing community owns properties that have private land at the rear, and unfortunately that has been abused. Not by them—they have been very proud of their back spaces—but by rogue waste collectors who have identified that particular location and regularly fly-tip there. Unfortunately, the local council cannot deal with it; they simply say that it is private land and that they are not able to touch the dumped rubbish. Local councillors have not been receiving any community chest award money to spend, so the rubbish is simply piling up, causing immense issues for vulnerable people. It really comes down to finances. It is not an issue in silo, but needs to be dealt with across all departments within the local council. We often hear that CCTV or drones may assist, but all that comes with costs that cannot be met unless councils are resourced. Unfortunately, we had bankruptcy in Birmingham. We are out of that bankruptcy at present, but that does not mean that we have sufficient resources to be able to deal with the types of fly-tipping that we witness almost daily. Those regular hotspots are real eyesores. I reflect back on when I was growing up in a little town called Aston. As a kid, I used to relish the thought of playing snowballs with my siblings in the morning during winter. By the time we got up, the whole street was clean because every neighbour had got out in the morning and cleaned their front patch. The only place we could play snowballs was in the local park. That is the level of pride that we want to re-instil within our communities. It can be achieved only if we have a council that is able to effectively resource and tackle the fly-tipping. There needs to be a national campaign. I do not think this is a local issue for a local campaign. Education needs to be at the forefront: young children need to be taught at school and young people need to be taken out for regular sessions to clean streets and take pride in the local community. We also need methods to report people who offend. We need to embolden our communities. A lot of people out there take pride and want to report such problems, but fear that if they do so, they will be identified and there may be repercussions. It comes down to resources.