Barry Gardiner MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jul 2026 · Air Pollution · Hansard source

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  Can I give way in a winding-up speech?

• 2 Jul 2026 · Air Pollution · Hansard source

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  I just thought I had a wee bit of time.

• 2 Jul 2026 · Air Pollution · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and he is absolutely right. The heat dome that we have been experiencing interacts with pollution and gives us extra ozone and causes huge health problems. I do not know—perhaps the Minister can tell us, if his officials are on the ball on this—just when the number of excess deaths caused by last week’s high temperatures will be known at a disaggregated level; it would be extremely interesting to get those.

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

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  If the hon. Member wants to know the specifics of how to do that, they get a jar of liquid honey and squeeze it up the tree. You then have to follow it up with your tongue. I do not recommend that for anywhere near the Whips Office.

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

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  My hon. Friend has been very generous in taking interventions. On the animals that had diseases—she is right, it was an affecting sight that depressed us all; it is great that the islands are being built—is she aware that at a recent lecture, Nadine, who we met in Oxford, confirmed that when orangutans are captured for translocation, they will now be tested for TB? That will enable scientists to study the epidemiology of the disease in the wild population. Of course, if it transpires that TB is already in the wild population, it could be safe to release them back into the wild.

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

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  My hon. Friend is talking about peatlands; she will know that Indonesia had a huge, deep burn of its peatlands in 2019, with 31,000 sq km of land burned. In the UK, when we had a terrible peatland fire on Saddleworth moor in 2018, just the year before, an estimated 4.5 million people suffered from the particulate matter—the smoke that went into their lungs—and the health conditions caused by that. Keeping those peatlands moist, damp and wetted in Indonesia is so important. My hon. Friend rightly talked about the population of Indonesia being so large; it is so concentrated that it can be desperately affected by that health risk.

• 13 Apr 2026 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  Japan, Turkey, China and India have already been in negotiation with Iran to try to secure safe passage for their vessels through the strait of Hormuz. The Prime Minister was absolutely right to visit the Gulf states and their leaders. He knows the importance of the strait to those economies. Did he receive any assurance from them that they would not try to negotiate with Iran to salvage their own economies? Any tacit acceptance by those states of Iran’s right to control the strait would set a terrible precedent and empower Iran’s leverage in its nuclear ambitions.

• 3 Mar 2026 · Spring Forecast · Hansard source

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  More!

• 2 Mar 2026 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  We should all welcome the end of the Iranian regime—if it is the end of the regime. Those of us who were in this House for the decision on Iraq needed no convincing that Saddam’s was an evil regime. What we needed convincing on was that the attack was permissible in international law and that there was clarity about the exit strategy; it had neither of those, and nor does the US attack on Iran. The Prime Minister’s broadcast justification of the use of our bases spoke of enabling a defensive strike. Words have meaning: a “defensive strike” is a contradiction in terms. The usual phrase is “pre-emptive strike”, and in any language, a pre-emptive strike is an attack.

• 2 Feb 2026 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister confirm whether the changes that are firm were also consulted on in the consultation document? If so, why were they consulted on?

• 2 Feb 2026 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Gentleman recall that between 2022 and 2024, even though the number of spaces in the care sector was deemed to be between 6,000 and 40,000, his Government made available 616,000 visas for that?

• 29 Jan 2026 · River Habitats: Protection and Restoration · Hansard source

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  I would be very grateful to my hon. Friend if he intervened.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Kashmir: Self-determination · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 2 Dec 2025 · Government Procurement · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right, of course: cheapest is not always best. That is partly what the social value model is all about; it is designed to ensure that there is genuine social value, not simply the cheapest model. The 2025 version of the social value model extends the scope to all contracts of central Government Departments, Executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies that fall within the scope of the Procurement Act 2023. It then encourages other contracting authorities to apply that approach. As a result, the social value model must now be used on most infrastructure and building contracts as well.

• 14 Oct 2025 · COP30: Food System Transformation · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady will recollect that, of that £11.6 billion, £3 billion was ringfenced for conservation. Does she agree that it is important that we do not lose that element of ICF?

• 14 Oct 2025 · COP30: Food System Transformation · Hansard source

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  Will the right hon. Member give way?

• 14 Oct 2025 · COP30: Food System Transformation · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 11 Jul 2025 · Rare Cancers Bill · Hansard source

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  Like everyone else, I want to thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) for bringing this important Bill before the House. I had not intended to speak in this debate; I was simply going to intervene on my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh), but she spoke so comprehensively that it would have been wrong to interrupt her. She spoke about the personal motivation that has brought so many of us to the Chamber today. I have just been listening to my hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley (Anneliese Midgley), who spoke about her own situation, as have many other Members. This year, it is 60 years since my father died of oesophageal cancer and 50 years since my mother died of stomach cancer, both of which are rare cancers. If I said that the treatment in those days was rudimentary, I would be lying; it was cruel. What they went through was awful, and it is appalling that only now, 60 years later, are we in this House trying to change that. This is an historic Bill, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden—I know what this campaign has meant to her, and to all who loved her sister. I ask the Minister to make sure that everything in this Bill is done as swiftly as possible. We cannot wait any longer.