Ben Goldsborough MP: speeches 2025

81 published records · newest first.

Speeches

15 Sept 2025 · Shoplifting · Hansard source
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As a proud member of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers and formerly the youngest deputy store manager for Halford’s in the east of England, I know at first hand the fear that shoplifting causes to retail workers. What action is my hon. Friend taking to ensure that the police have the powers they need to use the full force of the law to tackle those who steal from our shops?
15 Sept 2025 · Shoplifting · Hansard source
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10. What steps her Department is taking to help tackle shoplifting.
11 Sept 2025 · Regional Transport Inequality · Hansard source
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For rural areas such as South Norfolk, transport links are a lifeline. So I am delighted that this Government are doing what previous Governments failed to do: investing in South Norfolk’s infrastructure. Already I have secured a £200 million investment to upgrade the Thickthorn junction, shaving valuable, lifesaving minutes off journeys for ambulances to access the Norfolk and Norwich hospital, which will also benefit the constituency of the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew) directly. I have also secured £2.6 million for key cycle and footpath access across Norfolk, including the Hethersett to Norwich research park cycle route. But there is more to do. Today I want to touch on three points: first, rural road safety; secondly, bus services in South Norfolk; and thirdly—the Minister will not be surprised to hear me mention this again—Wymondham train station. On my first point, I am currently running a constituency-wide survey on rural road safety in South Norfolk. Once the survey has concluded, I will share my findings with Norfolk county council, the police and crime commissioner for Norfolk and the Roads Minister. What is already clear, however, is that Norfolk roads are simply not fit for purpose. They are unsafe and covered with potholes, despite our Labour Government increasing Norfolk county council’s budget for pothole repairs to £56 million. On bus services, the situation is just as frustrating. For disabled and less mobile residents of estates like the Hampdens in Costessey, bus services are in effect non-existent. The whole of the Hampdens estate is without bus services—they deserve better than this enforced isolation. I now turn to Wymondham train station. As the Department already knows from my many, many lobbying attempts, platform 2 southbound from Wymondham has no step-free access—it is a Victorian train station that is celebrating its 180th birthday—so anyone with a mobility issue wanting to travel south from Wymondham must first travel all the way north to Norwich, then turn around and travel all the way back down. That is completely inefficient, isolating and unjust. Once again, the primary victims of poor transport provision are elderly and disabled people. Accessibility upgrades to Wymondham station are being considered by the Access for All scheme. I realise that the Minister will not be able to comment in any detail about Wymondham station, but I can think of no better way to prove the Government’s dedication to tackle regional transport inequality than to make it accessible for all. Viewers of the BBC’s “Politics East” would expect all politicians from East Anglia to want to talk about another aspect of rail use: the Ely and Haughley junction upgrade. I will continue to lobby on this cross-party issue across the whole of East Anglia. The upgrade would shave off valuable minutes and increase freight haulage to Felixstowe, which would be a huge economic boost for our region, and I would get more services to Wymondham and Spooner Row, which would be a win for everyone. Again, I put that on the Minister’s to-do list. To sum up: we need to hold Norfolk county council to account for failing to fix our roads, we need to continue making progress to improve access to bus services, and Wymondham station must finally be made accessible to all.
11 Sept 2025 · Regional Transport Inequality · Hansard source
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Will the shadow Minister give way?
11 Sept 2025 · Regional Transport Inequality · Hansard source
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The shadow Minister talks about the A47, which runs through my constituency. Would he agree that the £200 million being spent on the improvement of the Thickthorn junction in our area will make a huge difference, compared to the £50 million wasted by Norfolk county council, run by his party, on a road that has not had an inch of tarmac laid?
11 Sept 2025 · Biosecurity at the Border: Britain’s Illegal Meat Crisis · Hansard source
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I congratulate and thank the Committee for this valuable work. Biosecurity is national security. The pork industry is worth £1.8 billion a year, and the sector is vital to Norfolk, particularly South Norfolk. As others have said, it is estimated that an outbreak of African swine fever would cost £100 million. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that, in our efforts to protect UK biosecurity, we need also to focus on small ports and airports as places of weakness?
8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source
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I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petitions 727360 and 727356 relating to the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. The excellent staff on the Petitions Committee have been as diligent as ever; thanks to their hard work, I have had some very informative meetings with experts and campaign groups. I want to quickly thank the Migration Observatory, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Hong Kong Watch and the Centre for Policy Studies for taking the time to discuss the policy with me. I also want to thank Darwin, the creator of the petition entitled “Keep the 5-Year ILR pathway for existing Skilled Worker visa holders”, for the fascinating and moving conversation that we had last week. Before I turn to the detail, I want to say why today’s debate matters. It is timely because the public discourse on immigration grows louder, fuelled by the algorithms of X and Facebook. We also see those who peddle the idea that you can have your cake and eat it: lower migration, but without the consequences to our economy, our NHS, our diplomacy or our culture. They are charlatans trying to hoodwink the public with slogans on the sides of buses. They want to divide us and set the tone that all immigration is bad and, by extension, that all migrants are unwelcome. But that is not our country. That is not who we are. The moral compass of the vast majority of Britons points firmly in the other direction. This debate is our chance to show that careful deliberation is needed. Managed migration, done well, strengthens us. It grows our economy, it enriches our culture and it gives us the diplomatic heft to punch above our weight on the world stage. First, I want to address one specific point. Experts have raised with me multiple times the need for a clear and honest conversation about what these changes mean, and the need for a clear distinction between immigration pathways and the different types of immigration. Let us be clear at the start about what we have and have not been asked to discuss today. We are not here to debate asylum claims, the graduate route, small boats or ancestry visas. The 164,000 and 108,000 people who signed the two petitions are asking us to consider two precise things: the five-year pathway for existing skilled worker visa holders and the five-year pathway for Hong Kong British national overseas visas. Let me turn first to skilled workers. There are three issues to get to grips with, the first of which is fairness to those who are already here. The skilled worker visa pathway was introduced only in December 2020, and many people are now close to completing their five years. Some are just months away.
8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source
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Today’s debate has been a perfect example of what the Petitions Committee is very good at. It has brought these topics to the fore, in front of a brand-new Minister, so the two e-petitions are now at the top of his box. I give huge thanks not only to the Petitions Committee itself, for all the hard work and effort that went into setting up the process, but also for the stamina of our guests in the Gallery who stayed for the full three-hour debate. I hope that those who are watching at home will realise that this is the best of Parliament, where we speak with more light than heat; where we look at the instruments in front of us and take them issue by issue; and where, instead of deciding to turn them into a mud-slinging match, we actually look at these projects and at how we can make our country better. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered e-petitions 727360 and 727356 relating to the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain.
8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source
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I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. I know that the Minister will have been listening to his point. When Hongkongers tell us that they are worried about the direction of travel, we must listen, because they have already lived it. They know what it means when promises are broken; they know what it means when the state decides to rewrite the rules halfway through the journey. That is why this debate is not just about visa terms. It is about trust and about whether Britain will stand by its word. We in this country have always had a proud tradition of standing up to international bullies. When others looked away, Britain was often prepared to say, “No, this is not right. We will not let you trample over your people.” That tradition is written into our history, from our stance against fascism in Europe to our support for democratic movements across the world. The BNO scheme is part of that tradition. It told the people of Hong Kong, “You are not alone. Britain will stand with you.”
8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend. The important thing is not just the here and now, but the future. We always need to legislate for the future, not just for now. I turn to the second petition, which is about the Hong Kong BNOs. The moral case is overwhelming. We must remember why this scheme exists: it was created in response to Beijing’s national security law, when freedoms and rights of Hongkongers were crushed. People fled oppression. They came here trusting Britain to keep its word. Some of those who are now living in our country have spoken out against the Chinese Government. Going back to Hong Kong is unthinkable for them. Colleagues should be under no illusion about what people are fleeing. In mainland China, repression is systematic. We have seen the incarceration of over 1 million Uyghur Muslims, the silencing of dissent and the routine use of mass surveillance against ordinary citizens. In Hong Kong, which was once one of Asia’s freest societies, we have seen the steady erosion of rights that were guaranteed by international treaty. We have seen freedom of the press strangled, freedom of assembly banned, civil society dismantled piece by piece, journalists jailed, students arrested and opposition politicians barred from office or driven into exile—all this in a place where people used to enjoy liberties similar to our own.
8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. As I said at the start, migration managed well benefits us all. That is what I understand the Government are trying to achieve, and that is one thing that we need to support. The prospect of applying changes retrospectively has caused huge anxiety. For people who have uprooted their family, made financial sacrifices and planned their future on the basis of clear rules, it feels—as one person put it to me—like “running a marathon and halfway through realising the rules have changed”.
8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, which shows not only that he has probably seen my speech and knows what is coming next, but that it is a uniform measure that has been raised by those who have spoken to me, as the Member introducing the debate, and by those who have reached out to their MPs.
8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source
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I am just about to make my concluding remarks. Both petitions speak to a single principle: fairness. People who came here on a clear set of rules deserve to know what those rules are and that they will not change halfway through. Whether those people are skilled workers staffing our hospitals or Hongkongers seeking refuge from oppression, they are already contributing enormously to our country. In all the discussions about immigration, we must start with honesty about the different types of migration and what they mean for Britain. In recent years, there has been too much heat and not enough light. Today’s debate is a chance for us to change that. I hope that the Minister will take the opportunity to provide that clarity.
8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source
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That is another issue that I know the Minister, who is new to his place, will address in his remarks. The second issue that I want to raise is exploitation. A longer route to settlement may embolden bad employers. We already know that there are 40,000 people in limbo in the social care sector because of exploitative bosses and visa sponsorship pressures. Extending the pathway risks increasing the vulnerability of workers who are already contributing to our society. I therefore ask the Minister: has any assessment been carried out of the workplace impact of these proposals? The third issue is contribution. These are skilled workers; we invited them here because we need their skills. They are in work, paying tax, helping our economy, staffing our hospitals, caring for our elderly and carrying out world-leading research. In my constituency of South Norfolk, skilled workers at the Norwich research park are engaged in science that could revolutionise food security and tackle the climate crisis. At Norfolk and Norwich University hospital, I saw a board listing dozens of nationalities represented in the workforce—it looked like a roll-call of the United Nations—and yet these staff, who are giving so much, have no access to public funds. They pay the immigration health surcharge of £1,000 a year and support our economy, but carry their own costs. That is the reality that we must recognise. My question to the Minister is whether the Government have conducted an economic impact assessment of the proposed changes to the skilled worker pathway.
8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend’s point is extremely well made. I would say that I could not have put it better myself, but I hope I can, in the bit that is coming up. I urge the Minister to clarify today whether BNOs will be included in the changes. What conversations has the Home Office had with the Foreign Office about the diplomatic consequences of this decision? Do the Government regard the BNO scheme as a humanitarian scheme or an economic scheme? To my mind, it is clear: it is a humanitarian scheme rooted in our duty to protect those who share our values, but whose freedoms have been taken away.
17 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The over 1,000 employees at the Lotus plant in South Norfolk and Norwich North are the pride of our constituencies, and I thank the Secretary of State for his support in recent weeks. May I ask for a meeting with him and my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Alice Macdonald), so that we can talk about our discussions with local employees?
15 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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T3. In the fight for energy security, every area of our country must play its part, but that means energy infrastructure projects should be distributed evenly. What is the Department doing to ensure that no community will be asked to do more than its fair share?
14 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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T9. Residents in Heather Gardens and Kett’s Meadow in Hethersett have seen a 60% hike in fees from the residential management group, supposedly for playgrounds that are fenced off and just dust. What action will the Government be taking to stop these rip-off practices and support my residents in South Norfolk?
9 Jul 2025 · Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions · Hansard source
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Some may say we are old school in South Norfolk, but I call it common sense. Criminals should be punished and victims should get their day of justice. Simply hoping that more sitting days will fix the Crown court backlog is not realistic, so I urge the Minister to be radical and ensure that offenders are punished and victims get their day in court.
30 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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T8. Some 3,537 of my constituents in South Norfolk are veterans. Being a veteran in a rural community is very different from being one in an urban community. What action are the Government taking to ensure that my veterans have the support they need?
19 Jun 2025 · UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy · Hansard source
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Our long-term plan is having an immediate effect in South Norfolk: over £200 million for the Thickthorn junction, £8.9 million for the Norfolk and Norwich hospital, and upgrades to four GP practices— [ Interruption. ] All of which will support the constituency of the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew) as well. I would not be doing a good job as the MP for South Norfolk if I did not flag the amazing work of the Norwich Research Park and advocate for future investment in it.
19 Jun 2025 · Animal Disease Outbreaks · Hansard source
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As the House will know, sadly the epicentre of the UK bluetongue outbreak was in my South Norfolk constituency, so biosecurity is a huge issue for my farmers. Will we look to lower our biosecurity risks by returning to checking products at the Bastion Point inland border security centre at the White Cliffs business park, which is closer to the border point, instead of products having to travel nearly 17 miles before they are checked?
16 Jun 2025 · School Estate · Hansard source
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Children at Wreningham and Brooke primary schools are receiving a first-class education from excellent teachers, despite still being taught from portacabins due to a lack of investment by the previous Government. I thank the Minister for already agreeing to meet me. It would be rude if I did not extend the same invite to him, so would he like to come and visit those two amazing schools?
16 Jun 2025 · School Estate · Hansard source
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16. What steps her Department is taking to improve the quality of school buildings.
9 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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T2. We are very good at growing things in South Norfolk, including food, businesses and thriving communities. However, if we want our young people to share in that success, we need to plant a new town in my constituency. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we will achieve that?

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