Blake Stephenson MP: speeches

Speeches

• 1 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  From responses to my written parliamentary questions, we know that the median earner can expect to pay £273 more in tax this year under Labour. When the Chancellor sat on the Opposition Benches, she described freezing tax thresholds as “picking the pockets” of working people. Does the Chancellor accept that she is now the one picking the pockets of working people?

• 24 Jun 2025 · Planning (Flooding) · Hansard source

  More

  I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about the consideration of flooding risk in the planning process; to make internal drainage boards statutory consultees for certain planning decisions; and for connected purposes. During this Parliament, we have heard a lot about the problems in the planning system. In particular, the Government have spoken about the blockers—those who, for reasons that the Government seem not to understand, oppose developments they see as bad for their communities. This Bill intends to go some way to fix the Government’s problem. In reality, the reason that many people in our communities become blockers is that they have no faith that the planning system will deliver houses that make their lives better. They are hard-working people, but rather than listen to their concerns, the Government have sought to bash them at every turn. One of the biggest problems in the planning system is the total failure of many local authorities—as a councillor, I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests—to properly understand and consider flood risk in new developments. Policy that the Government think ought to be sufficient to prevent development on floodplains in all but exceptional circumstances, for example, is being circumvented by developers. Due to lack of suitable expertise in planning, we see such developments often going ahead without suitable drainage infrastructure to protect our communities from flooding. What does this all mean? It means that many communities in Mid Bedfordshire and across the country who have done the right thing, and taken the houses that the Government want them to take, now find themselves with a higher flood risk, while developers have got away high and dry with their profits. When they stand ankle-deep in water in their once dry living rooms and desperately attempt to stop the next bad development making their situation worse, the Prime Minister calls them blockers. We are letting them down. This is not a hypothetical situation—it is happening in our communities in Mid Bedfordshire right now. Take the village of Maulden, historically developed as a linear settlement running along the greensand ridge, where developers saw an opportunity to develop up the slope of the ridge. That upslope development has caused a huge increase in flooding in Maulden, to the point that homes that have stood for centuries with minimal flooding have now been reclassified by the Environment Agency as being within flood plain. Are the developers stopping there? Of course not. Another 40 hectares of land has been put forward for development around Maulden as part of the call for sites for the next central Bedfordshire local plan. Who gains from planning like this? It certainly is not the hard-working people who already live in Maulden, who saved up to buy the house that they had been dreaming about and wish to be able to peacefully enjoy it, without having to worry about getting sandbags out every time grey clouds form overhead. It is not the people who worked hard to get their new-build home in Maulden, only to discover the planning system let them down and allowed developers to get away without building the right protections for their homes from flooding. It is not the Government, who are left puzzled as to why all these people are opposing their plans to build thousands more homes in our communities. The only people who gain are the big box developers who have thrown up the houses with minimal restrictions and mitigations, and taken their profits whilst our communities pay the price. Maulden is just one example, but there are many places in Mid Bedfordshire and across the country where our planning system has failed the people who need it most—the people we serve. That is what this Bill will try to fix, starting by ensuring that where we have an internal drainage board—experts on flooding and flood management—we take advantage of their expertise and make them a statutory consultee on development that is likely to have an impact on flood risk in the broad area they cover. Many internal drainage boards are already contributing to that work by making representations on planning applications, but putting them on a statutory footing would ensure that their advice is given the consideration it deserves and would cost us nothing. This Bill will make a simple amendment to schedule 4 to the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 to insert internal drainage boards as a statutory consultee in the planning system. It will also ensure that we take the politics out of protecting people from flooding by ensuring that the Secretary of State may remove internal drainage boards as a statutory consultee only if they replace them with an alternative body, which should provide advice on flooding risk. The Environment Agency already acts as a statutory consultee on planning matters that impact on flood plains, but it lacks the resources to effectively and efficiently identify flooding risk more broadly. That is why internal drainage boards, where they exist, should be brought into the planning process to complement its role and ensure that proper consideration is being given to the flooding implications of developments for current and future residents. This Bill will also ensure that planning authorities give appropriate weight to flood risk in the planning system and prevent developers avoiding their obligations to build liveable homes rather than just their own profits. It will introduce a simple presumption against development where the lead local flood authority, the Environment Agency and/or the internal drainage board, considers that the development would increase flood risk for existing properties when taking into account sustainable drainage infrastructure and flood mitigation measures. The Bill would require the Secretary of State to publish statutory guidance, prepared by a panel of experts, for planning authorities and lead local authorities on the minimum expected standards for drainage and maintenance in new developments. It would build on recent Government announcements on build-out rates and give planning authorities the ability to reject future planning applications from developers on the basis of past failures to deliver or maintain sustainable drainage infrastructure. We must do better for the hard-working people in our communities who want to return from work to a warm, dry home. That is the least they deserve, and I present this Bill for them. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Blake Stephenson, David Simmonds, Nick Timothy, Mr Gagan Mohindra, Dr Ben Spencer, Sarah Bool, Alison Griffiths, Jack Rankin, Rebecca Paul, Lewis Cocking and Paul Holmes present the Bill. Blake Stephenson accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the F irst time; to be read a S econd time on Friday 11 July, and to be printed (Bill 270).

• 24 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T4. At the Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday, the Minister for the overseas territories, the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty), was unable to give clear guarantees about the future of the Chagos marine protected area once the sovereignty of the Chagos islands is surrendered to Mauritius. Does the Foreign Secretary accept that his Chagos surrender deal does not currently secure the marine environment, and that a future environmental protection agreement may result in the UK paying even more money to Mauritius?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  The Government’s English devolution plans are intended to simplify local accountability. The reforms could be critical to improving democratic accountability for our integrated care boards and unlocking the delivery of much-needed healthcare facilities, such as a GP surgery in Wixams in my constituency. Will the Leader of the House make time for a Minister to update the House on why integrated care boards covering Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are being merged, despite there being no plans at all for a mayor to cover the area and hold that body to account?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Immigration: Government Legal Advice · Hansard source

  More

  The Attorney General has recently been forced to apologise for his comments about those who believe the European convention on human rights is impeding efforts to tackle illegal migration. Does that not call into question the credibility of any advice given by the Attorney General and whether we can take the Government’s plans to stop the boats seriously?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Immigration: Government Legal Advice · Hansard source

  More

  3. Whether the Attorney General has provided the Government with legal advice on immigration matters.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  It was reported today that the Treasury may be planning to siphon money off from the water restoration fund for “unrelated purposes”. What assurance can the Secretary of State provide that money in the restoration fund will be used to clean up our waterways, not to cover rising Government debt interest?

• 18 Jun 2025 · HS2 Reset · Hansard source

  More

  East West Rail is due to travel through my constituency, on the historic Marston Vale line. How will the Secretary of State ensure that the mistakes made on HS2—we have heard some shocking stories today—will not also be made on East West Rail? I am afraid that there is very little confidence in the East West Rail Company. It is important that my communities are listened to, that we deliver this infrastructure faster and at lower cost, and that people who are impacted are properly compensated.

• 17 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  The Secretary of State will know that my local ICB in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes is set to merge with Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The new ICB will cover a population of about 3 million people. Given the difficulties we have had securing a GP surgery in Wixams, will the Secretary of State set out how supersizing that quango will help rural mid-Beds to get the local healthcare it needs?

• 11 Jun 2025 · Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The UK has a real opportunity to lead the world in the production of sustainable aviation fuels, and this Bill aims to provide the investment certainty needed to scale up domestic SAF production and achieve just that. My constituency is located a stone’s throw from London Luton airport. It is a rapidly expanding regional airport, and that expansion will bring with it huge economic benefits, including jobs for thousands of my constituents and better connections for business and leisure. Indeed, airport expansion will help to bring millions of people to the Universal UK theme park—which I have to mention every time I stand up—and play a key role in driving local economic growth. But just as it is important to support the growth of airports such as Luton, it is important that expansion happens as sustainably as possible to ensure that we get as many of the benefits, and as few of the harms, as possible. This is the subject of a current Environmental Audit Committee inquiry, which I was pleased to secure, investigating how the Government can deliver airport expansion while meeting their legally binding climate targets. Some, such as the Climate Change Committee, say that it is not possible, and the Government need to square that circle. With around 7% of greenhouse gases derived from aviation in the UK, we should not underestimate the challenge, but it is clear to me that sustainable aviation fuels are an important piece of the jigsaw. In my constituency of Mid Bedfordshire, Cranfield University and local industry are already working at the cutting edge of developing new technologies in this area. I have heard from them and other experts about the potential of British-made sustainable aviation fuels. I have even learned about second-generation SAF—not something that I thought I would get into this time last year—which turns the waste we all put in our black bins every week into the fuel that powers us to adventures abroad. That is a remarkable thing, and I am glad to have learned about it since coming into the House. If we get sustainable aviation fuels right, we can create and support thousands of highly skilled jobs in places such as Cranfield. Doing more to stimulate the development of sustainable aviation fuels is an obvious route to economic growth, so will the Minister reflect on our global market position, explain how the mechanism compares with other approaches, and give an assurance that the measures in the Bill will be enough to avoid the UK aviation industry needing to import SAF from abroad? It would be a huge missed opportunity to later find that this mechanism and related policies have not been ambitious enough, leaving foreign countries to benefit from domestic mandates. One thing that strikes me immediately as worthy of more thought—the Minister may wish to comment—is black bin waste. Taking waste that was heading to landfill and instead using it to power us into the sky would seem to be a simple way forward, although whether there is enough of it is another matter. I declare my interest as a Central Bedfordshire councillor, but will the Minister consider the merits of including, in this Bill or elsewhere, a requirement for the Secretary of State to provide local authorities with guidance on how they can take advantage of this opportunity to help in the national effort to scale up production? Unless it is financially prohibitive for them to do so, would it not be sensible and pragmatic to let them use our household waste in this way, rather than let it head to landfill or local incinerators? Finally, I have a few questions for the Minister on the costs of aviation travel. As we all know, times are tight for many of our constituents. UK air passenger duty is the world’s highest tax levied on airline passengers, and following the autumn Budget, the OBR forecasts that it will increase 9% a year on average to a whopping £6.5 billion in 2029-30. On top of that, it is estimated that the impact of the Bill through the levy and administration costs will raise the cost of a ticket to travel. I know Ministers say that it is a modest increase, but that is why some may prefer the Government to use an alternative funding mechanism, such as the industry’s contribution to the UK emissions trading scheme. I am not saying that the Government should take that approach, but it would be worthwhile for them to explain why they have taken the approach they have. Reflecting on the fact that the costs of the Bill come on top of the increase to air passenger duty in the autumn Budget, will the Minister provide an assurance that the Bill will not clobber our hard-working constituents with yet higher prices when they jet off on their family holiday?

• 10 Jun 2025 · Nuclear Power: Investment · Hansard source

  More

  Global tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon have announced plans to use SMRs to power their data centres, so they have trust in SMRs. I happen to believe that they should be the future of nuclear in this country. I have a couple of questions for the Secretary of State. The announcement states that a new public company, GB Energy Nuclear, will be set up. Will he set out why a new company is required, how much it will cost the public purse, and why it is based in Warrington? I have nothing against Warrington, of course, but why has the decision been made to place the company there? Will he outline when he expects meaningful deployment of the modular reactors?

• 9 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. Those green spaces on the edge of and between towns are at risk. It is not just the fields that are at risk but people’s access to green space, which is vital for mental health and wellbeing.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The shadow Minister makes the case for me, so I do not think I need to. I absolutely support new clause 44. I will make a final point so that we can hear from another speaker. I am proud to support new clause 81 in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford). Communities such as Wixams in Mid Bedfordshire too often find that the housing-first, infrastructure-second approach that our planning system prefers mean that they get all of the housing but none of the infrastructure—that is just not right. It is not right that, nearly two decades on from the first shovel going into the ground, it is still not clear when Wixams will get its long-promised GP surgery, while more and more houses are planned around it. We must end that cycle and ensure that where infrastructure is promised, infrastructure is delivered. That is what the new clause will do. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a planning systems that turns blockers into builders. We must do better than this Bill, which I fear will only build more blockers.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I rise to speak in support of new clauses 43, 44, 52, 53 and 81, if I have time. Mid Bedfordshire is a fast-growing area and has accommodated more than its fair share of new homes in the past decade. Since 2012, the two districts that my constituency covers have delivered over 35,000 new homes, including the new town of Wixams. Yet this Government would have us believe that those people in my constituency who have seen housing growth outpace services, who are still waiting for the long-promised GP surgery, for train stations and for other infrastructure, and who fear that the character of their historic Ends villages is being lost, are all blockers because they are concerned about what more badly planned development would mean for the overstretched amenities and services in their area. The Bill is an opportunity to lead. It is an opportunity not to pit blockers against builders but to deliver a system that turns blockers into builders. Regrettably, as it stands, the Bill will fail, but it does not have to fail. My new clause 52 would create a fairer way of managing new towns by reforming the new towns programme, which seems expressly designed to make local communities resent the towns foisted upon them. It would replace that new towns model with one that does not involve a double whammy of house building—currently, communities that want to do the right thing and build the houses that people need find every patch of countryside is hoovered up because the Government have added a new town on top of the developable area in their district. My new clause 53 would close the loophole that allows planning authorities to grant developments on floodplains. That is a perfectly sensible and pragmatic position. People in Maulden in my constituency know all too well how bad development compounds the risk of flooding. They are honest hard-working people who want to enjoy the warm and dry homes that their hard work has paid for, but the Government are backing big-box developers, not them. The new clause would prevent developers from getting away high and dry with their profits while our constituents pay the price in flooded homes. New clause 44, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds), would do the same by ensuring that where development does happen, developers must deliver and maintain sustainable urban drainage infrastructure. The current guidance is too vague and the current rules too lax to ensure that our residents are protected. My Mid Bedfordshire constituency has lots of beautiful villages, but they are under threat from the creeping spread of urban sprawl that threatens to merge them into a conglomerate mass of development, which flies in the face of the historically gentle and natural evolution of our beautiful estate villages. I therefore endorse new clause 43 for its efforts to stop our beautiful villages from being lost to future generations.

• 22 May 2025 · Local Government Boundary Commission for England · Hansard source

  More

  I declare an interest: I am a Central Bedfordshire councillor. It is important that the boundary commission delivers electoral arrangements that provide strong local representation throughout English devolution. Will the hon. Member assure the House that resources available to the commission with be sufficient to ensure that representation is not sacrificed on the basis of arbitrary timelines for devolution?

• 22 May 2025 · Local Government Boundary Commission for England · Hansard source

  More

  3. If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the resources available to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England to deliver electoral arrangements under the “English Devolution” White Paper.

• 22 May 2025 · Independent Sentencing Review · Hansard source

  More

  Under these proposals, foreign criminals will be deported after serving 30% of their sentence, which I appreciate is an improvement. The public want them to be deported right away—does the Lord Chancellor?

• 21 May 2025 · Business and the Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I know the hon. Member was about to conclude, but it is notable that she decided not to talk about hospitality, leisure and retail businesses, private schools or all sorts of other industries in her constituency. Businesses talking to me are deeply worried about the policies of this Government. Will she reflect on the impact on smaller businesses in retail and hospitality?

• 21 May 2025 · Business and the Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I am being closely supervised by the Whips, as I have been told to keep this speech quite short, so there will be no 25 minutes from me. Hard-working British people are losing their jobs. Is it any wonder when every policy that this Government announce seems designed to make it harder for British people to do the right thing—create jobs and grow our economy. We have a tax on job creation; billions of pounds in extra costs through the Employment Rights Bill; and a family business tax, which pushes entrepreneurs and job creators elsewhere. We cannot grow an economy through sheer force of will alone; we need to give the people who build the businesses that employ the workers who power the economy the best possible environment in which to thrive. We have seen what happens to hard-working people under this Government in my constituency of Mid Bedfordshire. Constituents who were part of a 120-year proud manufacturing history at the Stellantis plant in Luton now find themselves out of work, just a few months after the imposition of this Government’s policies. Hard-working publicans in my constituency are now, sadly, closing their doors, because higher costs and crippling regulatory burdens are being applied by this Government. I note that not many Members have spoken about pubs, but they are an essential part to many of our communities, and pubs in my community are closing their doors. That means fewer opportunities for younger people to get their first job in our rural areas, which was exactly my experience growing up in north-west Hampshire. There will be less money for our local farmers and producers in the supply chain, damaging our rural economy, and it means the heart of two rural communities in my constituency being ripped out. This is happening up and down the country, with UKHospitality confirming that 70% of hospitality businesses expect to reduce employment and that one in seven are planning to close at least one site. Worst of all, this Government’s economic policy is hammering our hospices and charities. Conservative Members have spoken passionately not just today but in previous months about the importance of this sector. Hospices and charities have relied on the British public’s unending good will and generosity to keep going through some tough years over the pandemic, but they can no longer rely on the good will of their Government. The only jobs that seem to be safe from Labour’s tax hikes are in the new quangos being rapidly established to run our energy, railways and the rest of our country—all while the Government announce review after review into who is spending all their money. I said that I would keep my speech short, so I will wind up. The tax rises that we all know are coming to pay for the expanding state and the debt that the Government are now running up will strangle any meagre growth that they plan to nurture. Their plans for growth are a mirage. Huge Government spending will only supplant private investment. We have not spoken about it today, but the National Wealth Fund investment will not create any wealth. So far, the average National Wealth Fund investment since July 2024 has cost nearly £1.5 million per job created. It is a sad state of affairs. This Government talk up their plans for growth but fail to back the people who grow the economy. We can see from economic history that the larger the Government, the smaller the economic growth. The Government are putting big government over job creators and entrepreneurs. Confidence is being undermined, and that is resulting in rising unemployment, especially for our young people. It is time for something to change. The Government need to urgently change course to support the aspiration, hard work and risk taking that is needed to create the jobs and prosperity that working people throughout Britain deserve.

• 13 May 2025 · Flooding: Planning and Developer Responsibilities · Hansard source

  More

  In places such as Maulden in Mid Bedfordshire, we too often see inappropriate or poorly maintained sustainable drainage, which contributes to worsening flooding. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government’s plans for 1.5 million homes can be considered a success only if they can tackle such problems so that everyone can live in a dry home?

• 12 May 2025 · Private Pension Pots: Young People · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Minister for that response. Thanks to the introduction of auto-enrolment, millions of young people are now saving for their retirement, but I have heard worrying reports in Mid Bedfordshire that increases in employers’ national insurance, which have resulted in pay freezes, are now causing people to decide to opt out of pension savings. Does the Minister recognise that risk to pensions adequacy? If so, what is he doing to address it?

• 12 May 2025 · Private Pension Pots: Young People · Hansard source

  More

  9. What steps she plans to take to encourage young people to increase their private pension pots.

• 6 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T5. Residents in Mid Bedfordshire are concerned about the standards of maintenance at our two local hospitals. What action are the Government taking to support our hospitals in Luton and Bedford to catch up on maintenance backlogs?

• 6 May 2025 · English Devolution: Integrated Care Boards · Hansard source

  More

  Funding and delivery of a GP surgery for Wixams in my constituency continues to fall between the cracks of developers, local councils and the local ICB. Does the Minister agree that to break those deadlocks and build the infrastructure that our communities require, new mayors should have the power to direct ICBs, making locally elected politicians responsible rather than unelected quangos?

• 6 May 2025 · English Devolution: Integrated Care Boards · Hansard source

  More

  5. Whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the interaction between mayors and integrated care boards, in the context of the English devolution White Paper.