Bradley Thomas MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Apr 2025 · Birmingham: Waste Collection · Hansard source

  More

  Which legacy is the Minister most proud of: rubbish and rats in Birmingham, or Labour’s breach of its promise to the electorate to freeze council tax?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund · Hansard source

  More

  This fund is really important to so many vulnerable children and their families. Although it is disappointing that many families and children have been left in limbo for a good few months, I welcome the Government’s announcement of the extension of funding. I would like to raise two points. First, will the Minister outline what steps are being taken to speed up applications and reduce any potential logjam in the system while funding is being released? Secondly, will she commit to the House and to families and children that she will meet Treasury Ministers and look at the potential for a longer-term funding settlement to reduce such uncertainty in future?

• 31 Mar 2025 · Birmingham City Council · Hansard source

  More

  Chelworth Road in my constituency is a road of two halves: on one half of the road, which is in the Wythall division of Worcestershire, the rubbish is collected; on the other side, which falls under Labour-led Birmingham city council, the rubbish is piling high, council tax is going up by 21% and a major incident is being declared. Labour is delivering rubbish, while the Liberal Democrats are prancing around on their hobby horses on social media. The Minister talks about priorities, including putting residents first and delivering value for money, but surely this is further proof that only Conservative councils will deliver on those priorities. Will the Minister tell us at what point he will step in to get those bins collected?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q8. Acorns children’s hospice provides compassionate care to very young cancer patients and their families across Bromsgrove and the villages, yet it faces a staggering £416,000 increase in national insurance contributions as a result of choices made by this Government. With no exemption for hospices and no uplift in non-capital funding, this means that the charity will have to draw on charitable donations made by the public, which will affect frontline services. This is not right, so will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to right that wrong and exempt hospices from this tax?

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  If the Government are going to build 1.5 million homes over the course of this Parliament, and we are nine months into the first year of this Parliament, by my calculation they should have built 225,000 by now. Will the Secretary of State confirm how many homes have been built?

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The Deputy Prime Minister makes an important point about the access to energy that all our communities require. Particularly prominent in all our minds, at a time when we recognise that food security is national security, is the displacement of high-quality agricultural land and, in effect, energy becoming a new cash crop. Will she assure the House that we are not at risk of falling into that trap and that we will not displace high-quality agricultural land for energy?

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  First, as I think the whole House has suggested in the speeches we have heard, our country does need more homes, particularly for young people. The most obvious stake that a young person can have in society is ownership of their own property that they live in with their family, but it is important that Government get their approach right. There is much to commend in the Government’s Bill, but there are also a few points I would like the Minister to focus on. First, the rural-urban divide has become apparent. In my constituency, Bromsgrove and the villages is 89% green-belt. It is to the south of Birmingham and in the north of Worcestershire. In many ways, it is a rural idyll, yet Bromsgrove is seeing the housing target set by Government increase by 85% at a time when adjacent Birmingham’s housing target is decreasing by more than 20%.

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I agree wholeheartedly with my right hon. Friend. She makes an important and pertinent point. If we get urban densification right, it is a catalyst for the economic and social renewal of town centres, which is desperately needed.

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Member makes a very good point, with which I do not disagree. We have to strike a better balance—that is the point I am making. That leads me to my second point, which is around infrastructure. Bromsgrove has suffered from a lot of development in recent years, and it has not had the infrastructure to go with it. If we want to strike the right balance and enable young people to stay in the communities where they grew up, particularly rural ones, we need to have the housing there, but we also need to recognise that rural areas cannot do all the heavy lifting.

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I will make a little progress, and then I will give way. Linked to urban densification is a pertinent importance to focus on the quality and aesthetic of the development that is taking place. I have long been a fervent advocate for design codes and the role that locally led placemaking principles can play in determining the quality of an area and its attractiveness for future inward investment. I believe instinctively that residents across the country are not nimby, but I fear that successive Governments, including the previous Conservative one and the Labour one before that, have allowed mediocrity to reign. There is a lack of local distinctiveness in development, which causes an entrenched perception of nimbyism running throughout the country. I implore the Government to consider reinstating the Office for Place, which was disbanded back in July, and to think about the importance of those aesthetically-based placemaking principles and the role they can play in promoting the positive impacts of development. Linked to that, we have an acute need and opportunity to promote smaller, more artisanal developers, particularly those focused on developing the vocational skills needed to generate the incoming pipeline of talent to support the house building industry. I will make a couple of points that relate to my constituency, but they probably apply to many others across the country. One is on the protection of the green belt. Green belt is a technical designation, but to the public at large, it is often considered to be lush open fields and meadows. My constituency has this large buffer between Bromsgrove and Birmingham. It is not the case that residents of Bromsgrove are nimby—I do not believe they are—but they do not want the identity of Bromsgrove to be eroded and, by virtue of that, it to become some kind of extension of Birmingham. For me, and for many of my constituents, that word “identity” underpins the fundamentals we should be talking about. It is about sense of place and a lifestyle that people identify with. When I think about constituents from my area, they have probably grown up in Birmingham and moved into north Worcestershire. In many cases, they have done that because there is an aspirational element to moving into the countryside, and they want to benefit from the countryside that Worcestershire offers, while being in close proximity to Birmingham and all the services it offers. I will wrap up my comments with four quick points that I would like the Government to focus on. They should consider intensive urban densification and the positive role that can play in delivering housing where it is needed and where young people live, and in regenerating town centres undergoing a lot of change.

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  Does my hon. Friend agree that with regard to good-quality design, not only society but particularly the Government in their relationship with developers have to shift their mindset away from seeing design as a cost to instead seeing it as an investment that will reap benefits in the form of better-quality placemaking and better quality of life for residents?

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend makes a great point. In fact, she leads me to a point I want to stress to the Minister, which is about intensive urban densification. Our country faces a real opportunity if we focus on increasing the number of properties, particularly in larger urban areas, including London and Birmingham. It is also a great opportunity to regenerate some of the larger towns across many of our constituencies.

• 24 Mar 2025 · Disruption at Heathrow · Hansard source

  More

  In any modern economy, it is clear that the resilience of critical national infrastructure faces many risks and threats, and that resilience goes hand in hand with our national security. Does the Secretary of State agree that the incident and other risks we face demonstrate that the role of the Prime Minister’s national security adviser should be bolstered to more prominently cover national security and critical infrastructure resilience?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

  More

  Further to the point that my hon. Friend has just made, does he agree that the Government made promises to the British public that they not only will not deliver, but cannot deliver, such as lowering energy bills? It is not within the gift of Governments to directly control energy bills—that is why the winter fuel payment is so crucial to so many pensioners across the country.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

  More

  Constituents across Bromsgrove and the villages, particularly older constituents who have previously been beneficiaries of winter fuel payments, rightly feel short-changed by this Government. I know that from constituents who have contacted me and those I have spoken to directly on the doorstep. The faith that they placed in the Government has not been rewarded by the Government supporting them at a time of vulnerability. In the limited time that I have, I would like to point out the effect that this policy has on rural communities in particular. It is important to remember that, while about 83% of homes across the country at large are connected to the gas grid, many pensioners who live in rural areas are not connected to mains energy and have disproportionately higher energy costs. They often live in much more exposed older homes that are less well insulated. This means that their energy demands are much greater than those who live in better insulated or more urban residences. I also want to touch on political choices. I know that this has been stressed many times already today, but governing is about choices. We hear a lot about £22 billion black holes, but we do not hear too much from the Government and Labour Members about the cumulative costs of other choices that they have made. These include the £18 billion for Chagos and the public sector pay award without any increase in productivity. We could say that pensioners are paying the price for the pressure that unions have placed on the Labour party. It is crucial to remember that, during the election campaign, Labour pledged to bring down bills by £300 a year. Ever since the Government have been pursuing their GB Energy policy, which is a quango funded to the tune of £8 billion that will not own any energy-generating assets, they seem to have abandoned any claim over when that £300 deduction in bills will be delivered, but we have seen the price cap rise. I find it quite spectacular how, in 2025, Ministers are suddenly talking about how market forces are affecting energy prices, when back in 2022 Labour Members said it was the decisions of the Conservatives that caused energy prices and therefore inflation to spike. It is important for the Government to reflect on the reality of what drives energy prices and to restore the winter fuel payment to pensioners, not just in Bromsgrove and the villages but across the country.

• 18 Mar 2025 · Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · Hansard source

  More

  On home education, does the hon. Lady agree that not only is it a case of getting the balance right between privacy and the right to educate at home, but it is important that home educators do not feel stigmatised by the ability of the state to enter private property under less-than-forthcoming means that enable it subsequently to make an assessment of home education that is completely contrary to the reality experienced by the child in their own home?

• 17 Mar 2025 · Sentencing Council Guidelines · Hansard source

  More

  Judging by the lack of action, it appears that the Justice Secretary is comfortable with changes that she has described as two-tier coming into effect in just two weeks. We have heard that she is unhappy; if she really is, can the Minister tell the House and the country what the Secretary of State is doing, other than holding cordial and cosy meetings, to prevent two-tier justice?

• 17 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T6. There are many fantastic organisations across Bromsgrove and the villages, including Legacy Martial Arts, the Basement Project and the Scouts, which do fantastic work to support young people. The work done by the committed individuals behind those organisations bolsters the confidence, skills and mental health of young people. Will the Minister join me in thanking those organisations for the work they do across my constituency? Will she outline what support is available to those organisations to support them in the valuable work they do?

• 13 Mar 2025 · Farming · Hansard source

  More

  Does my right hon. Friend agree that the changes to agricultural property relief are completely contrary to what the Prime Minister outlined in his initial speech on Downing Street, where he said he wanted the Government to tread more lightly on people’s lives? Does she also agree that this policy is a false economy and that it ultimately risks concentrating farming assets in the hands of very few, which will make the market much worse for British consumers, society and food security?

• 13 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  I recently enjoyed the privilege of meeting two inspirational constituents, Helen and James, who for the past 15 years have been foster carers to many children across Bromsgrove. When I met them I also met their lovely 11-year-old foster child Lizzie; she is very happy and confident, making clear the benefit of fostering in society. Lizzie raised with me the question of whether fostering can be included on the curriculum to reduce stigma so that children across society are aware of different family structures. Will the Leader of the House join me in praising the fantastic work of foster carers across the country, and please will she raise this question with colleagues in the Department for Education on behalf of Lizzie?

• 13 Mar 2025 · High Street Businesses · Hansard source

  More

  There are over 70 pubs across Bromsgrove and the villages. One of them—the Queens Head—faces a staggering £42,000 annual increase in the cost of business rates and national insurance contributions as a result of choices made by this Government. That is on top of increasing concerns around a banter ban. Will the Minister confirm that nobody will be ejected from a pub or hospitality venue for sharing a joke, and will he outline what steps he is taking to support pubs, rather than putting them out of business?

• 13 Mar 2025 · High Street Businesses · Hansard source

  More

  16. What steps he is taking to support high street businesses.

• 4 Mar 2025 · Economic Growth: East Midlands · Hansard source

  More

  As part of their pursuit of the ever-elusive goal of economic growth, the Government have rebranded the UK Infrastructure Bank as the National Wealth Fund. Even the Office for Budget Responsibility has cast doubt on the effectiveness of that as a driver of economic growth. Can the Chancellor tell the House how much the rebrand has cost?

• 3 Mar 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

  More

  I, too, commend the Prime Minister for his international leadership in promoting a long-lasting and durable peace in Ukraine. I am pleased that he has reconfirmed the Government’s commitment to ensuring that sanctions on Russia are not lifted in the event of a ceasefire, but we all know that there is a vehement determination on the part of Putin to protect his regime and Russian interests. In the light of that, does the Prime Minister agree that it is critical that the Government take every action they can with international partners to ensure that Russia cannot circumvent international sanctions via its shadow fleet?

• 27 Feb 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  The Leader of the House will recall that after many months of non-committal communications with the Government, I came to business questions on 23 January to raise the case tragic case of John Cross, a Bromsgrove pharmacist who very sadly took his own life after complications arising from the covid vaccine. I would like to put on the record that John was a pharmacist and believed in the importance of vaccines. John’s family believe that he took one for the team, and have been seeking justice in his memory. I am grateful to the Leader of the House for her correspondence with me immediately afterwards, but although she promised on the Floor of the House a meeting with the Cross family, my subsequent correspondence with Government has promised only a meeting with me. The Cross family desperately want to meet Government, so that they can see justice delivered in John’s name. It is disappointing that I have to come here; it is a little embarrassing for the Government; and, frankly, it is cruel for the Cross family to have their anguish drawn out. I believe the Leader of the House to be a very honourable Member, and I hope that she will agree to a meeting with the Cross family and make it a priority today.