Brian Mathew MP: speeches

Speeches

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I totally agree; we need to be far more outspoken on this issue.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments, and I agree with him. Will the Government do for Tawila what was not done for El Geneina, Zamzam, or El Fasher, and recognise its precariousness before it is too late? Will the Government use every diplomatic pressure and avenue available to secure guarantees that humanitarian assistance and aid can be delivered unimpeded?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend. I call on the Government to follow on from the London Sudan conference held in April and hold a Lancaster House-style peace conference for all the parties to the conflict. They must hold it in a place of safety, on neutral ground, where peace in Sudan and the means to achieve it can be fully debated and a way forward can be found for peace, reconciliation and rebuilding. Some may say that such a journey is impossible, but if we do not try, we will not succeed. If a journey begins with a single step, let this be such a step. We cannot and must not allow the killing, torture and rape to continue.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for his kind comments. I agree with him, and I hope to put forward some ideas that may prove useful. There are no United Nations peacekeepers on hand even to witness the killings. Current events are a continuation of a calculated political strategy to destroy and ethnically cleanse a province that gives its name to one of the tribes —namely the Fur. The Zaghawa, Berti and Masalit tribes have been similarly targeted in a strategy that began, arguably, well over 20 years ago. Despite the commendable efforts to improve international accountability—including through support for the International Criminal Court and UN fact-finding missions—as well as the efforts of many Members here and our UK aid programme to raise awareness and support the Sudanese people, what has been done so far is clearly not enough.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I totally agree. I thank my hon. Friend for that point. With that, I will conclude my remarks.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend. We must ensure that this business with arms is stopped. The atrocities that we are witnessing through the news, with the work of Barbara Plett Usher at the BBC, others at The Guardian and Al Jazeera, and through social media trickling through the media blackout, will be remembered for generations. El Fasher, like Srebrenica before it, will sadly likely stand as a symbol of what happens when the world turns a blind eye.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I agree with the hon. Gentleman; the world needs to wake up. As the penholder, we have the means and the moral responsibility to act and ensure that we and the rest of the world do not turn our backs on Sudan once more.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I know my hon. Friend has military expertise so I thank him for his points. Crucially, we must also suspend arms sales to the United Arab Emirates. The fact that British-made weapons, tools and equipment could be flowing into the hands of those perpetrating these actions is terrible beyond words, and I echo the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Esher and Walton (Monica Harding), who said that equipment made on our soil must never end up in the hands of those committing such atrocities.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Official Development Assistance Reductions · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) for securing this important debate. Getting UK aid spending to 0.7% of GNI was undoubtedly one of the Liberal Democrats’ proudest moments. It fulfilled a promise and it put us ahead of the game in the race to reach the Brandt target, but more importantly it meant that the UK was doing its bit to make poverty history around the world. The cut to 0.3% is a tragedy for the poorest on the planet, and it diminishes our reputation and influence. I want to focus on my own area of expertise: water, sanitation and hygiene, or WASH. Sustainable development goal 6 is clean water and sanitation, but WASH also underpins most of the other SDGs. We know that the world could face a 40% shortfall of fresh water by 2030, and that progress on the sustainable development goals is way off track for meeting that 2030 deadline. More seriously, the UK’s annual budget for WASH has been cut by approximately 82% since 2018—from £206.5 million to a critical low of just £37 million in 2022. Two thirds of healthcare facilities in the 46 least developed countries do not have access to basic handwashing facilities, and without access to WASH, infections are more likely to spread. That increases the risk of antibiotic-resistant infections, which cause 5 million deaths annually. There are also economic costs. Research by WaterAid has shown that infections developed in healthcare facilities cost seven countries across sub-Saharan Africa $8.4 billion each year. In Malawi, those infections are consuming almost 3% of the country’s GDP, and a staggering 10.9% of its annual healthcare budget is being absorbed in treating them. Many antibiotic-resistant infections treated by the NHS originate elsewhere in the world. Healthcare-acquired infections already cost the NHS at least £2.1 billion a year—a cost that will increase as those infections become increasingly resistant to antibiotics. To protect the NHS, we need to ensure global health security, and that requires investment in WASH. Women’s health is disproportionately affected by inadequate access to WASH, because they are the primary household managers of water and sanitation, and because of their specific needs in childbirth and menstruation. Every year, more than 16 million women give birth in healthcare facilities that lack WASH, and infections associated with unclean birth environments account for 11% of maternal mortality. Some 1.7 billion people do not have a toilet, which makes managing periods much more challenging. With no facilities at school, at work or in public places, many women and girls stay at home every month. Many girls opt out of school altogether when they start their periods. I could go on at great length, but I will say this: let us do the right thing and restore the 0.7% aid spend.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Vehicle Headlight Glare Standards · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I thank the hon. Member for Crawley (Peter Lamb) for securing this important debate. The statistics are stark—as stark as bright light coming around the corner at night on a dark country road. The RAC tells us that four in five drivers complain of bright vehicle lights on the road, that 95% of drivers think that at least some headlights are too bright, that 53% have been temporarily blinded while driving, that 79% find it hard to tell when vehicles were indicating because of the bright lights, that 77% find it difficult to judge the position of an oncoming vehicle in the road, that 25% avoid driving at night due to headlights, and that 22% would like to drive less at night. There is an issue that drivers with automatic headlight dipping, and indeed the manufacturers of the systems, may not be aware of: the sensors that dip the lights automatically do not seem to do so until they directly sense an oncoming light, so for those of us who can see a light in the distance and consequently dip our headlights manually, that courtesy is not returned until the first flash of the lights as they round a corner. That makes for more bad temper on our roads, occasional retaliation and of course the danger of being blinded. Some may have seen advertisements for night driving glasses, which have yellow lenses that take out the blinding, blue part of the light. I have found them effective, but it would be useful if the Government’s Transport and Road Research Laboratory, the TRL, could undertake research into the effectiveness of these driving glasses. It could perhaps, along with the British Standards Institution, issue a kitemark for approved night driving glasses and make the case for them more obvious. Other problems, such as the fitting of LED bulbs to standard car light housings are already illegal. Making that point of law more widely known and publishing statistics on the issuance of penalty points for that offence would be widely welcomed, and be a public benefit.

• 16 Oct 2025 · Persecuted Christians · Hansard source

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  Next month marks the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, when congregations across the world will pray for those persecuted for their faith. That includes those in Sudan, where many Christians have been abducted and killed and more than 100 churches have been targeted for damage in recent years. I ask the hon. Member to use her good offices to encourage the Church of England to do all it can to protect the rights and security of worshippers across the world.

• 16 Oct 2025 · Persecuted Christians · Hansard source

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  1. What steps the Church of England is taking to help support persecuted Christians in other countries.

• 15 Sept 2025 · Children with SEND: Assessments and Support · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to speak under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for presenting this important petition debate. The fact that the petition has more than 122,000 signatures, with 244 from my own constituency, is an indictment of our current system. We are letting down far too many of our children, parents and carers. Wiltshire council has one of the lowest levels of per-pupil funding for SEND in the country. Despite children there having the same needs as anywhere else, the county receives nearly 30% less than other councils to support its children and young people with SEND. Wiltshire is the 20th lowest-funded county in the country. Families in my constituency and the families who signed this petition are not asking for the impossible. They just want their children to get the best possible support—the same support as other parents and children get. Instead, they are battling long waiting times for assessments, overstretched schools, and councils making difficult choices with too little money. A SEND White Paper was originally promised in the spring. It was deferred to the summer and has now been confirmed as part of a schools White Paper in the autumn. Drift and delay in the publication of the reforms has caused frustration and anxiety for families. The SEND crisis cannot be fixed without fixing the funding system behind it. Grand ideas remain only ideas if the basics are not funded properly. The Treasury must play its part. Early intervention, properly trained staff, accessible local specialist provisions—none of that will happen unless councils like ours have real, sustained backing.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Regional Transport Inequality · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) for introducing this really important debate. In my maiden speech over a year ago, in a railways debate, I spoke about the state of the railways in my constituency and the need to open a station—Devizes Gateway—to bring back a service to the town lost since the days of Beeching. Despite efforts in the name of levelling up, any progress made to tackle regional inequality in transport has been modest and inconsistent. I represent many small towns and villages that rarely benefit from national policy initiatives and all too often have to rely on private cars to travel longer distances to services, schools and jobs. A more equal distribution of transport funds could drastically improve the lives of people in my constituency, and thousands of others up and down the country. One academic study found that a fifth of workers had turned down a job because of poor bus services. Another found that 40% of those looking for a job said that the lack of personal transport or inadequate public transport were key barriers to their getting a job. Wiltshire is in a challenging position when it comes to rail travel. We have railways, but many do not benefit from the services, which all too often carry people and freight across the county but do not stop at the few stations in the county. Local services range from unreliable to non-existent. Nowhere is that mismatch felt more strongly than in Devizes, a town at the geographical and cultural heart of Wiltshire, with its historic centre, independent businesses and nearby world heritage sites. The town’s marketplace stands just two and a half miles from a major railway line, but in order to access the network passengers must travel by road 12 miles to Chippenham or 23 miles to Swindon. Melksham, a fast-growing industrial town, fares little better. With only one train every two hours during most of the day, locals cannot rely on it for work and school and many are not even aware of it. Major improvements to Wiltshire’s rail services can be made with only minor infrastructure upgrades. Network Rail’s 2024 Wiltshire rail strategy sets out the compelling case for building the Devizes Gateway station, reconnecting 30,000 people living in and around the town to the railway and bringing more visitors to that special part of Wiltshire. I am also delighted to be supporting the Bath and Wiltshire metro proposal, which would deliver many of the improvements we need locally, including for Melksham. A group of industry experts is meeting in Bath as I speak, to discuss how we can leverage existing infrastructure to regenerate our communities. Where good transport leads, high-quality housing, jobs and economic opportunity will follow. The Secretary of State offered kind and encouraging words in Transport questions this morning. However, following the meeting in Bath today, it would be enormously useful if the Rail Minister would agree to a meeting with me and the participants.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  A workshop taking place in Bath this morning brings together key stakeholders from the rail industry and local authorities. It focuses on the development of rail services in Wiltshire, and will include the case for building a Devizes gateway station and increasing services in Melksham. Following Network Rail’s Wiltshire rail strategic study, will the Secretary of State or Rail Minister meet me and key stakeholders to discuss taking those key projects forward?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to speak under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) for bringing this vital debate to Westminster Hall. Before I try to address some of the many important points made in today’s debate, I would like to say that this matter is very close to my heart. As a student in the early 1980s, I spent a year researching in Israel and Egypt, based for much of the time on Kibbutz Re’im, which would be attacked by Hamas militants on 7 October 2023. In those now far-off days, I remember going into Gaza with my Israeli friends to visit their Palestinian friends, to drink coffee and to trade. Those were happy times, and they show that another way is possible. I should also add that, as a member of the International Development Committee, I have not only travelled to the west bank and witnessed at first hand the effect of IDF teargassing of UNRWA schools, but heard testimony from humanitarian workers, doctors, ambulance drivers and paramedics, sometimes in tears over the utterly appalling targeting of humanitarian staff and children by Israeli drones—shooting children at bomb sites in Gaza, some days in the groin, other days in the legs, and other days in the head. This behaviour is most foul, and has even been acknowledged to be ethnic cleansing by none other than former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. It must stop or be stopped by all means possible. I will shoot through some of the points that have been made, because they are all valuable: the 28,000 women and girls killed; the fabric of life destroyed; the latest attack on Qatar; the disinformation campaign; the provision of rotten food; the US President’s visit and the chance to lobby him; access for aid workers, not just aid; 98% of aid workers killed are Palestinians; 2,000 people killed in orchestrated killing; aid workers killed in Gaza; the trauma and the fear; the Israeli denials, obfuscation and confusion; the attacks on the Palestine Red Crescent; the attacks on hospitals; deaths of civilians; starvation, hunger and famine—it goes on and on and on. I go to the Lib Dem position: obviously, we say that the situation in Gaza is unconscionable. The Liberal Democrats firmly support human rights, international law and the peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Above all, we believe that all humans should be treated with dignity and have their basic rights respected. Like many millions around the world, we have been deeply devastated by the scenes in Gaza, and increasingly now in the west bank. That is not to take away the trauma experienced by the Israeli people following the heinous attack that Hamas undertook on 7 October. There is no overestimating the grief, anger and trauma that they are still feeling. We have been deeply concerned by the violence between Israel and Hamas, which has led to mass displacement, immense suffering and loss of life. No Israeli or Palestinian should be killed simply because of where they were born. The UK must play a proactive role in achieving a peaceful and lasting solution that ensures dignity, security and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians. The Government must finally recognise that they need to do more to ensure that Britain is not complicit in human rights violations, starting by immediately halting all arms sales to Israel. The Government have still failed to release their legal advice surrounding the ICJ rulings on the occupation. Why? Will they now make clear what advice they have received regarding the legality of actions undertaken by Israel in Gaza? In the light of the confusion caused by the letter from the former Foreign Secretary, the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy), is genocide taking place? We call for a multilateral push to secure a renewed ceasefire to end the humanitarian catastrophe, as well as unhindered humanitarian access into Gaza. We need that ceasefire to hold to ensure that the remaining hostages are released and that the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza is alleviated. Hamas terrorists have shown despicable cruelty even in the release of Israeli hostages and also in the return of the bodies of hostages killed in captivity. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has left countless people in danger and in a state of famine, and many thousands dead. The UN estimates that women and children have accounted for 70% of fatalities in Gaza since October 2023. It has stated that more than 1.9 million people have been displaced, including more than 1 million women and girls, as estimated by UN Women. The entire population of Gaza—approximately 2.2 million people—is experiencing acute food insecurity, and a famine has been declared in the Gaza strip. The UN has noted that an estimated 63 women, including 37 mothers, are being killed daily, and 17,000 Palestinian children are believed to have been orphaned since the war on Gaza began. More than 183 women per day are giving birth without pain relief, while hundreds of babies have died because of a lack of electricity to power incubators, and 95% of pregnant and breastfeeding women face severe food poverty. Reports of sexual and gender-based violence in this conflict, including allegations against Israeli forces and about Hamas’s actions on 7 October 2023, are deeply concerning. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has uncovered that nearly 70% of those killed in Gaza over a six-month period were women and children. That is a disproportionately high level, compared with usual conflicts. Many Israelis are disgusted by the behaviour of their Government. They have been openly demonstrating and even bravely burning their draft cards, which will result in their imprisonment. We need to stand and act in solidarity with them and with Palestinians, who just want to have a peaceful future.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Hospitality Sector · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments, but more is needed. The Minister’s Department must support these schemes and the pub trade or risk losing a vital component of rural life. Lastly, let me make the point that profitable businesses pay taxes, but closed pubs pay no taxes.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Hospitality Sector · Hansard source

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  As the Member for Melksham and Devizes, I represent many rural villages and communities, a number of which I visited over recess. I have long been struck by the importance of the village pub as a hub of community—a place for good conversation and friendly banter, and for connecting with friends and neighbours, which is in fact vital for good mental health. Indeed, while on my summer tour of the constituency, I hosted a drop-in session in the lovely village of Urchfont, outside the Lamb, a friendly community public house. In communities such as the one I represent, transport links and broadband connectivity can, on occasion, leave much to be desired, creating in their wake a sense of isolation and loneliness, especially for those working at home, raising children or trying to enjoy their well-earned retirement. In such instances, a feeling of community, of knowing one’s neighbours and of having someone to talk to becomes so important. In rural villages, it is often the pub that makes that possible. We have all heard the headline statistics—the closure of 1,100 pubs and restaurants since the tax on jobs was introduced in last autumn’s Budget, leaving 84,000 people out of work, with two pubs shutting every day—yet those statistics do not show the whole impact, with landlords and bar staff often putting in superhuman efforts to try to keep their businesses afloat. I recently met my constituent Hannah, who runs the Swan at Enford. She came to talk to me about the increasing pressures that her business has faced since the Budget. In addition to diversifying her business, including by running a butcher’s shop, the Swan plays a vital and diverse role in the community, running a monthly “hub in the pub” event and helping with the yearly village fête and fireworks night. However, the costs on the business have risen exponentially since the Budget. The cut to hospitality relief has more than doubled the business rates she must now pay, from £167 to £444 a month. That, combined with the increase in employer national insurance contributions, means that landlords like Hannah are under greater financial pressure than ever. Given that taxes make up 40% of turnover and that £1 in every £3 goes to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, with just 12p made on each pint sold according to the British Beer and Pub Association, surely it is time for the Government to review the burden that they are placing on these vital hospitality businesses. If the pressures continue, we will likely see more and more villages being stripped of their pubs and community spaces; greater numbers of people will prefer to drink at home. If the Government do not act, we risk losing the time-honoured tradition of the farmer drinking shoulder to shoulder with the accountant, the builder with the postie and the vicar with the carer—in short, the bedrock of village life. In addition to lowering the tax burden on those businesses, the Government should also look at the support they can offer to community pub schemes, through which villagers can come together to buy and run their local pub.We have already had one such success in my constituency. The Hop Pole in Limpley Stoke offers a shining example of such schemes, and I hope to see this success replicated by the Friends of the Ivy in Heddington, who I am proud to support in their effort to get their local reopened.

• 17 Jul 2025 · Global Plastics Treaty · Hansard source

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  I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) for bringing forward this valuable and important debate. I used to work as a Wiltshire councillor on the issue of plastic recycling. My constituency, like all our constituencies, can be blighted by the sight of waste plastic by the roadside. It is clear that bolder action is needed to tackle the sheer amount of plastic pollution that we have created both at home and abroad. That is why we must join and support the global plastics treaty in an international effort to reduce plastic waste, to promote sustainable, eco-friendly production, and to protect our oceans and wildlife for future generations. In the spirit of embracing such bold action, we must embrace innovation. Chemical recycling, for instance, gives us a way to break down plastics into their fundamental building blocks, creating a new plastic circular economy. Mura Technology is just one of a number of companies doing that today in the UK. However, such innovation needs to be paid for. On the basis of the “polluter pays” principle, plastics producers must be taxed so that the problem they produce can be fixed. For users of plastic products—whether it is the film used to cover our cucumbers, or the plastics that contain our crisps or wrap our chocolate bars—a small tax needs to be added to ensure that wrappers do not become a blight on the environment. We created the problem, and I believe we can fix it.

• 16 Jul 2025 · Sudan · Hansard source

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  As a former aid worker and resident of Darfur, I feel deeply for the people of Sudan. Will the Minister say whether there are plans to increase the amount of spend for the emergency response rooms? They are clearly doing very valuable work at the moment.

• 14 Jul 2025 · Northern Ireland Veterans: Prosecution · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I thank the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) for introducing this important debate on behalf of the Petitions Committee. Like many in this place, I have skin in this game. In my case, members of my family were brought up in Northern Ireland. I remember my first trip there as a small boy and seeing for the first time armed police on the streets, something we now hardly stop to think about. I remember many years later, my father, a veteran himself, talking about the Good Friday agreement. He said that, since the IRA had put down its guns and its bombs, Sinn Féin should be free to participate in politics, just as any political party is free to do—a dividend for peace. My father passed away in 1995 and my mother in 1998, just a few months before the dreadful Omagh bombing, and I remember thinking at the time, “Thank God she did not have to witness that in the beloved town of her birth.” Truth and reconciliation is important. Its implementation in South Africa was a great thing, but it needs trust and it needs full disclosure to be true to itself. Going forward, the Government are seeking to repeal the legacy Act. Good reasons have been put forward for it to go. It could be argued that it has interrupted the process of truth and reconciliation, which still leaves more than a thousand families in limbo, including those of our veterans and their families. If the Government are to do away with the legacy Act, they need to leave something better in its place—something that is perhaps akin to the truth and reconciliation process in South Africa and that families from all sides and none in the troubles can rely on for closure, with protection for our veterans.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Neighbourhood Plans: Planning Decisions · Hansard source

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  I agree entirely with the right hon. Member. I urge the Government to reconsider their decision. Local democracy should not be a luxury available only to those who can afford to pay for it.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Neighbourhood Plans: Planning Decisions · Hansard source

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  As I tried to make out in my speech, the worry of a two-tier system, where some communities can afford a neighbourhood plan and others simply cannot, will be important. The only way out that I can think of would be a simplification of the neighbourhood planning process, which would allow communities to get on and do it themselves without the need for expensive consultants to be involved, as there is at the moment. Is something the Minister would consider?

• 9 Jul 2025 · Neighbourhood Plans: Planning Decisions · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I thank the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) for securing this valuable debate. Let me take you, Ms McVey, and the Minister to my constituency of Melksham and Devizes, in the beautiful county of Wiltshire, where many villages have worked to develop neighbourhood plans over the years. The plans have allowed for good consultation with communities over what developments they want to see and where. For the most part, they have worked—when not disrupted by the lack of housing supply from the previous Conservative Administration. The village of Holt is a perfect example of what can be done when local people have the tools to shape their future. A parish councillor in Holt recently reminded me of the success of Holt’s first neighbourhood plan, which was created in 2016. That plan shaped the development of a derelict tannery site into an award-winning mixed-use development that combines homes and commercial space while preserving the village’s distinctive character and history. Nearly a decade on, Holt is now updating its plan to address residents’ current concerns, such as traffic, road safety and local infrastructure. As the councillor put it to me: “The neighbourhood plan process is a part of local democracy.” She is right. It empowers communities, gives residents a unified voice and ensures that developments do not just reflect the needs and priorities of developers. The withdrawal of funding for neighbourhood plans means that we are heading towards a two-tier planning system. In one tier, more affluent areas, where the parish councils can afford to fund expensive plans, will continue to have a say in their futures. In the other tier, the less affluent areas that lack such resources will be left vulnerable to speculative development, with little say and even less resource.