Chris Bloore MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 17 Mar 2026 · Middle East · Hansard source

  More

  I reiterate the thanks to the Foreign Secretary for reconfirming that Britain will make independent foreign policy decisions in the interests of our own people. Many of my constituents are still stuck in countries in the middle east and the surrounding areas because of the closure of airspace, and some are still struggling to gain visa extensions to stay in those countries where they are on holiday. What work is the Foreign Secretary doing with airlines to ensure that those people can get flights back? For many of them, it has been several weeks.

• 17 Mar 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

  More

  I am always happy to be last on an announcement such as this. The businesses and young people in my constituency strongly welcome what the Secretary of State has announced today. As I listened to those on the Opposition Front Bench, I was reminded of the statement by Senator Moynihan of New York: “you are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts”. Sadly, the Opposition have failed to mention that for over a decade, the UK has fallen behind other OECD countries when it comes to reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training. That is because of structural failings in both education and public health, which the previous Government did nothing to solve. How can young people and businesses in my constituency of Redditch take part in this scheme, which will finally start addressing the tragedy of NEETs in our constituencies?

• 26 Feb 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  My constituent Bethany is 27. She has spent time in various residential care units and with at-home support provided by Worcestershire county council. During that time, she has experienced unexplained injuries and neglect, resulting in health problems and weight loss. Her family have submitted various complaints about that poor treatment, but the council will not provide a final response to their complaints and has not replied to my office’s multiple requests for that to happen. In fact, the council is still trying to reclaim fees from the family while the complaint remains unresolved. Will the Leader of the House advise me on how best to escalate that distressing case when the county council refuses to engage?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Local Transport: Planning Developments · Hansard source

  More

  Although it is a pleasure to be called, Sir Desmond, I did not intend to give a speech. But I was planning to intervene, so I will quickly say that I recognise the points made by the hon. Member for Harpenden and Berkhamsted (Victoria Collins). I come from the generation that has really struggled to buy a home in the community that they are from. Many of my colleagues and friends who have done incredibly well in their lives—they have achieved—are still living with their mums and dads. That is something that cannot continue. While I recognise the hon. Member’s concerns about development with transport not following, the situation that we have now is simply not sustainable. We have to be brave, both as politicians and local representatives, to ensure that we do not make the perfect the enemy of the good. We have to push things forward for our young people. They have had the same promises—that we will build those affordable houses; that we will make those developments connected to their communities—for 20 years. I say this as someone who has opposed and supported developments in my constituency: I take the hon. Member’s point that we will never meet the needs on our waiting lists unless we build affordable homes, but we have to actually start putting spades in the ground at some stage. As representatives in this Parliament, we cannot continue seeing the low numbers of houses being built in communities like mine in Redditch for another decade. It puts the life chances of my residents at risk, and means that my friends have to move to nearby conurbations, instead of being able to raise families and live in the constituencies that they want to. I agree with many of the things that the hon. Member said, but I also think that we need to be brave as politicians moving forward.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Private Rented Sector · Hansard source

  More

  The Minister knows that the Renters’ Rights Act will be transformative, especially for my constituents, but will he reassure me that the Government recognise the urgent need to improve safety and standards in the private rented sector, and will he act to drive down rates of non-decency?

• 23 Feb 2026 · Private Rented Sector · Hansard source

  More

  8. What steps he is taking to help improve the private rented sector for tenants.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Educational Outcomes: Disadvantaged Boys and Young Men · Hansard source

  More

  Redditch was a town built on unionised workers, needle making, aerospace and engineering, and that heritage matters. Too many boys now leaving schools in my area leave without a clear vocational route into decent jobs. Does my hon. Friend believe that the industrial and skills strategies should be place based, with apprenticeships funding, employer-college partnerships and union involvement, so that education in towns such as Redditch can lead directly to rewarding jobs?

• 29 Jan 2026 · Single Worker Status · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Minister for her answer. She will know that too many parcel couriers in my constituency and across the country are on bogus self-employment contracts and worse terms and conditions, with no holiday pay or sick leave. That is driving down standards across the sector and, of course, robbing the public purse of national insurance contributions. I welcome her commitment to announcing the consultation on single worker status. Can she guarantee that both employer and employee representations will be included in the consultation?

• 29 Jan 2026 · Single Worker Status · Hansard source

  More

  12. What recent progress he has made on the implementation of single worker status.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Statutory SEND Duties: Intervention Powers · Hansard source

  More

  6. What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of powers to intervene where local authorities are not meeting statutory SEND duties.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Statutory SEND Duties: Intervention Powers · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Minister for her answer. She knows that Worcestershire county council has repeatedly failed children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families. Many parents report persistent failures to meet statutory duties and experiences of being dismissed or gaslit, causing prolonged distress to families already under extreme pressure. Can the Minister assure me and families in Redditch that, as part of the schools White Paper, she will be looking at how we can properly hold local authorities to account, and where there is failure, drive swift improvement?

• 15 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  Worcestershire county council has repeatedly failed children and families with special educational needs and disabilities. Many parents report persistent failures to meet statutory duties and experiences of being dismissed or gaslit, causing prolonged distress to families already under extreme pressure. Against that background, will the Leader of the House permit a debate in Government time on the effectiveness of the powers available to intervene where local authorities are failing to meet their statutory SEND duties?

• 15 Jan 2026 · Prisons: Illegal Drugs · Hansard source

  More

  I pay tribute to the Chair and his Committee for their report, and I am grateful to the staff at HMP Hewell on the edge of my constituency for all the work they are doing to support prisoners. I would be interested to know what metrics he will use to measure progress on meeting his report’s recommendations by the end of this Parliament. What should we be asking him in 12 or 24 months’ time to see if the Government have truly met the recommendations in this report?

• 15 Jan 2026 · Postal services in Inkberrow · Hansard source

  More

  I rise to present a petition about postal delivery services in the village of Inkberrow and to thank the hundreds of constituents who have also shown their support by signing online. A reliable and regular postal service should be a basic expectation, yet my constituents are missing vital healthcare and business communications because of their chaotic service. I have met Royal Mail several times. Despite its assurances, the issue has not been resolved satisfactorily. The strength of feeling behind the petition shows how desperately the community needs a dependable service. The petition states: The petition of residents of the constituency of Redditch in Worcestershire, Declares that the postal delivery service in Inkberrow village requires improvement. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to take action to ensure that Royal Mail provides an adequate postal service in Inkberrow. And the petitioners remain, etc. [P003157]

• 15 Jan 2026 · New Towns · Hansard source

  More

  Let me begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch (Katrina Murray) on securing this debate and on her tireless advocacy for her community. Sixty-two years ago, Redditch was selected as the west midlands’ second mark two new town after somewhere called Telford—a deliberate policy decision to relieve the post-war housing crisis gripping Birmingham and the wider conurbation. Unlike the first generation of new towns, Redditch was not built on empty land. It had over 800 years of history and an existing population of around 32,000. Planners therefore faced a unique challenge: how to expand a living town, not replace it. That is why Redditch matters so much to this debate. It is a story of ambition, achievement and unfinished business that offers powerful lessons about what worked, what was not sustained and what we must do differently today. Redditch was not simply given a population target and left to chance. The Redditch development corporation, led by chief architect Brian Bunch and his team, delivered an innovative masterplan, published in 1967, that was built around bead-like districts along key transport routes. Each neighbourhood was designed to be largely self-contained, with schools, shops, churches and green space, with the preservation of green corridors between communities and a plethora of roundabouts. The aim was to integrate old and new and bring together town and country. MPs in this place later praised the generous landscaping and planting of open areas—amenities far beyond what normal local authority budgets could have delivered. Redditch also pioneered something radical for its time: a new town designed around public transport rather than the private car. Three million trees were planted, roads were banked to reduce noise and pedestrians were separated from fast-moving traffic. Those were not luxuries; they were choices about quality of life. Within two decades, a town of 32,000 had grown into a community of more than 70,000, eventually reaching around 90,000 by the end of the century, with many families escaping overcrowded terraces and slums in Birmingham. The estates that emerged—Church Hill, Matchborough, Winyates, Greenlands and Woodrow—were planned communities where working families could own their own homes and raise children with access to schools, parks and services within walking distance. Arrow Valley country park remains one of the great successes of new town planning: 900 acres of protected green space at the heart of Redditch. Historic sites were preserved, too: the Forge Mill needle museum and Bordesley abbey anchor centuries of history within a modern town. In 1983, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Kingfisher shopping centre and Forge Mill national needle museum. Thousands lined the streets in Milward Square as she unveiled Eduardo Paolozzi’s mosaics celebrating Redditch’s needle-making heritage. They show astronauts and needles side by side, symbolising past and future. The chair of the development corporation, Professor Denys Hinton, said at the time that it marked “the completion of an enterprise of which everyone can be proud”. Redditch was not just a new town; it had manufacturing at the heart of its DNA. In the early 20th century, it produced 19% of the world’s needles—not cottage craft, but precision metalworking at scale. Those skills fed into bicycle, motorcycle, spring and defence manufacturing. Royal Enfield, BSA, aerospace components—Redditch had industrial DNA. During the second world war, High Duty Alloys employed 13,000 people, producing aircraft for Rolls-Royce and others. Post war, those same skills flew in Concorde and British defence systems. The development corporation understood that. The new town was deliberately planned around a manufacturing-led economy. It was not a dormitory suburb, but a place with skilled local employment. For a time, that promise was kept. The landscaping and design principles established by Hugh Wilson, Lewis Womersley and their teams proved durable, but something fundamental changed when the housing corporation was wound up in 1985. Housing targets were met, but the commitment to self-sustaining local economy faded. Cheap imports hollowed out traditional industries. Over time, Redditch increasingly became a commuter town for Birmingham. Between 2007 and 2017, the UK lost 600,000 manufacturing jobs. Redditch, with twice the national average employment in manufacturing, was hit harder than most. Today, manufacturing output has declined even more where employment remains. Skill pathways have narrowed. The defence and aerospace sector survived, but at a fraction of its former scale. Even core services have faced sustained pressure. The Alexandra hospital has lost services, including paediatric and maternity services, undermining public confidence and reminding us that infrastructure, once built, still requires long-term support. Underpinning all that are social pressures: drugs, crime and child poverty. Over half of Redditch households experience at least one form of deprivation. Neighbourhoods built as modern housing for working families, like Greenlands and Woodrow, are now designated as areas of such concentrated deprivation that they qualify for £20 million of targeted regeneration funding. I welcome that investment, but it should give us pause. This was not the future the planners envisaged. Redditch teaches us that new towns worked when they combined five key things: a clear social purpose, long-term institutions, integrated employment, infra- structure built up front, and community cohesion by design. Redditch achieved all those things between the 1960s and 1980s. We lost momentum when that comprehensive approach was abandoned. The lesson is not that new towns failed; it is that when we stopped thinking long term, stopped planning for jobs and stopped backing places with sustained investment, we broke that model. As we debate new towns, we must ask: are we prepared to commit to the same level of ambition that created Redditch, or will we settle for piecemeal fixes to the decline that has already set in? My constituents are proud of Redditch’s new town heritage, but pride alone will not secure its future. To honour that legacy, we must renew it with long-term investment, integrated planning and the political will to see that through. That is not nostalgia; it is hard-headed realism about what works and what my constituents deserve.

• 7 Jan 2026 · UK Town of Culture · Hansard source

  More

  I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. He has given an eloquent appraisal of why Halesowen is such a beacon for culture, and I note that Morgan Rogers, who plays for Aston Villa, was born in Halesowen. Will my hon. Friend join me in saying that this competition is not just about celebrating our past but about celebrating our future and people such as Max Stokes, a constituent of mine in Redditch, who curates the “Villa On Tour” YouTube channel, which has over 80,000 subscribers? People such as Max Stokes provide an outlet for our culture, including our sporting culture, to be seen by people across the world—culture with a Redditch accent and a Redditch voice. Does he agree that this competition should be about celebrating our future as well as our past?