Chris Ward MP: speeches

Speeches

• 15 Sept 2026 · Tourism: Overnight Visitor Levy · Hansard source

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  It is absolutely right that local communities get to decide whether to introduce this levy—that is a key part of devolution—but I am concerned about the pressures already on the hospitality and tourism sector, which is a very important part of my Brighton Kemptown constituency. We have already seen the closure of two iconic LGBTQ bars—the Charles Street Tap and the R-Bar on the seafront—and, frankly, I am worried that more face closure. Will the Minister reassure me about the action the Government are taking to support the sector? Would he also consider taking a trip to the seaside with the Secretary of State to meet local businesses and people in the local hospitality sector and to hear what more this Government can do?

• 14 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  In Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven we are lucky enough to have two brilliant universities. Both are trying everything they can to adapt to the funding pressures they are under, but it still means that the University of Sussex is making cuts of £35 million a year, and just this morning the University of Brighton announced plans to potentially sell one of its campuses. What can the Secretary of State do to reassure me and give hope to students and staff at the universities that we will get a grip of the funding crisis that we inherited from the last Government and make universities thrive?

• 7 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. Rough sleeping is a huge challenge in Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, so I am delighted that the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State are making it such a big priority, but will any of the very welcome additional funding go to existing schemes, such as the ending homelessness in communities fund—a brilliant scheme, but heavily oversubscribed—or charities in my constituency?

• 7 Sept 2026 · Local Government Reorganisation · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. A pause in the review is clearly the right step, but my constituents—particularly those in East Saltdean, Peacehaven and Telscombe—will want to know what comes next. Will she answer two specific questions? First, will the review that she has announced look again at the precise boundaries announced in May, as well as the legal process that got to them? Secondly, how will my constituents have a chance to shape that decision? Will it be through MPs? Will there be another consultation? How can they feed in so that we can get this right and make LGR the success that we both know it can be?

• 3 Sept 2026 · Jackdaw and Rosebank Oil and Gas Fields · Hansard source

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  Given the climate emergency that we are already living through, this is obviously a hugely significant decision for the Secretary of State. While I respect that the Minister cannot comment on the merits of each proposal, surely she can comment on how the House will be able to scrutinise any final decision. When a final decision is taken, can she confirm from the Dispatch Box that there will be a chance to debate and vote on it in the House?

• 25 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We are taking a number of steps to improve SME access to Government procurement, and I outlined those earlier. If it is okay with the hon. Gentleman, I will write to him about the specific measures we are taking in Northern Ireland, but we are working across the United Kingdom to ensure that our procurement budget does everything possible to support SMEs.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  There are four sectors where we are using national security guidance, but the support for SMEs is much broader, too. I will happily talk to my hon. Friend and come back to her on particular parts of her constituency, but this plan will be nationwide, supporting all parts of the country, with more than £7 billion of Government money going to SMEs.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I absolutely do. We announced last week that we will bring all Government Property Agency, catering and security services back in-house, or at least that it is our intention to do that. We were elected on a manifesto promise to deliver the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation, and we are going to start it at our own door—70 Whitehall, No. 10 and No. 11—but I would like to go further and roll this out across local government as and when we can.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As I said earlier, my hon. Friend has raised this with me a number of times, and he is absolutely right to do so. I have spoken with the Department for Transport and security teams about this, and we are looking at it. We have started with four sectors and we want to go further. We are also taking a lot of other steps to help the bus manufacturing industry, as I set out earlier.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Public Procurement: UK Businesses · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. She has raised it with me previously, and she is a fantastic champion for her constituents. As she knows, I am working with the National Shipbuilding Office to bring forward the new rules. Shipbuilding is one of the areas that we are prioritising. Unfortunately, this procurement took place before the guidance came in, and it shows why the guidance is so necessary. It allows us to protect British national security and support shipyards, such as the one in her constituency. I reassure her constituents that the steps that the Government have taken will mean that more contracts, business and jobs come to constituencies like hers.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Public Procurement: UK Businesses · Hansard source

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  This Labour Government believe that it matters where things are made, and who makes them. Last week, I published new guidance to ensure that the full weight of our £400 billion procurement budget protects national security and backs British business. The guidance applies to four sectors initially—steel, shipbuilding, AI and energy infrastructure—and it will help secure our critical UK industries and boost growth across the country.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Public Procurement: SMEs · Hansard source

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  A number of colleagues, including my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank), have raised this subject several times with me, and I am working with Department for Transport colleagues to see what more we can do to support British manufacturers, but we are already acting. We have announced a 10-year pipeline with over £70 million of funding for zero emission buses. We are also working on redefining social value to ensure that it does more to support local communities and local jobs. That should help companies like Dellner Glass Solutions stand out when it comes to public procurement.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Public Procurement: SMEs · Hansard source

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  This Government are determined to ensure that public procurement backs small and medium-sized businesses. That is why we have strengthened late payment rules, have set ambitious targets for all Departments to spend more with small and medium-sized enterprises—totalling £7 billion by 2028—and are simplifying the entire system to ensure that SMEs get a fairer crack. We are working with the Federation of Small Businesses on this, and there is much more to come.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Public Procurement: SMEs · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight small businesses like the one in her constituency. As I announced in March, small businesses will now receive just over £7 billion a year from government procurement, as a result of reforms that we have put in place. That will support the industrial strategy that she mentioned. It will mean more money, jobs and opportunities in local communities—a lot done, and a lot more to do in this space.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Public Procurement: SMEs · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is absolutely right that we need to do more to support SMEs, and that we need to use our procurement budget to do that. I have announced some of the steps that we have already taken. In fact, just last week, we announced new guidance, both to ensure that, in sectors such as steel and shipping, more contracts go to British companies, and to help small and medium-sized businesses. That is just the start. We need to go much further—I am not challenging that at all—but we are taking big steps. In the last few years, we have come a long way, but hopefully we can go further.

• 25 Jun 2026 · Public Procurement: SMEs · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for that; it is a really good question. The reforms that we have introduced apply to all Departments, and the MOJ is obviously signed up to them. I have discussed this with the POA and a couple of other related organisations. If it is okay with him, I will ask colleagues in the Ministry of Justice about this and get back to him on the specifics.

• 27 Apr 2026 · Ernest Bevin · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western) for securing the debate and for his excellent speech, and I thank other hon. Members for their contributions. I am happy to have the opportunity to respond. I pass on apologies from the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds), who, as I am sure hon. Members will recognise, would dearly have loved to have responded to the debate, but is unable to be here because of a family matter, so I am standing in. Ernest Bevin was a man of immense stature—a giant of the Labour movement and the embodiment of social mobility. He was born into poverty as the seventh child of a single mother and orphaned at the age of eight, yet he rose to be one of my party’s towering figures, one of his country’s most consequential Foreign Secretaries and one of the founders of NATO. He is aptly described by Lord Adonis in his recent biography as “an international leader of unique charisma and authenticity.” His life story is a testimony to both public service and to his immense perseverance, skill and energy. Bevin never forgot his origins, keeping a photograph of his mother on his desk throughout his career. Leaving school at 11, he worked as a farm boy before moving to Bristol to take on a series of unskilled jobs, attending adult education classes and finding his voice as a Baptist lay preacher.

• 27 Apr 2026 · Ernest Bevin · Hansard source

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  I certainly will. Does my hon. Friend want to intervene because I mentioned Bristol?

• 27 Apr 2026 · Ernest Bevin · Hansard source

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  I completely agree. I would like to see Bevin celebrated more in Bristol and across the country, particularly for his contribution to NATO and to the trade union movement. Bevin’s journey into public service was firmly rooted in the union movement, which he saw as his true calling, as my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington said. Bevin passionately presented the dockers’ case for a pay rise in 1920, earning him the nickname the “Dockers’ KC”. He also played a major part in the founding of the Transport and General Workers’ Union—before today, I did not know that Leamington had a significant role in that, as my hon. Friend mentioned. Under Bevin’s pragmatic leadership, the TGWU brought together 14 unions to become Britain’s biggest trade union, boasting more than 650,000 members. As my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss) said, it is quite right that we remember that today—the day before International Workers’ Memorial Day. When our nation faced its darkest hour in May 1940, Bevin became Minister of Labour and National Service in the wartime coalition, heralded by Churchill and across the House, as we heard. It was in using his incredible organisational talents that Bevin helped Britain to achieve a significantly higher level of civilian mobilisation than any other country managed in the conflict. Following Labour’s landslide victory in 1945, Attlee appointed Bevin as Foreign Secretary, a role in which he left his mark on the world. As we have heard, he was central to the European recovery, working to unlock billions in Marshall aid and securing western security through closer co-operation with the Council of Europe, NATO and the Commonwealth. Bevin was a figure of huge achievement but no little controversy. To put it politely, he was sometimes blunt in his speech. He was unable to find a peaceful solution in Palestine, and he was clear about his views on empire. Not every decision he made was the right one or one that I would agree with, but we remember him rightly as a relentless fighter, a fierce patriot and a champion for the working-class Britain that traditional political elites too often ignored. Bevin was central to the great achievements of the first of the post-war Labour Governments, and his legacy offers much that we can learn from today. In the time that I have, I will pick just three lessons that I think we can learn from the most. The first is his pragmatism and unwavering commitment to get things done for working people. As a trade unionist and a Minister, Bevin understood that practical delivery was what mattered, trumping rigid ideology. In a similar way, this Labour Government will modernise our economy, tackle the cost of living and improve health outcomes, and we will do that in a partnership with employees, citizens and employers. The second lesson is the great value of democracy and the urgent and continuous need to defend it. Bevin’s insight was the need for post-war Europe to resist oppression in all its forms. From our support for Ukraine, our Gulf allies and NATO to the drive for energy security, this Labour Government keep Bevin’s spirit alive. He also believed in the enduring value of strong alliances through strengthening Europe and maintaining global security through NATO, and our Government remain committed to that. Deepening our partnership with Europe, maintaining the international rule of law and working with our international partners together—that is how the best Labour Governments have worked before, and it is how this Government will proceed too. Finally, Bevin understood the true value of a Britain strengthened by embracing the talents of all its people. Through his 1943 White Paper, he successfully fought to democratise the diplomatic service, arguing that recruiting from a wider range of backgrounds would vastly improve our global understanding—I believe the current Prime Minister calls this smashing the class ceiling. Bevin warned that choosing staff only from privileged, narrow circles meant that the lives of ordinary people remained strange to them. Today, any Government who wish to effectively serve their citizens must accurately reflect them, drawing on the widest pool of talent. Ernest Bevin pushed himself to the limit for the country he loved, famously insisting on being carried in a sedan chair to the 1950 Colombo conference despite his failing health. He proved that public service requires immense energy and a relentless focus on tangible results. On his 70th birthday, the staff of the Foreign Service each contributed sixpence towards a present to him. Sixty years earlier, Bevin had left school to work on a farm for that same sum—just sixpence a week. It was that journey that shaped him, and it also shaped the party I love and the Britain he helped to build. I am immensely proud today to recognise his service, and determined that the spirit of his achievement will continue in all that this Labour Government do. Question put and agreed to.

• 23 Apr 2026 · Government Procurement: British Companies · Hansard source

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  As I have said, this Government do not believe that our procurement rules do enough to back British businesses. That is why I have announced steps to address that, and to simplify and open up the system to small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups and charities. We will issue new guidance shortly to ensure that the procurement regime always serves the national interest.

• 23 Apr 2026 · Government Procurement: British Companies · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is spot on, and I thank her for championing her local business while making a bigger point about how we need to support British jobs more widely. We have set out what we are going to do in four sectors, including energy infrastructure, but I agree that we need to go further and look at what more we can do in particular to support our manufacturing industry, and hopefully we will keep working to do that.

• 23 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As I have said, one aim of the Government’s procurement reforms is to ensure that we support more British companies and end the reliance on external suppliers. The two Palantir contracts that the hon. Gentleman mentions are for the NHS and defence, so it is best to take the matter up with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Defence, which are the relevant Departments.

• 23 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises an important point. He is right about the reforms that we are trying to make to public procurement, and to improve our number of electric vehicles. I will write to him with the specifics on the Government Car Service.

• 23 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that. Social value should be integral to the system, but the current system has become too tick-boxy and does not deliver what it needs to for local communities like those in Derby. We are working with businesses, unions and charities on a new definition. I am happy to speak with her further about it, but I think it is an important part of improving the system.

• 23 Apr 2026 · Public Sector Insourcing · Hansard source

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  The Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office updated the House on this yesterday, and he has answered a number of questions on that issue. I do agree that insourcing can play a key role in delivering better value for money and higher-quality public services, which is one reason why we are introducing the public interest test and ending the age of outsourcing.