Claire Young MP: speeches

Speeches

• 25 Jun 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Freeholders on private estates currently face unregulated service charges and have no meaningful recourse if managing agents are incompetent. In January, the Minister of State for Housing committed to tackling these so-called fleecehold schemes by the end of this Parliament. However, with a new Prime Minister likely to reset the legislative agenda, affected constituents will be worried that that promise will be quietly dropped. Will the Leader of the House request a written statement on delivery from the Minister?

• 24 Jun 2026 · Climate Change · Hansard source

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  On seeing a new development recently, I was dismayed that the developer said they were not putting in heat pumps because the cost of electricity meant that people would rather have gas boilers. Does my hon. Friend agree that if we removed the renewables obligation levy from electricity, so that we were fairly pricing electricity—currently, electricity is unfairly disadvantaged—we would incentivise far more heat pump installations?

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  If the Government really believe that food security is national security, that must mean shortening supply chains and increasing local food production. The Secretary of State referred earlier to field to fork, but what new concrete steps will be taken under this plan to increase the proportion of food eaten in the UK that was grown here?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  5. What steps she is taking to reform business rates.

• 23 Jun 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  When I met Chipping Sodbury chamber of commerce recently, business owners told me that the business rates system is broken and unfair, in part because it is based on turnover, not profit. In response to a letter, the Exchequer Secretary promised to bear in mind the points that I had raised ahead of future Budgets. Does he now accept that the business rates system is broken, and that rather than being reformed it should be abolished and replaced with a fairer system?

• 18 Jun 2026 · Warehouse development in Pilning · Hansard source

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  The lives of people in and around Pilning are blighted by giant warehouses being built under outdated 1950s planning consents, which lack modern safeguards. The Severnside Warehouse Action group has already presented a petition with over 2,500 signatures to South Gloucestershire council, and it now has over 3,500 signatures online. However, primary legislation is needed to resolve the problem. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to encourage the planning authorities to revoke the 1957 planning consent for warehouse developments in Pilning, or to amend it as soon as possible to include appropriate conditions and restrictions to protect local communities. Following is the full text of the petition: [ The petition of residents of the United Kingdom, Declares that the ongoing warehouse development in Pilning is having a major and lasting detrimental impact on local communities, including through loss of countryside, increasing noise levels, light pollution, a real risk of flooding, a big increase in traffic, and the devaluation of property prices; further declares that the development is taking place without any meaningful conditions or restrictions and without consultation with residents, as developers are relying on a planning consent dating from 1957; and further declares that this is a unique situation with a planning consent that was given nearly seventy years ago no longer fit for purpose in 2026. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to encourage the planning authorities to revoke the 1957 planning consent for warehouse developments in Pilning or to amend it as soon as possible to include appropriate conditions and restrictions to protect local communities. And the petitioners remain, etc. ] [P003210]

• 18 Jun 2026 · Infected Blood Compensation Scheme · Hansard source

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  On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wonder if you could assist the House. The Department for Transport has this afternoon published the Heathrow expansion national policy statement, the HENPS, alongside supporting documents in a major consultation. Given the significance of this decision, with implications for communities across a wide area, for the Government’s own climate commitments and for connectivity across the whole of the United Kingdom, could you confirm whether the Secretary of State for Transport has given any indication to Mr Speaker that she intends to come to this House to make an oral statement? If not, do you agree that this House ought to expect the Government to come here first, rather than learning of major consultations through a written ministerial statement?

• 18 Jun 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Nearly seven years ago, National Highways spent £40 million building a ghost junction on the M49 that was left entirely unconnected to the local road network. South Gloucestershire council stepped in and is on track to complete the slip road this year, but National Highways now tells me that the junction is unsafe and cannot open, with no timeline for remedy, meaning my constituents will continue to have lorries thundering through their villages, shredding the roads. Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on the accountability of National Highways for this farcical situation?

• 17 Jun 2026 · Rural Pubs: Fiscal Support · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree. I could also highlight many other anomalies that affect the wider hospitality and attraction industry. At the Horseshoe in Chipping Sodbury, I met Matthew Lewis of the Independent Pub Alliance. The ask from the pub trade is not complicated: stability, fairness and a Government who understand that these businesses are part of the community infrastructure. I urge the Minister to meet the alliance to better understand its ask, and I would be delighted to bring Matthew to meet him. My constituents value their rural pubs, as do I and my party. Will the Government show that they do, too?

• 17 Jun 2026 · Rural Pubs: Fiscal Support · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti) for securing this debate. The Lamb Inn in Iron Acton was built in 1690. It is believed that Mary and William of Orange stayed there. It is a real community pub that has been run by Tracey and Brendan Byrne for the last 20 years, but the Byrnes tell me they have a long list of burdens bearing down on them, including employer national insurance contributions, business rates, VAT and alcohol duty, all of which are under the direct control of this Government. That is the reality facing rural pubs across Thornbury and Yate, and indeed the country. These are not simply places to drink; they are community anchors, spaces for the lonely, meeting points for neighbours and outlets for local breweries and farmers. Pubs in villages and hamlets without the footfall that town centre pubs enjoy, which often have higher energy costs, cannot absorb pressure the way larger operators might. When they close, nothing replaces them—the loss is permanent. Greg and James at the Swan at Nibley have also been hit by National Highways closing a road for three years. They are looking forward to trade improving from this weekend, when the closure ends, but they say that a cut in VAT for hospitality would make a big difference to them and all pubs in our area. The employer national insurance rises have forced publicans to make brutal choices about staffing. Those hit hardest are young people looking for their first job—the kind of formative, confidence-building experience that hospitality provides. Previously, pubs were able to employ 10 to 15 young people, working a few hours a week; now they struggle to employ three. That is a dozen NEETs for every pub lost, in more than one way.

• 17 Jun 2026 · Rural Pubs: Fiscal Support · Hansard source

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  I agree. The Swan has been taking on apprentices, but many pubs are unable to do so because of the challenges. There is often a lack of opportunities in our villages and, with transport issues, it can be difficult to travel to places where they can be found. On business rates, Liberal Democrats have consistently called for a fair and more proportionate system. The Government’s partial climbdown—a 15% reduction on a planned hike, after sustained pressure from the House—was welcome but it went nowhere near far enough.

• 15 Jun 2026 · NHS Dentistry · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) for leading today’s debate. Across my Thornbury and Yate constituency, the lack of dental practices providing NHS services has been particularly acute. As I put it to the Minister last week, less than a third of the adults, and just under half of the children, in my patch have been seen by an NHS dentist in the past two years—both figures are well below the national average. Constituents write to me regularly to express their frustration at the lack of local NHS provision. I have been assured that the NHS does everything to ensure that patients who lose access through privatisation receive adequate treatment elsewhere, but that has not been the experience of many of my constituents. David waited nearly two years for an appointment, only for his practice to go private. His situation deteriorated to the point that he required emergency treatment, which the NHS did provide, but the underlying problem was never fully resolved and he has been advised by his practice to go for private treatment. That is a failure, and not only in the immediate sense. Short-term emergency care does not address the underlying cause. The longer-term cost, whether to the NHS through repeat emergency appointments or to my constituent through lost earnings and private fees, is significantly greater than the cost of timely treatment. This Government have now been in power for two years, but David has seen no improvement in his dental care. I think that speaks for itself. David’s story is one of dozens that I have heard. Another constituent, Doris, was left with an infection for months, only to be told that there is no NHS provision for molar treatment in south Gloucestershire. She, too, had to go private. Members across the House have highlighted the steps that the Government need to take, particularly on the contract, and I want to make two points. First, in response to a written question, the Minister told me that no data is held centrally by the NHS on NHS dental appointments that have been cancelled due to practices converting to private provision. How can we measure progress if we count only those coming in through the front door, not those leaving at the rear? Secondly, rural dental provision has higher operating costs and lower patient density. How can that challenge be reflected in the contract review? Thornbury and Yate is exceptionally poorly served by NHS dentistry. I have written separately to the Minister to request a meeting to review our local situation, and I hope he will take me up on that.

• 9 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T5. Despite numbers accessing NHS dentists rising nationally, in South Gloucestershire they are falling, where less than a third of adults and half the number of children have been seen by an NHS dentist in the past two years. With no NHS dentists taking on patients and more going private, how will the Government reverse that decline?

• 8 Jun 2026 · Progression of Bills through Parliament · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart. I thank the petitioners who provoked the debate. I agree with the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier) on one important point: there are benefits of having a revising Chamber. However, I believe that the proper duty of the Lords is to scrutinise, improve and revise, not to block or frustrate. That distinction matters most of all in the case of private Members’ Bills, which proceed with limited time allocated to them and, for conscience issues, without a whipped vote. When our constituents send us to this place, they trust that we will apply our judgment to serious matters carefully and thoughtfully, and while taking their views into account. I certainly tried to take that approach when I voted on the assisted dying Bill, as, I believe, did Members on both sides of the House, regardless of the view that they took. When we consider the time spent scrutinising the Bill, which a number of Members have mentioned, we should not overlook the time that individual MPs committed to learning, researching and listening. I suspect that it was far more than is typical for a Bill that emanates from a manifesto. The questions on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill were among the most difficult and personal to come before us in Parliament, yet in debates on the Bill, I saw the House at its very best. There was careful argument, deep feeling and genuine respect among Members who profoundly disagreed. What followed did not reflect the same spirit. In the other place, the Bill fell not because peers had weighed it up and rejected it, but because its passage was run down by delay, by more than 1,000 amendments and by a refusal to let the elected House reach its conclusion. The clock was allowed to defeat what a vote could not. I cannot accept that an unelected Chamber should be able to set aside the settled will of the elected Chamber simply by running down the time. It is precisely because of such episodes that I support a wholly elected second Chamber, as I have for many years—I, for one, am not relying on this specific petition to decide my view. An unelected House should not hold the power to block a Bill that commands a majority in the elected House. The Government’s removal of hereditary peers was a welcome step but, as I have said before, they too often tinker at the edges when our constitution needs fundamental reform. That reform will never be completed if an unelected Chamber can override the wishes of the people whom the public chose. In plain terms, that is undemocratic. The petition, which was signed by more than 114,000 of our fellow citizens, is just the latest evidence that the public will no longer accept an unelected few standing in the way of the elected many. I commend the petitioners and urge the Government to introduce the reform that this moment so clearly demands.

• 4 Jun 2026 · Support for Farmers: Fuel Costs · Hansard source

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  During the nearly three months it took the Government to decide to cut duty on red diesel, farmers in my constituency had already had to take steps to mitigate costs for fuel, energy and fertiliser. With changing weather patterns also threatening food security, will the Department look at other reliefs for our farmers, to ensure food security is not compromised while the war continues and its impacts ripple for years to come?

• 4 Jun 2026 · Support for Farmers: Fuel Costs · Hansard source

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  1. What steps her Department is taking to support farmers with fuel costs.

• 4 Jun 2026 · Russian Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure · Hansard source

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  I want to return to the issue of UK maritime services bankrolling Putin’s barbaric war by supporting Russian fossil fuel exports. Despite the ban relating to LNG, campaigners have criticised what they see as a lack of enforcement of the rules. What will the Government do to ensure that sanctions are not just a paper tiger?

• 2 Jun 2026 · Draft Energy Prices Act 2022 (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2026 · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. It was a positive step by the Government to remove the renewable obligations and ECO policies from consumer energy bills in the autumn Budget. Consumers in Northern Ireland should also be able to benefit, as consumers in Great Britain did, from the Government using the powers available to make energy bills cheaper. That is especially important as energy prices are expected to continue to increase for the rest of the year, and as households and businesses face the Trump tax on their bills after his reckless and illegal war with Iran, leading to the closure of the strait of Hormuz and soaring oil prices. The Minister mentioned oil prices. We know that Northern Ireland has been particularly hard hit by rocketing heating oil prices, because almost two thirds of households there use heating oil. The Government need to take urgent action to set a price cap that shields off-grid households, but if this legislation enables anything that the Government do to then be taken forward by the Northern Ireland Assembly, can the Minister elaborate on how that will work?

• 20 May 2026 · Defence Readiness · Hansard source

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  It is a privilege to speak in this debate on defence readiness. Like others, I am disappointed by this Government’s delay in bringing forward the long-promised defence readiness Bill, both because of what that means for the security of our nation and the implications for the hundreds of my constituents who work in the defence sector. I want to talk, however, about readiness more widely. The Government are right that energy security is national security. A country that cannot power itself cannot defend itself. I represent a constituency that has the potential to deliver a great deal of clean power to support that security. However, this Government are not delivering on that promise. Ministers often speak of a golden age of nuclear and name Sizewell C, Hinkley Point C and Wylfa. I remind Ministers, as I have done in previous debates, that any honest list of that golden age must include Oldbury. Oldbury sits in my constituency, and has a community that knows nuclear and a site ready for the next generation. But nuclear on the horizon does not help constituents struggling with their bills today. Energy prices are crippling households and the businesses that employ people. In the past two years, we have seen the loss of hundreds of manufacturing jobs in my constituency with the closure of the Beko factory and Billington steelworks. The remaining businesses tell me that our energy prices are deterring them from expanding. Decisions taken in the last Session have made running a business harder, not easier, and there is little sign in the proposed Bills of the Government changing that. We cannot build resilience in defence or anything else if the industrial base that sustains it is hollowed out. Without local supply chains, we will be vulnerable to interference in our energy grid and other forms of parallel warfare. More needs to be done to ensure that we have a skilled workforce to support that industry. Thornbury and Yate has no dedicated technical further education provision. Young people who want to train as electricians, welders, nuclear technicians and wind turbine engineers at a further education college must travel out of the area, often by buses that do not run when they need them. The south-west aerospace and defence cluster on our doorstep, employing tens of thousands in skilled, well-paid jobs, stands ready to absorb the local talent we are not yet training. A constituency that sits between a nuclear site, a tidal estuary and one of the country’s largest aerospace and defence clusters should be exactly the right place for fresh technical skills provision. Put the clean energy jobs of the future in young people’s hands and let them tackle a challenge from their own community. Industry needs infrastructure to support it, too, whether that is investing in a permanent solution for the old Severn bridge, which HGVs are not currently allowed to cross—which is having a massive impact on hauliers—or investing in the redevelopment of Yate station in what is a closing window of opportunity, as the adjacent land has become available. I have raised this point with the Prime Minister and I raise it again today, and I would welcome a meeting with the Rail Minister. We also need resilience in our public services, like education and health. I have spoken a lot in this House about SEND issues, so now I will talk about health. My constituents are not waiting for structural reform to the NHS; they are waiting for a GP appointment, for an NHS dentist taking new patients and for elective procedures that would let them go back to work. Structural reform is necessary, but it is not by itself sufficient. I urge Ministers to direct the savings to our constituents in a visible way. I will judge this Government by results in my constituency. Can a young adult get a bus to a technical college and train for a clean energy job? Can a local business afford to hire people after its energy bills, business rates and tax costs? Can a constituent access the medical care they need when they need it? Can Oldbury be part of the golden age that this Government have promised? Sadly, the Government’s proposals in the King’s Speech represent more incrementalism at a moment that calls for seriousness—more fiddling around the edges, with consequences not just for this Government’s reputation but for my constituents’ living standards and the security of the country that we are all sent here to defend.

• 20 May 2026 · Processed Russian Oil Products: Sanctions · Hansard source

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  Ukrainians in our constituencies woke up to headlines about watering down sanctions. Why are the Government not prioritising measures that would permanently cut bills and reduce fossil-fuel dependence, including fully removing the renewables obligation levy and fast-tracking energy market reform?

• 23 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Happy St George’s day, Mr Speaker. A business I met recently raised concerns about grid resilience to Chinese sabotage. Given the precedent set on Huawei and 5G, what steps is the Cabinet Office taking to exclude high-risk Chinese components from our critical energy infrastructure?

• 23 Apr 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My casework team routinely wait between three and six months—sometimes longer—for substantive replies from the Department for Work and Pensions on cases. I am also aware of colleagues experiencing similar delays. Will the Leader of the House advise on the most effective means by which Members can hold the Government to account for these persistent failings?

• 23 Apr 2026 · Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Vikki Slade) for securing this debate. Dozens of my constituents have come to me with stories of DVLA failure, each carrying a variation of the same theme: a system that has let them down, often involving delays in licence renewals or restorations related to medical conditions. Let me take the case of one self-employed constituent who, due to delays with restoring their licence, has lost more than £60,000-worth of work. For months, their livelihood, security and mental health were left hanging by a thread. Only after pressure from my office was the matter resolved. It was a medical case and the DVLA failed to justify the delay. Another constituent, who must renew every three years owing to a medical condition, had their licence rejected because the DVLA incorrectly claimed that they had changed their name. That single administrative error cost them six months of their licence. A third constituent appealed against the decision on their medical fitness. In response, the DVLA sent them the full medical records of another person, then spent three months arguing with the GP practice over the medical fee. The DVLA was prepared to pay only a fraction of what the GP wanted. My constituent offered to pay the difference to end the argument, but that was refused, and they had to make an inconvenient journey to a distant, DVLA-approved GP. When the licence eventually came, it was granted for one year only. The case has been ongoing for over three years—it was originally with my predecessor. Those are just some of the cases affecting my constituents. The common denominator is not the medical condition itself; it is the fact that every one of them involves a medical issue, and every one of them has been delayed for reasons that the DVLA has never made clear. The DVLA does not operate in isolation. It depends on GPs, consultants and the wider NHS to provide the evidence it needs to make decisions. When those channels fail, the DVLA fails with them, and my constituents are the ones who pay the price. Through a freedom of information request, a constituent discovered that the backlog for medical renewals alone stands in excess of 260,000 cases. As has been mentioned, the 2023 Public Accounts Committee report found that nearly 3 million people who had notified the DVLA of medical conditions had experienced long delays, with some losing employment and income as a direct consequence. Of the Committee’s 11 recommendations, the then Government accepted 10. The one they declined was a strategic review of how cases involving medical conditions were handled, bringing together the DVLA, the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS. My casework suggests that the rejection of that recommendation was short-sighted. One of my constituents waited five months simply for a consultant to be asked to review their records, never mind all the steps that had to happen after that. The DVLA knows the problem. The Department of Health knows the problem. My constituents certainly know the problem. The only question left is whether this Government do.

• 20 Apr 2026 · Security Vetting · Hansard source

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  To override the outcome of the developed vetting process, the FCDO must have been under pressure from someone. Ditching a tried and tested ambassador for a high-risk one seems odd behaviour for a Prime Minister who claims to be so fond of proper process. Whose idea was it, and who was applying the pressure?

• 15 Apr 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q6. Yate station is at the heart of the town’s industrial area and can be a gateway to the eastern end of the West Innovation Arc. Local rail users tell me they want it improved, businesses stress its importance for attracting a workforce, and in the wake of local manufacturing job losses, its redevelopment could be a catalyst for wider regeneration. There are already proposals in the town’s masterplan, so will the Prime Minister back jobs growth by supporting the redevelopment of Yate station?