Clive Betts MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 9 Sept 2026 · Pharmacies: Government Funding · Hansard source

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  Order. Six Members have indicated that they want to speak, so that means they have about seven minutes each. I would normally advise Members to bob if they want to speak in the debate, but two Members have indicated that they have challenging circumstances, so I will exempt them from that requirement on this occasion.

• 9 Sept 2026 · Pharmacies: Government Funding · Hansard source

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  Each Front Bencher has 10 minutes, or a little longer depending on the timing.

• 9 Sept 2026 · Pica Eating Disorder: SEND · Hansard source

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  As no Back Benchers wish to speak, I will move straight to the Lib Dem spokesperson.

• 8 Sept 2026 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I wholeheartedly welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement, both its content and its tone. I would like to ask about his discussions with our colleagues and allies in other countries who are looking to implement similar sanctions. The Netherlands Government announced their intention to reimpose sanctions in July and will implement them on 22 September. Will my right hon. Friend ask them why that has only taken them two months, when we are going to take eight to nine months?

• 2 Sept 2026 · Rewiring the State · Hansard source

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  I offer two congratulations: first, to my right hon. Friend and constituency neighbour, the First Secretary, on her well-deserved promotion—I am sure she will do an excellent job. Secondly, I congratulate her and the Prime Minister for their real commitment to devolution, which I have wanted to see for an awfully long time. I hope it is devolution to local councils, as first-tier authorities, as well as to strategic authorities. One area that has not been covered so far is education. The First Secretary is probably aware that in five wards in my constituency with high levels of deprivation, there is not a single sixth form. Responsibility for that rests totally with academy trusts, and the local council has no power or influence over it whatsoever. When she looks again at devolution to bodies with democratic control, could she look at the education system? That will be key to tackling the problem of those not in education, employment or training.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Timms Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I apologise for the fact that—as I have explained to you, Madam Deputy Speaker—I will have to leave straight after my question to chair Westminster Hall. I thank my right hon. Friend for doing this very challenging piece of work. I think that the theme of fairness, for the people who need benefits and for taxpayers, is right. I have spoken to him briefly about the complaints from the Link Community Hub in Stradbroke in my constituency about the fact that people there with mental health conditions who are claiming PIP have drug abuse and alcohol abuse conditions, and are using PIP to fund those conditions. I have also complained about the young lads in their 20s driving around in Motability cars in Darnall; someone in the community has been paid to fill in the forms for them. On the other hand, so many constituents with really serious conditions get turned down for PIP, and can get it only if they struggle through the appeal system, sometimes without any help at all. So the system is not fair to anyone at present. I commend him for his suggestions, but is he going to have a real look at the different reasons people give for applying for PIP, and at how to respond to them properly?

• 9 Jul 2026 · Conflicts: Impact on Older People · Hansard source

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  We now move to the Front-Bench spokespeople. They are entitled to speak for at least 10 minutes each, but given that we are not particularly time-constrained, I will leave it with them to make a judgment on that.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Conflicts: Impact on Older People · Hansard source

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  I call Jim Shannon, who has a couple of minutes to wind up.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Conflicts: Impact on Older People · Hansard source

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  Order. The hon. Member should not take my views for granted in this sort of debate—he can speak for himself, I am sure.

• 6 Jul 2026 · Civil Service Pensions · Hansard source

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  I will dive very deeply into the question, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Chair of the Committee sends his apologies for his absence; he is presently in a Committee meeting. We have looked at this situation on a number of occasions, and we will have a joint session with the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and the Minister on Wednesday. The individual cases that we have heard are absolutely appalling, and we will relate them to Capita and the Minister. We have heard from two widows who have been waiting since last year to get their pensions sorted out, which is not acceptable. I have two issues for the Minister to reflect upon. When the previous Government let the contract, we were in a situation in which procurement could not properly take account of the past record of companies, and I understand that the Government have now changed that. Looking at Capita’s past record on both the teachers’ pension scheme and the civil service pension scheme, we see that it has not run one scheme properly. That should have been taken into account before the contract was let. The other issue, and this is where the Opposition spokesperson did say something relevant, is that this scheme was falling apart last year. The National Audit Office looked at it, and clearly it was going wrong then. So I ask the Minister: did he start to look at alternatives then and did he at that point start to put together in-house provision that could eventually take over?

• 6 Jul 2026 · Civil Service Pensions · Hansard source

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  The Public Accounts Committee and Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, its Chair—

• 30 Jun 2026 · Defence Investment Plan · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to buy British and create British jobs. When he produces his further strategy on procurement in the autumn, will he try to get a joined-up approach to procurement across Government, as that is important to our industrial strategy? The MOD is investing £1 billion-plus in Sheffield Forgemasters to create the capacity to build nuclear reactors for our submarines, yet at the same time, Rolls-Royce is purchasing the same sorts of nuclear reactors in South Korea to go into civil nuclear plant. Do we not need to get that sorted out, right across Government, to make sure that we are doing British industry proud and buying British products to create British jobs?

• 17 Jun 2026 · Steel Tariffs · Hansard source

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  It is absolutely right in principle for the Government to try to defend the steelmaking sector, particularly Liberty at Stocksbridge and Rotherham. However, there are downside implications for smaller firms, particularly manufacturing firms such as Ansell Handtools, Special Steel Group and Crown Hand Tools in my constituency, all of which have said that they cannot buy precisely the steel that they need, or the quantities of steel that they need, from British manufacturers. That is the challenge. I know that the Minister has been doing a great deal of work on this; can he tell me how he will leave a channel open for concerns to be raised by those companies if the further measures that he has taken do not address their particular grievances?

• 16 Jun 2026 · West Bank: Settler Activity · Hansard source

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  3. What steps she plans to take in response to increases in settler violence in the west bank.

• 16 Jun 2026 · West Bank: Settler Activity · Hansard source

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  Let me add a few words about the murder of Jo Cox. I was a friend and colleague of Jo’s, and I still remember the numbness and shock that I felt on hearing the news. Quite simply, no Member of this House should fear for their life because they speak out on behalf of their constituents. The west bank is illegally occupied by Israel. The settlements are illegal and have been expanded through extreme violence by settlers, supported by the Israel Defence Forces. I do not know whether my right hon. Friend is aware that, in May, the Dutch Government decided to ban trade in goods from settlements. They did so because they wanted to put pressure on the Israeli Government. The Dutch Foreign Minister made it very clear that the Dutch Government acknowledged that enforcement would be difficult and that they carefully weigh up these matters, but they decided in the end that doing anything was better than doing nothing. May I suggest that might be an appropriate course of action for our Government? We ought to be seen on the right side of this, and finding reasons why we cannot act is not right. We ought to be acting on this matter.

• 15 Jun 2026 · Russian Shadow Fleet · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his appointment—he is very well suited to the job at hand. I am sure he will understand, though, if I also express my disappointment that his predecessor and my constituency neighbour, my right hon. Friend the Member for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough (John Healey), felt he had to resign because of the inadequacies, as he saw them, in the defence investment plan. I congratulate everyone involved on the seizing of the tanker. It is an important lesson for Putin that we are going to disrupt his war machine, but it is also a first; will the Secretary of State indicate if we are looking to undertake such operations more regularly in order to ensure that the many such tankers that sail in these waters are not free do so in future without the fear that our Government may act against them?

• 11 Jun 2026 · Secondary Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  We move on to the shadow Minister, Dr Caroline Johnson, who has 10 minutes to make her contribution.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Secondary Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  Order. Members must not refer to each other by name in the Chamber.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Secondary Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  We now move on to the Front Benchers.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Secondary Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  Order. I will call Mary Kelly Foy next, as the co-sponsor of the debate. After her speech, I will give hon. Members an indication of how long they may have to speak, to try to get us to the end of the debate in a reasonable fashion.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Secondary Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  I am supposed to be neutral in the Chair, but I think I am allowed to give a particularly warm welcome to Ashley Dalton.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Secondary Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  Before I call Wendy Chamberlain, let me say that the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) has indicated to me that he has to leave at about quarter past 4. He has a plane to catch; I accept that as a reason, and he has given advance notice, which I thank him for. We will begin the wind-ups by 4.05 pm at the latest.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Secondary Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  Order. We have four Members who want to come in, so I will issue a guideline of nine minutes each for speeches, if Members could stick to that, please.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Secondary Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  If the Minister allowed a couple of minutes before 4.30 pm for the mover to make some further comments, that would be really helpful.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Pension Schemes · Hansard source

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  The Public Accounts Committee has had a number of hearings on this issue, and I am sure the Chair, the hon. Member for North Cotswolds (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown), will want to ask some questions. First of all, there is a shared responsibility here. MyCSP has responsibilities, but I have to say that the Cabinet Office oversaw this, and there are real questions that the Minister should be asking officials in the Cabinet Office about their degree of responsibility. We have had so many assurances on this. Are the June assurances really going to be kept to? This is not a one-off issue, is it? The civil service pension scheme has had at least three different problems with three different providers in the past. We have had the teachers’ pension scheme, the Royal Mail pension scheme—an awful lot of them. We asked the Cabinet Office permanent secretary whether she would go away and look at having an in-house team built up to administer public sector pensions in a way that might prevent these recurring problems with a variety of private sector providers, whose arrangements always seem to go wrong.