Clive Efford MP: speeches

Speeches

• 12 Nov 2025 · Independent Football Regulator · Hansard source

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  When Tracey Crouch was appointed to lead the review of football governance, there was no opposition from Labour Members or the fans to the idea that a Conservative was going to lead that review; there was co-operation right across this House. When it was expedient for them, the Conservatives supported the fan-led review, but when the Bill went before Parliament and push came to shove, they opposed it. They are using it as a political football, but does my right hon. Friend agree that the football fans do not give a damn about this Westminster bubble argument? What they want is a regulator that is going to be on their side.

• 3 Nov 2025 · Public Office (Accountability) Bill · Hansard source

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  This legislation is long overdue. Looking back at the scandals where the state has deceived the people, some of which go back to the aftermath of the second world war, we see a long list of how the great British state has let down the people it is there to serve. In all these scandals involving the state versus the people, it is ordinary people who had to fight long and hard to get justice. In the contaminated blood scandal, it has taken over 50 years. For nuclear test veterans, it goes back to the 1950s. In the case of Hillsborough, it took 36 years. The list goes on. All these scandals demonstrate that there is something wrong at the heart of our state—that the state places itself above the people, will not allow itself to be seen to be wrong and, worse, refuses to offer redress for its wrongdoing. I co-chair the all-party parliamentary group on haemophilia and contaminated blood—addressing one of the worst examples the state deceiving people over many decades. At the start of his May 2024 report, Sir Brian Langstaff, the chair of the infected blood inquiry, sets out the depth of the state’s deception—how the state knew as early as the mid-1940s the dangers posed by transfusions of plasma, and the consequences. The risk of spreading infections through transfusions was known in the early days of the NHS, yet this did not result in research or any attempts to ensure that blood was being sourced from safe providers. The state doubled down on its denial while continuing to use products that put people at greater risk. Sir Brian goes on to accuse the state of a catalogue of failings, deliberate lies and obfuscation. He exposes the scale of the deception and how the state failed to carry out research to make products safer, which could have saved lives and reduced infections. This in turn led to products not being HIV-free. At Treloar’s school, pupils with haemophilia were given contaminated blood products as part of an experiment. That is probably the most chilling part of the whole scandal. The former pupils of Treloar’s have called themselves “human guinea pigs”; those are their own words. What is worse is that the pupils were told that they had glandular fever. Their families were told not to tell anyone that it was HIV. The lack of a duty to tell the truth allowed the state to ignore the needs of the victims and their families. They were offered no help, support or counselling. The silence allowed the state to avoid being held to account—something that we have seen again and again in the Hillsborough story, the Post Office Horizon story and all the rest. This has to stop, and the Bill will at last give a voice to victims. Although candour in public officials is welcome, the Bill fails to impose a similar duty on our media. Time and again, we have seen a significant section of our national media collaborate with officials, which has obstructed justice, misled the public and led to harassment of survivors and their families. Perhaps the most devastating example is the role of The Sun in respect of the Hillsborough tragedy; the paper directly conspired with South Yorkshire police to accuse fans of causing the disaster. I hope that as the Bill passes through all its stages, we can address this omission. I welcome the Bill. We MPs come here to speak truth to power on behalf of our constituents. Now our constituents will have the right to force power to speak truth to them.

• 30 Oct 2025 · Infected Blood Compensation Scheme · Hansard source

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  I welcome the statement from my right hon. Friend. This issue has its origins back in the 1940s, and it has been going on for an extraordinarily long time. The state has not been responding to or providing information to the people it should have been there to serve. We find ourselves in a situation where people have lived almost all their lives waiting for compensation, and now this issue is arising that they may pass away, having just received compensation, and their estate will then be subject to inheritance tax. The state is giving with one hand and taking back with the other. I realise that my right hon. Friend is not in the Treasury, but we need to take that issue forward. There is also this outstanding issue of support to the campaigning groups that support the applications of people who are infected and affected. Part of one of Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations was that they need extra support from the Department of Health and Social Care. On both these issues, what can my right hon. Friend do to assist the people making these applications and to get them the response to Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations that they deserve?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease · Hansard source

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  Order. Members are asking that you speak into the microphone, Mr Shannon, so that they can hear you.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease · Hansard source

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  Right, that gives me a better idea. We will bring in the Front Benchers at 10.28 am, so that gives an idea of how much time there is for the six or seven Members who wish to speak.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease · Hansard source

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  I remind Members to bob in their places if they intend to speak.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I draw Ministers’ attention to the Prostate Cancer Research report published last week. It busts the myth that a screening programme for prostate cancer would cost the NHS too much money. It would focus on the people most at risk—in other words, black men over the age of 45, and those who, like me, have a history of it in their family. Will the Secretary of State join me in commending this report to the UK National Screening Committee?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Electricity Infrastructure: Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  This is a half-hour debate, so interventions should be shorter than that.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  Order. A lot of the people who are standing did not provide their names to the Chair. I am sorry, but I will have to impose a two-minute limit if I am going to get everybody in and bring in the Front Benchers at 10.28 am.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  You are all being very disciplined.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  Order. There is a lot of interest in this debate. If a Member is intending to speak, please stand so that we have a chance to make sure everyone can make a contribution.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  Can I say to the Leader of the Opposition that not every statement in this House is an opportunity for political knockabout? This is one of those occasions that required a statesperson. There are reports that militia groups are seeking to gain control of certain areas in Gaza. What can be done to make sure that it is the people of Palestine who determine their future, and not the biggest gangs? What can we do about this situation?

• 14 Oct 2025 · Criminal Courts: Independent Review · Hansard source

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  The Front Benchers have 10 minutes each and I intend to call the mover of the motion with a couple of minutes to sum up the debate.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Criminal Courts: Independent Review · Hansard source

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  If we are going to get everyone in, we will have to stick to about four minutes each. I am not going to put a hard time limit on at this stage, but please bear that in mind.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Criminal Courts: Independent Review · Hansard source

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  I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. I call the Chair of the Justice Committee, Andy Slaughter.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Criminal Courts: Independent Review · Hansard source

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  Before the Minister answers, please bear in mind that I will be looking to bring in Jeremy Wright at 5.58 pm.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Child Risk Disclosure Scheme · Hansard source

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  I will call the hon. Member to move the motion and then I will call the Minister to respond. I remind other Members that they may make a speech only with prior permission from the Member in charge of the debate and the Minister. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Manchester Terrorism Attack · Hansard source

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  I commend my right hon. Friend for her statement and also for her prompt response, which I know was appreciated by people in Manchester on the very day. I believe that people should be able to pursue all religions, or none, without intimidation or fear of being attacked. I also believe in freedom of speech and the freedom to protest, but does my right hon. Friend agree that people cannot use that right to promote hate and promote violence against those with any other religions or beliefs? Does she agree that we need to keep that under review to ensure that we do not allow such people to continue to promote these messages of hate?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I recall the debate about the previous attempt to bring in ID cards, when people were concerned about having to produce them if demanded by authorities such as the police. I too have been to Estonia, and I understand that the argument has moved on—we now have apps on our phones such as the NHS app and we have the GOV.UK One login, so we all have a digital footprint these days—but can my right hon. Friend categorically state that that at no stage in the future will people be required by the police to produce this digital ID?

• 16 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Further to Ministers’ earlier answers about waiting lists in Crown and magistrates courts, coroners courts also have a large backlog. I have a constituent who has been waiting nearly three years for an inquest to be completed. What can be done to relieve the pressure on grieving families who have been bereaved and to speed up the process?

• 4 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I wonder whether my right hon. Friend was as shocked as I was that a Member of this House went to another country and, in front of its Parliament, started to run this country down. What is the point of being elected to this place if Members are not prepared to bring these issues to the Floor of the House and have them debated? Will my right hon. Friend write to Members and remind them of the opportunities they have to raise these important issues so that we can scrutinise them in a proper way, rather than scuttle off to another country and act in a totally unpatriotic way? [Hon. Members: “Where are they?”]

• 2 Sept 2025 · Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse · Hansard source

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  I welcome my hon. Friend’s statement. This is yet another example of the state turning its back on working-class people—in this case, young girls. I also welcome the fact that cold cases are going to be investigated and that those cases will be reopened if there is any evidence of criminal activity, but in the past when an inquiry has been announced, we have seen police suspend until the outcome of that inquiry investigations that they have been undertaking. Can the Minister assure us that that will not happen in this case?

• 1 Sept 2025 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  I have known my right hon. Friend for more than 25 years, and I know that if he was up here on the Back Benches, he would be as angry and frustrated as we are. It gets frustrating coming here and expressing our concerns when, with all due respect, he wrings his hands and says, “We are doing all we can,” then we go away and nothing moves on. What can my right hon. Friend say to us today to show that there is hope of something changing in the near future, because in the meantime it is the hostages and the people in Gaza who pay the heaviest price?

• 1 Sept 2025 · Borders and Asylum · Hansard source

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  I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, and I commend her for the way she is working with our neighbouring countries to deal with this problem. The approach of the previous Government was basically to stand on the cliffs of Dover shouting abuse across the channel and to tell them that they should keep all refugees and we would take none. Does my right hon. Friend agree that if we are going to provide a solution to this problem, it has to come from the sort of co-operation that she has been working on?

• 21 Jul 2025 · Infected Blood Inquiry: Additional Report · Hansard source

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  On behalf of the APPG on haemophilia and contaminated blood, I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. It is a major step forward. As he knows, the issue of engagement with the affected and infected community has been a major bone of contention since the expert group set the tariff. For over 40 years, that community have been ignored and lied to by the state, which should have been on their side. When Sir Brian Langstaff published his recent report, he said: “For decades people who suffered because of infected blood have not been listened to. Once again decisions have been made behind closed doors leading to obvious injustices.” My right hon. Friend said that he will accept most of the recommendations, but if he is going to consult, he must consult with the community. Will he guarantee that he will set up a proper mechanism that will be approved by the community, and that he will provide financial support to those organisations that are giving advice to victims who are making claims?