Clive Lewis MP: speeches

Speeches

• 11 Mar 2026 · Lord Mandelson: Response to Humble Address Motion · Hansard source

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  I have listened to the Minister, and some of his points were relevant, but this is not just about technicalities and lapses of judgment. This is about a wider, rotten political culture: a 30-year project where proximity to wealth and power is not a means to an end but the end goal. That is what Peter Mandelson represented. This is not just about him being the ambassador or being selected to be ambassador; he was at the heart of the political project around No. 10. That has to change. Do the Government understand that out there, this is about not just one bad set of decisions but a political culture, which Peter Mandelson represents, and that it is destroying mainstream party politics in this country? Do we get that? Do we understand that? Will we change?

• 2 Dec 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which includes the donations for my work on public ownership of water, crowdfunders and my articles covering some of the topics I will mention today in Byline Times , The Guardian and the New Statesman , which are available from all good newsagents. There were decisions in this Budget that deserve recognition, as many Members have said, including ending the two-child cap, meaningful moves towards a fairer tax system, higher taxes on dividends, a surcharge on multimillion-pound properties and rightly expecting more from online gambling companies whose profits come with real social harm. Raising the minimum wage will give millions a little more breathing room, and giving local authorities powers to raise revenue through visitor levies will finally give them a long-overdue additional fiscal lever. These choices matter. They show that tactical interventions can ease pressure on households and help redistribute income and power, but we cannot pretend that a series of tactical fixes adds up to the strategic plan that this country urgently needs. When the very economic system itself is producing the crisis, incremental adjustments will never be enough. Repainting the wallpaper will not fix the crumbling walls. Alas, by that measure, this Budget falls short. It does not answer the two fundamental questions before us: how do we renew our social democracy, and in doing so, how do we finally tackle the cost of living crisis? The crisis of our democracy, the crisis of social democracy, is inseparable from the cost of living crisis. They are driven by the same forces: first by the climate emergency, which now one of the biggest drivers of inflation through water stress, food insecurity, rising extra costs and global supply shocks. Secondly, the ability of Governments to act in the public interest is being weakened. Silicon valley and finance capital now wield increasing power over our daily lives. Thirdly, the loss of democratic agency leaves us exposed to corporate extraction: extreme price gouging; essential services like water, food and energy run as cash machines; and monopolies with almost no restraint. If we fail to confront those forces—fail to tackle the profit-maximisation-at-any-cost operation that now dominates our economy—we cannot bring down the cost of living. By that metric, this Budget failed, and until this Government are prepared to tackle those structural failures, my fear is that they will continue to lose their way, as they are currently doing. The Government must change course. They must fix the structural concerns of this country, and they must do so now.