Connor Rand MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  2. What steps she has taken to increase economic growth through the 10-year infrastructure strategy.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  Working with colleagues in Greater Manchester, I have been proud to campaign for greater investment in our public transport infrastructure. The Government listened and delivered £2.5 billion of funding for the Bee Network, which will allow us to create the first fully integrated zero-emission public transport system. Will my right hon. Friend explain what that will mean for my constituents in terms of jobs, growth and connectivity?

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend sets out with characteristic eloquence some of the major uncertainties that are currently facing BNO holders. Considering that BNO applicants now make up less than 2% of visa applications, does he agree that the immense contribution that they make to communities such as mine in Altrincham and Sale West, as well as in his own constituency, means that the policy has big costs and, in reality, minimal rewards as the Government seek to cut migration?

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 2 Sept 2025 · Eating Disorders: Prevention of Deaths · Hansard source

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  First, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) on securing this debate and—if he will permit me—on his strength and resilience as a parent. There have already been many profoundly moving contributions, and I think everyone here understands that the care and support for those with eating disorders, and for their families, are not good enough. The average wait of three and a half years between onset and start of treatment is not acceptable. In the Government’s 10-year plan for the NHS, where we are delivering record investment and groundbreaking reform, we must ensure that eating disorder services are part of that agenda. There are great services out there, leading the way in showing what change for patients could look like. I am fortunate to have one of those in my constituency. The ABBI eating disorder clinic in Altrincham is an outstanding facility offering specialist day care and intensive out-patient services. It is an alternative to far more costly in-patient care, and in practice it means that patients remain at home with their family support networks around them. That is what patients want and what their families want—and it is what works. Such services change lives and save lives, but they face huge issues with highly fragmented commissioning. This disjointed commissioning creates significant inefficiencies; we need a change in commissioning to ensure proper pathways for patients and early intervention. In this debate, we must also look at what young people are exposed to online, with one in three adolescents saying that they have engaged in disordered eating behaviours due to social media content. I look forward to hearing the Minister set out in more detail the good work the Government have already done, and what we will be doing to build on that success to prevent tragic deaths caused by eating disorders.

• 17 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave · Hansard source

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  Improving our paternity leave offer will be good for parents, good for children and good for our economy. I recently organised an event with Labour colleagues, the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, and Dad Shift, where we heard from Tesco about the benefits that six weeks of fully paid paternity leave had brought to its business. As part of the parental leave review, which I warmly welcome, will the Minister proactively reach out to businesses, such as Tesco, that are leading the way on paternity leave?

• 17 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave · Hansard source

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  2. What steps he is taking to support working families through the parental leave system.

• 10 Jul 2025 · Relations with the European Union · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree with me that, after years of the Conservatives picking fights with our most important allies rather than working with them on the shared challenges we face, our recently agreed trade deal and our closer co-operation on security and migration show the benefits of a grown-up approach to improving relations with our European partners?

• 10 Jul 2025 · Relations with the European Union · Hansard source

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  16. What steps he is taking to improve relations with the EU.

• 10 Jul 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In the week that the Football Governance Bill continued its progress through Parliament, may I draw the House’s attention to the 3UP campaign to secure an extra promotion place from the national league to league two? I am supporting the campaign, alongside my brilliant local football club, Altrincham FC. Could we have a debate on how the 3UP campaign could build on the Football Governance Bill in ensuring that opportunity and money flow fairly through English football?

• 10 Jul 2025 · Resident Doctors: Industrial Action · Hansard source

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  We all know how vital resident doctors are to the functioning of our national health service. In the light of that, will the Secretary of State join me in once again urging the BMA resident doctors committee to get back around the table to engage in serious talks and to take up his offer to meet in the interests of all NHS staff and patients, so that we can rebuild the national health service in the way the public expect?

• 9 Jul 2025 · Early Years Providers: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I know that many local authorities and providers do try to give that assurance in advance, but I am sure that there is more work that they can do to give stability and certainty to parents and families in my hon. Friend’s constituency and across the country. The family hubs that we are delivering across the country, including in my local authority of Trafford, will drive up quality in our early years system, support providers and strengthen support for children as they enter primary school, which is especially important for the 3,000 children in my constituency who are growing up in poverty. Lots has been achieved, and there is lots more still to do, but as the Early Education and Childcare Coalition said this week, we are heading in the right direction.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Early Years Providers: Government Support · Hansard source

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  Yes, absolutely. The sentiment across the House with regard to our SEND system and the need for additional, earlier intervention and support is well founded. I think that is the direction that the Government intend to travel in with their reforms, and I am sure that the Minister will outline that. Putting trained early years teachers into nurseries generates the best outcomes and the best value for money, but just one in 10 has this at the moment. We need incentives to recruit and retain teachers, and the Government’s efforts in this area so far are welcome. This is about supporting providers to drive up quality. I welcome Ofsted inspections as part of that effort, but I ask the Minister to consider worrying reports that some providers have brought in extra staff on the day of inspections only. That issue was brought to my attention by my constituent Frances, whose daughter was seriously mistreated at nursery. After the incident, Frances was deeply upset at the lack of safeguarding at what is a well-regarded nursery, and she found it extremely difficult to gain access to the CCTV footage and to hold the provider to account. There must be a balance between supporting providers and supporting parents in ensuring that providers are accountable. I hope that the rights of parents—which the Minister knows is an issue of great importance to me—are an important part of the ongoing reforms to the sector. We have already made great progress in making it easier and cheaper for parents to access childcare. We delivered the 15 hours of funded childcare last September, and we are delivering 30 hours this September, which will save parents in my constituency up to £7,500 per child per year. It is fantastic to hear that we are building on this with the delivery of new family hubs across the country.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Early Years Providers: Government Support · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure, Mr Pritchard, to serve under your chairmanship, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) for securing this hugely important debate. When finding affordable childcare is harder for people than getting their hands on Oasis tickets, it is clear that the system is fundamentally broken. That is the reality for so many parents, and the reality that Labour inherited. A fragmented, underfunded and understaffed childcare system was one of the many messes left behind by the previous Government. And families across Altrincham and Sale West have suffered with the cost of that failure, not just in eye-watering fees but in the loss of earnings that comes from one partner—usually the woman—not being able to return to work after children are born. This Government are turning that situation around, and in doing so they are supporting family finances and giving children the best possible start in life. Nowhere is that clearer than in my constituency, where Government funding for a new nursery at Altrincham C of E primary school has been secured. This development, alongside 30 hours of free childcare from September, marks a sea change in the support available to local parents. In the past, we have heard big talk on early years, but it was so often a pledge without a plan; so often, promises have been made without the funding needed to make them a reality. In contrast, this Government are delivering £2 billion of extra investment in early years entitlement, taking our spend to over £8 billion—a 30% increase compared with previous years. The Early Education and Childcare Coalition states: “After years of political neglect, it finally feels that someone has taken control of the wheel, and the direction of travel for early education and childcare is hopeful.” It welcomes the Government’s “Giving every child the best start in life” strategy, published earlier this week.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave Review · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree that, as well as being good for parents and for children, ensuring that dads are able to spend an appropriate amount of time off with their newborn children would be good for our economy, good for productivity and good for businesses too?

• 1 Jul 2025 · Infant Feeding · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for securing this Adjournment debate on such an important topic. She spoke of some of the difficulties she had at the start of her breastfeeding journey, which my partner Catherine also experienced. When my partner had those difficulties, she accessed a breastfeeding support clinic in my constituency at Meadway health centre, which was a huge source of support and benefit to her. Does the hon. Member agree that it is important to protect and support access to such services, ensuring they are there for every woman who wishes to breastfeed?

• 24 Jun 2025 · Department of Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  Fourteen years of Conservative Government left our national health service on its knees, with waiting lists at record highs, patient satisfaction at record lows and millions living in pain and fear, suffering without the treatment they need. Turning that around is a mammoth challenge, but thanks to this Government, the green shoots of recovery are there. In my local NHS trust, waiting lists have fallen now for four months in a row. We promised an extra 2 million appointments in our first year, and we have delivered 3.6 million. We have hired an extra 1,700 GPs over the past year and provided much-needed extra investment, including for the Village surgery in Timperley, in my constituency. However, there is still so much further to go, and the spending review and the settlement it gives the Department is a recognition of that. In delivering a £29 billion increase in annual NHS day-to-day spending over the next four years, the Chancellor has acknowledged the mountain there still is to climb to ensure that our health service is there for us when we need it. Accepting the scale of the challenge and putting forward the money needed to meet it separates this Government from the Opposition parties, which either want to abandon our national health service entirely or forget their record and wish away its problems. The difficult decisions that this Government have taken have given us the space for record investment, and I am pleased that the Government also acknowledge that that must come with much-needed reform. We have seen it with the scrapping of NHS England and the efficiency savings that will generate, and we have seen it with the £10 billion investment in NHS technology over the next four years. As part of that effort, may I suggest that, following my conversations with the Secretary of State on this topic, the future of Altrincham Hospital in my constituency is considered very carefully? We lost our minor injuries unit because of the Conservatives’ failure on NHS staffing, and the temporary skin cancer diagnostic hub that occupies its space must be turned into a permanent diagnostic centre. To conclude, we finally have a spending review settlement that recognises the scale of the challenges facing our national health service, and we finally have a Government who are serious about fixing the problems it faces. Residents across Altrincham and Sale West are already feeling the benefit of that, with more to come. We have saved the national health service before and, thanks to this Government, we are going to do it all over again.

• 24 Jun 2025 · National Security Strategy · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree that our energy security is fundamental to our national security, and, therefore, does he share my concerns that Conservative Members now appear to disagree with the investment that we are making in energy security in this country? If they disagree with the investment that we are making in nuclear, small modular reactors and Great British Energy, they should stand up and say so.

• 24 Jun 2025 · Care Settings: Right to Maintain Contact · Hansard source

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  I would like briefly to mention the case of the Priestman family in my constituency. Paul Priestman, a military veteran, suffered a stroke in 2019 and now requires care. That is being provided in a care home in Rochdale, many miles from the family home. The family have serious concerns about the quality of Paul’s care, but find they are routinely ignored by the care home. Does my hon. Friend agree that the stories he cites and this debate show that, rather than being viewed as essential to the wellbeing of the person in care, families are too often dismissed, ignored or considered an afterthought by care providers?

• 18 Jun 2025 · Political Prisoners · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I join other Members in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake) on securing this debate and on her powerful advocacy. I want to focus specifically on the Jimmy Lai case and what it means to the sizeable Hong Kong diaspora that I am fortunate enough and proud to represent in Altrincham and Sale West. First, I briefly pay tribute to Jimmy Lai and the Lai family. I have been fortunate enough to meet Sebastien Lai, and I was struck by his dignity and resolve in the face of unimaginable difficulty. He told me in stark terms of his fear for his father’s health, and he was honest in saying that we are in a race against time to secure Jimmy’s release. I told Sebastien that I would do whatever I could to push and press our Government for his father’s release. I have made the same promise to my Hongkonger constituents because for them the case feels deeply personal. It is a poignant illustration of why they were forced out of their homeland and a chilling reminder of what could happen to the loved ones they left behind. It is a reminder that, as one of them said to me, “If it can happen to Jimmy, it can happen to anyone.” Every day that Jimmy Lai spends in jail, every bounty placed on pro-democracy activists and parliamentarians, and every act of Chinese aggression here and abroad strikes yet more fear into the hearts of Hongkongers in my community and around the world. That is one of the reasons why the case matters so much: not just because Jimmy’s release is morally right and not just because it would reunite an innocent man with his loving family, but because his ongoing imprisonment sends a message that China can disregard freedom with impunity. We must change that. I know that the Government have raised the case repeatedly, but the situation has not changed—things are clearly not working, and historically the UK has a poor record of securing the release of UK citizens detained abroad. I ask the Minister: what new strategies can we adopt? Other Members have referred to trade talks, but surely, alongside important security considerations, the case must be an influencing factor in the decision on whether to approve a Chinese mega-embassy here in London. I know that the Government will consider those questions and what more they can do to secure Jimmy’s release, in keeping with our party’s proud history of standing up for human rights wherever we can.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Rooftop Solar Power · Hansard source

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  15. What steps he is taking to support rooftop solar power projects.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Rooftop Solar Power · Hansard source

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  Thanks to Great British Energy, Meadway health centre in my constituency is set to have solar panels installed, which will cover its entire energy bills for the summer. My local hospital, Wythenshawe, will also benefit, saving my local NHS trust some £4 million to £5 million a year, which can be reinvested back into frontline services. Despite the doom-mongering on net zero that we hear from the Opposition Benches, does the Secretary of State agree that this shows the power of helping our public services and creating jobs?

• 24 Apr 2025 · Ukraine War: London Talks · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree that, as other hon. Members have alluded to, last night’s brutal attack on Kyiv is a timely reminder to Governments and leaders around the world that Russia is and always has been the aggressor in this conflict? Does he agree that that perspective must be central to any talks, as we stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes?

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Bar Etna, a fantastic family-friendly restaurant in Altrincham, has suffered to the tune of thousands of pounds from a business rates scam. Thankfully, the licences of the fraudsters were suspended, but they have since changed their company name and are back scamming small businesses again. It was the fourth time they have pulled this trick. Can we have a debate on the business rates scams crisis in our country, so that we close for good the loopholes being exploited by these con artists?

• 27 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The UK has one of the worst paternity offers in Europe, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the police force, where new research from the Dad Shift shows that many frontline officers are taking just one week of paternity leave, because that is all they are entitled to on full pay. Does the Leader of the House agree that when the Government present their review of paternity leave to this place, a better deal for dads who serve on the frontline in the force should be an important consideration?