Daisy Cooper MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 18 May 2026 · Backing Business to Create Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  And who was responsible for that?

• 18 May 2026 · Backing Business to Create Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  On that point, will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

• 28 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Business rates bills have been landing on doormats over the last few weeks, and some small businesses in St Albans and beyond tell me that the future looks bleak, with some taking the crushing decision to close their doors. Will the Chancellor please look again at the eye-watering revaluations and release the full 20p discount for small businesses, which the Government legislated to do, to save our high streets?

• 28 Apr 2026 · Conflict in the Middle East: Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  Australia, Italy, India and more have all slashed fuel duty in response to Trump’s idiotic war in Iran. We Liberal Democrats are calling for fuel duty to be cut by 12p per litre here. Last week, the Chancellor claimed that anyone calling for a cut in fuel duty was “economically illiterate”, because it would push up inflation. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the current 5p fuel duty cut has led to a 0.2% reduction in the rate of inflation. Does the Chancellor think that the OBR and all these other countries that are helping their citizens are economically illiterate, or does she accept that her Government might be in the wrong and that it is time to act?

• 21 Apr 2026 · Draft Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 · Hansard source

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  These regulations ensure that potentially harmful chemicals are carefully controlled, and will provide greater certainty for business, so we Liberal Democrats will not seek to divide on them, or to oppose them. However, I do have two short questions for the Minister. First, the Minister said that this SI applies to 173 active substances, and he was good enough to give some examples of those we would particularly like to keep, such as those that clean our water so we can have access to clean drinking water. To the best of his knowledge, have any of those 173 active substances faced sustained calls to be banned because of claims related to harming either biodiversity or human health? Secondly, the Minister mentioned, very fleetingly, that the instrument would not affect any imports; I just want to ask whether it might affect any exports. Although I recognise that the regulations apply to legal and controlled biocidal and other products, the Minister will be aware that both the UK and the EU have been criticised for exporting hazardous pesticides and biocide products that are banned in the UK, yet are exported to other countries. Will the Minister say a word or two about the Government’s policy in that area?

• 21 Apr 2026 · Draft Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 · Hansard source

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  I had two separate questions. The first was whether any of the 173 active substances have faced sustained calls to be banned already. I recognise that none are banned, but have any of them faced calls to be banned because of potential damage to biodiversity or human health?

• 21 Apr 2026 · Middle East: Economic Update · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chancellor for advance sight of her statement. The Chancellor should have come here today to explain how she was going to use the £20 million extra that the Treasury is pulling in every single day through higher VAT, a higher energy profits levy and other taxes, to tackle the immediate cost of fuel crisis that is facing families and businesses today. The Chancellor is fundamentally wrong when she says that a knee-jerk response would have put household finances at risk through higher inflation and higher interest rates. We need just to look at what other countries are doing. The Government could have used that £20 million to drive down prices—the price of petrol at the pump, the price of train and bus fares, and the price of home-charging electric vehicles. Slashing those prices could have helped the Chancellor to control inflation and higher interest rates. That is what other countries are doing, and what we Liberal Democrats are calling for. The Liberal Democrats were the only political party to have in our manifesto a commitment to break the link between gas and electricity prices, so we are glad that 18 months on, the Government have finally listened. In addition to the measures outlined today, may I ask the Chancellor about two specific things? First, has she spoken to any banks about rolling out low-interest loans for householders who want to do the right thing and adopt energy-saving measures, but are struggling with the up-front costs? Secondly, I met the Competition and Markets Authority on Monday. The CMA and Ofgem both agree that there is a case to answer about the broken energy market and why hospitality and small businesses are being blocked. Will the Chancellor join me in writing to Ofgem and asking it finally to investigate, without any further delay, a broken energy market that is blocking hospitality and small businesses from accessing the best deals?

• 16 Apr 2026 · British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. Our country is in a very fragile state. We cannot defend ourselves, we cannot feed ourselves and we cannot power ourselves. Our national security, our food security and our energy security are deeply interconnected, and the Government’s response is far too sluggish. The CBI and others are very clear: their response to the announcement is that industry cannot wait until next year. A back payment in 12 months will not cut it; businesses are negotiating their energy deals now, they need support now, and the failure to provide that will mean that jobs will be lost, companies will close and our sovereign capabilities will collapse. I urge the Secretary of State to come back to the House next week, and to make then whatever announcement about the back payment he was going to make in 12 months’ time. There is a significant gap in the Government’s industrial strategy: we Liberal Democrats believe that the food and farming sector should have been included. Will the Government confirm whether the backdated payment in 12 months’ time and the BIC scheme will apply to the food and farming industry, including agri-tech businesses? Reports in The Times today suggest that the UK may face food shortages due to the Iran conflict. That would impact farming and the hospitality sector, and increase food bills for families. For months, the Liberal Democrats have highlighted that many non-domestic energy retailers refuse to offer good energy deals to hospitality businesses. The broken business rates system also penalises firms for investing in energy-saving measures. May I urge the Government for the umpteenth time to please instruct the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the energy retail market for hospitality businesses? Will the Government create an energy security bank, which would offer low-interest loans that enabled households and small and medium-sized enterprises to take up energy-saving measures? Will they exclude energy-saving investments from business rates—

• 15 Apr 2026 · Draft National Employment Savings Trust (Amendment) Order 2026 · Hansard source

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  Broadly speaking, the Liberal Democrats support this measure. However, we note that an assessment by the Department for Work and Pensions suggests that 77% of NEST members are likely to change their behaviour: a huge number of people will be looking for advice. As the Minister will be aware, one of the many amendments tabled by the Liberal Democrats to the Pension Schemes Bill called for free, impartial advice to be made available to those people when they are looking at their pensions and other issues. I invite the Minister to say a few words on whether the Government believe that the guidance infrastructure is sufficient for the members of this scheme and others to access the free, impartial advice that they need when making such big decisions.

• 24 Mar 2026 · Middle East: Economic Update · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chancellor for advance sight of her statement. Our thoughts are with our brave armed forces at this time. I agree that the last Government’s failure to invest in energy was a failure to protect our country. Today we face the stark reality that we cannot guarantee our national security, our energy security or our food security. When the Liberal Democrats were in government, we launched the auction for onshore wind and established the Green Investment Bank, helping to drive down costs and quadruple renewable energy. The Conservatives’ decision to scrap the Green Investment Bank has left our energy system more exposed, and should be worn as a badge of shame. To shore up our energy security and to tackle the energy crisis, we Liberal Democrats have consistently argued for a three-pronged approach: first, to reduce energy demand by incentivising households and businesses to invest in energy efficiency, without the tax penalties built into the business rates system or prohibitive up-front costs; secondly, to fix the broken energy market that is unfairly inflating prices, especially for small businesses on our high streets; and thirdly, to provide targeted support for the most vulnerable and for those with the highest energy needs. I urge the Chancellor to consider our proposals to create an energy security bank that can offer low-interest loans for energy-saving improvements for households and small businesses, to reverse the cuts to home insulation programmes, and to exempt business investment in energy efficiency from business rates calculations. Although the action from the Competition and Markets Authority is welcome, it is not enough. Small businesses have been blocked from the best energy deals for years—well before Donald Trump started bombing Iran—yet there has still been no CMA investigation into suppliers blocking access to those fair deals. I ask the Chancellor again: will she please instruct the CMA to do that investigation without delay? On targeted support, families are fearful. Will the Chancellor consider zero-rating VAT on heating oil and liquefied petroleum gas and introducing a price cap mechanism for off-grid fuels? Will she commit to halving energy bills over the next decade by reforming pricing structures? If bills rise to more than £400 a year, as some are warning, will the Chancellor commit to coming back to this House and outlining a broader support package so that many struggling households do not face a crippling hit of that scale?

• 10 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  In times of crisis, the UK Government have often had to spend more on energy support for households and small businesses than other comparable countries, because our energy market is so broken. Hospitality and small businesses tell me that some suppliers simply refuse to supply hospitality businesses at all. If the Government are determined to refuse Liberal Democrat calls for an emergency VAT cut, can I please ask them whether, at the very least, they will consider our call to instruct the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate bad practices in the energy market affecting hospitality and small businesses, so that we can drive down bills through greater competition?

• 10 Mar 2026 · High Street Businesses: Tax Changes · Hansard source

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  Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but the Federation of Small Businesses is warning that they will face a cost cliff edge in April because of the cumulative impact of all the new taxes and responsibilities put on them at the same time. During the course of the Finance Bill, we Liberal Democrats have repeatedly called for an assessment of the cumulative impact of taxes on hospitality and small businesses, including business rates. When the Government bring forward their high streets strategy, will it include an assessment of the cumulative impact of all tax changes—yes or no?

• 9 Mar 2026 · Middle East: Economic Update · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Chancellor for advance sight of her statement, but it does not include a single concrete announcement, and in itself will not provide the reassurance that householders and businesses are looking for as they hear reports that energy bills are about to escalate. Last week, the Liberal Democrats asked the Chancellor whether she would consider scrapping the planned 1p increase in fuel duty, due in September. Will she confirm that that option is still on the table and has not been ruled out? Last autumn, we Liberal Democrats called for a new energy security bank to roll out low-interest loans to households and small and medium-sized enterprises. We welcomed the Government’s warm homes plan in January, but will the Chancellor confirm that it could be extended from five to 10 years and that it will have a greater emphasis on home insulation? Could small businesses’ investment in energy-saving measures be excluded from business rates calculations? In the long term, we need energy market reform. I urge the Chancellor and her Government to intervene to stop these unpredictable fluctuations in the gas market. We need urgently to develop a plan to delink gas and electricity prices, and move expensive old renewable subsidies from the renewables obligation to the much better and cheaper contracts for difference model. I am glad that the Chancellor has written to the Competition and Markets Authority about keeping an eye on petrol pump prices, but last autumn I wrote to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and asked him to instruct the CMA to investigate bad practices in the energy market that affect hospitality businesses and small businesses. The Federation of Small Businesses and UKHospitality have also asked for that investigation but, six months on, it still has not happened. Will the Chancellor please confirm that she will speak to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade? Finally, on rural homes, we know that off-grid homes rely on oil, and they are already seeing prices go up as panic buying spreads. I am grateful that the Chancellor indicated that there will be a meeting on Wednesday. Will she confirm that an announcement will be forthcoming by the end of this week?

• 3 Mar 2026 · Spring Forecast · Hansard source

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  The country is paying the price for two anti-growth Labour Budgets. Growth has flatlined, youth unemployment is up, and the cost of living crisis grinds on, pushing people and businesses to the brink. So we plead with the Chancellor: please, for the sake of our country, put a laser-like focus on getting a better trade and defence deal with Europe so that we can protect our country, get Britain growing again and end the cost of living crisis. The Chancellor said that she will make an announcement about trade relationships in a couple of weeks, but the Government are already 18 months in. The Chancellor could have used today’s spring statement to announce the Government’s intention to negotiate a new UK-EU customs union to kick-start growth, cut red tape for business and build ties with our reliable allies in the face of Trump’s chaos. Why didn’t she? The spring statement comes at a critical time for our national and economic security. OBR projections will soon be out of date. Trump’s illegal actions in Iran this weekend will be felt in people’s pockets right here in Britain, with the cost of fuel and food set to rise. The Chancellor could have used today’s spring statement to scrap the fuel duty hike, which is due this September. Why didn’t she? Young people are angry and fed up. The next generation of young people could always expect that they would have a better life than the generation before, but that promise for today’s young people has been ripped away. Almost 1 million young people—the highest in more than 10 years—are now unemployed. We are facing a youth unemployment crisis. The Chancellor’s youth guarantee is simply a sticking plaster for the damage that has been done by the jobs tax. The Chancellor could have used today’s spring statement to reverse the jobs tax changes that have undermined job opportunities for young people and part-time workers. Why didn’t she? Graduates are being ripped off. They have studied hard— [ Interruption. ] Graduates are being ripped off— [ Interruption. ] They have studied hard, they have done everything they were told to do, but they are facing eye-watering repayment costs and they are struggling to get on in life. On this issue, it is a plague on all our houses—partisan point scoring does no favours to those young people. We have set out what we would do. The Chancellor could have used today’s spring statement to end the repayment threshold freeze, putting £100 back in graduates’ pockets in the first year, rising to £210 in the third. Why didn’t she? With great instability and conflict around the world and a move away from the rules-based system to great power politics, we must look urgently at building our national energy, defence and food security. In so doing, we can and must turn the necessity of building national resilience into strategic opportunities for economic growth. We welcome the fact that the Government have done a deal for helicopters with Leonardo, as a result of the calls from these Liberal Democrat Benches, especially hon. Friends from the south-west, who have raised this issue week in, week out. The Chancellor could have used today’s spring statement to launch a new defence bonds programme as part of a plan to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030. Why didn’t she? Finally, I will come full circle. I said that the country has paid the price for two anti-growth Labour budgets. The OBR today is clear: the downgrade in growth in 2026 is bigger than the upgrade in the next two years combined. We have to stop the cycle of short-term Treasury tax grabs over long-term growth. Our United Kingdom is an amazing country and has enormous potential, but we cannot take that for granted. We must accept that we are stuck in a rut, in a doom loop of low economic growth, and that is a big problem. I urge the Chancellor to take the measures that I have outlined to protect our country, to get Britain growing again and to end the cost of living crisis.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  Specifically on this point, I am grateful that the Minister is willing to comply with the terms of this motion and that he is trying to manage expectations about the speed with which the Government may act. None the less, he will know that there will still be some members of the public who will view that with some suspicion and alarm, worried that the Government might be trying to long-grass it or put it in the too-hard basket. Will the Minister commit, either now or by the end of the debate, to the Government regularly updating this House so that Opposition parties do not repeatedly have to bring Ministers to the House to answer urgent questions? Will he agree to set out, by the end of the debate, how often the Government would intend to inform the House in regular updates?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  One point that has been raised this afternoon is that even while the police go ahead with their investigations, there is still a job for this House to do. It strikes me that some of the most basic principles that we assume when we come to this place are being questioned. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is worth restating, for the record and for the public, that there are certain principles in public life that we have to make sure remain in place, as this case highlights? No one is above the law; taxpayers’ money and public office must be used for the public interest, not for private gain; Parliament has not just the right, but the duty, to hold the powerful to account and pursue all means of transparency; and ultimately, all powerful people must face a reckoning if they were involved in this scandal.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  A few moments ago, my hon. Friend referred to a comment that I made earlier in the debate. I am mindful that the Minister was not in his place at the time, so I wonder whether I could be indulged. [ Interruption. ] No, it was a separate point that I made later, when the Minister was out of the room for a second. Because there are so many things that could be examined during a public inquiry, I wondered whether Ministers would consider having an inquiry made up of two, three or more parts, given that there is precedent for such a thing. Might that be an answer, to ensure that some things that need to be examined earlier are not delayed too long? With the Minister now in his place, does my hon. Friend agree that we might hear from him on that point when he winds up?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way. It has been a Liberal Democrat policy for a very long time to have an office of the whistleblower, and we very much hope that the Government take up that proposal. We have tried a number of times to introduce it through pieces of legislation in the other House in this Session. There will be people at home listening to this debate who themselves may have information and want to volunteer it but do not know how to—they do not know whether to write to their MPs or whether there is a formal way in which they can bring the information forward. We have heard examples this afternoon from some speakers about information that they have heard or about intelligence officials who knew something. I wonder whether my hon. Friend has any thoughts on that and whether we might hear from the Minister what the Government’s message is to those people about who they should contact.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Minister for giving way, but I want to press him on that point again. There are some specific allegations that an inquiry might want to look at, but there is the broader point about culture, which my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) mentioned. He will know very well—in the context of phone hacking, but also in looking at the culture of the Metropolitan police—that there are many examples in the not-too-distant history, or in our recent history, when an inquiry has looked separately at the culture of an institution as opposed to specific allegations and what specifically went wrong. If he is concerned about a two or three-part inquiry, with a second or third part being cancelled in the future, that simply requires a small amendment to the Inquiries Act 2005. I do think it is important to press him on the point that there is a cultural issue here, and we do want the cultural issue to be looked at.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  Many people are talking about the different elements that could be examined during an inquiry, but I have heard some people say that an inquiry could become too big and take too long. Does my hon. Friend agree that there is precedent in this country for having public inquiries in two or more parts? The Government and Government Ministers, who I hope are listening, should consider that structure, so that issues that need to be considered urgently could be looked at sooner rather than later.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  One of the things that I have been struck by as we have heard more and more revelations is that it is difficult for some members of the public to keep up, and that many of them—particularly a number of women—want to turn away from what they see on their screens. Does my hon. Friend agree that what we see unfolding before our eyes is a conspiracy of silence? Horrific acts were allowed to take place in the shadows, and we are increasingly seeing that the arms of the British state protected, facilitated or colluded in horrific acts by people in power. Does she agree that this House must make the boldest statement it can that we will not rest until we have turned over every single stone?

• 28 Jan 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I note that the Deputy Prime Minister could not name one single consequence if the Chinese do not stop their espionage and repression. The Deputy Prime Minister has responded as if the world has not changed, but with Russia waging war in Europe, with the Chinese hunting pro-democracy protesters on our streets, and with President Trump undermining NATO and the rules-based order that keeps us safe, we have got to act with urgency to strengthen our alliances with trusted allies in Europe and the Commonwealth, and we have got to ramp up defence spending now. Will the Deputy Prime Minister consider as a first step the Liberal Democrat plan to issue defence bonds to raise £20 billion in the next two years, so that we can rebuild our armed forces and give British savers the opportunity to invest in the defence of our nation?

• 28 Jan 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  On behalf of my party, may I join the Deputy Prime Minister in marking Holocaust Memorial Day? We will not forget. We also honour the service of Captain Philip Gilbert Muldowney, who died on Sunday. While the Chinese regime still holds British citizen Jimmy Lai captive in prison, and while the Chinese regime continues to hunt down pro-democracy protesters on the streets of Britain with bounties on their heads, the British Prime Minister has gone cap in hand to China to ask for a trade deal, on the promise of a super-embassy from which the Chinese regime will continue to spy on us. The Chinese regime remains undeterred in its illegal actions against the UK and our citizens, so can I ask the Deputy Prime Minister to name one single consequence that the Chinese regime will face if they do not stop their campaign of espionage and repression?