Dave Robertson MP: speeches

Speeches

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

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  Barely a week goes by when my email inbox does not swell with people getting in touch about one particular issue. Whether from Lichfield, Burntwood or the villages of Longdon, Streethey, Handsacre, Hill Ridware, Armitage and Abbots Bromley, residents are writing to me electronically with complaints about poor service from Royal Mail. They tell me that days go by without deliveries, but when I write to Royal Mail, I am told there is no problem; deliveries are going out six days a week. That just does not chime with the experience of my constituents. Staff at Lichfield delivery office tell me that they are not being offered overtime, and as a result, they are failing to meet the universal service obligation, and face pressure to prioritise higher-value deliveries, like parcels. Royal Mail still tells me that there is no issue. Will the Leader of the House arrange for a statement to be made to this House on how the Government are ensuring that Royal Mail meets the universal service obligation?

• 19 Jun 2025 · People Smugglers: Prosecution · Hansard source

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  People across Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages want the Government to get a grip on people-smuggling in the channel after the previous Government’s dereliction of duty. Too many lives are at risk; too many people are making that dangerous crossing. Although it is great news that police are working hard, and have arrested dozens of people smugglers and seized almost half a million pounds of criminal cash, it is clear that we need to go further and faster. What steps is the Solicitor General taking to ensure that people smugglers face the hefty jail terms that they deserve?

• 19 Jun 2025 · People Smugglers: Prosecution · Hansard source

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  5. What steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of people smugglers.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Businesses in Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Western. I congratulate the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) on securing the debate. In Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages in my part of rural Staffordshire, we have an amazing number of great local businesses—far too many to name in only one minute and 45 seconds. Many businesses are held back by poor connectivity, both broadband and 5G. Although the Government’s investment of £5 billion at the spending review is welcome, we need to crowd in private sector investment to drive the much faster roll-out of broadband and 5G. There is a potential lever for us to pull on broadband. BT Openreach owns the infrastructure that broadband providers rent—the poles and holes, as it is referred to in the industry. The rental of that infrastructure is charged by the metre, not by address or business, which means that access to it is 20 times more expensive in rural areas. Although I welcome Ofcom’s ongoing review of that charging structure, I hope that the outcome will reduce costs for rural businesses and level the playing field between what is urban and what is not. There is also work to do on 5G, because the current roll-out is the slowest in the G7. The simple fact is that we need more masts; 5G works better because it is higher frequency and shorter range. Unfortunately, the tower companies that own the masts are driving down rentals for landowners and litigating against them using legislation introduced by the previous Government. Our Government should look at how the market structure operates, and how legislative change could allow a competitive market to bring forward new masts to provide the physical infrastructure to allow that connectivity to happen.

• 18 Jun 2025 · HS2 Reset · Hansard source

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  My constituency is the only one in the country that has HS2 phase 1, phase 2a and phase 2b. It is not true to say that the line will not continue north of Birmingham, because it will cut through miles of Staffordshire, through my constituency, until it rejoins the main line at Handsacre. The failings of HS2 Ltd have been clear to my constituents for years and, frankly, it is shocking to hear about the dereliction of oversight by the previous Government, although it is what we have always suspected. People across Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages will, quite rightly, be furious. Farmers, landowners and businesses in my constituency have been fighting tooth and nail with HS2 for years to get it to do the job right. We have seen compulsory purchases that have never been paid, temporary possessions that come with a multitude of exchanges—back and forth, and back and forth again—with land agents taking massive fees for things that should have been sorted years ago, crop loss payments that never come and many, many more issues. People in Streethay have had to deal with ongoing roadworks around a junction that has become far too overcomplicated by HS2 trying to put a railway underneath it, and that has seen the village almost cut off at times. People are absolutely sick of HS2. The failings of that organisation are multitudinous, and the failings of the Conservatives to fully hold it to account should be an embarrassment to them and an embarrassment to this country. I really do welcome a reset, but it has to lead to meaningful change. Can the Secretary of State give me and my constituents any assurances that it will be delivered as quickly as it possibly can be, and with as little disruption as we can get away with? Can she finally give us a timeline for when the safeguarded land will be returned to landowners? This has been going on for far too long.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I was contacted this week by a constituent whose son needs to see an occupational therapist. Her son is one year old, but because he does not yet have child disability living allowance, he cannot be given a referral. The Department for Work and Pensions says that the current wait for a child disability allowance application to be processed is 25 weeks. That is just not acceptable. Can the Leader of the House arrange for a statement to be made to this House on the steps that the Department is taking to clear the backlog it inherited?

• 12 Jun 2025 · High Street Businesses · Hansard source

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  The town of Burntwood in my constituency has a high street that has been struggling after 14 years of neglect by the Conservatives. One of the things holding Burntwood back is the lack of access to high street banks. Will the Minister update us on what the Department is doing to support access to banking in our high streets as a key pillar of driving the regeneration of high streets like the one in Burntwood?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Bank Closures and Banking Hubs · Hansard source

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  It is important to say that internet banking is not going away. These two ideas—face-to-face banking and internet banking—should be two sides of the same coin. All our high street banks should recognise that they have a responsibility to both ways of working. I prefer to bank online because I am busy and spend half my life on trains, but there are people who do not have that luxury, as they are technologically reluctant to engage. I hear many people ask the Government, “What can we do to get more banking hubs? What can we do to encourage more physical banks?” That is something that I would support, particularly for towns such as Burntwood, where bringing those banks back could be that spark of regeneration—the thing that starts to reverse that unvirtuous circle, so that it becomes a virtuous circle, where those banks are present and they drive footfall: it is easier to get cash, easier for businesses to bank there and easier for the high street to come back. We all know that the high street is the physical representation of how people feel the economy is going. One reason people are so worried about the economy is that our high streets have been failing for decades. Governments have not supported high streets for far too long, and I am proud that this Government are saying that they will now do so. Getting banks back on to the high street, where they belong, can be that first step for towns such as Burntwood and the others that we have heard about in today’s debate.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Bank Closures and Banking Hubs · Hansard source

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  I do not intend to labour too long on rehashing points that have already been made. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) for securing the debate and the Backbench Business Committee for scheduling it. It is very clear that access to a physical bank is important for many people in our communities. My constituency, like those of colleagues present, has not been spared the loss of banks. In Lichfield, we have recently lost our Barclays branch, but up the road in Burntwood we have a much more difficult situation: every single bank branch has been closed for a number of years. The community has stepped up, as it so often does in Burntwood, and the post office has filled the breach. There is some access to banking services, but that is not the same as a physical branch. As I sit and listen to the debate today, I realise that there is one word that sums up the importance of this matter—regeneration. Burntwood has a high street that is almost ready to go. Some businesses are thriving and the footfall is massive, but there is not the investment to make it kick on and become a town centre of which the whole town can be proud. In Lichfield, where the banks are more present, there is a thriving cafe culture. Although everything is not all sunshine and rainbows in Lichfield and it never will be, we can really see the difference in the two town centres. What we are seeing here is almost an unvirtuous circle, where high streets start to struggle, footfall drops off, banks start to struggle and withdraw, footfall drops further, shops struggle more, and so on. It is a spiral to the bottom.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My constituent Caitlin was coerced into signing a joint lease with her abuser just four days before he was arrested on charges relating to domestic violence. He was convicted, but she is still trapped in the lease for a property that she has never lived in and she is liable for rent that he refuses to pay. The estate agents tell us that they have a legal responsibility to chase rent arrears. Survivors in Caitlin’s position are unable to fully move on from their abuse, even after justice has been done in the courts. Will the Leader of the House help me to arrange a meeting with the Minister for Safeguarding to discuss a legislative solution to this problem and better support for survivors of domestic violence?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Emergency Preparedness · Hansard source

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  We seem to get once-in-a-generation weather events once every couple of years these days. Although some parties on the Opposition Benches do not want to take their responsibilities in that regard seriously, I know that this Government will. On flooding, the village of King’s Bromley in my constituency has suffered on several occasions over the past few years, because all of the roads leading to the village have been cut off—although there has been no property flooding. What steps is the Minister taking to measure and mitigate the impact of that type of serious flooding?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Emergency Preparedness · Hansard source

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  1. What steps he is taking to strengthen emergency preparedness.

• 3 Jun 2025 · Groceries Code Adjudicator · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to take part in this debate with you in the Chair, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) for securing this important debate. He and I discussed the matter in this very room quite recently, and I am proud to be here again to represent the people of Lichfield, Burntwood and, crucially, the farming villages of my constituency. The Groceries Code Adjudicator regulates supermarkets and other businesses to ensure fairness in our food supply, but it does not go far enough down the supply chain—I almost said “food chain,” but I am avoiding the pun. It regulates only a small number of businesses, about a dozen. While it tries to keep prices as low as reasonably possible and aims to ensure that food profits get shared fairly across the supply chain, it simply is not reaching the most important layer of the supply chain—the producers and farmers. In almost all cases, farming is a pretty weird yet fundamental part of the UK economy, as it is the part we need to keep the country fed. Despite its importance, the sector does not always follow the economic patterns we would expect. The general rule of thumb in any free market economy is that those taking greater risks should see a greater return. They should see the value when things work well, as it is on their shoulders when things do not work well in difficult times. However, that is not always how farming works in the UK. Farmers across the country are very much at risk of flooding, disease and drought. A huge number of potatoes are grown in my Lichfield constituency every year, and I know many farmers who were happy to see the heavens open a couple of weeks ago. Farming is a risky business. Factors well beyond a farmer’s control can have a profound impact on the yield from a particular field, on the quality of what is grown, or on a hundred other things that most people will never even think about. Usually that would mean bumper profits when things go well, to reflect the need for rain, sunshine or frost at the right time, but that is not how it is currently working in the UK. Most farms are simply not making enough money. I make it clear that I am not saying that we have had it too good for too long, and I am not arguing for higher food prices—we have just had a cost of living crisis, and I hope it is a very long time until we see another—but there is enough profit in our groceries system to make sure that everyone gets fair prices, a fair day’s pay and a fair day’s return. I am sure everyone in this room believes, as I do, in a free market economy that delivers fairness for everyone, but the free market is failing farming, food producers and our groceries system. It is therefore right that legislators should step in, and it is important for the GCA to take a more active role. It is important to farmers, and especially to dairy farmers on my patch—we need to look much more closely at dairy farming. The dairy farmers I speak to openly say that the very best contract they can reasonably expect for their milk is a “cost of production” contract, which all but guarantees that there can never be any profit in their farming business. Some salaries will be included in the costs, but no line for profit. The result is a perverse situation in which the processors to which the milk is sold—the customers for much of my farmers’ produce—demand to see the farmers’ financials and will then tell them what it costs to produce milk. That is the antithesis of how a free market should work. There can be no situation more perverse than that. This is really important to farmers in my constituency, who deserve a market that works in their interest; it is important to retailers, large and small, that want to do the right thing by their customers; it is important to my constituents who work in farming communities; and it is important to people living in more urban areas of my constituency, as they are also very interested in making sure that people get a fair shot in a fair economy. We need the GCA to stand up and play its role in making sure that we have a fair system for everyone.

• 3 Jun 2025 · Groceries Code Adjudicator · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that point. We do not need the Government to try to run everything. We need a free market, but one that is regulated properly to deliver for producers and consumers—to deliver for everybody.

• 21 May 2025 · Broadband and Mobile Connectivity: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  Is the hon. Member aware of the ways in which the structure of the mobile tower market in the UK is holding back investment in 5G? Some of the regulations introduced by the previous Government are leading to a concentrated market that is not investing quickly enough in more towers and the better signal that we need to reach properties that otherwise would need a satellite connection, particularly in rural constituencies like hers, or mine in Lichfield.

• 6 May 2025 · Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source

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  I will add one more to that list of excellent organisations supporting the programme, and that is the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas. It is really important that we celebrate VE Day and VJ Day in Staffordshire, where Reginald Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire, was born—in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee)—and where RAF Lichfield, the busiest airfield in Staffordshire during the second world war, was sited, just down the road from where we will be celebrating in Alrewas.

• 6 May 2025 · Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source

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  I thank the shadow Minister for giving way—it is unusual for me to make two interventions in the same debate. Reflecting on my family’s experience of the second world war, my taid—my maternal grandfather, who was Welsh—fought in the war, but his war did not end in 1945. He did not come home until 1947, because he was part of the peacekeeping missions in both Italy and Greece. Does the shadow Minister agree that when we look at the situation in Ukraine, it is important that we remember Britain’s role not just in winning the second world war, but in winning the peace, and how important that will be in the future?

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend from the great county of Staffordshire. The Coalfields Regeneration Trust does great work in my constituency, working alongside some charities in Chasetown to employ a counsellor to support people back into work. Does he agree that much of the work that we need to do on regeneration is not about buildings, but about the people who work in those buildings? It is about respecting the contributions that those communities have made and making sure that they have the support they need to be able to contribute in the future.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

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

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  Nether Stowe school in my constituency—my old school—has just completed a consultation on closing its sixth-form provision. This has caused a huge amount of stress for kids who are prepping for their GCSEs. They do not know where they will be able to do their A-levels. The other school sixth forms in Lichfield at Friary and King Edward are already heavily oversubscribed, so there is a risk that we will lack academic places for people to do A-levels when they reach 16. A month ago, I asked Conservative-controlled Staffordshire county council to share its planning for how many sixth-form and academic places we need in Lichfield. It has completely failed to provide that information. I need to know that there is a plan, so that everybody who reaches the age of 16 can take courses that are appropriate for them. Will the Leader of the House arrange for me to meet the relevant Minister urgently to discuss post-16 provision in Lichfield?

• 3 Apr 2025 · Access to Sport: PE in Schools · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham)—my right good friend—for securing the debate. It has been great to hear so many hon. Members talking about the importance of sport in our schools. I had a slightly different experience from some of my colleagues with PE in school, because I loved it; I was right up for it. I had the pleasure of playing for my school’s cricket team—once. I had the pleasure of playing for my school’s football team—once. I was a little bit better at basketball, so I got to play that twice. It turns out that there is a limit on how far enthusiasm will get you. Rugby union was my sport in school, and at the risk of the northerners’ ire, I will say that rugby union is the correct code. [Hon. Members: “Oh!”] That has not gone down well. We only ever had three fixtures when I was at school, but I absolutely loved it. I also loved going to PE lessons. My background is really academic, but I used to love that break in the school day when we got to go out and do something slightly different. It is important to recognise that. Following that, I went off to university, became a teacher and taught for almost 10 years. I hope to carry that background with me during my time in this place. We have heard a lot about the health benefits of physical activity, and I absolutely agree with those points. But I have also seen some of the transferable skills that kids I taught picked up from their PE lessons and how that can contribute to a well-rounded education. I taught physics, astronomy and a little bit of maths, mostly at key stages 4 and 5—for older secondary pupils—so my background is in an academic part of the school, but I support the debate, because, on top of all that, I ran a Friday night sports club at my school where kids could come along and play ultimate frisbee: the game I found at university where the ceiling on where enthusiasm gets you is slightly higher. In schools, too often there is a temptation to play subjects off: some are academic and some are not; some are more important and some are not. Those are binaries that I do not recognise—not personally, not from my experience and not from my experience in the classroom. As much as I support great science provision and great maths teaching, subjects such as music, art, drama and particularly PE are hugely important to every single individual in a school—not just to the kids who will go off to university or the kids who have a more vocational route, but to every single kid, because of the soft skills they pick up, such as teamwork, resilience and just being able to react to anything outside their control. Anybody who has ever tried to chase an egg around a rugby field will know: it is bouncing, you have no idea where you are going and you have to think on your feet, often while being chased by 18 stone of very rare meat. Sport pushes you out of your comfort zone to use skills that we all rely on day in, day out. In fact, I know that the skills I use in my role here come much more from some of the sport I have experienced and some of the soft skills I have developed than my university education, which I paid a lot more for. Sport in school is also an amazing way to build a community. I see that in my constituency. A couple of weeks ago, I was at the rugby watching Lichfield play Tamworth and it was really great to see some of the old boys and the gentle rivalry between the guys who went to Friary 20, 30 or 40 years ago and the guys who went to King Ed’s 30 or 40 years ago, while I was sitting in the corner from Nether Stowe. The community that they have built around there is a community of rugby players, but within that there is a gentle rivalry and it comes from that school experience. It is hard to replicate—although we also see it up the road in Chasetown football club, which is called the Scholars because it was set up by pupils from Chase Terrace high school. There are examples in everybody’s constituencies. It is really important that we keep school and PE at the heart of schools, keep PE in the classroom and keep the classroom on the field sometimes.

• 2 Apr 2025 · School-based Nursery Capital Grants · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, because this is an investment in early years, which is an investment in the future of our communities. In my constituency, there is an investment of hundreds of thousands of pounds at Springhill primary academy in Burntwood, Boney Hay primary academy in Burntwood and St Stephen’s primary in Fradley. These schools do amazing work in supporting the next generation, and this money will be used to renovate facilities, give children a better environment in which to start their learning, expand the number of places and help provide the 30 hours of free childcare that working parents so desperately need. Can I put on record my thanks to these schools, and can I ask if the Secretary of State will join me in visiting schools and celebrating the work they do?

• 2 Apr 2025 · Non-disclosure Agreements · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to take part in a debate with you in the Chair, Mr Betts. I extend my thanks to my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Heeley (Louise Haigh) for securing this debate on such an important issue, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Mrs Russell), who spoke so clearly about the subject. We cannot talk about the use and abhorrent misuse of non-disclosure agreements without mentioning the crimes of Mohammed al-Fayed. He was a predator who sexually assaulted and harassed hundreds of female employees over decades. I put on the record my thanks to my constituent Keaton Stone, who has been working with a network of Fayed survivors and has become a tireless campaigner for their stories to be heard. He played a part in the making of a BBC documentary exposé last year, which quite frankly horrified the nation with the scale of what had been going on. He has done a lot to make sure we know just how big the scandal was. I note that a new documentary shining a light on one of the many people who enabled al-Fayed will air on Channel 4, possibly this week. I say that al-Fayed preyed on hundreds of women, but we do not actually know the true figure. We know that 400 women have come forward, but we do not know how many more have been unable to speak out for years—for decades. That is in large part because of al-Fayed’s intimidation tactics, including the coercive use of non-disclosure agreements. Keaton tells me that he still speaks to women who fear going public because of an NDA. Through non-disclosure agreements, our legal system enabled Mohammed al-Fayed. Lawyers signed those documents week after week, month after month, year after year, and allowed that man to prey on hundreds of women. They were not required by any system to raise the alarm; indeed, they were unable to raise the alarm because of client privilege and confidentiality. That is utterly and unspeakably wrong. Our legal system must begin to protect victims and survivors so that non-disclosure agreements cannot be used to ruin lives in that way again. As my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton said, non-disclosure agreements are often attached to settlement agreements. In my many years working for a trade union, I negotiated a number of settlement agreements, and they invariably included the statement that she mentioned: “You cannot mention this.” I worked with teachers, and it is unusual for them to be able to share some kind of secret that will put their school out of business, but the settlement agreements are boilerplate and it is standard practice for that statement to go in them. Settlement agreements are an important piece of our employment law framework, but we must not have this situation where non-disclosure agreements are attached to them by default, preventing things from being aired. That is particularly true in the case of some of the things we have heard about today, such as sexual harassment—although I agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Heeley that it is about not just sexual harassment, but discrimination and other things. I was going to touch on the Victims and Prisoners Act, but my right hon. Friend mentioned that, so I will conclude by asking the Minister: when can we expect to go further and faster on this? We must have a legal system that protects low-paid workers, in particular, as well as women and those who are at risk of abuse.

• 1 Apr 2025 · Trail Hunting · Hansard source

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  Meur ras th’am keren—that is my very best Cornish, and I will not try to repeat it unless I have time to practise. I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate. To go back to his point about the difference between drag hunting and trail hunting, a lot of the negative things that he describes would not come from drag hunts, which have predetermined routes and use a different type of scent. For the avoidance of doubt for anybody listening at home, particularly those in the hunting community who may be concerned, might we just reconfirm that this is about trail hunting, not drag hunting?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Royal British Legion · Hansard source

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  It is always sunny in Staffordshire!