David Chadwick MP: speeches

Speeches

• 19 Nov 2025 · Myalgic Encephalomyelitis · Hansard source

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  We have heard just how little money is being spent on research, comparatively speaking. As has already been mentioned, the DecodeME study is identifying genetic signals linked to immune and neurological pathways, offering real clues to the biological mechanisms of this disease. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government must finally adopt a strategic and properly funded research programme?

• 17 Nov 2025 · Parkinson’s Disease · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to everyone in Wales and across the United Kingdom who has campaigned so hard for people living with Parkinson’s. In Wales, we expect the number of people living with Parkinson’s to rise to more than 9,000 by 2030. Yet too many people trying to access the most basic elements of care, from diagnosis to rehabilitation, still face a postcode lottery. Welsh health boards do not have reliable plans to replace specialist staff when they leave, which means long gaps in access to expert care. Given the ongoing shortages in neurology, people can wait far too long to see anyone with the right expertise. For a degenerative condition that demands regular and specialist review, that is simply unacceptable. Wales saw some of the worst disruption to rehabilitation services during the pandemic, and many of those pressures have not fully eased. People with Parkinson’s still report difficulties accessing physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. When rehabilitation breaks down, people deteriorate physically, mentally and socially, and carers are left to carry an enormous burden—many are older spouses whose health is already fragile, and they deserve a system that recognises and supports them. We must also fix the basics. In Wales, 73% of people with Parkinson’s in hospital say that they do not receive their medication on time. A delay of just 30 minutes can make the difference between going home or staying another week on a ward. That should not be happening.

• 12 Nov 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Lloyds bank has more than 31,000 customers in my constituency, yet many of them, particularly the elderly and the vulnerable, are struggling to get out their own cash. That is because Lloyds has closed its branches in Brecon, Presteigne, Ystradgynlais, and before the end of this month in Pontardawe, despite making billions in profits and paying its CEO £5 million. Will the Prime Minister write to Lloyds bank and ask it to keep that last branch in Pontardawe open?

• 5 Nov 2025 · Fresh and Nutritious Food: Inequality of Access · Hansard source

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  Apples and pears provide essential nutrients, such as vitamin C and folate, and they count as one of our five a day, as recognised by the NHS Eatwell guide. Does the Minister agree that any attempt to include fruit juice in the HFSS category risks sending the wrong messages to families at a time when fruit and vegetable consumption is already falling, especially among children and those on lower incomes, as she mentioned?

• 5 Nov 2025 · Fresh and Nutritious Food: Inequality of Access · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Cross-border Healthcare · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a valid point, and I am sure her constituents will be pleased to hear her make it. The 2018 cross-border statement of values and principles promised that no patient would face delay or disadvantage because of which side of the border they live on, but my constituents know that those principles are not being applied in practice. The clearest recent example of what has gone wrong is the new waiting list policy introduced by Powys teaching health board this summer. From 1 July, the board instructed English hospitals treating Powys residents to deliberately and artificially extend their waiting times, bringing them into line with the longer averages elsewhere in Wales. Until now, Powys patients had been treated in hospitals, such as Hereford and Shrewsbury, in exactly the same way as English patients, but from this summer they have been asked to wait up to twice as long. We are told that hospitals in Herefordshire and Shropshire are treating Welsh patients “too quickly” and that Powys’s budget does not allow for the current number of people being treated each year, so patients have to be spread out over more years. How appalling it is to say that a patient can be treated “too quickly”. Swift treatment should be an objective, not a problem. Worse still, this supposed cost-cutting exercise may not save a penny, because both the Wye Valley NHS trust and the Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust believe that it could cost Powys more, because they will have to bill Powys teaching health board for the administrative cost of running two parallel waiting list systems. That is before we consider the hidden costs: the human and financial price of patients deteriorating while they wait longer, needing emergency admissions, extended rehabilitation and, in some cases, never recovering the quality of life they once had. My constituents are not just numbers on a spreadsheet; their lives are on hold. Those months are months of agony, of lost work, of isolation, and of watching opportunities and life slip away while waiting for operations that should already have happened. Agnes is a patient from Llandrindod with Parkinson’s disease. She has been told that she must wait another 52 weeks for a knee replacement after already waiting a full year. That means a total of two years waiting for surgery. The delay has made it increasingly difficult for her to stay active, even though regular exercise is vital to managing Parkinson’s symptoms. The prolonged wait is worsening her mobility and pain, and it is undermining her ability to live independently. Hazel, from Builth Wells, is awaiting spinal surgery in Hereford. Her expected waiting time has doubled to 104 weeks. She has been unable to work during this period due to numbness in her legs and feet, and she now fears losing her job. Once financially independent, she now relies on family support—an experience she describes as “degrading and unfair”—through no fault of her own. Kelly was diagnosed with serious spinal disc problems in September 2024. She was given a surgery date for December, then March, but both were cancelled. Even though her pre-operative assessment had been completed, she later discovered—on her own—that her operation had been postponed by at least another year under the new policy. This is despite her being classed as an urgent P3 case and being told that existing bookings would not be affected. The delay has left Kelly in constant pain, which has taken a serious toll on her mental health and has contributed to her losing her job. Those stories are not isolated; they speak for hundreds of others who are being quietly told to wait, not because of capacity or clinical need but because of budgetary decisions. Behind every statistic is a person whose life is being diminished while they wait for care that should already have been delivered. What makes this even worse is that patients are sometimes not being told that their treatment has been delayed. Many have found out only through news reports or by doing their own investigations. Labour Governments at both ends of the M4 talk about driving down waiting lists and getting people back into work, yet this policy, which Ministers could stop tomorrow, does the exact opposite. The health board and senior Welsh Labour politicians call it “fairness” that Powys residents should wait no less than anyone else in Wales. However, fairness and ambition should mean lifting standards everywhere, not dragging Powys down to the lowest common denominator. It is not equality; it is equal punishment for the Welsh Government’s failure to fix the NHS after 25 years in power. The response from Ministers thus far, particularly in Cardiff Bay, has been nothing short of disgraceful. The Health Minister, Jeremy Miles, could not appear more uninterested if he tried—no action, no intervention and no urgency from the one man who has the power to stop the policy and to get people out of pain and back to their lives. Several constituents have told me that they have written personally to him and have received no response at all. That is despite the fact that it is his Government who are forcing Powys teaching health board to make significant cuts to its budget. As for the First Minister—who, I remind the House, represents Powys in the Senedd, as well as being a Member of the House of Lords—she brushed off my constituents’ concerns, saying that she thinks it is just “smoke and mirrors”. I invite her to say that directly to Kelly, Agnes and Hazel, because months or even years of their lives have been stolen and spent living in pain. The decision institutionalises inequality between Wales and England. If the waiting list policy exposes a failure of funding, the digital infrastructure of cross-border healthcare exposes a long-term failure of systems. Despite 25 years of devolution, we still have national health services across our four nations that cannot share data efficiently. Both NHS England and NHS Wales still operate separate digital systems that do not talk to each other. When a Powys GP refers a patient to Hereford or Shrewsbury, information often travels by post, fax or unsecured email. Discharge summaries arrive late or not at all. Test results are duplicated because clinicians cannot see each other’s records, wasting time and often causing distress for patients. Even in emergencies, A&E doctors in England cannot automatically view a Welsh GP’s records, and vice versa. To paint the picture more vividly, one Powys resident told me that he was admitted to Shrewsbury hospital with a serious heart condition, yet staff could not access his medical records. Because it was a Sunday, they could not even reach his GP by phone. That should not be happening in 2025. It puts lives at risk across our border regions. The lack of interoperability affects anyone moving between the four nations of the United Kingdom, as their health records tend not to move with them. The Welsh Affairs Committee has been calling for change since 2015, yet a decade later, nothing has happened. The Welsh Government alone do not have the funding to overhaul their systems, which is why we have called on Westminster to step in, as obviously this is a consequence of devolution. For a fraction of the cost of other Government digital projects, modernising NHS IT across the UK would directly improve patient safety, continuity of care and confidence in the system. Every week that remains unresolved, more patients are put at risk, which is a failure of politics, not just technology.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Cross-border Healthcare · Hansard source

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  First, NHS waiting lists in Wales are not falling; Wales has the highest waiting list in the United Kingdom. Nearly a third of our population are stuck on waiting lists. I wanted to intervene to make the Minister aware that I agree that extra funding is required to tackle the waiting list that we face in Wales. But when extra funding was announced for the Welsh NHS in June by the Welsh Government, it later transpired that none of that money could be spent on this issue because none of it could be spent on English commissioned services, which meant that the problem we are here today to discuss could not be solved. That is why it is so important to bake in a sort of border by design when designing national healthcare systems, because, as we have heard today from so many Members, it is often very typical and much easier for our constituents to cross borders to access their nearest hospital or their nearest GP practice; and it is important for our Union to facilitate that practice by making it easier and faster. The hon. Member for Shrewsbury (Julia Buckley) talked of the progress being made in her constituency to bring down waiting times. Clearly, that is good news and shows what can be done—I know that my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) has campaigned very hard for that. That is why it is so frustrating for my residents and constituents in Powys to know that access to faster healthcare is available just on the other side of the border, but their own Government and health board are preventing them accessing that treatment. Today we are calling on that to end. What this debate has shown is that for too long, Powys residents have lived with a system that treats them as an afterthought. The waiting list policy introduced this summer has made that painfully clear. People are waiting longer not because of medical need or capacity, but because the funding simply is not there to pay for it. We have heard today that the problems run deeper than just funding alone. They are about systems that cannot talk to one another, Governments that will not work together, and patients who are left to navigate the gaps. These are man-made problems, and they can be solved if there is political will. My message to Ministers in both Cardiff Bay and Westminster is simple: sit down together, bring in those of us who represent border areas, and fix this. Every week that passes without action means more people living in pain, more lives on hold and more families watching their loved ones deteriorate while they wait. This debate is about more than party politics; it is about people who simply want to be treated with the same respect and urgency as everyone else. We owe it to them to get this right. Diolch yn fawr. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered cross-border healthcare.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Cross-border Healthcare · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered cross-border healthcare. It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. Last year, hopes were raised that two Labour Governments working together would put an end to conflict between Cardiff Bay and Westminster, yet few issues trouble my constituents more than the daily reality of cross-border healthcare between England and Wales. Powys is a beautiful county, but it is also the largest in Wales, with no district general hospital of its own. Nearly 40% of the health board’s budget is spent commissioning services across the border in Herefordshire and Shropshire, because that is where the nearest hospitals are. When co-ordination between the Welsh and UK Government fails, it is Powys patients who feel it first and hardest.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Cross-border Healthcare · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Cross-border Healthcare · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to say that these system failures are putting extra responsibility, extra stress and often extra cost on individuals, which is why the system needs to be improved. Beyond the funding and IT problems, our systemic weaknesses make cross-border care even harder. Many Powys residents are registered with GPs in England simply because of geography—they might be closer—while others just across the border stay with Welsh practices. GPs who want to work in both nations must register twice, fill out the same forms twice and follow two sets of rules, which wastes time and discourages flexibility. A constituent of mine in mid-Wales with a rare artery condition needed ongoing treatment from Hereford hospital. Because the two NHS systems do not share results, they had to collect their own blood tests and email them to their consultant each month. Prescriptions issued in England were not approved in Wales, causing months of delay. That is the daily reality of an unco-ordinated system. At the governance level, the 2018 cross-border statement of values and principles remains voluntary and unenforceable. Each Welsh health board negotiates its own arrangements with English trusts. There is no single tariff, no unified billing system and no consistent data reporting. Audit Wales has warned for years that this patchwork leaves patients in limbo, between two systems that both claim to care for them, but neither fully owns responsibility when things go wrong. Those problems did not appear by accident. Powys residents do not mind which NHS logo is printed on their appointment letter; they care that their care arrives on time, that their doctors can speak to one another, and that they are treated fairly. The border should not be a barrier to treatment, data or fairness. I say to the Minister that although several of these issues fall within devolved areas, they are of direct concern to the UK Government because they are also directly influenced by NHS England and by decisions taken here in Westminster. My asks are simple. First, convene a meeting with counterparts in the devolved nations to finally address these cross-border challenges, and invite border MPs to that discussion. Those of us who represent border communities see these failures at first hand and know where the solutions are needed. Secondly, provide the funding required to make NHS IT systems interoperable across the United Kingdom, so that clinicians can share patient information safely and instantly wherever care is delivered. Thirdly, work with devolved Governments to give the cross-border statement of values and principles legal force, turning it from a voluntary pledge into a real, accountable framework that protects people in border communities like Powys. We owe it to the people of Powys, and to every border community, to end this quiet injustice and to build a system that treats them not as second-class citizens but as equals who are entitled to the same care, dignity and chance to live free from pain. Labour Governments at both ends of the M4 talk about driving down waiting lists and getting people back into work. However, this policy, which Ministers could stop tomorrow, does the exact opposite. I look forward to the Minister’s response and the contributions from other Members.

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

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  Will the Minister give way?

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

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  I commend the Minister for paying tribute to William Powell, who has campaigned for justice for 35 years for his son, Robbie Powell, who died as a result of medical negligence. William Powell has done so much to secure this legal duty of candour, so it is right that he is acknowledged here in this debate, but he is still waiting for a public inquiry into his son’s death. Can the Minister say whether she believes that this case, which has been described as the worst cover-up in NHS history, meets the conditions for a public inquiry—something that has been called for by the former Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman?

• 29 Oct 2025 · Energy Infrastructure: Pylons · Hansard source

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  During the second world war, over 200 people were forced to leave their homes and give up their land in the Epynt when more than half of the community was taken for use by the Ministry of Defence. The people of the Epynt understood why that sacrifice had to be made, but now, Bute Energy and its wealthy investment backers want to take the rest of the Epynt. Does the Secretary of State agree that the Epynt has already sacrificed enough, and will she work with me to defend the Welsh countryside from once again having its wealth extracted from it, with no benefit to local communities?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  I am glad that my hon. Friend is calling out the consequence of Thatcherite policies. Does he agree that no country has suffered more from Thatcherite policies than Wales?

• 22 Oct 2025 · Coal Tip Safety and New Extraction Licences · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for Caerfyrddin (Ann Davies) for securing this important debate. Our constituencies meet around a former coalmine, so it is fitting that we are working on this issue together. The legacy of the coal industry is still all around us in Wales. Coal built our modern nation, but it also left deep marks on our land and our communities. Yesterday marked 59 years since the Aberfan disaster, when 144 lives were lost, including those of 116 children. Aberfan reminds us of what happens when safety is overlooked. We owe it to Aberfan and to every mining community to ensure that such a tragedy is never repeated. Yet almost 60 years on, the dangerous legacy of coal still hangs over Wales. There are more than 2,000 disused coal tips across Wales, and several of the highest-risk sites are in my constituency. They stand as a stark reminder that the danger has not disappeared; it has simply been neglected. What that means for local residents is that each spell of heavy rain brings renewed fear. Recent landslips in Cwmtillery show that this risk is real, and it is growing as wetter weather destabilises former pits. No community should have to live in fear every time it rains. That is why the UK Government must commit the £600 million needed to make our former coal tips safe. This is a problem that predates devolution, and the cost should not fall on the Welsh Government alone. These communities in Wales powered Britain’s wealth, and the responsibility for their safety must be shared by Britain as a whole. The legacy of coal is written across the open scars on our hills. Across south Wales, open-cast sites have been left in limbo after operators walked away, leaving vast holes in the landscape and leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill. In my constituency, the East Pit mine between Tairgwaith and Cwmllynfell is a clear example. It was never restored because no proper restoration bond was put in place, and it is now a deep chasm filled with millions of tonnes of water—a monument to failure and neglect. That must change. We need stronger legislation so that open-cast mines are properly regulated and fully restored, with enforceable bonds to ensure that no company can ever again abandon a community. Despite such injustices, what matters now is investment and delivery. We must look forward. Communities across south Wales deserve real progress and not more broken promises. The proposals from Reform UK to issue new coal licences are not a credible plan for our future in south Wales; they are a retreat into the past. To suggest that the answer for the valleys lies in reopening mines is not only wrong; it is deeply patronising. I come from a Welsh mining family and I am very proud of my roots in Maesteg, but I certainly do not want to undertake the same work that my great-grandfathers had to do, because I remember how they ended up. Our young people do not want to be sent back down the pits. They want secure, well-paid jobs in clean energy and modern industries. The communities of the valleys are resilient, proud and determined, but that resilience should not be taken for granted. Promises of investment, which too often have been made and too often broken, must finally be delivered for south Wales. The people of the south Wales valleys have given more than enough, and we are still waiting for our new south Wales to emerge. We deserve safety, fairness and a future built on renewal, not nostalgia. Let us honour our past by investing in the future.

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

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  In Wales, companies such as Bute Energy and Green GEN Cymru, which are both owned by Windward Energy Ltd, are prompting local concerns that the rules separating electricity generation and distribution are being undermined by corporate restructuring tricks. Is the Minister confident that Ofgem’s rules will deliver operational independence?

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

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  Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Mandatory Digital ID · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. At a time when public trust in politics is low and confidence in Government competence is falling, I cannot think of a worse idea than a mandatory and highly expensive digital ID scheme, which inevitably will have to be delivered by private sector consultants. Of course, citizens should benefit from digital innovation, but between them the UK Government and the Welsh Government still struggle to transfer patient data from Hereford to Brecon. That is what my constituents want—they want their hospital records to be able to come back from Hereford. With that low level of capability, why would anyone believe that this Government can securely and effectively deliver a national ID system?

• 9 Sept 2025 · Jaguar Land Rover Cyber-attack · Hansard source

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  Fundamentally, this is a question about resilience across British industry. These attacks are costing British industries millions of pounds a day. What are the Government doing to facilitate knowledge-sharing within industry to boost resilience and guard against operational technology attacks? I know from personal experience that people in the cyber industries like to share information together, but require a forum to do so.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief: Impact on Farming · Hansard source

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  4. If she will meet farming representatives to discuss the potential impact of changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief on farmers.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief: Impact on Farming · Hansard source

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  Last weekend I attended the Sennybridge show, where I met young farmers from Brecknockshire who were recruiting new members and fundraising for good causes. There is one question to which they would like to hear an answer from the Chancellor: why are the Government targeting family farms for tax rises rather than going after the big banks, which are closing branches right across my constituency? Why should young farmers have to pay for the mess left behind by the Conservatives?

• 8 Sept 2025 · Veterans: Support · Hansard source

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  For more than two centuries, Gurkha veterans have served our country with extraordinary loyalty and bravery. Many of them and their families have strong ties to my constituency in Brecon. Yet to the shock of many, thousands who retired before 1997, despite fighting shoulder to shoulder with their British comrades, often suffering injuries and wounds in the process, remain on inferior pensions, leaving too many in poverty. Does the Minister agree that that injustice cannot be allowed to stand? Will he commit to ensuring that all Gurkha veterans receive fair and equal pensions in recognition of their service?

• 8 Sept 2025 · Veterans: Support · Hansard source

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  2. What steps he is taking to ensure that veterans receive adequate support after leaving the armed forces.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Early Education and Childcare · Hansard source

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  I wish to declare that I have two young children under the age of four. While the expansion of free childcare is welcome news for parents in England, does the Minister recognise that families in Wales are being left at a serious disadvantage because his colleagues in Cardiff Bay have refused to match that offer, leaving Welsh families with the least generous childcare provision in Britain? Will he join me in urging the Welsh Labour Government to stop holding Welsh families back, and to commit instead to delivering 30 hours of Government-funded childcare from nine months to four years old, which is something the Welsh Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for?

• 16 Jul 2025 · Spending Review 2025 · Hansard source

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  The UK Government say that Wales is getting record-breaking funding to tackle NHS waiting lists, but for my constituent Melanie Walker, the reality is the opposite. After waiting 59 weeks for a hip operation, she has now been told she must wait another 45, because Powys Teaching Health Board is artificially extending waiting times for patients treated in Shropshire and Herefordshire to match lower Welsh averages—a cost-cutting move driven by the Welsh Government. Does the Secretary of State think that is fair to Melanie or consistent with her Government’s pledge to reduce waiting times?