Elsie Blundell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 15 Sept 2026 · Tourism: Overnight Visitor Levy · Hansard source

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  As the proud Member of Parliament for Heywood and Middleton North in Greater Manchester, I, too, want to see the prosperity of the centre flow out into towns like mine, which are just as deserving of economic development and cultural regeneration. Does the Minister agree that extending further revenue-raising powers to our mayors will accelerate the regeneration that we need to see in our constituencies, just as much as in the city centre?

• 3 Sept 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Functional neurological disorder, or FND, can be debilitating for those affected; symptoms include limb weakness, tremors and chronic pain. Owing to historical commissioning arrangements in my constituency, physiotherapy for FND is not available easily for my constituents. Will the Leader of the House speak to how the Department of Health and Social Care seeks to improve access for FND patients, and bring an end to what has become a postcode lottery for people with such conditions?

• 1 Sept 2026 · Direction of Government · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for his statement and welcome him to his place. The Prime Minister knows the Hoolickin family from Middleton, who tragically lost their beloved Michael as a result of the callous actions of a violent reoffender who should have been recalled to custody far sooner, if only the local probation service had been more rigorous in its monitoring. Will the Prime Minister commit to looking seriously at the Probation Service’s accountability and how it operates, so that serious further offenders are given no opportunity to cause further harm to constituents like mine?

• 15 Jul 2026 · Waste Management Sites · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood (Lorraine Beavers) for securing the debate. As parliamentarians, each of us recognises the necessity of waste facilities and the function that they perform, but local communities should not have to tolerate the conditions that residents of mine in Heywood have been forced to put up with in recent years. Due to the prevailing wind direction in my part of the world, my constituents continue to endure appalling odours emitted from the Valencia Waste Management site on Pilsworth Road. The landfill there opened over 50 years ago. As it has gradually filled, it has become increasingly unbearable for local residents, which has led to the creation of the Heywood Against Landfill group. I take this opportunity to commend them for their enduring activism. The site also hosts a recycling centre, which I understand is also contributing significantly to the current issues. Heywood Against Landfill has made it clear to Valencia, as have I, that the operation of the site has driven so many nearby to the point of utter dismay, with stark implications for their quality of life. Windows had to remain shut, people could not put washing out to dry, and many even began to question the elevated number of respiratory illnesses in the town. Heywood Against Landfill rightly urged members of the public to raise their concerns with the Environment Agency and lobbied for action to be taken. We eventually ensured that the site was closed while remedial action was taken. That lasted about 18 months, demonstrating the scale of what local people had been forced to deal with. In my view, it would be legitimate to say—as we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood—that working-class communities such as mine are disproportionately bearing the brunt of these impacts. Despite the supposed remedial action that has been taken and the supposed monitoring of the site by the Environment Agency, this is something that my constituents are having to contend with yet again—truly, it is groundhog day for people in Heywood. Following the site’s reopening, the odour from it continued to affect the wellbeing of local people. The tireless campaign group met with Valencia on 1 June, but the company continues to say that no breaches are taking place.

• 15 Jul 2026 · Waste Management Sites · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree, and I would like to see more of that, not least in my constituency. The Environment Agency countenanced the site’s reopening, and it was adamant that it had the means to monitor the air quality and odour levels, yet less than a year down the line, we are back where we started, and my constituents, like many represented here today, are suffering the consequences of the agency’s inability to address the core problems. That is because we do not have the means to handle nuisance concerns around recycling in the same way that we do for landfill. In such situations, lived experience matters. The executives of Valencia would not live anywhere near one of these sites themselves, but our constituents are expected to suck it up and put up with entirely unacceptable conditions. Heywood Against Landfill has now designed an online odour complaint reporting log, which sends each instance directly to the Environment Agency. That is great, but the group would rather not spend its valuable time doing that. The group’s efforts will highlight once again the scale of the issue in Heywood, but it remains clear that there needs to be enforcement action to match the level of ongoing outrage. I understand that the waste strategy is due for review in this Parliament. From speaking with local residents, it is clear that they are desperate for the strategy to give greater consideration to the impact of poorly managed sites that also take recycling. They want legislation to safeguard local people. In many cases, there seems to be no way of scrutinising the operations of these sites, as other hon. Members have said, with much of the so-called enforcement action being toothless and ineffective. What consideration has been given to delivering a bold and transformative waste strategy that protects people in Heywood from living in such conditions—specifically one that factors in poorly performing sites that handle recycling waste? What assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Environment Agency? I appreciate the point made about successive Conservative Governments cutting its funding and staff, but what consideration has been given to strengthening penalties for the executives of waste operators that pay no mind to the communities in which they function? What consideration has been given to making community engagement mandatory for operators such as Valencia, and the implementation of robust standards in this respect? The people of Heywood should not have to put up with this any longer, and they should not have had to put up with it in the first place. My hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood is right: working-class communities shoulder the burden of regulators lacking the will or the means to engage with the lived experience of those affected by this sort of behaviour by operators. I hope that the Minister can offer some clarity on these points, and will make it clear to residents in Heywood that they are not without a voice, that the Government are listening, and that living in these conditions should not be a collateral consequence that those in power seem all too willing to accept.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Maternity Services: North-west · Hansard source

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  The publication of Baroness Amos’s report on the state of maternity care in England was a sobering moment for many across the country, especially those who still live with the trauma related to failings in maternity and neonatal care. There were so many instances in which women were not listened to, heard or believed. Given those appalling findings, what steps will the Government now take to ensure that the voices of women are heard—including the voices of those in the north-west who have been historically overlooked—and how will that look in practice?

• 14 Jul 2026 · Maternity Services: North-west · Hansard source

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  2. What steps he is taking to improve maternity services in the north-west.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Israeli Settlements: Trade Ban · Hansard source

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  Many people across the country will be watching the debate with real interest. I welcome the thoughtful contributions of colleagues across the House, including my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed), who I thank for securing the debate. From the outset, I express my solidarity with both Palestinians and Israelis who want to secure a lasting peace that will ensure that generations to come do not grow up under the shadow of war. There is one angle that I would like to examine more closely in my remarks: the critical impact on the lives and livelihoods of women and children among these illegal settlements. Their rapid expansion has helped to push the Palestinian economy into its worst decline since records began. That means that many women within the west bank are forced to seek employment in these settlements, where the work is exploitative and dangerous. Ninety-three per cent of workers report hazardous conditions, and 94% are without a written contract between them and their employers. The propensity for sexual and gender-based violence is spiralling and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) said, 70% of displaced Palestinian families identify the risk of sexual violence as a key factor in leaving their home. Such appalling treatment is designed to humiliate and punish Palestinian communities, and it is being conducted with impunity. To compound that, the expansion of checkpoints and roadblocks is precluding women and girls, as well as men and boys, from accessing health care, education, legitimate employment and connection to their communities. Nearly 350 children from the west bank are held in military detention for alleged security-related offences. That is children being held in military detention—we cannot countenance that. More broadly, the daily exposure to settlers and settler violence has changed Palestinian children. Save the Children reports that years of warfare, violence, arbitrary attacks and curtailed freedoms have led to hyper-vigilance, anxiety and trauma among children across the west bank, born from a pure desire to survive. One cannot qualify the suffering of the Palestinian people. What they have endured is beyond our comprehension. Contemplating what children in Gaza and the west bank have gone through fills me, a relatively new mother, with sheer horror. I would appreciate clarity on whether a complete ban on trade and investment in illegal settlements will be implemented. There has obviously been considerable delay in moving forward in this area, and strongly advising against trade is clearly not enough. Advising against trade with the settlements and an outright ban are two different things entirely. What conversations have taken place between the Minister and his Israeli counterparts pertaining to the treatment of civilians—especially women and children—in the west bank? What was the outcome of those conversations? We cannot control Israel, but we can control our own standards of trade and commerce, especially on the enduring issue of illegal settlement. The diplomatic tide is with us, and the will of the House is clear. I urge the Minister to reflect on that and fortify his words with action.

• 6 Jul 2026 · Rochdale Grooming Gang: Offender Deportation · Hansard source

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  The past week has been profoundly difficult for constituents in the communities I represent—communities that still bear the scars that Shabir Ahmed inflicted from takeaways in Heywood. Over the past week, I have spoken with the family members of one of his victims; they are understandably fearful and deeply let down by his release. For my constituents, any right that he had to walk our streets was forfeited when he committed those vile crimes. What reassurances can the Minister give to my constituents that nothing is off the table when it comes to the consequences faced by Shabir Ahmed and those who abuse children?