Emma Reynolds MP: speeches

Speeches

• 8 Sept 2026 · Public Sector Productivity · Hansard source

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  We in the Treasury Front-Bench team are wondering when the third book in the trilogy will come along and what it might be called. We have a guess for the title of the next book. I thank him for his advice in his books and in his recent Financial Times article. On train drivers and their pay, I am proud to be part of a Government who have avoided strikes that impact on public spending.

• 7 Sept 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  As the Chancellor set out this morning, we are determined to speed up infrastructure provision. Frankly, compared to other countries, we are just too slow at building high-speed rail and other types of rail. We are determined to press ahead and ensure that we speed up infrastructure provision, so that we can develop other areas. I also have an interest in the Cambridge-Oxford growth corridor, because my constituency is not very far away.

• 7 Sept 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  With permission, I will make a statement on the Government’s plan to deliver good growth in every postcode. At the G20 in North Carolina last week, the Chancellor and I met Finance Ministers from leading economies to discuss our shared economic challenges. Global instability, conflict and trade frictions are continuing to drive up inflation and interest rates around the world. While these shocks are international in nature, their impact is also being felt here in the UK—from the cost of the weekly family shop to the cost of Government borrowing. Britain has shown resilience in the face of these pressures and the economy is now turning a corner: our growth was the fastest in the G7 in the first half of this year, Government borrowing fell to its lowest level in six years last year and interest rates have been cut six times since the general election. We are building on our strengths—our world-class universities and our world-leading sectors, such as life sciences, defence, technology, creative industries and financial services—and, because of the choices that this Labour Government have already taken, we are in a stronger position today to capitalise on the opportunities for growth across our economy. In the context of a more uncertain world, we must continue to make responsible choices. Fiscal discipline will underwrite every promise this Government make. Both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have made clear their commitment to meeting the fiscal rules, with a buffer against uncertainty. We will address the long-term pressures on our public finances to put debt on a sustainable downward path. As the Chancellor said earlier today, there is nothing progressive about spending £1 in every £10 on debt interest. In his statement to this House last week, the Prime Minister laid out a clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong in our economy: political power was centralised, the economic fundamentals were privatised or outsourced, and our country was de-industrialised. The solution is a fundamental shift in the way our country works. No. 10 North and the Treasury are working together to build a stronger, more strategic centre of government and a more active state. Together, we will support the ambitions of local leaders and exert public influence and direction over the essentials, including transport and housing. We will devolve power and resources to local leaders. London is of course an economic powerhouse, but if our city regions could emulate the success of second cities in France and Germany, growth in our country could be transformed. The Chancellor has instructed public investment institutions to focus on regional growth. To build on our high growth areas, the Oxford-Cambridge corridor and the northern growth corridor, he has today announced a new £150 million northern scale-up fund, delivered by the British Business Bank, to back the most innovative and fast-growing firms from Liverpool to Newcastle. The new Northern 500 will also bring together 500 of the north’s most ambitious mid-sized businesses into a single growth community, focused on scaling, investment and productivity. The National Wealth Fund will establish new strategic partnerships with South Yorkshire, the Liverpool city region, the north-east and Cardiff, giving those areas support to build their investment pipelines. At the Budget next month, the Government will go further, with a road map for fiscal devolution—a permanent transfer of power and resources from Whitehall to our regions. This plan will drive economic growth and productivity in three key areas: supporting investment, boosting innovation and getting more people into good jobs. First, I will turn to investment. Business investment has increased by nearly 5% since the general election, but in a highly competitive world we must do more to reduce the barriers that firms face. The Government will tackle the thicket of consultation, litigation and administration that is holding up private investment, including by extending our reforms of judicial review from energy to all major infrastructure. We will bring an end to the consultation culture across Government, supported by new guidance from the Attorney General on legal risk to give Ministers confidence to make decisions. As the Chancellor has set out, we will make further changes to the Treasury’s Green Book, reducing the discount rate from 3.5% to 3%, to ensure that the Treasury rulebook does not go against key regional infrastructure projects and that places across the country get a fairer hearing in spending decisions. Work is already under way to progress place-based business cases in Plymouth, Birmingham, Liverpool and Port Talbot, and at the Budget we will publish guidance to allow more areas to do the same. The second driver of growth is innovation. The UK has a fantastic record on innovation. We are world leaders in frontier technologies, quantum computing, nuclear fusion, space technology and AI. But too often, ideas born here have to go elsewhere to find the capital they need to scale. Today we are setting out a new ambition to double the number of unicorns in this country. The Government will identify and back these high-potential firms, providing them with the necessary capital to scale. New cross-economy sandboxing powers will also enable firms to test frontier technologies safely. Building on the important work already taking place in defence and sovereign AI, the Chancellor will work with Government Departments to earmark new, dedicated funds to back British innovation. The third vital driver of growth is jobs. Our objective is to get more people into good, highly skilled jobs, and to make the most of the untapped talent that exists across the country. That is why, two weeks into office, the Prime Minister set out a bold new plan to transform technical education, and why, this autumn, Alan Milburn will set out his full recommendations to Government on how to address the blight of youth unemployment. This is our moral duty—not only our fiscal duty—because it cannot be right that so many young people are stuck on benefits. The plan for growth is underpinned by fiscal discipline. It will hand power to local leaders and unlock the potential of our regions. It will build a strong, strategic centre of Government and enable greater public direction and influence over the essentials. It will back British business, goods and exports, creating wealth and prosperity in all parts of the country. It is a plan to build hope and optimism across our economy, and to drive good growth in every postcode. I commend this statement to the House.

• 7 Sept 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  As I said to the hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke), we take the economic success of rural communities really seriously. We are improving connectivity, whether digital connectivity or local transport connectivity, to ensure that the areas are more successful, but there is obviously more to be done.

• 7 Sept 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member will know that rural communities are close to my heart, given my previous ministerial role and because I have a semi-rural constituency. There is huge potential in rural communities. The Prime Minister visited rural Cornwall in his first few weeks in the job. We will do more, and we are doing more, to improve local transport and rural connectivity, including the £2 cap on bus fares. She is right to say that there is great potential, which we must realise.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Farm Business Sustainability · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more. I absolutely pay tribute to the right hon. Gentleman’s local young farmers’ club. As he knows, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs supports the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs, and we engaged with it on the drafting of the farming road map. We always have young farmers in our minds when we are designing policy, because we are committed to ensuring that the next generation can enter the sector. We are looking particularly in the road map at encouraging longer-term tenancies, which we know is an easier way to get into the sector. We have also asked the Law Commission to review legislation on farming tenancies. Like him, I am committed to ensuring that the next generation has a voice in our policies.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Farm Business Sustainability · Hansard source

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  I would take our record over the hon. Gentleman’s record any time. The Conservatives could not even be bothered to spend the farming budget when they were in power. They sold farmers down the river on various trade deals, but we have not; we have protected farmers in our trade deals. We have set out the first-ever long-term road map and vision for the farming sector, and we have worked closely with it. We commissioned Minette Batters, the former president of the NFU, to do an independent profitability review, and we are taking forward the vast majority of her recommendations. We are working in close partnership with the sector. That is all in stark contrast with what happened under the hon. Gentleman’s Government.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Farm Business Sustainability · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), the new farming and food Minister, and I published our new farming road map, which is the first ever long-term strategy for farming. It sets out a vision for a more productive, profitable, sustainable and resilient sector. The primary purpose of farming, as set out in the road map, is food production, which goes hand in hand with improving the environment. We are driving towards a lower-input, more nature-friendly farming system.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Farm Business Sustainability · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to the work my hon. Friend does representing her local farmers, and I hope the Liskeard show goes well later this week. The Farming and Food Partnership Board, which has already been established, is working on two sector growth plans, starting with poultry and horticulture, to bring down barriers to growth. We are taking forward the road map’s vision to ensure that farmers are more productive and profitable; that is how we will proceed.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Since our last oral questions, we have recently published England’s first long-term farming road map, as I mentioned earlier, and we have opened the first application window for our reformed sustainable farming incentive. I visited the Groundswell agricultural festival to see regenerative farming in action, and I will be at the Great Yorkshire show next week. Our water delivery taskforce has recently unlocked the infrastructure needed to support nearly 20,000 new homes in East Anglia, and we are taking action to ensure that products on British supermarket shelves such as coffee and cocoa are not linked to illegal deforestation overseas. Like the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry East (Mary Creagh), I spoke at London Climate Action Week about our bold action to restore nature, and I welcomed the UN Secretary-General to Kew Gardens. Yesterday I announced the biggest ever investment in species recovery. Finally, we are a nation of animal lovers, as you know very well, Mr Speaker. I have today published the Government’s plans to reform the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 in order to deliver better outcomes for this great profession—the Act has not been updated since 1966—and our much-loved pets.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Agri-tech Sector · Hansard source

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  Innovation and productivity go hand in hand, and the Government are backing British agri-tech with real investment. Innovation is central to our farming road map, and I recently announced that we are boosting the farming innovation programme to £123 million this year. We are also working across Government—for example, with the Department for Business and Trade—to open up new export opportunities and drive growth, productivity and jobs across the sector.