Euan Stainbank MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 27 Mar 2025 · Prevention of Drug Deaths · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), and I associate myself with the remarks from Scottish colleagues about Christina McKelvie. Between 2010 and 2023, 333 people in Falkirk lost their lives to drug misuse. Our worst year was 2018, when 43 people died. Every one of those people was a family member—someone’s child or parent—tragically or prematurely taken. Part of the reason why that number is so high is that Scotland has the greatest number of drug deaths anywhere in Europe. I want to use my speech to talk about where we have gone wrong and what we have started to get right. Although I acknowledge that it was only one tool in the arsenal of public health responses, medication-assisted treatment such as methadone has been shown to reduce overdose deaths significantly. The abandonment of Scotland’s 10-year drug strategy decades ago is a failure that should teach us the lesson of never returning to unscientific moralising drug policy. We should focus on real action and harm reduction. More recently, harm reduction policies such as naloxone distribution have saved lives by reversing opioid overdoses in Falkirk. The Falkirk Alcohol and Drug Partnership has taken incredible steps in encouraging the awareness and use of naloxone, and I pay tribute to its lead officer, Phil Heaton. We should go further on harm reduction. Safer drug consumption facilities are proven to reduce overdose deaths in other countries. They have been piloted in Glasgow, as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) explained. The sites provide medical supervision, sterile equipment and a gateway to treatment for those ready to take the next step towards recovery, instead of wrongly expecting people to go cold turkey, which does not work. Harm reduction saves lives. Drug addiction is not a spontaneous phenomenon: it is deeply intertwined with social and economic conditions. People in Scotland’s most deprived areas are more than 15 times more likely to die from drug misuse than those in the wealthiest areas. We need a holistic approach that looks at root causes: poverty and deprivation. When looking at drug deaths, we must also think about demographics. Many of those dying today in Scotland first became addicted in the 1980s and 1990s, during the economic shock of deindustrialisation, and are maligned with stigma and a lack of support. The average age of drug-misuse death has increased from 32 in 2000 to 45 today. Now in middle age, the health of that generation is failing fast, making them more vulnerable to fatal overdoses. We need to look at the demographic changes and where we are failing. Addiction treatment, chronic disease management, financial support for the disabled and mental health services are all essential factors. I acknowledge that this is not an easy issue for Governments to tackle. It is wrapped in dozens of policy points and often involves those Governments find it the hardest to reach. Most of all, it is an issue of injustice, of lack of opportunities and of general social failure. We need to listen to our communities and take real action.

• 27 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Project Willow reported back last week. Among the options is a hydrogenated esters and fatty acids plant producing sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel, and the report recommends a delay in the implementation of the HEFA cap. Is the Department currently considering that action?

• 27 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Ben and Melanie have paid thousands over the odds for their energy bills because their energy provider failed to provide accurate billing on their prepayment meter and wiped thousands in credit from their account. That energy provider has now missed nine appointments that it scheduled with Ben and Mel. Will the Leader of the House support a debate on how Ofgem can improve service standards and hold energy companies to account when they fail my constituents?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Tobacco and Vapes Bill · Hansard source

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  rose—

• 26 Mar 2025 · Tobacco and Vapes Bill · Hansard source

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  I was a retail and hospitality worker myself in Scotland, and we applied “Check 25” regularly. Would the simple question not be, “Were you born before or after 1 January 2009?” Is that a complex question? I would appreciate an explanation of how it is.

• 26 Mar 2025 · Tobacco and Vapes Bill · Hansard source

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  I declare an interest as an officer of the APPG on responsible vaping. I was asked by a teenage member of my family over the Christmas break what my biggest regret is, and I undoubtedly go back to the evening at an empty—a party, for anybody unaware of the Scottish parlance—back in 2016, when I first took a draw off a cigarette. I know all too well the addictive power of nicotine, and I promised when I was sent here by the people of Falkirk in July that I would do everything I could to prevent another generation from being so easily exposed to it. Sadly, I must say that some of the amendments proposed may jeopardise that near universally supported ambition in our communities. There is no safe way to consume nicotine, and we have known for near a century that smoking tobacco will in the long term be incredibly damaging to the health of a person. If we pass this Bill and slowly but surely cut off the tobacco industry from new customers, we will see lower occurrences of cancer, fewer heart attacks, fewer strokes and less illness in our communities. Points raised by hon. Members about the black market are important, and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response, but they do not undermine my support for the generational ban in this Bill. For all the reasons articulated, I do not support the various attempts in amendments to alter the generational smoking ban. In Committee, I saw an attempt to alter the scope of the Bill to set the age of sale at 25. I see similar attempts on the amendment paper to change the age of sale to 21, or to scrap the generational smoking ban altogether. I doubt it will come as a surprise to my constituents, who are well aware of my leanings, but for me the freedom for our bairns eventually to be allowed to smoke something that may ultimately kill them does not fall into the philosophical sphere of inalienable liberties. Saying that, I will don the cloak of alternatively minded colleagues momentarily. For all but the last three days in Committee, I was 24 years old. The shift in the age of sale proposed in Committee would have deprived me of a liberty I already have and that regrettably I exercised extensively in my younger years. Depriving adults of their liberty in the name of liberty does strike me as an odd argument for opponents of a generational smoking ban. This generational smoking ban does not deprive anyone of a liberty they currently hold, but shifts tobacco into the category of inaccessible substances for those who never had, or will have, the right to begin with. The “liberty for our bairns to eventually be able to start smoking” campaign would get short shrift from parents at the school gates of Falkirk, or from those sitting at the bedside of loved ones dying decades prematurely. No smoker wants their bairns to start smoking.

• 26 Mar 2025 · Tobacco and Vapes Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend identifies an important point about the protection of young people, and I would be very interested to hear the Minister address it in her winding up. Non-smokers should never vape, but we should acknowledge that vaping can help a hell of a lot of smokers to quit, and that the evidence base we have on relative harm shows that vaping is far less harmful than tobacco smoking. The consolidation of vaping into a more utilitarian device used solely for the cessation of smoking is something we should pursue. That necessitates measures that stop the worrying rise in young people getting their hands on vapes in the first place. During evidence in Committee, Trading Standards articulated that online age gating has a far lower failure rate than sales over the counter. We heard from various sources about how vapes are still far too easy for our bairns to get their hands on through proxy or underage counter purchases. There is still work to be done to put the onus on the vaping industry to safeguard our bairns. That why I put my name to new clause 6 and new clause 7, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (Mary Glindon). They would permit the Secretary of State to make regulations mandating vape retailers to sell only vapes that include approved age-gating technology, allowing adults to lock their vapes and prevent bairns being able to use them. That would align with and strengthen the Bill’s objectives of deterring underage use by seeking to extend protection away from the point of sale to the point of use. I will ask Ministers to commit to meet me and the all-party parliamentary group to discuss how age-gating technology and wider measures can be supported in the United Kingdom to strengthen the shared aim we all have to stop bairns vaping. The Bill grants the Secretary of State similar powers to bring in regulations relating to the display, packaging and flavours of vapes. On that, I will make a few brief points. The Bill should not deter smokers switching to vapes. Flavours are a huge reason why smokers quit and stick by quitting, and we should not regulate in any way that undermines the crucial message we must get to stick with adult smokers, which is that vaping has a far lower relative harm than continuing to smoke. If we can, across this House, acknowledge the scientific consensus that there is no non-harmful consumption of tobacco, the Bill should be supported. It is time to take a step that will do a substantial amount to deter smoking, prevent nicotine addiction and secure a generation against smoking-related disease and premature death.

• 26 Mar 2025 · Tobacco and Vapes Bill · Hansard source

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  Specifically on amendment 46, which I have a degree of sympathy for, who would be responsible for enforcing the advertisements and ensuring that it was only those over the age of 18 who were seeing them?

• 25 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Last year, my constituent Danielle was diagnosed with POTS—postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. She found herself unable to get out of bed and unable to speak for long periods. She could not receive care in Scotland. Specialist treatment does not seem to exist for POTS. What more can we do for people like Danielle, and what conversations has the Minister had with counterparts about establishing specialist treatment in Scotland?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The release of Project Willow today is a step forward in securing good jobs and an industrial future for Grangemouth. However, the Government need to work at pace to ensure that the recommendations in Willow are acted on. Will the Prime Minister outline what steps he will be taking to ensure that barriers to a rapid transition at Grangemouth are removed and investment is progressed as quickly as possible?

• 18 Mar 2025 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  1. What steps he is taking to introduce the warm homes plan.

• 18 Mar 2025 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  The warm homes plan delivers a welcome uplift in resources for domestic energy efficiency. Failures by Governments, energy companies and local authorities over a number of years have left my constituents paying huge energy costs, with poor connectivity, failure to install smart meters or smart meters not working when they are installed, and not-fit-for-purpose electric heating systems in the Braes villages. Does the Minister agree that the Government must do all they can to end fuel poverty, and will he meet me to discuss how to hold accountable those who are responsible for the ongoing issues in my constituency?

• 17 Mar 2025 · Women’s Changed State Pension Age: Compensation · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for introducing this debate on behalf of the Petitions Committee. Both the ombudsman and the response of the Secretary of State back in December leave no room for doubt that the Government failed to adequately notify many 1950s-born women about changes to their pension age. This is maladministration and a scandal that has driven many to campaign for justice. I invited the WASPI women in Falkirk to meet me after the statement from the Secretary of State, and the message I took from that meeting is that if we in this place believed that there was no injustice, compensation would never have been paid, regardless of fiscal circumstances, but if we recognise an injustice, as the Department has now done, we must deliver a form of the recommended redress of the ombudsman’s findings. On behalf of the WASPI women in Falkirk, I will ask some of the questions that were raised at that meeting back in December. I would like a response, if possible, from the Minister, for my constituents. Why can the Government pick and choose when to implement ombudsman recommendations? Is the 90% figure derived from a study specific to women who would have been impacted by the pension changes? Is this decision based on cost or a genuine disagreement with the findings of the ombudsman? Further questions were asked, but those are questions on behalf of women who attended that meeting. In the October Budget, the Government did not just promise, but delivered for victims of the Horizon scandal, of the infected blood scandal and of the mineworkers’ pension scheme, and for LGBTQ+ veterans. That is a proud record. I put it to the Government that we should think again and deliver redress for the WASPI women as well.

• 14 Mar 2025 · Rare Cancers Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) for introducing the Bill. It may be the most repeated phrase in the Chamber, but politics is about choices and he, having ranked so highly in the private Member’s Bill ballot—an early accolade in this Parliament—chose a Bill that would put patients suffering from a rare cancer and their families higher up on the list of priorities. As my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Josh Fenton-Glynn) so movingly put it, I hope that, in time, the Bill will mean that in some instances, my constituents in Falkirk and families across the United Kingdom will get precious extra hours, days, weeks and years to spend with our loved ones. Every Member of the House and every constituent I have spoken to about this has a story of a loved one who has suffered through the heartbreaking cruelty of a cancer diagnosis. I lost two of my grandparents in their early 60s. I still remember the seven years of my life that I spent with my grandad Robin. We found plenty of time to exchange robust views on football, and I am sure that if he had more time with us, we would today be exchanging views on life and politics, too. He was lucky, though, to meet all four of his grandchildren, thanks to the immense care he received from his doctors and the support he got from his family. I remember my granny Janet, who passed away in 2012 after a 10-month battle with a brain tumour. I remember most fondly her fussing over everyone in the house to make sure they had absolutely everything they needed at all times. I remember holding her hand in Strathcarron hospice, where she had volunteered for a number of years, and where she received care in her final days. One thing I have drawn from those experiences is the value of our NHS and hospice staff to those who have cancer and their families. Those staff, day in, day out, take the worst parts of life and allow us to endure them. We should arm them with the best possible tools for treating illness and disease. Statistically, half of us in the Chamber will have to comprehend our own diagnosis of some type of cancer. The definition of “rare cancer” is, for the purposes of the Bill, one that affects fewer than one in 2,000 people. We must acknowledge that active intervention is required to ensure that research, treatment and clinical pathways for those cancers have parity with other cancer research. As has been mentioned, rare cancers account for about 47% of all cancer diagnoses. I will go through the Bill and each of its clauses to show why I support it. Clause 1 and the statutory requirement for a review relating to orphan medicines will be an essential step to gaining a comprehensive understanding of the availability of medicines and how they can best be calibrated towards new treatments and new research. The comparative approach that the Bill puts forward for the review acknowledges that while we have a proud history of world-class research, other countries have been able to make substantial strides in this area in recent years when we have not. In the last six years, the UK has dropped from being ranked second for the availability of orphan medicines—behind only Germany—to England being 10th and Scotland being 13th among European countries. That does not necessarily look like regression, but it potentially exposes stagnation in advancing research that would benefit those suffering from a rare cancer. The British pharmaceutical industry has stated that it is increasingly challenging to develop medicine for rare diseases in this country, citing, among other things, the low prospect of NHS reimbursement for rare disease medicines. Clause 2 gives the Secretary of State a duty to promote research on rare cancers, ensure that patients can be easily contacted about such research, and ensure appropriate oversight of rare cancers. That is a progressive move, as the duty to promote research will write into law that any Health Secretary must take a proactive approach to maintaining and promoting rare cancer research. It embeds in the Government’s job description a duty to ensure that ease of contact is properly facilitated, and that there is appropriate oversight. The Bill is not overreaching when it says that strategic co-ordination is key. The appointment of a national speciality lead for rare cancers will put into law the requirement for a champion who can cut through any silos that exist, or that start to develop as the Bill takes effect. Clause 3 is a critical part of the framework. It will aid the building of a robust evidential basis for clinical trials by making a bespoke register for those with a rare cancer. The sharing of information from the national disease registration service by the NHS with the NIHR’s “Be Part of Research” registry, so that patients can be identified and contacted, will improve an issue that has come up several times when I have spoken to organisations in this space: there are not enough people available for clinical trials for rare cancers. Correspondingly, as has been mentioned by other Members, clearly there is a substantial barrier at the patient end. Cancer52 found that 82% of those with a rare cancer had not been offered a clinical trial. That evidences the clear case for the change proposed in the Bill. With rapid advances in cancer treatment, there is a massive opportunity to take steps forward in increasing survivability after diagnosis. For all these new treatments to be effective, there needs to be corresponding clinical trials. Currently, connecting those with a rare cancer to clinical researchers involves an amount of luck that the information about the trial will make its way to the patient or that they will be aware of a clinical trial. Organising the register so that clinical trials can get in touch with patients will simplify and improve the efficiency and efficacy of the system, saving time and increasing the chance of successful trials. I give the Bill my full support.

• 13 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Zoe is a bright and exceptionally politically engaged young woman in Falkirk. She has had to seek private diagnosis for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, following admission to hospital on several occasions for symptoms consistent with POTS. No national guidelines for POTS exist and, alarmingly, no dedicated clinical pathways for its treatment are available for patients such as Zoe. Will the Leader of the House support a debate to discuss the creation of national clinical guidelines for POTS patients?

• 13 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Over 100 jobs have been lost in Falkirk since September due the previous Government’s failure to keep their commitments to the bus manufacturing sector. We need a plan for bus manufacturing. Has the Minister engaged with the Department for Transport, the bus manufacturing industry or regional mayors, prior to launching the UK bus manufacturing expert panel?

• 6 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Residents of the Upper Braes villages in Falkirk have been campaigning for five years following the failure of not-fit-for-purpose heating systems that has led to poorly heated homes and extraordinarily high household bills. A gentleman I spoke to in Slamannan is spending £300 to £400 a month on energy for his two-bedroom house simply, as he put it, to “keep the frost off” his nose. Does the Leader of the House agree that those involved in that failure should be held to account and that those who have suffered deserve a fair solution?

• 6 Mar 2025 · English Football: Financial Sustainability and Governance · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Earley and Woodley (Yuan Yang) on securing the debate. Of course, this is a debate on English football governance, but for the benefit of Hansard I put on record the undebatable fact that Scottish football is the best in the world, because it has the highest per capita live attendance at matches and because of the existence of Falkirk FC. The Football Governance Bill goes a long way to redressing the competition issues that have stained the beautiful game down south. The independent review and the licensing powers to prevent corporate mismanagement will hopefully prevent situations like the one currently facing Reading from happening again, and resolve the runaway inequality in the game. That runaway inequality is something that the Scottish game is definitely not immune to. Failures in corporate governance and financial mismanagement stem from that inequality, as well as from an over-reliance on single owners and, uniquely, the lack of diversification in sources of income in Scotland. More recently, we have seen anti-competitive decisions, such as the Scottish professional football league banning artificial surfaces from only the top flight in Scotland in 2024. Artificial surfaces are far more common in Scotland. The ban will force clubs such as Falkirk, Hamilton or Livi, which is currently in the championship, to fork out £1.5 million extra simply for getting promoted. It will prevent community use and provide barriers for women’s teams and shared ground arrangements. On artificial surfaces, the SPFL must think again.

• 6 Mar 2025 · Public Procurement: Support for SMEs · Hansard source

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  11. What steps he is taking to support small and medium-sized enterprises in public procurement.

• 6 Mar 2025 · Public Procurement: Support for SMEs · Hansard source

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  The targets in the national procurement policy statement for Government Departments to buy from British SMEs are to be strongly welcomed. The benefit will be long term, with broad and essential sources of investment, and we will improve our economy’s domestic resilience. Bus manufacturing is an area that needs domestic resilience, with over 100 jobs recently lost in the Falkirk area because the previous Government failed to support British buses. At the bus expert panel next week, does the Minister expect a general increase in domestic procurement following the updated national procurement policy statement?

• 5 Mar 2025 · Employer NICs: Businesses · Hansard source

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  The impact of net changes in the Budget is £5.2 billion more for Scotland. That is record funding to invest in our NHS, protect the successes of devolution and fix our local services, but the Scottish Government have squandered the latter opportunity by continuing to underfund our councils, leaving Falkirk council with a £28 million hole to plug after eight years of SNP control. Does the Minister agree that the £5.2 billion secured for Scotland by the Labour Government could have been used to fix local government, but instead the SNP has chosen to leave the people of Falkirk to pick up the bill?

• 26 Feb 2025 · High Street Businesses · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I have never kept it a secret that I am a proud Falkirk boy, I live in our town centre, I do most of my shopping on our high street, and a couple of hours before the Bairns kick-off on a Saturday at 3 pm you will rarely find me more than a few feet far from a pint at one of our town centre pubs. Businesses on Falkirk High Street have for years been calling out for support, whether it be on parking, where the SNP Falkirk council stopped the popular “Free after 3” parking scheme, or the closure of Falkirk town hall in 2022. That was previously a major earner for our town centre on show night. Luckily, a replacement town hall in the centre of Falkirk is finally progressing, with cross-party support. It is something I strongly endorse as a measure to regenerate our town centre. I acknowledge that for businesses across the UK there are challenges, but this is felt sharply in Scotland; about three shops a day closed in 2024. I welcome this Government’s commitment to rebalancing the tax burden away from the high street and towards the out-of-town giants. I urge them to move quickly and firmly in that direction. The Scottish Government must also look at that urgently for our high street.

• 26 Feb 2025 · High Street Businesses · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. This is a point that many hospitality businesses have made. It was a narrower scope for business rates relief that was passed in yesterday’s Scottish Budget Bill than was the case in the Labour Budget, which I welcomed. The Scottish Government should revisit that decision. I pay tribute to the fantastic work that the Falkirk business improvement district does in our town. It knows how to deliver on local priorities; not only is it on the ground with its finger on the pulse of the challenges facing Falkirk High Street, but it is accountable to the town centre businesses in Falkirk that pay the BID levy. I thank Linton Smith, who is stepping back from the Falkirk Delivers board after an exceptional 30 years of service to our town. Elaine Grant and all her team at Falkirk BID are an asset to our high street. Although the impact of energy shocks around the globe and the behaviour of energy giants have left consumers’ bills spiralling over the last few years, the impacts on high street businesses have also been clear. I have heard stories from Falkirk High Street of bills quadrupling over the winter, compared with where they were before the pandemic, and staff wearing two jumpers while working indoors. We must get serious across this House about building cheap, clean, British energy as soon as possible, so that both our constituents at home and those who open businesses on the high street can benefit. Increasing criminal behaviour on our high street is another concern. In my teens and early 20s, I worked pulling pints and serving tables, and when walking back to my car or jumping on a bus I noticed an incrementally more hostile atmosphere. Unite Hospitality has led the way in relation to that trend, and I reiterate my endorsement of its Get Me Home Safely campaign, which I and, at the time, council colleagues passed at a meeting of Falkirk council in 2022. Hospitality workers have endured unacceptable threats and physical and sexual violence, and we must do more to work with employers to make our high streets safer. My constituents Carolyn and Gordon are the long-term proprietors of Gordon’s Newsagents in Camelon. Recently, they were subjected to two incidents of theft, violence and vandalism when they refused to sell alcohol to those who had failed to provide identification. Crime impacts margins and increases the likelihood of shop closure. I will finish on this point. Businesses comply with licensing conditions to protect young people and prevent crime and disorder. Their story signals that they often fail to receive the same protection in return. We need more police on our streets.

• 26 Feb 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Grangemouth refinery closure has loomed over central Scotland since Petroineos’s announcement in November 2023. Two weeks ago, Scottish Labour colleagues and I met the National Wealth Fund to make the case for investment in Grangemouth. I strongly welcome the exceptional commitment that this Labour Government have shown to Grangemouth by committing £200 million from the National Wealth Fund. Can I ask the Prime Minister what steps the Government will be taking to secure permanent good jobs at Grangemouth?

• 6 Feb 2025 · Agriculture Sector: Growth · Hansard source

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  The increasing demand for biofuel feedstocks offers a huge opportunity for agriculture, particularly in feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuel. With the welcome SAF mandate and revenue certainty mechanism, there is a real chance for growth in this area, especially if we support rapid conversion at Grangemouth. What steps is the Minister taking to secure a scalable supply of feedstocks, and how he will remove barriers to their use in the production of SAF?