Gareth Thomas MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jul 2026 · Commonhold and Leasehold Reform: Managing Agents · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is about to come on to property managing agents. May I add to the experiences heard by her Committee the experiences of constituents in my communities? Probably one third of the casework that I deal with relates to the poor performance of property managing agents. Does she agree that many leaseholders face real difficulty in getting proper recourse? A much tougher regime than the one currently in place, involving the property ombudsman and the property redress scheme, is urgently needed if leaseholders are to have genuine hope that their concerns about managing agents will be taken seriously.

• 23 Jun 2026 · UK-EU Economic Co-operation · Hansard source

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  Given what my right hon. Friend has rightly said about the disastrous deal negotiated by the Conservatives once we left the EU, when the next UK-EU summit does eventually happen, will it not be time— after we have successfully concluded discussions on the priorities of the UK-EU reset—to discuss the opportunity, costs and benefits for more key parts of our economy of rejoining the single market?

• 2 Jun 2026 · Armed Forces Bill · Hansard source

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  I apologise for interrupting the flow of my hon. Friend’s speech. Linked to her point about the armed forces covenant, she may be aware that one way in which the United States supports its military personnel is through encouraging membership of the world’s biggest credit union, Navy Federal. As she will know, we have military credit unions here in the UK, but more could be done to raise awareness among military personnel of the benefits of helping recruits to manage their finances both during military life and afterwards in civilian life. Does she share my view that it would be good to hear from Ministers what more they are planning to do to help raise awareness of the military credit unions?

• 13 May 2026 · Debate on the Address · Hansard source

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  I should say at the outset how much I welcome the opening remarks of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister about antisemitism. Kenton United Synagogue and Golders Green sit very close to my constituency. The attacks were shocking and appalling; I welcome the Government’s determination to crack down on online hatred and antisemitism, and I take this opportunity to commend the courage and skill of the police officers who responded. One of the many important points that my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford West (Naz Shah) made in her excellent and humorous speech was the need for those of all faiths—and indeed those of no faith—to stand together against hatred. That point will resonate particularly in a constituency such as mine. My hon. Friend gave a brilliant speech. She is an inspiration, and I suspect I am not the only Member to feel that it is an honour to be in the same party as her. My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince), who is without doubt a rising star in our ranks, made me jealous with his marathon-running skills. If hon. Members will forgive me, I will not dwell on his love letter to Harlow, but I will dwell a little bit on our shared commitment to co-operation. Together with other members of the Co-operative parliamentary party, I hope we will see progress on delivering solutions to the need for capital so that more co-operatives can expand in our country over the time covered by this King’s Speech. The biggest challenge facing our country remains how to put more money in people's pockets and drive up living standards at a time of ever-increasing global tensions. It is worth remembering what the Leader of the Opposition is clearly trying to forget: after 14 years of austerity, and after the Conservatives and their friends in Reform led us out of the world’s biggest market, doing huge economic damage, our public services are still in need of sustained investment. In that regard, I share my constituents’ impatience for change. I welcome the determination in the Gracious Speech to continue to reform the leasehold system, for example to make service charges more transparent, fairer and easier to challenge. I welcome the plans to abolish NHS England, to fund more investment in expanding GP services and to bring down waiting lists and waiting times in hospitals such as Northwick Park, which serves my constituents. I welcome, too, the overdue crackdown on late payments by big firms to small businesses. There are two long-term changes that I believe are key to delivering sustained higher living standards, particularly for my constituents. The first will be to secure far better access to Europe’s single market; the second will be to secure far better access to finance for small businesses and the financially vulnerable. On Europe, I particularly welcome the European partnership Bill in this Gracious Speech as the next step towards a closer relationship with Europe. With the US increasingly unreliable as an ally and with the economic damage from Brexit ever clearer, Britain needs to prioritise negotiating a dramatically better trade, defence and security deal with the EU. The imminent deal lowering barriers to trade in food will reduce red tape and lower business costs. The decision to rejoin Erasmus and the coming deal on youth mobility are positive, too. A referendum in my lifetime on whether to rejoin the EU feels inevitable, and if it happens, I will be very tempted to campaign to rejoin. We are, though, a long way from such a moment. The priority, with the next UK-EU summit coming up, should be to reach agreement for a full renegotiation of the trade and co-operation agreement and to secure greater access to the single market, which would be far more beneficial than mere customs union membership. The recently concluded EU-Swiss trade deal offers a helpful pointer, with much more integration into the single market for more sectors of Switzerland’s similarly service-based economy. Further security and defence co-operation, increased business mobility, mutual recognition agreements to remove duplicate product testing and certification to make it easier for businesses to sell British goods in European markets would make a significant difference for businesses here, for our economy and ultimately for living standards.

• 13 May 2026 · Debate on the Address · Hansard source

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  The one thing I would agree with the hon. Gentleman on is that we need a closer relationship. It is this Government who have sought to rebuild relations with Europe, and they are doing so increasingly effectively. On the need to open up opportunities for more co-operation with Europe, I recognise that we will have to pay to access the single market more easily, but given the damage to our economy, the higher costs and the extra bureaucracy that the poorly negotiated Brexit deal brought in its wake, we should be willing to negotiate that hard bargain. The second long-term issue that we should focus on as necessary to deliver sustained higher living standards is banking. Millions of people and thousands of small businesses are locked out of affordable credit and forced into high-cost or illegal lending. Money is being taken from the pockets of the poorest, and economic growth is being stifled. This is an entrenched but fixable market failure, which I hope the coming enhancing financial services Bill may begin to address. Research published in January by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, funded by the Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade, made the striking conclusion that if Britain had a network of mutual banks that had stronger direct relationships with their small business owners, growth would be higher by between 1% and more than 2% over its first five years, rising to between 1.7% and 3.5% over the long term. It noted, too, that investment would be almost 2% to 3.5% higher in the first five years, rising to between 2% and almost 4.5% higher in the long run. The research—it is academic research—looks at the impact of mutual banks in France, state-run German regional banks and community development finance institutions in the US, and considers how much more lending would happen if the UK had a somewhat less centralised banking model than we have now. Many suggestions for how to deliver growth are currently doing the rounds, but the scale of the impact of more investment in mutual or community banks, as this serious research suggests, raises the obvious question of what more we could achieve in this area during this Parliament by expanding the reach and scale of mutual banks, building more direct and personal relationships with more small and medium-sized businesses, offering more affordable credit options for personal customers, and creating a greater willingness to back hard-headed community ownership initiatives that help to restore pride in the places where we live. Fair banking legislation—similar to that in the US—would help. Proactive efforts to help credit unions expand through employers, particularly those in the public sector, offering payroll deduction options would help too. The biggest banks should actively help support the expansion of community banks; one or two do, but they need sustained private capital investment. Barclays, Santander and HSBC invest in community development finance institutions or community banks in the US, but they do not here in the UK. That should change. Let me turn to the international situation. I welcome the Government’s continuing support for Ukraine, the decision to stay out of the illegal conflict with Iran and the strong support for NATO. The situation in Gaza remains profoundly disturbing. Every child under five in Gaza is considered undernourished by UNICEF and other aid agencies. Almost every school has been destroyed or severely damaged, and 96% of households lack adequate access to water. Over 1 million children are facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, which I suggest demands fresh and sustained UK engagement. I strongly supported the Government’s decision last year to recognise the state of Palestine to protect the viability of a two-state solution and create a path towards a lasting peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people. Distant as that prospect may seem, in my view it remains the only path to a sustainable peace for the Palestinians and Israelis alike. The UN documented more than 1,800 settler attacks last year in the west bank—the highest on record and clearly part of a sustained campaign to reduce the possibility of a viable Palestinian state. Action to clamp down on goods coming into the UK from illegal settlements and to further sanction violent settlers is needed. Lastly, 80 years since the founding meeting took place just across from where this House meets, a renewed commitment to the United Nations has never been more necessary. For all its failings—and there have been many—it remains our best route for addressing conflicts, for tackling global health threats, for promoting the rights of all, for delivering humanitarian aid and for championing the interests of the world’s most vulnerable. With our coming G20 and G7 presidencies, we are in a unique position to support the current UN Secretary-General as he seeks to rethink and reaffirm the UN’s role for the world we are in now. I hope that we will support him in those efforts.

• 23 Apr 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In Harrow, getting a free car parking space is often critical to whether someone can access vital public services, and it is crucial for local businesses, too. My right hon. Friend will therefore understand my constituents’ frustration that Conservative-run Harrow council has axed free weekend and evening parking in North Harrow, Harrow town centre and Wealdstone. With Harrow Labour determined to reverse that, may we have a debate on the guidance that Ministers might offer councils on the importance of listening to residents’ and businesses’ concerns about access to free parking?

• 16 Apr 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Does my right hon. Friend share my profound disappointment that the Conservative party selected a candidate for the local elections in Harrow who thinks that British-born Asian MPs such as the former Prime Minister and the current Home Secretary are not British, should go back to Pakistan, supports discrimination against Romanians, and thinks there should be mass deportations? May we have a statement on what more can be done to tackle online hatred and curb racism more generally in our politics?

• 25 Mar 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  As the covid inquiry graphically laid bare last week, the NHS was starved of the investment it needed under the Conservatives, and nowhere more so than at Northwick Park hospital; its brave and extraordinary staff worked around the clock during covid, looking after many of my constituents. Given the very welcome, substantial investment in improving the NHS that the Government have committed to, will my right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister encourage the Health Secretary to support plans for a new intensive care unit at Northwick Park?

• 4 Mar 2026 · NHS Capital Spending · Hansard source

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  The White House in Harrow, thanks to NHS capital money, will shortly become even better than its American namesake. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) for the way in which he introduced the debate. I agree very much that levels of capital investment into the NHS do not get the attention that they deserve in this place. He is certainly right about the impact on NHS capital spending of the austerity over the previous 14 years of Conservative health administrations. He rightly referenced the shameful spectacle of Conversative Health Secretary after Conservative Health Secretary handing back capital moneys to the Treasury at the end of March. My hon. Friend the Minister will be pleased to know that I have a solution to that problem if she faces it this year. The White House, which is located at Harrow college, close to Harrow-on-the-Hill station, is set to become one of Harrow’s neighbourhood care centres thanks to NHS capital. NHS capital is allowing the local NHS to convert the White House, which is part of the college at the moment, into a new, expanded GP surgery and care centre. It will offer two opportunities for students enrolled at the college to begin a career in health and social care. Crucially, it will create a hub for care services that can keep people out of hospital and, in particular, out of accident and emergency queues. The White House is set to be one of a number of new neighbourhood care centres, including Belmont health centre, Alexandra Avenue health and social care in Rayner’s Lane in my constituency and the Pinn medical centre in Pinner. This planned expansion of primary care over the next two years, using NHS capital moneys, builds on a recent significant increase in the number of GP surgery appointments. The nightmare of having to get an appointment to see a GP once lines open at 8 am is beginning to ease, but much more progress still needs to be made. GP appointments in Harrow have increased substantially since July 2024. Just under 120,000 appointments took place that month, but by October last year the total number of appointments each month had risen to more than 145,000—a 22% increase. For face-to-face appointments in particular, there had been a 30% increase. I welcome the difference that NHS capital allocated to Harrow will make for primary care in the coming years. The funding for GP Direct, a surgery currently based in west Harrow, to expand and offer more and better primary care services, and for a neighbourhood healthcare centre located at the Alexandra Avenue clinic, is set to make even more of a qualitative difference to primary care services in my constituency. However, I hope to make the case to the Minister for the allocation of further NHS capital investment at Northwick Park hospital. Waiting lists are beginning to come down at Northwick Park, but, again, there is much more to do. To help maintain that progress, Northwick Park needs a new 36-bed critical care unit, with space for further expansion. A series of NHS and independent assessments of critical care across north-west London have identified a shortage of critical care beds, particularly on the Northwick Park site. The existing intensive care unit there has a series of problems that compromise the current delivery of critical care. It is not co-located with other key NHS services on site, such as the emergency department or operating theatres. It is outdated, noisy, cramped and unfit for purpose for patients and families facing critical illness—or, worse, potential end of life. The trust has put together a proposal for a new UK-leading exemplar intensive care unit that provides additional critical care beds and a new CT scanner, which would embed modern standards of patient experience and family support. The proposal is for a 36-bed unit and allows for a potential future expansion for a further 24 critical care beds. The new unit that is immediately proposed allows for 30 of the 36 beds to replace existing critical care beds that are located in other parts of Northwick Park hospital, which will free up extra bed space and, in turn, help to alleviate pressures on other parts of the hospital, notably in accident and emergency. It will also play a useful role in helping to prevent the cancellation of elective operations. The recommended bed occupancy for critical care beds is set at 85%, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Northwick Park has been consistently above that level for some time. The hospital has one of the busiest A&E departments in the country, receiving an average of 90 ambulances a day, rising to 140 on its busiest days. Critical care admissions are also up by more than 16% since 2018-19, and more than 80% of admissions to the trust are at Northwick Park hospital. It is worth reflecting on the experience of covid. Northwick Park was the first hospital during the covid pandemic to declare a critical incident, as the number of intensive care beds simply ran out. An expansion in critical care beds at Northwick Park needs funding. It needs funding to improve services now, but also to better prepare north-west London for future health emergencies. The bid for funding is strongly supported by the trust board and, I understand, by the local integrated care board as well. I hope that the Minister, her Health colleagues and the Treasury will support it, and that the Minister will commit to doing all she can to give it a strong push. Work on cancer care services is also taking place in the London North West University NHS trust. Northwick Park already sees more than 50,000 people with suspected cancer each year, and diagnoses more than 3,000 cases. However, too many cancer cases have to be dealt with outside of our area, and the quality of the experience for those being treated for cancer could be significantly improved with further investment. I hope that the Minister will duly make sure that Northwick Park is flagged up early for further investment as part of the national cancer plan.

• 26 Feb 2026 · Active Lifestyles · Hansard source

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  9. What steps she plans to take to ensure that people are adequately supported to maintain an active lifestyle at each stage of life.

• 26 Feb 2026 · Active Lifestyles · Hansard source

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  The clearly remarkable Fay Bond took up athletics at the age of 90 and won three gold medals last year at the US senior Olympics at the age of 101—the oldest of over 12,400 older athletes who took part. Given the many benefits of an active lifestyle in later life, when might the first UK senior Olympics take place?

• 11 Feb 2026 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I am happy to give the right hon. Gentleman a way into the debate, but he might prefer to sit down and make a longer contribution later.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  Harrow council was on the verge of bankruptcy until Ministers announced substantial extra funding in the local government settlement. Council officers told councillors that they were facing a budget deficit of more than £32 million, and they were planning to use virtually all the council’s reserves to fill the gap if the settlement for Harrow was not as generous as in fact it was. They were even contemplating having to ask for exceptional financial support status, so I particularly welcome the 31% increase in funding for Harrow over this Parliament that the Government announced in December. The last multi-year funding settlement for the council, under Theresa May and Boris Johnson, delivered just a 5% increase, so a 31% uplift over this Parliament is a significant step forward. Harrow certainly needs that uplift, because over the last four years residents have become increasingly concerned about how the council has been managed. Council tax has increased by more than inflation every year. Rents and service charges imposed by the council have rocketed. Crucial parts of the council’s responsibilities have been rated as inadequate and needing improvement. Basic critical services such as street cleaning have been cut to the bone, and new housing to ease the housing and homelessness crisis has been stalled, delayed or just axed. Council officers have told senior councillors that without that increase, Harrow would have faced having to approach the Secretary of State; it would have been at risk of bankruptcy, and of needing exceptional financial support. Although a combination of recent mismanagement of council finances and a decade of austerity has done considerable damage to our public services, Harrow remains one of the lowest-funded councils, both in London and nationally, so I say gently to the Secretary of State that I hope he will understand when I tell him that I will continue to press for further funds to improve our local services. It is worth underlining that between 2013-14 and 2022-23, the council saw cuts in its funding from the Tory, and Tory-Liberal Democrat, Governments of more than £50 million, and a reduction of a shocking 97% in the revenue support grants. One of the consequences of that level of austerity was vastly weakened public services.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  We certainly need more independent oversight of the way in which Conservative councils in outer London are managing their finances. I am completely with my hon. Friend on that score, and the story of what has happened in Hillingdon is almost as bad as the situation we have faced in Harrow over the last four years. The one bright spot has been the increase in finance that the Secretary of State has delivered for Harrow. We need a review of the funding formula for Harrow, but I welcome the settlement we have had, and I look forward to continuing to persuade him of the case for more funding in Harrow.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I have given way to him once, and I leave him to hope to catch your eye later, Madam Deputy Speaker. The public will get their say on the situation in Harrow in May, but the failures at Harrow council raise other questions. Reversing the decade and more of austerity for local services is clearly a priority, and the settlement that was announced in December makes a good start on that objective. Harrow certainly needs a serious examination of its funding formula, but surely raising the quality of local services needs to be more than just the responsibility of local people. In 2015, the Opposition parties decided to abolish the Audit Commission, a body that usefully challenged councils much earlier on, and helped prevent many poor management practices of the sort we regularly see in Harrow from developing and getting out of control.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I would certainly welcome the news that the Conservative councillors in Harrow responsible for housing were looking at councils that are committed to building more council homes, like those in my hon. Friend’s constituency. The failure to complete the redevelopment means that residents have had to put up with mice, damp and substandard accommodation for too long on the Grange Farm estate. On other regeneration schemes in Wealdstone, plans for affordable housing have been axed, no new council housing that had not already been planned by the previous council has been built, and a primary school that was due to be provided has been axed. Developers are not being held properly to account, and a major opportunity to lift the quality of life in the borough has been missed. A consistent complaint that I have heard from constituents of mine is that they find it very difficult to get to see anyone at the council. They do not know where to go to meet council staff to sort out problems and discuss issues in their neighbourhood. Shortly after the local Conservative party took over running Harrow council, it closed Harrow’s civic centre. It was due to be replaced by a smaller set of council offices in Wealdstone, on what is currently the Peel Road car park. That would have given Harrow residents access to council staff, and helped increase the number of people using businesses on the local high street. It would have freed up council-owned land for much-needed affordable housing and for new workspaces, retail and commercial spaces, as well as a new primary school, a new library, a new park for residents to enjoy and a new town square. However, the civic centre remains closed—derelict and boarded up—and major decisions on regeneration have been delayed or cancelled. No new set of accessible council offices is planned, and no one knows when, or indeed if, new promised housing will go ahead. Instead, local Conservative councillors have spent thousands of pounds doing up their council offices, yet members of the public are not allowed in.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  The shadow Minister will remember that when the Conservative party took control of Harrow council four years ago, it did so on a promise of freezing council tax, which he presumably campaigned on. Instead, council tax has risen by 20% over the past four years. Will the shadow Minister take the opportunity to apologise to the people of Pinner—indeed, of Harrow more generally—for his party saying one thing when it was campaigning and then doing exactly the reverse, increasing the cost of living for his constituents and mine?

• 11 Feb 2026 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  I am happy to join the right hon. Gentleman in again condemning the role that the Liberal Democrats played, but if he was the sane voice in the Government at the time, I hope he will forgive me for being—slightly—even more concerned about what was going on. One of the understated problems resulting from the austerity that Harrow has suffered has been the decline in the quality of vital local services. Children’s services were rated inadequate by Ofsted just last year, and immediate improvement was required in eight areas. They included leadership stability, particularly relating to management and oversight of staff and social workers; the “quality of support, advice and guidance for care leavers”; the “quality of help” for children who were homeless; the “quality and consistency in the response” when care leavers went missing; and the consistency of staffing to support children. Some of the most vulnerable children in my community and across Harrow more generally have been let down by Harrow council. Two years earlier, the Conservative councillors who led Harrow council had driven through major cuts to children’s services of over £2.5 million. Astonishingly, the current Conservative leadership locally is proposing another round of major cuts to children’s services. One particular case in my constituency stands out. At a nursery, parents reported significant bruising on their child, in what looked like the shape of a child’s footprint. The matter was referred to social services. The parents were arrested and went to court, and the child was taken into emergency foster care. Eventually, the case against the parents was rightly dropped when the court accepted that the original bruising was caused by a child’s foot. In the meantime, during supervised contact that was arranged by Harrow social services, the parents found extensive injuries on the child and reported them to the social worker. Given the scale of the injuries, there should have been a serious investigation at the time, but there was not. In the nearly three years since, the council has struggled to get answers to its questions, and the parents inevitably remain profoundly affected by what has happened to their child, and by what they have been put through as a family. I wish I could say that was an isolated case, but it is not. Although I welcome the additional funding that the council will get, which it will be able to put into social care for young people, there are other measures that I hope the Secretary of State will consider further down the line. It is not just children’s services that have been affected; the Care Quality Commission has said that adult social care run by Harrow council requires improvement. That certainly did not come as a huge surprise to many carers, elderly people and other vulnerable adults in Harrow. Just last year, the council was ordered to pay compensation to an elderly resident with dementia and her family. The resident needed medical help after she was neglected and let down by the care home in which she had been placed by Harrow council. Since 2022, Harrow has become the third most expensive council in London for council tax, behind Tory-run Croydon and Liberal Democrat-led Kingston upon Thames. Harrow’s Conservative councillors have put up council tax by the maximum possible every year they have been in power, and they plan to continue doing so—a 20% rise in council tax since 2022, despite their promises to freeze it. Council tenants have been hit with the maximum rent increases allowable in each of the past four years, while leaseholders’ service charges have rocketed. Astonishingly, some leaseholders in properties owned by Harrow council are expecting to see their service charges rise by 70% this year. One family, currently paying £2,000 annually, have been sent a bill for £3,400 for next year. Those rates are simply unacceptable in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and I hope the council will review them urgently.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  rose —

• 11 Feb 2026 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  Conservative councillors in Harrow promised not to raise council tax but duly did so. I hope the hon. Gentleman will join me in urging the shadow Secretary of State to ask the leader of the council to explain to the people of Harrow why he reneged on his promise. Regeneration should be an opportunity to build more affordable and social housing, and to help tackle the housing crisis that we face in communities like mine. It should surely involve local communities, create opportunities for them to come together, and provide for key local services. Instead, the completion of the redevelopment of the Grange Farm estate has been delayed multiple times—again, a product of the lack of funding and poor leadership locally.

• 5 Feb 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Our country, and Harrow certainly, benefits from the hard-working Romanian community. Many Romanian families would welcome the chance for their children to supplement their normal school exams with a GCSE in Romanian. Given that no exam board currently offers a GCSE in Romanian, may we have a debate on how we can put that right?

• 2 Feb 2026 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  I very much agree, and I add that surely we have a responsibility to stand with refugees fleeing appalling conflict, including those from Ukraine, and those fleeing increasingly authoritarian regimes such as those from Hong Kong.

• 2 Feb 2026 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Forgive me; I have taken one intervention already. Overwhelmingly, migrants from Pakistan, the Caribbean, India, Sri Lanka and across Europe—wherever they are from—have benefited my constituency. Are we sure we want to lose those vital workers from crucial public services, such as the NHS or social care? International students make a positive contribution to our economy and our country, too. I am certainly proud of the many Indian students who were attracted to the UK and who live in my constituency, and I do worry for our universities. The fees of international students helps to fund research. Cutting-edge universities in Britain need to attract international students, so we should not demonise those students who come here, and drive them towards other countries’ universities. I recognise that the choices before my hon. Friends in the Home Office are not easy, but I urge them none the less to recognise the particular responsibility we have to those who are already here and are already on the ILR pathway.

• 2 Feb 2026 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  I rise to raise my concerns about plans to require skilled workers, health and social care staff and those fleeing persecution to wait 10 or even 15 years, instead of the current five, to secure indefinite leave to remain. I echo the concerns of many in the Hong Kong community in Harrow, who are concerned about their status and their route to indefinite leave to remain. As they stand, the changes will make it more difficult to attract to the UK the key staff and talent to help grow our economy and run vital public services. Of course, we need to do more to help those born and bred in the UK to access the jobs market and to prevent abuse of the existing immigration system, but to ask those in the UK who are already here to have to wait another five years or longer would be the height of unfairness. Multiple constituents of mine in senior roles in engineering, the tech sector and other professional services have written to me with their stories, which underline their personal commitment to the UK and the expectation that Britain—of all countries, with our respect for the rule of law—would honour the implicit promise that we would hold true to that five-year commitment. At the very least, there must be transitional protections for those on the current ILR pathway. I am concerned that too often we shy away from recognising the economic and cultural contribution that those from outside our country make to our communities. They make the UK home. It is not Britain being exploited; we gain from the talent, imagination and hard work that migrants bring to our country.

• 29 Jan 2026 · Holocaust Memorial Day · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Gentleman knows, I do not always agree with him, but I very much agree with the case that he is making today and what he is saying. He mentioned the surge in antisemitism in the UK. Would he agree that Ofcom needs to crack down on online hatred—particularly antisemitism, but also Islamophobic tweets? The Jewish community and those of many other faiths are subject to a terrifying amount of online hatred.