Helen Morgan MP: speeches

Speeches

• 10 Sept 2025 · Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  North Shropshire is a very rural constituency, and it is nestled in against the Welsh border, which is wiggly—I think that is the best way to describe it. That means that my constituents’ experience of using buses can be problematic, and I have tabled some new clauses that I hope the Minister will reflect on. Shropshire is one of the worst-served counties for buses, having lost 66% of its bus miles since 2015. It has lost more bus miles, by percentage, than any other county in England. The average loss of bus miles is about 20.9%, so it has been a severe experience for my constituents. Towns such as Market Drayton have almost become isolated, because their bus service is so poor. I am sure the House has heard me say before that there is only one bus running in Shropshire on Sundays. I am lucky enough to be able to report that it runs from a town in my constituency, but it is hardly an acceptable situation for my constituents. New clause 37 is sponsored by 30 colleagues from across the House, revealing that my constituents’ experience is shared by people in many parts of rural Britain. It tries to address the problem of poor bus services in market towns by requiring the Secretary of State to ensure that a service must be available seven days a week, and that she consults the relevant bodies to ensure that constituents using the bus service can access essential services. My Bus Services Bill, which aims to get people to hospital and other health services when they need to do so, has that requirement, but it could equally be applied to schools, colleges and other important destinations for people who find themselves isolated.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. Pubs are at the heart of the community in North Shropshire, whether community-owned pubs such as the White Lion in Ash and the Horse and Jockey at Northwood, the Bailey Head in Oswestry, which was the Campaign for Real Ale’s pub of the year, or attached to a microbrewery like the Stonehouse brewery in Morda. But all those hospitality businesses are buckling under the strain of higher business rates, the national insurance increase and higher energy costs. May I add my plea to those of my Liberal Democrat colleagues and ask the Chancellor that, in the upcoming Budget, measures are put in place to support our struggling hospitality industry?

• 4 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The people of Whitchurch in my constituency will be quite pleased to see the response to my written question regarding the Access for All railway fund, which shows that £280 million has been allocated for the spending review period, but they will be really keen to know when we are getting step-free access at Whitchurch station. May we have a statement from the Secretary of State for Transport to outline how this money will be spent and, critically, where and when? If the Leader of the House would like to come to Whitchurch from her own constituency, she could experience the footbridge and lack of step-free access herself.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Bathing Waters: Pollution · Hansard source

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  Run-off from chicken manure is a particular problem in the bathing waters and rivers in Shropshire. I have visited both Harper Adams University and LOHAS Fertiliser in my constituency, which have great new technologies to deal with chicken manure, stabilise it and moving that great fertiliser to other parts of the country where it causes fewer problems. However, they cannot scale up, so what steps is the Minister taking to enable the new technologies that could deal with some of these problems to be scaled up and used across the country?

• 2 Sept 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill · Hansard source

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  It is unclear for some areas, including Shropshire, where they will end up being made to form a combined authority. Shropshire shares borders with Wales and Cheshire, which is in a different region, so there is no clear partner for it. I am concerned that Shropshire will end up being forced into a combined authority with an area that does not look like Shropshire or give any benefit to its residents. Does my hon. Friend agree that this needs to be better thought through?

• 14 Jul 2025 · Future of the Post Office · Hansard source

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  I was pleased to hear the Minister say that the overall size and shape of the post office network should remain the same so that we can minimise the impact on communities, but in my constituency the size and shape of the Post Office is rapidly shrinking because of the fundamental fragility of the way it is set up. The retirement of a single sub-postmistress, because of rents going up on her shop, has led to the closure of outreach services across the constituency. The access criteria consider someone to be within three miles of a post office if that post office is an outreach service and open for a single hour a week. That is not acceptable for rural communities, many of which do not have a bus for many hours during the day. Will the Minister commit to looking at a sustainable model for rural post offices, so that people can genuinely access cash and the other services they need, particularly if they do not have a car?

• 9 Jul 2025 · Glaucoma Awareness · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Pritchard. I thank the hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) for securing this important debate and raising awareness of a life-changing condition following Glaucoma Awareness Week. The hon. Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) outlined his personal experience, and particularly how regular checks are important as the condition is symptomless in its early stages. I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for sharing his dad’s experience. And the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) brought her NHS expertise to the debate, so I feel slightly underqualified to be completely honest. Ironically, given that we are talking about eyesight, I did not print my speech in a larger font, so please bear with me. Millions of people across the country are affected by sight loss, and hundreds of thousands of people have glaucoma. If untreated, glaucoma can have a profoundly detrimental effect on people’s quality of life and long-term health, yet one in every 10 people on an NHS waiting list is waiting for their first ophthalmology appointment. Ophthalmology waiting lists grew longer and longer under the previous Conservative Government, who oversaw a doubling of waiting times in England alone. Meanwhile, more than half a million people are waiting for follow-up appointments. As our population continues to age, demand is likely only to increase. As with so many conditions, early intervention is key. One elderly patient in my constituency was sent for an urgent referral following a routine eye test. He was warned that if he was not seen in the next few weeks, he was at risk of losing sight in the affected eye. The appointment came through in time, only for it to be cancelled, along with the replacement appointment. By the time he was able to see a specialist, it was too late and he lost sight in that eye. This entirely avoidable incident demonstrates how it is crucial that we address the chronic shortage of ophthalmologists to deliver the care that people deserve. A starting point would be to deal with the broken training system. Far too few specialist training spaces are offered, despite many graduates being keen to work in the field. A little over a decade ago, there were four and a half applicants per training place, and it has surged to 10 applicants per place. It is simply not good enough. How will the Government deliver the ophthalmology workforce we need? In particular, will they look to reduce the extraordinary shortage of training places in this and other specialties? Will they consider publishing waiting list data for follow-up care? Transparency on waiting lists for follow-up appointments, not just for initial referrals, would help patients to make informed choices about the care they need and would illustrate the postcode lottery in NHS eye care. Liberal Democrats know that fixing the front door of our NHS is crucial to achieving better outcomes on glaucoma and all conditions that impact sight. That means sorting out primary care and community services, so I am pleased to see that the Government agreed with that aim in the 10-year plan published last week. Fixing primary care means investing in local GP surgeries and giving everyone the right to see a GP within seven days, or 24 hours if they are in urgent need, and providing 8,000 more GPs to deliver that. It means ensuring that everyone over 70 and everyone with a long-term condition has access to a named GP. As the hon. Member for Leicester South reminded me in our Opposition day debate on primary care in the autumn, optometry is a critical part of primary care and needs to be delivered locally. For glaucoma specifically, that means investing in eye services in the community and empowering the training of trusted, qualified optometrists to manage the condition. Optometrists are already in place to manage glaucoma across Wales and Scotland, so we have a strong base of evidence to inform that work. Research suggests that the additional training required is rewarding for optometrists, for the ophthalmologists training them and, more importantly, for the patients they are treating. However, in England, glaucoma services vary drastically, depending on which integrated care board area people live in. With major organisational changes to the ICB structure under way, this could be an opportunity to standardise a better, more consistent, community-focused approach. Could the Minister set out how the Government will encourage true partnership between qualified optometrists and ophthalmologists, delivering care in the community wherever possible? What hurdles stand in the way of such an arrangement? Finally, we need to ensure the highest possible uptake of regular eye tests so that we can catch this condition early and prevent damage to people’s sight. As somebody who has a close relative with glaucoma, I have my eyes tested regularly. It is not too unpleasant, and it gives me the reassurance I need that I am not currently developing the condition. The number of sight tests, including domiciliary visits, has still not recovered since the pandemic. Given the scale of the challenges of ensuring that people are tested, of treating them when glaucoma is found and of training sufficient staff in a context of surging demand, the Government should produce a dedicated eye health strategy, as advocated by groups such as the Thomas Pocklington Trust. There clearly needs to be substantial work across the sector to strengthen eye care as part of primary care and better incorporate optometrists, to repair a broken training arrangement and to ensure that people get the eye tests they need.

• 8 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T7. The hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Dr Tidball) raised the issue of the presumption of contact. I have a constituency case where one parent has abused their children and the other parent has had to pay for the supervision of those children. The presumption of contact is not working in cases where domestic abuse has happened, so I echo the calls from the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge for an urgent review of it.

• 8 Jul 2025 · Road and Rail Projects · Hansard source

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  The A483 that runs between Welshpool and Oswestry is a key economic artery for the Marches region, but like the rest of North Shropshire’s transport infrastructure, it has been seriously neglected over many years. That has left the crossroad at Llynclys in my constituency as one of the west midlands’ worst accident blackspots. Highways England has a great plan to redesign it and make it safer for all concerned. Will the Secretary of State meet me to see how we can progress that critical improvement?