Helen Morgan MP: speeches

Speeches

• 7 Sept 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  I broadly agree with the hon. Gentleman, and I am about to come to mental health. It is right to modernise the NHS and end some of the duplication that we see between NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care, but the way it has been handled has been chaotic. It has been combined with 50% cuts to ICB budgets, unfunded redundancy payments, and chaos through the system. I was alarmed to read the report in The Times at the weekend about advice to the Secretary of State that the changes envisaged under the Bill are impossible to implement, given that the staff of NHS England are on different pay scales to those in the Department. Given those significant hurdles, I hope that in her closing remarks the Minister can provide some reassurance that abolishing NHS England in the way the Bill envisages is achievable. We are particularly concerned that the functions of the Secretary of State under these reforms open the door to political capture, which is a huge risk given the unstable political climate we live in. Amendment 16 would create a firewall between the Secretary of State and operational decisions. These new powers are particularly worrying in the context of patient safety issues created by the Bill, which we will discuss in more detail tomorrow. Beyond the Department, the Bill is complacent on taking seriously the vulnerability of our NHS to foreign interference and its implications for national security. That is why we tabled new clauses 2 to 5, which recognise and address the role of the NHS as part of our sovereignty, and the sensitivity of patient data. New clause 17 would require scrutiny in the House of the arrangement between the United States of America and the United Kingdom on pharmaceutical pricing. That deal, forced on us by Donald Trump with no say from the British people, will hike medicine prices in the coming years by billions of pounds, and deserves parliamentary scrutiny. All those shortcomings of the Bill attest to the fact that the NHS already spends far too much time and money responding to failure, rather than improving the safety and quality of services in the first place.

• 3 Sept 2026 · Bluetongue Virus in Livestock · Hansard source

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  Livestock farmers in North Shropshire, as everywhere else across the country, have had a torrid year. Drought has impacted their ability to feed their livestock, dairy farmers are selling milk at far less than the cost of production, and now they have the added concern of bluetongue bringing a horrendous end to a horrendous year. They have been caught unawares, and the Department has clearly been unprepared for something that could have easily been predicted. What support is the Minister putting in place for those farmers now? More importantly, what steps will be taken for this time next year, so that we do not find ourselves again trying to get on top of an epidemic that could have been prevented?