Jake Richards MP: speeches

Speeches

• 23 Oct 2024 · Police Accountability · Hansard source

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  The balance between ensuring that our police have the powers and tools they need to keep our streets safe and ensuring that they are not above the law is a delicate one. In that light, I welcome the Home Secretary’s statement, and indeed the response of the shadow Home Secretary. Does the Home Secretary agree, however, that some of the comments in the media yesterday—and, indeed, from Members of the House such as the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick)—are unhelpful? We need to consider all the evidence carefully, in a constructive and calm way, when considering this really important issue, and should not rush to conclusions on the back of media reports.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Sentencing Review and Prison Capacity · Hansard source

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  In June 2019, David Gauke made a speech as Lord Chancellor on smarter sentencing. It was a helpful, coherent, cogent, evidence-based speech about sentencing reform. Four Conservative Prime Ministers later, no progress has been made, so I am pleased that the Labour Government will grasp the nettle. We were just discussing the Texan example of problem solving and sentencing, but can the Lord Chancellor reassure me that the review will also consider family, drug and alcohol courts, and the progress and positive results that we have seen in the family courts?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q14. Children’s social care in this country is now in crisis. Vulnerable children are regularly placed hundreds of miles from home, often in unregulated and unsafe accommodation. Meanwhile, private companies are making record profits on the backs of struggling and desperate local authorities. Frankly, this is an issue—a national scandal—that does not get enough attention. Today, I will be presenting my private Member’s Bill, which will offer modest reform in this area, but will the Prime Minister reassure me and thousands of families across the country that it is a priority of his Government to fix the social care crisis and our family courts?

• 15 Oct 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a key point. Does he agree that when we have children in the Public Gallery, or when children from our constituencies visit, it is simply impossible to defend to them the principle of hereditary peers in the 21st century?

• 10 Oct 2024 · Road Safety · Hansard source

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  Last week, I met South Yorkshire police to raise the issue of speeding and in particular the phenomenon of boy racers, which is a problem across my constituency, particularly in Broom, Sitwell and Whiston, as well as along the A57 around the Todwick roundabout. That was a constructive meeting, but what steps are the Government taking to clamp down on this dangerous problem?

• 10 Oct 2024 · Road Safety · Hansard source

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  3. What steps she is taking to improve road safety.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Renters’ Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  In Maltby in my constituency, the campaign group Big Power for Little London has been campaigning to end no-fault evictions for years, because the community have suffered as a result of rogue landlords. I am very grateful to the Housing Minister, who is sitting next to the Secretary of State, for agreeing to meet the group later this year. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this Bill will be welcomed by the thousands of campaigners across the country who have fought so long for this important change?

• 12 Sept 2024 · Rioters: Prosecutions · Hansard source

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  It is wonderful to see my hon. and learned Friend at the Dispatch Box. I also congratulate the Government on the speediness with which justice has been done for many of the summer’s rioters, which is testament to the good work of the CPS and defence lawyers. What lessons can be learnt more generally to ensure that speedy justice can occur for specific offences, particularly domestic violence?

• 12 Sept 2024 · Rioters: Prosecutions · Hansard source

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  8. What steps she is taking to help ensure rioters are prosecuted efficiently and effectively.

• 12 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  There have been a number of tragic road traffic accidents in my constituency in Wickersley, Anston, Sitwell and Whiston. I am meeting South Yorkshire police to look at steps we can take to prevent these accidents from happening. Can we have a debate on how agencies, local authorities and the police can work together to tackle speeding and boy racers in my constituency and across the country?

• 10 Sept 2024 · Illegal Immigration · Hansard source

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  On the Rwanda scheme, does the Minister agree with the comments, reported in the press, of the right hon. Member for Braintree (Mr Cleverly)? When he was Home Secretary he clearly understood that it would never work, when the Leader of the Opposition was Chancellor he clearly thought it would not work, and in the three years of its existence it did not work, so the fact that Conservative Members are still clutching on to it does not bode particularly well for their prospects of coming back to reality.

• 10 Sept 2024 · Domestic Abuse: Victim Support · Hansard source

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  Another forum in which domestic violence is litigated is private children’s cases in our family courts. The Secretary of State and Ministers will no doubt be aware of the huge delays that families are suffering in having their cases heard and then those cases being decided. At the heart of that are children waiting for a conclusion. What steps are the Government taking to try to expedite those cases, in particular working with other agencies across government including the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service and local authorities?

• 4 Sept 2024 · Budget Responsibility Bill · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Ms Nokes. It is such a great privilege to speak in this debate and make my maiden speech after the hon. Members for Woking (Mr Forster) and for Chelmsford (Marie Goldman). My hon. Friend the Member for Southend East and Rochford (Mr Alaba) made a fantastic speech about the city in his constituency, which I have had the great privilege of swimming in. His speech did due justice to that great place. My hon. Friend the Member for Swindon North (Will Stone) made a faintly terrifying speech about his Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills, and he certainly did justice to Swindon, too. It is a great honour to speak in the Chamber as the Member of Parliament for Rother Valley. For so many on the Labour Benches in particular, making our maiden speeches is the conclusion of long and hard-fought campaigns in which we were ultimately victorious. In the early hours of 5 July, which just happened to be my birthday, we celebrated the end of 14 years of Conservative Government and the first Labour Government of my adult life, but we also humbly accept the responsibility that we have been given. In the context of an often bitter and heated political campaign, and from the thousands of valued conversations I had in my constituency, one cannot avoid the fact that we as a country face daunting and urgent challenges. We cannot overlook the deep apathy towards the ability of politics, and indeed this place, to effect change. There has been the rise of online disinformation blaming bogeymen who do not exist. Conspiracy theorists and keyboard warriors purposefully ignore the complexities of the world around us for attention. Political culture too often thrives on division and controversy, not the common good. The hyperactive vitriolic politics seen so often across the Atlantic is seeping into our discourse here, undermining constructive dialogue. There is an epidemic of alienation among our young people, with levels of self-harm and suicide in my constituency increasing all the time. Children are arriving at school still in nappies and too often without breakfast in their bellies. Waiting lists for mental health support now stretch to half a decade, with many young people reaching their majority by the time they are seen. Too many people in my constituency feel they have to leave their village or town to get on in life. There is a disillusionment that their home, their community, their place is no longer offering the security and hope that people deserve. There is a fear for the future. I was told so often during the election campaign, “What’s the point of politics? This country is broken.” Perhaps some of those factors came to the fore over the summer recess, when a group organised to attend a hotel just a few miles from my constituency in Wath, planning to set that building on fire knowing full well there were innocent people inside. The pictures on our televisions were difficult to comprehend. I spoke to a young mother who had been made homeless and was being temporarily accommodated there with her children. The terror she described will haunt me forever. But from the gloom of that violent act came hope. The day after the hotel was attacked, I reached out to the Muslim community in my constituency and was invited to a meeting after evening prayer. I arrived eager to show solidarity, but anxious about the fear and damage that the community would have suffered—and yes, there was plenty of concern. But the first question I encountered was not one of anger or retribution, but instead a comment urging me to speak with the perpetrators of the violence in order to better understand the causes and motivation. It was a moment of great generosity and sensitivity, and one that will always stay with me.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Violent Disorder · Hansard source

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  The scenes outside a hotel in Wath over the summer took place just a few miles away from my constituency. A group of rioters set a hotel on fire, knowing full well that innocent people were inside, including a constituent of mine who was being housed there with her children, under the statutory responsibilities of the local authority, as she had recently been made homeless. Local police officers worked 20-hour shifts to keep her safe. The day after the riots, local people attended to clear up the rubble, and in the weeks after community groups, like the Dinnington community boxing club, organised events to show unity and solidarity in the face of violence. Does the Home Secretary agree that that, and not the acts of those mindless thugs who attacked the hotel in Wath, is the true spirit of South Yorkshire?

• 29 Jul 2024 · Public Spending: Inheritance · Hansard source

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  My constituents will be concerned about the revelations that the Chancellor has set out to the House this afternoon. Reading her statement, it is particularly shocking that the projected overspend on the asylum system, including the Conservatives’ failed Rwanda plan, will cost more than £6.4 billion this year alone. Does my right hon. Friend agree that instead of chuntering and shouting, a period of reflection would better serve the Conservatives, along with an apology to the country they have let down?

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In the past month, two men in my constituency have taken their own lives. Both had families, both were well known and respected figures in their communities, and both will be sorely missed. Will my right hon. Friend guarantee a debate on mental health services for men, and on how the NHS can work with local groups such as those in my community, Andy’s Man Club in Maltby, the Learning Community in Dinnington, and Better Together in Kiveton Park?