Jim McMahon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 19 Mar 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  This week, another life was taken in a road traffic collision in Royton, leaving another family devastated. Our borough saw eight people killed in 2024, the highest number in a decade. Of those, six were pedestrians. There were more pedestrians killed in a single year than in the previous three years combined, and they included children who were simply walking along the pavement. For our town, this is a public health emergency. Although I welcome hotspot policing operations, the truth is that we need more patrols on the streets every day. Can we have a debate in Government time on traffic policing and reducing road deaths by dangerous driving?

• 17 Mar 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

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  Happy St Patrick’s day to the House and to all across the country. The Secretary of State is absolutely to committed to this agenda, and that comes across in not just his words, but the action that has been announced today. May I highlight the vacancy period for apprenticeships? Only 16% of vacancies in England are advertised in the two months when young people are leaving school and going into the summer break. That means that many are waiting for months and months to even get the opportunity to apply for an apprenticeship, and that is contributing to the NEET figures that he cares about so passionately. Can we at least address that issue in the public sector so that most apprenticeships are advertised when young people are finishing their exams and leaving school?

• 12 Mar 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  There are around 430 farmer-owned co-operatives in the UK and around 150,000 farmer members, with a turnover of £10 billion a year. They deliver high quality food produced the highest welfare and environmental standards. With food security being national security and the Government being committed to doubling the size of the co-operative sector, will the Leader of the House grant time for a debate on expanding the agricultural co-operative sector, so that it can play a role in strengthening the UK’s food production?

• 10 Mar 2026 · HMRC Approved Mileage Rates · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chancellor for that response; I welcome it, and so will millions of working people. This has been a long-standing campaign for Unison, and I am grateful to it and the RAC Foundation for taking on this case and to the Mirror for the coverage it has given to the campaign. The 45p a mile rate, set 15 years ago, is nowhere near the true cost of running a vehicle today, which was recently assessed at 67p a mile—and that was before fuel costs rocketed in the last week. Gemma, a social worker for over two decades, travels around 400 miles a month for work, which means she is paying over £1,000 a year just to do her job and care for other people. Gemma and the millions of working people like her will welcome the Chancellor’s statement today, but can this work be expedited, given the cost of living crisis?

• 10 Mar 2026 · HMRC Approved Mileage Rates · Hansard source

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  1. What steps her Department is taking to ensure that HMRC approved mileage rates are up to date.

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

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  As we step into spring and look towards the local elections, all our attention will be drawn to the quality of our local neighbourhoods. It is clear, after a decade under the previous Government, that our neighbourhoods are still frayed, whether through potholes on our roads, the quality of our neighbourhoods because of fly-tipping, or the standard of our parks as people go out to enjoy them. Given that such issues are a cross-Government responsibility, and local government has an important delivery role, does the Leader of the House share my view that there is perhaps a role for a cross-Government taskforce on rebuilding neighbourhood services in every community across the country?

• 4 Mar 2026 · Ministry of Defence · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chair of the Select Committee for the work he has been doing on Ukraine. A number of us were in Ukraine last week as part of a cross-party delegation, and the thing that really stood out for me—aside from the horrendous circumstances that people there face on a daily basis, and the injuries and death toll on the frontline—was that the UK and our allies are doing enough to hold off Russian aggression, but nowhere near enough to support Ukraine to win the peace. I would welcome my hon. Friend’s reflections on what the UK needs to do more of to ensure that Ukraine can win.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Ministry of Defence · Hansard source

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  Overall, the Government have a pretty poor reputation for spending public money wisely. My hon. Friend mentions Ajax, but I raise him: High Speed 2. Governments of all stripes need to do better. Given that our mayors and local authorities are developing the skill base at a local level, does he agree that it is best to link defence spending to our regional growth strategy, so that we do not have the constant stop-start that we see from central Government?

• 4 Mar 2026 · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a very important point about how we develop communities and individuals. Does she agree that co-operatives have an important role to play in economic development, as they not only create jobs but give people a stake in the future of those jobs?

• 3 Mar 2026 · Spring Forecast · Hansard source

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  A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work is a fundamental part of the British contract, but many self-employed people, and many of those on low wages, are paying to work because His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has failed to update its mileage rates for 15 years, while the cost of petrol, road tax and the rest has increased significantly. Can the Chancellor do what the Conservatives failed to do, and ask HMRC to update its mileage rates, so that working people are not paying to go to work?

• 2 Mar 2026 · Representation of the People Bill · Hansard source

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  In 2017, I was fortunate enough to be selected in the ballot for a private Member’s Bill, and Oldham Youth Council asked that it be about votes at 16. They have seen votes at 16 go from being a campaign to being in a manifesto and, today, to being in a Bill on the Floor of the House. If they saw this coming in a manifesto, why did the right hon. Gentleman not?

• 4 Feb 2026 · Lord Mandelson · Hansard source

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  I want to reflect on the hon. Gentleman’s interventions during the course of the debate, which have added to it. My right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner) earlier suggested a manuscript amendment relating to the Intelligence and Security Committee. If that was to come forward, would he support it?

• 4 Feb 2026 · Lord Mandelson · Hansard source

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  On that point, quite a lot in the disclosures naturally raises questions about probity. The issue about power and control, and of having information that can compromise, is that once you are compromised you are compromised, and every decision can be compromised. That really does highlight the importance of independent oversight of the evidence. I hope that when the Minister returns to the Dispatch Box, he reflects on that in his response.

• 4 Feb 2026 · Lord Mandelson · Hansard source

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  I appreciate my right hon. Friend’s explanation of the process, because many people outside it wonder what information is shared and what process is gone through. It is hard to believe that the information held by the Department of Justice in the US was not shared with our security services or disclosed in the process, given the security clearance that is required for a post of this nature. On that basis, and to eliminate any accusations of cover-up or conspiracy, is it not the right path to have the Intelligence and Security Committee look at this and thin the evidence that comes forward?

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  The support package for pubs is welcome news. The Whitegate Inn in Chadderton saw its value increase from £194,000 to £330,000, and the Halfway House in Royton went from £20,000 to £57,000. The Minister knows that the pressures being felt by pubs are felt by the whole of hospitality. For instance, the Egyptian Room food hall in Oldham will jump from £142,000 to £175,000. It is all part of the same ecosystem. The Government could and should have included that wider package in the announcement today, but I urge the Treasury, even at the second attempt, to get it right and have a wider support package for the whole of hospitality.

• 22 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  WASPI women are still waiting for justice and closure. The out of court agreement reached in December between campaigners and the Government saw the Department for Work and Pensions agree to a time-limited period to conduct a review. However, the parliamentary ombudsman investigation took six years alone before reaching its findings and recommendations on compensation. Given how many constituencies and constituents are affected, may we have a debate in Government time on the impact of this issue and urge the Government to come forward with a firm proposal?

• 15 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Reports that the Government might be looking to bring forward a support package for our pubs are very welcome—we know just how important pubs are for our communities and for bringing people together—but the pressures being felt by pubs are also being felt across hospitality in our restaurants, bars, cinemas and nightclubs. Will the Leader of the House use his good office to impress on His Majesty’s Treasury that if a package comes forward, it should be a whole-of-hospitality package?

• 15 Jan 2026 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I welcome this revision to the Government’s policy—the removal of the mandatory element of this scheme. There is some benefit in looking at more advanced digital public services, but that is not the same as ID. When we came to government, the Prime Minister gave a speech outside Downing Street, in which he promised two things; the first was to “tread more lightly” on people’s lives, and the second was to be a Government of service. On a range of issues, including checking bank accounts to see what people are selling on eBay or Etsy, the Government appear to be intruding on people’s everyday lives in a way that is overbearing, so I ask that this be the moment when we go back to those founding principles that the Prime Minister set out on coming into government, and make sure that those principles cut across all Government policy.

• 14 Jan 2026 · Northern Powerhouse Rail · Hansard source

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  This statement is welcome. The north of England has been held back for far too long, with our people and economy not being allowed to realise their full potential. The commitment to properly review the Manchester Piccadilly underground proposal alongside the Mayor of Greater Manchester is also welcome. Without that scheme, it leaves one route in and one route out, with trains forced to turn back on to the network. It is slower, second rate and not something the north can support. First, can we have more detail on the Manchester airport local contribution and how we will ensure it is fair and at a level that can be raised locally? Secondly, can we have a clearer idea on the timescales for the Birmingham to Manchester line?

• 13 Jan 2026 · Airport Drop-off Charges · Hansard source

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  Gatwick was given as an example, but it is worth bearing in mind that it paid out £600 million in shareholder dividends.

• 13 Jan 2026 · Airport Drop-off Charges · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton South and Walkden (Yasmin Qureshi) on securing this debate, the importance of which is reflected by the number of Members who have turned out—some of them from further afield than Greater Manchester. There is clearly a pattern of airport operators looking to maximise every aspect of income from the land that they own. In Greater Manchester, we are very proud of Manchester airport. It was built and grown by the local authorities, and they remain an important shareholder of the airport, as well as the wider group, which includes East Midlands and Stansted airports. The benefit of that, particularly during those 14 long years of austerity, was that the airports were providing a dividend payment to the local councils to fund local public services. With that in mind, Manchester airport has a bigger responsibility than just paying dividends. It has an important economic role to play in our city region and the whole of the north of England. As has been said, it is a gateway to Britain for those coming in. Their experience on arrival and when being collected by loved ones will really shape that experience. We are very proud of it and it is vital to our economy. It is a significant employer that drives economic growth, and it is a thriving hub supported, by and large, by the public. The charging policy was introduced in 2018 and was controversial at the time. I may have a slightly different view of charging policies, perhaps because from a local government finance point of view all streams of income are welcome, but I think the principle of payment has been settled for most people. However, I strongly believe that any payment system must be fair for those who pay it. In far too many people’s experience, the system at Manchester airport is not one of fairness. Many years ago, there was a campaign in Oldham against the weekly payment stores where people go in to buy a washing machine or TV and then pay a set weekly amount. At the time, the campaign was against BrightHouse. BrightHouse’s business model relied on people not being able to afford the weekly payment. If they could not make the payment of, say, £20 a week for a washing machine, they could not make a £19 contribution if that was all they had; BrightHouse wanted either full payment or no payment. It would reject the £19 and then charge a penalty on top. For every normal person, that is not a fair way of doing business, but for BrightHouse, the business model relied on it. That is how it made its money. We need to be careful, when looking at any system, to make sure that it is not built on inherent unfairness as a way to generate money. This is not about whether £5 is a fair charge to pay; it is about what happens if someone does not pay, and whether the penalty is proportionate.

• 13 Jan 2026 · Airport Drop-off Charges · Hansard source

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  Throughout the whole conversation, the thing that keeps coming to mind is: why would the airports not want to provide a payment option to pay there and then at drop-off, if not for the fact that they would raise less revenue because they would not be able to charge a penalty if people miss the 24-hour window?

• 13 Jan 2026 · Airport Drop-off Charges · Hansard source

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  I think so. It is not just about being fair; it is about being reasonable. We have all dropped loved ones off at the airport. We know how stressful it can be, and we know that the family member giving the lift normally tries to fit it around other things as well. Sometimes they will be dropping people off in the early hours of the morning. They rush to the airport, drop their loved ones off, say their goodbyes, make sure they get on the flight nice and safely, a bit upset perhaps that they are leaving, go home, maybe go to bed, and wake up in the morning—and before they know it, the day has taken over. It can be very easy to miss the deadline to pay. If it were extended from 24 hours to, say, 48 hours, most people would eventually say, “Hang on: I should have made that payment.” It cannot be that every organisation relies on an app. In my town, the hospital and the leisure centre now have apps to pay, and so do some supermarkets. There are so many apps, and keeping track of them can be very difficult, so some people will have to search out how to make the payment. That is where the idea of reasonableness really comes in.

• 13 Jan 2026 · Airport Drop-off Charges · Hansard source

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  That is the point. For the sake of a £5 fee, the penalty could be a full day’s wage for a low-paid worker. Is it a fair penalty to take away a day’s pay from somebody for going over by a minute? Most people would say that that is not a fair response.

• 13 Jan 2026 · Airport Drop-off Charges · Hansard source

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  Many people ask their loved one to send them a message when they land or when they pass through the terminal ahead of collecting their baggage, but in Manchester airport there have occasionally been delays in getting the luggage off the plane and sent through to the terminal, or the conveyor belt has not worked in sending the luggage through, so faults with the airport or airline delays can lead to a penalty.