Jim Shannon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 25 Feb 2026 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for his response, and for his words of encouragement for us MPs, and for those outside who are watching. Earlier, I referred to Bucha, where the war crimes were unbelievable. I am very keen to ensure accountability and justice in the process, as we all are. What are the UK Government and the Minister—I know he is committed to this—doing to ensure that the evidential base is gathered to catch the people who carried out those crimes and make them accountable? They will be accountable in the next world; let us make sure that they are accountable in this, as well.

• 25 Feb 2026 · Diesel Vehicles: Defeat Devices · Hansard source

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  I commend the hon. Member for Ealing Central and Acton (Dr Huq) for bringing us this debate. She is right to say that this does not just happen in England; it happens across all of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Vehicles registered in Northern Ireland in 2015 were among those fitted with illegal software during the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Enforcement action uncovered diesel lorries operating in Northern Ireland with illegal emissions-cheating hardware deliberately disabling pollution controls. For 17 years, our MOT system in Northern Ireland failed to test diesel emissions properly, allowing such vehicles to operate undetected for too long while damaging air quality and undermining trust in regulations. Does the hon. Lady agree that more must be done to close regulatory gaps, strengthen enforcement and ensure that defeat devices are fully eliminated from all our roads throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

• 25 Feb 2026 · Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for his answers. If he were a goalkeeper, he would be exhausted at this stage. Maybe he has kept the ball out of the net—we will see how that goes. The Minister will forgive me for being a bit obtuse, but it was my understanding that the leasing of the base at massive cost to the working person in this country was to secure national interests and safety. I therefore cannot grasp why the Government are possibly working against our greatest ally in the US of A and sending an internationally resounding message that our base cannot be used if it is deemed necessary. Will the Minister please outline what discussions have been held in the past number of days to correct any belief that we do not stand fully with our American allies?

• 25 Feb 2026 · Electronic Travel Authorisation: Dual Nationals · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for his answers. As always, these problems have resulted because of a realisation that the small print does not really work. Many of my constituents take flights from Dublin because they can be more cost-effective, but the need to have a British passport can be incredibly cost-prohibitive. I am trying to be helpful and positive, so will the Minister and the Home Office give consideration to providing for an ID card that could be accessed online, on production of a birth certificate, and could be provided free of charge, or at a minimal cost?

• 25 Feb 2026 · UK-German Relations · Hansard source

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  It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg—it is the third time today. I thank the hon. Member for Preston (Sir Mark Hendrick) for setting the scene incredibly well. I am also pleased to see the Minister in his place. He has, if I may say so, been a very busy boy today in the Chamber and Westminster Hall, and it is always a genuine pleasure to see him in his place. Germany is a high-value market for Northern Ireland, with bilateral trade generating over £1.1 billion in 2023. That being the case, the Northern Ireland Economy Minister frequently visits Berlin to promote sectors such as cyber-security, fintech, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing—all sectors that Northern Ireland excels in. As our biggest EU trading partnership, relations are imperative to our local economy. The Minister probably knows this already, but building upon that is really important for us. I got to know Germany personally through my time as a part-time soldier in the Royal Artillery. That gave me an opportunity to go to Germany every second year and meet its people. I was always impressed by the people, who were always friendly and amenable. Germany was incredibly clean. It was back in the time of the iron curtain, which will age me—some people will ask what that was. However, that was the Germany that I knew and got to love. Indeed, Invest NI, which is a branch of the Northern Ireland Executive, has maintained a presence in Germany for over 25 years to facilitate trade. Recent successes include Belfast-based Joulen securing a £4 million AI contract with German energy firm SonneNext. The links are clearly there, but it is equally clear that more can and should be achieved through them. As people would expect, I am going to heavily promote Northern Ireland. It is an investor’s dream with low business costs and rates, greater connectivity, a highly skilled workforce and a great work ethic. It is little wonder that so many US firms are beginning to establish themselves in Northern Ireland. It is my feeling that our relationship with Germany can provide greater benefits to both the Germans and ourselves. The July 2025 UK-Germany treaty on friendship and bilateral co-operation provides a new framework for deeper partnership, particularly in defence and aerospace. As many Members will be aware, Northern Ireland’s aerospace and defence industry, which employs some 9,000 people, can benefit from the treaty’s emphasis on long-term industrial and security co-operation. That is something that we can build on. We can increase that because the threat in the world is high, and it is necessary that we do so. Machinery and transport equipment is the largest export category, valued at approximately £252.9 million in 2024. That includes power-generating machinery and specialised industrial equipment. The contacts and the connection between Northern Ireland and Germany are strong, and they can be stronger. Our highly skilled, precision-focused engineers are able to deliver more, and it is essential that we keep on top of cutting-edge technology and training for staff. The Minister may well highlight that the Northern Ireland Economy Minister is aware of the need to enhance the German relationship, but much can and must be done here at Westminster, the foundation of which needs to be funding for apprenticeships. That is my ask of the Minister: the funding for apprenticeships to keep Northern Ireland’s reputation for highly-skilled workers going, growing and strong. In conclusion, I thank the hon. Member for Preston for this opportunity to speak on the need for a mutually beneficial relationship with Germany that we can all benefit from. I agree that we need that, but foundationally we need to ensure that we have the skills and the ability to attract investment. I very much look forward to greater apprenticeship investment to help us to realise our potential. Our young people in Northern Ireland have a future and an opportunity, and I think the Minister is the very person to deliver that.

• 25 Feb 2026 · Student Loan Repayment Plans · Hansard source

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  It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) for setting the scene. Two minutes—my goodness! How can I get everything into two minutes? I think of the many graduates who work at Asda— a job they land because there are no full-time entry-level graduate jobs for them. I am aware that student loan repayments are not done in the same way in Northern Ireland as in the rest of the United Kingdom; Northern Ireland borrowers primarily use plan 1, whereas England has a different system. However, cost of living difficulties mean that borrowers find themselves with problems even if they have what once would have been classified as good jobs. Because of the time limit, I will give only one example: a junior doctor who, despite getting all As at GCSE and A-level, could not get into Queen’s medical school in Belfast, but was accepted by Edinburgh medical school. That meant a compulsory additional degree within the degree, and an extra year. This clever young lady is now home and working in the trust, and she sent me a copy of her payslip, showing her crippling student loan repayment. She also sent me a copy of her student loan debt—and my breath left my body. This year, she will finish her foundation year 2, and she is not guaranteed a position, so she takes all the on-call hours and locum hours and lives her life worried about her patients and about her debt. She is 25 years of age, living in her sister’s spare room, working 70 hours a week, with a debt of £100,000. Something is wrong with this system. I ask the Minister to consider that. Our student fees are £4,500, plus maintenance. We need to look at this system. It penalises home students and forces young people to leave their local areas for places that do not have free student accommodation, where they have to pay for someone else’s mortgage over the next 26 years of their lives while paying their own mortgage. No working person should begin their financial journey mired in debt because their local university could not take them and they had to move to a new part of the country and pay for life there. We can do better than that. I look to the Minister to make sure that he does.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Banking Hubs: Rural and Post-Industrial Communities · Hansard source

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  I will just say that so many people are here because the hon. Lady has brought up a subject matter that is worth more than 30 minutes of debate. Does she agree that the only goals that banks seem to have are bigger dividends and more profit? When they close branches there is a dramatic effect on rural life in her constituency and in mine. Is it not time for banks to look not at profit, but at the people and customers that they should be supporting?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Banking Hubs: Rural and Post-Industrial Communities · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Army Reservists: Employment Rights · Hansard source

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  I commend my right hon. Friend for initiating the debate. I met the Forces Pension Society guys on Monday. I did not know that he had actually secured an Adjournment debate on this matter, but when I showed them what he wanted to say, they were incredibly interested, and wanted to put on record their thanks to him. My right hon. Friend understands, much better than I do, that Northern Ireland has identical legislation that provides the same protections for part-time workers, and that consequently this will have a huge impact on Northern Ireland’s reserves. I should declare an interest, as one who served as a part-time soldier for some 14 and a half years. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this process must be handled quickly, and that urgency is of the utmost importance to ensure that we right this wrong and stand with our ex-service personnel who should never have had to fight their Government—their Minister—for what should rightfully have been theirs?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Army Reservists: Employment Rights · Hansard source

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  I commend the hon. and gallant Lady. We understand that she has a personal intention to try to make things better. Whenever I met the pension people on Monday, they said that many part-time soldiers are not aware of their rights and the fact that they might be able to claim. Are the Government, and the Minister in particular, making any efforts to try to contact all those soldiers to ensure that they will be aware of their rights and can claim? As my right hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) said, the longer this goes on, some people will pass away. The opportunity for money should also go to their relatives; it should be retrospective.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Charter for Budget Responsibility · Hansard source

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  Does the shadow Minister share the concerns that many, probably all, MPs from Northern Ireland have—although I welcome the good news in relation to the tax surplus; who would be churlish and not welcome something that is to the benefit of us all—about the Northern Ireland Executive finding it incredibly difficult to make ends meet and make the books balance? One thing we look back on is the Barnett consequentials. We have heard promises many times over a number of years that the Barnett consequentials would be addressed, but that has not happened. The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has raised it, and individual MPs have raised it too. The Conservative Government and this Government said that they would look at it, but nothing has happened. Does the shadow Minister believe that it is now time to get things right for Northern Ireland, with a budget to help us to govern and deliver the goods, as the Government are doing here?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right: everybody has a role to play in the problem. For the record, Israel is not perfect. I am not perfect and the hon. Gentleman is not perfect. We do things we should not do, and there is accountability and a process. I make that point, but I look back to where it started: Hamas started the thing. I have mentioned it specifically, but this is about the people who need help. That is why we are here. Let us focus on that.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I do not think I can; it would not be fair on Members who have not yet spoken. Hamas’s control plays a huge part in the lack of healthcare provision, including the use of civilian areas for military purposes. That complicates the delivery of aid and protection of residential areas. To say that there are chronic systematic weaknesses is an understatement. It is important to understand the context in which the challenges exist. Hamas’s control over Gaza, its embedding of military infrastructure within civilian areas, and its prioritisation of terror over public services have directly contributed to the chronic weaknesses in the healthcare system. Israel, meanwhile, continues to facilitate humanitarian aid and medical access where possible, working with international organisations to ensure that urgent care reaches those in need. That must be enhanced and further encouraged. We must support the invaluable work of global and UK Northern Ireland charities providing medical supplies, clean water, and essential care to children and families, while also holding Hamas accountable for the governance failures that put healthcare workers and patients at risk. Compassion for civilians—I am a compassionate person when it comes to these issues; others are the same—and a commitment to security are not mutually exclusive. Both must guide our response to the crisis in Gaza.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I am no different from anybody else; I hear the same points that the hon. Lady refers to. Everyone else in this room—and those who are not in this room—will have the same issues. I mentioned those two organisations because they are physically and practically active in the middle east and elsewhere. Repeated conflict will lead to limited access to medical supplies alongside the pressure on the hospital infrastructure. In addition, Hamas’s administration policies and ongoing issues complicate healthcare delivery and lead to a significant impact on its own people—residents on both sides of the Gaza strip, who are devastated and losing livelihoods because of the lack of available healthcare delivery.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  It is, as always, a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I thank the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) for setting the scene incredibly well, as he always does. He is making a reputation for himself in the House as someone who speaks up on important issues, and today he has done so again. I thank him for that, and for giving us an opportunity to participate in the debate. It is, of course, a goal for all that all countries around the globe have access to healthcare. I am my party’s health spokesperson, so health is a big issue for me, whether it be here in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in the world. Also, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for international freedom of religion or belief, I think it is very important to speak up for those in areas where persecution takes place and for those who have experienced human rights abuses. These issues are so important, and I want to represent that. Delivery of healthcare in Gaza is so important—it is vital, as the hon. Gentleman outlined. Despite the acts of terror inflicted by Hamas, the children and the innocent people deserve better, and it is crucial that we recognise that. Today we can act collectively, and as individuals, throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) and I often talk about these things. It grieves me greatly to see wee children suffering with the atrocities and things that happen to them. Pregnant women are deprived of basic medical supplies. Questions have to be asked. There is an urgent medical need. I know that the Minister and the Government will not be found wanting when it comes to doing their bit—I am convinced of that—but sometimes, collectively, we need to do things in conjunction with other countries worldwide. To start with, there is a severe strain on Gaza’s healthcare system, especially for children, pregnant women and those with chronic illnesses. That is sometimes forgotten. Mental health, which was mentioned in an intervention, is another massive issue. In my constituency of Strangford we have two charities that help. One is Samaritan’s Purse, which is run by Gillian Gilliland, our local rep. It helps in Gaza and elsewhere around the world. Christian Aid is another organisation that is very much to the fore and active in getting money in Ards and Strangford, and also provides practical and physical help. Those organisations do their bit across Northern Ireland and respond in areas in need of humanitarian aid. When victims of war, poverty, disaster, disease and famine cry out, such organisations are often the first to answer.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Local Transport: Planning Developments · Hansard source

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  I commend the hon. Lady for bringing this topic to the House. We have similar problems back home in Northern Ireland. From listening to her, it seems that whenever a new development goes up, it relies on private cars, because there is no public transport out in the countryside, so the pressure is always on people to provide their own transport, which affects the local roads and infrastructure. It also seems like private developers are not following the rules that require a detailed traffic and transport impact assessment for all major developments. If that has not been done when the rules indicate it should have, should the councils, Government or local bodies not take enforcement action to ensure that what is required actually happens, rather than sitting back and doing nothing?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Online Harm: Child Protection · Hansard source

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  I thank and commend the hon. Lady for initiating the debate, and for her devotion to this subject. Does she agree that we should consider education and the role of school principals? In Northern Ireland the Education Minister, Paul Givan, has introduced a pilot scheme on phone-free schools, and I have held an event in my constituency to discuss that very issue. The aim is to prevent children from being harassed while at school, and from understanding things that they should not be understanding or doing. Does the hon. Lady agree that phone-free schools to help our children should be part of the policy and part of what the Liberal Democrats are trying to do?

• 24 Feb 2026 · EU Membership Referendum: Impact on the UK · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?

• 24 Feb 2026 · EU Membership Referendum: Impact on the UK · Hansard source

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  That is very kind. The legacy for us in Northern Ireland is that we are half in and half out, and our businesses, our exports and imports, and our people suffer. I know that the hon. Gentleman and I have very different opinions on Brexit, but does he not agree that Northern Ireland did not get the Brexit that everybody else got, which we wanted?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  First, I commend the right hon. Member and his party for bringing forward the motion, and for the way that he interviewed on TV this morning. Certainly, he speaks not just for this House, but for this nation. We are all greatly shocked at what has taken place, but does he agree that King Charles, Queen Camilla, Edward, Sophie, William and Kate are members of the royal family who need our support at this time? Does he also agree that now is perhaps the time to tell them that we in this House love them, and that this nation loves them? We understand the pain they are suffering, and we support those members of the royal family who are above reproach on this.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Kinship Carer Identification · Hansard source

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  I commend the hon. Gentleman for rightly bringing forward this issue. I spoke to him beforehand and he knows partly what I am going to say. The Minister might be aware of and want to follow the example of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has a higher rate of kinship care—31% of looked-after children, compared with England’s 16%. That is largely due to a long-standing cultural emphasis on family placements. There is also the fact that Northern Ireland offers the most consistent support, as all approved kinship foster carers are legally entitled to the same would-be allowance as mainstream foster carers, ranging from £149 to £268 per week. Does the hon. Member agree that, as is often the case, what we are doing in Northern Ireland might be an example of the very thing that he and the Minister wish to see?

• 23 Feb 2026 · Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill · Hansard source

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  I feel I have to disagree with the hon. Lady, for a very simple reason. The Minister has mentioned my comment on Second Reading that 50,000 children will be lifted out of poverty in Northern Ireland, and some 13,000 families will have a better standard of living. The mark of any society is that whenever those who are less well off need help, we must help them. That is why I think the Government are doing the right thing: they are helping to lift people out of poverty, and what is wrong with that?

• 23 Feb 2026 · Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill · Hansard source

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  I very much welcome what the Government are bringing forward. It is good news and, as the Minister says, if anyone is against that, there is certainly something wrong with them. I cannot see how the measure will not be welcomed. The fertility rate in Northern Ireland is 1.71 children per woman, but for the population level to be stable it needs to be 2.1 children per woman. Does the right hon. Gentleman think that the measures in the Bill will encourage more people to have children? If they do, then that is good news as well.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Private Rented Sector · Hansard source

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  The private rental sector in Northern Ireland has a slightly different system, as the Minister knows, but the problems are the same across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He is always incredibly helpful when it comes to assuring me and others in this House of the importance of Northern Ireland’s input into the process. Has he had the opportunity to speak to the relevant Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly, to ensure that we in Northern Ireland have the same protections that he is proposing for here?

• 23 Feb 2026 · Firearms Licensing · Hansard source

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  In Northern Ireland, we already have strict medical controls. Those work, and that is because of the participation of shooting organisations and individuals. Perhaps when the Minister is summing up, she could consider taking a glimpse at what is done in Northern Ireland, as that might be a way forward.