Joe Powell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 9 Feb 2026 · Russian Influence on UK Politics and Democracy · Hansard source

  More

  As my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Ben Goldsborough) and the hon. Member for Ceredigion Preseli (Ben Lake) alluded to, there are many directions in which we can take the debate, be that money in politics or disinformation. Even in my community, a Russian school has been accused of teaching paramilitary techniques to children. However, I want to focus on a case that I believe can inform the rest of the debate and the Government’s response: that of my former constituent Roman Abramovich, who still owns frozen property in Kensington and Bayswater.

• 23 Oct 2025 · Building Safety Regulator · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I congratulate my hon. Friends the Members for Northampton South (Mike Reader) and for Milton Keynes North (Chris Curtis) on securing this debate. I start by briefly reminding hon. Members why Britain’s building safety regime needed such radical reform after the Grenfell Tower fire, which took place eight and half years ago in my constituency of Kensington and Bayswater, with 72 people losing their lives in an entirely preventable and foreseeable tragedy. The bereaved, survivors and our community are still waiting for justice. We hope it will come soon. As the Grenfell Tower inquiry revealed, there were a litany of systematic failures that led to the fire—a failure to learn lessons from previous fires, most notably the Lakanal House fire in 2009; a failure of Conservative Ministers to update approved building regulations; a failure of manufacturers to produce safe cladding; a failure of builders and architects to ensure safe design; and a failure to spot risks on the part of local building control, who signed off an unsafe building. There are many more. As many Members will know from their own constituencies, this problem stretches far beyond Grenfell. Today, more than 5,500 residential buildings contain dangerous, flammable cladding and fewer than half of mid and high-rise buildings have even begun remedial work. That is up to 1 million people still stuck in unsafe buildings, victims of the building safety crisis that is ruining lives. Many of those residents have themselves suffered due to the performance of the Building Safety Regulator. Other Members have not yet mentioned that there are almost double the number of major cladding remediation projects awaiting gateway 2 approval than there are new builds. The housing journalist Pete Apps wrote today of a housing association-owned block that has been waiting since November 2023 to install new fire doors. I welcome the new chair of the Building Safety Regulator, Andy Roe, being so candid last month with the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, of which I was a member up until this week. Mr Roe said: “if we have not shown very significant change by the end of the calendar year, we run the risk of losing the complete confidence of everyone in the regulatory regime.” That is why it is so important. It has been felt in recent months that there has been something of a campaign about the Building Safety Regulator, and some of that campaign is driven by a desire to roll back changes in building safety introduced post Grenfell. I totally reject the false choice between safety and house building. I believe we need a regulator that works. That means being specific about what changes will make the system more predictable and faster, to help deliver on the Government’s housing goals, while ensuring that we do not compromise on safety. I can assure hon. Members that I have never met anyone involved in campaigning for truth, justice and change for Grenfell who does not want to see this Government tackling this country’s housing crisis, including by increasing the supply of social and affordable homes that would get children out of temporary accommodation in constituencies like mine, which has some of the worst housing inequality in the country. The question for me is not whether the BSR should exist, but how it can improve. I welcome its improvement in transparency. We can now get a breakdown of the reasons behind the delays. We have already heard some really constructive suggestions. They include: hiring more registered building inspectors centrally, given that 27% of the backlog is due to a lack of registered building inspectors being able to get on to projects; engaging in predictable pre-application dialogue; having clearer guidelines for submissions; moving away from a staffing project model that relies on ad hoc multidisciplinary teams that take too long to form, which were described to our Committee as “dysfunctional” by Mr Roe; and perhaps even considering whether more minor improvement works, which are the majority of projects in the BSR, could be dealt with outside the scope of the full gateway process, to keep the BSR focused on the higher risk projects. I welcome the Government’s decision to unlock the building safety fund to social housing providers, as well as the £39 billion for the affordable homes programme, the remediation action plan to devolve responsibility down to local level, so that we get that building-by-building conversation on fixing the cladding crisis, and the construction products regulation process. Those are all positive steps. In closing, like other colleagues, I ask the Minister how much she is able to keep track of the hiring process for the 100 new staff, including the 15 new inspectors, who Andy Roe told us would be in place by the end of September. How do we deal with the skills shortage? What conversations is she having with the Department for Education to co-ordinate the construction skills package announced several months ago? Will that include the types of skills that we need for the BSR? Will the BSR moving under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government deliver the additional transparency and accountability that we need on performance? I hope this debate can contribute to a better BSR that can tackle the building safety crisis and the housing crisis together.

• 22 Jul 2025 · Health Inequalities · Hansard source

  More

  In Kensington and Bayswater, there is now a staggering 19-year gap in life expectancy between men living in Notting Dale and those living in Holland Park—which are just hundreds of metres apart—and that gap has grown in recent years. The Minister knows that this is a whole-of-society issue to do with housing, employment and education, but can he outline what steps the Department are taking to help inner-city areas with very high levels of health inequality, such as that experienced by my constituents in Kensington?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Taxes · Hansard source

  More

  I am glad that business confidence is at a nine-year high—that is from an independent assessment. The decisions that the hon. Gentleman refers to are already making a difference. Does he oppose the 4 million extra NHS appointments that this Government have managed to secure so far; the three trade deals with the US, India and the EU—deals that the Conservative party failed to get over the line—the four interest rate cuts; the efforts to close the tax gap; the fact that wages have grown more in our first 10 months in office than under the last 10 years of the Conservative Government; the rise in the national minimum wage to support low-paid workers; and the expansion of free school meals to half a million children, which also lifts 100,000 out of poverty? The motion before us offers no ideas and no credible plan. If the Conservative party were serious about economic growth and tax, it would do some reflecting on its record, apologise to the British people and get behind the Labour plan to get Britain’s economy booming again.

• 10 Jul 2025 · London’s National Economic Contribution · Hansard source

  More

  I beg to move, That this House has considered London’s contribution to the national economy. It is an honour and a privilege to serve under your chairship, Mr Western, for this important debate on London’s contribution to the Government’s national growth mission. I am proud to be a London MP, and of the contribution that our great city makes to our country, and to the world. It is disappointing that, in some quarters, London-bashing has come back into fashion. People want to talk down our city for their own political agendas or—dare I say it—play vigilante for likes on social media. I hope that today we can instead focus on the mutual benefits that a strong London economy brings to the UK. We all know that the problems inherited by this Government are far bigger than London alone. For too long, our country has missed opportunities to unlock growth and potential for all our people and places. Since the global crash in 2008, productivity has flatlined. Stagnation has taken hold, hurting not just London’s prospects but the prosperity of every community across the UK. Regional divides were allowed to deepen, potential was wasted, and growth was squandered. The promise of levelling up proved nothing more than a gimmick: more hanging baskets than a genuine effort to tackle regional inequality. It is welcome that we have a Government determined to change that with their relentless focus on tackling regional inequality by delivering good jobs, putting more money into people’s pockets and giving local communities real power over the decisions that affect them. The Green Book review and the commitment to place-based growth are important steps forward because every community deserves a fair chance to thrive, but we should be clear that tackling regional inequality must never mean holding back our greatest national economic asset. That has never been a strategy for success. London is one of the most successful cities in the world, a gateway for global talent, investment and trade, and an economic engine that drives prosperity far beyond the M25. We finally have a Labour Government working hand in hand with a Labour mayor to deliver, for example, the London growth plan that I know the Minister recently helped to launch, which is a blueprint to boost productivity and build the infrastructure that matches that ambition. It aims to ensure that London contributes an extra £27.5 billion in tax revenue by 2035. That is money for our NHS, our schools and our public services everywhere in this country. To unlock London’s full potential, we need to be clear about what more needs to be done. I know that colleagues will talk in this debate about ensuring that our streets are safe, with properly funded policing, and that our councils have the resources they need to deliver basic services to some of the most deprived communities in the country. I will cover three areas at the outset: first, ensuring that London remains a magnet for global talent, attracting the skills that we need to lead the industries of the future; secondly, delivering the homes that the capital needs, which means social and genuinely affordable homes that support strong, thriving communities and provide the foundation for growth; and thirdly, a transport system fit for a world-leading city. Let me start with talent. The recent immigration White Paper offered some welcome signs, by recognising that the global race for talent is accelerating and Britain must compete in that race. We want a controlled immigration system with democratic consent, and the Government are right to prioritise that, but we must not let that system become a barrier to attracting the people who will drive our future growth. Many businesses in Kensington and Bayswater tell me that they are struggling to hire the people they need. I believe that we need urgent reform of how we attract talent. That means the global talent visa, of which only 4,000 were issued last year. I think we should aim for at least 10,000 a year, to send a clear message that Britain and London are open for business, and for talent. We should also introduce a credible investor visa—not a return to the failed pay-to-play schemes of the past and the golden visa fiasco, which was tainted with corruption, but a genuine pathway for entrepreneurs in high-growth sectors like biotech and clean energy. The west London tech corridor, for example, is ready for exponential growth, but it needs capital, talent and leadership, and world-leading institutions like Imperial College London rely on international talent to stay globally competitive. The proposed UK-EU youth experience scheme is therefore an important step forward. I know that businesses welcome it, including those in hospitality, where cost pressures have been acute. We should build on it, because if we want Britain to lead in the industries of the future, we must be a country that welcomes talent.