Jon Trickett MP: speeches

Speeches

• 5 Jan 2026 · Venezuela · Hansard source

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  The Foreign Secretary set three conditions for judging the transition: that it be peaceful, that it be compliant with international law and that it have the support of the Venezuelan people. All three of those conditions were broken by a lethal attack by a foreign power, planned not in Caracas but in Washington and in breach of the UN charter. Will the Foreign Secretary turn her mind for a second to the President’s idea that he will seize Venezuelan oil and turn the Venezuelan state into a colony, and advise the House of her reaction? None of those things could be supported by any Labour Government.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  As we approach Christmas and Boxing day, let me record my pride in having been an MP when we banned foxhunting. I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement and the Government’s commitment to welfare. Will she reiterate to the minority of people who still seem to think that it is pleasurable to kill foxes that that is totally illegal and inappropriate?

• 18 Dec 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  May I warmly endorse the generous comments of the Leader of the House about the public sector workers, often on low pay, who serve our communities, especially in holiday periods? I cannot extend that warm greeting to the management at Yorkshire Water, which has polluted our river courses, raised its prices and failed to deliver services more generally. Today we learn from the BBC that the chief executive, who earned £1.7 million over a two-year period, was secretly paid two further payments of £660,000 each. Can we have a debate about the scandalous levels of high pay in corporate Britain, particularly pay that is kept secret from the public?

• 18 Dec 2025 · Christmas Adjournment · Hansard source

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  I represent 23 former mining villages in Yorkshire, and I am very worried about the future of young people there. They are trapped in villages with little public transport, services have been cut to the bone, and there are no more youth services. They are facing great difficulty. I met some of them the other day in Featherstone. They were bright and optimistic, with eyes shining and looking forward to the future. I hope that this Government will build on the Budget announcements the other day to do more for young people. The second point I want to raise is the presence of a hunger striker—I will be very careful in what I say because of sub judice rules—in New Hall women’s prison in Wakefield. Heba Muraisi is now on day 46 of a hunger strike. Those who understand anything about human physiology will understand that, at 40 days and beyond, life can be very, very difficult. I am alarmed at the different kinds of advice I am getting about her condition: the governor tells me that she is receiving the medical treatment that she requires, but her lawyers tell me that she is not being properly cared for. Putting aside the pursuit of justice, I hope that the authorities at least ensure that she receives the healthcare that she requires. I will be watching the matter carefully in the coming days and weeks. My final point relates to the National Coal Mining Museum. Yorkshire is very proud of its heritage; I often say that if you dig down deep enough in my garden, you will find coal. The miners provided power, heat and light for so long, in the most difficult conditions. I do not whether know everybody knows this, but 100,000 men died underground, digging coal, in the last century. Think of the scale of that, and contrast it to the conditions that people face today. We are very proud that we have a National Coal Mining Museum to recall that history, and to show our pride. It is in Yorkshire, in the Wakefield area, for which I am an MP. A strike has been running there for almost 90 days, and I express my total support and admiration for the courage and resolution of those people who have been on strike for so long. They are now balloting to stay out probably until the summer. Think about that—the strike going through the winter and into the summer. This is just unacceptable. Let me address the chief executive and the board of directors, who have been less than helpful, directly: if you cannot get round the table and resolve this matter—a matter of only a few thousand pounds—then you really ought to stand aside and make way for somebody else who could bring a resolution to this matter. I have met the people who are on strike; they are reasonable, decent Yorkshire folk who deserve the best possible Christmas, and that means a settlement to their dispute.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Local Government Reorganisation · Hansard source

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  The fact of the matter is that Britain has one of the most centralised political structures anywhere in the world. If we are to renew our democracy and rebuild confidence in the people, we need well-led, financially secure authorities that can speak powerfully to central Government, so I advise the Minister to proceed quickly and carefully with the reorganisation. [Interruption.] I do not want to listen to advice from Opposition Members. They launched a tsunami of financial attacks on local government that left councils strapped for resources. One final point: there are 10,000 parish and town councils, including quite a number in my constituency. Will the Minister look at how we can use them to help to renew our democracy?

• 19 Nov 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q3. When the Conservatives were in government, they said that they would level up the country, but in fact they left the country divided. Austerity, de-industrialisation and stagnant wages all ripped the heart out of mining communities like the ones I represent. Everywhere we can see the legacy that the Conservatives left. How can it be right that the hard-working, loyal people in my constituency earn £400 a week, or £20,000 a year, less than people who live in Kensington? Will the Prime Minister declare that it is the Government’s moral purpose to eliminate economic injustice—starting, in the Budget next week, with an announcement of massive investment in the north, and wherever else poverty and low pay raise their heads?

• 13 Nov 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  The Minister is a very thoughtful individual, and he has a wide view of what is happening in the country. Housing is imperative, but in my constituency there was a proposal for 3,000 houses on what was effectively virgin land, and we established that the habitat of 32 rare and protected species would be irrevocably damaged. Does he agree that biodiversity has to be a central plank of the Government’s intentions, and will he assure the House that, if Lords amendment 40 is disagreed to, future Governments—who might be less caring about the environment—will not be able to use the law to damage habitats such as those I am describing?

• 16 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I understand from a number of people who work at the National Coal Mining Museum for England in Wakefield that unfortunately there is an intractable dispute there. My constituents have asked me to put two questions to the Minister. First, will she say how proud we are as a country that we have a national museum of coalmining to celebrate the history of the mines? Secondly, if necessary, will she seek to secure an agreement between the disagreeing parties at the museum?

• 16 Oct 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  When a landfill operator fails to follow the rules that have been laid down to protect the environment and the community, it takes far too long for the Environment Agency to take enforcement action. In one case in my constituency, the company then declared liquidation in order, presumably, to avoid the costs of clean-up. That is not acceptable. It happens elsewhere in the country, so could we have a debate on this matter in Government time?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Pride in Place · Hansard source

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  The Featherstone people have great pride in their place, but they are also shrewd. They know that the Tories did austerity, trickle-down economics and cuts across the health service, so they will very much welcome this announcement. May I push the Minister a little bit further on the question of a new economic model? Top-down economics has failed. Treasury mandarins do not understand what is happening in a place like Featherstone, whereas Featherstone people do. Does she see this measure as a way of community wealth building from the bottom up, rather than economics from the top down?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q8. This morning, I spoke to the parents of a young man who is unemployed in my constituency. There are 20 people on the dole in my area for every job that is advertised. Unemployment is a personal crisis and a social crisis. Will the Prime Minister join me in reminding the House that unemployment is not a price worth paying, which the Conservatives clearly believe, and will he indicate that he will break with the failed economic orthodoxy that suggests that such a thing is true?

• 22 Jul 2025 · Orgreave Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I very much welcome the Policing Minister announcing to the House the actions that the Government will be taking. I was active at the time of the miners’ strike, and I now represent 23 former mining villages. Many of the men I represent were at Orgreave, and if we were to take even a small sample of opinion as to what those men think happened there, they would say that the finger points in one direction only: at No. 10, and at people closely associated with Mrs Thatcher. I want to ask about the inquiry’s terms of reference. On the day, 90-odd men were arrested on trumped-up charges, with evidence falsified by police officers. I have met some of those police officers, and they say that they had orders from above telling them what to say and what to write. That is a serious matter: men were put on bail, put in prison or even hospitalised, all on trumped-up charges. Will the inquiry’s terms of reference allow the bishop—who is a good man—to pursue the trail of evidence wherever it leads, in order to determine once and for all how that injustice was organised by people in the Conservative party?

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  It is correct to analyse the failure of the regulators and to seek to replace them, but I rather think the Secretary of State, or one of his successors, will be coming back to discuss ownership structures. After all, under Yorkshire Water—the first to pioneer hosepipe bans this year—the pipes are leaking like a Tetley teabag, with more than 95 billion litres of water leaked in the last year alone. What does he envisage, if the new regulatory system fails and the ownership structures continue to produce the kinds of problem we have seen up and down the country? Will he have reserve powers to take action against the owners of the companies themselves, probably to remove them?

• 12 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I very much associate myself with your comments about Kevin Sinfield, Mr Speaker, who is a hero for the whole nation and a great role model. On the question of the north, the Leader of the House is right. In the great northern town of Featherstone, there is increasing irritation about the way in which the absentee and irresponsible owners of the former Junction pub are allowing it to deteriorate. It is now in a dangerous condition and I fear that somebody will be badly hurt. The process of dealing with dangerous structures is too long, too bureaucratic and too cumbersome. Please may we have a debate in Government time—I think lots of Members will have the same experience—so we can share our experiences and see whether the Government can push things forward?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Free School Meals · Hansard source

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  As others have, I very much welcome the announcement. For the thousands of families in my constituency with children in poverty, this is a great announcement. However, I remember the Prime Minister’s statement that the Government need to go further and faster, so I encourage the Minister when he goes back to his Department to ensure that the child poverty strategy is as radical as it can be and is adequately resourced. I ask him to return to the question of people on universal credit with children in poverty. Can we ensure that every child benefits from this announcement, because some families lack the capacity—for all sorts of reasons—to make the appropriate applications?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Bank Closures and Banking Hubs · Hansard source

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  The banks have more or less abandoned my constituency, and it sounds like that is the case for many others. Some 6,500 branches have closed in recent years, as have more than 200 post offices. There are 23 separate settlements in my constituency with no access to banking. We do have banking hubs. It is an hour each way by bus to get to one, and it costs at least six quid to get there and back. I represent large numbers of people living in poverty, and it is hard for them to raise that kind of money just to have access to banking services. I will make two other points about my constituency and then a general point. The bus services are very poor. As I have just said, it can take an hour each way to get to the banking hub, and the banking hub does not provide all the services that a bank should provide. My other point about my constituency is that there are 15 zones for the internet, and 11 of those 15 zones are among the worst for internet provision in the country. How on earth is someone supposed to access banking on an internet system that is simply not working? It shows the extent to which Britain’s infrastructure is creaking, and it is not acceptable that banks should abandon the people who helped to create them in the first place. I will just make this final point about mobility and accessibility. One in four households in my constituency has no access at all to a vehicle. That is more than 20,000 people without a van or a car to get them to a bank, even if a bank were available. It is a disgrace that the banks have turned their backs on all those people who were their loyal customers for so many years. Businesses that rely on cash and collect cash each day have nowhere to deposit it. People are driving home from their place of work or their business with cash in the boot and nowhere safe to put it. That is a dangerous thing. It is odd, ideologically, to hear Members from the party of free enterprise and the free market saying, “We have to do something about capitalism withdrawing from communities.” That is what is happening, and that is the nature of capitalism itself. We should just say that the financial sector in this country is worth £17 trillion, which dwarfs our GDP of £2.5 trillion. The banks are worth eight times more than the total output of the whole UK. As we have heard elsewhere, £44 billion of profit has been made by the banks in recent years. It is time we brought the banks to order to serve our communities—

• 5 Jun 2025 · Battery Energy Storage Sites: Safety Regulations · Hansard source

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  First of all, I support the fact that there is a debate on this issue, and I support some of the points that the hon. Member for Horsham (John Milne) has just made. It is clear that technology is moving fast, and when it does, it is essential that public authorities move even faster so that we feel properly secure and protected. I do not think we are quite there yet, and it is clear that there are different patterns of operation by public authorities in different parts of the country. We need an overall pattern. I also agree that we do not want to turn our back on this new technology. It is very important that we continue to transform our energy provision across the country as a whole, but the fact of the matter is that the fires that occur from time to time pose serious problems for fire authorities. Those authorities should take a central role in any national conversation about this matter. Guidance from the National Fire Chiefs Council says that at least 1,900 litres of water per minute are needed to try to control a fire once it gets started. That is an incredible amount of water to deliver, and many sites simply cannot deliver it, although they seem to be making progress in some cases. The Government have said that there have not been many fires, but there have been quite a few. The one in Liverpool that the hon. Member for Horsham mentioned burned for a substantial period of time—59 hours—and there was one in California that lasted for five days. There have been three other fires in the UK this year, and we are only halfway through the year. When the fire authorities are trying to eliminate a fire, it is obviously complex, but it can lead to pollutants going into the ground and into watercourses, which itself is very dangerous. It has been shown that in Liverpool, when the smoke from the fire was sprayed by water, it produced hydrochloric acid that was distributed through the community—obviously, not a very healthy thing to have. Additionally, toxic fumes were created, which travelled a long way.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Battery Energy Storage Sites: Safety Regulations · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for his intervention, and take his point entirely. Some authorities have suggested that a two-mile radius is needed if a fire starts. People need to keep their windows and doors closed while the fumes are in the air, as there is a risk of children, elderly people and others breathing them in. In my constituency, there are two applications in place, both in beautiful parts of Yorkshire. In Heath, which is regarded as one of the crown jewels of Wakefield, there is a proposal for a large battery storage provision. Hundreds of people objected to it. The chief fire officer said: “The risks of vapour cloud, thermal runaway and explosion are unfortunately very real and are becoming more common as we see an increase” in battery storage. He talks about choices being given to the fire authorities, in whether they allow the fire to just burn itself out, with the risk of pollution of the atmosphere, or whether they attempt to tackle it. To control a fire at the site in Heath would require millions of litres of water in a 24-hour period. It is almost impossible to deliver that level of water and, anyway, what happens to the millions of litres of water used to try to eliminate such a fire? There is a second proposal in Old Snydale, a beautiful village in my constituency. It is a one-road village, and the people who live there work hard or have worked hard. The proposed site will be almost next to the village, and there is no road access or egress. I do not know how the fire engines and other emergency services would get in. The proposal is completely inappropriate, but the two communities of Heath and Old Snydale are sitting there with planning applications in place and the fire officers expressing great worries about the risk of potential fire and how they will control it. Without national guidance and proper regulations that are sensitive to the prospect of fires, our local planning officers are having to reinvent the wheel, as are other planning officers in other authorities. I support the points made by the hon. Member for Horsham (John Milne) in introducing this debate.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Battery Energy Storage Sites: Safety Regulations · Hansard source

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  I will, but quickly.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Regional Growth · Hansard source

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  It is more than 30 years since I was the leader of Leeds city council and made the first proposal for a rapid transit system in that area of West Yorkshire, so I welcome today’s announcement, although it will be a couple of years before the building starts. During the 14 years of Tory Government, the average amount of money per head spent in London was three times larger than the amount of money spent per head on transport in Yorkshire. Of course we want a successful capital city, but that has left the coalfield communities that I represent in real difficulty, with low investment and low productivity. Our wages and salaries are £12,500 per head less than those received on average in the north of London. Will the Minister assure the House that we will look again at funding the regeneration of coalfield communities in the near future?

• 22 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I associate myself with the comments from the Leader of the House repudiating antisemitism. In South Elmsall in my constituency, there is a clay pit that has been working for 14 years, four years after the licence expired. Last year, an enforcement notice was taken out by the Environment Agency, and now we are hearing of multiple breaches of the licence, but nothing has been done yet to close the operation down. Can we have a debate in Government time on the enforcement powers of the Environment Agency in order that I can express my wish that immediate action now takes place to protect that community?

• 20 May 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  The situation in Gaza is utterly intolerable, and the Foreign Secretary has convinced the House of his passion, anger and indignation, but he will know that angry rhetoric means nothing if it is not accompanied by forceful actions. I am not one of those people who say that no action has been taken by the Government, because they have taken action, but it has not had the desired effect. Will the Foreign Secretary now say that he will recognise the state of Palestine, will stop any intelligence-sharing with Israel, and will stop the supply of components that might be used in its war machine?

• 15 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  People in my area are totally brassed off with Yorkshire Water, which has failed, repeatedly, to deliver clean water to houses in Upton. It has delivered 5,000 hours of sewage into our local rivers and streams last year, and today we learnt that people are having to boil water in the north of Yorkshire. In the meantime, it is pushing up prices and has pocketed over £1 billion of profits since covid. Can we have a debate on Yorkshire Water’s lamentable progress on delivering clean water? Can we have an opportunity to see whether or not we think privatisation is a failed experiment?

• 7 May 2025 · Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for making that important point, and of course she is right. I go back to this question of the threats to the database, which are not simply the product of my imagination; they are real. First, all data can be monetised, but this database is so large that huge commercial interests are now trying to get access to that health data. I do not want to cause offence to any hon. Members, all of whom I know follow the rules, but it is interesting that nearly £3 million from the private health sector was made available to over 150 different Members of Parliament. I do not suggest that any Member has done anything inappropriate—that would be wrong of me—but one wonders how almost £3 million was found by a private sector that has no commercial interest in pursuing those investments. Secondly, on commercial interests, will the Minister confirm that at no stage will any data or any other aspect of the NHS be up for sale as part of negotiations with the United States on a trade deal? Will the Government provide some guidance on that? If the House reflects on private sector interests—which are not necessarily in the best interests of humanity—and how they make money, there is an interesting thought about health insurance. A party represented in the House is led by an individual who has suggested that we should end the way that we fund the NHS and replace it with an insurance system. If the insurance industry got access to the data held on all of us by the NHS, they would be able to see the genome of each person or of groups of people, and provide differential rates of insurance according to people’s genetic make-up. That is a serious threat. I do not think the party that has recently entered the House has thought that through, but companies providing insurance could commercialise that data. That is one reason we must never follow the track towards a national insurance system to replace the NHS. Yesterday, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care told the House that we will not be privatising the NHS, and I welcome that statement. Reference has already been made to Palantir—the right hon. Member for Goole and Pocklington (David Davis) mentioned it earlier—and the contract that we inherited from the previous Government. It is extraordinary that Palantir, a company that has deep roots in the United States defence establishment, should be handling the data of millions of people, when its chair has said that he is completely opposed to the central principle of the NHS and that he effectively wants a private health system in the UK. How could a £500 million contract to handle our personal data have been handed over to such a company, led by a person whose purpose seems to be to destroy the principles of our NHS? How our data is handled should be our decision, in the United Kingdom. The Information Commissioner says that it is important that this precious and vital data, which is personal to each of us, should be protected against any possibility of cyber-attacks. However, there has already been a cyber-attack. Qilin—the way I am pronouncing it makes it sound as if someone is trying to commit murder, but there may be another way of saying it—is a Russian cyber-criminal group that obtained access to 400 GB of private information held by a company dealing with pathology testing. That is an enormous amount of data. Qilin attempted to extort from the company that held the data a financial interest. I do not know whether enough provision is made in the Bill for the protection of our data, so I suggest that there should be a new public interest test, with a report to Parliament within six months, which we can all debate and then examine whether the legislation has gone far enough. Finally, the Information Commissioner says three things. First, the database must retain public confidence. Media discussions and opinion polling show that people are losing confidence that their personal data is secure, and I understand why that should be the case. Secondly, data should be properly protected and built from the beginning with proper safeguards against cyber-attacks. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the Bill refers to an effective exemption for scientific research. As my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West (Chi Onwurah) said, private companies, and perhaps US companies, might use the idea of promoting scientific research as a fig leaf to hide their search for profit from the precious commodity—data—that we have because we created our NHS. That is a very dangerous thought, and the Information Commissioner says he is not convinced that the definition of scientific research in the Bill is sufficiently strong to protect us from predatory activity by other state actors or private companies.

• 7 May 2025 · Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for making that very serious point. When the clinicians—whose duty is to protect their patients—say they are not convinced about the safety of data being handed over to a central database, we have to listen to their reactions. I do not intend to press my new clause to the vote, but it is important that we continue to debate this matter, because this enormous database—which can contribute to the general welfare of all humanity—must be protected in such a way that it retains confidence and ensures the security of the whole system. With that, I leave the discussion to continue on other matters.