Jon Trickett MP: speeches

Speeches

• 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?