Josh Fenton-Glynn MP: speeches

Speeches

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

  More

  I am excited to hear that the hon. Member thinks work should pay. Can she tell us why, under the last Government, we went from one in three children in poverty having a parent in work to two in three children in poverty having a parent in work?

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

  More

  You’re in trouble now, Madam Deputy Speaker! The Bill will be remembered as one of the proudest moments of this Government’s first term. Before entering this place, I worked on policy around poverty, and it is something that motivates me every day. A constant theme that I have found, when looking at the evidence, is that the simple solutions are often the best. Indeed, it is interesting that Opposition Members often argue for a simplified tax system for the wealthy, but when it comes to benefits, they have done nothing but buttress the system with more and more complex rules. Poverty ruins lives. We know that growing up in poverty leads to worse life outcomes, including poorer educational outcomes. Being in poverty as children leaves us three times more likely to be in poverty as adults, and the longer the period of deprivation a child goes through, the worse their chances will be as an adult. It is clear that the impacts of child poverty are deep-rooted. Lifting the two-child benefit cap is one of the single most effective ways to change that trajectory and give people a better outcome for the rest of their lives. If someone is constantly hungry, cold or in damp housing without repairs, the effects on their health, self-esteem and chances are long-lasting. When kids grow up in poverty, the economy loses out too. Even if Members choose not to care about worse outcomes for children—something I think we have a moral imperative to care about—it is a question of cold economic logic. In 2023, my old employer, the Child Poverty Action Group, estimated that the cost of child poverty was £39 billion a year, and that investing to solve the issue “would bring similarly large gains to the economy”. The lifting of this cap alone will ultimately save £3.2 billion a year. This is the first piece of legislation passed on child poverty since the Child Poverty Act 2010. I remember working on the passage of that Act, and how the now Lord Cameron committing to halving and then ending child poverty. Indeed, he accepted the evidence-based view that relative poverty is appropriate for measuring child poverty, because children with less money are less able to take part in the society to which their friends belong, and are less able to achieve in the same way. It was a bold way to face the electorate in 2010, but it was not matched at all by the Conservatives’ record in power of abject failure. The two-child limit pushed hundreds of thousands more children into poverty. This Bill is shot through with the needs created by the last Government’s 14 years of failure. UNICEF found that between 2013 and 2023, the UK saw the largest increase in relative poverty out of the 37 high-income countries that it measured—an increase of a third. That is a larger increase than across the EU. We have heard a lot from Members across the House about people in work. When I was working at the Child Poverty Action Group, we had a killer stat. We used to say, “One third of children in poverty have a parent in work.” By the time that lot left government, two thirds of children in poverty had a parent in work. Even if a child does not have a parent in work, I do not believe that the sins of the parents are visited on the children. I do not believe that children have control over where they are born. We hear about choices; should children choose to be born to a different family? The two-child benefit cap is social and economic vandalism that we will reverse when this Bill becomes law. The removal of that cap will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, with 2 million children set to benefit overall. Think about what that means—the lives changed and the futures opened up. If nothing else moves Members, think about the savings to the public purse from fewer children growing up facing the barriers that poverty causes, which follow them into adulthood. There is more to do. My hon. Friends on the Front Bench will know that I am likely to be very annoying about the further things we have to do, but I welcome the Government’s support for free breakfast clubs, expanding childcare, family hubs and getting more young people into work. I look forward to reviewing how those programmes bring children out of deprivation. Today, I could not be prouder that I will walk through the Division Lobby to give millions of children a fairer start.

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

  More

  One of the most distressing things that I discovered when I was working at Church Action on Poverty and talking to parents of children in poverty was how often mothers went without food. My hon. Friend has talked about families struggling so that their children did not find out. Does she agree that that is what we are changing today, and that that is the reality of this policy?

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

  More

  Consistently wrong.

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

  More

  The Reform policy really is quite something, as I am sure my hon. Friend would agree. In fact, if someone lost their child benefit because of the Reform policy, it would take 345 pints a week to make a saving. So it does not really help anyone, but it does hurt those in the most poverty. Will my hon. Friend recommend that people do not listen to the easy answers of Reform and actually work to make people’s lives better?

• 9 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T5. Having worked on child poverty for over a decade, I have seen at first hand the damage to health, education prospects and life chances that poverty can cause, put at £40 billion a year by the Child Poverty Action Group. Can the Chancellor assure me that the child poverty strategy will build on the historic Budget announcement on the two-child cap, and do more to reverse the appalling rise in poverty that we saw under the Conservatives?

• 8 Dec 2025 · Child Poverty Strategy · Hansard source

  More

  From loss of earnings to poor health outcomes, in 2023 the Child Poverty Action Group estimated that had child poverty continued to rise as it was, it would have cost the economy £40 billion by 2027. I am proud that not only have we stopped that rise, but we will see 550,000 fewer children in poverty by 2030, giving young people better futures. Can the Secretary of State assure me that we will continue to invest in wiping out the root causes of poverty and not just invest in cleaning up the mess that it leaves?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

  More

  This Budget comes at a crucial time for the country and this Government. I say that because I am not blind to the public mood. It is a mood that calls for more change and, fundamentally, I think that only the Labour party can deliver the change that we need. To understand the decisions we made in the Budget, Members must bear in mind what we inherited. The economy was a cupboard left not only bare by Liz Truss, but with broken hinges and no remaining shelves because of the decade and a half of austerity that preceded her. This Labour Government were not elected because the last lot had done a good job; we were elected because there was a mess. Throughout our whole electoral mandate at the last election was the message that we should make things better: we should improve the cost of living, support poorer children, and fix our public services, from roads to the health service. Changing Government takes time. I am one of the many alumni of local government in this place, and I never thought I would dream of the speed of action and the immediacy of decision making that we can get in a townhall. I will speak briefly about supporting businesses such as those in Calder Valley, and lifting children out of poverty. I welcome the Government’s work to transform business rates relief and protect our high streets. Retail, hospitality and leisure are central to our communities in Calder Valley. In Calderdale, 3,200 businesses will benefit from lower rates. When we talk about this change, we are talking about the clothes shop in Brighouse, the café in Hebden Bridge, the pub in Todmorden and the curry house in Elland. They are places that keep our towns alive and bring people together. Just as our high streets are vital to our community life, our manufacturing is vital to so much else in our nation and our national security. In Calder Valley we are proud of our manufacturing—we are known to some across the country as “valve valley”, and I promise I will make that name stick in this place. Those businesses are ready to contribute to Britain’s national interest and security. The Chancellor’s commitment to changing procurement laws, so that when national security is at stake we support skilled jobs in our country, is common sense. SMEs in Calder Valley also welcome the fact that apprenticeships will now be free, which will help them to secure the next generation of British manufacturing. However, apprenticeships are not just jobs; they are opportunities and a sense of pride for so many families. I have talked about business, but I will also talk about the heart of the Budget. I thank the Chancellor for removing the two-child benefit cap. I know from my time working at the Child Poverty Action Group, at Oxfam on UK poverty, and at Church Action on Poverty that this change is one of the most significant steps we can take to reduce child poverty. Measures in this Budget will lift half a million children out of poverty. Children growing up poor are less likely to succeed at school, twice as likely to be obese, and more likely to suffer from poor health throughout their life. As adults, they earn less. The vandalism of the rapacious rise in child poverty under the last Government will echo through generations. This country had the largest rise in child poverty among high-income countries between 2013 and 2023, with deep poverty rising by 67%. That is the legacy of Conservative Members. The need could not be clearer. In Calder Valley, 5,624 children were living in poverty in 2023-24, compared with 4,317 in 2014-15. That is a rise of more than 1,000 on the Tories’ watch, and behind every one of those numbers is a kid who deserves a fair chance, and a parent fighting to get it for them. Nearly 2,000 children in Calder Valley will have their lives made better because of this Budget, but it is not just one measure; it is a strategy—free breakfast clubs in schools, the expansion of subsidised childcare, and a higher minimum wage. That will make our country stronger into the future, but there is more work ahead. Families need certainty that support will continue, and businesses need confidence that investment in British industry will be matched by action, skills and infrastructure. This Budget is a turning point, and a signal that Britain is ready to move beyond austerity and neglect towards fairness, opportunity and prosperity. Above all, it is about trust—trust that the Government will stand for families when times are hard, trust that investment in British industry will mean real opportunities for towns such as mine, and trust that fairness, not austerity, will guide our decisions. That will build confidence in our system, our Government, and in our country as a place to live, invest and prosper.

• 29 Oct 2025 · UK-Türkiye Typhoon Export Deal · Hansard source

  More

  I welcome this deal, which is the biggest of its kind in a generation. As the world is becoming more unstable, this ambition should turn world-class defence deals into growth that we can feel in workshops, factories and communities across the country. In Calder Valley—or valve valley, as it is known because of its specialist valve manufacturers—businesses tell me that they want to play a bigger role in that success, but small and medium-sized firms feel locked out of defence procurement and supply chains. Worse, the big companies that dominate the field sometimes poach skilled staff from companies that cannot access the process. Can the Minister make sure that the procurement system is more open and competitive so that more communities such as Calder Valley can benefit from that investment?

• 7 Jul 2025 · Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life · Hansard source

  More

  The last Government’s decimation of Sure Start was nothing short of social vandalism; the paroxysms of outrage from the Conservative Benches felt like an arsonist complaining that the fire service had not put the fire out quickly enough. I welcome this policy because the family hubs will make a real difference. Can my right hon. Friend tell me how constituencies that are, like Calder Valley, defined by towns and somewhat ropey local transport will get the full benefit of the family hubs, as urban areas will?