Josh Newbury MP: speeches

Speeches

• 27 Feb 2025 · Small Theatres and Performing Arts Venues · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for that response. In my constituency, formerly represented by the great Jennie Lee, the council-owned theatre and museum are due to close in just two months’ time. Passionate members of our community have come together to form the Cannock Chase Theatre Trust and the Chase Heritage CIC to save these precious venues. Will the Minister join me in thanking those groups for all their efforts, and will he set out how the Government are supporting such community groups to take on culture and heritage venues at risk?

• 27 Feb 2025 · Small Theatres and Performing Arts Venues · Hansard source

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  9. What steps her Department is taking to support small theatres and performing arts venues.

• 6 Feb 2025 · Coalfield Communities · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to speak in this debate as the Member of Parliament for Cannock Chase, an area deeply proud of its mining heritage. Collieries were our dominant industry from the mid- 19th century right up until the early 1990s. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) on securing this debate and enabling us to speak on behalf of our coalfield communities. As a fellow Staffordshire MP, I know that he is a dedicated advocate for the town and villages that he represents. He referred to the Diglake mining disaster; in Cannock Chase on 1 October we will mark the 95th anniversary of the Grove colliery disaster in the North Lanes area of Norton Canes, which claimed the lives of 14 men. My constituents are rightly proud of where they live. Often, generations remain in the area for their whole lives, which shows the real sense of community and local identity. However, my constituents often tell me that we desperately need investment in the bread-and-butter infrastructure that supports thriving communities, such as capacity at GPs, dentists and primary schools, good quality roads and regeneration of our town centres. Regeneration is vital because in all too many coalfield communities there is still a feeling that, decades on, we have not all recovered from the rapid destruction of the coalmining industry in the 1980s and 1990s. At the 2019 general election, many of my constituents were tempted by the siren song of levelling up from the then Prime Minister. My constituents have been crying out for the promise of big-bang regeneration across communities such as mine for a very long time. Our main town of Cannock was successful in securing £20 million from the levelling-up fund in 2021, but the reality of the fund has been far more complex than even my local council envisaged four years ago. First of all, its rigidity in awarding funding to one town pits communities against one another and does not reflect the more balanced approach to regeneration that councils such as mine would take if given the freedom. Secondly, the focus on large, complex and therefore risky projects with fixed budgets, coupled with high inflation, has forced councils with LUF projects to repeatedly re-evaluate what they can deliver. On several occasions, Members will have heard me raise the plight of the Prince of Wales theatre in Cannock and the Museum of Cannock Chase in Hednesford, which are threatened with closure. The museum, based in the buildings of the former Valley colliery, is a much- loved hub for our proud mining heritage. Our theatre is playing its part in keeping our heritage alive, too, such as in the new play “The Tunnellers”, which tells the story of the heroic men of the tunnelling companies in the first world war, many of whom worked on the Cannock Chase coalfield. A redevelopment of our theatre was to be at the heart of our LUF project, but the effects of inflation to have forced the council to scale back the project, and the theatre is now set to close. Fortunately, a fantastic group of residents have formed a community interest company with a view to taking on the Prince of Wales. I pay tribute to them and, as I stated at a public meeting that I organised last Friday, I will continue to work shoulder to shoulder with them to secure a bright, sustainable future for the theatre, and our museum, too. I very much hope that our council will use the levelling-up funds to help secure the long-term future of the theatre. The difficulties faced by Cannock’s LUF project underline the flaws of the funding model. I am encouraged to see this Government’s commitment to replacing the dog-eat-dog bidding wars with a system based on need and what our communities want. Alongside my colleagues, I hope to see coalfield communities benefit from local growth funding, maintained at the current level at least, long-term funding that does not lead to a rapid dash to spend by arbitrary deadlines, and the genuine empowerment of local councils, which will always know their communities better than Whitehall. Finally, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, which has done fantastic work in our communities for 25 years, was forced by the previous Government to become a self-financing charity. Despite the inevitable scaling back of its capacity to invest, its brilliant model of generating income from building new industrial units for small and medium-sized businesses in coalfield communities is enabling it to carry on its fantastic work. The CRT’s objectives and investments perfectly align with this Government’s ambition for economic growth that is spread right across the country while bearing down on the barriers that all too often affect coalfield communities more than most. Our communities, which once powered the nation, are bursting with potential and passionate, hard-working people with a diverse range of skills and a pride in our past, strengthened by hope for the future. I am proud to be part of a Labour Government who are once again unleashing that potential for the good of the people we all represent.

• 24 Jan 2025 · Climate and Nature Bill · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to speak on the Bill, given the twin challenges of tackling climate change and ensuring that our natural world not only survives but becomes a far greater part of our lives. Those priorities are shared by the vast majority of my constituents in Cannock Chase, many of whom have written to me over the last few weeks. As others have done, I pay tribute to the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage), who deserves great credit for using her private Member’s Bill to push for strong ambitions and action on both climate and biodiversity. That decision has enabled a huge amount of discussion to take place on those issues not just today, but over the last few months and, no doubt, in the months and years to come. In particular, she has worked incredibly hard to ensure that those discussions radiate out of this place by engaging with passionate campaigners from up and down the country. I have no doubt that that will make the public debate both wider and deeper, which I am confident all hon. Members in the Chamber welcome. As I noted in my maiden speech, my constituency is best known for its forest. While there is far more to Cannock Chase and the fantastic people who call it home than that, I am happy to have the welcome excuse of this debate to focus on the natural beauty and serenity that it has to offer. The truth is that Cannock Chase has a far more complex and diverse range of habitats than simply a 2,700-hectare forest. About a third of the wider Cannock Chase national landscape is agricultural land, which I will come to later, and a large proportion is heathland, which is a vital but endangered habitat. In many ways, the decline and continuing plight of Britain’s heathland is symbolic of the decline of our natural world, which we are discussing today and which the Bill rightly seeks to address and reverse. It is often said that Britain is one of the most nature deprived countries in the world, but for us in Cannock Chase that can be hard to believe because of all the natural beauty right on our doorstep. Indeed, no one living in my constituency is more than a 15-minute drive from our stunning forest and heathland. Having said that, inequality and poor bus services mean that the most deprived parts of my constituency are also the most nature deprived. I hope we will bear that intersection in mind as we continue the debate. When I knock on doors on new build estates in Cannock Chase such as those in Hednesford, which is often described as the gateway to the Chase, people who have recently moved to the area often tell me that having nature a stone’s throw away is what drew them to our communities, particularly those who grew up in urban areas. The Chase attracts a huge number of visitors—about 2.5 million a year—which, if hon. Members can believe it, means that the density of visitors we receive is four to five times greater than that of the Lake District national park. That intensity of tourism shows how passionate we are about nature and our instinctive need to get lost in it, but also that we can sometimes pose the greatest risk to the natural world. In my area, it is sometimes said that we are at risk of loving the Chase to death, so the agenda of this Bill and this Government to prevent outcomes like that is very important. As I mentioned, no habitat in my constituency illustrates this better than lowland heathland. Rarer than tropical rainforests, lowland heath is found on Brindley heath and Moors Gorse, just north of Hednesford, and at the iron age hill fort of Castle Ring in Cannock Wood. As well as being a scheduled ancient monument, Castle Ring is home to a variety of rare habitats such as sphagnum bog and acidic grassland. The UK is fortunate to have a fifth of all the heathland in Europe, yet sadly we have lost 80% of it over the last two centuries. It is particularly concerning that much of that loss has occurred over the last 70 years, echoing the picture of ever increasing species and habitat loss that Members have drawn attention to today, including my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Alice Macdonald). I know, from taking my daughter to see the stunning carpets of purple heather over the Chase every August, that the cutbacks to conservation work due to austerity are allowing scrub and ferns to creep in more and more year after year. That is why I was delighted that just before Christmas, to mark the 75th anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, the Environment Secretary announced that national landscapes such as Cannock Chase will be granted new powers to boost nature’s recovery and improve sustainable access to these beautiful landscapes. Refining the role and authority of national parks and national landscapes will benefit our rural economy and mean that more people can enjoy spending time reconnecting with nature. It is also fantastic to see stronger regulations to ensure that public bodies, including water companies, do more to respect and support these precious landscapes. I am confident that that ambition will be extended to the protection of sites of special scientific interest, of which we have many in Cannock Chase. Often SSSIs are under greater ecological threat than national parks or landscapes because they are more dispersed or designated for a particular species. For example, the Cannock extension canal in my home village of Norton Canes plays host to one of the country’s largest populations of floating water plantain, which I have to admit is not particularly special to look at but is none the less an ecologically important endangered plant that thrives in gently undulating waters such as canals. As I mentioned, farming is absolutely present in the Cannock Chase national landscape, and in my view, there is nowhere better than national parks and national landscapes to see that farmers are stewards of the land and keen to work in harmony with nature. Support must be in place to enable farmers to realise this ambition, which is why I very much welcome the Government’s announcement of £5 billion over the next two years through the new deal for farmers, which will help to ensure that natural recovery is taking place on every English farm, alongside sustainable food production. To the credit of the previous Government, they introduced the farming in protected landscapes programme. Four Oaks farm, near Slitting Mill in my constituency, was one of the recipients of the funding, but it was a very time-limited programme, so I hope it will be renewed beyond the next financial year. Alongside many Members of the House, particularly my fellow members of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, I look forward to continuing the work of finding a way forward to a financially and environmentally sustainable future for British farming. For protected landscapes like Cannock Chase, funding streams such as the higher tier of the countryside stewardship scheme will be vital. These bespoke, delicately balanced projects need the expertise of Government agencies such as Natural England, and while significant progress has been made in recent months on expanding capacity and speeding up decisions, we still have a long way to go to ensure that all farmers can access environmental land management schemes and improve sustainability and biodiversity in the best way for their farm.

• 24 Jan 2025 · Climate and Nature Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Member for his intervention. I completely agree that we need to ensure that our farms are properly supported and that we highlight best practice, so that it is spread across the country. Sustainable food production and national self-sufficiency need to go hand in hand with that work. We must encourage and enable farmers to be stewards of the land, which we know they absolutely are.

• 24 Jan 2025 · Climate and Nature Bill · Hansard source

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  This is why I mentioned that the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee is holding an inquiry on the future of farming, as part of which we are looking at this issue of balance and ensuring that we strike the proper balance. The underlying principle has to be that we empower farmers to do what is right for their farm and enable them to make that judgment on the correct balance. The fact that water quality has been a feature of this debate is welcome. We talk about the state of our rivers, lakes and seas a lot in this House, but there cannot be too much discussion about it. As I am sure is sadly the case in every constituency, in Cannock Chase we have waterways that are rated poor for quality: the River Trent on the edge of Rugeley and the Rising brook. In 2022, untreated sewage was discharged into watercourses in my constituency 254 times, for a total of 372 hours, which disgracefully is typical in this country today. We know that has consequences for wildlife. When I met the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust in May last year, it highlighted to me that in just two decades the water vole has completely disappeared from Cannock Chase, and there has been a 96% decline in records of grey partridge. The consequences for those two species paint a grim picture indeed. A key ask from the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, of which I am a proud member, was for Labour to commit to the 30 by 30 pledge and protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. I am proud to say that this Government have committed to that. Unlike the last Government, we are putting it into action. Through the Water (Special Measures) Bill, the Government are ensuring that water companies will be held to account for the improvements that are being promised in exchange for hefty bill increases, while empowering customers, who for far too long have witnessed the decline in the health of our waterways but have been unable to challenge it directly. I have spoken a lot about nature, but in Cannock Chase we also have a story to tell about energy. In my maiden speech, I explained that the closure of the coal-fired Rugeley power station had a huge impact on the communities I represent, but that a new community on the now-cleared site will ensure energy-efficient homes and new infrastructure, marking a new era for Rugeley and Brereton. There are plans to ensure that the power station’s energy legacy is maintained, with a battery storage facility and, I hope, rooftop solar. On very few sites in the country will there be such a clear transition from the energy sources of the past to the homes, jobs and technologies of the future. Finally, I will turn to the principles of the Bill. When it comes to the climate and nature crisis, holding people in positions of power to account is perhaps more important than ever. Knitting together work across Government into a coherent strategy will be essential to making sure that the targets in the Environment Act 2021, to which this Government have made an unwavering commitment, become a reality. We all know that we do not have time to waste in the battle to limit global temperature rises and avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change and the battle to halt and reverse nature loss. The last Government talked the talk to some extent, but they dithered and delayed so chronically that they did not end up implementing much. As with the last Labour Government, this Labour Government have set a world-leading agenda on climate and nature. As some countries backslide on international commitments, this Government stand firm in asserting the importance of sticking to our targets and making meaningful progress towards meeting them. Whether it is increasing woodland cover, seeing the return of water voles in constituencies such as mine, or stopping islands sinking into the sea on the other side of the world, this Government will always make our climate and natural world their priority and, on behalf of the people I represent, so will I.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q14. Last year, this Labour Government delivered justice for members of the mineworkers’ pension scheme, and 45,000 members of the similar British coal staff superannuation scheme are keen to see their £2.3 billion investment reserve returned to them, which could boost coalfield communities such as mine in Cannock Chase. Will the Prime Minister meet retired miners, trustees and coalfield MPs to discuss what can be done for BCSSS members up and down the country?

• 8 Jan 2025 · NHS Diagnostic Processes: Technological Innovation · Hansard source

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  3. What progress his Department has made on supporting technological innovation to accelerate NHS diagnostic processes.

• 8 Jan 2025 · NHS Diagnostic Processes: Technological Innovation · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for his response. My constituency of Cannock Chase has wide health inequalities, and particularly high levels of respiratory illness and bladder and brain cancer. In some parts of the country, NHS trusts are rapidly speeding up diagnostic waiting times by using highly accurate AI models, with the results checked by human clinicians. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the Government are supporting such safe tech innovations to help fulfil our mission to build an NHS fit for the future?

• 19 Dec 2024 · Hunting Trophy Import Ban · Hansard source

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  Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. This time of year brings festive cheer, but it also brings the Boxing day hunts. Alongside many of my constituents, I am keen to see an end to the smoke- screen that is trail hunting. Following the last Labour Government’s historic foxhunting ban, will the Minister confirm this Labour Government’s commitment to banning trail hunting once and for all?

• 12 Dec 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The recently proposed closure of a council-owned museum and theatre in Cannock Chase has shone a bright light on how much culture and heritage venues such as those mean to communities like mine and on the challenges facing the arts and museums more broadly. Would the Leader of the House join me in commending the campaigners fighting to save our museum and theatre, and would she make time for a debate on how we can safeguard and develop culture and heritage, particularly outside our big cities?

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q9. Fourteen years of the Conservative party gutting local government has left councils having to make impossible choices. My constituents were recently shocked when Cannock Chase district council proposed the closure of the Museum of Cannock Chase and the Prince of Wales theatre. Will the Prime Minister ask the Culture Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda and Ogmore (Chris Bryant), and his officials to please meet me to see what can be done to save our museum and theatre?

• 2 Dec 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Last week, my local council announced the proposed closure of the much-loved Prince of Wales theatre in Cannock. Despite the council’s financial pressures, local people do not want that theatre to become collateral damage. Will the Minister meet me to see what could be done to explore community ownership and give our theatre the bright future that thousands of my constituents want to see?

• 28 Nov 2024 · Cross-Boundary Housing Developments · Hansard source

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  I start by congratulating the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford) on securing this debate on an important but often overlooked issue. Having known him for many years before we took up our new roles, I can say with authority that his constituents will be well served in this House, particularly because they, like mine, are represented here by one of their local councillors. I too want to draw attention to the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which includes my ongoing unpaid role as a district councillor for my home village of Norton Canes. As councillors, we know that cross-border developments can cause various complications, which I am sure are seldom considered when developments are brought forward. We all know that council boundaries do not always reflect local communities, and that is inevitable to some extent, with boundaries going down the middle of main roads, for example. It is not particularly logical or necessary, however, to have housing estates or even individual homes divided between different council areas. I am a bit of a local government nerd, so I could give many examples from close to where I live and across my region, but I will spare the House that and focus on my constituency. On the north-east edge of Cannock Chase, we have a small estate nonsensically split between Brereton and Ravenhill, in my constituency, and Armitage with Handsacre in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson). This is reflected in council boundaries as well, so there is clearly an impact on our local services. However, a far bigger cross-border development is fast approaching in the form of the redevelopment of the huge former Rugeley power station site. When it was a 1,000 MW power station, nobody particularly knew or minded where the boundary was. My predecessor and the former Member for Lichfield would often joke about which of the cooling towers were in each of their patches. But once 2,300 homes, around 900 of which will be in Cannock Chase, have been built, this could become a major issue. Rugeley already has several developments on its fringes, which are outside our boundary, including the Hawkesyard estate and Hathorn Grove. The vast majority of those new residents feel that they live in Rugeley and go into Rugeley for various services, yet their lower-tier local authority council tax goes to Lichfield district council. This means that any service that draws on district council resources is strained by an inconsistent council tax base. The same is true of parish and town council services. This is not just about services that residents go out to use, but about the services that come to them at home—bin collections, for example. We also know that NHS commissioning decisions, for example on special educational needs and disabilities provision, are sometimes done on a district by district basis. The chronic lack of general practice capacity in Rugeley and Brereton will be a major issue for the new power station development unless our integrated care board acts quickly. There can sometimes be a democratic deficit, as residents in those cross-border developments are split between different council areas and different parliamentary constituencies. Knowing who to contact about various local issues can be challenging enough as it is, without estates being bisected by boundaries that make no sense. Sometimes, those boundaries are tidied up through ward or constituency boundary reviews, but we know that the process of changing council boundaries can happen only at the request of both councils. Clearly there is no incentive for the council that benefits from council tax payers who do not tend to use its services to consent to a principal area boundary review. As the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire said, those councils have all the benefits and none of the drawbacks. That process can also be cumbersome, so it rarely happens, even when a small move in a boundary would be the logical thing to do. Given that our constituency boundaries are often based on council boundaries, such discrepancies are often not corrected for Westminster elections either. I do not come here with any oven-ready solutions, although it does strike me that in other countries—Canada for example—local authorities can, with appropriate oversight, annex territory from others to prevent these cross-border challenges and inefficiencies from arising. I hope that the Government will consider how we can better address these challenges. Any solutions that we can come to will certainly greatly benefit community identity and local services.

• 18 Nov 2024 · Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention · Hansard source

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  4. What steps he is taking to improve recruitment and retention in the armed forces.

• 18 Nov 2024 · Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention · Hansard source

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  From cadets to regulars and reservists, it is clear that we must urgently tackle the recruitment and retention crisis presided over by the last Government. Will the Minister join me in welcoming the fact that over 700 applications are now being reconsidered after the removal of unnecessary red tape blocking some sufferers of hay fever and acne from joining?

• 11 Nov 2024 · Rural Affairs · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is an honour to make my maiden speech as the Member of Parliament for Cannock Chase, my home. Having listened to many maiden speeches from all parts of the House, I have to say that I am honoured to be part of an incredibly talented intake—not that I am at all biased. I also have the privilege of following some outstanding predecessors who are fondly remembered by my constituents. The best known is the late, great Jennie Lee, who represented the former Cannock constituency for 25 years and also served as Minister for the Arts, playing a key role in the foundation of the Open University. Jennie was recently cited by the Chancellor as one of her political heroes and a contender to replace Nigel Lawson’s portrait in her office. Alongside her husband, the equally incomparable Aneurin Bevan, Jennie is commemorated across the constituency, including Jennie Lee Way in Rugeley and the Bevan Lee estate in Cannock. I could not speak about past Members for Cannock Chase without paying tribute to my Labour predecessor, Dr Tony Wright, who served as MP for Cannock and Burntwood and later Cannock Chase from 1992 until 2010. Tony was the epitome of a dedicated constituency MP. Constituents regularly speak warmly of Tony and he won votes from across the political spectrum. If I can be half the MP Tony was, I will be able to look back on my time in this House with pride. I would also like to pay tribute to my immediate predecessor, Dame Amanda Milling, who served our constituency for nine years. Amanda is praised by both supporters and detractors alike for her efficient approach to casework, which I know would be the envy of many MPs’ offices. Amanda served as a Government Whip for many years—not an easy job—and as Minister for Asia and the Middle East. I understand that Amanda also chaired the group of female Conservative MPs and was a passionate advocate of programmes that encourage women to stand for election. I may not have often agreed with Amanda politically, but I have always found her to be fair-minded, kind and decent, so I genuinely wish her all the best for the future. When people hear the words “Cannock Chase”, they naturally think of the stunning forest that is the constituency’s namesake. While making their first speeches, many new Members have claimed their constituency as the most beautiful in the land. However, I have to point out that my constituency is the only one in England that shares its name with an area of outstanding natural beauty—facts are facts! But the Chase is not just a place with serene walks and herds of fallow deer, although we have plenty of both. It is also a place of industry, sport and recreation. The Chase is still a working forest, managed by Forestry England, which produces around 19,000 tonnes of sustainable timber every year. The Chase is arguably most famous as a national destination for mountain bikers. As someone who could barely stay upright on fresh tarmac, the conversations I have had about mountain biking have probably been the steepest learning curve I have been on since the general election. But I look forward to working with bikers and Forestry England to build on the legacy of the 2022 Commonwealth games and make sure that unauthorised trails do not spoil the natural beauty of the forest. The Chase is a vibrant place with a huge range of activities, including the high ropes and free falls of Go Ape at Birches valley. I place on record an open invitation to the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey), who, four months on from the general election campaign, must be suffering from zipline withdrawal. The iron-age hill fort of Castle Ring and the Chase’s former status as a royal hunting forest attest to its rich 12,000-year history. More recently, soldiers were trained on the Chase, including J.R.R. Tolkien, who was stationed there in 1916, and who may have drawn from it inspiration for the great forests in his legendary books. However, as my constituents would be keen to remind us all, there is much more to Cannock Chase than our forest. Our tight-knit communities are home to organisations that we are immensely proud of. Charities such as Cherishers, Help a Squaddie, Catherine Care and Newlife are the best of Cannock Chase, bursting with dedicated staff and volunteers who selflessly give their time. The construction, retail and education sectors are the biggest employers locally—unsurprisingly, given that our three main towns of Cannock, Hednesford and Rugeley enjoy a strategic position on A roads and on a busy railway line. Cannock has the headquarters of Finning, the world’s largest dealer of Caterpillar construction equipment, as well as the west midlands designer outlet village. Nevertheless, my constituency is not just urban and industrial; it is also semi-rural, with around a third of our land being agricultural. Clustered around the villages of Slitting Mill, Prospect Village, Cannock Wood, Wimblebury, Norton Canes and Heath Hayes is a tapestry of farms. Many of these communities feel left behind—last in the queue for infrastructure and services that other areas take for granted. A lack of access to GPs and bus services is frequently raised by my constituents in rural areas. We are also home to many businesses in the food supply chain, from processors to distributors. Because of those constituency interests, as well as my passion for the sector, I am delighted to be getting stuck into my role on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. Interspersed between houses, factories and nature reserves are small remnants of the once dominant coalmining industry, some of which are conscientiously preserved as much loved reminders of our proud mining heritage. While we do not want to see a return to coalmining, our towns and villages long for the secure jobs, social fabric and sense of common identity that characterised coalfield communities for centuries. The sudden closure of Rugeley power station in 2016 signalled a final move away from coal. The now cleared site is soon to be renewed, with a new community of hundreds of homes, a school and a new park, which will alleviate flooding from the River Trent. Following the very welcome and long overdue return of the mineworkers’ pension scheme investment reserve to hundreds of families in my constituency, I look forward to working with the Government and others to bring investment and renewal to communities across Cannock Chase. Deciding what to say in a maiden speech leads us to reflect on what brought us to this extraordinary place, and what we hope to achieve for the people who sent us here. For me personally, it is momentous to be standing here, because 20 years ago I was a painfully shy young boy in the corner of the playground with my head buried in a book, trying as hard as I could to be invisible to the bullies who tormented me for a sexuality that, at that age, I did not yet understand. Today, I stand here proudly as a Member of this House. If I achieve just one thing in my new job, I hope it is to show young people who are in the position that I was in that your bullies do not define you, nor do they limit what you go on to achieve. I also hope to make my mark in other ways. Alongside my incredible husband, I am an adoptive parent to a beautiful four-year-old daughter, and foster carer to an equally beautiful nine-week-old baby boy, so adoption, permanence and our care leavers are all passions of mine. Having been a councillor in my constituency for over five years, I am and will always be a fierce advocate for local councils and the tangible difference that they make to our communities. Given that my constituency has the highest proportion of people who commute by car in the whole of England, I know that a priority must be to fix the potholes. I am delighted that the Government are committed to both devolution and decent roads. As a proud member of the Co-operative party, I am always keen to promote democratic ownership. Communities in rural and coalfield areas know more than most the value of clubbing together and giving everyone a stake in the places and services that they rely on. It is safe to say that I have lots on my to-do list, which is hardly groundbreaking for an MP, but I must finish by thanking the people who have enabled me to serve my home of Cannock Chase in this House. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a whole town to win an election campaign. I thank the Cannock Chase Labour party and all the volunteers who contributed to our record-breaking result. I thank my incredible family, many of whom are in the Gallery. They have helped me to overcome so much in my life, and they have put up with a lot; I am sure that many Members’ families can relate to that. The final thanks go, of course, to the people of Cannock Chase for giving me the opportunity to fight for our towns and villages. I will go on as I have started, repaying that trust with action and hard work for as long as they keep me here.

• 23 Oct 2024 · Barriers to Trade · Hansard source

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  5. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to remove barriers to trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

• 23 Oct 2024 · Windsor Framework: Labelling Requirements · Hansard source

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  Businesses in my constituency tell me that they face increased red tape and costs when importing from or exporting to Northern Ireland. Can the Secretary of State confirm that he is committed to unfettered access for goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britian?

• 7 Oct 2024 · Jobcentre Claimants: Travel Costs · Hansard source

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  12. What guidance her Department has issued to private contractors working in partnership with Jobcentre Plus on reimbursing claimants’ travel costs.

• 7 Oct 2024 · Jobcentre Claimants: Travel Costs · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for that response. My constituent Connor is in a predicament: he is out of pocket for taxi fares to weekly or even twice weekly sessions with a Jobcentre Plus private contractor. Connor told me that the sessions last barely 15 minutes and are not helping him to reach his goal of becoming a mechanical engineering apprentice. Will the Minister review the value of Jobcentre Plus private contracts to both jobseekers and taxpayers?

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Care leavers all too often face a postcode lottery of inconsistent support, leading to wide disparities in accessing vital services such as social housing, financial advice and mental health support. Will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on the development of a national care leaver offer, so that all our care leavers can get the support they need and deserve?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T8. For decades, members of the mineworkers’ pension scheme in Cannock Chase and across the country have seen billions go to successive Governments. With an average of 19 scheme members passing away every day, resolution cannot come too soon. What progress has been made on transferring the Government’s share of the MPS investment reserve to scheme members?