Julia Buckley MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 10 Sept 2026 · Water Management · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree that much progress has been made in regard to rainwater harvesting, not just by MHCLG but by the Minister’s Department—not least the landmark report, published this March, by the Drinking Water Inspectorate? The report exactly explored a potential governance framework that sets out standards for non-potable water in domestic settings, and talks about accreditation and standards, to ensure that these systems, when we are ready to bring them in, are safe and will be properly maintained.

• 10 Sept 2026 · Severe Weather Incidents · Hansard source

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  Water privatisation and climate change have left us with the twin resilience challenges of water scarcity and flooding. To reduce demand on our drinking water supply, is the Cabinet Office looking at the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s landmark report from March, which sets out a governance framework for rainwater harvesting? Could we look at installing rainwater collection for toilet flushing in our publicly owned buildings? We could cut our costs, increase our resilience and make steps towards sustainability.

• 9 Sept 2026 · Bus Stops · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (Alex Mayer) on the securing the first of two stimulating Westminster Hall debates. On the really important topic of national standards, I want to discuss a new species of bus stop—the famous floating bus stop. For the uninitiated, floating bus stops are small alighting platforms in between lines of traffic and cycle lanes. Members may already be able to guess the issue I am going to raise. In my constituency of Shrewsbury, we had a new floating bus stop installed outside our railway stations as part of our gyratory road system. Due to an error, the width of the pavement was less than the minimum 1.5 metre standard requirement. There has been a 12-month campaign, with protest, public outcry and a petition. The council will now be removing the bus stop because we have had congestion chaos in the town centre and it has blocked access to our important railway station. What should have been a transport interchange—the important road between our bus station and our railway station—has in fact become congested by losing a line of traffic and having a floating bus stop that was too complicated and confusing for people to understand, all because we did not have a simple, single standard. In terms of lessons learned, we need to make sure that Shrewsbury’s story is fed into the ongoing assessment. It exposes a wider issue. Floating bus stops improve cyclist safety, but they transfer the interaction from bus and cyclist to pedestrian and cyclist. For blind and partially sighted passengers, it is quite a serious concern. The Department for Transport’s guidance recognises the difficulty in detecting a passing cyclist, but the Royal National Institute of Blind People’s research found that 59% of users with sight loss had stopped using bus stops and 55% had changed routes to ensure they felt safe on the road. The case for a single standard is strong, as long as we ensure accessibility, address geometry and are careful about the relationship between pedestrians and cyclists. I hope that, as the DFT looks at the guidance at the start of next year, it will bring forward the lessons learned from Shrewsbury. We need people to access not just our buses, but trains and, of course, our beautiful town centre.

• 3 Sept 2026 · Global Biodiversity and Ecosystems: National Security · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 15 Jul 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q12. Watching the Prime Minister secure his legacy this week, with the NATO summit and the Hillsborough law, I wondered if he wanted to make it a hat-trick, and support Shrewsbury college’s bid for a new construction skills centre? As the main post-16 provider in the county, our outstanding college trains over 10,000 young people and adults, providing both A-levels and vocational qualifications, but this year’s applications are up by 15% and our buildings are full to capacity. In a rural area like Shrewsbury, with limited alternatives, hundreds of people could end up becoming not in employment, education, or training. Will the Prime Minister support the college’s third attempt to secure capital funds and meet the growing need, so that we can open the construction skills centre in September?

• 1 Jul 2026 · Flood Insurance: Reform of Flood Re · Hansard source

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  In Shrewsbury, we regularly suffer flooding along the River Severn and Rea brook, so I really welcome today’s announcement. The measures proposed reflect the common-sense and long-term solutions that my colleagues and I set out in the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on flooding resilience. We gave feedback from residents and businesses that insurance is not just unaffordable but, in some places, impossible to get. We requested that funding be prioritised for prevention, preparedness, mitigation and adaptation, rather than simply paid out each time floods hit, so it is so welcome to hear today that the long-term approach is that we will have flood performance certificates and Build Back Better, which will provide extra money not just to repair people’s homes post flooding, but to make them resilient against future floods. That is a much more effective use of public money, and provides longer-term support. It is great news for my residents, but what advice can I give to a business that has the same postcode and the same flood risk as others, but which is being quoted £40,000 for flood insurance?

• 30 Jun 2026 · High Streets · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is being generous in giving way. Does he join me in congratulating Barnsley market, a local market that is leading the way by bringing health services into the town centre, which is driving up footfall and has led to a thriving community? We will be leading a delegation from the all-party parliamentary group on local markets next week, so we can all learn from that example and hopefully feed into the high street strategy.

• 10 Jun 2026 · Railways Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank the Ministers both here and in the other place for their hard work and engagement on this important Bill. I will focus my comments in favour of new clause 16. Great British Railways cannot come soon enough for my constituency of Shrewsbury. Under privatisation, our geography has penalised us, as we sit on the edge of everyone’s maps between regional operators serving either Wales or Birmingham, leaving us under-invested and underserved. As Members may recall—I have mentioned it quite a few times—Shropshire remains the only county without a direct train to London. The value of such a direct service is not just the obvious economic boost for jobs, education and tourism, or the improved accessibility of avoiding step-heavy connections, but the important investment in infrastructure that inter-city services could unlock at our station. We need more frequent and reliable regional services, with much more capacity to cope with the vast demand for services for a county town of 70,000 residents. For example, our local university campus closed last year, and students now have to travel beyond Shrewsbury to access education, training and employment. For these reasons, I am pleased to put my name in support of five amendments, including new clause 16, which calls for the reopening of services to underserved areas. This new clause calls for GBR to establish a department for the purpose of identifying areas underserved and unserved by railway services, and to assess passenger and community needs for adding services, routes or stations where they are missing. It is crucial that the full opportunities of this new integrated, nationalised railway are felt across the whole country by improving service levels in underserved and often rural areas such as Shropshire, not just adding increased frequency for already well-served cities. Just last month, Madam Deputy Speaker, you will recall that I stood in this very place to present a petition signed by over 10,000 fare-paying passengers asking this Government to recognise the demand for a direct train service at Shrewsbury and to approve extra routes to London. As we stand together on the cusp of nationalising our rail system, we must ensure that the mantra of “people before profit” becomes a reality in places such as Shrewsbury. Where investment has been lacking, let us take this opportunity to rebuild; where services have withered away, let us deliver for our communities; and where towns have been left behind, let us reconnect them. In short, let us show in deeds, not words, how Great British Railways will deliver more services for more places such as Shrewsbury.

• 20 May 2026 · Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway · Hansard source

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  Shropshire is the only county in England without a direct train service connecting it to London. I stand here today alongside my neighbours from Wrexham, Ruabon, Wolverhampton, South Shropshire, The Wrekin and Nuneaton, who share my request to reinstate the line that connects six underserved towns back to the capital. In total, over 10,000 people have signed the petitions, with 1,436 having done so on paper and 8,741 having signed a similar one online, demonstrating the strong public demand for the service—those are 10,000 fare paying passengers asking for a train. The petition states: “The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to support the proposal for a Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway by encouraging the Office of Rail and Road and Network Rail to work constructively with the operator to enable the establishment of new direct services between London and North Wales, Shropshire and the Midlands.” Following is the full text of the petition: [The petition of residents of England and Wales, Declares that the Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway has submitted proposals to restore direct rail services between Wrexham, Shropshire, the Midlands and London, which would offer significant economic, social and environmental benefits for the communities along the route; further declares that the establishment of these new direct services would improve transport links, access to health services, and strengthen regional economies across North Wales, Shropshire and the Midlands. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to support the proposal for a Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway by encouraging the Office of Rail and Road and Network Rail to work constructively with the operator to enable the establishment of new direct services between London and North Wales, Shropshire and the Midlands. And the petitioners remain, etc.] [P003201]

• 19 May 2026 · Energy Security · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to be able to contribute to this debate on the new legislative programme included in this year’s King’s Speech. At a time when all eyes are on our Government to demonstrate delivery, we should not underestimate the impact that we can have on daily lives by improving the invisible, yet critical, infrastructure that holds our country together. As a matter of national security, with impact for growth across all regions, it is imperative that we unlock better planning, co-ordination and investment in core services, the lack of which has been holding back our growth. Now, with strategic plans to grow capacity in power, energy, connectivity and water infrastructure, we can set this country on the path to sustainable growth. In the face of climate change, we must adapt and improve our readiness. That is vital in the energy independence Bill, as we have heard from colleagues today, but nowhere is this more needed than in the water sector, where we have witnessed the abject failure of privatisation in the industry, leaving us with dangerously polluted water, inadequate sewage management and increasingly expensive water bills. Additionally, the effects of climate change mean that we are simultaneously seeing an increase in flooding and drought. That sounds like an oxymoron, but it is just a symptom of the mismanagement of our precious water resource, with inadequate infrastructure. The public, as we know, are rightly angry. They are angry that the asset-stripping of water companies, and a failure to invest in our drainage and sewage infrastructure, have allowed the situation to continue for decades. In my constituency of Shrewsbury, our beautiful town is enclosed by the loop of the River Severn. It is a beautiful historical natural asset, but one that has been allowed to fill with sewage, breach its banks and pollute our homes, businesses and play areas. Bill payers are ready for change, and from an infrastructure perspective, we need assurances that our water assets are being considered holistically, from rainwater reuse to infrastructure upgrades and stronger oversight of what has become a very fragmented industry. I welcome the clean water Bill being introduced in this Session. We could say that it is a sequel to our first blockbuster, the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, which introduced criminal liabilities for polluters and banned executive bonuses for water bosses guilty of environmental damage. The clean water Bill is the much-anticipated follow-on that is needed to overhaul the current regulatory system. It is an ambitious programme of high-level restructuring, and I look forward to this vital piece of legislation. It is long overdue, and it is high time we got a grip of the problem of our polluted waterways. I have always described the Water (Special Measures) Act as the last-chance saloon for water companies to get this right, whereas the clean water Bill is surely our last throw of the dice before we move to nationalising the water sector.

• 23 Mar 2026 · Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend has made a powerful point about the need to visit these beautiful spots around the country. A loop of the River Severn encircles our medieval town with a beating modern heart on the border with Wales. However, before all Members in the Chamber rush to book their weekend break to Shrewsbury, I must tell them that there is a slight problem: how can anyone get there from here? Shropshire is the only county in the UK without a direct train service to London.

• 23 Mar 2026 · Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Connections between towns give rise to employment opportunities and create connectivity, which adds to our local economy, as well as having wider benefits. The WSMR bid will not take profit from other operators, because they choose not to serve our town. Instead, open access could save Government funds by adding value and thousands of passengers to the existing mainline routes. Some 2.3 million passengers already use the Georgian station at Shrewsbury to access the gateway between the midlands and Wales. Adding a direct train service to London is projected to generate £9 million in gross value added every year for the regional economy. That would surely magnify Government investment in housing growth and employment. On the latent demand, it is so encouraging to see that, in just the last month, a petition from passengers in favour of the service has accrued over 6,200 signatures. Our local transport partners, Transport for Wales and Network Rail, have both committed resources to a fresh masterplan for Shrewsbury station that can explore the investment needed to unlock our infrastructure and generate additional capacity. To conclude, could the Minister outline how the Department for Transport seeks to work with other rail partners to maximise investment in underserved towns such as mine, and what economic assessment has been made of the cost-benefit and the social and economic benefit of a direct train from Shrewsbury to London in the near future?

• 23 Mar 2026 · Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns · Hansard source

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  I am delighted to lead this debate to enable the House to discuss the need for rail connections between London and rural towns. As the Minister well knows, I represent the beautiful constituency of Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire and home to some 70,000 residents. We already have the nation’s favourite market, winning the national award no fewer than three times, but this weekend we were once again named one of Britain’s best places to live, according to The Sunday Times in its annual guide. Judges praised our “period-drama backdrop”, our fabulous range of eateries and our cool suburbs. The Sunday Times went on to say: “The award-winning indoor market is surely one of the most inspiring places to shop in the whole country… the town centre has enough quirky delis, bakeries, bars and cafés to keep you in top-notch flat whites…and espresso martinis every day of the week. Culture comes courtesy of the cinema in the Old Market Hall and the boldly brutalist Theatre Severn”. It added that Shrewsbury “even has its own cool suburbs in Belle Vue, where volunteers run an annual arts festival”. That is before we mention the 600 listed buildings, the Tudor castle and the riverboat cruises along the loop of the River Severn.

• 23 Mar 2026 · Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a really important point, because most modelling shows that passenger numbers have not just recovered post covid, but have grown significantly. To achieve modal shift, we need to lean into that latent demand and make sure we provide opportunities for people to travel by train. I would also like to ask the Minister: how can we unlock the economic potential that comes from increased rail connectivity for high-growth county towns such as Shrewsbury? As part of the 48% that are not yet in a combined mayoral authority, what strategic framework is available to support rural towns such as mine with direct transport investment? To wrap up, when will the Minister book his train trip to Shrewsbury to see for himself what a beauty spot we have to offer, and to find out just how much easier the journey would be with a direct service?

• 23 Mar 2026 · Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman makes a powerful point. Public transport must combine both trains and buses to make sure that all communities are well served. As I was saying, Shropshire is the only county in the UK without a direct train to London. We can change at Birmingham, Stafford or Crewe, but that doubles our chances of a delay or a cancellation, creates extra barriers for those with mobility issues, and reduces work productivity for commuters. Not having a direct service is such a missed opportunity, because our town is the economic powerhouse of the region.

• 23 Mar 2026 · Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for making that point about the inter-regional connectivity between our market towns. We need to get to London, but also to travel to each other. In Shropshire, we have three hospitals dotted throughout the county. Because of the lack of buses between those hospitals, we are reliant on trains. She makes a valuable point. I was saying that Shrewsbury is the economic powerhouse of the region. Indeed, a recent report on our visitor economy shows that Shropshire’s tourism sector is worth a staggering £1 billion to the economy, supporting nearly 10,000 jobs across the county. Transport for Wales recognises Shropshire as a net contributor to the Welsh network, because we offer such fantastic employment, training and leisure opportunities to travellers. The Shropshire chamber of commerce’s quarterly business survey consistently reports the need for additional rail services, and states how much economic growth this would unlock, because additional contracts would be secured, increasing employment. Students no longer have the option of studying at a university in Shrewsbury, so travelling to London or stations along the way is hugely important for skills growth. To fill the gap in services, Alstom UK has a bid for an open-access operation on the proposed Wrexham, Shropshire and midlands railway. It is offering up to four trains daily, based on its economic modelling of the latent demand at Shrewsbury. The railway would provide a total of six underserved rural towns with new connections to London.

• 17 Mar 2026 · Child Maintenance Service · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making a powerful case for the reform of the CMS. My constituent has been hounded by her ex-partner, with eight consecutive investigations by the CMS triggered by his complaints about her. It has ultimately caused her to give up work. Does my hon. Friend agree that vexatious complaints such as those must be identified and prevented from taking up CMS resources and allowing the continuation of financial abuse?

• 16 Mar 2026 · Heating Oil Support · Hansard source

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  The 6,700 households in my constituency that are wholly reliant on heating oil have been very anxious following the impact of the war. They tell me that the impact on oil supplies has doubled and—in one case—trebled the price of heating oil, and some suppliers are no longer offering delivery dates. Elderly residents are wearing coats and gloves indoors to ration their supply. Over the past week, Ministers have taken the time to listen to rural MPs and have set out the scale of the issues we face, so let me place on record my gratitude for the additional £758,000 that will go to the worst-affected households across Shropshire. Can the Minister confirm that this money will be available from as early as 1 April?

• 9 Mar 2026 · Type 1 Diabetes: Infant Testing · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. It is incredible to see that more than 121,000 people signed John Story’s powerful petition, which has enabled today’s debate. I am here to give two clear messages. My first message is to apologise to local campaigners, particularly Mandy Hudson, who wrote to me about the need for this testing. I wrote back to indicate my support for the campaign, but I also gave information about the Government’s investment in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. That caused unnecessary hurt to families and sufferers of type 1 diabetes. Such is the divergence between the two conditions—their causes, symptoms and treatments—that some campaigners told me that they wished it had been given a completely different name. The stigma and lifestyle cause of type 2 is irrelevant to the sufferer of type 1 diabetes. Following my correspondence with the families, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Health personally to reiterate my support for simple testing, but also to lodge a plea for separate messaging and communication plans for each disease. My second message is the story of yet another family who fell victim to the lack of testing for and knowledge of type 1 diabetes in children. I met Jack Harvey, dad to little Albie Harvey, who is now a 20-month old toddler in Shrewsbury. A few months ago, he became very unwell and was diagnosed by the GP with tonsillitis, but did not respond to antibiotics. His parents met three GPs and spoke twice to 111 over the course of 10 days, before taking Albie to A&E, where he finally got his blood sugar test. His sugars were 39.9 and his ketones were 6.9. Luckily, he was blue-lighted to Telford, his life was saved and he is now receiving excellent care under the diabetic team at Shrewsbury. I hope that the campaigners who have come all the way to London know that our Ministers are listening to the debate. Our new NHS plan is all about prevention and primary care. I am hopeful that we will listen to their message.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Local Transport: Planning Developments · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I, too, thank the hon. Member for Harpenden and Berkhamsted (Victoria Collins) for securing today’s debate, which brings together so many of us who have a shared passion for aligning local transport with development. I can understand why so many colleagues have come here today to raise concerns about future developments and how they see new properties as adding pressure to local transport, but I join my hon. Friend the Member for North West Leicestershire (Amanda Hack) in pointing out that many rural communities are already missing vital transport links for our existing residents. In Shropshire, we lost over 65% of our local buses under the last Government. Two out of every three buses were deleted. Imagine what that did to the largest inland county in this country. We now have communities that are isolated, residents who are lonely, and vital services, such as health, shops and community, that are just out of reach for so many. Like many others here, one of my biggest challenges since becoming an MP has been how to help local transport partners work together to build back our transport infrastructure. I would like to draw the Minister’s attention to the opportunity that comes with new housing developments—not just the opportunity to secure funding and plans for more buses, trains, bus stops and networks, but opportunity that runs in the opposite direction. A couple of colleagues have mentioned the change to planning infrastructure, but when we consider strategic housing developments in our local plans, we need to reconsider the opportunities for maximising housing and development close to existing transport infrastructure. The Rail Industry Association produced an influential report on this issue last October called “Station Investment Zones: A new model for investment in transport, housing and growth”. The argument from the industry is that well-connected stations already offer economic opportunity as engines of growth and that transport or local government landowners could unlock sites near stations, trams, buses or transport hubs to offer hyper-connected housing as infill. There is another benefit from that approach—one that I have also heard Ministers mention. By investing in our station quarters, we can lift what can sometimes become forgotten corners of our towns and turn them into more brightly lit, well-used areas, with more footfall, amenities and bustle. Let us bring people back to the community hubs that these areas should always have been. That would also deliver more passengers for rail operators such as Great British Railways and reduce unnecessary car journeys, helping the modal shift that we are all trying to drive forward to reduce congestion and pollution in town centres such as Shrewsbury. I would love to see that type of development near my train station in Shrewsbury. Let us get more shops, cafés, streetlights, ATMs and footfall to complement the services that are already offered there. I was therefore delighted that the Government amended planning policy in the NPPF to include a presumption in favour of suitable developments within 800 metres of a well-connected station. It is the ultimate example of joined-up Government: cross-departmental policy delivering much-needed housing where we already have transport infrastructure and in turn helping to fund more transport for the areas where housing will need to be increased, which Members have talked about today. On behalf of the people of Shrewsbury, I say to the Minister: thank you very much for bringing forward a sensible and impactful policy that will help all of us in the search for transport alongside housing.

• 13 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T6. Will the Secretary of State join me in thanking staff at the Royal Shrewsbury hospital for their commitment and patience over the past two years as we have seen our trust move from being the worst hospital in the country to the most improved? Thanks in no small part to the investment through the hospitals transformation programme, we have just opened two new wards. He could thank staff in person when he joins me on a visit, if he would be so kind.

• 8 Jan 2026 · Local Bus Services · Hansard source

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  15. What steps she is taking to help improve local bus services in rural areas.

• 8 Jan 2026 · Local Bus Services · Hansard source

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  I welcome the additional £13 million in the multi-annual commitment for bus funding for Shropshire through the local authority bus grant. That will greatly improve connectivity for my constituents in Shrewsbury, who have missed out over the last decade, in which our bus services were depleted by 65%. Ministers will be delighted to hear that in Shrewsbury we recently launched a successful night bus trial, offering evening services right through to midnight, thanks to the support of local partners such as Shrewsbury BID, councils and the police. What further steps will the Department take to ensure that such services can be maintained and expanded in wonderful rural communities like Shrewsbury?