Keir Starmer MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Can I start by saying that the thoughts of the whole House are of course with the families of those who lost their little girls and with all those affected by this terrible incident? I would like to put on the record our heartfelt thanks to all those who responded and those who are with us today—Sergeant Gregory Gillespie, PC Luke Holden and PCSO Timothy Parry. These officers ran towards danger to protect young lives. I have met a number of them, and it is truly humbling to see the bravery and professionalism that they brought to their job that day and every day. Southport is a wonderful and loving community. In difficult days, they have shown kindness, empathy and courage. I thank my hon. Friend for all that he has done in relation to those values.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for making the case for his constituents. I know the Health Secretary will give it every consideration. The 10-year plan will establish neighbourhood health centres in every community and will make a massive difference, starting in the places where the need is greatest and life expectancy is at its lowest. I am proud that we promised 2 million extra NHS appointments in the first year of a Labour Government and we have now delivered 4 million. We should not forget that the record investment in the Budget, which made that possible, was opposed by all the Opposition parties.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  On Monday, we marked the 20th anniversary of the despicable terrorist attacks on 7/7. The painful memories of that dark day are deeply ingrained: 52 people were murdered and many more were injured. We thank our emergency services who ran towards danger with true bravery, and send our deepest condolences to the victims, the survivors and bereaved, and all those forever affected by that appalling day. May I also extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Lord Tebbit? We remember his profound courage in the face of terrorism and a fierce devotion to his wife, Margaret. May he rest in peace. We also mark the 30th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica. We remember those lost, and redouble our efforts to fight hatred and intolerance wherever it exists. I am delighted to welcome President Macron to the United Kingdom. Our relationship has never been stronger and we are focused on tough new tactics to tackle illegal migration, on major economic investment to create jobs, and on leading our allies to support Ukraine. This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for raising this issue. I know it is of concern to her, and to many people across the House. The system we have is broken; it does not serve anyone well. We have to reform it, and I set out in an earlier answer the steps that we are taking. We will share those with the House, and I hope that we can get the greatest support possible for the reform that I think everybody here knows has to happen.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  May I join the right hon. Gentleman in thanking the veterans here today, and all veterans? He knows that this is a serious issue, and the end of his question did not really reflect that seriousness. The scheme set up by the Conservative party was found to be unlawful in the courts, and he knows it. It was not supported by communities. It would have meant, as he knows, immunity from prosecution for those who committed the most appalling terrorist crimes, and that is why it did not have support in the communities or from any political party in Northern Ireland. That was among the reasons it was found to be unlawful. We have to tread carefully, and we have to get this right. I will work with the right hon. Gentleman on that, but we do not get there by cheapening the debate. [ Interruption. ] This is not about political point-scoring. I have worked in Northern Ireland, I have spoken to many of the people affected, and I know that we must get this right. I want to do so, and I want the House to do that together, if we possibly can, because it matters; but we have to do this in a serious way, and address the issues of the past in a way that has the support of victims and survivors. That is a key test for me, because without their support, it is very hard to come up with something that will have the confidence of everybody in Northern Ireland. That is why we have to work in this way. In advance of the new legislation, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland continues to engage with veterans and their communities to ensure that legacy mechanisms are fair, lawful and proportionate. I will continue to work with the right hon. Gentleman and others in the House, because the most important thing is not scoring points, but getting it right.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Conservative party failed to give children the support they need. The 10-year plan that we have put forward will rewire our NHS and transform mental health services, with 85 dedicated mental health A&E departments, giving 24/7 support; specialist mental health professionals in every school and college, benefiting 1 million young people this year alone; and an extra 8,500 mental health staff to tackle long waits. That is only possible because of the decisions that we took to invest in our NHS—decisions that the Conservatives opposed.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to highlight this issue. In March, we saw a major crackdown against criminals using high street businesses to launder money at almost 400 properties, which involved securing freezing orders over bank accounts totalling more than £1 million and arresting 35 individuals. There is much more to come, and I thank her for highlighting this really important issue.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  What an invitation! I am grateful for the invite to join the medieval festival, but if I wanted to see a load of people stuck in the past and fighting each other, I would probably go to the next meeting of the shadow Cabinet. I will consider it—thank you.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  We are working closely with the French on this issue. We will only provide funding that delivers on our priorities. We are working together closely, and we share information to a much greater extent than was the case before. We have a new specialist intelligence unit at Dunkirk, and we are the first Government to persuade the French to review their laws and tactics on the north coast in order to take more effective action. I will be discussing this at meetings with President Macron today and tomorrow.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  It is so good to see a strong Labour MP standing up for Wales and her constituency. She makes her case; I cannot confirm the plans yet, but we will consider recommendations from the Burns commission, which includes a proposal for a new station in her constituency. I am delighted that just this week we set out our major road and rail schemes across the country, including the A66, the Newark bypass and the midlands rail hub, creating tens of thousands of jobs, new homes and better journeys for millions of travellers.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  It is another shameful legacy of the Conservative party that one in four adults struggles with NHS care and that tooth decay is the most common reason for hospital admissions for children aged five to nine—that happened on their watch. We are fixing this, and I can set out what we are doing. We are rolling out 700,000 urgent and emergency appointments, reforming the dental contract, and recruiting more dentists and newly qualified dentists, who will practice in the NHS for a minimum period. All of that is made possible only by the investment we put in in the Budget, which the Conservatives all opposed.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a powerful point, and I hope it was heard by those on the Conservative Benches. It is an absolute scandal that failed personal protective equipment contracts were handed out by the Conservatives, costing taxpayers £1.4 billion. We are focused on getting our money back. I can confirm that the commissioner is now investigating fraud involving bounce back and business support loans, and we will continue to go after the fraudsters, grifters and con artists, no matter who they are or where we find them.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am glad that the Leader of the Opposition has asked that, because it gives me the opportunity to say that we have already started changing the jobcentres and investing in support back into work. The Trailblazer scheme is doing exactly what she asked me: getting people back into work. Last night’s Bill will help people back into work, and of course the Timms review is ongoing, but I will tell the House what will not help people back into work and what will not help control the costs: voting to keep the broken system, and that is what the Conservatives did last night. Everybody in this House accepts that the current system is broken. It invites the question, “Who broke it?” The Conservatives broke it, and last night they voted for the status quo. The broken system is their policy. That will not help individuals, it will not help the taxpayer and it certainly will not help the economy.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  May I just start by congratulating Dawn Astle on her recent and richly deserved MBE for her work on behalf of former players? I do remember Michael Thomas very well—putting that goal in during injury time in 1989 to take the lead; it was a fantastic victory. I have had the pleasure of meeting him and discussing with him the very campaign that my hon. Friend raises, and I will certainly meet him again. Because athletes have brought us so much joy, they should have proper support from their sporting bodies on health and welfare, and we will ensure that they do.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Stephen Timms review—a very important review—will look into this issue, but what we did do last night was end mandatory reassessments for those with severe disabilities. I thought that the right hon. Gentleman and his party cared about things like that. It is the right thing to do, and they voted against it. We have rebalanced universal credit, which is long overdue. I think he believes that, but what did he do last night? He voted against it. We set out a pathway to reform personal independence payment, which is something he argues for every week, and what did he do when he had the chance? He voted against it.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I totally agree with my hon. Friend. Projects such as this are essential to building the 1.5 million homes we need, while at the same time creating vibrant and strong communities. In keeping with the Attlee legacy, we are supporting 47 locally-led garden communities to deliver tens of thousands more homes, and of course delivering the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The answer is yes, we will look at the content of the Bill. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising it. Across the House, we all have tragic experiences of suicide. Our thoughts are with Gabe’s family and friends. We will conduct a call for evidence on part K of the building regulations about minimum guarding heights so that the necessary protections are in place to prevent future tragedies, and we will also look at the contents of the Bill.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I will tell the right hon. Lady what the Conservatives did to the welfare system—they broke it. It is the same with the NHS. What did they do? They broke it. It is the same with the economy. What did they do? They broke it. They broke everything that they touched. Now she describes the broken system that we are trying to fix. What did she do? She voted against fixing the system. I will spell it out: they voted last night for the system that is keeping 1 million young people not learning or earning. That is a disgrace. They voted for a system where we have 3 million people out of work on ill health. They voted for that system; we are fixing it. We are clearing up the mess that they left, just like we are clearing up the NHS and the economy.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  This time a year ago, the country was lining up to boot the Conservatives out of office, and long may they remain there. We put in place the most significant funding for farmers in the Budget, we have a road map for farmers that we are working on and, of course, where the Conservatives failed to spend the money, we are spending it with farmers.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am really proud that we extended free school meals for another half a million children, including Laura’s. It is people like Laura and giving children the best start in life that we have in our mind’s eye. I think the child poverty taskforce visited Rochdale recently and will continue to back parents like Laura. We have already started rolling out not just free school meals, but free breakfast clubs, and extending childcare. That is real change under this Labour Government.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  We have delivered more in the first year of a Labour Government than the SNP has delivered in 20 years. Let me give the right hon. Gentleman one example. We said that we would deliver 2 million extra appointments for the NHS in England, and we have delivered 4 million. What a contrast with the SNP Government. They have been in charge for about 20 years, and Scotland’s doctors have said in the past week that the Scottish NHS is “dying before our very eyes”. The SNP should be ashamed. Its own Public Health Minister admits that the SNP’s failure is “costing lives”. Scotland needs a new direction so that we can bring waiting lists down in Scotland, just as we have done in England.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the women in my hon. Friend’s constituency, through her, for their hard work on this initiative. Having 264 women MPs is really significant progress in this House. I am incredibly proud that at the last election 100 new female Labour MPs were elected, meaning that the number of female MPs in the Labour party is now at a record high. On the 97th anniversary of the equal franchise Act, it should be a source of great pride to the House that we have a record number of female Members.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am very sorry to hear of the incident that the hon. Member cites. My sympathies are with the family, and I think I would send the best wishes of the whole House to the family and to that little girl. He speaks about the A259, and I do hear a lot about this road because it runs through the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven (Chris Ward). I know that it needs addressing, and I know how strongly they have both been in raising this and campaigning on it. A decision will be set our shortly. I think the hon. Member has met the Roads Minister, but I will make sure he is kept fully updated on developments.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Those are shocking statistics. Rail staff work incredibly hard to keep our country running and people safe. The abuse and assaults on staff are utterly unacceptable. We are taking measures to make sure they are safer. We want to encourage the use of body-worn cameras, which have been proven to reduce violence against staff by up to 47%. May I take this opportunity to thank our outstanding British Transport police for everything they do to support staff and passengers?

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I think they were cheering more, Mr Speaker, and quite right too! This Saturday marks the 77th birthday of our national health service, and I want to begin by thanking our dedicated NHS staff for their service. In that 77th year, I am proud that this Labour Government have delivered 4 million extra appointments, 1,700 more GPs and the lowest waiting lists for two years. The Labour party is proud to have been the party that created the NHS, and tomorrow we are announcing our 10-year health plan to build an NHS that is fit for the future, so that in many years and decades to come we can still proudly celebrate the anniversary of the NHS. May I also wish England and Wales the best of luck in the women’s Euros and congratulate England’s under-21s on retaining the Euros? This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.