Laura Kyrke-Smith MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 16 Oct 2024 · Access to Primary Healthcare · Hansard source

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  I hear from many constituents in Aylesbury who are struggling to see their GP. For some, this is a frustration—a repeated one. For others, it is a tragedy. I sat with a constituent who shared a heartbreaking story about a missed cancer diagnosis because it was impossible to get an appointment. The reasons for the challenges are clear, as the Minister set out. In Aylesbury, two additional factors are creating particular pressures. First, many new housing developments have been built in the last 14 years without the necessary services to accompany them—for example, the promised GP surgery in Kingsbrook that was never built, adding pressure to other surgeries, such as Poplar Grove. Secondly, there are high levels of deprivations in parts of Aylesbury. The well documented link between poverty and ill health leads to patients having increased and complex physical and mental health needs that GP surgeries are not funded or equipped to meet. Let us be clear about the cause of these challenges, which are not the fault of patients, who like all of us are just trying to stay in good health, or of GPs, who often work incredibly long hours in a system that lets them down and wears them down. The problem is the broken system that this Labour Government have inherited after 14 years of Conservative government. Let me turn to the solutions. The early steps that we have taken are a clear signal of our intent: the ending of the junior doctor strikes, the red tape challenge that the Secretary of State launched with NHS England, and the measures that we took within weeks of being elected, including finding £82 million of additional funding to enable the immediate recruitment of 1,000 more GPs. I know from the GPs I am in touch with that that has made a real difference. There is still much work to do. I will highlight three areas of necessary focus. First, we must expand the range of care available in the community. GP surgeries waste time referring patients to hospital-led community services when they know that they could treat those patients directly but do not have the funding or permission to do so. Meanwhile, patients tell me that they have had to go to A&E for minor issues because there is no support closer to home. Our ambition for an expanded range of support and services through neighbourhood health centres is absolutely right, and we are getting straight to work on that. Secondly, on technology, I hear time and again of GPs spending hours trying to make referrals to and from the hospital, battling IT systems that are not intuitive and do not speak to each other. Meanwhile, patients tell me that they cannot fathom why there is not a better system for booking appointments. There are great pilot schemes that could be rolled out more widely. At the GP surgery in Edlesborough in my constituency, for example, a carefully designed AI chatbot answers patients’ questions where it can, and helps GPs to prioritise which patients to see. Thirdly, we need a firm emphasis on prevention in public health by driving up public awareness of health risks. On a recent visit to the main mosque in Aylesbury, for example, I saw a stand with information about diabetes. That is exactly the right way to get the right information in front of people. Once public health risks are identified, we must empower patients to manage their own health as best they can. As Vernon Sharples, a mental health nurse in my constituency, said to me: “There is too much prescribing, too much emphasis on being ill, and not enough emphasis on being and staying well.” To me, taking public health, including mental health, seriously, and building a society that understands and promotes wellbeing to keep people healthy before they need to seek treatment with a GP, is what a good preventive approach looks like. Achieving that vision will take a long time, and change cannot come soon enough for people in my constituency who so desperately need to see their GP today or tomorrow, but we have started as we mean to go on, and we will not stop until we have achieved the change that we so desperately need.

• 8 Oct 2024 · VAT: Independent Schools · Hansard source

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  Last week I had a meeting with a group of incredibly dedicated and determined women in my constituency, all of whom have children with special educational needs. We discussed the broken SEND system and what it will take to fix it. I would like to share their top three points. First, the women said that when they chase for an assessment, diagnosis or school place, they are made to feel as if they and their children are a problem, when all they are doing is trying to ensure that their children get the same support and acceptance as any other child. One lady said she was treated like a criminal. This mentality towards SEND children and their parents has to change. Secondly, these parents want their children to be able to go to their local state schools, in their community, but they feel that schools have a very limited understanding of their children’s complex needs, let alone an ability to manage them. One mum told me about her child being excluded from school because their complex needs were treated like a behavioural problem. However, I know, for their part, that schools do not have enough staff or training to cope. Thirdly, these mums are sick and tired of the lack of accountability in the system. Schools are not being held to account for the way they manage and incorporate SEND children into school; local authorities are not being held to account for their services; and home-to-school transport providers are not being held to account for how they look after the children. The fact is that the support system for children with special educational needs and disabilities is broken. The answer lies in both funding and reform of the system. We have to make tough choices on where to find that funding—tough choices that the previous Government ducked. Rather than political point scoring, we owe it to all the SEND children and their parents, carers and teachers to work together and do everything in our power to fix this system as quickly as possible.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  People across my constituency are worried about how they will afford to heat their homes this winter. I was shocked to hear the former Energy Minister, now shadow Minister, admit that his Government should have gone “further and faster” on insulating homes, which will certainly help. Does the Minister agree that this is an admission of failure by the previous Conservative Government, who have left working people to pay the price? Can she reassure my constituents that this Government will do better?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  9. What steps he is taking to introduce his warm homes plan.

• 7 Oct 2024 · British Indian Ocean Territory: Negotiations · Hansard source

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  When the former Foreign Secretary, the right hon. Member for Braintree (Mr Cleverly), was leading negotiations with Mauritius, he said: “Our primary objective is to ensure the continued effective operation of our defence facility on Diego Garcia.” —[ Official Report , 13 June 2023; Vol. 734, c. 151.] This Government have now delivered that. On that basis, should the Conservatives not be welcoming the agreement?

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

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  My constituency has experienced extensive house building in the past decade. My constituents are very understanding of the need for new homes, but their patience has been tested again this week by horrible traffic—the result of the previous Government’s haphazard approach to house building. Will the Leader of the House allow a debate on our future house building plans to ensure that they are accompanied by the necessary infrastructure and services?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Sudan · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker, for dedicating time to this crisis. Given the challenges of getting international aid into Sudan, the humanitarian response is very dependent on local community-led emergency response routes. What measures are the Government taking to ensure that funding reaches frontline responders?

• 2 Sept 2024 · Middle East Update · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s decision to suspend certain arms sales to Israel. I also appreciate his acknowledgment that Israel could do much more to allow aid to reach people in Gaza. What further conversations has he had with the Israeli Government to ask them to ensure that aid workers can do their vital work safely and effectively, and that aid can get to those who desperately need it?

• 30 Jul 2024 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  10. What steps he is taking to help improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

• 30 Jul 2024 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  My constituents are appalled by the death and destruction in Gaza. They know, as we do, that only an immediate, permanent ceasefire in exchange for the return of the hostages will put an end to this unacceptable and unbearable suffering. In the meantime, despite the Israeli Government’s promise to flood Gaza with aid, which the Minister mentioned, the reality is that they are putting in place repeated and deadly obstructions. What conversations have the Government had with Israel to ensure that the Israelis end this denial of lifesaving assistance?

• 29 Jul 2024 · Asylum Claims Backlog · Hansard source

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  I appreciate the efforts that my hon. Friend has outlined. As the backlog is cleared, what steps will the Home Secretary take to ensure that newly recognised refugees do not face homelessness and destitution in the weeks after being granted status? Specifically, will she consider extending the move-on period to 56 days, in line with the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017?

• 29 Jul 2024 · Asylum Claims Backlog · Hansard source

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  10. What steps her Department is taking to clear the asylum backlog.

• 24 Jul 2024 · Education and Opportunity · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity to address the House, and I congratulate you on your election to the Chair. I am sure that the House will want to join me in extending our deepest sympathies to my hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden). I am very sorry and sad to learn of the death of his mother. I congratulate him on a wonderful maiden speech, and on speaking with such passion about our children and the potential of the next generation. I want to pay tribute to my predecessor, Rob Butler, who I know has great affection for Aylesbury, and who served the constituency with great loyalty and good will. It is a true honour to be here as the new Member of Parliament for Aylesbury. Given that my constituency houses the county town of Buckinghamshire and has returned a long line of Conservative Members to Parliament, as might be expected from that county, I am particularly proud to be here as Aylesbury’s first ever Labour MP, and its first female MP. My constituency is very diverse geographically; it covers the rapidly growing town of Aylesbury, many lovely villages, such as Whitchurch, Wing, Cheddington and Edlesborough, historic woodlands and farmlands, and the Chiltern hills. It also has very diverse communities, with people of Christian, Muslim, Hindu and other faiths, and people of Asian, African and Eastern European heritage, living alongside elderly residents and young people whose families have called my constituency home for many generations. We are an historic constituency, too. Britain’s oldest road, the Ridgeway, crosses through to Ivinghoe Beacon; the remains of an iron-age hill fort lie beneath Aylesbury town; and an Aylesbury constituency has existed in some form since 1554. It was from Aylesbury that John Hampden defended Parliament against Charles I in 1642, and his statue overlooking Market Square in the town centre still celebrates the parliamentary freedom that he championed. Perhaps I will not dwell for too long on our Conservative-leaning political history from then onwards, but I want to highlight three other ways in which history shapes my brilliant constituency today. First, there is our vibrant culture. Roald Dahl made Buckinghamshire his home, and today we host the Roald Dahl children’s gallery at Discover Bucks museum. We are the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, and hosted the first competition for people with spinal injuries in Stoke Mandeville back in 1948. For decades, Aylesbury was home to the iconic Friars nightclub, where acts like Queen and U2 performed. David Bowie’s first performance of “Ziggy Stardust” there is now marked in the town by a bronze sculpture, which bursts into song, catching visitors by surprise. Secondly, my constituency has a history of offering a friendly welcome, including to many evacuees from London in world war two and the exiled Czech Government, who operated out of Old Manor House, between Wingrave and Aston Abbotts. You can still see the bus shelter that the Czech President instructed to be built on that road, having taken pity on the local schoolchildren waiting in the rain. We have seen the same welcome to many people who have moved into the constituency in recent decades, and particularly into the many new housing developments in the area. Thirdly, I want to highlight the inequalities in income and wealth that exist in the constituency. Members of this House may be surprised to hear that Aylesbury has high levels of deprivation. In fact, one in eight children in the town live in poverty, and we have always had a history of people struggling to get by on a low wage in the print and car factories, or as agricultural labourers. I pay tribute to the local food banks and to fantastic charities such as Youth Concern and Aylesbury Homeless Action Group, which make life more manageable for those who are struggling most today, but they should not have to exist. That takes me to the four points that I will prioritise as the Member for Aylesbury, and to the reason why I wanted to speak in today’s debate on education and opportunity. Above all, I want my constituents to feel a sense of opportunity and optimism again. First, I will focus on the desperate need to improve healthcare. We are home to Stoke Mandeville hospital, where my son was born, and its internationally renowned spinal injuries unit. I have the deepest respect for everyone who works in the healthcare sector across the constituency, but we have to make it possible for people to get basic healthcare and to see their GP again, and we have to tackle the awful and pervasive mental health crisis in my constituency and across the country. One of my most brilliant and best friends, Sophie Middlemiss, is not here to witness this moment of great change and opportunity for our country, because she took her own life when her little girl was 10 weeks old. I do not want anyone to suffer from post-natal depression and anxiety in the way that she did, and I will fight to get better help for people in her situation. Secondly, I will focus on education for our children, and I will fight to ensure that all children, whatever their background and circumstances, get the opportunities that they deserve in life. I am particularly concerned about SEND children—I am pleased to have heard a lot about that in the House today—and their parents, families, carers and teachers, who are not getting anything like the support they deserve. That has to change. Thirdly, I will help our businesses to thrive. I will support the small businesses that I hope will be part of a revival of Aylesbury town centre. We have to make it a safe and attractive place to spend time again, and we have to make it possible to get in, across and out of town without spending hours in traffic. I will also support the farming businesses in the rural parts of our constituency, within a wider, careful approach to protecting and managing our nature-rich and agricultural lands. Finally, I come to this job conscious not just of the challenges and the opportunities for my constituency and my country, but of the very challenging moment that we are in globally. Before coming to Parliament I was leading a humanitarian aid agency, and I will continue to be a voice for, and do right by, the most vulnerable people around the world. There are record numbers of people caught up in conflict and crisis, at a time when geopolitical rivalry is on the rise and the global institutions set up after world war two no longer offer the protections that they used to. A strong and principled Britain can make a real difference in the world, and I know this matters to my constituents, most pressingly in their concerns about the awful suffering in Gaza and the suffering of the Israeli hostages and their families. Let me conclude with one final point. I mentioned that Aylesbury is home to the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery, so I will end with some inspiration from Matilda, perhaps Roald Dahl’s finest character—certainly that is my daughter’s view. Matilda said: “Having power is not nearly as important as what you choose to do with it.” Every day, in this place of power, we all make choices. I will know if I have made the right choices if people in crisis around the world and, most importantly, people struggling in my constituency tell me that I have played my part in making a positive difference to their lives.

• 22 Jul 2024 · Border Security and Asylum · Hansard source

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  I am very pleased to see the Home Secretary take her place. My constituents in Aylesbury have two concerns: first, that we re-establish control of our borders; and secondly, that we remember the need for compassion for vulnerable people fleeing conflict and persecution. On that point, will she commit to ensuring that there are resettlement routes for people fleeing desperate and dangerous circumstances, and what will she do to ensure that they are viable?