Laura Kyrke-Smith MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 23 Apr 2025 · Hospitals · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to speak in the debate. The previous Government made off-the-cuff commitments to new hospitals that were never going to be affordable or deliverable; I am really proud to be part of a Labour Government who commit only to what we can afford. We stick to our promises and deliver them. The rapid progress that we have made towards improving the NHS, reorienting it towards frontline delivery, is a fantastic example of that. Over 3 million more appointments were delivered in the first nine months of this Government—that is well ahead of the target—and over 100,000 people have been treated on time. Those are great statistics, but when I knock on doors and meet residents, I hear about the difference that that has made to them and their families. People are back on their feet, back at work, and back being active parents and grandparents sooner than they could have imagined. This is politics that is delivering for people. It is not the politics of easy answers, but the politics of progress, and of change to people’s lives. I will highlight one change that will be particularly important in my constituency of Aylesbury as we continue the work of transforming the NHS, including through the new hospital programme: the need to better integrate primary and secondary care. There is great potential for savings there, if we think about the secondary and primary care estates in the round. More importantly, that will help bring traditionally hospital based-care closer to the community; it will be better care that has better outcomes for people. As I have said in this place before, we face an acute challenge in Aylesbury with our GP surgeries. We had new housing estates built in a poorly planned way under the previous Government, without the necessary GP services being provided. We also have particularly high levels of deprivation in Aylesbury and the county of Buckinghamshire—it is really marked by inequalities—which contributes to the pressures on our GP services. The Government have already made significant progress in improving GP provision; 1,500 new GPs have been recruited, and successful negotiations with the British Medical Association have resulted in the biggest uplift in funding for GPs in years. I think that will start to make a real difference.

• 7 Apr 2025 · Israel: Refusal of Entry for UK Parliamentarians · Hansard source

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  I travelled to the west bank in November, and I heard from UN agencies and non-governmental organisations about their international staff being denied entry, restricting their aid efforts. That was alarming enough, but the appalling treatment of our brilliant colleagues is a new low, as it seems that it is not just the support to Palestinians that is being denied, but the right to scrutinise whether that support is getting through. Does the Minister agree that future access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories for aid and scrutiny must be protected?

• 3 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Last year, there were more than 4,000 incidents of fly-tipping in Buckinghamshire. I have been working with Thames Valley police, who are increasing patrols in affected areas such as Slapton and Ivinghoe Aston, but it is not enough. One resident has told me that it is beyond a joke. Does the Leader of the House agree that we have to do more to tackle fly-tipping, and will she make time for us to debate introducing tougher sanctions for those who continue to spoil our countryside and our villages in this way?

• 3 Apr 2025 · UK-US Trade and Tariffs · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for his hard work and for his calm and pragmatic approach. In my constituency of Aylesbury, there are almost 5,000 small and medium-sized businesses, several of which export to the US or have been seeking to do so. Will the Secretary of State set out what he is doing to protect our SMEs in his ongoing negotiations with the Trump Administration?

• 27 Mar 2025 · PIP Changes: Impact on Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  It is shocking that one in eight of our young people is not in education, employment or training. I want this to be a country in which all working-age people, including young people, feel that sense of opportunity again. I know how important work is in lifting people out of poverty. I also know that it is in our DNA as a Labour party to be there for people who are disabled, vulnerable or not able to work. Will the Minister share how that £1 billion-a-year support package will help those who can work get into work? And does he agree that we will always have the backs of those who cannot work, and those who care for them?

• 27 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am in touch with many parents and carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities who have to battle too hard with Buckinghamshire council to get their education, health and care plans, their school places and their home-to-school transport. Will the Leader of the House join me in recognising the extraordinary lengths to which parents have to go to support their SEND kids? Will she continue to ensure that this House prioritises the reforms to the SEND system that are desperately needed?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. It was inspiring to meet Safran Electrical & Power and tour its site in Pitstone in my constituency earlier this month. Safran is celebrating a world first: it has obtained certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency for the first electric motor to power new air mobility. Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating Safran and, given the crucial need to decarbonise aviation, will he assure me of our commitment to innovation in this sector?

• 20 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Potholes have plagued motorists in Buckinghamshire for too long, damaging cars and making drivers, pedestrians and cyclists less safe. I welcome the Government’s commitment to delivering more than £20 million in funding to Buckinghamshire council to fix those potholes, and I am working hard to get Labour councillors elected on 1 May to ensure that the investment delivers results. Will my right hon. Friend reaffirm the Government’s commitment to our road infrastructure, and ensure that it keeps getting priority in Parliament?

• 20 Mar 2025 · Conflict in Gaza · Hansard source

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  In recent weeks, I have heard my constituents express their relief, but also their fear that this exact moment would come. I thank the Foreign Secretary for all the work that he has been doing to secure a lasting peace, and I am glad to hear him speak of the need to send a clear message to Israel that the resumption of airstrikes is unacceptable, but I worry that this message will be heard only if it is conveyed through both words and actions. Can he reassure my constituents that he is looking at what further actions may be needed, including on sanctions, to get back on the path to peace?

• 13 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I was delighted to meet my constituent Amy Scullard at the Pebble Brook Community Cafe last week. Amy helps run a peer support group in Aylesbury for parents and parents-to-be who are struggling with their mental health, as so many people do. Amy is an absolute inspiration and I look forward to joining her group in future. Will the Leader of the House join me in recognising the vital role that such mental health support groups play and will she continue to ensure that mental health gets the attention that it deserves in Parliament?

• 13 Mar 2025 · NHS England Update · Hansard source

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  I held a public consultation in my constituency on the future of the NHS. Participants were crystal clear that we need to cut bureaucracy and get resources to the frontline. When they talk about the frontline, they mean not just hospitals but people out in the community, and, crucially for my constituency, GP practices. Will the Secretary of State share more about how he intends to make that shift?

• 6 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In recent weeks I have been contacted by many constituents who are frightened by the decision of Buckinghamshire council to close its housing register temporarily. Does my right hon. Friend agree that people facing homelessness deserve our full support, and that we must address the underlying causes of homelessness, such as the lack of affordable and social housing? Will she make time for a debate on that issue?

• 6 Mar 2025 · English Football: Financial Sustainability and Governance · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an important point about costs. One of the brilliant football clubs in my constituency, the Aylesbury Vale Dynamos, really struggles with the cost of keeping its ground maintained. It is at real risk of flooding, and the cost of dealing with that is huge. The other club in my constituency, Aylesbury United, has not had a ground in Aylesbury since 2006. Does my hon. Friend agree that, given the costs that they incur, having access to a secure and financially sustainable ground to play on is an essential part of the sustainability of vital grassroots football clubs?

• 5 Mar 2025 · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for bringing deeply fragile and unstable conflicts such as Afghanistan into this discussion. Does he agree that aid plays a deeply stabilising role in such conflicts and, as such, contributes to global stability and security and to our own national security? Does he agree that that should be recognised in the tough choices we have to make on development spending?

• 10 Feb 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill · Hansard source

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  I draw the attention of the House to my entry in Register of Members’ Financial Interests and the support I receive from the Refugee, Asylum and Migration Policy project. Members across the House want an immigration system that is well managed. When I speak to my constituents, they tell me that is what they want, too—grip, control and a Government back in control of our borders. I am so pleased that the Bill seeks to provide exactly that, and not just with slogans, but with solutions. I welcome the establishment of the Border Security Command and the enhanced powers to tackle the criminal gangs that make it possible for people to cross the channel in small boats. Those gangs are exploiting some of the world’s most vulnerable people, and that is unacceptable. I welcome the Bill’s focus on unaccompanied children who enter the country in that way. It is right that we will no longer detain them without time limits, and it is right that local authorities will be supported to make decisions on their accommodation needs. We must not leave those vulnerable children in hotels or in any inappropriate adult accommodation. I cannot tell the House how much I welcome the repeal, in full, of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024. Some £700 million of taxpayer money was wasted on a scheme that was inhumane and never going to work. There are two areas of the Bill that we will need to scrutinise carefully as it moves forward. First, I would like reassurance that we are able to continually review which countries are safe and which are not, based on evidence. That is really important when international events can be so unpredictable and fast-paced, as we have seen with the fall of Assad in Syria, for example. Secondly, we have to be careful to minimise the risk of unintentionally criminalising asylum seekers—people like Ibrahima Bah, a young person from Senegal who was sentenced after steering a dinghy that broke apart next to a fishing vessel, under threat, he claimed, of death. It is the smuggling gangs we need to target, not young people who are coerced while trying to survive. I know that Ministers will be looking carefully at that. I turn to the international context in which we are discussing the Bill. While I welcome the Bill and I hope it reduces the number of people crossing the channel in grave danger, the reality is that for as long as persecution, war and conflict exist in the world, there will always be people fleeing for their safety, including to the UK. With that in mind, I see a vital continuing role for safe and legal ways for refugees and asylum seekers to seek protection in the UK. We know that safe routes can work; I am proud of our country for the Homes for Ukraine scheme and the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme, for example. When such schemes operate effectively, we do not see people of those nationalities getting on small boats. The APPG on refugees, of which I am co-chair, last week published an inquiry into safe routes, proposing further solutions, such as reviewing the financial restrictions for UK-based sponsors to reunite with their children who remain in danger overseas. I hope those proposals will be considered. The benefit of options such as family reunion and humanitarian visas is that they are also controlled and orderly, in the same spirit as the Bill. I also see a vital role for international co-operation. I know the Home Secretary has been working with European neighbours to tackle the criminal smuggling gangs, which is vital. I was pleased to see the joint action with Germany in December. I would like to see international co-operation extend to better anticipating and engaging constructively in resolving the crises that cause people to flee their homes in the first place, and to providing support for people closer to their homes. For example, the 3.3 million people who have fled across a border to escape the conflict in Sudan need support in Sudan and when they flee to neighbouring countries. That work has just got harder with the dramatic cuts to the US international aid budget, which I fear will be deeply destabilising. Ultimately, that is where the work must start to stop vulnerable people attempting to reach our own shores. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak and I look forward to supporting the Bill tonight.

• 10 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. This week is National Apprenticeship Week. I know from my constituents that apprenticeships are a vital and successful route into the workplace. Will the Minister join me in welcoming the 26,000 apprenticeships in the defence sector across the country? Will the Government continue to build the right skills and workforce of the future through apprenticeships?

• 6 Feb 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  We have seen a really worrying escalation of violence on the west bank, just at the time when this fragile peace has been found in Gaza. Large parts of Jenin refugee camp have been completely destroyed by Israeli security forces, and thousands have been forcibly displaced. UNRWA services have been interrupted. What measures is the Minister taking to ensure that Palestinians can live safely and securely in their homes on the west bank?

• 5 Feb 2025 · Maternal Mental Health · Hansard source

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  I agree; we need to shed more light on this, precisely for that and other reasons. I will touch briefly on my first recommendation, which is to ensure that specialist perinatal mental health services are protected. In the last 10 years, there have been significant steps forward. Mother and baby units in particular can be an important part of someone’s treatment and recovery, as well as having significant benefits for the parent-infant relationship. Tragically, there are still too many stories of women not being able to access those units. They are perhaps too far away from where a woman lives, or there is not a bed available, or the need for a mother to get that care has not been identified properly. We are still seeing mothers with newborns being put into adult psychiatric units and separated from their babies, despite the national guidance saying that mother and baby units are best practice. Continued support for these services is crucial, both in mother and baby units and in the community, and that must include research to develop the best interventions and robust evaluations of the care provided. The Mental Health Bill is a sorely needed piece of legislation, and I really welcome it, but I wonder whether it might include a provision to ensure that all women who have given birth within the 12 months prior to admission to a psychiatric unit are given the option of being admitted to a ward where they can remain with their baby. That could help to prevent women from falling through the cracks in the system, as they do currently. Secondly, I turn to routine maternity care, which is where the mental health support for the vast majority of women can and should sit. Again, we have seen progress, with some vital new services in place, including care for women experiencing baby loss, severe fear of childbirth, birth trauma and loss of custody at birth.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Maternal Mental Health · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered maternal mental health. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I am so glad to have secured this debate on maternal mental health, which I know really matters to people in my constituency and across the country, yet it is still too easily overlooked. For me, it is also very personal. In 2021, I lost one of my best and most brilliant friends, Sophie, to suicide. She left behind her wonderful husband and three little girls, aged six, three and just 10 weeks at the time. Her death was an awful shock to us all, and I will never forget the moment I received the message from her husband, which said: “I do not know how to say this and I cannot believe I am writing this, but Sophie died this morning.” It was still the covid pandemic at the time. Sophie was very isolated, recovering from a C-section, staying at home, trying to protect herself and her baby from covid, and not wanting visitors, but we were in regular touch on WhatsApp, helping each other to navigate life with a little baby and two older siblings. Sophie was getting more and more concerned about her baby’s feeding, and it was causing her to suffer from increasingly bad insomnia. She took herself to A&E with concerns about the baby’s milk intake, which I suspect were more a reflection of her own anxiety than the baby’s feeding, and she spent a night there before being discharged. I do not know whether they asked her about her own mental health. What I do know is that the next day her messages were increasingly distressed, and two days later she took her own life. Unfortunately, what Sophie went through is not uncommon. At least one in five people who give birth experience a mental health problem during pregnancy or after birth. In fact, while we hear a fair amount about physical conditions such as gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia, it is mental ill health that is the most common complication of pregnancy in the UK.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Maternal Mental Health · Hansard source

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  I agree with the hon. Member; that support is needed, and I will come on to that. The causes of these mental health challenges are really varied. Some people will have past experiences of mental health problems or difficult childhood experiences. Some will struggle after a traumatic birth. Some will be experiencing stressful living conditions. Some evidence suggests there are biological or hormonal factors, and some people are at higher risk than others: young mums face particular risks, with post-natal depression up to twice as prevalent in teenage mothers compared with those aged 20 or over, and data suggests that post-natal depression and anxiety are 13% higher in black and other ethnic minority mothers than in white mothers. People’s experiences of mental health are also really varied, ranging from mild to moderate conditions such as low self-esteem, anxiety and depression to more serious conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder and post-partum psychosis. While most people find a way through, perinatal mental health can be incredibly serious, as it was for Sophie.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Maternal Mental Health · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree. A recent report from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance highlighted huge variation in the support services available locally, with confusing referral pathways, inequitable referral criteria and long waiting lists—some women have to wait six months for an assessment and up to a year for treatment. Too often, as I have noted, women are cared for unequally. Those who have existing disadvantages experience stubbornly poorer outcomes. We need better integration of mental health into all routine contacts during pregnancy and after birth for all women who need it. During that period, women have an average of at least 16 routine contacts with health professionals, including GPs, midwives and others, and they are an ideal opportunity to ensure that women are routinely and compassionately asked about their mental health. I wonder if any healthcare professionals asked Sophie not just how the baby was but how she was. I wonder if the discussions about her baby’s feeding were had in a way that sought to reduce her anxiety. I wonder if she was given less attention because this was her third child, and her earlier experiences had been smoother—but I will never know. In the same way that many physical health complications are dealt with by multidisciplinary maternity services, the same should be true for mental health care. That means midwives, health visitors and others being trained to ask the right questions and assess the risks, and then psychological therapists, equivalent to those employed in talking therapies, integrated into maternity teams to support women’s care where necessary. They would understand the specific needs and risks of the perinatal period, and be able to intervene quickly where that is needed. Thirdly, I want to acknowledge the importance of community support for pregnant and new mums, as we have heard from other Members, and I recommend its expansion. There are fantastic voluntary groups providing some support, and in some places family support hubs are up and running, but often the postcode lottery kicks in again. We are a long way from the broader and more reliable provision that was established under the last Labour Government—notably the Sure Start model, which all the long-term evidence shows was so effective. As part of our national health mission to shift care from hospital to the community, we need to rebuild those community services, including for pregnant and new mums. We need them to be across the country and widely accessible, with clear maternal mental health guidance embedded in them. Finally, it is incumbent on all of us to keep building a society where everyone understands the mental health challenges in the perinatal period, including the suicide risk in the most serious cases. Crucially, we all need to learn to be good allies to people who are struggling. I think about that a lot in relation to Sophie. When Sophie sent me messages saying, “Feeling desperate today”, and, “I’m just not sure I have it in me to keep going”, did I do enough? Did I worry about her anxiety? Yes. Did I worry about her being depressed? Yes. Did I worry about suicidal thoughts? Honestly, yes. But did I think she might take her own life? No. I have struggled with the guilt that I did not somehow do something to stop it, but I also recognise how ignorant I was and how hard this is. I have had good conversations with Sophie’s dad about what needs to change. He is part of a group called Facing the Future—a support group for people who have lost family to suicide. One of his group members said: “I think what I’d like to see is a more proactive and visible campaign to target those who are at risk. Not just for those at risk, but for their families/friends/carers/loved-ones. Let people know that it’s okay not to be okay...Give people the knowledge and confidence to ask someone they are concerned about how they are feeling, to know what to look for and ask, and to know where to go for help.” That is absolutely right. There are some fantastic charities and campaigns out there. I know the Government are listening; I am particularly pleased that not just mental health, but suicide prevention are woven into our health mission, where moving from treatment to prevention is such an important focus more broadly. But there is more to do. I conclude by saying that I do not want Sophie’s life to be defined by her death. I want it to be defined by her first-class Cambridge degree, her talents as a writer and actress, her Foreign Office career, her friendships, her playful sense of humour, and the beautiful family that she began to raise. I talk about her death because I hope her experience can be a catalyst for change. While her story—every story like hers—and the wider statistics can seem bleak, the real story here is one of hope and potential. With the right support in place at this crucial and pressured time in women’s lives, they do surmount great mental health challenges and recover, often quickly and well—and their babies get off to a good start in life. The Government have embarked on transformative work to improve the country’s health, and better maternal mental health outcomes must be one test of our success.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Maternal Mental Health · Hansard source

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  Absolutely—that is one way in which people can experience severe mental health challenges and consequences, and it needs to be considered. I also want to acknowledge that new dads and partners experience mental health challenges too, but given our limited time, I am focusing today on maternal mental health.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Maternal Mental Health · Hansard source

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  I absolutely do, and I am sorry to hear of the experience of my hon. Friend’s friend. What are the consequences of all this? The human suffering is immense, but maternal mental health has economic consequences and costs, too—an estimated £8.1 billion each year in the UK, according to research from the London School of Economics, and nearly three quarters of that cost relates to adverse impacts on the child rather than the mother. I want to suggest four ways in which maternal mental health support can be improved, and I will be as brief as I can. The first is improving specialist perinatal mental health services. The second is better embedding mental health support in routine maternity care. The third is improving community support, and the fourth is education and awareness raising.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Maternal Mental Health · Hansard source

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  I agree: mother and baby units are vital. For women in the period from six weeks after giving birth to one year after giving birth, the leading cause of death is suicide. While I want to speak more widely today, I want us to be very conscious of that extreme end of the risks that women face. Despite the potential seriousness, the stigma around these problems is huge. Some 70% of women will hide or underplay maternal mental health difficulties, and in turn, they will never get the support they need.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

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  I was very pleased to hear about the ambitions for the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor, which will create great opportunities for my constituents. I was particularly pleased to note the emphasis on infrastructure, including the East-West Rail link, and I would love to see a rail link from Aylesbury to Milton Keynes and on to East West Rail in due course. Does the Chief Secretary agree that good transport infrastructure of this kind is critical to growing our economy?