Lee Pitcher MP: speeches

Speeches

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

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  I recently spent the day with the amazing volunteer team at the Bread and Butter Thing at the Fair Green pub in Thorne, helping to distribute surplus food to local residents in need. Does the Leader of the House agree that charities, like the Bread and Butter Thing, and the volunteers who dedicate their time are the true heroes of our communities? Will she also join me in thanking the supermarkets and businesses that donate surplus food to be turned into nutritious, affordable bags of shopping for those families who really need that help?

• 3 Jul 2025 · Women’s State Pension Age: Financial Redress · Hansard source

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  I should declare that my mum is a WASPI woman. She would be disappointed if I was not here today, and there is nothing worse than your mum being disappointed in you. I also represent 6,030 other WASPI women in my constituency. I just wonder if the Minister really understands the discrimination faced by 1950s women, including sexism and a lot of discrimination in the workplace. They just feel let down. Does the Minister realise that, and that they absolutely deserve justice?

• 24 Jun 2025 · Flood Defences: Chesterfield · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that, in areas where we have significant risk of flooding, it should be compulsory for schools to educate children on building flood plans as part of the curriculum? If people knew that there was a flood coming, they would then actually know what they should be doing. I know for a fact that, if people have a plan, they bounce back and their resilience is greater afterwards, if they become flooded.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Water Safety Education · Hansard source

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  Sam Haycock is a name that most Members in the Chamber will not have heard before today, but it is my job to make sure that that 16-year-old’s legacy does not end four years ago, when he was swimming in a South Yorkshire reservoir with his friends. I want Sam’s name imprinted on everyone’s brain and etched in everyone’s heart today—not only in the name of Sam, but for his mum and for his dad, Simon, who came to Parliament yesterday and talked with me about my private Member’s Bill on water safety. I met Sam’s dad for the first time a couple of summers ago; that day at Thorne fire station, when many firefighters and service people were showing how to rescue someone safely from water, he handed me a picture of Sam. Sam’s dad does that work week in, week out, tirelessly. Yesterday I could see the anguish in his eyes still, because that call that he got will never go away. It makes such a difference to him to be able to go out and educate children and their families about swimming safely, the dangers and risks, and what learning about those dangers can mean for protecting lives in the future. Unfortunately, if we look back to 2023, there were another 236 or so Sams out there. That is 236 parents, friends or colleagues who got that same horrible knock at the door or that awful phone call. Some 50% of drownings happen in the months of June, July and August—so half of all drownings this year will happen in the next three months. Of course, it is hot, and this year in particular has been super-hot in the lead-up to summer. That prevailing weather is only a bigger risk in terms of the potential numbers that could join those other Sams. Some 5.8 million children finish their GCSEs today or tomorrow, as the hon. Member for Esher and Walton (Monica Harding) said. Sam died on the day that he finished his GCSEs and went swimming with his friends to celebrate. Across the UK, we have some of the most beautiful watercourses. We have 40,000 lakes, 43,000 miles of rivers. We have 22 major rivers, 2,000 reservoirs, 273 major reservoirs and 600 designated beaches. Those offer opportunities for any child to go and swim—just to try it, perhaps for the first time. Of course, there is a balance here; water can be good. It is good for physical health, and it is great for mental health. It is a great source of tourism, sports and leisure in our communities. Some 7.5 million people take part or have taken part in open water swimming. One of those people is Lindsy James, who lives in and works across my community. She is a world champion duathlete, who has only recently learned to swim as she had a fear of water; she has shown how swimming can build resilience and confidence. Given the amount of water that we have, the most important thing is education, because we cannot protect all the different sites that I have talked about. That is why I am so proud that my Water Safety Bill had a reception this week. The Bill would make compulsory water safety education part of this Government’s legal duty, which would save lives—that is the reason we are here today. Our job is to enrich lives, to save lives and to protect lives. Sam Haycock’s story does not need to end on that day four years ago; there needs to be a legacy. He may not go on to fulfil all the dreams he had on the day he finished his GCSEs, but his legacy can and will allow others to fulfil their dreams.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Post-industrial Towns · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend tempts me to intervene because she knows how passionate and driven I am to see Doncaster-Sheffield airport open, revitalised and ready to take flights in the near future. That will bring new jobs, prosperity and longer-term ambition for the young people who live in the area. Does she agree that the Government support to help develop skills in the local area, around aviation, logistics and green technologies, is exactly what we need?

• 12 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  June is indeed a very special month for birthdays—as you will know, Mr Speaker, given that you celebrated your birthday this week. Will the Leader of the House join me in celebrating the 100th birthday of the Doncaster Free Press and recognise the importance of local newspapers in our regions?

• 12 Jun 2025 · SEND Funding · Hansard source

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  I have met people from about 18 schools, both here in Westminster and at home in the constituency, and, more recently, have heard the voices of young people on SEND in Doncaster. At every single meeting, the first questions asked are about support, capacity, and young adults’ transition into work. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that to get the funding right, we need to listen to the voices of people with experience—those at the grassroots—to ensure that we understand their ideas and solutions, and direct funding into the right places?

• 11 Jun 2025 · British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme · Hansard source

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  For my 719 BCSSS members, with the scheme looking quite healthy now, does the Minister have that oomph to push it forward and expedite it as quickly as possible to get them justice?

• 11 Jun 2025 · Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend and neighbour for giving way and for what she has said today. Does she agree that there is real potential for farmers to contribute by supporting feed stock from winter crops, creating a circular environmental economy that helps the local economy to grow further with new kinds of jobs, including for people who live in rural areas?

• 10 Jun 2025 · Rooftop Solar Power · Hansard source

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  I wish you a very happy birthday, Mr Speaker. I welcome the news that one of Great British Energy’s first major projects will be to install solar panels on schools and hospitals, and I hope that some of the 43 schools in Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme will benefit. I have heard from local sports clubs that are keen to be part of the green energy revolution but face installation and funding barriers. Will the Secretary of State consider extending Great British Energy and other schemes to help community sports facilities to go green?

• 10 Jun 2025 · Rooftop Solar Power · Hansard source

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  22. What steps he is taking to support rooftop solar power projects.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend and neighbour on securing this important debate, and on the campaign that she is leading on women and men being screened for breast cancer early. Uptake is very low nationally, which is a problem in Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme. Incredible work is done by organisations like Visit Bawtry. In October last year, over 70 organisations turned the town pink during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, raising £15,000 for breast cancer charities and, most importantly, amplifying the message that it is important to get early detection to save lives. Does my hon. Friend agree that efforts by grassroots organisations are vital, and that the Government must support them, as well as supporting improved screening access and public health messaging?

• 2 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T9. Doncaster East’s neighbourhood policing team recently seized multiple stolen offroad bikes using tactics including drones and high-visibility patrols. Its swift action has made a real difference in tackling antisocial behaviour in places such as Hatfield and Dunscroft. I commend the team on its work and the public support it has received through its “Where’s the bike” campaign. In the light of that, I ask the Minister about the progress around the neighbourhood policing guarantee and when Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme can see named police officers in their towns—

• 20 May 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source

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  I want to express my absolute support for this clause. I chair the all-party parliamentary water group and the APPG for sustainable flood and drought management, and prior to my time in this place, I worked in the world of design and engineering around the climate, so this is an important issue for me. I support sustainable urban drainage systems, especially after this April and May, as it looks like we will have had the driest spring in 100 years. We need to consider what we are doing on developments about drought, with grey water recycling, and we need to look at how we address future flood risk and build resilience in new towns—and existing ones as well. I am happy to see this measure in the Bill.

• 20 May 2025 · School Buildings: Northumberland and Newcastle · Hansard source

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  I have had a visit today from students at St Wilfrid’s school in Branton—the 17th, of the 43 schools in my constituency, that I have seen or visited—and they spoke about the fabric of the school, and of the importance of the buildings to ensuring not just that students have the right learning environment, but that teachers, parents and the community can feel proud to have a place where children can thrive. The fabric of the building is really important for education. Would my hon. Friend agree that we need to do something for all schools across the country to ensure that their fabric is maintained and looked after?

• 29 Apr 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill (Third sitting) · Hansard source

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  I am intervening on a different but still very much related point. What is also really important for me is that we remain attractive as a country to foreign investors and others who are looking to invest here, including in the infrastructure that enables our country to grow and creates jobs. It is important that investors want to come and invest here. The longer the process or the greater the burden, the less likely they are to invest here, and we will lose out to other places across the globe. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to tackle that issue?

• 24 Apr 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q It sounds as though you are saying that you are ready to work across the private, public and voluntary sectors to deliver that. Marian Spain: We are already having those conversations as part of the preparatory work.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Thank you, Marian, for coming along today; that is massively appreciated. I have heard a few things today about genuine community benefits being essential—they must be delivered—and partnerships and relationships being hugely important in order to be able to facilitate those. Everybody we have talked to, including you, has welcomed the Bill and said that it will take us forward. But if the community benefits are key, you now have a huge duty, as part of the Bill, to deliver and support those. I just wonder about the cultural change that needs to go on in relation to working with others and working in partnership. How prepared for that are you as an organisation? Marian Spain: Nearly all our work is done in partnership anyway. Perhaps I will just expand on what I think the crucial partnerships are for the Bill to succeed. Actually, before I do, I will say one other thing. The Bill will require us to not produce the EDPs in isolation. They will require us to do public consultation. They will require us to work with others. We will need to work with the local planners. We are also highly likely to need to work with those who already have the data. That might be the voluntary sector; it might be the professional ecology sector that we rely on heavily to provide us with the data to have the confidence to recommend a robust plan to the Secretary of State. The other part very much on my mind at the moment is that one of our jobs will be to give confidence to everybody who needs to be involved in making this work that the plans are robust and adequate and will have the impact intended. One thing that developers say to me is that they want confidence that if they are going to pay money, it will be well spent. A developer said to me the other day that the thing he finds most frustrating is that he puts money into the community infrastructure levy and he never sees what it is spent on, so I think there is something about giving developers confidence that if they participate, they can see they have done some good. Planners will need a fair degree of confidence that they are giving planning permission that is within the overall planning laws still. We need our wildlife groups to work with us on this. We need to give them confidence, because they will own a lot of the land on which we will make the improvement. But as important—a group that we have not often talked about in these conversations—are the private landowners, who we will also need to have confidence that they are participating in a fair market where they will be adequately rewarded, should they choose to put their land in, and that they will also see that they are doing something for the public benefit. The final group, if I dare say it, will be parliamentarians, who need to have confidence that these measures will contribute to the statutory climate and nature targets. It is all about how we work with all those groups to show that this is better.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Are you saying that it will make it worse? Richard Benwell: Yes, but it could make it better if you do it well. At the moment, it is worse because it allows developers to short-circuit the mitigation hierarchy and go straight to damage. It is worse because the level of certainty of environmental benefits is lower than currently required by the law. It is worse because it allows damage up front in return for promises of remediation up to 10 years down the line. And it is worse in terms of the scientific evidence that will be needed to apply to new sites or species. But the kind of approach that the Government are talking about could work if some of those problems were fixed. It is worth saying that if you really wanted a planning Bill to turn around the problems you have described, this might help, but it is far more important to make sure that you meet the global commitment to allocating 30% of the land and sea for nature, that you turn to thinking about how to manage our land and sea better for farmers and fishers and you pay them properly for nature benefits, and that you turn to thinking about how we build nature into development. Far more things could be in this Bill if the objective were to save nature. At the moment, the trade-off that we are being asked to make—weakening tried-and-tested, strong, effective environmental laws in return for a sliver of hope that the benefits might outweigh the harm—does not warrant the changes that are being made. But—I keep returning to this—it could, if part 3 of the Bill is improved during its parliamentary passage, and that is what we would really like to work with you to do.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q From your experience and the best practice out there, where in the system is the best place to engage with local voices and have those voices heard? Jack Airey: Do you mean geographically?

• 24 Apr 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q I am just trying to understand, Richard. I have watched programmes, I have worked in the world of climate and I spoke at COP26, so I have a bit of background. You have talked to us about the number of species that are dying out now and, globally, I know they are dying out 100 times faster than normal evolutionary rates of extinction. We are in a bad place, and there is a lot to be done, but that is with the existing stuff that precedes this measure. That is the position we are in, so I cannot understand why a change will not better facilitate an improvement in nature as well as planning. That leads to growth, which can then put money back into the system to improve it further. Richard Benwell: It is because the proposed change will weaken that level of protection and make unsustainable—

• 24 Apr 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  No—where within the planning process? Jack Airey: The Bill puts much greater emphasis on local plan making. In my view, that is a really good thing. We need plans that really stand up to scrutiny, and we need promised homes to be actually delivered. The Planning Inspectorate has a big role there, and I think that is where most engagement should happen. At the moment various people have many bites of the cherry to give their view on development. Often it is a negative thing; sometimes it is a positive thing. That could be concentrated a bit more on the plan-making process. Once a site is allocated in a local plan, it should be much harder for that thing not to happen. Sam Richards: I agree with Jack.

• 23 Apr 2025 · Pension Funds · Hansard source

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  I have a constituent who has worked for 44 years at Midland bank and HSBC. They were promised a pension of two thirds of their final salary, but they now face a 16% cut—that is over £1,700 per annum—because of the so-called state deduction. They were never told that the scheme was integrated, and even private pension reviews failed to explain it. Does the hon. Member agree that that lack of transparency is unacceptable and that workers like my constituent deserve answers?

• 12 Apr 2025 · Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill · Hansard source

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  Let me bring us back to the Bill that we are here to debate. We have heard some of the data, statistics and information, and about the finances and the associated commercial considerations. We have heard about the importance of British Steel to our defence industry and our national security, about the importance of energy and resilience, and about the infrastructure we need to build to give us the growth in this country that we can feed back and inject into the public services that so need it. Of course, the big thing here is the 3,700 jobs, and today I represent the voice of my residents in the Isle of Axholme and those living in neighbouring towns, including Scunthorpe, who are feeling it today and who are listening to every single word we say. I have to say that the risk to them and the impact—the personal impact—on them are unquantifiable. That is what I want to talk about. Yesterday, I spoke to Richard, a fifth-generation worker at Scunthorpe who has recently finished there. He said that this is about the individual, about the families, about their colleagues and friends, and about the town. This is about their identity, and he described it in this way. He said that British Steel in Scunthorpe is the “beating heart” of the area, and over the last few years that beating heart has started to slow. As it has slowed, every time it skips a beat, as it has in the last couple of weeks, people hold their breath. They are anxious, they are scared and they are frightened. With every skip of that beating heart, people lose hope, and we cannot let people lose hope. He says to us that we need to come together and we need to pick up a community defibrillator, take it there, give it the injection of pace that it needs, and make sure that we stimulate that heart for all the generations in the future. We have the opportunity with this Bill today to take control and to start to make that happen. We can turn British Steel—making primary or virgin steel, which is vital for all the things we have talked about—into a treasure, and not just a treasure, but a national treasure, which is exactly why we need to move this on today.

• 8 Apr 2025 · Easter Adjournment · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker; I hope that in future when it gets to Easter recess you will be able to fly away with me to Doncaster Sheffield airport once it is reopened. For now, let me shine a light on some of the amazing work being done within my community, starting with sports. I am really lucky to have some amazing football clubs that inspire young children in my local area. We have Rossington football club, Epworth Colts, Bawtry juniors, Dunscroft Warriors, Hayfield football club, Club Thorne Colliery and Finningley Harriers junior club. They all provide opportunities for children to develop their skills and build lifelong friendships. It is not just football clubs that we have. In Thorne, we have the Thornensians Rugby Union football club, which has long been a pillar for the local sporting community. It was founded in 1939, but the club did not play its first game until 1945 due to the war. Reg Clayton, its founding member, was there for the very first match. At 100 years old, he is still a supporter today. It is a club built on heritage and heart, and every Sunday it proudly hosts over 100 boys and girls playing rugby, nurturing the next generation and keeping the community spirit alive. I am sure that Reg is very proud. On the Isle of Axholme, we are home to a cricket league that dates back to 1936, when West Butterwick took home the trophy. That heritage still lives on in the clubs that take to the field every summer, week in, week out, supported by the volunteers, to whom I pay homage. Across our communities, we are fortunate to have remarkable individuals and organisations working tirelessly to support those in need. Local hero Vera Owen—she was also our midwife, as I tell my young children—is one of them. Week in, week out, she collects surplus food from supermarkets for the food bank and leads on fundraising efforts, all without asking for recognition. Today, we are giving her that recognition. Similarly, Mary Macmillan at Doncaster food bank runs a campaign to provide basic facilities such as showers, affordable laundry services and cooking amenities, not just for those facing homelessness—that is really important to me because, as you are aware, Madam Deputy Speaker, I was homeless for a period as a child—but for families in temporary accommodation and the wider vulnerable community. I will take a moment to recognise the tireless work of our local councillors. In Thorne and Moorends, Mark Houlbrook, Susan Durant and Joe Blackham have delivered real results for the community. They fought to keep Thorne South station open after the pandemic, and they offer lots of wonderful local services for our residents; they have also been doing work on the Thorne leisure centre. In Rossington, Bawtry and Austerfield, Ken Guest, Bob Anderson and Rachael Blake have shown what committed, community-focused representation looks like. Over the last four years, they have secured vital road safety measures, including a zebra crossing at Bawtry and a pelican crossing at Rossington, and have made sure that it is affordable for everybody to swim with a £1 swim scheme. Finally, our Hatfield councillors Glynis Smith and Linda Curran have worked with real dedication to support our local people and strengthen community life. They have backed a range of grassroots initiatives and are making a real difference, including through their support for the Hatfield library, which has been run by brilliant volunteers like Sue Lowndes for over a decade. Children’s events are held there every school holiday, free of charge. They have also helped to fund Dunscroft Together, which runs a youth club, a safe and welcoming place for young people. They have also hosted celebrations for Dunsville community centre’s 50th anniversary. Lots goes on there, including the Mark Guest Taekwondo school. Overall, I want to thank those incredible community champions for everything they do, day in, day out. Their dedication, compassion and tireless efforts remind us just how special our constituency is, and how strong we are when we come together to support one another. Have a very happy Easter.