Lorraine Beavers MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 4 Jun 2025 · Disadvantaged Communities · Hansard source

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  My constituency has enormous potential, but it has been held back by the last 14 years of austerity. That represents a shameful neglect of not just my community, but the country. It is the duty of this Government to fix that. The industries that sustain reliable work for so many have long disappeared, with nothing to replace them. Without investment in communities like mine, the Government cannot meet their missions. Crucially, that investment needs to make a difference now. It is not good enough to pump more money into just the cities in the north of England; our towns need support too. It is certainly not good enough for the headlines about Government plans for growth and investment to be dominated by plans to expand airports in the south-east of England. Blackpool North and Fleetwood deserves better. The Government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower is the right one, but it must mean investment in places like Blackpool North and Fleetwood. Fleetwood, once a thriving port, has been the victim of a managed decline over many years. We can take advantage of the offshore wind in the Irish sea, providing operations and maintenance for decades. Like so many of the country’s ports, ours needs investment to rebuild its capacity. We have one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, giving us the opportunity to harness the power of the sea to generate clean electricity. A tidal barrage would also work as flood defences, stopping flooding on farmland, and supply us with a much-needed access road, which would benefit the whole Fylde coast.

• 15 May 2025 · Maritime Sector · Hansard source

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  Fleetwood, in my constituency, has a proud fishing industry, but our port is currently massively underused. The Government’s clean power mission is a huge opportunity for ports like Fleetwood to take advantage of jobs and investment brought by offshore wind projects. Will the Minister meet me to ensure that the Port of Fleetwood gets the investment it needs to take advantage of those projects, so that my community can start to rebuild after the last 14 years of austerity inflicted on it by the previous Conservative Government?

• 15 May 2025 · Maritime Sector · Hansard source

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  21. What steps she is taking to support the maritime sector.

• 14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 14 May.

• 14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Fourteen years of Conservative cuts have stripped the Environment Agency of the resources and the staff it needs to properly deal with badly managed landfill sites blighting communities like mine. The Jameson Road landfill site in my constituency of Blackpool North and Fleetwood has been producing toxic stenches for more than a year now, causing nosebleeds, headaches, vomiting and breathing problems for my residents. Will the Prime Minister commit to ensuring that the Environment Agency has the staff and resources to police such badly managed sites across the country, so that it can act swiftly and effectively to protect communities like mine?

• 20 Mar 2025 · Coastal Communities · Hansard source

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  For nearly four decades, our seaside towns have shaped the outcome of elections. Yet, despite that significance, we have been overlooked, struggling with deprivation, economic decline and crumbling infrastructure. The crisis is particularly evident in my constituency of Blackpool North and Fleetwood, which bears the scars of deindustrialisation and the decline of the fishing industry. Income deprivation is rampant, job opportunities are limited, health inequalities are stark and our infra-structure is in disrepair. Coastal residents, on average, earn £2,800 less than those inland, and crime and antisocial behaviour is 12% higher. Our health crisis is also dire, with residents 15% more likely to suffer an early, preventable death. Cancer mortality rates are 9% higher on the coast, and our rates of respiratory disease are three times the national average. Our coastal properties are also a third cheaper, leading to more houses in multiple occupation and poorer living conditions. These challenges are not abstract numbers; they are the lived reality of families struggling to make ends meet, young people seeking opportunities that do not exist, and communities suffering from the daily impacts of “dirty business” and historical contamination. Labour is working to reverse that with its ambitious plans to grow the economy and its commitment to fix the NHS. Blackpool North and Fleetwood was founded on ambition. Our forefathers envisioned thriving model seaside towns, combining prosperity, tourism and industry. Yet, sadly, today they are a shadow of that vision. It is time to restore that ambition with real investment and leadership. The Government’s move towards regulatory reform is essential, but our communities are impatient. They have been let down for too long and need to see tangible delivery now. To truly deliver, we need a Minister for coastal communities. Coastal communities face unique challenges that require a dedicated voice in government—a Minister who understands our specific needs and ensures they are addressed through a co-ordinated, strategic approach to investment and regeneration. While top-down reforms provide essential structural change, they must be matched by bottom-up solutions shaped by local knowledge and intelligence. A Minister for coastal communities could help us seize private sector investment in the clean energy transition to enable growth now, revitalising our docks, improving transport links and creating long-term sustainable employment. Coastal communities have been part of this country’s success for generations. It is time we gave them the investment and leadership they deserve, or we risk losing them forever.

• 14 Mar 2025 · Rare Cancers Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) for introducing the Bill. I remember the day my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I remember my mum and dad picking me up off the floor. I was supposed to be supporting them, but that did not happen that day. Dr Lau at Blackpool Victoria hospital explained that my dad’s cancer was terminal. My dad was initially given chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumours and give us more time. Later, he was asked to take part in a trial using immunotherapy. It was explained that the immune system does not recognise cancer as alien and as a threat. Immunotherapy teaches the immune system to recognise cancer, and enables the body’s immune system to fight back. My dad was a fighter and he was willing to try anything. His body struggled with chemotherapy, and after we nearly lost him twice in 12 months it was stopped, but the immunotherapy continued. He finished the course without any complications. Once my dad started the treatment, the cancers—there were many—never moved. To this day, we do not know whether the treatment cured him and he was left with just scar tissue, or whether the cancers lay dormant. What I can tell the House is that my dad did not die of cancer; it was something else that took him from us. My family believe that we were given an extra three years of loving and being loved by my lovely dad because of immunotherapy. We will always be grateful for the Christmas days, the birthdays, the celebrations and sometimes the tears that we were all able to share with my wonderful, caring dad. People with rare cancers deserve the funding and research trials that the Bill will initiate. They should have the chance of life that my dad was given. That starts with ensuring that patients can get better access to clinical trials. Many people miss out on potentially life-extending trials because there is just not as much information out there as there needs to be. Recent research has found that 82% of respondents with a less common or rare cancer were not offered an opportunity to be part of a clinical trial. That has to change, and the Bill would achieve that. I support the Bill, because everyone diagnosed with cancer should be given every chance of survival. Without the Bill, people with rare cancers will die sooner than other cancer patients, not having been given the chance to fight this terrible disease. I speak for them, so that they can have the chances that were awarded to my dad. I thank Dr Lau, my dad’s consultant, for giving an 81-year-old man the precious gift of life for a few years longer.

• 11 Mar 2025 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Report stage of this Bill. I proudly declare my membership of Unite and the Communication Workers Union and I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. This Bill will see the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights for a generation. It is an agenda for change—change that is desperately needed. Working class people keep this country cared for. They keep our streets clean, our shelves stacked and our public services running, but the imbalance of power in our workplace is plain to see. The P&O scandal was testament to that. This Bill represents a crucial first step in redressing that imbalance, especially amendment 80 on sick pay. It strengthens both collective and individual rights and puts more money in the pockets of working people. I therefore welcome the Government’s amendment to the Bill ensuring that everyone gets sick pay from the first day they are ill, including those previously excluded for earning too little. Currently, around 1.2 million workers are excluded from statutory sick pay altogether, and the present three-day wait is extremely hard for those on low pay who often budget on a week-to-week basis. Me and my husband were those people who lived week to week and dragged ourselves into work when we were not well, because if we did not work, we did not eat when my children were small. The fact that the Bill rectifies that is extremely welcome. The pandemic exposed just how inadequate current levels of sick pay are. I therefore urge the Government to ensure that as many workers as possible benefit from the measures in the Bill. In particular, they should look at what they can do to increase the rate of statutory sick pay over time, as we currently have one of the lowest rates of sick pay across the developed countries. I hope the Government continue to consider the impact of the removal of the lower earnings limit to ensure that everybody benefits from the measures in this Bill. Overall, these changes will be transformative for working people in my constituency. As a working-class woman from a council estate, it does my heart good to be able to stand in this place supporting changes that will make the lives of working people better and give them the rewards they so deserve.

• 6 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  What can the Government do to ensure that the Environment Agency has much stronger powers to deal with landfill sites that bring daily misery to residents, such as those living in my constituency?

• 6 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. The people of Fleetwood, Thornton and beyond have suffered from toxic stenches for the past 12 months. Last night was extremely unpleasant, with residents reporting nosebleeds, breathing problems, headaches and vomiting this morning. The stench is due to the mismanagement of the local Jameson Road landfill site. Despite multiple interventions by the Environment Agency, including a six-week closure, the smell is now as bad as ever, if not worse.

• 16 Jan 2025 · Marine Renewables Industry · Hansard source

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  Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the Government need to give leadership and clarity to the tidal sector, including by explaining whether the criteria for well-developed tidal range proposals published by the last Government are being taken forward by the current Government, so that projects like the Wyre tidal barrage in my constituency will be better informed when going forward with their proposals?