Lucy Powell MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

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

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  I join my hon. Friend in hoping that everybody who goes to the horse fair in his constituency does so for the right reasons and because they want to celebrate that event, rather than to cause criminality or antisocial behaviour—I am sure we all recognise that. We want to take steps to clamp down on antisocial behaviour and give the police more powers to do that, and that is what our Crime and Policing Bill will do. I hope that everything passes off well for his constituents.

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

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  I of course join my hon. Friend in condemning this awful incident in his constituency. I thank his local police and the school for their swift response, and I look forward to justice being served.

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

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  Absolutely. I join my hon. Friend in wishing the factory a happy birthday and I am delighted to hear about the extra investment in British Sugar in his constituency. It highlights how important it is to get such investment and new jobs into communities such as his, so that his residents can access the good jobs of the future. I am sure it will give us all a very sweet aftertaste.

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

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  I am sorry to hear about the experiences that the hon. Lady’s constituents have had under ECO4. The Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Peckham (Miatta Fahnbulleh), made a statement to the House a few weeks ago, when this Government uncovered the real challenges of the previous scheme, which had been introduced under the previous Government, and the poor level of some work that had been carried out. We are taking steps to put that right and ensure that we learn all the lessons from that for the next phase, and I know that the Minister will be keen to keep the House constantly updated on that.

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

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  I join my hon. Friend in congratulating New College Lanarkshire on all its achievements, and on its 160th anniversary. He is absolutely right. This UK Government have boosted funding to further education. Now that the Scottish Government have the Barnett consequentials for that, they really have no excuse.

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

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising the issue of homeschooling. She is right to say that many families provide high-quality and important education for their children where it is not available to them in the mainstream. I am sure that she will agree that we must tackle absenteeism in school, which is particularly rife since covid, and that we need to get more children back into mainstream education. Although children are home- schooled for good reason, some are not safe at home, and we must take steps to deal with that.

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

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  May I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue? The Government remain deeply concerned about the use of blasphemy laws to undermine human rights in Pakistan, and those conversations between our Government and other Governments happen continuously. The Foreign Secretary is in his place, so I am sure that he has heard the hon. Gentleman’s call.

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

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise the issue of the delays in applications for disability living allowance, particularly for children, which are both unprecedented and unacceptable. The Government are taking action to bring them down, but I will ensure that the case he mentions gets thought.

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

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  My hon. Friend raises the really important issue of World Continence Week and the availability of appropriate bins to dispose of things in men’s toilets as well as in women’s. I am sure that we can take up those issues.

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

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  I always prefer invitations that involve eating things, rather than running, but I will consider it. We have heard a lot about rugby today, but my hon. Friend raises a different kind of Rugby. I am sure that many people will be visiting his constituency.

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

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  If my hon. Friend will forgive me, I will never tyre of hearing about the great events in Members’ constituencies, and this sounds like a wheely good one. [ Interruption. ] No? Okay, we will do better next time. I thank her for raising that event.

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

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As I said earlier, the lack of investment in many of our northern towns and cities has really held those communities back. I am well aware of the challenges in Rossendale and Darwen and how much his constituency could flourish if it had better rail and road connectivity, and I look forward to working with him on that.

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

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  My hon. Friend may be slightly better at puns than me, but I join him in celebrating Whit walks. I can confirm that his constituency does a great turn at that, and I join him in trumpeting all those in his constituency who participate.

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

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the access that his constituents need to urgent and emergency care in his constituency. I am sorry to hear of the closure of the minor injuries unit. The Minister for Secondary Care will be here shortly for a statement. He might want to raise that with her then.

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

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  As I have said, the Government remain very much focused on fulfilling our commitment to the Hillsborough families—and indeed to many other families affected by injustices and scandals—and to bringing forward and enacting a Hillsborough law, which of course includes a duty of candour. Most importantly, we need to ensure that we get the legislation right, and that it reflects the full range of concerns and experiences and meets the expectations of the families. We are working on the Bill at pace, but we will take whatever time is necessary to work collaboratively and get the legislation right.

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

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  I am really pleased that the Government have ensured that the funding is there to provide the vital upgrades needed for the Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust. My hon. Friend is right that we inherited a hospital capital programme that was a work of fiction; there was not a penny allocated to many of the promises that had been made. We have now set out a clear timetable with allocated funding so that her hospital and many others can get the improvements they desperately need.

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

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  The Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), will shortly give a statement to the House about progress with free school meals. As part of that statement, I am assured that he will let the House know where we are with the timings of the taskforce and when we can expect the report.

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

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  I know that my hon. Friend has been pressing this issue strongly. We will protect against animal diseases and ensure that the livelihoods of our farmers and rural communities are protected. I know that DEFRA is working with the NAO on a plan for its recommendations, and I will ensure that he and the rest of the House are updated.

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

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  The hon. Member is right to raise the issue of poor mobile phone signal, and I am sorry to hear that it seems to be so bad in his constituency in Worcestershire. He is right: these days, this is the fourth utility. Many of our constituents cannot conduct their everyday lives or access services, banking, benefits or pensions without a good mobile phone signal and data. I will happily help him secure a response from the Minister and a meeting.

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

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  I am sorry to hear about what is happening in Potters Bar. The right hon. Member is right that the proliferation of HMOs can have a devastating effect on communities. Local authorities have some regulations and powers , but they are often not sufficient. That is why we have the Renters’ Rights Bill coming through to strengthen the powers of local authorities in the private rented sector, including in relation to HMOs. I look forward to the right hon. Member supporting the Bill as it progresses.

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

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  I join my hon. Friend in thanking Gordon Moody and Redditch United football club for all the work they are doing to support people.

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

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  That is a shocking case in my hon. Friend’s constituency, which I know has rightly attracted a great deal of attention. I congratulate her on continuing to press the matter. This Government expect landlords and freeholders to cover the costs of decanting residents, including providing suitable alternative accommodation, and the loss of income that may come from that. I will absolutely ensure that the Minister continues to work with my hon. Friend to make sure that happens in this case.

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

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  The right hon. Member is absolutely right to raise the particular lessons that we should learn from the end of the war in the far east, and the importance of recognising VJ Day in its own right. The Chair of the Backbench Business Committee, the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), is in his place; I will speak to him, and look myself at whether we can allocate some time to do just as the right hon. Member asks.

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

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  I absolutely agree that we have to get people out of sickness and back into work. That is why this Government are bringing forward reforms to the universal credit health element to ensure that people are not consigned to sickness for a long period, but encouraged back to work.

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

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  As ever, I thank the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee for announcing the forthcoming business and arranging for the estimates day applications to be opened up. I am sorry that he missed our last session before the recess. Perhaps he was not aware that I congratulated him and said that I hoped he had not had much sleep—I know that he had been out celebrating Tottenham winning some silverware for the first time in quite some time. That was a very good excuse not to be here. I was asked at that session about the Backbench Business Committee debate the previous week, and I made it clear that what happened was not of our own making. It was a challenging situation: we were having to deal with a press conference that was being hosted by the President of the United States and, of course, he was not that interested in the goings-on in Parliament that day, but we were keen to make sure that a statement was brought to the House at the earliest opportunity. That is definitely not an experience that any of us wants to repeat, if at all possible. I thank the hon. Member for mentioning the delegation of Indian parliamentarians. I was hoping to meet them myself, but I was unable to do so on this occasion, but I hope to do so in future. He is right that our relationship with India is important, which is why this Government are so pleased that we have agreed an unprecedented trade deal with India. There are also, as he says, security and other issues between India and Pakistan, and this House has been kept updated on those matters and I shall make sure that continues to be the case.