Lucy Powell MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  I understand the hon. Member’s concern. It is an unfortunate case of the mathematics that apply across all Select Committees. On other occasions, in past Parliaments, her party has benefited from the formulas that are used. Beyond formal membership, however, I reassure the House that I want to commit to regular and meaningful engagement with any and all parties represented in this House and with Members who want to contribute.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate you on your election as Chairman of Ways and Means. I look forward to working with you in the coming weeks. Over the past two weeks, it has been fantastic to watch so many new Members hit the ground running in representing their constituents, and it has been a pleasure to see returning Members resume their business, bringing their considerable experience and wisdom to the Chamber. This new Parliament offers a chance to turn the page after the sorry and sordid record of the last. We face a crisis of trust in politics, politicians and Parliament. As we know, it is a great privilege to sit in this House: to be an MP represents an opportunity to change the country for the better. Underpinning that privilege is a set of solemn responsibilities. Chief among them is the responsibility that we all have to embody the highest standards of public service. Those standards are articulated in the seven principles of public life, which apply to all those who operate in public life and that inspire and inform the code of conduct for MPs. It is perfectly reasonable for a constituent to expect that when they cast their vote in a general election, their candidate will be sent to this House to serve them, not themselves. An MP’s first priority, therefore, must be to their constituents, and the rules of this House must reflect that obligation. This Government were elected with a mandate for change and the Prime Minister pledged to return us to a politics of service. Today, we take our first steps to deliver that. In line with the Government’s manifesto commitment, I am proposing a tightening of the rules on second jobs for Members of this House in the first instance. Under current arrangements, Members must not provide, or agree to provide, paid parliamentary advice. They must also not undertake services as a parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant. The rule prohibits Members from advising, in return for payment, outside organisations or persons on, for example, how they may lobby or otherwise influence the work of Parliament. However, the guide to the rules contains exemptions. The exemptions mean that advice on public policy in current affairs, and advice in general terms about how Parliament works, are not considered parliamentary advice.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend, who has done much good work in this space over the years. The Government’s ethics and integrity commission will focus more on Government members, Ministers, civil servants and others, whereas the work of the Modernisation Committee will focus particularly on the House of Commons. There may be a relationship at times, but they will have a different remit and scope. I hope that answers my hon. Friend’s question satisfactorily. As the proposed Chair of the Committee, I reassure the House that my door will always be open to Members and staff across the House. I see it more as a task and finish Committee—that was a good comment that the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) made to me the other day—that will take a strategic look at recommendations from other bodies and Committees, but not duplicate their work. I note amendment (a), tabled by the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman), which is about the engagement of smaller parties and their role on the Modernisation Committee. I hope that I have gone some way towards providing reassurance on aspects of that issue. I want to be clear that I want Members across the House to be heard, but the Committee also needs to be an effective body that delivers change. If the Committee is to work swiftly and generate momentum behind proposals for reform, it needs to be of an appropriate size. If each party were represented, as the hon. Member’s amendment requires, the Committee would have to grow considerably. That would not be proportionate with other Committees of the House, which I do not think is reasonable.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  As I have said, the Committee will engage with the smaller parties regularly and meaningfully. Let us say that there was one more place for a representative of a smaller party. Who would that place go to? Would that Member represent the various views of all the smaller parties? Would they represent Reform, the Greens, the Scottish National party, or the Democratic Unionist party? Everyone would have strong and differing views about that. When it comes to representing properly the range of views across the smaller parties, the commitment to ongoing, meaningful engagement, regular dialogue and inviting all the smaller parties to address the Committee on a regular basis reflects that range of views far better than having one representative on the Committee. I also want to reassure the traditionalists among us. As I have said previously, this is not about altering the traditions and customs of this place; rather, the Modernisation Committee will build on the work of its namesakes, appointed in earlier Labour Administrations. Those predecessor Committees achieved great reforms in the way in which the Commons works: the introduction of Public Bill Committees, the arrival of Westminster Hall debates, and changes in sitting hours and recess dates. All those reforms improved scrutiny, and helped to make Parliament a more inclusive and family-friendly place of work. I would welcome suggestions from Members of further changes that it might be useful for the Modernisation Committee to consider in order to make Parliament a more effective, modern working environment that better reflects the country that it serves, and to help the public understand better the work that we do and the fact that we are here to serve them. Let me turn to the Committee’s initial work. I hope that, as one of our first steps, we will look further into the question of Members’ outside employment. We will aim to consider, in conjunction with the Committee on Standards and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, whether any more changes to the rules or the code are necessary, particularly changes intended to ensure that a Member’s private or personal interests do not impede his or her principal duties to the House. However, the scope of the Modernisation Committee will extend further than second jobs. Beyond reforms of the standards system, the Committee will consider the culture, procedures and working practices of the House. Parliament’s ability to hold the Government to account is essential. Our goal should be to maximise the time available for scrutiny of the Government’s legislative programme, while also ensuring that Back-Bench voices remain prominent and effective. Our constituents are best served when parliamentary time is spent both on robust scrutiny of legislation and on debates in which the issues that matter most to Members and to our constituents can be raised. I look forward to hearing the views of all Members when assessing how we can best achieve that, and whether changes are required. Making Parliament accessible to all Members is of paramount importance. Over the years, good work has been done on seeking to tackle the inappropriate and wrong behaviour that we have all heard about and suffered from. The Speaker’s Conference in the last Session did important work on the conditions for Members’ staff. I am also grateful to Paul Kernaghan for his recent review of the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, and to Alison Stanley, whose reviews preceded his. We will look at taking his recommendations forward. As recently as May this year, the Committee on Standards produced an excellent report on the standards landscape in Parliament, bringing together analysis of, and recommendations on, all elements of the standards system. Those pieces of work are essential, and they cannot be considered in isolation; we need to take a strategic approach to these issues, so that gaps in the system do not develop. Today we have an opportunity to set out, clearly and firmly, the standards to which we should all aspire in this House—the standards that the public expect of their elected representatives. We have an opportunity to put politics back to service, and signal an immediate end to the politics of self-interest through a tightening of the rules on second jobs. We have an opportunity to establish a body that will examine the House in the round and bring it up to date. I look forward to this debate, and I am grateful for the huge amount of interest that the Modernisation Committee has already garnered.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That, with effect from 25 October 2024, paragraph 2 of Chapter 4 of the Guide to the Rules relating to the conduct of Members be amended to leave out: “a) advice on public policy and current affairs; b) advice in general terms about how Parliament works; and”.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  Perhaps there is an opportunity for a wider debate on the make-up of Select Committees. I can see some of the issues, but I reiterate that the Modernisation Committee needs to strike a balance between being effective and making fast progress. It needs to be representative, but not too big. I reiterate to the smaller parties my commitment to having ongoing, meaningful engagement, and to having them come regularly to the Committee to give evidence and views. Of course, the proceedings of the Committee will be fully transparent; we will have calls for evidence, and our deliberations will be regularly published for the whole House to see.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a very good point. That is exactly the purpose of the motion. I hope he has time to do his other job of being a great parent. However, the exemptions potentially act as loopholes, allowing a Member to use their privileged position and knowledge for personal gain. That may encourage not only a potential conflict of interest but a conflict of attention, with too much of a Member’s time and energy spent on things other than constituency or parliamentary business. I am very grateful to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards for his advice on this matter and for the diligent provision of guidance to all Members on adherence to the code of conduct. The motion puts an end to the exemptions. It sends a clear signal to the public that an MP’s first priority is to their constituents and to the country. It is a first step. These changes shall come into effect three months from the date this motion is passed, which will allow Members the chance to make any necessary changes to existing contracts or arrangements.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  What is fair is that this House is made up of Members of Parliament who are elected by their constituencies, and Select Committees or Sub-Committees are made up of proportions of those Members. That is fair, and it has always been the case. As an incoming Government with a clear mandate for change—a clear mandate to rebuild trust in politics and restore respect for Parliament—and with a very large majority in the House, we could have proceeded without trying to take the House with us, not setting up a Committee but simply tabling various motions on a diktat basis, but I did not want to take that approach. I wanted to take the House with us and to represent Parliament as a whole—all parties and all Committees. That is why I commit myself again to enabling the smaller parties to have regular, meaningful engagement with the Modernisation Committee on issues of particular concern to them.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Gentleman knows, his party has four other Members in this House; the House is considered in terms of its Members, not in terms of the popular vote. What he describes is a consequence of formulas that are long-standing and have brought about effective representation on many Select Committees.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady makes a really good point. Absolutely, this is about conflicts of interest and conflicts of attention. As I have made clear, and will further make clear in my opening remarks, this is a first step. We need to look at some of those other areas to give our constituents confidence that this will eradicate the kind of behaviour that she describes. This House has considered such issues before. Most recently, the Committee on Standards reviewed the code of conduct in the previous Parliament. The independent Committee on Standards in Public Life also looked at the matter several times, issuing recommendations in 2009 and in 2018 on MPs’ outside interests. I thank them for their work. Today’s change forms part of an ongoing conversation that I trust will continue as we begin to rebuild public trust in this institution. We will go further. The other motion before the House will establish a new Modernisation Committee of the House of Commons, fulfilling another manifesto commitment. The Committee will be tasked with driving up standards and addressing the culture of this House, as well as improving working practices.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I welcome my hon. Friend to her place, and I am sorry to hear of the tragic circumstances in her constituency. This Government are committed to tackling issues around firearms—not just the symptoms, but the root causes, as she says—and there will be ample time to discuss these matters. Of course, there will be Home Office questions next week, where she may want to raise these matters further.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The business for the week commencing 29 July will include: Monday 29 July—Second Reading of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill. Tuesday 30 July—Second Reading of the Budget Responsibility Bill. The House will rise for the summer recess at the conclusion of business on Tuesday 30 July and return on Monday 2 September. The business for the week commencing 2 September will include: Monday 2 September—General debate. Subject to be confirmed. Tuesday 3 September—Committee of the whole House and remaining stages of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill. Wednesday 4 September—Committee of the whole House and remaining stages of the Budget Responsibility Bill. Thursday 5 September—Second Reading of the Great British Energy Bill. Friday 6 September—The House will not be sitting.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her important question. I, too, have met many of the families from Gambling with Lives, and their stories are utterly tragic. We are committed to redoubling our efforts to reduce gambling-related harms, and she will be aware that the previous Government proposed a number of measures, which we are looking at taking forward.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Let me be absolutely clear: we on the Labour Benches are incredibly proud of the programme laid out by His Majesty in the King’s Speech last week. By any measure, it is one of the most bold and ambitious programmes of any incoming Government—tackling the challenges that the country faces, delivering on our manifesto commitments, ensuring that our mission-led Government bring about the change that the country wants, and bringing back a Government of service. It is absolutely right that Members elected on a manifesto to bring in that King’s Speech should vote for it in overwhelming numbers, as they did in Parliament this week. I am incredibly proud of the huge numbers of people who supported that King’s Speech programme. The issue of child poverty has been raised a number of times in recent weeks. This Labour Government, like any Labour Government, are absolutely committed to tackling child poverty—not just its symptoms, but its root causes—whether through early education, housing support, or the Sure Start programme and other such measures. That is why we have established a cross-cutting Government taskforce to look at all of those issues, and we will come back regularly to this House to report on its progress.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for that question. This Government are committed to UK steel production, particularly in Scunthorpe, Port Talbot and other parts of the UK. He will know that we have a big plan for the green transition of steel, and we are bringing forward the industrial strategy council measure and others that will support the long-term future of British steel in this country. The next questions for the Department for Business and Trade are shortly after we return from recess, and I am sure that he will want to raise the issue then.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am pleased to see the hon. Gentleman in his place today. I would expect nothing less. I was also pleased to see that, during his Adjournment debate this week, he was intervened on many times. I have heard him many times in this House and at business questions raise the issue of freedom of religion or belief. He will know that the Government are committed to continuing to support those measures and that we will continue to champion them in government.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am sure that my hon. Friend’s constituents will thank him greatly for raising the matter. The Government are giving careful consideration to a number of levelling-up grants that we are keen to follow through on. He will be aware, though, that the difficult economic situation that we have inherited is much worse than we foresaw. The funding was not actually there for a number of the previous Government’s commitments, but this Government will do our very best to support places like Halesowen with the additional funding that they need.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. We have committed to tackle knife crime by banning zombie knives and other matters, but she is right that we need to tackle the root causes and the symptoms, which is why we have plans for a Young Futures programme. The Home Secretary and the Mayor of London discussed that and all knife crime-related issues yesterday. My hon. Friend may want to be present for Home Office questions next week when I am sure she will get an update from the Home Secretary.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  What a fantastic question. I know from my own constituency that noisy off-road bikes speeding around local streets and intimidating residents are a nightmare. That is particularly prevalent in the Friar Park area of my hon. Friend’s constituency. As she rightly said, the Government are committed to giving the police the powers that they need to crush nuisance dirt and quad bikes within days of their being seized. That legislation will be brought forward in due course.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I welcome my hon. Friend to her place. She and I were involved in Young Labour together—only a few years ago, I feel—so it is great to see her finally in this place where she belongs. She raises the important matter of NHS dentistry and the difficulty that people have getting an NHS appointment, which is particularly acute in Suffolk. That is why the Government are committed to a rescue plan and to providing another 700,000 NHS dentist appointments, which I hope will relieve that acuteness in Suffolk.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Derby North sounds like a thoroughly lovely place to visit, and I look forward to doing so at some point soon. My hon. Friend has made a strong case, and I think that the issue of town centre regeneration, which has come up many times today, would be a worthy subject for a forthcoming Westminster Hall debate or a general debate in this place.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman makes a really important point. The sense of identity that many people get from the counties that they come from should continue to be celebrated and nourished. I am sure that as long as we have this Speaker, who is a great Lancastrian and very much of his county, we in this House will continue to celebrate the great contribution that our counties make.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. He is absolutely right. The Government are completely clear that our commitment to international law is resolute, and we are following the necessary processes in that regard. The Foreign Secretary has made it clear that he is undertaking a comprehensive review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law. He has also made it clear that he will update the House as soon as that process is complete. I hope that that will be soon.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Can I congratulate my hon. Friend on her re-election? I am sure that her new constituents will be as delighted as her old ones were with how assiduous a constituency MP she is. The topic that she raises would make for a good Adjournment debate or Westminster Hall debate, and I wish her the best in getting that through the draw.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman raised that point, because this afternoon we will have a debate on restoring trust in politicians and politics as the Government bring forward their manifesto commitment to take action on the sleaze, scandal and cronyism that we saw in the last Parliament. We want to turn the page on that decisively, as we are beginning to do today. He will know that the Prime Minister’s travel arrangements are security matters, and I am sure that he will respect that.