Lucy Powell MP: speeches

Speeches

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

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  I thank the hon. Member for bringing Harry Brown into Parliament yesterday and for talking to him at great length about his experiences. He is absolutely right: we need a balance between ensuring that we have specialist care, which is often centred in certain places, and ensuring that there is care in the community. That is at the heart of what we are doing to make sure that there is good preventative and community NHS care for all those who need it, all the time.

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

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  I am really sorry to hear that “River City” is being decommissioned by the BBC. I know this will be of great concern to my hon. Friend’s constituents and those across Scotland. He is right to say that the BBC has a duty to represent, serve and reflect all the communities of the UK, including by making sure that there is Scottish content for Scottish audiences. I will ensure that he gets a thorough response from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, but I thank him for raising this very important matter.

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

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  Absolutely. I am sorry to hear that local people are having to fundraise for such an issue, but my hon. Friend is right that football pitches are at the heart of our communities. In England, we have a football Bill going through the House, which will support grassroots funding. The Scottish Government have a very good settlement with a big budget from this Government, so hopefully they can use some of it to support his community better.

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

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  I absolutely join the right hon. Lady in congratulating the Great British spring clean, which sounds brilliant. It is probably needed in the streets of Birmingham right now; I thought that was where she was going to turn the question to. These kinds of voluntary activities certainly cannot make up for failing bin services, but they are a very important part of keeping our streets and communities bright and clean.

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

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  It is always brilliant to hear such stories, and I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Ellie, Sienna and Lacie on making fouter blankets for the elderly residents in her constituency. What a lovely story; it is a reminder of the importance of these intergenerational programmes.

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

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  I join my hon. Friend in wishing the Dartford Sharks all the very best. I think we have a debate coming up soon on supporting such measures. The Government are committed to grassroots sports facilities like the ones he describes. I hope the Dartford Sharks will be able to make use of them soon.

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

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  I am sorry to hear of that case; the hon. Lady raises an important issue. We have been taking steps to make sure there is a fair resolution in these cases. I will ensure she gets a full update on the matter. Should it progress further, I will make sure that it is brought forward to the Floor of the House.

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

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  Absolutely. I am sorry to hear that the hill farming course that my hon. Friend describes is no longer available; that does not sound like a good development. As part of our programme of skills and education, I know that Ministers will be keen to discuss with her how we can ensure that agricultural education such as hill farming is at the centre of our thoughts.

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

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue. I know of his long history with the Hillsborough disaster—indeed, I understand that he was there that day. He and all the families affected want to see justice, and they want to see the Hillsborough law coming into effect. This Government remain committed to bringing forward legislation in that regard, as we have said, but we want to ensure that it reflects the full range of concerns and experiences of those affected, and that is the most important thing with this legislation. We remain committed to working with the families and all those affected to make sure, as we work at pace on that piece of legislation, that it meets their expectations. We will be setting out our next steps shortly.

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

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  The hon. Member has very politely raised this issue with me today, and I thank him for that. He will know—he is a regular attender at business questions—that I take ministerial responses very seriously, in that they should be forthcoming, open and timely, so I will certainly look into that issue. I think the hon. Member was raising with the Chancellor the question of whether we could raise more taxes from the wealthy. Just for the record, I would say to him that we have been doing that in a number of ways, lots of which have been controversial, whether it is by reducing VAT breaks for private schools, increasing taxes on those who own private jets, increasing capital gains tax, taking on the excess profits of the energy companies and, of course, dealing with non-dom tax status. All that has raised billions of pounds for our public services, and for what we are doing. We absolutely think that those with the broadest shoulders should pay the highest price. As he has requested, I will make sure that he gets forthcoming replies.

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

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  I am sorry—outside Asia. I thank the hon. Member for correcting me. It is a great achievement for Wolverhampton. I was really pleased that the Government’s Commonwealth games legacy enhancement fund helped secure some of the funding for the world cup games, and maybe next time England will do better than be the runners-up.

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

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend and the other Wolverhampton Members of Parliament on their support of the first kabaddi world cup games outside India.

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

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important matter for many colleagues across the House. He will be aware that the Bill’s Committee stage ended this week. It has been considerably amended: I think that the Committee accepted more than 100 amendments from those on both sides of the debate. The Government are committed to ensuring that the impact assessment is available for Members in good time before Report. I am sure that he will recognise that that will be a challenge, given how much the Bill has been amended, but we will do our very best to ensure that Members have ample time to look at it.

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

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  I thank my hon. Friend for using his own experiences to highlight the important issue of homelessness. I join him in wishing well everyone taking part—including my hon. Friend himself—in the forthcoming Snooze in the South Stand event. He is right: we have to tackle the root causes of homelessness. We have put more money into tackling homelessness, we are ending no-fault evictions and we are absolutely committed to one of the biggest house building programmes, including in social and affordable housing, that this country has ever seen.

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

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  My hon. Friend has made a strong case—I did not realise that gluten-free products were so expensive. He is right to point out that they are necessary for coeliac sufferers such as him. I am sure that that would make a good topic for debate.

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

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  Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, I certainly do not feel like a spring chicken any more, that’s for sure. I am really pleased to hear that Bedworth is receiving £20 million from the Government’s plan for neighbourhoods. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that this is a really important scheme to make sure that our town centres and village centres get the regeneration support they so desperately need.

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

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  I join my hon. Friend in again congratulating Newcastle United, as well as the work that is being done in her constituency to create sports facilities for grassroots football, rugby and other sports. She is absolutely right; those things are vital for our communities and young people. That is why we are reviewing the school curriculum and putting more money into local government. It is also why we are introducing a football regulator Bill to ensure that grassroots football is protected across the country.

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

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  I thank the hon. Member for that question, and for passing on her condolences to the shadow Leader of the House. She is right that getting young people into work is a priority for the Government, and it is important for the country that we do so. We need to reform the apprenticeship system so that more apprenticeships are available for young people, but that is not the system we inherited. In the system we inherited, the apprenticeship levy was underused and underspent, and apprenticeship starts were falling. That is why we are creating Skills England and reforming the apprenticeship levy, so that the young people she talks about can get the help they need. Notwithstanding the case the hon. Lady raises, I am sure that she will recognise that the vast majority of level 7 apprenticeships were being used by people later in their careers, who already had degrees and who wanted management training, so we have had to look at whether that is sustainable and right. However, she raises an important point about a scheme in the university in her constituency. We need to get more young people into medicine, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and I will ensure that that particular offering is looked at and that she gets a full reply.

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

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  I am sorry to hear about the hon. Lady’s constituent’s passing from that rare condition, and congratulate her on bringing this issue to the floor of the House on behalf of his wife. She is absolutely right: rare conditions, which are often raised with me at business questions, often do not get the attention or the signposting that they desperately need. I will ensure that the hon. Lady gets a full response.

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

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  I would gently remind the hon. Gentleman —I can see he knows what is coming, because he is grimacing already—that under his Government we saw inflation go to 11%, the economy crashing, taxes raised to their highest in 70 years and debt out of control. We have had to come along and put the economy back on a stable footing, and that has meant taking difficult decisions. We need to invest in our public services and put the economy back on a stable footing. I am afraid we will not be taking lectures from the Conservatives on that.

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

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  The right hon. Member raises a good point. Dementia gets raised a lot in business questions and, I know, in Health questions. We are committed to early diagnosis and to getting up the diagnosis rates. He raises a particular issue about access to pensions that I think requires further consideration, and I will certainly raise that with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

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

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  Absolutely. I was sorry I could not join my hon. Friend and other Greater Manchester colleagues at the event with the Greater Manchester hospices provider collaborative earlier this week—I saw the photos—and I fully support his work on this. I will take this opportunity to thank Springhill hospice in Rochdale. I am really pleased it has had £111,000 of extra investment thanks to this Government, and I hope it will continue to flourish.

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

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  I did not realise that Torquil Norman created Bluebird Toys, and all of the toys that that involved, so I think all of us owe him a great debt for inventing such fantastic toys. The hon. Member raises an important issue about the DVSA on which we get many complaints. People are waiting too long to get their driving test slots. I know that other colleagues have raised that matter with me in the past, and will probably raise it with me today as well. Perhaps they might club together to get a Backbench Business debate on this important matter.

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

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  Adoption support is important. The uncertainty about the fund has been raised with me as a constituency MP, so I am well aware of it. I will ensure that when I get a response about it, I will pass it on to the hon. Lady.

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

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  First of all, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman: I think he has a new role as chief adviser to the Leader of the Opposition, the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), because they seem to be on the same page this week. Like her, though, I am afraid he is wrong on this issue, because we cannot ignore net zero. It is not just important for the climate, but absolutely critical to lowering bills, creating jobs and creating the energy security we need. Not taking action on net zero will actually cost us a lot more in the long run than taking the steps we are taking to invest in the jobs and lower bills of the future.