Lucy Powell MP: speeches

Speeches

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

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  Absolutely. I think we saw the Leader of the Opposition go to a whole other planet this week—Planet Zog, maybe, or I am sure there are many others. My hon. Friend is right that not only is tackling climate change important for the future of our climate, but it is vital to providing the jobs of the future that we need in this country and the energy security that will protect us from the likes of Putin in the future. It also means that all of our constituents will have lower bills over the longer term, which is why the Leader of the Opposition’s announcement this week was a completely mad thing to do.

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

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  I certainly join my hon. Friend in congratulating Paul and Cara on the work they do on rehabilitation in her constituency. She highlights once again the important role of prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation to ensure that people are healthy and successful in life in whatever way. Often those services are delivered by fantastic volunteers.

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

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  I shall. The business for the week commencing 24 March includes: Monday 24 March—Second Reading of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Tuesday 25 March—If necessary, consideration of Lords amendments, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Non-domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Great British Energy Bill, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, followed by motion to approve the draft National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2025. Wednesday 26 March—My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will make her spring statement, followed by remaining stages of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. Thursday 27 March—General debate on St Patrick’s day and Northern Irish affairs, followed by general debate on the 10th anniversary of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The subjects for these debates were determined by the Backbench Business Committee. Friday 28 March—Private Members’ Bills. The provisional business for the week commencing 31 March includes: Monday 31 March—If necessary, consideration of Lords amendments, followed by remaining stages of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill [Lords] . Tuesday 1 April—Second Reading of the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords].

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

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  I can absolutely identify with what my hon. Friend describes because I have had many similar issues in my constituency. I know that there are systemic problems in Royal Mail to do with staff morale and systems that it uses, which mean that people do not get a service that they can rely on. I advise my hon. Friend to raise that directly with Royal Mail—and perhaps with the Chair of the Business and Trade Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North (Liam Byrne), as I did on behalf of my constituents, because the Committee holds regular accountability hearings with Royal Mail.

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

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  I thought my hon. Friend was inviting me on a cross-country run there—the answer would have been a clear no. I join him in congratulating the cross-country club from Tredegar of which he is a member on winning the Welsh championships.

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

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  I join the hon. Gentleman in thanking the Scouts for their work and all the adults who support them. The Scouts are vital for our young people, and I thank him for making time on his weekend to support them. As ever, I hear the strong representations of the Backbench Business Committee. The Chair and I are due to meet again soon to discuss perhaps more creative ways to find further slots.

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

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are committed to the Young Futures programme, which, as she will know, is progressing well. I will ensure that the House is kept updated on it; that will give her a chance once again to praise the fantastic work of the youth club in her constituency.

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

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  I know how frustrating that kind of road closure can be on constituents and those travelling. Poorly planned roadworks and highway agency plans can be devastating. I will support him in raising these issues with Ministers and hopefully in the House.

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

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  Phone boxes remain important for many of our villages and towns across the country, as well as in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. He has taken the opportunity this morning to mention the phone box in his constituency, and I will ensure that he gets a good reply about it.

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

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  The hon. Lady raises an important matter, and I know that the building of new pylons is an issue of concern for local people in many constituencies. We need to build the energy infrastructure of the future, which includes new pylons, but we are bringing forward measures to ensure that those who live near new pylons will receive £2,500 off their energy bills in the coming years. Putting cabling underground is an innovative approach, and the example that she gives is one that I am sure the Secretary of State will be keen to look at.

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

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  I am pleased to hear that my hon. Friend’s constituent, Rebecca Burke, has now safely returned home and I am very sorry to hear of the experience that she suffered in the US. I am glad that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was able to help. The Foreign Secretary was in his place for the early part of her question, but he did not hear all of it. I will ensure that she gets a meeting with the appropriate Minister.

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

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  I thank the shadow Leader of the House for that tribute to his father, Torquil Norman. I did not know him, but he sounds like a wonderful father—someone who invented children’s toys but also who had great wisdom and gave him great advice. We in this House should all live by those values of positivity, creativity and resilience that the right hon. Gentleman so fondly shared with us. I send him and his family my very best wishes, as I am sure the whole House does, as he comes to terms with that in the coming days. I want to congratulate Newcastle United—I would not normally, but they did win their first silverware in 70 years. It is also great to see that the Tour de France in 2027 will start in Edinburgh and make its way through England and Wales. As international events yet again dominate, I am sure we all look with horror at the unfolding situation in Gaza in particular, with aid being withheld and the killing continuing. As the Foreign Secretary will set out to the House shortly, we want to see an urgent resumption of the ceasefire and the long-term peace talks continuing. In the spirit of the right hon. Gentleman’s contribution, I want to put on the record my thanks to him for the cross-party work that he and I do across the House, not just through the Modernisation Committee but on the House of Commons Commission, chaired by Mr Speaker, and the many other boards that we have to sit on for many hours indeed. He makes a really important point, and it is one of the reasons why I wanted to establish the Modernisation Committee. I could have come into this position as Leader of the House and just laid down motions—which I do on many days—to change the rules of the House, but that is not how I want to work. I take very seriously my role as Leader of the House, and as such I represent the whole House and want to bring the House together. I want to hear from smaller parties and to work cross-party. I believe that in this place we work best when we work together cross-party, on Select Committees and on issues that unite us. Many of those issues are raised regularly with me in Business questions, and I join the right hon. Gentleman in saying that we could definitely do more to tackle the big issues that this country faces, whether that is our defence and security, the welfare reform that is needed, jobs of the future or social care—that might be raised with me again today. Long may that continue, and we should strive to do more of it.

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

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  I absolutely join my hon. Friend in passing on the Government’s condolences and pay tribute to Barry Panter for his contribution to public life, both as a former police officer and dedicated public servant. My hon. Friend has served his constituents very well today.

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

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  I can absolutely encourage everyone to go to Blackpool, have fish and chips on the promenade, and perhaps go on the Big One, which I am too scared to go on. I look forward to joining my hon. Friend there soon.

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

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  My hon. Friend raises a really important matter. It is good to see that she is taking her experience from her previous job as a physiotherapist and providing strong leadership here in the House on those issues. She is absolutely right that AHPs provide a huge contribution to our NHS. Without physiotherapists and others, we would not be able to get people well, fit and healthy again and able to continue with their life and their work, so I absolutely support her request for a debate.

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

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  The hon. Member will know that in recent years—since long before we came to government—we have seen a huge acceleration in the closure of banks on our high streets because of banks’ changing practices and decisions. The Government are committed to bringing in 350 banking hubs. We have allocated 200, and 100 are already open. I will ensure that he gets an update on the banking hub for his constituency.

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

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Tackling violence against women and girls is a national emergency, which is why this Government have a really ambitious mission to halve the levels of violence against women and girls within a decade. That will take a huge effort. We have already taken a number of steps, such as banning sexually explicit deepfakes and taking action on stalking and spiking. We are introducing many other measures in forthcoming Bills, and I look forward to debating them with him.

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

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  The hon. Lady is absolutely right that the roll-out of fast, full-fibre and gigabit broadband has been too slow, especially in rural areas such as those in her constituency, which sound like they are between urban and rural. This Government are committed to that roll- out by 2030, but I will absolutely ensure that she gets an update on what is happening in her constituency.

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

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  Obviously I would never cross the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon)—of course not. His criticism or praise is very important to me. As ever, the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) outlined some really important debates that the Backbench Business Committee is facilitating. I will look very kindly on Thursday 3 April and on the Tuesday before the recess in the usual way, and I hope that our meetings can be rearranged very soon. I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue of the eradication of polio and for all his great leadership and work on this issue over many years. It is an issue close to my heart: my mum had polio as a youngster, and she suffers from the consequences of that even today. The Government strongly support global efforts to eradicate polio. As he will know, decisions on the future of the overseas development aid budget are subject to the spending review, but I will absolutely ensure that his powerful and strong representation has been heard as part of those conversations.

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

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  My hon. Friend is right that this issue is being felt right across the country. We have called it fleecehold, and that is for a reason. It is why we want to end these leasehold estates for good. We have already ended leasehold for new housing, and we will be ending new leasehold for flats, too. We are bringing forward the commonhold White Paper and, later this year, the draft leasehold reform legislation. We look forward to working with him and his local councillors to end fleecehold for good.

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

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  Those issues absolutely remain central to our diplomatic relations. The Foreign Secretary and the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet (Catherine West), are here, and they will have heard the hon. Gentleman’s question. We stand firm on human rights; we make that very clear in our discussions with China, and with anybody else.

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

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue, which I know he has campaigned on for a long time. I am sure he recognises that, certainly in recent years, the process has been too slow for many of those infected and affected by this terrible scandal. That is why we moved at pace after the general election, when we first came into office, to establish the Infected Blood Compensation Authority. Funds are now going to the infected, and the statutory instrument to take that forward is being considered upstairs on Monday. We have had two debates so far since the election and three statements to this House, but I will, as ever, ensure that the relevant Minister is totally open with this House and that we have plenty of opportunity to debate these important matters.

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

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  As ever, the right hon. Gentleman raises an issue that I know he has long campaigned on and its implications for the UK. He is absolutely right to raise it. We should not tolerate slave labour being used in any of the products on sale or being used in this country, and we need to do more to expose and have transparency around that. I think that would make a very good topic for a debate, but I will certainly ensure that relevant Ministers update this House on how we can have the economic security and transparency to ensure that that does not happen.

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

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  Filling our potholes is a really important action that the Government are taking. We want to fill another 7 million potholes over the course of this Parliament. I am pleased that my hon. Friend is working with her council, and with the councillors whom she is hoping to get elected later this year, on getting the potholes fixed in her constituency.

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

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  Absolutely, and I thank the right hon. Gentleman for the invitation to his constituency. I have had many invitations to the region, and I hope to come good on them one day. This has become a very big issue in his constituency. I understand that a petition about this matter has garnered much support, and he is absolutely right: rewilding or nature preservation organisations really ought to work with local people to ensure that their wishes are considered.