Lucy Powell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for raising that important matter. I read the ruling and the article by Michael Gove in the Telegraph earlier this week. We are absolutely committed to protecting press freedoms, protecting parliamentary privilege and the right of Members to raise matters in this House that could be subject to parliamentary privilege, and the press’s right to report on those matters when they are raised in this place. As he said, the independent, self-regulatory IPSO has made this finding, but I will ensure he gets a ministerial response.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Brian Innes on completing the Boston marathon in three hours, which is a remarkable achievement. I am not sure which is a greater challenge: completing a marathon in that time or being a maths teacher to many rowdy teenagers, I am sure. I thank him for all the work he does.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I shall, and that was beautifully delivered. The business of the House for the week commencing 5 May will include: Tuesday 6 May—General debate on the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe and victory over Japan. Wednesday 7 May—Remaining stages of the Data (Use and Access) Bill [ Lords ] . Thursday 8 May—General debate on St George’s day and English affairs, followed by a debate on a motion on the research and treatment of brain tumours. The subjects for these debates were determined by the Backbench Business Committee. Friday 9 May—The House will not be sitting. The provisional business for the week commencing 12 May will include: Monday 12 May—Remaining stages of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. Tuesday 13 May—Opposition day (7th allotted day). Debate on a motion in the name of the Leader of the official Opposition, subject to be announced. Wednesday 14 May—Consideration of Lords message on the Great British Energy Bill, followed by, if necessary, consideration of Lords amendments. Thursday 15 May—General debate on solar farms, followed by a general debate on the long-term funding of youth services. The subjects for these debates were determined by the Backbench Business Committee. Friday 16 May—Private Members’ Bills.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to raise that. It is important that constituency MPs continue to stand up for local post office services in their constituencies, as many have done in recent weeks. I do not think that Post Office Ltd has really been listening to those concerns, whether in the case of permanent branch closures or the closure of services of the kind that my hon. Friend describes. Our constituents want access to those vital services, and it is really important that the Post Office remains accountable, transparent and responsive to the needs of local communities when making such decisions.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am delighted to hear about the bagpipe musicians from my hon. Friend’s constituency going to New York. That sounds like a really fantastic visit. I thank him for raising it here and join him in congratulating them on their endeavours.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Absolutely, and I pay tribute to Damien for all his fundraising efforts, and for establishing Malcolm’s Retreat in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. It sounds like a fantastic facility, which I am sure that those who have cancer or those conditions, and their families, welcome. The Dorset walk in July, which is raising money for that important charity, sounds glorious. I would love nothing more than a walk along the Dorset coast, so if I have time I will join him. If not, I look forward to hearing about it, perhaps in future business questions.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee for, as ever, giving us a full outline of all future Backbench Business debates. I look forward to us speaking on Monday, when the right hon. Gentleman comes to the Modernisation Committee to discuss the future of Backbench Business and how we can all ensure that Back Benchers continue to have the opportunity to raise the issues they want to in this House and elsewhere. I join him in wishing everybody a happy Gujarat Day on the 65th anniversary of the creation of the state of Gujarat. I am sure that many colleagues will want to go to the Grimond Room later with him.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising the matter, and I am sure Mr Speaker heard his question as well, because it is something that as members of the House of Commons Commission we take a keen interest in. It is a huge project moving these archives. I absolutely join him in thanking the parliamentary archivists, his constituents and others in the great work they do in preserving these important archives for future generations. It has and will continue to be a big project for this House as we move forward, and I am sure that he will continue to take a keen interest in it.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I join the hon. Member in thanking Mr Speaker for hosting the St George’s day reception last week, and I am sorry that the debate that he and my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) have asked for could not be as near to St George’s day as he might have liked. As he will know, we had to schedule important Government business last Thursday, in part because it was a shorter three-day week, which meant that the Thursday was more like a Wednesday. I am glad that the debate has now been scheduled, and I wish the hon. Member and my hon. Friend well with that. The hon. Member raises the important matter of the future of our high streets, and many of the issues that he sees on the high street in Romford, which I am sure we can all relate to in our own communities. He will be aware that the police and security services recently did a big blitz on businesses like the ones he described, which might be a cover for other activities rather than the activities they claim to be. That was a successful operation, and we hope to see more of that in future. This Government are committed to the future of our high streets, looking at reforming business rates and other measures, so that we get good, long-standing, independent businesses back into the heart of our communities.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I agree with the hon. Lady. The Climate Change Committee report is important and looks back, for the most part, at recent years and the previous Government’s record on these matters, which was not good enough. We absolutely need to go further and faster, which is what this Government are doing, to ensure that we have those adaptations, make the transition to become a clean energy superpower, and develop the severe weather and flood resilience that our communities need to cope with the impacts of climate change, which are coming anyway despite our best efforts to get to net zero by 2050.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman thanks me for my answers every week, but may I thank him for his questions every week? He is reliably here every single week—I do not think he has missed business questions since I became Leader of the House. Yet again he raises the important matter of the displaced Rohingya community in Bangladesh. As I hope he knows, the UK Government are the largest provider of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities for the displaced Rohingya population. Our humanitarian programme in Bangladesh is focused on meeting basic urgent needs of refugees, particularly the Rohingya community.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am delighted to do so and I thank the hon. Gentleman for taking the opportunity to draw our attention to their visit. I am sure the whole House will want to join him in thanking the members of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association for all the work they do and for their spirit of fantastic public service. We recognise and support that in this country, and I am sure Members of the House will recognise that.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I will certainly raise the issue with the Northern Ireland Secretary; as the next Northern Ireland questions are only a couple of weeks away, the right hon. Gentleman might want to raise the issue then. He is absolutely right that we are committed to repealing and replacing the Northern Ireland legacy Act. We will do that in due course and, of course, alongside all those with an interest in Northern Ireland. In the meantime, we have to take steps to put any issues right, and that is what the Secretary of State is doing.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Let me reassure the right hon. Gentleman: there are no differing opinions on this in Government—we are as one. We absolutely want to see a two-state solution, which is the only-long-term political solution for the middle east, and that includes a recognised and safe and secure long-term state of Palestine. As he says, getting to that recognition will not happen overnight and is not totally straightforward. The Government are absolutely committed—it was in our manifesto—to recognising the state of Palestine. I will ensure that Ministers always come to the House, as they have been doing, to update Members on any developments, with proper debates, statements and votes on these matters where necessary.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Absolutely—step-free access to transport is critical for our constituents and our communities. The Access for All programme should be happening faster and better. That is why the Secretary of State is considering how we can ensure that the Access for All programme is delivered and that constituents such as those of the hon. Member have step-free access to transport. I will ensure that the Secretary of State keeps the House informed of developments on this matter, which is raised with me regularly at business questions.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  He is a very popular Member of this House. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] There we are. The shadow Minister raises a matter that is very important to me: timely and full responses to written parliamentary questions and correspondence. I take this matter incredibly seriously and will continue, as always, to raise it with Cabinet Ministers, collectively and individually, when they fall short. The shadow Minister also raises the issue of net zero. I am sorry, given his glittering career, that he felt the need to read out from the latest Whips’ crib sheet on net zero. The blinkered vision that the Conservatives have shown on the opportunity of net zero and the transition that we need to make is why they did so little in their time in office. Let us look at what is actually happening. The North sea basin is diminishing; it is a finite resource. That is why the workforce in the North sea has fallen by a third over the past 10 years. There is a global race for the new technologies of the future, and we are now in that race—something the Conservatives failed to do for many years. We are making sure that the North sea has the opportunities of the future, and there are some great opportunities. That is why we are setting up Great British Energy in Aberdeen and why we have announced £22 billion for carbon capture, which will be critical to the future of the North sea basin. It is also why we are looking to reindustrialise the future with things like hydrogen, nuclear and other energies. The shadow Minister mentions the former leader of the Labour party, but he might want to look at what some of his own party’s former leaders have said in recent years. I thought Theresa May spoke very wisely last autumn, just as the Conservatives were performing a complete volte-face over net zero, when she said: “When the sceptics say that the green transition will cripple business, we say they could not be more wrong…When the critics say transitioning to renewables costs too much, we say it’s wrong to see it as a cost. It’s an enormous investment opportunity”. She was right, wasn’t she? He knows she was. If the hon. Gentleman wants to talk about the local elections, I am sure that we can have an exchange of statistics, but the one that I will leave him with is that council tax bills for people living in Labour councils are, on average, £300 lower than elsewhere. That is the one thing that people should be thinking about today of all days. I do not want to be too harsh on the hon. Gentleman, because I am fond of him. Having said that, we are now six months on from the Leader of the Opposition taking up her position. Today will be her first major electoral test, and I wonder how the Conservatives think things are really going, because they have been veering from one side of the road to the other. They have been taking just about every position possible. Even on Monday, they voted against their own Football Governance Bill. They actually wrote it, and their poor, mortified shadow Secretary of State, who had previously called it an excellent Bill, had to put up the best act that I have seen in a long time of speaking against it from the Dispatch Box. The leadership of the Leader of the Opposition is being backseat driven by the shadow Justice Secretary, who is on constant manoeuvres. He is no doubt spending the day on the phones—not to the electors, but to his future backers. He has promised this electoral pact with Reform, but the truth is that the two parties are indistinguishable at the moment. I cannot tell the difference between the once great Conservative party and the Reform party, because we all know that voting Tory today means voting Reform and that voting Reform today means voting Tory.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The Fit, Fed, Fun camps sound like a fantastic development in Wales. I understand that so far 31,000 children have taken part across 450 camps, and that 6,000 pairs of boots have been donated. What a fantastic achievement. They sound like great, fun camps. I join my hon. Friend in thanking the Ospreys, the WRU and all those involved in that project.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that. Those comments are incredibly serious, and are unacceptable when aimed at Conservative or any other MPs. I totally condemn them, and as does the whole House. We have all seen what happens when comments incite and encourage violence against a Member of Parliament. It is deeply unacceptable and undermines our democracy, as well as putting our lives and our work at risk. That is why we all stand in solidarity against them. I was grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for granting the urgent question to allow Members to air their thoughts on the issue earlier this week. On Glastonbury, I am sure that the festival organisers have heard loud and clear the comments made about the band. It is for Glastonbury festival to take that forward. However, I am sure that no one in this House would want to see them playing at Glastonbury, and I am sure that we will all continue to say so, loud and clear.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is absolutely right that nothing is more frustrating and—quite honestly—upsetting for our constituents than having dodgy works done at home and having no recourse and accountability to those who did them. I will ensure that the Minister takes a look at the issues she has raised. Trading standards and ensuring that we have quality TrustMark schemes across the country are important to this Government, and we will keep the House updated.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  As I said in answer to a previous question on this issue, we need to get the balance right: we need to ensure that these facilities are safe for local communities, and that the risk of fires is mitigated as far as possible, while also getting much-needed infrastructure for battery energy storage, which is absolutely critical to the future of our energy security and our economy. I will ensure that the hon. Lady gets a ministerial update on those matters.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to highlight the importance of single-sex spaces and counselling when it comes to tackling violence against women and girls and dealing with the aftermath of that. She will know that the Supreme Court ruling over Easter gave greater clarity on these matters for service providers, such as those in her constituency, and she might want to raise the great work that they do at the next Women and Equalities questions on 7 May.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am sorry that my hon. Friend has yet again had to come to the House to raise with me the poorly managed roadworks in her constituency. Staffordshire county council really needs to get a grip on them, because it sounds like it is making a real mess.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. The right to play is critical and I am really pleased to hear that young people in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and across Norfolk, and are making it such a priority.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Papa’s fish and chip shop in my hon. Friend’s constituency sounds like a great place to go and reconnect by putting away our phones and having a great plate of fish and chips. Perhaps I will join her there some time soon.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  This sounds like a troubling case in my hon. Friend’s constituency. He is right that high-quality consultation for developments is imperative, and it does not sound as though that happened or that proper procedures were followed in this case. I will certainly raise it with Ministers for him.