Lucy Powell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. This Government have been clear that, in support of our world-leading global university sector, we want to end the culture wars that have ensued against our fantastic universities. As the MP for two globally leading universities, I know that that message and change of tone have been widely welcomed in the sector. I am sure that, at Education questions next week, he may want to raise the issue of the Bill.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  As the Member of Parliament whose constituency has the most pubs, I wholeheartedly share my hon. Friend’s support for his local pubs in St Helens North. Every time they are raised in this House, there is widespread support for our great British pubs. Any time he wants a debate, I am sure he will get one.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that question. I am delighted that today we are introducing the Water (Special Measures) Bill in the other place. It is a really important step on the way to cleaning up our waterways, making water bosses and water companies accountable, and stemming the tide of, frankly, awful pollution and discharges into our rivers, lakes and elsewhere. We are putting in place the tough accountability action that has long been required to do that job.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am really sorry to hear about the closure of my hon. Friend’s local care home. He is absolutely right. Our commitment to neighbourhood health services is how we will begin to tackle these issues. It is a key part of the health mission of this Government to get our health and care service back on its feet.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend will know that under the previous Government, retail crime was effectively decriminalised. Those seeking to shoplift, sometimes on an industrial scale and in a very organised fashion, were completely let off the hook. That is why we are committed to rectifying that situation in our forthcoming criminal justice Bill, to tackle the scourge of retail crime.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  As has already been raised in this session today, the provision of local post office services is a matter of wide interest across the House. I am sure that if the hon. Gentleman and other colleagues put in for a debate, they would get a great deal of support. Let us be honest: with the Post Office, we have seen an organisation that has left serious questions about how it has been run and its governance. What we do not want, as a result, are our vital post office services disappearing from our high streets and town centres, so I will ensure the relevant Minister has heard his question.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I could not have put it better. I am sure that many others will want to make such points as the anniversary comes about in the coming couple of weeks, because it is really important that we learn the lessons from that disaster and do not allow history to repeat itself. What happens when the Government of the day make a huge amount of unfunded spending and tax-cutting commitments with no idea of where the money will come from, and ignore the advice of Treasury and other experts, completely flying in the face of our much-valued financial institutions? As my hon. Friend recalled, we see soaring rates of Government borrowing costs and interest rates having to be raised very quickly. It is mortgage payers, ordinary families and those on fixed incomes who pay the heaviest price when the Government of the day make such a reckless choice with the economy.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Fortuitously, my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General is sitting beside me. As the hon. Gentleman may know, the Government worked apace over the recess to meet our statutory deadline for setting up the compensation scheme, and my right hon. Friend has already made two statements on the matter during the three or four short weeks during which the House has sat since the election. I know that it is a personal commitment of his to ensure that those affected have justice and compensation, and I know that he has heard what the hon. Gentleman has said today.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  This is a Government of service, and we are working hard to turn the page on an era of scandal and sleaze under the previous Government. We expect the very highest standards of all those in government, which is why we quickly brought in measures such as raising standards and expectations for MPs, raising standards and expectations for Ministers, being completely transparent about declarations, and ensuring that all the proper processes for appointments are followed at all times. We will continue to do that.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are unashamedly for house building, and we are unashamedly for delivering it through local strategic plans, with infrastructure and services at the heart of the house building programme in places such as Aylesbury and elsewhere. I am sure that debates on that issue will be forthcoming shortly.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that question. I am really sorry to hear of Lily’s death. She will know that mental health and suicide is one of the biggest challenges facing our young people, and that is why this Government are absolutely committed to supporting mental health provision and to getting it on parity of esteem with physical health provision, with all the extra support that is going into our schools. She raises a really good question about private healthcare providers in this space, and she may want to raise it at Health questions after the conference recess.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend, who I know has been a doughty campaigner on health issues, issues around hospice funding and other issues over many years, and I thank her for bringing those to this House. The Minister of State for Care has recently met NHS England, and discussions have begun about how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to and quality of palliative care and end-of-life care across England. Funding issues, which I know are very important, will be considered as well and I am sure she would get a great deal of support for a general debate on hospice funding.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  What the hon. Member describes is that in recent years we have seen some actions that go way beyond acceptable protest and that are highly disruptive to local people, to those trying to get hospital, to those in need and to our wider economy. On the technical legal matter that she raises, she might want to know that Justice questions will be next week, and I am sure that the Secretary of State for Justice will be happy to answer her question.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am sure that the thoughts of the whole House are with my hon. Friend’s constituent Michael during this difficult time. He is absolutely right that cancer patients are waiting far too long for diagnosis and treatment; that is why we will double the state-of-the-art MRI and CT scanners in the NHS. My hon. Friend will be aware that Health questions are coming up after the conference recess.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am sure the Transport Secretary will come to this House at some point to address driving tests for young people, which I know are a real issue. We support young people being able to get the independence that they need through driving. We have Transport questions on my 50th birthday—I know I do not look old enough—which is 10 October, and I am sure my hon. Friend will want to raise it then.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The business for the week commencing 9 September is as follows: Monday 9 September—Consideration of a motion to approve the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2024, followed by consideration of a motion to approve the Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024, followed by consideration of a motion to approve the draft Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) Order 2024, followed by consideration of a motion to approve the draft Human Medicines (Amendments Relating to Naloxone and Transfers of Functions) Regulations 2024. Tuesday 10 September—Debate on a motion relating to the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024, followed by Opposition day (1st allotted day, first half). Debate on a motion in the name of the official Opposition—subject to be announced. Wednesday 11 September—General debate on building safety and resilience. Thursday 12 September—General debate on matters to be raised before the forthcoming Adjournment. The House will rise for the conference recess at the conclusion of business on Thursday 12 September and return on Monday 7 October. Members may also wish to know that, subject to the progress of business, the House will rise for the short November recess at the close of business on Wednesday 6 November and return on Monday 11 November; rise for the Christmas recess at the close of business on Thursday 19 December and return on Monday 6 January 2025; rise for the February recess at the close of business on Thursday 13 February and return on Monday 24 February; rise for the Easter recess at the close of business on Tuesday 8 April and return on Tuesday 22 April; rise for the early May bank holiday at the close of business on Thursday 1 May and return on Tuesday 6 May; rise for the Whitsun recess at the close of business on Thursday 22 May and return on Monday 2 June; and rise for the summer recess at the close of business on Tuesday 22 July.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises the important matter of BTecs and their future, which has also been raised with me as a constituency MP and, I am sure, with many other Members. If answers are not found at Education questions next week, I will ensure that the relevant Minister comes to the House to provide them.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend has raised an important issue. We are all familiar with what is happening in our hospitals, including our A&E departments. My husband is an A&E doctor, and I hear these stories on most evenings at home. The waiting lists, the waiting times, the chronic understaffing and underfunding and the lack of support for our NHS have left it on its knees, and one of the Health Secretary’s first acts was to resolve the junior doctors’ dispute so that strike action did not blight our attempts to deal with that. Getting waiting lists down, which is going to be tough, and restoring our NHS to a service on which people can rely are a key mission for this Government.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Lady will have heard, we will be having such a debate next Tuesday, and the Government have brought that forward to allow for a debate and a vote on those issues. I gently say that perhaps she might want to talk to colleagues in her party about the woeful inheritance that we found, and the £22 billion black hole not for future years but in this year, which the Office for Budget Responsibility was appalled that it did not know about. That has seen higher borrowing and excess spending, particularly on asylum, and we had to do something to fix those broken foundations in-year to stabilise the economy.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent question. He is right to make the point that the current bus franchising system is incredibly bureaucratic and lengthy. That is why in the King’s Speech we announced a better buses Bill, which will come before the House and will significantly reduce the time and bureaucracy that such things take. I hope that the Peterborough mayor will take time and ensure that that legislation is in place before he embarks on the necessary taking back control of buses in his area.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for raising that important matter. Over the summer, with the acts of thuggery and the disorder that we saw in the riots, we found real problems in our criminal justice system. We have good people doing good work, but a system creaking at the seams. Police custody suites are very much part of that challenge. We will have to do a lot of difficult work to get our criminal justice system fit for purpose so that we can quickly bring people to justice and ensure that those convicted of crimes are kept away from the public.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a long-standing and powerful advocate for mining communities in his constituency and beyond, and is absolutely right to say that we have a clear manifesto commitment to put this injustice right. I will ensure that the relevant Minister has heard his question and that he gets an appropriate response, and I am sure we will have further announcements in due course.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises an important issue. In recent years, adult education was belittled and let down by the previous Government, and local government funding was cut to the bone. That is why so much adult education provision is being lost from our communities. This Government will try to ensure that education, including adult education, is once again at the forefront of national life. I am sure that she will want to raise this matter with the Secretary of State at Education questions next week.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  So many people are raising the issue of station accessibility. My hon. Friend raises important points about Sandbach station. If she joins forces with the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson) and applies to the Backbench Business Committee once its Chair is in place, I am sure that there will be a lot of support for a debate.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Like many, I am furious that this Government have had to take these difficult decisions, because the Government the right hon. Gentleman supported over many years left a huge gaping hole in the public finances. Had we not dealt with that, it would have affected his constituents and left those living in poverty and in homes that are difficult to heat much worse off. He should reflect on that. Under the Conservative Government, the home insulation schemes previously in existence were largely scrapped, and they failed to take action to insulate new homes and improve building regulations, so we will not take lectures from them. We have a hugely ambitious home insulation plan. As the right hon. Gentleman will know, the basic state pension is increasing in real value over the course of this Parliament. Living standards for everybody fell under his Government for the first time in our history. We will ensure that they go up for people right across this country.