Lucy Rigby MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 4 Nov 2025 · Banking Services: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is well versed in all these areas, and has done considerable work in this regard. As I have said, the banks play a role in providing access to cash, for instance via post office banking services.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Banking Services: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  Where it is appropriate to do so—indeed, it is very often appropriate to do so—we will blame the Conservative party for the state of the country, and it is appropriate to do so here. On the criteria that Link uses for banking hubs, I will remind the hon. Gentleman that, in relation to the access to cash regime, that was designed and passed by the previous Government.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Banking Services: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  The Government understand the importance of in-person banking to communities, and we are working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the United Kingdom. More than 240 hubs have been announced so far, and more than 180 are already open. I know that that includes two in the hon. Member’s constituency, and I look forward to our upcoming meeting to discuss her constituents’ banking needs.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Financial Inclusion Strategy · Hansard source

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  I am aware of the scheme that the right hon. Member talks about. He will appreciate that I cannot pre-empt the launch of the strategy tomorrow, nor indeed the Budget, but I would be more than happy to meet him to talk about it in more detail.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Financial Inclusion Strategy · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises a really important point. As part of developing the strategy, the Government have engaged with Financial Inclusion Committee members and other organisations on how to measure the impact of the strategy, and indeed to drive its delivery. The strategy’s implementation will be reviewed two years from publication against outcomes-based metrics to provide an update on progress. I will be more than happy to meet her to discuss this.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Financial Inclusion Strategy · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for her years of work to further financial inclusion both during her time here and prior to Parliament. This is a timely question, because tomorrow we will publish the Government’s financial inclusion strategy, which sets out an ambitious programme of measures to improve financial inclusion and resilience for communities right across the UK.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  I assure him that the houses will be beautiful and that we will build 1.5 million of them over the course of this Parliament. There was a brief reference to Nirvana from the Conservative Benches before a descent back into half-baked and unfunded plans, to which we on the Government Benches thought, “Well, Nevermind.”

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  It is a tax, so obviously I do not love it, but what I find extraordinary is the Conservative party’s new-found hatred of taxation when they increased taxes 25 times in the last Parliament. As I said, we heard from various hon. Members about their objections to this tax. I will not engage on the points made about the Budget, for obvious reasons, except to repeat that we are committed to a single major fiscal event per year where the Chancellor will set out any tax decisions in the usual way alongside the OBR’s forecast. That fiscal event will take place, as everyone knows, on 26 November, at which point there will be plenty of time to discuss and debate the decisions that the Chancellor takes in the Budget. I want to speak to some of the points raised during the debate. We heard plenty from Conservative Members about why they want to abolish stamp duty. I think some points were made thoughtfully; I say that in a well-meant way. I am sorry to say, however, that we heard absolutely nothing from Conservative Members on their appalling economic record. We heard nothing from them on their appalling record on house building—save for the acknowledgment of the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire (Kit Malthouse)—nothing on the waste of public money from the fraud on their watch, and nothing whatsoever that could be described as fiscal responsibility. We heard from some of my hon. Friends on the Labour Benches about the urgent need to build more houses in this country, given our appalling inheritance. That is the key way that we solve the housing crisis. I pay tribute to the thoughtful speeches of my hon. Friends the Members for Welwyn Hatfield (Andrew Lewin), for Milton Keynes North (Chris Curtis), for Crewe and Nantwich (Connor Naismith) and for North Warwickshire and Bedworth (Rachel Taylor), and to my hon. Friends the Members for Loughborough (Dr Sandher) and for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance), who spoke powerfully of the consequences of the Conservative party’s mismanagement of the economy, which include food banks, poverty and, of course, the housing crisis. I welcome the commitment of the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire. He talked about the need to build more housing and, indeed, about beautiful housing. I assure him that that is exactly the type of housing that this Government will facilitate being built—although I note that his colleagues took him straight back to opposing development no sooner had he made that point. I also welcome his mini-insight into the infighting of the last Government.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. The motion is proof that the Conservatives have learned none of the lessons of their catastrophic mini-Budget or of the years of the punishing austerity that was inflicted on the people and institutions of this country, with nothing whatsoever to show for it but soaring debt, low productivity and devastated household finances. Let me be clear that stamp duty is not a beloved tax—far from it; it is no more beloved than any other taxes—but it is an effective tax that raises billions of pounds annually, with those buying the most expensive properties contributing the most. That contribution is vital to the upkeep of our public services, our NHS, our schools and our armed forces. Abolishing it would take billions out of the public purse—£13.9 billion alone. It would be a multibillion-pound tax cut affecting the budgets of our most essential services. It is the same horror show from the same old Conservatives, wildly swinging their scythe at public services without a care in the world for the consequences for our NHS, our schools and our armed forces. Which services would Conservative Members want to cut down this time? Would it be fewer nurses, fewer soldiers or fewer police officers? [ Interruption. ] Conservative Members are asking me whether I am asking them. I am more than aware that in the debate they referenced their fantasy economics based on welfare cuts. The shadow Chancellor oversaw the biggest increase in benefit spending in decades when he was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. If he truly believes that welfare spending needs cutting, why did he let it balloon? We have heard from various hon. Members about their objections to this tax and about all sorts of things they imagine might be in the Budget.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  I will make some progress. That is the Conservatives’ pitch to the British public—reckless with our public finances, reckless with our public services and reckless with the future of this country. Conservative Members are competing to say how sad and angry they are about this tax. They will be furious when they find out which party gave us the highest tax burden since the second world war! [ Interruption. ] The motion is a seemingly straight-faced argument from Conservative Members that we should do the exact thing that brought their 14 years of government to an end. It is proof that they have learned—

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  Thank you. I was pleased to hear the Liberal Democrats spokesman, the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper), and others in the party say that they will oppose the motion. I wholeheartedly agree with her that it is fundamentally flawed. To be clear, we are a Government of fiscal responsibility. Our steadfast commitment to the fiscal rules has brought stability to our economy and allowed us to boost investment by £120 billion over the course of this Parliament. The dividends of that approach, even after just a year, are already clear: the highest growth in the G7 in the first half of this year, cuts to interest rates, real wages rising more in the time since the last election than they did in 10 years of Conservative Government, record investments from overseas, and new homes and infrastructure progressing all over the country. That is a strong foundation to build on in the years ahead. Today, we have debated a simple question of two visions for the country. Put another way, does this country go forwards or backwards? The Conservative party wants us to go back—back to its time in office, when Britain had a Government that pursued unfunded tax cuts and austerity, leading to soaring debt, low productivity, under-investment and anaemic growth. It was a Britain where we did not build infrastructure, including houses, and where far too many people were unable to get on the housing ladder. This Government want the country to move forward. We are managing the public finances with stability and certainty in an uncertain world. We are a Government who invest in public services, our infrastructure and our communities, and work with businesses and local leaders to bring growth and opportunity to every part of the country. We are a Government who are building houses, including in areas of the country that the shadow Secretary of State—

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  Madam Deputy Speaker, I am afraid that I am being interrupted. We are a Government who are building houses, including in areas of the country that the shadow Secretary of State has previously described in rather unparliamentary language. We are a Government who support working people with new jobs, higher wages and new homes. We are a Government who are committed to building 1.5 million new homes this Parliament and to restoring the dream of home ownership. We are a Government who will not duck the difficult decisions but face into them, because that is the only way that we will deliver a decade of national renewal and a thriving economy for the people of this country. That is what today’s debate is about: backwards with fiscal irresponsibility from the Conservatives or forwards with economic stability, investment and reform under this Prime Minister and this Chancellor. Question put.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  I thank all hon. and right hon. Members who have contributed to the debate. I especially thank the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Ealing North (James Murray) for his speech at the start, and the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride) for bringing forward this debate. I also thank the shadow Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Braintree (Sir James Cleverly) for concluding on behalf of the Opposition. With those niceties over, I turn to the substance of the motion we are debating, which, as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury said, is fundamentally flawed. Despite the Leader of the Opposition’s seemingly steadfast commitment to having no policy at all, which has now been very much abandoned, Conservative Members have looked back at their shockingly bad economic record and taken the rather extraordinary view that they are well placed to offer input and advice on the upcoming Budget, which is entirely a matter for the Chancellor to decide once she has seen the OBR’s forecast and which she will share with the House at the end of next month. The Conservatives have looked at all of this, thought for seemingly quite a long time about it, and decided that now is the right moment to offer some policy. The solution to all the hardship they inflicted on the country during their time in power is more of the same: more unfunded tax cuts, more instability, more austerity, more harm to our public services and, dare I say it, more of the approach that meant that their penultimate Prime Minister was outlasted by a lettuce.

• 27 Oct 2025 · Draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (Mutual Recognition Agreement) (Switzerland) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (Mutual Recognition Agreement) (Switzerland) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. The regulations will implement commitments made by the UK under the Berne financial services agreement of 2023, and will strengthen our economic relationship with Switzerland, one of the world’s leading financial centres. In short, they will provide greater certainty and flexibility for UK businesses, helping to ease cross-border trade in financial services and boosting growth. Importantly, they will maintain and enhance robust oversight and protection for UK consumers. I am pleased that the regulations have been welcomed across industry, including by TheCityUK, and I pay tribute to the previous Government for their work on the agreement during their time in office. There are three key elements to the legislation, which establishes a new framework for market access, regulatory co-operation and safeguard powers for UK regulators. First, the regulations will remove duplicative and burdensome requirements for UK firms, making cross-border financial services trade with Switzerland easier, more stable and more predictable. The new framework will allow Swiss investment service firms to supply certain cross-border services directly to UK clients, including sophisticated and high net worth individuals, without the need for UK authorisation. In return, British businesses, especially insurers, will be able to provide certain services directly to Swiss clients without the need for Swiss authorisation. Importantly, insurance brokers will also be exempt from Swiss localisation rules. Secondly, the legislation will protect consumers, market integrity and financial stability by ensuring that the new access arrangements are safe and well managed. New powers and duties will be granted to the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Bank of England. Thirdly, the regulations will establish enhanced co-operation arrangements between UK and Swiss regulators, which will be supported by a formal memorandum of understanding, signed on 22 September. This will support information sharing and effective dispute resolution and will facilitate the authorities’ relevant functions for the purposes of ensuring financial stability, market integrity and the protection of investors and consumers. The FCA and the Bank, as well as the PRA, will also work closely with their Swiss counterparts in FINMA to address any risks or issues that may emerge. Should the Committee support the legislation today, as I hope it does, the agreement will enter into force in January 2026. I commend the regulations to the Committee.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Financial Inclusion · Hansard source

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  I am happy to confirm to my hon. Friend that we have had those discussions. I hope he will see the evidence of those discussions when the strategy is published, and I hope he will see them in a positive light. I will now address the Government’s position on banking hub services and branch closures, in response to some of the points that have been raised today. I will then come on to some of the other points that have been raised, particularly discrimination in branches, which we must deal with, and digital exclusion. As one would expect, the Financial Inclusion Committee and its sub-committees’ discussions reflect the fact that banking services have changed remarkably in recent years. Many people, including our vulnerable constituents, have benefited from digital innovations that have enabled them to bank more conveniently and securely at any time and from anywhere. Last year, the vast majority of current account holders—93%—used online or mobile banking services. That includes 75% of over-75s. At the same time, reliance on physical branches has declined significantly. However, the Government are clear about the importance of face-to-face banking to individuals and communities, and are committed to championing access for all. That is why we are working closely with the banks to roll out 350 banking hubs by the end of this Parliament. More than 180 have already opened across the country, offering vital access to cash and everyday banking services. We have also worked closely with the industry to improve the services that are available at those banking hubs. That includes ensuring that customers do not have to bring their own phone or tablet to access banking support, as well as a commitment to trial the use of printers, enhancing accessibility. We are committed to continuing to work with industry to ensure that banking services in hubs deliver the support that customers require. I receive regular correspondence about the location of hubs. Hon. Members will know that the location of hubs is set by the Financial Conduct Authority’s rules, which protect access to cash. Although the Government do not have a role in that decision-making process, my predecessor and I have met with Link very regularly. Indeed, I have a meeting with John Howells coming up, and I regularly feed in hon. Members’ views. [ Official Report, 3 November 2025; Vol. 774, c. 5WC.] (Correction) Turning to discrimination in branches, I will specifically address the experience of the customers shared by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North. It was, frankly, hard to hear some of those negative and no doubt damaging experiences. I want everyone to feel valued and respected in their interactions with financial services. I know we would all wish that. As my hon. Friend knows, all service providers, including banks and building societies, are bound by the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments where necessary. In addition, under the FCA’s consumer duty, firms must identify where customers or groups are not getting good outcomes, and they must understand why. Although I set out that framework, we would always encourage people to contact their bank to explore reasonable adjustments to the services they might require. It is important that people know that if that is not happening, they have a right to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service. Earlier this year, the FCA published a report setting out areas for improvement in how financial services firms support customers in vulnerable circumstances, including those with learning disabilities in particular. The FCA highlighted in the report that most firms could not evidence how they had embedded the needs of customers in vulnerable circumstances into their product design, which is something we are determined to see change. As I have mentioned, in developing our strategy we have been looking at the role of inclusive design in developing financial inclusion. There has been really positive work to improve the way that financial services work for disabled people, so it is critical that we build on that. I want to highlight briefly the work of Project Nemo, which was founded in 2024 to address digital accessibility and the under-representation of disabled people in financial services. Project Nemo’s research demonstrates that inclusive features can support those with learning disabilities to manage their money with greater independence and develop products that are more accessible for all. We are determined to build on the good work that has gone on previously to deal with the issues that my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North raises. I want to address digital inclusion and the points that my hon. Friend raised in that regard. We recognise that digital exclusion can be a significant barrier in how consumers are able to access and use financial services products. That is why digital inclusion is an area of focus in the financial inclusion strategy. It has been specifically considered by its own sub-committee, alongside issues around access to banking services. The strategy, which hon. Members will be able to see in due course, will examine what more industry and Government can do to help address the problems and ensure that everyone can engage with financial services and manage their money in what we all know is an increasingly digital society. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is the lead Department for digital inclusion. Earlier this year, it published a digital inclusion action plan that focuses on digital barriers beyond financial services, including digital skills and confidence—issues raised today—and widening access to devices and connectivity, providing support through local communities. I have addressed the matter of financial education, but I also want to touch briefly on the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate about the insurance market. I can confirm to her that insurance is in the scope of the financial inclusion strategy. As she knows, there is other work going on, including via the motor insurance taskforce, which is looking at the issues she raised—specifically, the cost of motor insurance to all our constituents.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Financial Inclusion · Hansard source

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  I am more than happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss those issues. I said at the outset that the financial inclusion strategy is considering cross-cutting themes. The issue of credit rating agencies has come across my desk outside the scope of the strategy, in relation to economic abuse. As he knows, there are serious issues with people—women in particular—having their credit rating affected as one impact of economic abuse. That is something that I am extremely interested in and that we are looking at. Indeed, the committee is looking at it as part of the financial inclusion strategy. I will close by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North for his continued championing of financial inclusion. I thank hon. Members on both sides of the House for raising their points today. Some raise financial inclusion with me very regularly via correspondence or via conversations in the voting Lobby and elsewhere. I very much appreciate their doing that, and I encourage them to continue to do so as we seek to address these serious issues, which affect not just our constituents’ ability to engage with financial services, but their ability to participate in societal life as a whole. I want to thank again— Motion lapsed (Standing Order No. 10(6)).

• 22 Oct 2025 · Financial Inclusion · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) for securing this important debate and for giving me the opportunity to discuss a topic that is integral to the ability of his constituents, my constituents and all our constituents to participate not just in our economy, but in society as a whole. I also thank other hon. Members who have contributed to the debate. From the number of interventions that have been made, it is clear that this is a very important issue to all of us throughout the House. I think we can agree on the importance of ensuring that everyone across the UK has access to appropriate and affordable financial products and services. I really do appreciate the strength of feeling on the issue. I know that some Members present will have had the opportunity at recent party conferences, as I did, to engage with the likes of Fair4All Finance, the Centre for Social Justice, Rooted Finance and other organisations. I pay tribute to TAG, the charitable organisation in my hon. Friend’s constituency that he mentioned, for the incredible work that it is doing to promote social inclusion for disabled people. I recognise the importance of that work and the need to go further to ensure that our financial system works for everyone; I will return to that point. As my hon. Friend has set out, some of the statistics on financial inclusion in the UK are sobering: 900,000 people still do not have access to a bank account, 10% of adults have no savings, and another 21% of adults have less than £1,000 to draw on in the event of an emergency. When it comes to digital inclusion, which he raised, 3.3 million people—7% of current account holders—do not bank online or use a mobile banking app. However, I believe that this Government are on the cusp of making a real difference in that regard via the publication of our national financial inclusion strategy. Through that strategy, we can open up access to the right financial services, build households’ financial resilience and transform our constituents’ financial wellbeing. However, I must stress that although the Treasury will publish the financial inclusion strategy, Government alone cannot solve some of the issues that we have been discussing today. We need a joint effort across industry, regulators and the third sector. That is exactly why I, along with my immediate predecessor—my right hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Emma Reynolds)—and my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Tulip Siddiq), have developed our financial inclusion strategy, with the support of a committee made up of consumer and industry representatives. The committee has been considering a range of barriers faced by those who are financially excluded, as well as three important, cross-cutting themes—economic abuse, mental health and accessibility. The latter theme is particularly relevant to the points that my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North has raised. He will appreciate that I am slightly limited in what I can say before the publication of the strategy, but I can confirm that the fact that accessibility is a cross-cutting theme has been important to the development of the strategy. It has prompted the committee to look closely at the role that inclusive design can play in improving accessibility for underserved groups. I also want to make it very clear that we will publish the strategy before the end of the year.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Draft Financial Services (Overseas Recognition Regime Designations) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Financial Services (Overseas Recognition Regime Designations) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. The draft regulations before the Committee support the Government in their operation of overseas recognition regimes. Specifically, they provide His Majesty’s Treasury with the powers needed to ensure that designations of individual jurisdictions are assessed and implemented in a manner that is compatible with our existing regulatory regime. As hon. Members know, the UK’s historical strength in global financial markets is built on our international openness and reach. Our ability to provide unilateral recognition where the regulatory framework in an overseas jurisdiction provides similar outcomes to the UK’s is an important tool to support cross-border financial services. Recognition can provide a range of regulatory benefits, which include: enabling overseas firms to provide services directly into the UK; aligning requirements on UK-authorised firms, whether they are engaging with UK or overseas markets or counterparties; and providing regulatory relief by removing duplicative requirements on cross-border business. This recognition framework is common to other jurisdictions. For example, the EU maintains equivalence regimes, the United States makes comparability determinations in respect of other jurisdictions, and Australia operates a system that allows it to judge whether foreign regulatory regimes are sufficiently equivalent. The regulations promote consistency in regulatory standards, provide the foundation for long-term regulatory co-operation between jurisdictions, and support financial stability. The regulations were first published in draft form to coincide with the Chancellor’s Mansion House speech in July, alongside a guidance document that outlines the principles and processes governing ORRs and a memorandum of understanding agreed between HM Treasury and the financial services regulators. As the documents make clear, ORRs are the Government’s new harmonised approach through which the UK will recognise overseas jurisdictions’ financial services regulation and supervision. The regulations support the Government in their operation of recognition regimes, specifically in relation to the designation of individual jurisdictions. As I said, the regulations will ensure that designations are assessed and implemented in a way that is compatible with our existing regulatory regime, and they will therefore support financial stability, market integrity, consumer protection and competition. The regulations have three main functions: first, in relation to information and advice, the decision to designate an overseas jurisdiction is taken by HM Treasury Ministers on the basis of an assessment undertaken by officials, with technical advice from our expert regulators and made by statutory instrument laid before Parliament. The powers in the regulations update HM Treasury’s existing powers to request information and advice from the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, as part of the process of assessing and then designating an overseas jurisdiction. As I said, an MOU is established between HM Treasury and our financial services regulators in accordance with the regulations. Secondly, the regulations give the Treasury the power to impose conditions on the application of an ORR designation. The conditions are specific changes to the effect of a designation—for example, limiting the effect to a given size of firm—and ensuring that we can support cross-border financial services while assessing any areas of risk. This change will help to maintain consistency with the regulatory and supervisory standards that we expect in our markets. Thirdly, the regulations make amendments to two existing ORRs. The Government previously established two ORRs covering insurance and short selling respectively, as part of the process of repealing assimilated EU law under the powers afforded by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. No new designations have been made under either of those two ORRs, meaning that there has been no need yet to use the powers in the regulations. The amendments to the regimes simply make the definition of an overseas jurisdiction consistent across all ORRs, including those already established, ensuring that there is a single approach across financial services regulation that can be easily understood, including by our international partners. The regulations are clearly defined and limited in scope. Their sole purpose is to provide the Treasury with the powers needed to ensure that the designations of individual jurisdictions are assessed and implemented in a manner compatible with our existing regulatory regime. They will ensure we can operate ORRs effectively and thereby support the global competitiveness of the UK’s financial sector, facilitate cross-border financial services, and provide a consistent approach across financial services legislation.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Financial Services Reform · Hansard source

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  Our financial services growth and competitiveness strategy sets out the Government’s 10-year plan for the sector, making clear our ambition that, by 2035, the UK will be the global location of choice for financial services firms to invest, grow and sell their services throughout the UK and to the world. To support this ambition, the Government announced the Leeds reforms, which are the most wide-ranging package of reforms to financial services regulation in a decade. The reforms will turbocharge growth, put more money in the pockets of working people and create more good, skilled jobs right across the country.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Financial Services Reform · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to the right hon. Member’s work in this area, and I would be more than happy to meet with him to discuss those concerns.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Financial Services Reform · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for the lecture, but I note that it was the Conservatives who introduced the bank levy. The Government are committed to responsibly promoting the growth and competitiveness of the sector, and of course we keep the bank tax regime under review.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Financial Services Reform · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises an important issue, and it is very good to hear him championing businesses in his constituency. The Government published the small business strategy in July, which sets out how we will make the UK the best place to start and grow a business and puts SMEs at the heart of our growth mission. That includes tackling the barriers that SMEs face when accessing finance. That is why the Government are committed to increasing the total financial capacity of the British Business Bank to £25.6 billion and introducing a new business growth service, which will make it easier and quicker for businesses across the UK to get the help, support and advice that they need to grow and thrive.

• 4 Sept 2025 · People Smuggling · Hansard source

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  As I said, we are setting up a new independent body to clear appeals more quickly. We are clearing up the Conservatives’ mess, and the Home Secretary will bring forward plans in the areas that the hon. Lady mentions.

• 4 Sept 2025 · People Smuggling · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend rightly highlights this Government’s global leadership on these issues, which is part of our plan to fix the borders crisis left to us by the last Government. We have agreed a landmark deal with France, and we have increased co-operation with Germany and other countries. We have removed 35,000 people with no right to be here, and increased the removal of failed asylum seekers by 30%. We are giving Border Security Command counter-terrorist-style powers through our borders Bill, which is a Bill that both Reform and the Conservative party voted against.

• 4 Sept 2025 · People Smuggling · Hansard source

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  Developing controlled and managed routes for genuine refugees is important. This is one of a host of robust, concrete and practical measures that the Government are taking to crack down on the vile activities of people smuggling gangs. I contrast our approach with that of the Conservative party, which left us with this borders crisis, and with that of Reform, which is happy to stoke anger but has absolutely no answers.