Mark Ferguson MP: speeches

Speeches

• 28 Mar 2025 · Water Bill · Hansard source

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  I am on the cusp of it. There are cost implications of asking members of the public to travel to another part of the country, and these things are inevitably in London. As somebody whose constituency is 250 miles from London, I would be concerned about members of my community being left out of such a consultation.

• 28 Mar 2025 · Water Bill · Hansard source

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  The first week in September, as the Minister rightly notes. Despite the Conservatives voting against it at every stage, the Act passed.

• 27 Mar 2025 · Supporting Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  1. What steps she is taking to help ensure that the transport system supports economic growth.

• 27 Mar 2025 · Supporting Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for her response. Can she update me on the conversations the Department has had with Gateshead council about the state of Gateshead flyover? This 400-tonne barrier to jobs running through the middle of our town is holding back businesses and growth, and stopping us achieving our full potential.

• 27 Mar 2025 · Scunthorpe Steelworks · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for her comments on the national steel strategy and for agreeing to meet the owners of Union Electric Steel in my constituency. Does she agree that continuing to be able to produce cast steel rolls in the UK is an essential part of the steel strategy that will benefit Scunthorpe, Port Talbot and other communities?

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

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  To have a PhD in oncology, to be a GP, to work in a women’s prison—each would mark someone out as a remarkable person, but Dr Jenefer Llewelyn did all three. In her final email to me on 29 January, she said: “I implore you to keep up the fight for those with cholangiocarcinoma.” I regret to inform the House that Dr Llewelyn passed away on 15 March, leaving behind her partner and three children, as well as the rest of those in my community who loved, respected and relied on her. In Dr Llewelyn’s name, I want to keep my promise to her and keep on fighting, so will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on the treatment of those with cholangiocarcinoma?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Spring Statement · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Chancellor’s reference to the £13 billion of additional capital expenditure announced today. Will she put today’s statement into the context of the significant investments that have already been made and those that are forthcoming, and contrast that with the previous Government, who did not have a plan for long-term growth and abandoned communities like mine?

• 25 Mar 2025 · Terms and Conditions of Employment · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that many of the concerns shared by the Conservatives are the same as those raised at the time of the introduction of the minimum wage?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for his point, but I feel like he has not really listened to what I was saying. The point that I was making was that, at the time, the Government of the day had an opportunity to strip out the covid effects. I have already used the phrase “covid effects” and I have referred to the once-in-a-generation pandemic—my Lord, did we not all live through it? None of us has forgotten about it. But instead of stripping out the covid effects, the Conservative Government argued that that would be too difficult, so, instead, there was a 2.5% rise. That had an effect on pensioners, but I do not feel that the Conservative party has had the same reckoning with that difficult decision that we on Labour Benches have had with the decisions that we have taken.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I am about to get to the thrust of my argument, if the hon. Lady would not mind. We have been talking about the winter fuel allowance and money being taken from pensioners, which is a serious point. I wish to talk briefly about what happened four years ago, when, in this place, the Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Act 2021 was passed. That was a very serious decision that the previous Government had to take. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Brash) for some of the enlightening research that he commissioned from the House of Commons Library. In 2021, the Conservative Government made a decision, following the unusual turbulence in the employment market after covid, that the triple lock would become, for one year only, a double lock. The Conservatives, who are very keen to say that they are the party of the triple lock, turned it into a double lock. I think that it is fair to say—as many Members did at the time—that it was a very unusual time in the market—

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I would be happy to give way, but I am coming to the thrust of my argument. As a result, the state pension did not increase by 8.3%, as it could have done that year. It instead rose by the absolute minimum of 2.5%, and that has had cumulative effects. In year one, pensioners were £470 worse off. In year two, they were £520 worse off. And in year three, they were £560 worse off. As I want to be reasonable in this debate, I make it clear that the Labour party did not support the 8.3% rise, because we believed, as a reasonable Opposition who went on to win the general election, that it was not within the bounds of what would normally be considered a rise in wages and was because of the impacts of covid. However, Members on the Labour Benches—I was sadly not one of them at the time—supported a Lords amendment that asked for the covid-specific elements to be stripped out to allow the Conservative party to maintain their manifesto commitment to a triple lock. That was voted down by the Conservative party. Labour Members have been attempting to be reasonable and considered in opposition and in government about the impacts of spending on pensioners. Conservative Members are arguing as if they have never had to take difficult decisions that would have impacts on pensioners. We have all had to take difficult decisions, and we will all continue to do so.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I am very, very close to making a point, but why not? There are more people wishing to speak on the Opposition Benches than on the Government Benches, so as someone who has many teachers in the family—we have mentioned teachers in this debate already —I will give way and say, “It’s not my time you’re wasting.”

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I am very respectful of the hon. Member, and I will bring him in in a moment.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I would, and here’s why: when there are difficult decisions to be taken, we cannot shirk from them. When the Government shirk from those decisions, they end up with the grotesque chaos of entering a general election having accrued £22 billion of expenditure that there has not been sufficient allocation for, which is why someone else has to pick up the pieces.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I salute the right hon. Gentleman’s quest for clarity. Will he provide others with that clarity? Would his party reverse this policy?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  As I mentioned, my hon. Friend commissioned research from the Library. The cumulative effect overall will be somewhere in the realm of £1,500 per pensioner. As I said, were I a Member in 2021, I believe that I would have agreed that 8.3% was an unlikely increase. However, the Conservative Government were happy to raise it by 10.1% and then 8.5% in subsequent years. There is clearly a bit of dissonance.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  On the contrary. Of course there are difficulties and complexities caused by a war on the continent of Europe and by a once-in-a-generation pandemic, but they did not cause the previous Government to spend £6 billion on asylum hotels that they have not accounted for. The point is often made about train drivers. As Labour Members have pointed out, it is not just train drivers who receive pay rises. I was not going to get into this, but while I am here I might as well declare that I am very proud to have been a serving trade union official for Unison, representing care workers, hospital cleaners and catering staff, who all received a reasonable pay rise under this Government. Incidentally, it was a pay rise recommended by an independent pay review body that was ignored and left on the shelf by the previous Government.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but those in receipt of pension credit are still receiving winter fuel allowance, and all will benefit from this party’s total commitment to the triple lock.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa), a Member for whom I have a lot of fondness, but with whom I am afraid I am going to part ways quite considerably this afternoon. The point has been made by Opposition Members about the difficulties of government, so I will repeat a point I have made in previous Opposition day debates. Members on the Opposition Benches, for the time being, have considerably more experience of government than Members on the Government Benches. I believe that regrettably, many of the actions my own party took during our time in opposition prolonged that, but as a result, I and many Members on these Benches gained a huge amount of experience of what real opposition looks like, as well as what flawed opposition looks like. I gently remind Opposition Members—not for the first time in this place—that if this is what they consider opposition to look like, they are going to spend a lot more time on those Benches than they might wish. It is often said that any day in government is better than any day in opposition. I am sure Members on the Opposition Benches are very much enjoying the opportunity to repeat arguments we have heard numerous times already. But every single day in government is also a time when we must make decisions, and we on this side of the House—in this Government—have been very clear about the decision we have taken. We have not shirked from it. We have not hidden it. Our decision on the winter fuel allowance was announced in this place. It was not an easy decision—far from it.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I will be reasonable and give way to Members, but first I want to point out that some of the money that has been saved will be spent on the national health service. There is £25.6 billion extra for the NHS this year. Unfortunately, I have had the bad luck of being in accident and emergency with a number of family members in recent months. In this place we often talk about the impact of the national health service struggling, and what I saw there shocked me. I have seen children sleeping on their coats on the waiting room floor for 12 hours. I have seen pensioners on trolleys in corridors for days, crying out for help. It is an appalling legacy—

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  As I have said, the Opposition’s time is being taken up, not mine, so I will draw this entertaining speech to a close. I am pleased that Opposition Members are proud of their position on the winter fuel payment. I am very happy for them. But under their Government, the winter fuel allowance was never increased. By my own assessment, it went down by around a third in real terms; the Minister said around 50%, and it is a matter of public record that he is far better at numbers than me, so I defer to him. If the Opposition care about the most vulnerable, they also have to care about our national health service and support the action being taken on the triple lock, and they must consider why in 14 years of government the winter fuel allowance was increased zero times.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your reminder. I have come to the end of my section on context, so let me bring my speech to a close. [ Interruption. ] My hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Brash) makes the good point that I should give way.

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his talking points from Conservative campaign headquarters —they have been very much received on this side of the House. I do not relish having to take money away from anyone. It is one of the most difficult decisions that any of us will take. I hope that all of us in all parts of the House—every single person here—believes they are doing what is best for their constituents. I believe that every single Member on the Opposition Benches believes that what they are doing is best for their constituents. I do not believe that what they are doing is best for my constituents, but those are arguments I dare say we will continue to have vigorously over the next four years in this place.

• 10 Mar 2025 · Breakfast Clubs Early Adopter Scheme · Hansard source

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  I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I welcome Opposition Members’ interest in breakfast clubs. Can the Secretary of State confirm that all primary schools and all primary school students will have breakfast clubs by the end of this Parliament?