Matt Rodda MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Jan 2026 · Erasmus+ Programme · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Minister for his answer and warmly welcome the Government’s new commitment to this scheme. It is hugely important to my residents in Reading, for families and young people, for employers and for science and technology. Could the Minister say a little more about how this wonderful scheme will help employers and growth in the Thames valley and help our local Reading University and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts?

• 21 Jan 2026 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

  More

  I wholeheartedly welcome this announcement from the Secretary of State, and his work over many years in this important policy area. This is an enormous issue in my constituency, where there are many older houses, and many people struggling to pay their bills, so I wholeheartedly welcome the plan. Might he say a little bit about the important work that many local authorities are doing? In my area, Labour-run Reading borough council has invested heavily in new council houses, and it will shortly open 300 new council houses, built to a very high standard. Those houses will ensure that people live in warm homes and have secure family finances and lower heating bills.

• 14 Jan 2026 · Ukraine · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Minister for his update, particularly the in-depth overview that he is giving us. Further to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (Tahir Ali), I would appreciate an update on the work that the Minister is doing to support families in this country. I commend to him the work of the Ukrainian community centre in Reading, where there is a Ukrainian language library. It is one of the very few in the south of England, and people visit from west London and Oxford to use it. It is important that families are able to maintain their native language and that children can retain their culture at this difficult time. Will he say a few words about the importance of that form of domestic support?

• 7 Jan 2026 · Rural Communities · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Will she comment on the importance of rural bus services for the mobility of local staff in rural areas? In particular, will she commend the work done by Labour mayors on bus franchising and the work of Nottingham and Reading buses in providing excellent rural routes?

• 7 Jan 2026 · UK Town of Culture · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) for securing today’s important debate. I wholeheartedly support this competition; it is vital to celebrate our towns. I want to talk about my own town, Reading, and the incredible potential of turning Reading Gaol into an arts and heritage hub. I will also mention a number of other aspects of culture and heritage from our town, including its Georgian and Victorian history, the legacy of Jane Austen and other aspects of town life. I am lucky to represent a wonderful, diverse and tolerant place, the second largest urban area in the south-east and one of England’s largest towns. It is also the site of the medieval Reading abbey, where King Henry I was buried—like Leicester, we potentially have a king in a car park, although he has not been excavated yet. Henry was buried in the abbey, when it existed—after the Reformation, it was closed, and its stone was taken and used for other things. We are not sure exactly where his remains lie; it is believed to be either under the wall of the jail or possibly in what is currently the prison car park. One day, I hope we will be able to celebrate his history and the link with him in a fuller and deeper way, rather like our colleagues in Leicester were when they discovered their own king. The jail was built on the site of the abbey in the 19th century. It is famous for being the place where Oscar Wilde was so sadly incarcerated at the end of that century. It was opened for art’s use a few years ago by a charity called Artangel, and going inside was absolutely incredible. Imagine walking into this incredible Victorian jail—like me, some people are old enough to have seen “Porridge”, while others may have seen it on UK Gold—which was designed by George Gilbert Scott, the same architect responsible for the Albert memorial and St Pancras station. Imagine looking along the metal walkways and into the individual cells, which are used for art installations, and going into Oscar Wilde’s cell. It is an incredibly powerful experience that brings art and history to life, and I hope that we can see this wonderful old building used in this way in the future. I should also pay tribute to Banksy for drawing a picture of an escaping prisoner on the outside of the jail, which people currently visit to take selfies with, and which caused a massive stir several years ago. There are many other aspects of art and culture in our town, and it is worth considering the other literary links between Reading and figures in English literature. This year is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen, who was educated at what became Abbey school in Reading, and I had the privilege of attending a ceremony at the school to mark that. At least one and possibly two of her books are inspired by her time at school in Reading, including one of the less well-known ones, “Northanger Abbey”, which I had to read as an A-level English literature student, along with “Persuasion”. Her time in Reading is an important part of our local culture and history. We also have links to Thomas Hardy. One of his novels partially features the town, and his novel “Jude the Obscure” is set in Oxford—a much lesser place. Reading has many other interesting historic links. It goes back to Saxon times and has a large number of Georgian and 19th-century conservation areas, which I would like to celebrate. I look forward to hearing the Minister talk more about towns and how the competition would work, and to working with colleagues across the country and hearing more about this wonderful competition.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The Minister is making an excellent series of points, and I commend him on behalf of 4,000 vulnerable children in Reading for the fantastic support he is offering them and their families. It is much deserved and appreciated by our community. I point out other significant benefits, such as the freezing of rail fares, continued bus fare subsidies, and economic measures that will drive growth across this country.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The Minister is making an excellent point. May I commend him on his work on the loan charge? Many IT consultants in my constituency and across the Thames valley are grateful to the Treasury for looking into this matter. Many of them felt they were sold schemes that they did not always fully understand, and they are also grateful for the action to tackle inappropriate schemes being marketed at professional people. I thank him for his work on this matter.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Creative Education · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does he agree that the role of community-based arts organisations is central to supporting our schools? I hope he will also support my campaign to turn Reading Gaol into an arts and heritage hub, which, one day, in showing the possibilities of an arts-based education, may be able to support local schools across the Reading area.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The Secretary of State is making an excellent speech on a very important matter of policy. May I thank her for the outstanding work to reduce the cost of rail travel for my residents in Reading, and residents in many other parts of the country? Will she say a little more about the benefits of contactless, and the significant benefits for residents of smoothing out the very complicated ticketing regime?

• 3 Dec 2025 · Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) for securing today’s important debate. I want to make three brief points in the time that is available to me. First, I will provide some support for the wider principle of investment in rail infrastructure, based on my experience of the benefits of the Elizabeth line in Berkshire. Secondly, I will talk about the potential enhanced benefits for a wider geographical area just beyond the current concept. Thirdly, I will make an appeal to the Minister on exactly that point. It is fair to say that the benefits we have noticed across Berkshire and the other 80-mile stretch covered by the Elizabeth line provide a compelling argument for investment in rail infrastructure. It had £18 billion of capital investment, and after three years, according to the best study on it, generated £42 billion of economic growth—that is in housing, business development and greater connectivity. That can clearly be seen in the Reading area. My constituency, which includes the town centre of Reading, has benefited enormously. We have had a number of business relocate to what were unutilised sites near our station. We have had over £1 billion of investment in the Station Hill redevelopment, which was opened this summer by the leader of our local council. Companies such as Ericsson have moved from out-of-town industrial estates where there are huge problems with traffic and transport into an area of better rail connectivity. A number of Members have mentioned the problem of congestion on country lanes and other related issues. It is worth remembering that one train on the Elizabeth line can transport 800 people. That is the scale of what we are talking about—and something similar is being envisaged for the growth corridor. It allows large numbers of workers to move between different employment centres—whether that is a university or an industrial complex—and from an employer’s point of view, it provides an appealing pool of skilled workers. Ericsson specifically told me they moved to Reading and away from a site in Surrey because of the greater connectivity and the greater pool of skilled workers to work in telecoms. That is a very important point. I strongly support this debate, and I think it is absolutely wonderful to have so many hon. Members here. The one thing I regret is that we are not sat in the order of stations that would benefit, which would have been quite nice—I obviously would have to be at one end, and my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge would be at the other. I will briefly talk about the area south of Oxford and towards Reading. The train from Reading to Oxford takes 25 minutes. A number of my constituents work at Oxford University, Harwell, Culham and various other centres of employment along that route, and equally vice-versa. As the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) described, there is a travel corridor south of Oxford. Opening up the wider line and promoting it would have huge benefits for the wider Thames valley region, and possibly for other routes heading north towards Warwickshire. There is a wider shoulder of the main central core of this project that could benefit significantly, including as far away as Reading. It would be wonderful for that to be emphasised. I appreciate that I am out of time, so my brief request to the Minister is that when officials consider this, they talk to some of the business groups within the Thames valley and think about the wider benefits. Obviously, the core of the line will benefit most, but there is clearly an argument for areas towards the edges to also benefit from the wider connectivity and the shift towards regenerating areas around stations, where there is often a lot of brownfield land and lots of scope for new industrial and business employment. I ask for that to be at the heart of the Government’s thinking.

• 26 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making an excellent point. Is she ready to move on to the importance of breakfast clubs? Last week, I had the pleasure of welcoming the Prime Minister and the Education Secretary to Reading, where they visited a breakfast club providing excellent support to many children. The programme to expand them is really valuable, as it will invest in our young people and make huge differences to families. It will also help employers by helping mums and dads to get to work earlier.

• 26 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, and I wholeheartedly agree about the appalling damage done by the Conservatives to our economy over 14 years. I wonder whether he would also mention the significant benefit to both employers and employees of the freezing of rail fares, which will make an enormous difference in my community. We have a net input of people commuting into Reading, but like Caerphilly we also have many people who commute to London and other destinations on the railway line. Many residents will benefit, and many employers will also benefit through the increased labour mobility.

• 17 Nov 2025 · Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The Minister is making an excellent speech, and I pay tribute to her work and that of the Government in showing UK leadership in this important environmental area. Could she also briefly touch on the importance of working in a multilateral way with partners from around the world, and—perhaps she will move on to this point later in her speech—could she outline how the UK will work with other countries to protect these areas and carry out other important work?

• 17 Nov 2025 · Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill · Hansard source

  More

  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 12 Nov 2025 · Energy · Hansard source

  More

  I commend the Minister for his speech; I hope my words will reflect the seriousness of the issue in front of us. Does the Minister agree that, sadly, the last Government fell woefully short on building new solar in particular? I think the statistics are very much along the lines of more solar being approved in the first few weeks of the new Labour Government than was approved in the whole term of the last Conservative Government. Will the Minister update me on those figures and provide a little more light and less heat in this debate?

• 11 Nov 2025 · BBC Leadership · Hansard source

  More

  Staff at the former BBC Monitoring station in Caversham in my constituency played a vital role over many years, monitoring broadcasts from around the world. Indeed, they broke a number of important news stories over the years, including that of the Iranian revolution, which was only possible because of the public service model and the dedication of the staff and their skills. I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement today, but can I ask her to say a few words of thanks to the staff of the BBC for their continued work and for the BBC’s vital role as a public institution?

• 5 Nov 2025 · Curriculum and Assessment Review · Hansard source

  More

  I warmly welcome the review and the Secretary of State’s statement. I am particularly pleased that the Sutton Trust is wholeheartedly behind the review. Will she say a little more about the importance of triple science, and how she hopes that will benefit social mobility across the country?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making an excellent point about the importance of arts and culture in town centres, and of restoring and reclaiming historic buildings to bring a sense of place, to help small traders to flourish, and to bring arts activities to the public and footfall into our town centres. I would commend the work done by Reading borough council to create a similar hub in Reading town centre. I really hope that my hon. Friend continues with his great work.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech and shows himself to be a true champion for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme. Does he agree that we all ought to talk up our high streets? There is a danger that some on the Conservative Benches are failing to see that, and they are doing real damage to small businesses.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Houses in Multiple Occupation: Planning Consent · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I commend and thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm) for securing this important debate. Reading constituents are concerned about this issue. We are lucky to live in a beautiful Victorian town, but sadly many historical streets and local communities are blighted by HMOs. I support more housing, but HMOs are not necessarily the most effective way to provide it. Issues include antisocial behaviour, bins overflowing and parking problems on very narrow Victorian streets. I have heard dreadful reports of noise from student parties linked to HMOs. The noise often carries, particularly in the summer when windows are open at night, and it can cause disruption to many residents over a wide area. I support and commend Reading borough council for introducing article 4 directions. I should declare an interest: I was a councillor in Reading, and I was consulted on implementing HMO article 4 directions. Might it be possible for the Minister to look again at the process for implementing the directives and the way that they work in practice? My experience is that they can be very helpful—councils are often brave to take on HMOs, and I thank Reading borough council for its work on them—but there is still the possibility of HMOs being created within an article 4 direction area. Is it possible to tighten up the article 4 regime to make it even harder for HMOs to operate in such areas? I appreciate that there is a need for them in certain parts of towns, but the clustering effect, particularly on certain streets where there are serious parking and bin issues, among other issues, can be overwhelming for residents. As my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield quite rightly said, HMOs can change the nature of a settled community. Residents often know all their neighbours by their first name and have wonderful relationships on a street, and to have transient residents can cause real challenges.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Independent Lifeboats: Government Support · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I thank the hon. Member for Hamble Valley (Paul Holmes) for securing today’s important debate. I also thank all those who work and volunteer in the independent lifeboat sector, as well as those who support the RNLI. I would like to raise the issue of safety in rivers, although I pay tribute to colleagues who have raised the serious issue of safety at sea. My constituency includes a number of rivers and is densely populated. We have the River Thames, as well as the Kennet, which is one of the major tributaries, and smaller tributaries such as Holy Brook and Foudry Brook. These are all right next to large numbers of people: we have Reading festival every year, with nearly 100,000 visitors; there are people who walk along the Thameside promenade; and we have lots of boaters, and people who enjoy wild swimming and other activities on the river. Sadly, as an inland area with a major river and some tributaries, we do not have the level of provision that we would wish. There are important services provided by the emergency services, such as Thames Valley police and Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue. However, I have been contacted by a resident asking what more could be done in our context, and whether it might be possible to empower local businesses and sports clubs to help rescue anybody who got into difficulty in the river.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Independent Lifeboats: Government Support · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. Education is a vital part of this. Where local businesses or sports clubs, such as those involved in rowing, canoeing or other activities on the river, have a supply of trained personnel available—not necessarily 24 hours a day, but certainly for large parts of the day—can the Minister look into what scope there is to support them? What more could be done to help those organisations provide a service in the first instance if they spot an emergency happening? I commend one of my constituents who did exactly that. His part-time role as a volunteer is to help ferry people to an island on the River Thames that is used by a local bowls club—it is the only bowls club in the world on an island, as far as we know. He saw somebody fall into the river and went to rescue them. I commend that type of behaviour and I believe that many more people would want to do exactly the same if they saw that happen. In our town centre and nearby areas there are three boatyards, a number of sports clubs and other businesses with access to boats, with trained people who are familiar with handling a small boat and who might be able to rescue somebody at very short notice, before other boats could be launched. I wanted to raise that important matter with the Minister and ask whether she might be able to look into it for me. I also want to mention the growing challenge of people living on boats that are not property registered, and where the Environment Agency and the police have concerns. I have had meetings and I commend our local councillors, the local police and the EA for their work on this matter. In and around our town centre, there are growing numbers of boats where people are living, and there is the danger of incidents related to them. In one of our meetings with these services, we heard about an incident where a boat that had a poorly maintained engine drifted towards a lock, which could have resulted in a tragedy. There have been other sad incidents where there have been problems relating to people living on a river or canal across the country, so I also wanted to raise that and ask whether the Minister has anything to add about trying to enhance safety for people who live on rivers and canals in boats and similar accommodation. Mrs Harris, I appreciate that time is at a premium and I am certainly grateful for the opportunity to speak today. I hope the Minister will be able to answer some of these queries and I look forward to hearing more when she speaks later.

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

  More

  It is very important to increase the number of skilled jobs in renewables and in hydrogen. I welcome the Minister’s mention of the Government’s clean jobs plan; can he say more about that plan, and in particular about training and development for younger staff, as well as retraining for existing staff?

• 22 Oct 2025 · Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making some interesting points about investment decisions. Has her Committee also investigated why some decisions have been made to bring investment into the UK, such as the recent decision about investment in Oxfordshire? As part of that, is there a parallel need to explore where more could be done to attract further investment through perhaps greater supply of trained workers, better transport, better access to land for development, and so on?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Social Housing: South Cotswolds · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech and highlights perfectly the pressure on the landscape in southern England. Does she agree that there is a great deal of scope in many towns and even some larger villages for building on brownfield land? In Reading there are a number of examples of this, and I am sure colleagues have examples from their own areas. Brownfield could provide a very valuable resource to help protect the countryside.