Matt Turmaine MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Jun 2026 · Armed Forces Bill · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that the compassion and dedication of community volunteers in supporting our veterans is second to none? I certainly extend my gratitude to Lauren Fox and Luther Blissett, who support people in my constituency of Watford with an invaluable level of help.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q14. Last week, in my constituency of Watford, several amazing charities held their annual sleep-out to raise awareness of homelessness. People sign up to sleep outside at Watford football ground. More than 120 people raised over £15,000 of vital funding and more than 200 attended including the volunteers. Watford FC Community Sports & Education Trust, New Hope, Herts Young Homeless Group, One YMCA, DENS and Hand on Heart did a fantastic job. Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist Electric Umbrella was on hand to give a performance to participants. Will my right hon. Friend congratulate them on their efforts and outline what the Government are doing to end the scourge of homelessness?

• 25 Feb 2026 · UK-German Relations · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Preston (Sir Mark Hendrick) for securing this important debate. I want to make a few comments about the relationship between Watford and Mainz, Germany. There was a twinning relationship between our town and Mainz for many years, which had a successful history, with parties going to visit Germany from the UK and vice versa and all the benefits of that cultural and political exchange. Sadly, that relationship died when the local authority abandoned the twinning relationship some years ago, which was a great tragedy. Not content with that situation, however, dedicated people within my local Labour party and our sister party in Mainz, the SPD, fostered relations and restarted the exchange, with visits taking place between our two towns again. That has had great effect: we have received delegations from the SPD in Mainz many times now, and we have exchanged culture and experience. We have taken them to the football and the capital, and we have explained to them in great detail the history of the brewing industry in Watford, which has been convivially enjoyed. There have been reciprocal visits to Mainz, which were incredible. It was great to learn about the history of that city and what happened, for example, during its experience of bombing in the second world war and the incredible job that was done to rebuild it as it looked before. We are lucky enough to have a representative from there in the Public Gallery today—welcome; it is great to see you. I have personal experience of the exchange. I particularly enjoyed a trip through a vineyard on a tractor-drawn cart, where I had a bit of the wares created on that particular farm—that is, if my memory serves me correctly, which it probably does not. At Christmas we had the pleasure of hosting the MP for Mainz from the Bundestag, Daniel Baldy. We were able to show him how Parliament works and give him a tour, which was extremely beneficial. Why do we do all that? The benefits are clear. Lots of Members have mentioned the trade, industry and scientific benefits that have been derived from the relationship, but there are human benefits as well. They include empathy, understanding, friendship and lessons learned—not just in industry and the economy, but in education around how we can improve our education system, and in politics around how we campaign politically and govern differently; hopefully they can bring benefits to all of us. I hope to make a return visit to Mainz in the near future.

• 3 Nov 2025 · Care Leavers · Hansard source

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  Leaving care can be extremely challenging. In Watford, Hertfordshire’s local authority provides support with housing, finance, education and training, health and relationships, and wellbeing, but does my hon. Friend agree that all these services have to work really well not just independently but harmoniously together to ensure that care leavers can take steps into adulthood in a properly supported way?

• 23 Oct 2025 · Black History Month · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend the Minister for Equalities, and the Mother of the House, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), on their excellent speeches, as well as my hon. Friends the Members for Brent East (Dawn Butler), for Clapham and Brixton Hill (Bell Ribeiro-Addy), for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr Bailey) and many others. Rather like my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes), I sometimes wonder about the appropriateness of speaking in a debate like this, but I am delighted that our comments are being accepted in the spirit of allyship, which is absolutely how they are intended. I want to celebrate this year’s Black History Month. It is very relevant in my constituency of Watford, where there is an active and engaged black community. I particularly pay tribute to the Watford African Caribbean Association, which was founded by Sam Lusack, Randolph Henry and Althea McLean in 1976, making it one of the oldest such associations in the country. In fact, there is a lovely quote from Althea on the WACA website, which I will read, because it is quite inspirational: “Let us resolve to keep going regardless of the many challenges, each one of us can do something and together we can achieve.” The association is now led by Clive Saunders and it does amazing work for the community in the constituency, including providing activities for the over-50s, a lot of support around sickle cell, which my hon. Friend the Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Ben Coleman) spoke about, and community help, advice and engagement. During covid, it did great work as well. We know that black and minority ethnic people were disproportionately impacted by covid. Clive is a typical representative of an excellent community organisation in that he is always delighted to see me, but he is jolly well going to hold me to account when he does, and we love him dearly for that. I should also like to pay tribute to the chair of Watford borough council, Favour Ezeifedi, who was a fellow councillor of mine for many years. She has overcome adversity and persevered to achieve many great things locally, and does tremendous work to support young people especially through her church. This year is the 65th anniversary of Nigerian independence, and I recently had the pleasure of attending one of several celebrations held in my constituency. The generosity of the event organisers was remarkable, and I was really surprised to find one of my caseworkers there with her father. I had not expected her to be present, but she and her father had taken their car to the garage opposite the venue for repairs, and while they were hanging around, the organisers asked whether they would like to join them in their celebration. That was tremendous—an A+ for diary management for my caseworker. I would also like to put on the record my support for One Vision in my constituency, which is led by Enoch Kanagaraj. It has just won a national award for its incredible health work with faith communities. It has deep links in the community. As was touched on by my hon. Friend the Member for Chelsea and Fulham, many people are intimidated by going to an NHS setting to receive testing and treatment and so on, but often they will go to their church. One Vision has done tremendous work in bringing health and faith together to enable people to be tested for diabetes, for example. I also thank Eva Mbiru, a community activist who hosts Spiced in Watford, which supports women in the constituency. We must also celebrate the legend that is Luther Blissett from Watford football club. Having already given so much to Watford over the years, he and his partner Lauren do incredible work to support the veteran community in my constituency.

• 2 Sept 2025 · Gaza: Ceasefire · Hansard source

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  My constituency of Watford is a richly ethnically diverse community. When I speak to residents there about the conflict in Gaza, the overwhelming desire is for the killing to stop, for the hostages to be released and for the people of Gaza to be able to live in peace. Will the Secretary of State further outline what steps the Government are taking to aid international efforts to broker the ceasefire and what is frustrating it?