Matt Western MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 18 Dec 2024 · Post Office Redress and Funding · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend rightly said that there is an urgent need to speed up the redress process. What we know is that while £500 million has been paid out in claims, £267 million has been spent on lawyers. Nigel Railton told us that between 80% and 85% of all claims are simple cases, so does my hon. Friend agree that there is a real opportunity to automate the process so that we handle claims far more quickly?

• 28 Nov 2024 · UK Leadership on Sudan · Hansard source

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  I commend my right hon. Friend’s statement, as well as the work done by the Foreign Secretary at the United Nations, despite the failure of the resolution. Eleven million displaced people is a staggering number; some 2 million have gone to neighbouring countries and, specifically, 1 million have been displaced to Egypt. The regional and global consequences of that displacement are huge, so how can the UK assist those countries, particularly Egypt, which may also face the prospect of refugees from Gaza?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Stellantis Luton · Hansard source

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  I withdraw it, Mr Speaker. Thank you. I urge the Government to introduce more flexibility in the annual targets from 2024 to 2029, introduce consumer incentives, and consider redirecting any penalties towards EV charging infrastructure, not to Chinese Government car companies.

• 27 Nov 2024 · Stellantis Luton · Hansard source

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  I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement and am greatly saddened by Stellantis’s decision. May I suggest that plant and platform rationalisation would have been a major factor? Let us be honest: the industry wanted certainty, but automotive manufacturers faced the challenge of meeting the ZEV mandate introduced by the last Government, which was more stringent than that in Europe and most other markets. Put simply, consumer uncertainty was introduced by the last Government, so I find the remarks of the shadow Secretary of State disingenuous.

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Ukraine faces a hell of a battle on its eastern front with Russia, but on the home front the challenge is just as great. As it faces a harsh winter, it was reported just last week that 80% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is either damaged or destroyed. They desperately need power generators and associated equipment. Will the Prime Minister agree to meet me to discuss the provision of energy aid to this important ally, Ukraine?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Supporting Innovation · Hansard source

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  14. What steps he is taking to help support innovation in Northern Ireland.

• 27 Nov 2024 · Supporting Innovation · Hansard source

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  Beyond its excellent universities, Northern Ireland is home to major innovative businesses such as Wrightbus, Spirit AeroSystems and Harland & Wolff, which specialise respectively in hydrogen vehicles, composite wing and aerostructure manufacture, and modular construction and shipping. Given the economic importance of those businesses, can I ask the UK Government to look again at the future of the whole-site operation at Spirit, as well as at Harland & Wolff, to ensure that those investments and jobs stay in Northern Ireland?

• 25 Nov 2024 · Israel-Gaza Conflict: Arrest Warrants · Hansard source

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  I am no friend of Hamas, but we must remember that Prime Minister Netanyahu promised us intelligence-led precision attacks in Gaza. We have seen daily violation of international law, 43,000 people killed, restrictions on food and aid, and 136 journalists killed. I welcome the Government’s announcement about respecting the ICC’s decision, but may I urge them to consider using all levers, including sanctions against two Israeli Government Ministers, the settlers in the west bank and other organisations operating therein?

• 21 Nov 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend has illustrated a great many aspects of the mess that this Government have inherited from the last, including longer waiting lists, our crumbling schools and our failing economy, and nowhere is that mess more visible than on the A46 in Warwickshire, between Coventry and Stratford, which adjoins my constituency. Last month, 12 tonnes of rubbish were collected from the roadside because no clearing up had been done for many years—yet another example of the mess that was left behind. May we have a debate in Government time not just on potholes, but on the state of our roads and the mess that the last Government left them in?

• 21 Nov 2024 · G20 and COP29 Summits · Hansard source

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  I associate myself with the remarks from Mr Speaker and the Prime Minister about John Prescott. Although I did not know him personally, it is fair to say that he was clearly a phenomenon. The Prime Minister will be fully aware of the importance of the investments of Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Group here in the United Kingdom and to my constituency of Warwick and Leamington. Will he give his assessment of UK-India relations following his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi?

• 18 Nov 2024 · Children’s Social Care · Hansard source

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  I welcome my right hon. Friend’s comments. The more I hear about this area, the more I think that this Government have inherited a wild west from the previous Government, so shocking is the situation in children’s social care. Will she agree to meet me to talk about a particular issue with a foster carer in my constituency that exemplifies the scale of the problem we face?

• 4 Nov 2024 · Higher Education Reform · Hansard source

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  I commend my right hon. Friend for making such a bold and difficult decision here when so many of her predecessors shied away from it. Putting the sector on a sound financial footing is crucial, but I also welcome the move on maintenance support. Can she assure me that, when she talks about increasing efficiency in the sector, she is talking not about vice-chancellors balancing staff and workload, but about addressing the overspend in some capital projects that might be viewed as particularly wasteful, so that good money does not follow bad?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  It is relevant, Madam Deputy Speaker. The hon. Gentleman mentioned my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), but had he warned her that he would be mentioning her in the Chamber?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  rose —

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson). I hope that in a few years’ time I will be joining him in celebrating growth rates that exceed the target objective. What a tour de force by the new Chancellor! If only we had had a general election back in the summer and autumn of 2022. There has never been a more important Budget in recent years. After more than a decade of decay, this Budget must herald a decade of renewal. As the previous Labour Government did from 1997 to 2010, this Government must rebuild our country by founding a stronger, more diverse and more balanced economy. As the Chancellor has spelled out, we will do so by investing in our country, growing the economy and attracting private investment. Only then will we be able to restore the public services that the public need and expect. This Budget sits in stark contrast to the 14 years of failure we have just suffered. It takes us beyond the absolute poverty, the waiting lists in our hospitals for surgery and cancer treatment, the decay in our crumbling schools, the teacher retention crisis, and an economy that has been virtually stagnant, boasting terrible productivity and income inequality. Those are the dreadful metrics of the last Government. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says that UK economic activity is 36% lower than it would have been if it had continued to grow in line with the 1997 to 2008 trend. That is a lower level than the eurozone or the United States, and when measured in terms of productivity, the latest 10-year average of growth in potential GDP per worker is zero, the second lowest level in the past 150 years. It is an economy still reeling from the events of Truss’s kamikaze Budget that sent mortgages soaring and prices skyrocketing. Turning to inequality, the UK now has the ninth most unequal incomes in the OECD. Wealth inequality is even more glaring, with the top fifth of the country owning 63% of its wealth, while the bottom fifth hold only 0.5%. That does not just impact the amount of money in people’s pockets: it impacts the economy, too. That is why I believe we must address the imbalance of regressive flat taxes. Council tax must be addressed in the future, and I am glad that the Chancellor has closed tax loopholes and rebalanced the burden of payments, placing it on those who can afford it. At the same time, this Budget will ensure that hard work pays off by raising the minimum wage. I welcome this—it is striking that many states in the US already pay a higher relative minimum wage than we in the UK do. Hard-pressed households facing the cost of living crisis will also welcome today’s Budget. The fact that we have frozen fuel duty is important, as is not having any increase in income tax, personal national insurance or VAT, as well as the penny off the pint. Those measures will all be welcomed by constituents of mine in Warwick and Leamington. However, it is through investment that we can grow and rebalance our economy. Strikingly, 14 years of the Conservatives’ economic policies have led to our having the lowest level of public and private investment in any G7 economy. That is why I am proud to be standing on the Government side of the House discussing this Labour Budget, because we understand the synergy between investing in people and investing in the economy. We have already put £7 billion into a sovereign wealth fund, we have set up GB Energy, and we will be establishing Skills England to ensure we have the skills for the next decade. The investment summit a few weeks ago announced £63 billion—an extraordinary achievement. That investment is desperately needed, as was pointed out by Gus O’Donnell, Jim O’Neill, Mariana Mazzucato and Mark Carney. They argue the case for loosening the fiscal rules, stating that “The current fiscal framework has helped to drive this short term thinking and created an inbuilt bias against investment”. That point is also supported by the International Monetary Fund. For years, economists have been calling for a radical shake-up of our economy: we need to shift from a consumption-driven economy to an investment-led one. As such, I welcome the Chancellor’s announcement of support for vital sectors, such as the energy transition and the automotive industry, through the advanced manufacturing plan. The opportunities are huge—that is why the Industrial Strategy Council is so important—so the support announced for green hydrogen, gigafactories, the life sciences and the aerospace sector, as well as the £2 billion promised for electric vehicles in the UK, are so important. We need investment in our schools, our infrastructure and our NHS. I am particularly pleased to see the additional investment going into our NHS, because we can only become wealthy as a nation if we are healthy as a nation. If we do not address our NHS, we will worsen people’s lives, but this will also have a significant impact on our economy. In 2023, the number of people economically inactive because of long-term sickness rose to over 2.5 million. I would love to talk about productivity, Madam Deputy Speaker, but perhaps I will do it another time. However, a London School of Economics report last year found that UK productivity is lower than that of France, Germany and the United States. That is why we need investment, and why we need to address the flexible labour laws in this country that have led or contributed to lower than average investment. I am conscious of time, but I welcome all the measures that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has announced, particularly on addressing the issue of business rates, which is so important for our town centres up and down the country. I welcome the investment in local government —the additional moneys for potholes, for example—but also the support for families, carers and children with SEND. This Budget is about stability, certainty and credibility, and about investing in our economy, which is so important because, above all, we need to fix the foundations of our economy. The Chancellor has set out the plan to deliver that change, as was promised to the British people, and I commend the choices she has made.

• 21 Oct 2024 · Policing · Hansard source

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  6. What steps her Department is taking to increase public trust and confidence in policing.

• 21 Oct 2024 · Policing · Hansard source

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  It is almost two years since Warwickshire police issued a community protection notice against Warwickshire hunt. Eight months later, it was mysteriously replaced by a secret protocol. The police and crime commissioner, who receives financial support from the Countryside Alliance, claims that he knew nothing of the protocol. The chief constable refused to give me a copy and now she has resigned, claiming retirement. Trust in the PCC and the leadership of Warwickshire police has been seriously damaged. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the need for a truly independent inquiry, as opposed to the sham one being undertaken by the PCC?

• 15 Oct 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  In recent decades, major corporations that were family businesses, such as Ford in the United States or Peugeot in France, realised that recruiting from within the family and making a family member the chief executive was not necessarily a good idea. Is this not just the same thing?

• 15 Oct 2024 · Health Outcomes: East Midlands · Hansard source

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  A really important part of improving health outcomes in the east midlands, and across the country, is the use of diagnostics. The Rosalind Franklin laboratory, which was set up in my constituency, was closed down just a few months ago at a cost of £0.6 billion. Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the most important things we could do is to restore good quality diagnostics to our NHS?

• 14 Oct 2024 · Ukraine: Military Support · Hansard source

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  15. What recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on support for Ukraine.

• 14 Oct 2024 · Ukraine: Military Support · Hansard source

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  With winter looming, defending the home front in Ukraine is paramount. However, Russia has intensified its attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine, including substations, where it has deployed cluster munitions. That is particularly alarming. Given those developments, what additional support can the UK give through de-mining equipment to get rid of those munitions from the ground?

• 14 Oct 2024 · Reporting Ministerial Gifts and Hospitality · Hansard source

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  I must have missed a trick, because it seems like just a couple of years ago, there was this sort of behaviour from Conservative Members on an industrial scale. Prime Minister Johnson received a £58,000 donation to turn his flat into some sort of crack den or party central, and then he was offered £150,000 by the same person to build a treehouse for his son. I welcome what the Minister says. Does she agree that the approach and the principles that she is setting out are totally different from what went before?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Warwick and Leamington must be one of the sunniest places in the United Kingdom given the flurry of applications we have had for solar farms. There is a “loss of amenity” caused by one application, but if that community were prepared to welcome onshore wind turbines, of which we have none in Warwickshire, rather than a solar farm, would the Secretary of State or the Minister agree to support that? Will they meet me to discuss the issue?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Port Talbot Transition Project · Hansard source

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  That is incredibly gracious of you, Mr Speaker. [Laughter.] I think your words were heard across the Chamber. May I welcome the Secretary of State to his place, and underline the importance of his commitment and the strength of his negotiation? I add my voice to those who talk about the importance of public procurement, but may I draw his attention to the carbon border adjustment mechanism? As I understand it, we have a disadvantage in this area because of how the mechanism was established in the UK. It is due to be introduced on 1 January 2027, which is later than in the EU, clearly disadvantaging our UK producers. Will he update the House on what he plans to do in that area?