Melanie Ward MP: speeches

Speeches

• 1 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  Throughout this process, I have focused primarily on the impact of these changes on people with severe disabilities who are unable to work. Originally, the Bill would have made those people worse off, which was unacceptable to me, but the Government’s changes ensure that their income will be genuinely protected in real terms. Does my hon. Friend agree that that change is vital?

• 27 Feb 2025 · Gaza: BBC Coverage · Hansard source

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  Hamas are a proscribed organisation and that is as it should be. The Israeli military has banned international journalists from Gaza and at least 162 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza in the last 500 days. Does the Secretary of State agree that BBC and all media coverage of Gaza can only benefit from journalists being allowed in to report on the ground, a point raised with me by some constituents in the past few weeks? Does she further agree that journalists must be protected from harm, in line with international law?

• 16 Jan 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Thirty years on from the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, there are still train stations in my constituency that are not fully accessible, including Burntisland and Cowdenbeath stations. This creates unacceptable daily barriers for disabled people, families with prams and buggies and those with heavy luggage. Does the Leader of the House agree that we need support from the Access for All fund and action from Network Rail, Transport Scotland and ScotRail so that stations are made accessible? Will she make time for a debate on railway accessibility?

• 17 Dec 2024 · Women’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO Report · Hansard source

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  The Government are right to have apologised to WASPI women today and my right hon. Friend is also right to have acknowledged the significant disappointment that will be felt. What is important is that this Labour Government are acting to boost pension pots across the country. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is important that, through the measures the Government are taking, we not only protect pension pots but actually enhance them, so that pensioners are better off?

• 12 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. Some 824 former miners in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy are rightly delighted that our Government have returned over £1 billion from the mineworkers’ pension scheme to those who powered our country for decades. Does the Minister have plans to deliver similar justice to the 290 members of the British coal staff superannuation scheme in my constituency and, indeed, all those affected across the UK?

• 6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Some have spoken today of the wait for this Budget. Depending on our perspective, we waited either 16 weeks or 14 years, and I was in the latter camp. I was proud to sit behind my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West and Pudsey (Rachel Reeves), the first woman Chancellor in the 800-year history of the office, as she delivered the Budget last week, and I was even more proud of the Budget that she introduced and what it means for working people of all ages in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy. One in four children in my constituency are growing up in poverty; they have been failed by two Opposition parties. Save the Children Scotland said this year that the Scottish Government’s policies would not “move the dial” on child poverty, and the SNP has consistently failed to meet the targets it has set. Once again, its Members are not here to listen to the debate. Because of this Budget, Labour’s fair repayment rate will mean that more than 1 million of the UK’s poorest households will be £420 a year better off from next April. That is expected to benefit 110,000 households in Scotland and to begin at last to drive down dependence on emergency food parcels. Many of those visiting food banks are in work, and the 6.7% increase to the national living wage and the even larger increase for 18 to 20-year-olds is an important recognition of the financial difficulty in which many of my constituents find themselves. In Fife alone, more than 8,000 low-paid workers stand to benefit from the increase to the national living wage. The mineworkers’ pension scheme will return more than £1 billion to 112,000 former coal workers, 824 of whom are in my constituency. That means that the people who powered our country, who were so badly mistreated for so many years by the Conservatives, will receive a 32% increase to their annual pensions. Finally, Labour’s Budget delivers the largest financial settlement to the Scottish Government in the history of devolution, with an extra £3.4 billion next year alone. It is over to the SNP now to use that competently to fix Scotland’s precious public services, which the SNP has run down over the past 17 years. In conclusion, this Budget delivers for all age groups and all parts of my constituency in enacting our manifesto commitments to make work pay, to revive our public services and to tackle poverty. I am proud to support this historic Budget.

• 21 Oct 2024 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and to my proud membership of Community and Unison. My hon. Friend and I are both proud to represent Fife, but in some areas of Fife as many as one child in four still lives in poverty. Does he agree that by giving over 8,000 more workers more money in their pocket, the Bill will mean that more families have more money to spend and will help to make an important contribution to tackling child poverty in Fife?

• 7 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T6. After 14 years of Tory economic chaos and 17 years of Scottish National party public service failure, as many as one in four children in my constituency now live in poverty. Last year the Scottish Children’s Commissioner said that the former First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, had “absolutely” failed young people in Scotland. Does the Secretary of State agree that tackling child poverty will be a crucial part of the work of this Labour Government? As part of the important work that she is doing with the taskforce to develop a new child poverty strategy, will she come to my constituency—

• 12 Sept 2024 · UK Shared Prosperity Fund · Hansard source

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  It also helps employability and, crucially, access to work. Does the Minister agree that such cross-UK funding is hugely important for areas like mine, where inequality is an issue?