Miatta Fahnbulleh MP: speeches

Speeches

• 23 Feb 2026 · High Streets · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue. I am committed to working across Departments, and I am happy to meet him to hear the specifics of the issues on his high street, and to work with colleagues across Government to see how we respond to them.

• 23 Feb 2026 · High Streets · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is right to talk about the importance of high streets. They are a barometer of how people feel that their communities and the nation is doing. We are committed to reviving high streets, and that means reimagining high streets, and working with communities through our high-street strategy to empower them to do that. We have the high-street rental auction, which is a way that we can get vacant premises up and running, alongside £150 million that we have announced with the strategy, so that places are able to reshape their high streets and ensure that they work for their communities.

• 23 Feb 2026 · High Streets · Hansard source

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  The Government are taking action to revive our high streets after a decade and a half of neglect under the last Government. We are tackling vacant premises through high street rental auctions, driving local regeneration through £5.8 billion of Pride in Place funding, and bringing forward a high street strategy backed by at least £150 million of support for the areas that need it the most.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Antisemitism · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is completely right, and he talks with great passion, commitment and knowledge about these issues. Interfaith work is key; we are seeing that within our communities. The Department is committed to supporting interfaith work and working with all our faith communities. We will continue to do that, because, ultimately, it is people of faith in our communities who will come together and do the hard work of bridging and bonding our communities at a time when there is huge pressure on all sides.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Antisemitism · Hansard source

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  We are seeing the rise of hate and division in our society. This is an absolutely shameful reality. Parts of our Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities are feeling scared and unsafe in their own country. All of us in politics and public life have a huge responsibility to play our part to stamp out this hate and division. That includes calling it out wherever we see it, holding our communities together and standing with the majority of people in this country, who are tolerant and accepting of their neighbours irrespective of their faith, colour or background.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Yes, I or one of my colleagues will happily visit that fantastic scheme.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Yes, I will meet my hon. Friend.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The plight of our high streets is something that this Government are very alive to, and we are trying to work with national and local governments to make sure we respond. Our job is to make sure we are providing the powers and the ability for places to shape their high streets so that they respond to what their communities want. We are open to ideas in that space, including ideas coming from local areas.

• 28 Jan 2026 · Draft Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Order 2026 Draft Cumbria Combined Authority Order 2026 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Order 2026.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Holocaust Memorial Bill · Hansard source

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  With the leave of the House, I rise to thank hon. Members of all parties for their contribution to this important debate. I appreciate that although the Government’s commitment to establish a new national Holocaust memorial and learning centre has cross-party support, there are strongly held views in many quarters about how that vision is made a reality, and we are committed to listening and to engaging as we move forward. I would like to start by thanking the right hon. Member for Braintree (Sir James Cleverly) for the work that his party did to initiate this important scheme and the Bill, and for maintaining cross-party consensus and working constructively with us to find solutions to move forward. He was right to focus our minds on the purpose of the Bill and the key mission of the learning centre. My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) was right to remind us of the need for pace and urgency. This process was initiated in 2015; it has taken far too long to get to this point. As he pointed out, as we delay and take time, the hope and ambition that the last survivors could see the construction of this memorial and learning centre moves further out of sight. We are determined to move at pace with construction, should we get the support of the House, to conclude it while the last remaining survivors are still here. The hon. Member for Chelmsford (Marie Goldman) gave a powerful contribution highlighting the reason for the Bill and the need constantly to remember, so that “never again” is not a hollow slogan or empty words. She was right that we are having this debate in the context of a rising tide of hate and division across our country. The collective task before us is to make sure that we move, deliver, remember and learn for this generation and future generations.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We are conscious of the pressure in parts of the country around cemeteries and burials, and we understand the urgency. I ask the hon. Member to write to me with the specifics of the issue in his patch, and we will respond in due course.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Local Elections · Hansard source

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  I do not believe that question warrants a response.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Local Elections · Hansard source

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  We want investment to be spent on local communities—on that there is agreement—but I come back to the point that I have made time and again: the status quo is neither sustainable nor desirable, so something has to give and something has to change. The way that we are approaching it is to say to local areas, “Come up with your plan, and here is the set of criteria against which those plans will be judged”, but we cannot stand still and do nothing; we have to do something, and we are trying to go through a process in partnership with places.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Local Elections · Hansard source

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  It is important that we keep coming back to the investment. During the transition period—over the next two years—we will be bringing forward that investment because we know that places in the priority programme, such as Greater Essex, have already started putting together their investment pipeline, and we want to allow them to crack on and start getting on with things now. We will be working with them to unlock investment next year and the year after so that they can deliver for their people.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Local Elections · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for making that powerful point. Yes, we absolutely will do so.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Local Elections · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. That is why we have announced £37.4 million per year, and it is why we have committed to providing some of that investment up front. Critically, though, we are absolutely committed to working with strategic authorities to unlock new powers for them, so that they can get on and deliver for their people.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Local Elections · Hansard source

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  We believe in unitaries; whether it is Cheshire or the other unitaries across the country, we can see that they deliver for people. I come back to the reason why we are doing this, and the fact that it takes some cheek for Conservative Members to say, “The status quo is fine.” The status quo is not fine—it is the Conservative party’s mess, created over 14 years, and Conservative Members should hang their heads in shame. We are acting and responding, because the status quo is neither sustainable nor desirable and will not deliver for the people we are all here to serve.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Local Elections · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising that absolutely fundamental point. We have now had coming on for one decade of mayors working alongside their places, and the lesson—whether in Greater Manchester, the north-east or the Liverpool city region—is that where there is a strong sense of identity, strong constituent authorities, effective partnership working and common ground in terms of what is being achieved for both the people and place, the model is powerful. The Government are absolutely committed and determined to build the foundations to get there, because we want every part of the country to be able to have a powerful executive, like Kim in the north-east, working alongside strong local authorities to invest and deliver for their people. That is our commitment; that is what we are going to work through. We will take sensible, pragmatic decisions to ensure that that is the outcome we achieve by 2030.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Member for raising the important work that has been done in his constituency. We will continue to work with that group, because we want to ensure that all communities have the ability to grip assets and drive the change that they want to see.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Pride in Place Funding: Slough · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is completely right to remind us about the neglect of our high streets under the last Government, and to reiterate that it is this Government who are putting power and investment into the hands of our communities to drive change. He is also completely right: local authorities must listen to their communities and ensure that investment is focused on their priorities.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Pride in Place Funding: Scotland · Hansard source

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  Areas across Scotland, including Elgin, will receive up to £20 million of Pride in Place programme funding to transform their areas. Phase 1 places have already been identified, and we are working with the Scotland Office and partners to confirm additional neighbourhoods, which will be announced shortly for phase 2.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Pride in Place Funding: Glasgow North East · Hansard source

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  I would be delighted to visit Glasgow North East and am pleased to hear of the local enthusiasm for our Pride in Place agenda and my hon. Friend’s work in supporting this locally and championing her constituency. We are working closely with the Scotland Office on phase 2 of the Pride in Place programme to confirm the specific neighbourhoods and will be announcing that shortly.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

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  What has damaged the high street is 14 years of neglect. The Conservatives pretend that it was thriving for 14 years and that we did not see shops closing down, boarded-up shops and the decimation of our public realm. We will take no advice from them, because they had 14 years to respond, but they categorically failed.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is completely right. We feel that we are giving places the tools and levers that they need to turn around the legacy of the last Government.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is completely right—7,000 pubs. Statistic after statistic speaks to the Conservatives’ failure, so rather than being smug and providing fake solutions, they should be far more humble about the state in which they have left our communities. It is now on this Labour Government to fix the mess they left behind.