Natasha Irons MP: speeches

Speeches

• 6 May 2025 · Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source

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  The 80th anniversary of VE Day and VJ Day is a time for us to remember and honour those who fought to defend our freedoms, our values and our people. It is also a time to recognise the contribution that veterans from across our country continue to make to their communities. For many of our veterans, their service to this country and their commitment to fighting for our values do not end when they leave the military. I will take this opportunity to tell the House about one such veteran from my community, Mike Lyons. I did not know Mike for very long, but one of the privileges that we have in this place is that we get to meet people who we instinctively know are the best of us, which is what Mike was. He served in the military for seven years, and was a member of the Royal British Legion’s New Addington branch for more than 30 years. For many years, Mike ran the Final Roll Call campaign to ensure that world war one soldiers who returned from fighting, and who were institutionalised due to what we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder, were properly honoured and given their rightful place in history. His campaign led to 26 servicemen who were buried in unmarked graves, without a military burial, finally being given the dignified memorials they deserved. Mike wanted to ensure that their memories lived on and, just before Christmas, asked me to light a candle for them in Parliament. Our candle of remembrance in Parliament quickly turned into a full-on candle-lighting ceremony at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. At one point, someone questioned whether we needed insurance for the bugler. Sadly, Mike passed away before our ceremony could take place, but with the support of his family and friends, we held our ceremony as planned. In March, it was a privilege to welcome Mike’s family, his friends, his local councillors, community leaders from the family centre and New Addington Pathfinders, members of the Royal British Legion, Army cadets, members of Croydon’s veteran community, the Minister for Veterans and People, flagbearers and a bugler to Westminster Abbey for our candle ceremony. I hope that we did Mike proud. As we look ahead to the 80th anniversary of VE Day and VJ Day, we must commit ourselves to ensuring that our armed forces community is looked after now and in the future, so I welcome the Government’s announcement of a UK-wide support system for our veterans. In Croydon, we have launched the Croydon Cares for Veterans campaign to raise funds for SSAFA Croydon and the New Addington branch of the Royal British Legion. As it was for the second world war generation and for Mike, it is our actions that demonstrate our commitment to the people who serve this country. It is our actions that will protect our values, and it our actions that will honour what our armed forces community continue to fight for today.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Black History Month · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friends the Members for Erith and Thamesmead (Ms Oppong-Asare) and for Brent East (Dawn Butler) for making today happen, because it is an important debate. I congratulate all Members who have given their maiden speeches, especially my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham and Penge (Liam Conlon), who was formerly part of the south London massive—I enjoy being here with him. I say to my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West and Leigh (David Burton-Sampson) that I may give him a run for his money in terms of being the human form of the United Nations, as I think I am the first Jamaican-Jewish Member of this House. This year’s theme of reclaiming narratives is an important one, because the stories we tell about ourselves are what our reality becomes. If we do not tell those stories, others will tell them for us. For me, it is about recognising our contribution, our legacies, and our roles in the story of this great nation—stories like that of my grandparents, Ruby and Egbert Napolean Irons. Like many others, when this country called for help, they answered, swapping the sun-soaked parish of St Thomas in Jamaica for the Henry Prince estate in Earlsfield. Like many in their generation, theirs is a story of hard work, public service and sacrifice. My grandmother was a district nurse and my grandfather was a painter-decorator, so they literally came here to rebuild this country and play their part in its future. Sadly, they are no longer with us, but I hope that they are proud to know that their legacy has meant that Croydon now has its first black MP, and that they have an MP in the family. As has been said in the debate, black history is British history. My place in Parliament would not have been made possible without the Mother of the House, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott); my hon. Friend the Member for Brent East; and all the amazing black women in this House who have made it easy for me to be here. I have felt welcome in this place. I have not felt out of place, or as if I do not belong here. That is only because of the outstanding people who have come before me. I end my brief speech by saying that we must remember Black History Month every single year, because every year, there will be a different thing to talk about and a different theme to pull out. I would like us in this House to take time every single year to remember the contributions that black people have made to this country—people like my grandparents, and all the other grandparents whose grandchildren are now Members of Parliament sitting on these Benches.

• 10 Oct 2024 · Sport: Team GB and ParalympicsGB · Hansard source

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  I could not associate myself more closely with my hon. Friend’s comments. I declare an interest: I had the privilege of working at Channel 4 before joining Parliament. With 7.3 billion minutes viewed, Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympics was its biggest ever. The growth of para sport is not just an exciting opportunity for British sport, but a great opportunity to make sport more accessible to everyone. Does the Minister agree that this commitment to the Paralympics should leave a lasting legacy that ensures disabled people across the country have access to physical activity?

• 2 Sept 2024 · Technology in Public Services · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Dorking and Horley (Chris Coghlan) for his moving and powerful words. It is an extraordinary thing to become a Member of Parliament, and becoming a Labour Member of Parliament who gets to sit on the Government Benches is even more extraordinary. I share the sense of pride and urgency that we have heard from my hon. Friends the Members for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) and for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner) and from the hon. Member for North East Hampshire (Alex Brewer) in their maiden speeches, and I congratulate them on their contributions to this debate. It is the honour of my life to represent Croydon East in this place, so I thank the people of this new constituency for putting their faith in me. I will never forget what a privilege it is to be their voice in Parliament, and I will do all I can to fight for Croydon’s future. As south London’s most iconic borough, Croydon is a place so big that it needs four Members of Parliament to represent it. Like the reunion tour of a much-loved ’90s band, my constituency has been reformed under an old name with new boundaries, so I pay tribute to my predecessors, starting with the right hon. Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp) for his work for the people of Selsdon and his commitment to public service. While I cannot apologise for campaigning against him in the election, I can attest to the number of constituents who spoke highly of him and his contribution to their community when I met them on the doorstep. I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon West (Sarah Jones), who is not only Croydon’s first female MP, the founder and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on knife crime and violence reduction and now a Minister in this Government, but the kind of MP where everybody knows someone who has been helped by her. I thank her for her kindness, advice and encouragement over the past few months, and hope to build on her legacy and continue to stand up for Croydon in the way that she has always done. I am thrilled to join those Members and my right hon. Friend the Member for Streatham and Croydon North (Steve Reed), someone who continues to work tirelessly for his constituents and who, as Secretary of State, is now taking on the urgent fight to clean up our waters. I look forward to us working together in the best interests of Croydon. Croydon East represents so much of what is great about our city. Whether it is the bustling life of South Norwood, the close-knit communities of Addiscombe and New Addington, or the stunning views from Shirley Hills, Croydon East is a place filled with diversity, ambition and strong values. However, even in this vibrant corner of south London, the shadow of inequality persists. Whether it is the fact that a child in Croydon East is twice as likely to live in poverty as one just a few miles away in Croydon South, or that a man living in New Addington North has a life expectancy a decade shorter than a woman living in Shirley South, these stark disparities remind us that too many remain trapped in a cycle of inequality. When we talk about technology in public services, we must not get lost in grand plans and digital transformations: we must remember those who use these services, and how they will be put to use. What do they mean for the community leaders at the coalface of the cost of living crisis—those who run services such as the Food Stop, Pathfinders and the Community Family Project in New Addington that often step up when there is no one else to step in? What do they mean to groups such as the Friends of Shirley Library, which is fighting to keep the library open—a place that not just tackles loneliness and isolation, but plays a critical role in closing the digital divide? What do they mean to my constituent Michael Lyons, a veteran who has campaigned to ensure that the memory of servicepeople from the first world war lives on? How will we ensure that digital public services remain as accessible to him as they are to the rest of us? With a considered application of technology, we have an opportunity to break down barriers instead of creating new ones, to bring people closer to democracy instead of driving them further away, and to rebuild our public services so they work better for the people who need them most. As someone who grew up in south London in a family that was always political but did not think that politics was for people like us, I know that the decisions that we make in this place have the power to change lives for the better. Choices that have been made in this room took my family from sleeping on our living room floor to decent social housing. They enabled my mother to go back to university to retrain and to get a better job. And they gave me the opportunity to go to university, to get a career in public service broadcasting, to serve my community as a local councillor and to make my way to these Benches. As an MP in London’s youngest borough, I want to spend my time here putting the wellbeing of our young people back on the political agenda. There is no longer-term plan than ensuring that our young people have the opportunities they deserve, so that they can go on to live the successful lives that we want them to. We need a national plan for what it is to be a young person in this country, and I look forward to showing how Croydon stands ready to lead that vital work. Finally, every Member of the House will have those people in their lives who have supported them to get here, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank mine. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh), who allowed me to see that there was room for people like me in places like this. Without her encouragement and advice, I simply would not be here. I can only hope to be half the MP that she is. I thank my mum and dad for their support and unwavering belief in me. It is their hard work and determination that changed our lives, and I am so proud to continue our family’s track record of serving our country. To my spectacular husband, who encouraged me to get involved in politics because he was sick of me shouting at the TV: thank you for your patience and your endless support, and for being the greatest dad imaginable to our lads. It is really an extraordinary thing to be a Member of Parliament. I hope that in our time here, we make choices in this room that change the lives of the people outside of it for the better.

• 29 Jul 2024 · Public Spending: Inheritance · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chancellor for the urgent update. With living standards now worse than when the previous Government took office, people across the country continue to suffer the consequences of their broken promises and mismanagement, but this final fiscal mic drop is truly shocking. Does she agree that, in contrast to the unfunded fantasy promises put forward by the Conservative party, Labour’s manifesto showed cast-iron discipline in being fully costed?