Naushabah Khan MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 17 Dec 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  After 14 years, the Tories should be ashamed of their legacy in local government. I know that my council, Medway, will welcome the Minister’s announcement about linking deprivation to funding, but we still face other challenges. Will she set out what the changes mean for my local area, and will she agree to come to Medway to meet us and discuss how we can take on some of those other issues?

• 2 Dec 2025 · Homelessness: Funding · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. Before coming to this place, I worked on the frontline of homelessness policy at the charity St Mungo’s and also in the housing industry for over 15 years, as well as being cabinet member for housing at Medway council. Those experiences taught me how quickly people can fall into crisis when systems fail, and how powerful the right interventions can be when they are properly funded and sustained. It also highlighted how complex the homelessness landscape is, and how important it is that we have an integrated Housing First approach, driven by evidence. Under the Tories, we saw rough sleeping more than double between 2010 and its peak, while local authorities faced a significant real terms reduction in core spending power—the very budgets that funded homelessness prevention. As a result, the system has become crisis-led, reactive and structurally incapable of meeting demand. Most strikingly, the Everyone In scheme demonstrated what is possible when homelessness is treated with the urgency it deserves, with over 37,000 people brought in off the streets overnight. It also highlighted the clear truth that rough sleeping is not an unsolvable issue, but a resource one. When we talk about homelessness, we are not only talking about those who are rough sleeping. We are also talking about those who are sofa surfing, hidden homelessness, and thousands of families who are placed in temporary accommodation, often miles from their schools, support networks and places of work. For example, many London councils are placing people in my constituency, driving up prices locally but also putting a real pressure on an already overstretched local authority. The scale of this crisis has got to the point where temporary accommodation has become a parallel housing system in its own right. Unfortunately it is no longer a safety net. Instead it is a symptom of a system under acute strain, and represents one of the clearest arguments for long-term, sustainable funding for homelessness prevention. The Government’s commitment to significantly expand the supply of genuinely affordable and social homes will help to ease the relentless pressure on temporary accommodation, as more families can access stable, long-term housing, rather than being trapped in the cycle of emergency placements. However, we must be honest about these structural issues and we cannot shy away from addressing them at their root. I therefore urge the Minister, whose work I really respect in this area, to look closely at the local housing allowance and ensure it is set at a level that reflects real rental markets. It will be one of the most effective levers we have to preventing homelessness at scale, and it must be a part of any credible long-term strategy. Finally, our approach to ending homelessness has been discussed for many years. The solutions that can work are ready and available. Now is the time for action.

• 1 Dec 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  I begin by expressing my gratitude to the Chancellor for her clear commitment to transforming the lives of my constituents. Over the past few days, she has set out a plan for investment in major infrastructure and to rebuild our public services. For the people outside the Chamber, the real significance of this Budget is far more personal; it represents a long-awaited acknowledgment of their struggles with the relentless cost of living. After 14 years of austerity and Tory-manufactured poverty, they finally see a Government who are willing to repair the damage that has been done. The people I meet every day do not live in £5 million homes. Particularly in the Gillingham part of my constituency, their reality is starkly different: they have energy bills they cannot hope to meet, school uniforms they struggle to afford and the constant challenge of trying to provide a decent life for their families on a shoestring budget. One in three children in Gillingham lives in poverty and one in 10 households struggles with fuel poverty. According to the most recent indices of multiple deprivation, my constituents live in neighbourhoods ranked in the bottom 10% most deprived nationally. When the Leader of the Opposition stands in the Chamber and dismisses vital cost of living support for hard-working families as a Budget for “Benefits Street”, the families I represent are not surprised. It is exactly that kind of disdain for the most vulnerable that shaped our fiscal landscape for 14 years, leaving ordinary people in desperate circumstances. It is this Labour Government who are finally taking them out of that cycle and restoring fairness and dignity. I welcome that the Government are making essential transport more affordable and more reliable. The freeze on regulated rail fares is not simply a headline. For middle-income commuters travelling from Gillingham or Rainham, it means keeping hundreds of pounds a year in their pockets. Combined with targeted infrastructure upgrades, this Budget begins to reverse the chronic under-investment that left many towns disconnected and disadvantaged. When I go knocking on doors over the coming weeks, I can tell my constituents that we are cutting their energy bills by hundreds of pounds, freezing rail fares and prescription charges, and keeping fuel duty low. I can tell them that we are raising the national living wage, increasing pensions and taking their children out of poverty. The Conservatives may think that this is a Budget for “Benefits Street”, but I say that it is a Budget for many working families who have carried the burden of austerity for over a decade. It is a Budget for the 2,860 children in my constituency whose quality of life is about to drastically improve. It is clear to me that this Budget is about more than short-term relief; it is about laying the foundations for long-term stability and fairness. That that is why I will be backing it.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making a powerful point. Does she agree that exploitative zero-hours contracts are a huge problem for workers and that banning them is a big step, so we should oppose any steps to try to water down the legislation?

• 5 Nov 2025 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill not only provides vital protections to the workforce, but gives businesses the certainty they need to grow our economy?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Houses in Multiple Occupation: Planning Consent · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm) for securing this debate. In my constituency, the rise of HMOs has been nothing short of dramatic. In particular, streets in Gillingham that were once lined with family homes are now dominated by houses in multiple occupancy, which have often been converted at speed and without proper oversight. Permitted development rights have enabled this trend, coupled with relatively low-cost housing and a limited licensing regime. In fact, my town was rather scrupulously promoted by one website as being among “the four hottest HMO investment areas.” I understand that behind each of those conversions lies a simple market logic. However, I also fear a quiet erosion of the social balance, which will change the shape of our communities. Like other Members, I do not oppose in principle the existence of shared housing, or HMOs—we need them. The demand for HMOs exists among students, key workers and professionals, who are often priced out of traditional tenures. However, the problem is that when such conversions happen en masse in one area, and when the planning system is unable to manage that pace or even to track the number of HMOs, the cumulative impact is the fury that we all see at our surgeries and in our inboxes. Members will be aware that the root of this issue is structural. Conversions can take place under permitted development rights and therefore they can bypass planning consent altogether. Once councils such as mine, Medway council, have a mountain of evidence to support them, they can issue an article 4 direction, a licensing scheme and supplementary planning documents. However, by that time half the street has already been converted. We all know that saturating an area with one housing tenure type is never a good idea; it can create not only social challenges, but problems in the local housing market. That is why now is the time for a strategic approach. We must empower our councils to act.

• 23 Oct 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  This week, Reform-led Kent county council reneged on the £500,000 agreement it made with my local authority, Medway council, to maintain operations at key tourism and investment organisations, demanding a 100% increase in the contribution from Medway. Does the Leader of the House agree that competent leadership in local government is vital and that Reform is clearly not able to govern or deliver for residents?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. A Channel 4 “Dispatches” documentary recently went undercover at an ambulance centre in my constituency of Gillingham and Rainham. It showed exhausted staff working under difficult circumstances—the result of years of Tory neglect and mismanagement of our NHS. Does my right hon. Friend agree that after the chaos under the last Government, this Administration will put staff and patients first? Will the relevant Minister come to my constituency to meet healthcare providers and discuss our local challenges?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Jhoots Pharmacy · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for the context and the responses he has provided so far. Jhoots in my constituency of Gillingham and Rainham has provided an incredibly poor service, not paying staff, not dispensing vital medicine and often not opening on time. However, any replacement pharmacy or provider cannot come in, because the local pharmaceutical needs assessment suggests that there is functioning provision. Will the Minister consider a review of the criteria surrounding PNAs so that they not only list those pharmacies that are available, but also look at failures, such as the ones we are seeing with Jhoots? By recognising that, other providers can take their place, if needs be.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for everything he is doing to transform water companies across our country. My residents in Gillingham and Rainham have suffered astronomical hikes in their bills and have been exposed to pollution and sewage dumps in our water, yet the chief executive of Southern Water thinks that he deserves a bonus of approximately £700,000 on top of his salary. Does the Secretary of State agree that that is an absolute disgrace? Will he ensure that any loophole used to bring forward those bonuses is shut down under his reforms?

• 17 Jun 2025 · Access to GPs · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Government’s commitment to restoring the family doctor, and the recruitment of 1,700 additional GPs nationwide, but my constituency has yet to benefit from that. Concern has been expressed to me about the expansion of the additional roles reimbursement scheme to include only newly qualified GPs, which it is feared may be too restrictive. I have met local GP partners who share that concern, so will the Secretary of State meet us to discuss how the scheme can better support areas such as mine?

• 17 Jun 2025 · Access to GPs · Hansard source

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  4. Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the additional roles reimbursement scheme to include GPs.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Defence Spending: Wales · Hansard source

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  The strategic defence review will make Wales and the rest of the UK safer at home and stronger abroad, just as it will my constituency of Gillingham and Rainham. Does the Minister agree that the SDR is further proof that only Labour can be trusted to protect our Union, while Opposition Members wring their hands, wish they did more when they were in power, or look for ways to make apologies for foreign aggression?

• 11 Jun 2025 · Defence Spending: Wales · Hansard source

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  3. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Government’s increased defence spending on Wales.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  I rise to speak as a member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, and in support of new clause 50. For too long, affordable housing has become a catch-all term that means anything but. Shared ownership and discounted market schemes are products that may work for some, but for many, they offer no real housing security. What those people need is not the option of getting a foot on the property ladder in the distant future, but a roof over their heads now. They need security, stability and homes that are truly affordable, and that means social rent. If we are serious about tackling the housing emergency, then clear, national targets for delivery of social rent homes are essential. That is why I support new clause 50, which would bring forward the accountability and direction that we need to get building and start delivering for those who have been let down for too long. As housing charity Shelter identifies, building more social rent homes is the only lasting solution to the housing emergency. Those homes are genuinely affordable because their rent is linked to local income; there are secure tenancies; and any rent increases are more predictable. In my constituency—I know colleagues from across the House will recognise this from their inboxes—families are trapped in substandard housing or temporary accommodation for years on end. Many of us have, I fear, become desensitised to the stories of families with no kitchen to cook in, no quiet space for children to learn, and no peace in which to rest. That is the daily reality for far too many families in the UK. This is a national scandal. Let us be honest: it did not appear overnight. For over a decade, the previous Government failed to build the homes that this country desperately needs. They dismantled council house building, slashed local authority budgets, and left the private rented sector unchecked. Those failures have left this Government with an inheritance of a hollowed-out system that responds to homelessness after the fact, instead of preventing it at root. I welcome the fact that this Labour Government are changing this reality for families in my constituency through significant policy changes, and by allocating £800 million to the affordable homes programme, and I am proud that a significant proportion of those homes will be for social rent, but we need to go further. Publishing or updating planning guidance on how local and national decision makers can contribute to the delivery of social rented homes can make a significant difference. That would align planning, investment and delivery with a shared goal. We know the scale of the challenge. As many have noted, we need to build 90,000 social rented homes each year, not just for the remainder of this Parliament, but for the next decade, to meet current demand and get on top of the deep backlog. We must equip councils and delivery partners with the resources, planning powers and clarity of mission that they need. New clause 50 supports that clarity, making sure that every local and regional planning decision is pulling in the same direction. I agree with the Minister on the need for strategic planning, the potential that spatial development strategies have to unlock large-scale regional housing solutions, and the power of land value uplift to fund affordable homes. These are important tools, but they would be better supported by clear targets. Setting a national target for social rented homes is not about Whitehall dictating numbers from above; it is about saying that we are serious about tackling homelessness. I echo the words of this Government: this country needs builders, not blockers. Central to that sentiment must be setting a clear social housing strategy, so that we know not just that we must build, but how much we must build, and hold ourselves accountable for delivering those homes.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making a powerful point, which we have discussed on the Select Committee. Does she agree that to reach the target of 90,000 social homes a year, we must set clear targets now? Otherwise, we will not be able to get a grip on the housing crisis when it comes to delivering socially rented homes.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Bank Closures and Banking Hubs · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) for securing this important debate. Access to cash is important, but it is only one part of the story. The closure of bank branches strips communities across our country not just of access to money, but of access to advice and support services that cannot simply be replicated online. It goes further than that. For some elderly residents this is about a sense of community and purpose, such as the weekly trip with friends to interact with others, plan a food shop, go to a supermarket or even visit friends. I remember when I was a child, when my grandfather was due to make his regular trip to the bank, he would get suited and booted, have a haircut and tell us all proudly that he was off to the bank. It was also the highlight of my week, because I always received a £5 note afterwards. In my constituency of Gillingham and Rainham, I was pleased to announce only last week that we will be getting a banking hub, following a recent campaign. For clarity, we do have a Nationwide on site at the minute. I have heard directly from residents about how much this means to them. I have received numerous letters describing their struggles when they have not been able to access banking services. Many residents have described long journeys to neighbouring towns, often relying on friends or public transport just to withdraw cash or speak to somebody in person. Other residents have spoken of the confusion and anxiety caused by using online banking that they neither trusted nor understood. We are talking about people who find themselves in effect locked out of the system simply because they do not use an app or a smartphone. These are real people in our communities, not a small minority. According to Age UK, more than 2.5 million people over 65 have never used the internet, and the access to cash review found that around 10 million UK adults would struggle in a cashless society. Many of them also lack digital literacy or the infrastructure to bank online. This includes people with disabilities, carers, those for whom English is not a first language, and people living on low incomes who cannot afford broadband or mobile data. We should not expect them to adapt to a system that was not designed for them in the first place. The reality is that high street banks have for some time been taking decisions based on commercial viability rather than community need. I understand that banks are not charities, but the Government do have a responsibility to ensure that no one is cut off from basic services because they are not digital or because they are not profitable. If we want to prevent digital exclusion from becoming a permanent feature of our society, banking hubs must be part of a national strategy. That includes ensuring they are well-promoted, well-resourced and available in all the places of greatest need. I am pleased that my constituency will benefit from a banking hub, but we need to go further. The criteria need to change, and we must ensure this is based not just on access to cash but, importantly, on the services that banking hubs provide to a community.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  As if this situation could not get any worse, we now have damning reports that Israeli fire is killing Palestinians trying to access aid at militarised distribution centres that are not sanctioned by the UN. It shows complete disregard for human life. Does the Minister agree that enough is enough, and that now is the time to take immediate, stronger, further action against the Israeli Government?

• 7 May 2025 · India-Pakistan: Escalation · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for his statement on this deeply concerning matter. Given that he has already highlighted the friendship that this country enjoys with both Pakistan and India, will he provide reassurances that it is in that manner that ongoing conversations with both countries will be conducted? Will he detail which conversations have already happened or are planned with our international allies to de-escalate the situation?

• 25 Apr 2025 · Devolution (Immigration) (Scotland) Bill · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that given that the SNP has failed to run vital services in Scotland, we should not give it control of a border?

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I recently visited the hygiene bank in Medway in my constituency. Its volunteers provide essential hygiene products to people who need them, restoring their dignity and confidence. Given that 4.2 million adults in the UK live in hygiene poverty, will the Leader of the House consider a debate on how we tackle this issue, and specifically on removing the 20% VAT on soap by reclassifying it as an essential hygiene item?

• 3 Apr 2025 · Gambling Harms · Hansard source

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  A report by the Gambling Commission released in November 2024 showed that the proportion of young people between the ages of 11 and 17 experiencing problem gambling increased by 114% in just one year. Will the Secretary of State please outline the steps her Department is taking to prevent young people from becoming victims of problem gambling?

• 3 Apr 2025 · Gambling Harms · Hansard source

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  11. What steps her Department is taking to reduce gambling harms.

• 3 Apr 2025 · Children in Temporary Accommodation: England · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend and Chair of the Select Committee, of which I am a member, for presenting the report. We heard compelling evidence during the inquiry. Does she agree that the Government should look carefully at the evidence we heard about the impact of out-of-borough placements on children, families and host boroughs, particularly when thinking about future legislation?

• 20 Mar 2025 · Knife Crime: Children and Young People · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) for bringing this debate to the House, and I commend colleagues for their powerful speeches. It is clear that there is an undeniable consensus across the House on the need to get this right. However, consensus alone is not enough. A national crisis has devastated families and shattered futures, and it continues to cause damage. The Office for National Statistics reported 50,000 knife-related offences in 2022-23. In just one year, 50,000 lives were affected, and there were 50,000 incidents of fear, injury and, sadly for some, tragedy. In my Gillingham and Rainham constituency, we had several incidents in recent years, including the stabbing of a 17-year-old boy in the town centre by two other young people. Members across the House will be familiar with visiting local schools in their constituencies, and many will agree that students are often the toughest crowd—never shy of asking direct and uncompromising questions, with a grilling that would put any Select Committee to the test. Time and again, however, one issue persists: safety. Students ask me why they should feel afraid to walk through their high street in the evening, why their communities do not feel safe, and why more is not being done to protect them. It troubles me that most of that stands in stark contrast to my own experience growing up in the very same community and in the same area. I wish to tell those students that the fear and the sense of abandonment that they feel today is not inevitable. Some of it is the direct result of years of neglect. In reality, the Conservatives left behind a legacy of cuts and, at times, indifference to the futures of young people across this country. They dismantled the very support systems designed to keep young people safe: £1 billion was stripped from youth services, 760 youth centres were shut down, and 4,500 youth workers were lost. The evidence is clear: every £1 invested in youth work prevents greater costs down the line. In viewing knife crime as the public health crisis that it truly is, we must recognise that the principles of upstream prevention have never been more pertinent. The truth is that by the time a young person picks up a knife, we have already failed them. That is why the Government’s coalition on knife crime is a significant step in the right direction, allowing us to get to the root causes of knife crime, not just the symptoms. I also welcome the Home Secretary’s commitment to bringing back neighbourhood policing, which will work towards restoring the trust and presence that have been dismantled. Communities such as mine are desperate for officers who will build relationships, prevent crime before it happens and reassure those who have lost faith. However, we cannot arrest our way out of this crisis. We must invest in young people, not only to steer them away from crime but to offer them a future beyond it. Like many others, I have binge-watched the compelling drama “Adolescence”, which highlights so well the toxic online culture that our young people are exposed to.