Pam Cox MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 10 Sept 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Following the visit this week by the victims Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), to Colchester’s much-respected Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse, or CARA, and the confirmation of an additional £9 million for victim support services in Essex, will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on the progress that the Government are making on their work on prevention, enforcement and survivor support?

• 4 Sept 2026 · Infants, Parents and Carers Bill · Hansard source

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  On the historical point—forgive me; I could not stop myself—the Maternity and Child Welfare Act 1918 probably preceded some of the things the hon. Lady is about to say, as well as some of the measures mentioned by the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean). There is a long history of efforts to introduce child welfare.

• 4 Sept 2026 · Infants, Parents and Carers Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend mentioned infrastructure. Does he agree that there is a case for redefining that term to include early years provision when we are looking at new housing developments for families?

• 4 Sept 2026 · Infants, Parents and Carers Bill · Hansard source

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  Shame!

• 16 Jul 2026 · Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate in memory of Sir David Amess. Sir David, as we have heard, was a tireless advocate for his Southend constituency, so I felt it was fitting to focus on an issue —the role of the University of Essex—that connects Southend with my own constituency of Colchester. Like fellow Essex MPs, I have been very concerned about the impact of the decision to close the university’s Southend campus. Southend city centre has benefited enormously from having a university presence. I remember growing up there, so I understand the difference that presence would have made at that time. The loss of that presence is already being felt keenly by residents, staff and students. The university has said that it has taken the decision with great reluctance in response to the significant financial pressures facing the wider higher education sector. It has confirmed that its teaching will be consolidated in Colchester, although it also confirmed job losses at that campus. As a former colleague to many staff there, my thoughts, and I am sure those across the House, are with those suffering right now as they face a very uncertain summer. They have been robustly supported by their trade unions, the University and College Union and Unison, over the past year. They are right to continue to raise concerns about jobs, workloads and the long-term sustainability of our universities. They have my support and that of the MPs who represent Southend—I am nodding to my hon. Friends in the Chamber behind me. At a time when higher education across the country faces major challenges, I am very pleased to see that Universities UK is continuing its “Future Universities” initiative, urgently exploring how the sector can better support jobs, innovation, communities and students. The message is clear: our universities are central to the economic and social prosperity of our country. I hope that they are very high on the priority list of our new Prime Minister. In Colchester, we see that value every day. The University of Essex supports thousands of jobs, encourages investment and enriches our cultural life. It is a source of enormous local pride. We can see that very clearly right now through the many joyous graduation ceremonies that will be happening over the next fortnight. I wish all our new graduates well, and I wish everybody in the House—colleagues, staff, friends and my own team —all the best for a very restful summer.

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Endometriosis makes life a misery for many women and girls. Far too many are left waiting for diagnosis and treatment, and often they are left without clear communication on their treatment paths. Colchester hospital is the only specialist centre for endometriosis in our county, but waiting times are long. Will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on improving local services for this debilitating condition?

• 8 Jul 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be executed in this country. Her case serves as a haunting reminder of a time when our justice system ignored the realities of domestic abuse and coercive control. In the decades since, members of Ruth’s family and supporters have campaigned unwaveringly for her to receive a posthumous pardon. Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that their courageous campaign and the terrible lessons of Ruth’s case must strengthen the Government’s resolve to free women from devastating cycles of abuse?

• 25 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  It is encouraging to hear that SMEs will benefit from greater access to Government procurement routes. Can the Minister set out which kind of sectors in particular they think will benefit the most, because that will be of great interest to people in Colchester and the east of England?

• 25 Jun 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Young people in Colchester will benefit from their new youth hub, which is one of 14 set up across Essex. Will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on the early impact of those youth hubs, and the youth guarantee that so brilliantly underpins them?

• 2 Jun 2026 · Armed Forces Bill · Hansard source

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  In my constituency, nearly 1,000 homes have been brought back into public ownership with the creation of the defence housing service. Does my hon. Friend agree that new clause 13, which addresses the question of single living accommodation, threatens to undermine the new defence housing service before it has got off the ground? Although single living accommodation needs attention, that attention should be given within the armed forces umbrella.

• 18 May 2026 · Youth Justice · Hansard source

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  I welcome this statement and the White Paper. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that programmes such as turnaround are felt in constituencies such as mine in Colchester and beyond?

• 29 Apr 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  As this parliamentary Session draws to a close, it seems like a good moment to reflect on the legislation passed since the general election—not all of it, of course. Many of us have walked through the Lobby to pass 60 Bills that have touched almost every aspect of British life, from the care of cats, dogs and ferrets to space industry indemnities, along with a whole host of measures seeking to improve life for renters, carers, investors, football fans, NHS patients, serving personnel and more. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that this is a pretty good first Session report card? Does he also agree that the best is yet to come?

• 25 Mar 2026 · Victims and Courts Bill · Hansard source

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  The Victims and Courts Bill is part of the Government’s wider reforms of our justice system that will, in the round, better protect victims and improve their access to justice, as well as that of defendants. I really welcome its measures to improve communications with victims, to reform non-disclosure agreements, to ensure that defendants appear at sentencing hearings and to restrict the parental rights of child sex offenders. Today, I will focus my remarks on Lords amendments 4 and 7, which are on the financing of private prosecutions. The Bill amends the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 to provide a new power for the Lord Chancellor to prescribe the rates at which prosecutors acting in private prosecutions can recover expenses properly incurred by them from central funds. This proposal draws on a related recommendation of the Justice Committee, on which I serve. The rates would not be set by the Lord Chancellor, but would instead be consulted on and implemented through secondary legislation, so it is very important that the Government, through the Lord Chancellor, have the power to control the rates that can be claimed and paid. Lords amendment 4 seeks to leave out clause 12, thereby preventing that power from being accorded to the Lord Chancellor. In my view, the Lord Chancellor needs that power. After all, ours is a public justice system, albeit one that has long accommodated private prosecutions. The current arrangements contribute to inequity in our justice system, which this Bill seeks to address more broadly. In recent decades, we have seen some landmark private prosecutions, such as the case brought by the parents of Stephen Lawrence, the cases brought by the RSPCA and other charities, and the cases brought by the Cyclists’ Defence Fund and others. Although we might argue that, in a properly functioning justice system, we would no longer need private prosecutions, we clearly do need them, and if we do still need them, we need to be able to exert proper control over the resources expended on them.

• 24 Mar 2026 · Armed Forces Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  I completely agree with everything the hon. Member says about the need for robust mental and physical health support for veterans, and I bow to his personal experience on the matter. Does he agree that, through Operation Courage, we are providing specialist NHS-based mental health support to veterans, and, through Operation Restore, we are providing additional physical health support? It is my understanding that, to date, up to 36,000 veterans have been supported by those two initiatives.

• 24 Mar 2026 · Armed Forces Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  Would the hon. Gentleman agree that due regard is a long-established legal concept that lots of public bodies already understand? It is already routinely applied in practice, and to change the definition for the purposes of the Bill would be to go down an erroneous path.

• 24 Mar 2026 · Armed Forces Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  I cannot help noting that the poor performance of SEN services in Essex is largely down to Conservative-run Essex county council, whose arrangement the right hon. Member and I share.

• 17 Mar 2026 · National Listing Framework · Hansard source

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  How will the new listing framework help to fast-track prosecutions for rape and serious sexual offences? What other measures is the Secretary of State introducing or supporting to that end, so that we can honour our manifesto commitments to bring perpetrators to swift justice?

• 17 Mar 2026 · National Listing Framework · Hansard source

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  1. What progress his Department has made on creating a national listing framework.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  The Opposition have chosen to misrepresent this Bill. That is their choice, but it does the delivery of justice in this country no favours. That misrepresentation has centred on one of the Bill’s many provisions—the proposed changes to mode of trial—but this Bill does not abolish jury trials. It moves some cases to the magistrates courts, introduces bench trials for certain other cases, and introduces reforms to either-way proceedings. If implemented, the Bill will mean that the accused in either-way cases will no longer have the ability to overrule the decision of a magistrates court about the mode of trial, namely where their trial should be held. I want to offer a different perspective on this point. The current right to elect for a jury trial is not an ancient right. Instead, we can think of it as an anomaly—a legal practice created in the 1850s that survived reforms in the 1970s—and court modernisers have been calling for the practice to be closed down for decades. I focus on the history, because it is important for us to be aware of how others before us have used democratic processes to enact judicial reform in the public interest. In 2001, Lord Justice Auld noted that “our system is probably unique in that, in a large range of offences…the accused, not the court, decides how and where he is to be tried.” Lord Auld recommended that this element be abolished, but that is the system that the Opposition are defending. When they defend that anomaly, they are delaying justice and undermining victims. Last year, more than 4,000 defendants opted for a jury trial. As the Magistrates Association reported to the Justice Committee, some will have done so in the hope that the resulting delay would deter victims from continuing. We know that many stopped prosecutions are caused by victims dropping out—demoralised, defeated and denied justice. This Bill turns that dreadful situation around through a whole package of measures, but in part by ending the either-way anomaly. This Bill preserves jury trials for the most serious cases. If it did not, I would not support it. It also allows those presiding over a bench trial to reallocate the case to jury trial if new evidence emerges to suggest that the defendant might receive a sentence of more than three years. That is an important point that has been overlooked so far in this debate. There is more that I could say about the other measures introduced by the Bill, and about the desperate need to do more for sexual offence victims; for example, I would love us to fast-track RASSO courts at pace. We have a once-in-a-generation chance to improve our courts, so let us take that chance today.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  Will he give way?

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  We could think of this exchange as Cox v. Cox. The right hon. and learned Gentleman mentions legal history. I have more than a passing interest in that and am minded to think of the Summary Jurisdiction Act 1879, which moved a lot of cases from a jury system into the magistrates system. The architect of that was Disraeli, a former Conservative Prime Minister. Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman not agree that many politicians across this House have acted to shape jury trials over time?

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  Would the right hon. Gentleman accept that the Bill preserves jury trials? It does not abolish them, and to say that it does is to misrepresent the case.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  rose—

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  I very much respect what my hon. Friend is saying, but the right to elect is not an ancient right; it was introduced in 1855 and escaped reforms in the 1970s. It is therefore a relatively recent addition to the judicial armoury.