Patrick Hurley MP: speeches

Speeches

• 12 Jan 2026 · Call for General Election · Hansard source

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  It looks like Reform MPs turn out only when there is something in it for them. We should be honest about what the petition represents. It is not a considered proposal for the better governance of this country. We can tell that by the way Opposition Members are giggling behind their hands on the other side of the room. The petition is not accompanied by a constitutional argument for changing this place to make it better, nor by any sort of legislative necessity. It is simply an expression of dissatisfaction at how long it has taken the new Government to fix the problems that were left behind after 14 years of chaos, division and decline caused by the Conservative party. There were years of economic stagnation, a referendum of such consequential proportions that the economy has barely grown since 2016, and a Tory Government who were more concerned with looking after themselves than with looking after the most vulnerable in this country.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Call for General Election · Hansard source

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  If the hon. Member knows how to get growth and bring up the GDP of the country, why has the economy been stagnating since 2010? Why did he not do anything about it?

• 12 Jan 2026 · Call for General Election · Hansard source

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  They were lied to inadvertently.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Call for General Election · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?

• 12 Jan 2026 · Call for General Election · Hansard source

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  If the hon. Gentleman is genuinely concerned about the rights of the children of this country, will he support cracking down hard on Elon Musk and X?

• 12 Jan 2026 · Call for General Election · Hansard source

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  It doesn’t look like it. If adults behaved in their working lives the way the petition urges Parliament to behave—abandoning responsibility at the first sight of trouble, and demanding resets whenever outcomes failed to please them—we would call it irresponsible and childish. We would not reward it. Democracy requires more than just knee-jerk, reflexive wanting. To indulge every demand for an immediate election is not to respect the voters, but to infantilise them. The House should do better than that.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Call for General Election · Hansard source

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  I will withdraw it, but does the right hon. Gentleman respect the vote in 1975 on the exact same thing—staying in the European Community, as it was—which was overturned 41 years later? In every Parliament, at every moment, some people want change and others do not. Some want more spending and others do not. Some want radical reform and others want stability. The fact of merely wanting something to happen does not constitute a constitutional imperative. If it did, the Government would be paralysed. We would lurch endlessly from one election to the next, just like we did at the end of the last decade, incapable of governing because the Government were perpetually campaigning. That is evidence not of a democracy that works, but of a democracy that is failing, just like it failed in 2017 and 2019, and just like it failed when the Conservative party was partying while members of the royal family were dying. An election is not a comfort blanket to be demanded whenever politics becomes difficult or the previous Government’s chickens come home to roost. There is a tendency in debates such as this to treat an election as though it is some kind of harmless release valve. It is not. A general election is disruptive, expensive and all-consuming. It stalls legislation, freezes decision making and turns Parliament in on itself. That is necessary at the right moment, but it is not something to be done after 18 months simply because people have run out of patience.

• 8 Jan 2026 · Road Safety Strategy · Hansard source

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  As the Minister knows, my constituents Marie Cunningham and Grace Foulds were killed by a driver who had been told several times that his eyesight fell far below the legal standard to drive. Eyecare professionals are not currently required to inform the DVLA if someone’s vision is so poor that they cannot safely get behind the wheel. Will the Minister consider mandating eyecare professionals to report directly to the DVLA all drivers with insufficient visual acuity and an inadequate field of vision, no matter their age?

• 7 Jan 2026 · UK Town of Culture · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve, Ms Furniss. I want to tell a story about my own background and how it relates to the concept of culture-led growth. I grew up in the ’70s and ’80s in the north-west of England in a town called Prescot, about 15 miles or so from my Southport constituency that was dominated for decades by the factory site of an industrial cable manufacturer. The town adopted the cable factory almost as a part of its identity. Ask anyone for miles around, and they would say, “Oh, Prescot—that’s where they make the cables.” The town’s football club is still called Prescot Cables. When I was a little boy, I used to make Lego models of the machinery that I could see through the factory gates that I passed on my way to school. The factory hooter, telling the workers when their shift was open, could be heard all over the town, and on new year’s eve it would blow especially at midnight to bring in the new year. The importance of that place to the town cannot be overstated. Then they closed the factory down. Hundreds of well-paid jobs were gone. The next generation of lads growing up would not be making Lego models of the factory any more. There is nothing special about that story; it is one that is repeated everywhere. But there is a positive element, because over the last decade the town has been transformed through culture. There has long been a rumour—probably untroubled by fact—that in the 1590s William Shakespeare visited Prescot to escape the plague. Based on that rumour, 20 years ago a small group of cultural practitioners decided to build an Elizabethan-style, 500-capacity theatre on the site of a big old bus stop in the town. People laughed; the council leader actually said, “When I announced the plan in the council chamber, quite a few people started laughing”. They are not laughing now, because there is indeed a playhouse on the site of that old bus stop, training up young people in the creative industries, the arts and performance. The £40 million capital investment that was brought in was only the start of the story, though, because the theatre is attracting people back into the town. It has a positive multiplier effect. The jobs are coming back; cafés are opening where there used to be bookmakers; a community arts organisation is now going into schools to inspire children into a career in the creative industries. It would not surprise me if some of those children started building Lego models of the playhouse. Here is my point: the destiny of a town is not set in stone. It can be changed. Commitment to cultural infrastructure can reverse a downward slide. Change can happen off the back of cultural improvement. My hometown proves that, but we have also done similarly in my new home in Southport since I was elected. We have a year of culture in 2026. There will be an incredible sound and light installation taking over the town, turning it into a giant rainbow. There will be an outdoor ballroom in April, with 150 years of music and dance played out, and our favourite works of fiction are coming to life on the streets of the town in October—check out Southport2026.com for more details. We know that that is what a town of culture can do. It will allow the kids of today to look back in wonder in 50 years’ time, and to tell their grandchildren that they were there.

• 6 Jan 2026 · Less Survivable Cancers · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Week is an important marker in the calendar, but I want to talk about another important marker when it comes to these cancers—one that is important for me and my family anyway—because this year marks 20 years since I was made unavoidably aware of the devastation of oesophageal cancer. In May of that year, my father developed the classic symptoms: difficulty swallowing, feeling like food was getting stuck, heartburn and weight loss. He was diagnosed in August and died on 23 December: from becoming symptomatic to losing his life was just seven months. The rapidity of the decline was overwhelming. Barely had he been diagnosed than he was given a terminal diagnosis. I must admit, though, that I was not giving my father my full attention during that time. In almost any other circumstances I would have been a much more dutiful son, but my own focus was elsewhere that year. On 1 August 2006, my wife Susan also became symptomatic with oesophageal cancer. She was diagnosed on 11 September and died on 14 November. The speed with which I read that sentence reflects the speed with which Sue died. There was barely any chance to understand what was happening, to seek help or for the family to manage. That is not unusual with these sorts of diseases. It is the sort of story that thousands of us know. Crucially, for my Southport constituency, it is also a story that disproportionately impacts people from the north-west and from north Wales. For my family, there was not any long fight or slow decline—only shock, confusion, urgent decisions and death. That is what a less survivable cancer looks like. May I make a clear ask of the Minister today? I am asking for a personal commitment, and a commitment across Government, to drive up survival rates for all these less survivable cancers, but most urgently—for my personal history and for the geographical distribution that shows that my part of the country has higher levels than elsewhere in the UK—for oesophageal cancer. That could mean things such as early diagnosis, recognising that one size fits all does not work. It could mean fast-track treatment pathways once suspicion is raised. Above all else, it should include serious investment in experimental and pre-symptomatic techniques, finding ways to detect cancers before symptoms even appear. These are difficult cancers to deal with, and that is why they need targeted action. I am here today because two people I loved did not get the help they needed, so I urge the Government to help other families avoid that same fate.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  In relation to the changes, announced at the end of last year, to indefinite leave to remain, my constituent Dr Matthew Hewitt advises on an issue relevant to his family and many other families across the country: that the information being put out by the Government is ambiguous as to whether or not the shorter five-year route will remain for those currently on partner visas, or whether the baseline changes to 10 years will apply to those currently on those partner visas. I would be grateful for some clarity on that, please.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Homelessness: Funding · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for securing the debate. The latest annual rough sleeping snapshot has recorded thousands of people sleeping rough—just 2% below the highest level ever recorded. I am afraid to say that it is not getting better quickly enough. Monthly data still showed a 5% rise in rough sleeping between last June and this June. Temporary accommodation has already reached record highs in the recent period. At the very moment when demand for housing is soaring, there is still not enough support for the people who need it most. Nearly half of the homelessness services that we have across the country are now reported to be at risk of closure, and the number of bed spaces available has fallen by 43% over the last 17 years. As with so much that has gone wrong in this country over the last couple of decades, the root cause of all this is the underfunding and public sector cuts that we saw under the previous Government, led by a short-termist, narrow focus that wilfully ignored the tried and tested ways for economies to get out of the growth doom loop that we have been in. What we need to do is stop storing up more problems in years to come and start addressing things like the homelessness emergency head-on. That means ensuring that services are properly funded to provide safe, year-round bed spaces. It means making sure that new regulations on supported accommodation do not unintentionally punish good providers. It means reversing Tory Government decisions that actively drive homelessness, most notably the freeze to the local housing allowance and the benefit cap—things that make it almost impossible for many households to access the stable housing that they need. In addition, we need cross-departmental working. Ending homelessness cannot be the responsibility of just one single Department. Decisions in health, justice and welfare, immigration—Departments across the board—all shape who becomes homeless and who does not. This is not the sort of thing that might get the pulses racing, but we need to ensure shared accountability and a shared delivery agenda across Government, not just here in Westminster and Whitehall but through the devolved layers of government, especially at the new strategic authority level. We all come into politics for good reasons. The moral case for action is clear, as is the financial case. In that vein, I want to highlight the importance, from an efficiency perspective, of Housing First. The Housing First model has consistently demonstrated its effectiveness, here and internationally. It is based on a simple principle: first and foremost providing people with a stable home, then wrapping support around them. It prioritises dignity, choice and long-term stability, and by dealing with the root causes of social issues, it helps the state save money. The Government’s own evaluation of the three national Housing First pilots confirms what frontline service providers have long known: the model delivers good value for money, achieves remarkable tenancy sustainment rates, reduces rough sleeping, and leads to improvements across health, wellbeing and wider metrics. Crucially, it works for people with the most complex needs—those who have been systematically failed by traditional models of accommodation. Housing First can help us break the cycle of homelessness, crisis care and retraumatisation, which leads to more homelessness. When properly funded and scaled, it can prevent rough sleeping, reduce demand on the NHS and the criminal justice system, and help people to rebuild their lives for good. If we are serious about combating homelessness, in particular rough sleeping, we should protect and expand Housing First. That requires long-term, ringfenced funding, and a national commitment to scaling provision and to ensuring that it is embedded in the wider homelessness strategy for Government. I thank the Chair and colleagues for their attention, and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s comments.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Homelessness Strategy: Housing First · Hansard source

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  Housing First is a tried and tested, proven intervention to reach those who most need our help, so will the Minister expand on what plans she has to roll out Housing First, especially in the Liverpool city region, to ensure that we work effectively across state agencies and that we support people experiencing homelessness into stable, long-term housing?

• 24 Nov 2025 · Homelessness Strategy: Housing First · Hansard source

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  2. If he will take steps through the planned homelessness strategy to increase Housing First provision.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  I welcome the UK’s leadership on the issue of Russian sovereign assets. What further conversations is the Foreign Secretary having with her international counterparts to accelerate that work and ensure that Russia pays for its illegal war?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  3. What steps her Department is taking to support Ukraine.

• 23 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. I was pleased that the Minister give an update earlier on the work of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, but the process is still taking too long. May I press the Minister to undertake work specifically to expedite the timescales in which compensation is expected to be paid?

• 22 Oct 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q15. Well over 1,000 youth clubs have closed in this country since 2010, having a huge negative impact on our young people. This is despite the fact that youth clubs have a long positive history of helping young people to mature in a healthy fashion. In particular, Phab clubs help disabled and non-disabled people to build friendships in an inclusive environment. The Phab charity is here in Parliament later today to gain support for its work. Will the Prime Minister commend its work and consider how best to support the youth club movement to help the next generation of young people grow into well-adjusted adults?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Devolution: Impact on Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  6. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of devolution on economic growth.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Devolution: Impact on Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I am pleased to see that the Government are pressing ahead with their commitment to implement new strategic authorities. May I press the Minister to consider how those new strategic authorities can grow their local economies by providing support for things like community businesses and social enterprises in town centres, helping to regenerate and renovate the neglected high streets we see across the country?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Manchester Terrorism Attack · Hansard source

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  First, I welcome the move to consider cumulative impact when it comes to policing the issues discussed today. It is a hugely positive move, and I hope it can be applied to static protests as well as marches. In the aftermath of the horrific attack on the synagogue earlier this month, the Centre for Countering Digital Hate undertook research that showed the shocking, but these days sadly not surprising, number of calls for further violence against Jews on the X social media platform. Does the Home Secretary agree that those advocating online for the death of Jews and for synagogues to be burnt down are exactly the sort of content that the Online Safety Act 2023 is supposed to address? Does she also agree that it is utterly reprehensible for anyone to give positive publicity to those on social media calling for people to be killed and for buildings to be burnt down?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Technology Companies: Accountability · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Minister to his place. Yesterday, I sponsored a drop-in event here in Parliament with Parent Zone to highlight the “hit pause” campaign, which aims to teach people to recognise conspiracy theories and misinformation online. Does the Minister agree that although we can make online platforms more accountable in other ways, these kinds of initiatives should be widely available to help equip people with the means to protect themselves when the tech companies fail to take responsibility for the content on their platforms?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Technology Companies: Accountability · Hansard source

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  6. What steps her Department is taking to hold technology companies accountable for the content on their platforms.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Better Futures Fund · Hansard source

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  The better futures fund is a big step forward in working with the impact economy; as the chair of the social, co-operative and community economy all-party parliamentary group for the social enterprise sector, I am really pleased to see how it can unlock extra resources from social investors, private businesses and philanthropy to tackle the country’s urgent problems. Will the Chief Secretary ensure that the principles behind the fund are matched with the targeted approach advocated by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, to make sure that the money goes where it is best needed?

• 9 Sept 2025 · Better Futures Fund · Hansard source

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  8. What progress she has made on establishing the better futures fund.