Paul Waugh MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I completely agree with my hon. Friend. The dangers of what is happening in America provide a real lesson for us here. As the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) put it, conversations about assisted dying should happen in person—between the relevant doctor and the patient. They should not be prompted by a TV ad, or something seen on a bus. My hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) spoke very movingly about the way that IVF services have been commercialised, leaving people who are, as he says, “already on their knees” vulnerable to exploitation, so that someone else can profit. I am certain that nobody in this House believes that passing this Bill into law should mean the rise of a similarly aggressive market for assisted death, but it is our role—indeed our responsibility—to deal not only in intended consequences, but in unintended ones, too. The real risk in the drafting of new clause 14 is that it allows exceptions that are not specified in the Bill. A future Secretary of State will be empowered not only to make the necessary regulations, but to amend them at any time; and a future Secretary of State, who does not share the concerns of this House, would have the ability to draw the exceptions so widely as to make the ban worthless. There are a number of similar advertising bans already in place on tobacco products, surrogacy and the latest cancer drugs being marketed to the public. In every case, the legislation sets out the exceptions, leaving no room for doubt as to how Parliament intended to protect the public. Why should the services that this Bill would legalise not be subject to that same legal clarity? Do people who have less time to live not deserve all the protection we have the power to give them from a death they do not truly want? I cannot believe that this Parliament would be content to have that power taken out of its hands, and the rights of our most vulnerable constituents left for someone else to decide on some other day. My amendment therefore sets out that exceptions to the advertising ban should be limited to cases where a person has requested information and where the materials are intended for health professionals and not for their patients. New clause 14 would allow a future Secretary of State to make provisions that would usually have to go through the House in legislation. It is not at all clear to me why that power is needed to introduce a ban on advertising.

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  The point of my amendment is to make sure that a future Secretary of State would have to come before the House with primary legislation. Report stage is not about the principles of the Bill. It is not about whether a Member may, in principle, support the idea of assisted dying, as Mr Speaker will point out to everybody who strays from the amendments. It is about the individual Bill before us today. We have to ask: what will it mean in the real world for our very real constituents?

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I will not; I am short of time. Just how strong are the Bill’s safeguards? We are not commentators; we are legislators. Our job is to scrutinise, to test and to test again the Bills that come to this place. I spent 26 years up there in the Press Gallery writing about politics, but the big difference between them and us is that we have a vote in this place. With that vote, particularly a free vote, comes responsibility, and there is no greater responsibility than protecting the vulnerable from feeling they have to end their life. That is why I tabled the amendment. I am not driven by religion, though I do not believe that those with religious faiths should be denigrated or patronised, as they have been during the passage of the Bill. It is worth saying that some of those who passionately support assisted dying have a faith—a devout faith—that their world view is the right one. I am driven instead by my duty as a legislator to get this Bill right, and by what I see as my moral duty to protect the most vulnerable in society. I believe that my duty is to protect those who do not have celebrity names or campaign groups behind them—the people who do not get heard, who do not want to be a bother, who do not want to make a fuss, and who feel at the end of their lives that they are a burden on their family but may never say so. I worry about the unheard, the unseen, the ignored and the marginalised. Most of all, I worry about the heartbreaking modesty of that phrase we often hear from older people: “I don’t want to be any trouble, love.” We need, for their sakes, to make sure that the safeguards in the Bill are the strongest they can possibly be.

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I rise to speak in support of the amendment in my name, which seeks to strengthen new clause 14 tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater). Why do we want to restrict advertising about assisted dying? It is not just because such adverts could appear crass or insensitive, or because we worry that private companies could profiteer from death, but because advertisers know that they influence choices. The issue of choice, whether it is informed choice, skewed choice, self-coercion or coercive control, as has already been mentioned, is, in many ways, at the heart of the Bill and whether its safeguards are sufficient. My brother works in advertising and he knows its power. It is why companies spend billions of pounds on it, why Google is the giant that it is, why we see lots of adverts at Westminster tube station trying to influence every single one of us, and why X is full of ads. Advertising works because we human beings are suggestible, and prone to messaging, visual cues and hints. Older people are bombarded with adverts for everything from stairlifts to care homes. One person’s advert, though, is another person’s public information campaign. It is not impossible to imagine a future Secretary of State, who passionately believes in the merits of assisted dying, authorising such a campaign. It could be a Government-approved plotline in a soap opera, or an ad read out by a podcaster that ever so subtly sounds like a news item, or even their own opinion. Many in this House rightly try to protect teenagers from online harms, but the online harm of an ad for a website about assisted dying shared on TikTok could be a reality without the tighter safeguards in my amendment.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Mr Speaker, as a proud Lancastrian like myself, you will be aware that this Friday is Whit Friday, and that across the north-west we still have a strong tradition of Whit walks and carnivals, where brass bands play to our local communities. Some of our fabulous local bands, including Milnrow, Wardle Academy, Wardle Anderson, Littleborough and Bloom Music will be performing at the internationally renowned Saddleworth and Oldham Whit Friday band contest. Will the Leader of the House join me in blowing their trumpet—or, more appropriately, cornet—and have a debate in Government time on the brilliance of brass bands across the country?

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

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  I warmly welcome today’s decision by the UK Government to work with other international allies to sanction these extremist Israeli Ministers. Just to remind ourselves how extremist they are, Finance Minister Smotrich promised that “not even a grain of wheat” will enter the Gaza strip. This is a man whose extremism and disregard for the Israeli hostages are matched only by his absolute contempt for Palestinian lives. He said that it is “good” that the war has begun but “unfortunate” that it started the way that it did. “Unfortunate”—that is how he described 7 October. In the spirit of today’s international alliance with other countries, will the Government now seize the moment to recognise the state of Palestine next week in New York?

• 10 Jun 2025 · Nuclear Power: Investment · Hansard source

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  Andy Burnham’s Atom Valley mayoral development zone for advanced manufacturing will be based in Rochdale, Oldham and Bury, and it is so named in honour of Ernest Rutherford’s groundbreaking research at the University of Manchester on splitting the atom. Does my right hon. Friend welcome the fact that today’s huge public investment in both nuclear and nuclear fusion will rely on precisely the kind of cutting-edge research that will be done at the Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre in Rochdale?

• 9 Jun 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  The median average income of a pensioner in Rochdale is £15,000, which is way below the amount we expect people to live on with the national living wage, so I thank the Minister for today’s announcement. Does he agree that it proves that the Government have listened not only to Opposition MPs, but to MPs in the Labour party who have pushed for this for so long and, more importantly, to the pensioners we represent?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Free School Meals · Hansard source

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  As someone who grew up on free school meals in Rochdale, I know what a massive difference today’s announcement will make to more than 8,000 of my constituents. One of my constituents, Laura Popham, is a single mum who is in work and was previously ineligible for the free school meals benefit. Today she sent me an email saying, “This is exactly what I was hoping for. I am over the moon. I want to shout from the rooftops how happy I am. Only Labour would have done this.” Does the Minister agree that this is exactly the kind of change that people voted for last year?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Rochdale’s award-winning trading standards team has led the country in exposing the spread of ghost car number plates, which allow child sex offenders, speeding motorists and drug dealers to avoid police detection cameras. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking Darren Hughen and Dennis Chalmers, who visited Parliament this week, and will she support my campaign and that of my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes) to outlaw ghost car number plates?

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

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  The horrific historic tragedy of the Palestinian people, and particularly the people of Gaza, is that they are at the mercy of two sets of extremists: the extremists of Hamas, but also the extremists of this Israeli Government. National Security Minister Ben-Gvir said giving aid to Gaza is “a…mistake…delaying our victory.” Finance Minister Smotrich said, “we are liberating Gaza” and “settling” it. The Minister talks about further steps. Surely, now is the time for us to sanction those individuals in the Israeli Government to prove that we do not endorse such extremism?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Regional Growth · Hansard source

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  The Mellor bus factory in Rochdale was the perfect place for the Chancellor to unveil this £15 billion investment in transport infrastructure today, and also to give a first taste of the changes to the Green Book and the Treasury rules, which for too long have held back places in the north and the midlands from getting their fair share of transport money. Does the Minister agree that investment in public transport is investment in local manufacturers like Mellor? Does this not show what a difference a Labour MP working with a Labour mayor and a Labour Government can make, to deliver the change that people voted for last year?

• 20 May 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  The children of Gaza are being not just starved to death but bombed to death as Israel tries to wipe Palestine itself off the map, so I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement, particularly his robust action on the illegal settlements in the west bank and on suspending any free trade agreement talks with Israel. Does he agree that history will judge all Governments around the world, and every Member of this House, not just on what we said but on what we did in the face of this 21st century atrocity?

• 14 May 2025 · Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend told our Select Committee yesterday that it is not for us to give away the labour of other people to third parties for free. Given that the Government have now said they are open-minded, and if open-minded means there is no technical solution, is the Minister open-minded to the idea of legislative solutions to protect copyright and enhance it for all our great creatives? It is not just ABBA’s Björn; it is people in Rochdale and low-paid creatives across the whole north-west and country.

• 14 May 2025 · Gaza: UK Assessment · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for his personal commitment to this cause, and the UK Government for putting this matter on the record at the UN yesterday as a matter of extreme urgency. May I also put to the Minister directly the challenge yesterday from Tom Fletcher, the UN’s aid chief? He said: “For those killed and those whose voices are silenced: what more evidence do you need now?...Will you act—decisively—to prevent genocide?” What is the Minister’s answer to that question?

• 13 May 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  The UN’s Philippe Lazzarini is right, isn’t he, to say today that Israel is committing a “massive atrocity” by blocking aid to the children of Gaza? As well as the urgent need for aid, the Palestinian people need more trade with countries like the UK. Will the Minister explain how my constituents in Rochdale can buy more Palestinian goods, such as olive oil, herbs and dates, and support tech companies and the many co-operatives that operate in the west bank and in Gaza?

• 13 May 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  8. What steps he is taking to help improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

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

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  The murder of 26 civilians in Pahalgam was truly horrific, but India’s airstrikes have resulted in the deaths of 26 civilians in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. This cannot be a bizarre, macabre game of tit-for-tat where the only people who suffer are civilians on both sides. Can the Minister reassure my Rochdale constituents, many of whom are concerned about family members, that the Government are doing everything they can through their consular access and also at diplomatic level to de-escalate the situation and to make it crystal clear to India that water cannot be used as a weapon of war against the wider people of Pakistan and Kashmir?

• 6 May 2025 · Counter Terrorism Policing: Arrests · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to the bravery and professionalism of the counter-terrorist specialist firearms officers who took part in the arrest of an Iranian national in Rochdale over the weekend. It was a reminder of not only the constant threat that we face, but the intelligence and police services’ daily work to keep us all safe. Does the Minister agree that in this week of the 80th anniversary of VE Day, it is a reminder too that Britain is at war with a modern enemy: the fascism of Islamist extremism and state-sponsored terrorism? The message should go out loud and clear that my town, our country and this House will never surrender to such terrorism or to its ideology.

• 6 May 2025 · Middle East Update · Hansard source

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  Let us be clear, the masked murderers of Hamas could end the suffering of the Gazan people today if they released the hostages and agreed to a ceasefire. But let us also be clear that this extremist Israeli Government, in their own actions in the past few days and weeks, are endangering the state of Israel. As the right hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard) made absolutely clear, the Israeli Government are undermining the state of Israel by their actions, more than any Hamas extremist could dream of. I agree with what the Minister says about practical measures and pragmatism rather than symbolism, but does he not think that the most practical step that this country can take is to recognise the state of Palestine, in conjunction with other states, as soon as possible, in order to move the peace process on?

• 29 Apr 2025 · Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Visit · Hansard source

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  I welcome the significant strengthening of ties between the UK and the Palestinian Authority, not just in trade and extra funding from the UK, but because, as the Foreign Secretary said last night, “The UK is committed to urgently advancing Palestinian statehood as a key part of a two-state solution.” It was my pleasure last night to meet not just Prime Minister Mustafa but Basel Adra, the director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land”, who made clear that recognition is his central demand too. Does the Minister therefore agree with me that President Macron was right when he said last month that “We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months”?

• 29 Apr 2025 · Kashmir: Increasing Tension · Hansard source

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  My constituents, particularly those from the Kashmiri and Pakistani communities, strongly condemn this terrorist atrocity in Pahalgam. They are also worried about India’s response, in particular its suspension of the Indus waters treaty, but also the bulldozing of homes of those not connected to this attack in any way. Does the Minister agree that the Kashmiri people should not be subjected to collective punishment, as the people of Palestine have been in Israel?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Football Governance Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I welcome Bury FC’s revival, not least because Rochdale FC can now beat them in the local derby. On Saturday, I was at Spotland to see Rochdale clinch a play-off place for the national league, thanks to a 5-1 win over Hartlepool FC. Many people there knew it was a super achievement, precisely because a year ago we were threatened with financial collapse. There was a poignant moment at the game when we all remembered the death of Joe Thompson, whom we lost to cancer aged just 36. His work is being carried on by the local cancer charity Team Thompson. That epitomises everything that is great about our game; it is at the heart of the community, and is giving something back, through players like Joe. Does my right hon. Friend agree that people like Joe are everything that is great about our English game? Does she also agree about the need to ensure that smaller clubs see a reverse of the inequity we see in the game nationally?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Child Rape Gangs · Hansard source

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  On Friday, in Rochdale, I met Jayne Ward and her colleagues from St Mary’s sexual assault referral centre in Manchester, which is staffed by former police officers, nurses and social workers who are all committed to helping victims and survivors particularly in areas such as Rochdale which have suffered from grooming gang abuse. They told me that their priorities are cutting the courts backlog which means that cases are having to wait until March 2027 to go to trial, longer-term funding commitments to help groups such as theirs, and a wider recognition that most sexual abuse and child rape is perpetrated not by strangers, but by family and friends. Does the Minister agree that those should be our priorities, too?

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

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  I know the Leader of the House has a sweet tooth, so she may be disappointed that she missed out on the very first chocolate festival held by The Oxford pub in Shawclough over the Easter break. The festival was attended by 800 people, and it was held in conjunction with the chocolate maker Slattery. As well as having a great time, customers and the pub donated free Easter eggs to children in need in Rochdale. Will she join me in congratulating the McNeeney family on putting on the festival, and will she join me for a candy and a shandy in Rochdale soon?