Paul Waugh MP: speeches

Speeches

• 1 Jun 2026 · Armed Forces Day · Hansard source

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  To celebrate Armed Forces Day this year in Rochdale, there will be not only the usual flag-raising ceremony at Rochdale town hall, but on Saturday 27 June we will have a free community picnic in Denehurst Park, with live music from local bands and military vehicle displays. Will the Minister join me in thanking Adam Trennery of Get Together After Serving, known as GTAS, not only for putting on this marvellous event, but for all the work he does all year round?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend rightly makes a passionate case for why we should be doing more to help the healthcare system in Gaza. It is quite clear that the 50 severely ill children from Gaza who were evacuated by the Government and treated in NHS hospitals were well cared for. Indeed, the Prince of Wales visited some of them in hospital and afterwards said explicitly that they had faced “experiences no child should ever face.” Does my hon. Friend agree that the next step the Government should take is to treat children in the region? Plenty of British medics are willing to go out there and help; the Government should be encouraging them to use their NHS expertise to treat children in the region and to train medics in the specialisms that are desperately needed.

• 27 Jan 2026 · UK Bus Manufacturing · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. Mellor, a bus manufacturer in Rochdale, does a superb job of producing the buses that Greater Manchester needs. Andy Burnham was the first in more than 40 years to retake control of our bus network in Greater Manchester, showing that with a publicly controlled local bus network, we cannot only improve facilities for passengers but secure contracts for local workers and British-built buses. Does my hon. Friend agree that is the way forward, particularly when we are considering Chinese-built buses?

• 27 Jan 2026 · Women’s Safety: Walking, Wheeling, Cycling and Running · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend the Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato) have both referred to the excellent research by the University of Manchester. One of the most shocking findings of that research, which I discussed with the researchers last year, was that 19% of women runners had been followed and 7% had been flashed at. Does the Minister agree that, while women are often taking measures to mitigate the threat, whether through smartphones, special safety apps, or even changing their routes, the real answer ultimately lies in more visible policing, more CCTV, better lighting—crucial for local communities—and in tackling at source, as the violence against women and girls strategy does, the misogyny in our schools and workplaces?

• 8 Jan 2026 · Road Safety Strategy · Hansard source

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  Every 17 minutes, someone is killed or seriously injured on our roads. That is a national scandal, which this Labour Government are tackling through this road safety strategy. Will the Minister join me in paying tribute to Rochdale trading standards, which, together with local police, led the country in exposing how ghost number plates are used by criminals, groomers, drug dealers and others to avoid detection? Will she thank all those bereaved families who campaigned with me and fellow MPs to ensure that we have mandatory eye tests for over-70s and much tighter drug-driving laws?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Qatar: Israeli Strike · Hansard source

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  Blessed are the peacemakers, or so we are told—so it seems particularly wicked that Israel can deliberately target the country that is doing more to promote peace than any other in the region. Is the tragedy of the middle east not that the Palestinians in Gaza and the Israelis in Israel are governed by deeply unpopular extremists who have no interest in peace, on either side? After this week’s appalling murder at a bus stop in Jerusalem, the Israeli Government imposed collective punishment on the villages where those terrorists came from, removing hundreds of work permits and proceeding to start demolishing many homes. Does Netanyahu’s decision to bomb Qatar not prove beyond doubt that he does not care about the hostages, that they are collateral damage as much as any Palestinian child, and that Israel is now a rogue state? Must not the UK put in place severe sanctions against this rogue state to prove our word?