Peter Dowd MP: speeches 2025

61 published records · newest first.

Speeches

9 Dec 2025 · Medal for Wounded Service Personnel · Hansard source
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I completely endorse what my hon. Friend is saying and his plan for a medal. Does he agree that organisations such as Veterans in Sefton in my constituency do a remarkable job, supporting people across Merseyside? This would be another symbol of our support for our veterans, who do such a fantastic job for our country.
26 Nov 2025 · Young People not in Education, Employment or Training · Hansard source
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Order. I will not remind Members to bob, because you are already bobbing—thank you for that. However, given that so many people wish to speak, I will regrettably be imposing a formal two-minute limit.
26 Nov 2025 · Home Insulation · Hansard source
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I will call Anna Dixon to move the motion and then I will call the Minister to respond. I remind other Members that they can only make a speech with the prior permission of both the Member in charge of the debate and the Minister. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates.
26 Nov 2025 · 1994 RAF Chinook Crash · Hansard source
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Order. Let the Minister answer the question.
26 Nov 2025 · 1994 RAF Chinook Crash · Hansard source
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Before I call Alex Easton, I remind Members that I have allowed them more flexibility in coming and going than I would ordinarily, given the sensitivity of the issue and people having arrived late. Please bear that in mind in future.
26 Nov 2025 · 1994 RAF Chinook Crash · Hansard source
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Order. If the Minister wants to give way, she is perfectly entitled to, but you should not force it by standing up.
18 Nov 2025 · UNESCO: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source
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Order. If colleagues can keep their speeches to five minutes, I will not need to impose a formal time limit at this stage.
18 Nov 2025 · UNESCO: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source
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I think we will have time for the mover of the motion to wind up the debate, but first to the Minister.
18 Nov 2025 · UNESCO: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source
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Order. I exhort Members to stick to time. Some Members have left before the end of the debate, having spoken. With the greatest respect, I am afraid that gets reported to the Speaker’s Office. Will Members please respect the protocols and the time limit? Otherwise, it impacts colleagues right across the piece.
18 Nov 2025 · UNESCO: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source
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Alas, I am going to have to drop the time limit for speeches to four minutes.
18 Nov 2025 · UNESCO: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source
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I remind Members that I did exhort them to stick to four minutes.
18 Nov 2025 · Infrastructure: Cramlington and Killingworth · Hansard source
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Thank you very much for that point. I am sure we will be able to take it up with the House authorities. I remind other Members that they may make a speech only with prior permission from the Member in charge of the debate and the Minister. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates.
18 Nov 2025 · Infrastructure: Cramlington and Killingworth · Hansard source
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I will call Emma Foody to move the motion and then the Minister to respond.
4 Nov 2025 · Houses in Multiple Occupation: Planning Consent · Hansard source
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Things have moved on since I made my announcement during the suspension a few minutes ago, so I am going to put a formal two-minute limit on speeches. Regrettably, I still cannot guarantee that everybody will get to speak, and I will have to intervene as soon as your two minutes are up.
4 Nov 2025 · Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria · Hansard source
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Order. Just before the hon. Gentleman responds, I remind Members that the Minister will speak at quarter past 4. The Minister is entitled to 15 minutes. I know other Members wish to speak; however, that is the way we must operate. I remind the hon. Member of that.
4 Nov 2025 · Cross-border Healthcare · Hansard source
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Order. Although there is no time limit, four more Back Benchers wish to speak and we are going to move on to the Front Benchers at half-past 3, so I ask Members to bear that in mind.
3 Nov 2025 · Public Office (Accountability) Bill · Hansard source
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Today is the culmination of over three decades of determined advocacy and persistence by a dedicated group of campaigners in search of social justice, many of whom are in the Gallery and were referred to by name by the Prime Minister. I wish to put on the record my thanks and admiration to all those who, in many cases, have put their own lives on hold in their search for justice—a justice denied for so long to so many people. It should not have taken this long, and we are still not quite there yet. But a significant milestone has been reached, and I thank the Prime Minister for his commitment today and his commitment to ensuring that the Bill will not be watered down, and I thank the ministerial team as well. The time has arrived to deliver on the promises made to the families and friends of the victims of so many scandals that have damaged the integrity of so many of our institutions. Put simply, those institutions involved in cover-up, disingenuity, duplicity, deceit, manipulation, artifice, contrivance and silence, among other descriptors, have been found wanting, to say the least. Hillsborough, the Post Office, infected blood, Grenfell Tower, Windrush, Orgreave, the Manchester arena, and no doubt many others, have dishonoured those institutions but not necessarily, of course, all the many dedicated people who work in those institutions. I am pleased that my right hon. Friend the Justice Secretary has also given his commitment that the Bill will not be watered down. I am pleased that Ministers have given a commitment to work with families to improve the Bill as it goes through Parliament. The Bill is not an end in itself, per se. There will, of course, be the drafting of the code of practice for public officials, which will need input from families to ensure that the provisions of the Bill will be built upon. That has been referred to by the hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) and the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright). It is fair to say that after so many years of disappointment and disillusionment, campaigners have every right to be guarded, cautious and possibly sceptical as the process runs its course, but I know that many Members in this House and the other House will examine the Bill closely with commitment and passion. I started by putting on the record my thanks to the campaigners, and I reaffirm that. I would like now to put my thanks on the record to other campaigners, including lawyers, associated professionals and so many others who have been there all the way. As a blue, I rarely, if ever—in fact, never—thank a red for anything. But as long as we keep it in this Chamber and it does not go public, I will make an exception or two. First, my red hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne) has, along with another red, the Liverpool metro Mayor Steve Rotheram—I am getting a bit anxious now—worked to push this process along in partnership with the families, but I know the input and guidance from a blue, Manchester metro Mayor Andy Burnham, has been invaluable. Dare I say it? Liverpool 2—Everton 1, but it is still not full time. It goes without saying that my right hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Garston (Maria Eagle) has been a long-standing advocate for this legislation. Her contribution was witness to that tenacity, as her work has been over decades in this House on this matter. Liverpool FC’s legendary manager Bill Shankly said, “For a player to be good enough to play for Liverpool, he must be prepared to run through a brick wall for me then come out fighting on the other side.” The survivors and the families of the victims of those scandals I mentioned and others have faced and broken through so many brick walls and are here, remarkably, still playing. I hope that their fight has now, at last, come towards an end. I hope that this legislation will be a living monument to all those who have lost lives, livelihoods, loved ones and freedom. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and thank you to all the campaigners to whom we owe so much.
28 Oct 2025 · World Stroke Day · Hansard source
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Does my hon. Friend agree that organisations such as the one he mentioned, the Stroke Association and others have a vital role to play in bringing these matters to the attention of this House for as long as it takes?
28 Oct 2025 · Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease · Hansard source
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This must be one of the safest places in the Palace, with at least three medics and a vet in the Chamber. My constituency has been designated a pride in place area. One of the aims of that programme is to create safer, healthier environments. Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a great opportunity in those areas, which include an area of her constituency, for funding to be used in a lateral way for local community initiatives such as those that have been highlighted during the debate? There is real opportunity for those initiatives to be tested out, with local people making local decisions.
28 Oct 2025 · Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease · Hansard source
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It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Efford. I find it difficult to believe that the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) was a big fat pudding, but I suspect that even if he was, no one would have really noticed, given his charm and personality—I say that in all sincerity, as he knows. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) for being the driving force behind today’s debate. She has indicated that “people do better in more equal societies.” To some extent, as she made clear, that goes to the heart of what we are discussing. I will not repeat what she and other Members have said, but I will briefly discuss inequality in relation to my constituency. I also thank the British Liver Trust for its comprehensive and incredibly enlightening briefing on the issues that we face, which put into context the impact of those issues on our constituents. We are talking about individuals—mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and children—whose lives can be destroyed by this dreadful condition. My hon. Friend set the scene in relation to that. Time and again, the trust reinforced that fatty liver disease is a silent killer that is on the increase and clearly has been for a considerable time. To put that into context—some figures have been mentioned—there are about 19,000 deaths each year across the country. If my maths is right, that is about 52 deaths every day. In my constituency, that would equate to about 29 deaths a year, but I suspect the figure would be much higher if health inequalities were factored in, given that the rate of the disease is five times as high in the most deprived areas, of which mine is one. The figure in my constituency might be five times that amount —100 or 150 deaths a year. We should take into account that the average age of death is 61 for men and 62 for women, which, in this day and age, is really no age at all. In men, the chance of death is twice as high as in women. In that context, it is also important to emphasise that nine out of 10 cases of liver disease could be prevented. I hope that this debate will enable the calls to action by the British Liver Trust and by hon. Members to be heard in relation to prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and tackling inequalities. Perhaps the most sobering issue, which my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West touched on, is the level of fatty liver disease in our children. She indicated that as many as 40% of children are affected in the more deprived areas, whereas in less deprived areas it is more like 14%—and even 14% is far too high. I am pleased that my hon. Friend has enabled us to look at this issue in more depth. I look forward to the responses from the Opposition spokespeople, the hon. Members for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson) and for Winchester (Dr Chambers), and of course my hon. Friend the Minister.
21 Oct 2025 · Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry · Hansard source
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The Minister has reiterated time and again that victims must be at the centre of an inquiry. Will she tell us what she intends to do to ensure that that aim is fully implemented?
16 Oct 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source
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As a current member of the Panel of Chairs, may I say what a wonderful job you do in this Chamber, Mr Speaker? [Laughter.] Will the Government set aside some time to debate an issue of concern to me—why National Highways has declined to replace a bridge on virtually the busiest road in Merseyside, leading down to the Liverpool port? The A5036 Park Lane has 40,000 vehicles a day going down it, which is considerable at peak time. I am concerned that we need to tease out why National Highways felt it inappropriate to replace a bridge when there is a school, a church, a day centre, a hotel and a shopping centre all nearby. That is a concern, and we need to debate it.
15 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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T5. Will the Minister give an update on the work of the defending democracy taskforce, please?
2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Q14. I pay tribute to the veterans of the Royal Naval Association Crosby branch who are in the Gallery today. Gabe Santer, a 15-year-old, fell to his death from a multi-storey car park in Liverpool in 2020, one of the many to die in such tragic circumstances, including in my constituency. My Multi-Storey Car Parks (Safety) Bill seeks to prevent such deaths. Will the Government look carefully at its contents as part of a national suicide prevention strategy?
1 Jul 2025 · Business Energy Supply Billing: Regulation · Hansard source
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If gentlemen, or anybody else, want to take their jackets off, feel free to do so.

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