Rachel Taylor MP: speeches

Speeches

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

  More

  rose—

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West and Pudsey (Rachel Reeves) for delivering a Budget with fairness and action to tackle the cost of living at its core, and one that will make work pay. Having sat through this debate for about eight hours, it is interesting to observe that Members on the Labour Benches are giving a voice to those vulnerable children living in poverty, while those on the Conservative Benches are simply standing up for those who own mansions. That is the difference. I am pleased to see that around 1,990 children in my constituency of North Warwickshire and Bedworth and nearly half a million children across the country have been lifted out of poverty, and that the degrading rape clause has been removed from child benefit. That will be the biggest change a Government have ever made to child poverty in a Parliament and it is the right thing to do for children. I know that everyone in my area will be pleased to see the £150 off their energy bills too. That is the difference our Labour Government are making to the cost of living for ordinary families. In a coalfield community such as mine, we carry immense pride in our heritage. Standing up for former mineworkers in North Warwickshire and Bedworth is personal to me. My grandad Bill was a miner at Birch Coppice, and I grew up understanding the dignity, sacrifice and solidarity that defined that way of life. That is why I am delighted that the Government have taken the long-awaited decision to return the British Coal staff superannuation scheme surplus to its members. The last Government allowed that injustice to continue for far too long. I have campaigned tirelessly for that measure, alongside my colleagues who represent coalfield communities and have lobbied hard for the Government to do right by BCSSS members. I am immensely proud that this Government have listened to the voices of my constituents who were impacted by that unfairness. Earlier this year, I held an event for BCSSS members in my constituency. Ray Sweet, Andy Callow, Don Jennings and others shared with me the years they spent working in and around our mines. I am delighted to be able to tell them that they will finally receive the full pension they worked so hard for. I also met a woman who joined the National Coal Board at 16. She worked for years from 5.30 am to late in the day to ensure mineworkers got paid on time and at the end of their shift. Women like her, who supported the mining industry behind the scenes, have often gone unrecognised and underappreciated. I hope they now feel the recognition they have long been owed and the nation’s gratitude for their work to keep our lights on and our homes warm. I know that for many this comes too late, and I remember them too. I thank the Chancellor for abolishing the bingo tax. I visited Palace Bingo in Bedworth last week and met the owners, Pete, Donna and Paul, who took over the family business. It was great to see the investment they have made; there are new toilet facilities there has been a total renovation. They provide safe entertainment for hundreds of people every day of the week in Bedworth, and I know how much people in my constituency enjoy a good night out at the bingo, as do I. It is right that they are exempted from bingo tax, and that online gambling pays the price for the harm it causes. Finally, I have listened carefully to farmers in my constituency. They know that I have passed on their concerns to the Treasury, so I am pleased to hear the Treasury’s small concessions. I want to reassure the residents of North Warwickshire and Bedworth that this Government are on their side. For all my constituents, I am feeling positive. There is work to be done, but this Budget will continue to bring the change that we promised at the general election. The damage left by 14 years of austerity is finally being undone. This Labour Budget is putting money in the pockets of those who need it most, delivering healthcare for everyone, providing opportunities for young people, unlocking growth, delivering new homes, reducing energy bills, reducing business rates for hospitality and retail, putting more money in people’s pockets to spend in local businesses, giving us pride in our towns and powering our future. That is the difference a Labour Government can make.

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

  More

  Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

  More

  As the right hon. Gentleman seems to care so much about those who are not in education, employment or training, why did he allow 88,000 young people to become NEETs, and is he proud that when he left office, almost 1 million young people were not in any form of employment, education or training? Is this not the worst kind of hypocrisy?

• 24 Nov 2025 · HMP Downview: Female Prisoners · Hansard source

  More

  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 24 Nov 2025 · HMP Downview: Female Prisoners · Hansard source

  More

  May I ask the Minister whether the violence experienced by women, in prison or not, is generally committed by cis men, not by transgender women? Does she agree that this is simply a way of fuelling culture wars and is not helpful in protecting women or any LGBT people, who are experiencing an increase in violent hate crime?

• 18 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

• 18 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  Could the Minister reassure my constituent and others like her that the Government are doing everything they can—

• 18 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  Last year, over 1,000 former mineworkers in North Warwickshire and Bedworth benefited from this Government’s historic decision to release the surplus from the mineworkers’ pension scheme. Now, members of the British Coal staff superannuation scheme, such as my constituents Ray Sweet, Don Jennings and Andy Callow, are seeking that same justice. I held an event with the BCSSS members in my constituency, at which I heard from a woman who joined the National Coal Board at 16 and went to the mines at 5.30 in the morning to ensure night shift miners got their pay packets. Could the Minister reassure—

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

  More

  Does my hon. Friend agree that what has locked young people out of the housing market over the last 14 years is not the existence of stamp duty, but the astronomical rise in house prices? They have gone from being around three times a first-time buyer’s income to more like 10 times in constituencies like mine and his.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

  More

  I will be a little clearer on Labour’s principles: we will not be joining the Conservatives in the voting Lobby because we will not vote for unfunded tax cuts that predominantly serve the wealthy and do nothing to help first-time buyers or ordinary working people up and down the country.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

  More

  I am not saying whether stamp duty is a good or a bad tax. I am saying that I do not support simply abolishing it without any thought about the impact that that will have on the poorest people in our society. The Tories have dressed up this fantasy tax cut as standing up for first-time buyers, but as a former property solicitor, I can tell them for a fact that that argument is completely false. In my constituency, a first-time buyer purchasing a property at the average price pays no stamp duty. This tax cut would be of no benefit to them whatsoever.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

  More

  The right hon. Gentleman is being generous with his time and is putting forward interesting points. It surprises me that nobody on the Opposition Benches brought these points forward in the 14 years they were in power. Stamp duty land tax is not a new tax; it is a tax that went up under the last Government, yet the Conservatives had brought forward no proposals on it until this unfunded announcement at party conference a few weeks ago.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

  More

  I will make some more progress. The average property sale in my constituency would see buyers buying for the second or subsequent time paying between £2,000 and £3,600. That is not an insignificant amount of money for sure, but it is just a tiny fraction of the cost of buying an average home. Comparing that with the kind of house bought by, say, the average Tory party donor—perhaps a £2 million property in central London—we see that such a purchase would attract stamp duty of more than £150,000. That is who this massive Tory tax cut would be helping—not first-time buyers in my constituency, but London-based millionaires. Let us be clear that this whopping Tory tax cut would overwhelmingly be spent on the wealthiest in our society, while sucking money out of our public services and local communities. It would do nothing to help young people to get a foot on the housing ladder, while giving a whopping tax break to some of the richest people in our society. Let us be absolutely clear that this is not a tax cut for working people; it is a tax cut for the wealthy. It would take money out of our public services and our local communities, while doing nothing to help young people get a foot on the housing ladder. The Conservatives claim that they have changed, but this latest plan shows that they have not learned a thing. It is the same failed ideology, the same unfair priorities—austerity 2.0—and would cause the same harm to my constituents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth and right across this country.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

  More

  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

  More

  No, not at this point. We have been here before with the Tories. They tell the public they can slash the state without any downsides, but the next thing we know is that our local library is being shut down, our local swimming pool goes with it and our vital services such as the NHS and schools end up in crisis. My constituents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth have suffered 14 years of austerity once, and they do not want to suffer it a second time. Let us look at some of the real facts about stamp duty.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

  More

  The shadow Chancellor would have us believe that the Conservatives have changed, and that the days of Liz Truss and her disastrous mini-Budget are behind them, but we can all see that nothing has changed. Once again, we see the same reckless attitude towards the public finances—cutting public expenditure to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest without being honest with the British public about who pays the price. The shadow Chancellor tells us he can fund this Liz Truss-style tax-cutting bonanza by making £47 billion in spending cuts. I simply ask him: if these fantasy savings are so easy to find, why did the Conservatives not make them during the 14 years they were in government?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

  More

  Would the right hon. Gentleman agree that Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget impacted on working families up and down this country, resulting in the astronomical mortgage interest rates that they are still struggling to fund?

• 27 Oct 2025 · Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for leading this debate. Many of my constituents, including Helen, Lauren, Laura and Kayleigh, have written to me, and Helen asked me to raise this point in particular. When she went on maternity leave, she needed support from her partner. One in four women has a caesarean birth, and the physical recovery can often take six weeks, yet their partner must return to work after only two weeks’ paternity pay. That is why we need the wide-ranging review. It is heartbreaking for mothers and fathers, who are left in a difficult position, with mothers sometimes unable even to lift and carry their young child.

• 23 Oct 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  It is time to end the taboo around the menopause. Today’s Government announcement that menopause will be included in the 40-plus health check is a huge step in the right direction. It will mean that women across my constituency of North Warwickshire and Bedworth will get the medical support that they need. However, we must go further so that every woman gets the support that she needs in her workplace. Will the Leader of the House support a debate in Government time on how to work across Government to ensure that managers, departments and businesses give all women the support that they need in the workplace in order to thrive?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Pride in Place · Hansard source

  More

  The Conservatives hollowed out our communities and Reform is exploiting it, and yet this Government are helping communities like mine to thrive. We have already had the announcement of our £20 million in the towns fund. We have set up our Believe in Bedworth board, because my residents believe in their town, and the chair of that board has said that he feels energised to have a hand in shaping the future of his home town. We have already had thousands of responses to our survey and are organising a family fun day on 25 October. We would be delighted if the Minister could join us for that. Can she outline how the £1.5 million of impact funding can help to turbocharge the groundbreaking work already being done by Nuneaton and Bedworth borough council to bring empty properties back into use?

• 14 Oct 2025 · Postural Tachycardia Syndrome · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for raising awareness of this very important condition. It is, as always, an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I am here because, like everyone else, I have had several of my constituents raise the problem of diagnosis taking far too long, the crippling impact that this condition can have on their lives and the difficulty that they face in accessing healthcare. As chair of the all-party parliamentary group for sport and physical activity, I particularly want to raise the impact that PoTS has on people’s ability to continue to play the sport that they love. It may be that, because they are not being diagnosed, they think it is something that will impact their ability to continue their ordinary, everyday life. It is not right that diagnosis takes on average seven years. We must put more effort into and more emphasis on diagnosis and treatment.

• 15 Sept 2025 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The Women and Equalities Committee heard compelling evidence earlier this year about misogyny in the music industry. That is exactly one of the areas where people who are classed as “workers” need protection, so I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue.

• 22 Jul 2025 · Black Country Day · Hansard source

  More

  I applaud my hon. Friend’s love of the Wolves. Does he agree that one of the best football players from the Black Country was Jeff Astle, and that it would not be right for Black Country Day to go by without us commemorating Jeff’s place in the world of football?

• 22 Jul 2025 · Black Country Day · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend may know that I bought my very first house on the edge of the Black Country, within hearing distance of the Baggies’ home ground. I want to celebrate the Black Country’s very own orange chips. The orange chips are said to date back to world war two, but who knows? The best orange chips are always fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside, but they have a very secret ingredient. Would my hon. Friend like to share what that secret ingredient might be? Would she agree that chips on their own are fattening enough, bab, without making them the orange-battered kind we can only get in the Black Country?