Rebecca Long Bailey MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 19 Jun 2025 · Water Safety Education · Hansard source

  More

  indicated assent .

• 19 Jun 2025 · Water Safety Education · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) and the Backbench Business Committee for securing this important debate. I also thank Michael Wardle, who is a Royal Life Saving Society UK lifeguard, and his team at the Helly Hansen watersports centre in Salford for their dedication to saving lives in Salford. I had the pleasure of meeting them, and their passion for educating about water safety was inspiring. In Salford Quays, countless lives have tragically been lost as young people head to the water, unaware of the dangers within. It is a ship canal, so it is incredibly deep and littered with underwater obstacles. The area is now monitored by CCTV cameras and joint council and police patrols in hot weather. Under-18s caught jumping from bridges or illegally swimming will receive a police warning, and adults will be issued with a fixed penalty notice. But that still does not stop people crowding to the quays on days like today, looking to cool off or have fun with their friends. The sad thing is there are supervised open swimming areas in the quays—areas that can offer a safer swimming environment, but they are only open at limited times and are not free, which bars too many young people from them. There is one simple thing that the Government could do to ensure that my constituents are safe, and that would be to provide just a little funding to open up these supervised lifeguarded swim areas to the public for free and for longer during the summer months. That way no young person is tempted to risk their life in dangerous areas when they can have full access to a supervised one. Secondly, as we have heard, water safety education is critical. While it is a statutory requirement that children are able to swim 25 metres by the time they reach year 7, evidence sadly suggests that the number of children receiving swimming lessons is declining. In 2024, the Royal Life Saving Society estimated that over 140,000 children left primary school without these vital lifesaving skills. There are also inequalities in those statistics. Staggeringly, Sport England found that 50.4% of children from low-income families could swim 25 metres in year 7, compared with 85.8% of high-income families. Barriers to the statutory provision include limited pool access, transportation costs, logistics, staff shortages and cultural and religious barriers. It is critical that the Government secure water safety education on the national curriculum for England as a statutory requirement, but also that they ensure schools are provided with dedicated ringfenced budgets so they can meet that requirement. Thirdly, I would like to draw attention to a quite staggering fact. I met my local fire service in Salford recently and learnt of the amazing work its dedicated firefighters do to save lives and keep us safe. I met the water response team, which I thought—naively, like much of the general public—was just part of its service. It is not. They do it because they are good people, not because they are funded to or required to. While there is a public perception that the fire and rescue service is responsible for responding to water rescue incidents and engaging in water safety education and prevention, there is no statutory duty on it in England to do so. However, statutory duties do exist in Wales. The fire and rescue service responds to 999 calls and inland water rescue incidents using its existing general powers and resources. It scrimps and saves from existing budgets to try to resource the lifesaving equipment it needs, rather than that being allocated. As a result, the resource and the coverage are patchy, and firefighters often train in water safety on their own time. I call on the Government to urgently adopt the National Fire Chiefs Council recommendations on this issue: to consult on establishing a statutory responsibility in England for inland water rescue response and prevention; to provide capital alongside continuous funding to support any new statutory duty introduced; to establish a clear lead Department with accountability for water safety prevention, mirrored at local authority level; and to update the reporting requirements of the incident recording system to more accurately record water-related deaths and injuries. To conclude, no parent should ever receive that phone call and no person should ever needlessly lose their lives when the asks on Government are so simple. I hope the Government will do all they can to urgently implement the measures that I and others have outlined.

• 17 Jun 2025 · Disabled People in Poverty · Hansard source

  More

  In my constituency, 10,000 people are in receipt of PIP or the health element of universal credit, and they are frankly terrified. Already more than 6.3 million people with a disabled family member live in poverty, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that the full impact of the Government’s measures could push an extra 400,000 people into poverty. It is also important to stress that, although the Government’s package of employment support is welcome, the number of people back in work will be nominal. The Learning and Work Institute estimates that only 1% to 3% of people who have their benefits cut will be helped back into work. While I recognise the dire financial situation that the Government inherited, balancing the books on the backs of the most vulnerable is not morally right when options such as taxing wealth more fairly are available. I should stress that that particular option has widespread public support, and indeed support from many millionaires themselves. I ask the Government to please do the right thing and scrap these cuts.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme: Capital Disregard · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for his tireless campaigning on this important issue alongside Irish community groups here in the UK. As he will know, thousands of survivors left Ireland for Britain, with huge numbers of them settling in the north-west. They were scarred by the physical and emotional abuse that they had faced, but they were also disturbed by the ease with which powerful institutions could abuse their power without question. Does he agree that more needs to be done to reassure survivors that those administering the scheme will be trauma-informed and act solely in the interests of survivors, and that those who apply for compensation will suffer no detriment to their current entitlements?

• 9 Jun 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

  More

  I very much welcome the Minister’s statement today—it is the right thing to do to lift pensioners out of poverty. I am sure that both he and the Chancellor also agree that it is right to lift children out of poverty, so can he reassure this House that he and the Chancellor are doing all they can to outline plans to lift the two-child cap on universal credit as soon as possible?

• 9 Jun 2025 · Social Housing Supply · Hansard source

  More

  9. If she will take steps through the spending review to increase social housing supply.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Social Housing Supply · Hansard source

  More

  I very much welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to social and affordable housing. I know that she will be concerned by the new analysis by the National Housing Federation, which finds that local authorities in England with the most severe shortage of social housing now have waiting lists exceeding 100 years for a family-sized social home. With nearly 6,000 people on the waiting list in Salford alone, will she outline what support she will give local authorities and the social housing sector to deliver desperately needed social homes?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Disadvantaged Communities · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton North East (Mrs Brackenridge) for her impassioned speech, which I very much associate myself with. Salford is the 18th most deprived authority in England, and that deprivation is juxtaposed against immense growth: gleaming tower blocks, the highest productivity in Greater Manchester and 11,000 businesses—an 85% increase since 2010. So why is the growth that we have created not benefiting everyone? The Government should ask themselves that question. Although many of the strategies the Government have outlined so far—from housing through to our employment rights programme and the neighbourhood plan—are all very welcome, the Government can take immediate measures now, while they are waiting to develop their anti-poverty strategy, to help to alleviate the suffering that many families in my constituency face. First, it is welcome that the Government have suggested they will look again at the cut to the winter fuel allowance, but the detail must be fleshed out urgently to avoid the anxiety that many pensioners face in my constituency. On child poverty, only this week a report by Loughborough University showed that at least a quarter of children are in poverty in two thirds of areas across the UK. Experts found an extremely high correlation between child poverty and the two-child benefit limit. It is clear that the Government’s priority must be to scrap the two-child benefit cap and, ultimately, lift 470,000 children out of poverty overnight. Thirdly, on disability poverty, although it is welcome to have programmes to assist people into work where it is possible, cutting people’s support is not the way to incentivise that. It will push 250,000 people into poverty, and I urge the Government to rethink their proposals.

• 3 Jun 2025 · Thames Water · Hansard source

  More

  I note the Secretary of State’s reluctance to entertain public ownership, but I draw his attention to research from the University of Greenwich that shows that bringing water into public ownership would pay for itself within about seven years and that, after that, it would save the public purse up to £2.5 billion a year. Is the Secretary of State aware that immediately bringing Thames Water into special administration and permanent public ownership would cut the company’s massive debt mountain in half, stop the payment of huge dividends and debt payments into the future, and within just several years actually start turning a profit for the people of this country?

• 3 Jun 2025 · Groceries Code Adjudicator · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) for securing today’s debate and for his impassioned and articulate speech, which I very much associate myself with. I am quite staggered at how regularly our minds meet on the crisis of capitalism, although we do have different answers to it from time to time. I place on record my role as the chair of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union parliamentary group, and thank them for their extensive work on this issue over the years. As we have heard from the right hon. Gentleman, the groceries supply code of practice and the adjudicator, despite being well intentioned, miss the mark by quite a large margin in terms of protecting those whom they were designed to protect. The code applies only to designated grocery retailers whose annual turnover is more than £1 billion. It does not apply to indirect suppliers, cover pricing or consider the protection of workers throughout the grocery supply chain; and even with its limited powers, it has not issued a single fine. Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, agrees with the right hon. Gentleman that as a result of those deficiencies, the UK’s food system is on a precarious footing. It says that most suppliers producing and processing the food that ends up on our supermarket shelves are vulnerable to unfair purchasing practices, which can send competent businesses into bankruptcy, undermine competition and lead to a worse deal for consumers. As the bakers union says, there is a limit to suppliers’ ability to keep prices down through productivity increases from automation or sourcing cheaper inputs—a key factor in the horsemeat scandal. As a result, there is relentless downward pressure on labour costs, leading to attacks on the pay and conditions of workers employed in and across supply chains. In the four weeks to 18 May, grocery price inflation has jumped to 4.1%—its highest level since February last year. Of course, the reasons for that are complex, ranging from wholesale costs, to energy and ecological issues, all the way through to problems with the supply chain, but that does not mean that the Groceries Code Adjudicator can continue to ignore the important issue of excessive pricing. Sometimes there is a reasonable cause, beyond the control of the supermarket or supplier, but sadly, sometimes it is a result of aggressive cost cutting, asset stripping, and unsustainable leveraging strategies. There are long-running accusations that some of the big retailers and manufacturers have been using reduced competition and market leverage to set prices and, in turn, make excessive profits. For example, in 2023 wholesale food prices started to fall, with the World Bank saying they were expected to drop by 8% by the end of the year; but those falls were not reflected on supermarket shelves for some considerable time, which led to accusations of “greedflation”. Even the Tesco chairman suggested that suppliers might be at fault, telling the BBC at the time that it was “entirely possible” they were using high inflation as an excuse to raise prices unnecessarily. Of course, the major retailers and suppliers refute that, and the Competition and Markets Authority said there was nothing to find—nothing to hang their hats on—but large profits and record executive pay and shareholder payouts were juxtaposed against a backdrop of high food inflation and food insecurity. Most people were perplexed, and rightly so. The Competition and Markets Authority might not have found widespread market abuse per se, but there remained a fundamental issue of fairness. Is it right to report bumper executive pay and shareholder dividends at times when consumers and the wider supply chain are struggling? Last November, interestingly, the Competition and Markets Authority’s second report on pricing suggested that manufacturers had been raising the cost of first infant formula milk higher than was necessary to cover inflationary costs. It was not the Groceries Code Adjudicator that instigated action. Some supermarkets themselves responded by slashing the cost of formula, but the fact is that the Groceries Code Adjudicator should have had the powers to intervene earlier and to regularly monitor price fluctuations to identify emerging issues. It should not have taken a one-off CMA investigation to uncover that unscrupulous price hike. If the Groceries Code Adjudicator cannot investigate and robustly intervene to protect suppliers, producers or consumers when it is clear that the pricing structure of a supermarket or a major supplier pricing structure is putting the short-term interests of shareholders above the wider public interest, and if it cannot respond to emerging issues, outline measures to help families facing hunger and protect the sustainability of the UK grocery supply chain, what is the point of the Groceries Code Adjudicator? There are a few recommendations that I have made to the Minister on which I would like an update. I hope he will take these points on board. First, a new groceries regulator authority with beefed-up powers should be established with a wider responsibility to protect the sustainability of UK suppliers and the interests of consumers. It must apply to the whole sector, not just to those with a turnover of more than £1 billion. The new regulator should be given the power to introduce price floors and ceilings to protect suppliers and consumers from aggressive pricing tactics and exploitative price gouging. There must be an investigation across DEFRA, the Department for Business and Trade and the Competition and Markets Authority into the impact of private equity acquisitions of UK groceries retailers and manufacturers on the security and sustainability of the UK food supply chain. We must restore and extend sectoral collective bargaining for workers employed in the UK food supply chain. Finally, we must introduce a statutory right to food in UK legislation and address the root causes of insecurity. As the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings rightly set out, consumers should not be forced to buy their goods from major retailers if they are the only retailers in town. We have to provide an economic framework that supports suppliers and producers and ensures that people enjoy a diversity of shopping experiences and diversity in pricing so that we have a sustainable UK food sector.

• 8 Apr 2025 · Horizon Redress and Post Office Update · Hansard source

  More

  Salford precinct’s busy Crown post office is a vital lifeline for residents and businesses alike, especially for those who collect their pensions and benefits in person. Put simply, closing it in favour of a franchise would cause local economic and social devastation, especially if services are reduced and staff are let go. It would also put that service at the whim of the franchisee, which, as we know from the recent case of WH Smith, causes great uncertainty and insecurity. What is the Minister doing to guarantee that Salford retains all its existing post office services and staff in this geographical location, and what alternatives has he considered or will he consider in favour of shelving franchising?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Eating Disorder Awareness · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I thank the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) for her fantastic, articulate and passionate speech, and for the work she has done, along with the rest of the all-party parliamentary group, on this very important issue. According to Beat, at least 1.25 million people in the UK—that is one in 50 people—are living with an eating disorder. As we know, eating disorders are complex health conditions that are often misunderstood or undiagnosed, which often prevents people from reaching out for help. Even when somebody is brave enough to reach out for help, or they reach a crisis point that requires intervention, they often struggle through a complex and underfunded system that does not provide the comprehensive help they need. As we heard, in January the eating disorders all-party parliamentary group published a stark report that stated that NHS admissions for eating disorders exceeded 30,000 for the first time in 2023-24, that eating disorder services have become worse rather than better over the past few years, and that some NHS trusts are discharging patients with a body mass index of less than 15 and even as low as 11.1. The most recent report from Beat, “There’s No Place Like Home”, found that, worse still, only one in seven NHS areas in the UK provides the recommended level of intense community and day treatment for children, young people and adults, with 6% offering that for children and young people only and 10% offering it for adults only. Those are staggering statistics but, as we know, behind them lie the real human stories, which highlight the inadequacies of the system as it stands and the heartbreak that the individuals and their families go through. Over the years I have dealt with a number of cases. A few years ago there was a particularly harrowing case of a teenage girl whose weight had dropped so low that she was in a life-threatening crisis a number of times, but nearly every time she needed hospital admission her family were informed that no specialist beds were available. In one instance, she was offered a bed on a general paediatric ward, where staff were not trained in dealing with eating disorders. She was put on a refeeding plan, but because there were no specialist staff, she did not eat anything significant and her weight dropped even further. In another instance she was offered a bed on an adult psychiatric ward, which is a frightening place for any teenager, and in another the family were told that there were simply no beds available and that if they were really worried about her, they should just go straight to A&E. The situation has not improved in recent years. I have a story similar to the one we heard from the hon. Member for Horsham (John Milne). A local resident in Greater Manchester is in a state of crisis, but the only available bed they have been offered is in Glasgow, away from their family support system, which is essential to their long-term recovery. The Royal College of Psychiatrists is clear on the causes of the crisis. It says: “Services are struggling to manage demand partially due to chronic staff shortages, historic underfunding and a lack of resources. They must be provided with additional funding so that they can meet the needs of patients and carers both now and in the future.” It is certainly welcome that the Government have recently responded positively to the reports by the APPG and Beat, but I would be grateful for more clarification from the Minister on a number of recommendations—namely, on implementing a national strategy, which we heard about from the hon. Member for Bath; on additional funding for eating disorder services to address demand; on a confidential inquiry into all eating disorder deaths; and on non-executive director oversight for adult and children’s eating disorder services.

• 26 Mar 2025 · Spring Statement · Hansard source

  More

  There is so much to welcome in today’s statement, but the Chancellor will be aware of serious concerns regarding welfare reform. A constituent told me last week: “I’m terrified of what will happen to me if I can’t work. I’m already having thoughts of suicide at the prospect of these changes and what they will mean for disabled people.” Today’s impact assessment shows a 250,000 increase in the number of people living in relative poverty and a 50,000 increase in children living in relative poverty. What will the Chancellor do to stop this from happening?

• 17 Mar 2025 · Women’s Changed State Pension Age: Compensation · Hansard source

  More

  One of the datasets that the Government rely on to make their assertions, specifically the 90% figure, actually includes women who were not born in the 1950s. Can the Minister give us an exact figure as to how many women in that 90% category responded to the survey?

• 17 Mar 2025 · Women’s Changed State Pension Age: Compensation · Hansard source

  More

  Will the Minister give way on that point?

• 17 Mar 2025 · Women’s Changed State Pension Age: Compensation · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. I thank the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for her passionate speech. My friend, the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes), made a very pertinent point earlier: the fundamental issue here is Government accountability—the ability of this place and citizens to hold the Government to account when they get something wrong. What we are seeing today is that accountability mechanism—that framework —being demolished before our very eyes. If the mechanisms that have been developed to hold Government to account are rendered impotent, which is what has happened to the ombudsman, that damages the very heart of democracy itself. That is how important this issue is. The ombudsman was clear: these women suffered injustice, and compensation was owed to them. It was also clear that the Government should act on that, and it made the very rare decision to place its report, not before the Department for Work and Pensions, but before this place. It did that because it felt that the Department—under all Governments, not just this Government—was not capable of delivering justice for the women affected. And it was right, because what we have seen is a complete dismissal of the injustice that these women have suffered. Now, I do not believe that that is the intention of the Minister or of the Government, but they have the opportunity now to change course. There is a very real prospect of a High Court judicial review. That will result in significant legal costs on the part of the Government—legal costs that they will have to justify to the taxpayer, given that the ombudsman’s report was very clear that compensation was owed. So will the Minister now look again at the case for compensation? [Graham Stringer in the Chair ]

• 17 Mar 2025 · Women’s Changed State Pension Age: Compensation · Hansard source

  More

  I completely agree with the right hon. Member. The all-party parliamentary group on this issue has extended an invitation to the Minister. We will of course widen the invitation to include women’s groups in accordance with the right hon. Member’s suggestion. The invitation is there. That would be a very good starting place because ultimately the only justice that can be secured is justice that involves the women themselves. To listen to what they want to propose to the Government would be a good starting place. I want to ask the Minister a few questions. Given the prospect of a High Court judicial review, presumably when issuing the decision not to compensate, the Government must have carried out, if they were acting diligently, a legal risk assessment of the prospect of the success of potential future legal action. If that is the case, will the Minister place before the House a copy of that legal advice so that we can see what the Government considered at the time? Does he accept the ombudsman’s proposal that Ministers and MPs intervene to ensure justice is delivered, and does he agree that it would be prudent for the Government to make time for a parliamentary debate so that MPs across this House can have a vote on the issue on a non-partisan basis, as was intimated by the ombudsman? Finally, will the Minister look again at the case for compensation? As I have stressed, I do not believe it is his intention to undermine democracy; nor is that the intention of the Government. Given the prospect of legal action, now would be an opportune time for the Minister to meet the groups that are campaigning on behalf of women and look at the different compensation mechanisms and mediation proposals that have been suggested.

• 4 Mar 2025 · Plan for Neighbourhoods · Hansard source

  More

  It is welcome that today’s plan finally delivers on the unmet promises made to communities through the last Government’s long-term plan for towns, but since the selection methodology in that plan was delivered, Pendleton in Salford has sadly lost its only leisure centre and pool to fire, which has left a community who were already starved of leisure facilities with nothing at all. Will the Minister meet me to discuss what help the Government can give Salford to ensure that this vital facility is rebuilt as a matter of urgency?

• 25 Feb 2025 · Groceries Code Adjudicator · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick) for his fantastic speech. I draw the House’s attention to my role as the chair of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union parliamentary group, which I thank for its helpful briefing. As we have heard, the UK grocery sector is shaped to a large extent by the huge concentration of power in the hands of the major supermarket retailers, which are competing to achieve the lowest prices and the biggest profit margins on key goods, but there is a limit to suppliers’ ability to keep prices down through productivity, automation or cheaper input costs. The story that the hon. Member told was about the pressures faced by farmers, but there is also often a relentless downwards pressure on labour costs, which has led to attacks on the pay and conditions of workers employed across supply chains. This race to the bottom has resulted in a proliferation of low-paid and casualised jobs, and the growing exploitation of agency and migrant workers. Surveys of food workers conducted by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union show that in-work poverty has spiralled in recent years, with food workers worrying about feeding themselves and their families. At the same time, staggeringly, the supermarket chains have continued to report huge profits and dividend payouts to their shareholders. We have also seen rocket and feather pricing: because of wholesale cost rises, the price of key items is increased excessively, but when those wholesale costs come down, the price on the shelf does not come down in tandem. The role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator is therefore an important one. The GCA has helped to tackle some of the most abusive practices, such as unreasonable short-notice terminations of contracts, abusive promotional practices and other failures of compliance with the code. But sadly, as it stands, the GCA cannot intervene to protect suppliers or consumers when it comes to supermarket pricing. This puts the short-term interests of shareholders above the wider public interest. In this context, I have a few suggestions for the Minister to consider. First, the existing powers of the GCA should be incorporated within the remit of a new groceries regulatory authority, with a wider responsibility to protect the sustainability of UK suppliers and the interests of consumers. The new regulator should be given the power to introduce price floors and ceilings to protect suppliers and consumers from aggressive pricing tactics and exploitative price-gouging. Secondly, a sectoral collective bargaining framework for workers employed in the UK food supply chain should be restored and extended, to ensure decent pay and security. Finally, a statutory right to food should be introduced in UK legislation, to protect consumers and address the root causes of food insecurity. I will finish by drawing Members’ attention to another matter of concern, which is the impact of private equity acquisitions on UK supermarket chains and food manufacturers. As FoodChain magazine recently put it, “Under private equity ownership, the strategic focus often shifts towards short-term profitability, which can lead to decisions that are not always aligned with long-term market positioning. For example, cost-cutting measures may involve reducing staff, limiting store refurbishments, and cutting back on product variety.” There are a couple of examples of major supermarket chains engaging in those practices recently, and many fear that it is just the tip of the iceberg. To that end, I would also be grateful if the Minister considered launching a joint investigation, across the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Business and Trade and the Competition and Markets Authority, about the impact of private equity acquisitions of UK grocery retailers on the security and sustainability of the UK food supply chain.

• 12 Feb 2025 · Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

  More

  The Secretary of State will be aware that clause 80 removes the existing right of individuals not to be subjected to solely automated decision-making processes unless it involves a category of special data. In practice, this might mean that journalists could have their data processed through ADM, which could pose significant risks to their sources. What reassurance can he give me that these concerns will be explored and assessed as the Bill passes through the House?

• 5 Feb 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

  More

  The statement is extremely welcome. In Salford, our core spending for 2025-26 will increase by 8.7%. That is above the national average, but it is still less than the 14% we have had to increase our adult social care budget by to meet higher costs. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government must move quickly on multi-year settlements and up-to-date assessments of councils’ funding needs?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  As a United fan, I hugely welcome the economic and social benefits that the Old Trafford redevelopment could bring to the city of Salford. How will the Chief Secretary require those who are awarded contracts to do all they can to employ, train and retain local people, and to ensure that that ethos is mirrored across supply chains?

• 15 Jan 2025 · Women’s Changed State Pension Age: Compensation · Hansard source

  More

  It is incredibly worrying. I do not want to test your patience, Dr Murrison, so I will draw my comments to a close by saying this to the Minister. He must be aware that the ombudsman made the rare choice to lay this report before Parliament because it was not reassured that the Department for Work and Pensions would act on its recommendations, and it was right to have that fear. The Minister must understand that although many of us in this place wholeheartedly welcome the Government’s apology to the impacted women and acknowledge the difficult financial landscape the Government find themselves in, state-level injustice is state-level injustice. It cannot be ignored, and an apology alone is not sufficient. A remedy must be forthcoming to address the clear and apparent injustice that these women have faced.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Women’s Changed State Pension Age: Compensation · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes), who—as I know from working with him on other campaigns—is quite the social justice warrior, contrary to popular belief. I fully align myself with the comments he has made. I also welcome the new Minister to his position. We have high hopes for him in this place. When the ombudsman finally confirmed last year that the Department for Work and Pensions was guilty of maladministration, that these woman had suffered injustice and that they were entitled to compensation, we thought that was it—case closed; the next step would be what a redress mechanism would look like. Of course, many felt that the ombudsman’s report had not gone far enough, but we had the firm expectancy that the previous Government, and later this one, would at the very least act on the ombudsman’s recommendations, as would be the usual course of action. So when the Government finally issued their response, it was met with shock—shock that despite the clear findings of state-level injustice, these women were to be denied justice; shock that the ombudsman’s findings that too many people did not understand their own situations was ignored by the Government; and shock that while, on the one hand, maladministration was accepted, the recommendations of the ombudsman were rejected in full, without alternative proposals being set out or there being an opportunity to vote or debate the matter in Parliament, as the ombudsman intimated. There were also fears, as colleagues have stated, that a precedent might now be set on observing an ombudsman’s proposals. Usually, when a state-level injustice is found, a Government of the time will act on an ombudsman’s proposals or outline their own alternative ones.