Sarah Coombes MP: speeches

Speeches

• 12 Mar 2026 · Hospitality Sector · Hansard source

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  Drivers looking for refreshment on the motorway have regular signs to point them to the available hospitality, but it is less easy for drivers of electric vehicles to see where they can get a coffee and a charge because of arcane rules that prevent EV signage on motorways. This is also a problem on A roads—one charge company told me it was quoted £150,000 to put up two signs on an A road. Given that many hospitality businesses have partnerships with EV charge providers, will the Minister work with the Department for Transport to change these mad signage rules and support hospitality and EV charging?

• 11 Mar 2026 · Public Body Data Collection: Sikh and Jewish Ethnicity · Hansard source

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  I am proud to represent a very large Sikh community in Sandwell, which is near my hon. Friend’s constituency. What she campaigns for—for ethnicity data about the Sikh community to be recorded—is really important for organisations such as the NHS as well as for Home Office data and crime data. We have suffered some very serious anti-Sikh hate crime in West Bromwich recently, which the community is very upset about, and I am standing with them against it. Can she say more about how recording this data will help not just NHS and health data, but other types of public data?

• 9 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. The situation we inherited at the election, with one in eight young people not in education or employment, is a national scandal and I am glad that this Government will put it right. In West Brom, there are lots of opportunities in the manufacturing sector, but lots of young people often think of a different reality when they think of factories. In fact, many of the jobs are high quality, well paid and involve modern machinery and robotics, and are not the back-breaking work that many think it is. What are the Government doing to ensure that jobcentres connect young people with the opportunities in all different sectors, particularly in manufacturing?

• 3 Mar 2026 · Spring Forecast · Hansard source

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  We have heard a lot about young people today, but in my constituency, the thing that young people really want is the chance to own their own home. For years, they have been locked out of that because of sky-high mortgage rates thanks to the policies of the Conservative party. I welcome the six interest rate cuts that this Government have overseen. Will the Chancellor elaborate on what more we are doing to help young people in West Brom get on the housing ladder and to bring down the cost of borrowing?

• 27 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Thanks to the policies of the Labour Treasury team, Sandwell will receive £1.5 million to smarten up our towns. Does the Chancellor agree that local people should have a say in how that funding is spent, and will she encourage people in Rowley, West Bromwich and Oldbury to fill in my survey about how we spend this Government cash?

• 20 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Last week, I met a mother from my constituency who told me a terrible story. In October, her daughters were taken by their father, supposedly for a day out at the fair, but they never came home. It seems he has abducted them and taken them out of the country, either to Afghanistan or to Pakistan. Can the Minister set out what the Government can do about these kinds of abductions, and will he meet me to discuss how we get these little girls home?

• 8 Jan 2026 · Road Safety Strategy · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for all her hard work on this strategy—I have no doubt that it will save lives. I have spent the last year campaigning against ghost number plates, which make drivers invisible to speed and police cameras. These plates are great for car racers and criminals and terrible for the rest of us. They have spent years going under the radar, but today they have been rumbled, and I am delighted the Minister has announced a massive crackdown on these plates. How soon will these dodgy ghost-plate drivers start to get penalty points on their licence and their vehicles seized for using these plates, and when will we start to see these MOT number plate checks?

• 8 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Guru Nanak gurdwara in West Brom recently suffered a horrible incident of anti-Sikh hate. An unidentified vandal ran past and dumped a bag of meat on the doorstep. As many Sikhs are vegetarian, that is obviously a horrible, offensive incident. Will the Leader of the House make time for a debate about how we reject that type of hate, how we protect our places of worship, and how we celebrate the contribution of Sikhs and all faith communities in our areas?

• 8 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. Happy new year, Mr Speaker. Traffic jams at junction 1 of the M5 are a nightmare for residents, businesses and West Bromwich Albion FC fans. We have already had a traffic light upgrade, which has improved things slightly, and the Government have now given Sandwell council yellow box enforcement powers, which I hope will ease things further. What more can the Government do to modernise our roads, ease the jams and get Britain moving?

• 6 Jan 2026 · BBC Charter Renewal · Hansard source

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  I spoke to representatives of BBC Arabic in Amman in the summer, and they talked about the fact that when cuts to the BBC meant that BBC Arabic radio was turned off in 2023, Russia’s Radio Sputnik stepped into that space and started broadcasting false and fake news in the English language. That is very worrying for us all, so we need a successful BBC renewal process that supports the BBC around the world.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Jury Trials Proposal: Impact · Hansard source

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  I have heard heartbreaking stories of women from my constituency who have waited years for their abuser to be brought to trial. The crisis that has developed in our courts is having a devastating impact on victims. Given that many of the previous reforms to judge, jury and magistrate trials over the past 50 years were also intended to speed up the system, will the Secretary of State outline how these proposed changes will fix the broken system and deliver swift justice for victims?

• 15 Dec 2025 · NHS: Winter Preparedness · Hansard source

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  The Government were elected to pick the NHS up off its knees, and that is exactly what we are doing by putting tens of billions extra into the NHS—that includes giving a 28.9% pay rise to doctors. That money is delivering a 20% reduction in NHS waiting lists in my area. However, despite that progress, families are worried by the spectre of these strikes and a surge in super flu. I know that the Secretary of State is working flat-out to support the NHS. Families in Sandwell can support the NHS at this time by taking up a vaccine, but what more can they do to support it?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Solar geo-engineering is the idea of injecting particles into the Earth’s atmosphere to dim or reflect the light of the sun and cool the planet, and it has been the subject of science fiction and conspiracy theories for many years. However, recent reporting by the respected Politico journalist Karl Mathiesen has thrown light on an Israeli company, which is developing technology that it says could halt global warming temporarily. Given the potential risks of the technology, may we have a debate on how Britain will work with other countries to regulate experiments with the Earth’s atmosphere, and to ensure that we co-operate with other countries on solutions that actually tackle the root cause of climate change?

• 25 Nov 2025 · COP30 · Hansard source

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  I was part of that same cross-party delegation to COP in Belém. We were proud to meet parliamentarians from all over the world who are absolutely invested in the COP process and still absolutely believe in its importance. I was struck by how many conversations we had about the UK’s enduring global leadership on climate change, from our landmark Climate Change Act in 2008 under the last Labour Government to our clean energy policies today. It is not just about driving down carbon emissions and climate change; it is also about Britain’s role in the world. Will the Secretary of State commit Britain to continuing to lead the way on driving down carbon emissions and saving our planet, and continuing to make the case that this action is making life in Britain for British people safer and cheaper?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Russian Ship Yantar · Hansard source

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  The first duty of any Government is to keep our citizens safe, which is why this Labour Government are delivering a historic uplift in defence spending, in stark contrast to the cuts of the Conservative Government. The Minister set out a potent example of the rising threats to our country. Will he say more about how our increased defence spending will keep us safe and support jobs in the defence industry, such as at the Westley Group in my constituency, which makes all the castings for our UK submarine fleet?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

• 20 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Ghost number plates are a scourge on our roads and must be tackled. Part of the problem is the thousands of rogue traders who are very happy to sell ghost and cloned number plates to criminals with no questions asked. Despite this number plate wild west, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has removed from its register only five businesses for the illegal sale of number plates in the past year. Can the Secretary of State reassure me that she is taking action to control the sale of number plates in Britain and crack down on the explosion of ghost plates on our streets?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Connected and Automated Vehicles · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree that the infrastructure needs to be in place and the benefits of autonomous vehicles need to be felt across the whole country—in coastal areas, but also in urban areas and towns, such as those that I represent. Car clubs have never reached their full potential in the UK—I think that is because of the cost and lack of density of vehicles—but if people could order an AV to their home and it was cost-effective, safe and reliable, I can see a world in which families do not necessarily need a second car, or perhaps a car at all. What plans do the Government have to harness the power of autonomous vehicles to complement, rather than replace, public transport and how could we use it to fill in the gaps? The main issue that I want to talk about is growth and the potential benefits that technology and automation on our roads could bring to the UK economy. The Government estimate that the automated car industry could add £42 billion to the UK economy by 2035, not least through 38,000 new jobs. This is a difficult topic because I know that many people who drive for a living are worried about potentially losing their jobs as a result of self-driving vehicles.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Connected and Automated Vehicles · Hansard source

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  I agree that exciting pilots are going on. I am sure Kettering and many other parts of the country could benefit. Wayve is an example of a company leading the way in helping the UK to become a global leader in this technology. Although the company was founded out of the University of Cambridge and is now based in King’s Cross, there is an unmissable opportunity for industry up and down the country. My own region of the west midlands is an automotive manufacturing heartland. Jaguar Land Rover produces the Jaguar I-PACE, the vehicle used by Waymo robotaxis. Some of the factories in my constituency make parts for Nissan, which has announced a partnership with Wayve for new AI driver software.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Connected and Automated Vehicles · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered connected and automated vehicles. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. Yesterday, I jumped in a car with a couple of other people near King’s Cross station. It was a pretty normal journey. We watched the world go by, chatted and got stuck in a bit of traffic. The journey was completely ordinary, except for one thing: the car was driving itself. That 20-minute journey represents the future of what our roads could look like, which is why I am pleased to be leading today’s debate. I originally applied for this debate for reasons related to road safety. I have met too many families in my constituency who have lost a husband or a mother through other people’s dangerous driving. I am fascinated by how automation and technology could help us to eradicate road danger and death, but getting deeper into this topic, my speech will focus on not only safety but accessibility and economic growth. Turning first to safety, in the UK, 30,000 people are killed or seriously injured on our roads each year. If we speak to the police, they will say that most deadly crashes are caused by the “fatal five”—speeding, drink and drug driving, mobile phone use, antisocial driving, and not wearing a seatbelt. I do not need to be a machine learning expert to know that automated vehicles, trained by safe, expert drivers and programmed to comply with the strict rules of the road, could avoid all five of those issues and the needless death they cause. A self-driving car is not going to be drunk, high or scrolling through TikTok. During the passage of the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, the last Government rightly put safety at the heart of the regulation, stating that a self-driving vehicle should be at least as safe as a competent and careful driver. There are still some questions about what exactly that means. In the US, where the roll-out of autonomous vehicles and robotaxis is far ahead of here, the safety statistics on automated versus human-driven vehicles look impressive. Waymo, the Google-owned company that runs self-driving taxis there, claims that its vehicles have 80% fewer injury-causing crashes compared with the average human driver, but within the human average there will be drivers who are neither careful nor competent, so these figures are quite hard to compare. What progress has the Minister made on expanding the safety expectations for automated and connected vehicles, and what is the timeline on the remaining regulations that need to be set out? Furthermore, what do the Government hope the safety gains from automated vehicles could be? Proving the reliability and safety of automated vehicles is essential for public acceptance of this new technology. Lots of people might feel reticent to get in a self-driving car because they do not feel safe, but I found my own experience yesterday in a Wayve autonomous vehicle reassuring. During the journey, we had cyclists jumping red lights, pedestrians walking out on to the road and other drivers cutting across our right of way. The car dealt with it all. The whole journey felt safe and smooth the whole time. Some critics say that these cars cannot handle British roundabouts because they were made for American grid cities. I can confirm that the Wayve car handled the roundabouts with ease. We had a safety driver sat ready to take the wheel if any issues arose, but none did. Other areas of safety are important to mention too. In a world where cyber-attacks are becoming more common and more devastating, there is a fear that fully connected and autonomous vehicles could be hacked. Could the Minister say more about that and the protections that are being put in place? Another key element is data sharing, particularly in the event of a collision involving cars that are either fully automated or have advanced autopilot systems. The latter is where a vehicle can steer itself, but drivers must keep their eyes on the road, ready to assume control if needed. Many of these driver-assist functions are important safety enhancers, and these functions, including things such as lane assist, should not be so easily turned off. However, in other countries, there have been examples of cars in self-driving modes where collisions have occurred, and companies have refused to share all the data with families and authorities. Is the Minister confident that we will not have the same issue here? My personal campaign this year has been to address the wild west that is the British number plate regulation system. The traditional number plate, as the public identifier or passport of a vehicle, has been mandatory since the Motor Car Act 1903, but they are still as important as ever—even more so for determining ownership in the era of driverless cars. Can the Minister, who is in charge of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, reassure me that he is looking at the gaping holes in regulation of number plates and the sale of vast numbers of illegal ghost and cloned plates?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Connected and Automated Vehicles · Hansard source

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  We have heard about all the different parts of this issue today: sharing the benefits of the future autonomous revolution UK-wide; the importance of public trust and uptake; accessibility and independence; and security and safety. We need the benefits to be shared nationwide—in Strangford, Weston-super-Mare, Kettering and beyond. The hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) made the good point that we need to look at regulation for autonomous vehicles beyond just that for road-based ones. My hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) made important comments about his university’s contribution in this space and the fact that we are often behind the curve on many of these things. On public trust and uptake, although I do not agree with the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) about how nice the roar of a diesel engine is, I absolutely agree that people are unsure about this development in the future. We need to address public trust issues and bring people with us on this journey. My hon. Friend the Member for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (Alex Mayer) made a very good point about making buses sexy for the public, and this issue is definitely part of that, and a way to increase uptake. The Lib Dem spokesperson, the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover), talked about demand-responsive transport, which is very interesting in the area of autonomous vehicles. On accessibility, my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher) spoke movingly about his wife and the experience of sight loss, about how autonomous vehicles can improve independence and be transformational and about how APS will knit together the network for the future. On security and safety, I am glad to have found a kindred spirit in the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Dr Pinkerton), who spoke about the importance of the humble number plate in this country and all the deficiencies of the system. The 10,000 cloning incidents he mentioned show how much we need change in the system. On insurance, the point was made that, ideally, if safety went up, costs and insurance premiums would go down. The Motor Insurers’ Bureau thinks that connected vehicles, which would mean that we could have a new system to detect whether cars are insured, could be helpful on that. There is also the issue of the number of cars with no registered keeper on our roads shooting up. That is driving up all our insurance premiums, because no one can work out who owes the money. In summation, I appreciate the Minister’s comments and the hope and opportunity we have in front of us. The Conservative spokesperson, the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew), is right that the previous Government laid good groundwork here. We need to build on it. We need to fix ghost plates and things like that in the current system. The UK is a leader in AI. We have always been leaders in automotive. Let’s embrace that, bring the two together and lead in the self-driving future. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered connected and automated vehicles.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Connected and Automated Vehicles · Hansard source

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  It is absolutely about creating a safe system for the future. If AVs are involved in an incident, will they be able to get to hospital? All those questions have to be talked about, as we begin to see fully driverless vehicles on our roads. One person who has benefited from new employment in the AV industry is our safety driver at Wayve yesterday. He told me how thrilled he was to have secured a job there. He spends at least six hours a day training and testing their cars around the streets of London, having formerly worked as a delivery driver.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Connected and Automated Vehicles · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. I represent many professional drivers myself, so I completely agree about the importance of the current systems working for them, as well as future systems working. I want to be clear about this. Given that full vehicle automation is decades away, I hope that we can provide reassurance that mass redundancy of drivers is not around the corner. People who drive for a living do much more than an automated vehicle could do, whether that is by supporting vulnerable passengers, protecting freight as a heavy goods vehicle driver or managing antisocial behaviour on bus services.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Connected and Automated Vehicles · Hansard source

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  Definitely. Safety has to be paramount. Britain is a leader in universities and institutes such as the Institute for Safe Autonomy, to ensure that as this new technology rolls out, it is safe and has public confidence. On accessibility, 30% of my constituents in West Bromwich do not have a car; they rely on buses, bikes, trams, trains, taxis, lifts and legs. We also have bad congestion problems. We do not want to see that made worse by a massive increase in vehicles on our roads. The dream is that autonomous vehicles could help us on both counts if we shape the future right. The Royal National Institute of Blind People has welcomed Waymo coming to London, saying that it will give those with visual impairments more scope for independent and spontaneous travel. Transport for West Midlands is interested in how we could integrate autonomous technology with our public transport system. How could we use driverless cars to fill in the gaps that buses and trains do not reach? I keep thinking about the possibilities of an automated dial-a-ride service—larger, disabled-accessible autonomous vehicles that can be ordered easily and work out optimum routes to drop off passengers. The staff on existing services offer valuable support and care to passengers with additional needs. This is not about replacing them; it is about adding extra capacity.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Connected and Automated Vehicles · Hansard source

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  It was very important that the Government intervened after JLR suffered a cyber-attack and went into full shutdown, because many businesses in my area rely on JLR. I agree that cyber-resilience has to be at the heart of this. I want the west midlands to feel the benefit of manufacturing the hardware and the vehicles that will be the self-driving cars of the future. What discussions has the Minister had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade about how to ensure that the west midlands and the whole UK realise the benefits of the autonomous vehicle boom? So far, the regulatory environment in Britain is very attractive to companies in this space because it is safe and sensible. The UN is responsible for much of the international vehicle safety regulations. Will the Minister reassure us that Britain will not diverge, putting us at a disadvantage, and that the remaining regulations being consulted on will not be delayed and hold us back? In San Francisco, robotaxis, as they are called, are a tourist draw. People travel from all over to see the future in action. Waymo has announced that the vehicles are coming to London but I would love Birmingham and the Black Country to be an early adopter of driverless taxi pilots too. Birmingham is the youngest city in Europe, full of innovation and entrepreneurship. Previous automotive revolutions have started there. Frederick Lanchester built what is considered to have been Britain’s first four-wheel petrol car in Birmingham in 1895. There is a reason why Birmingham is often called the workshop of the world. There have already been driverless cars zipping up the M6 through my constituency, training the vehicles on highway driving. I would love local people to experience that at first hand. I will finish, as I know others want to speak. Yesterday, I experienced the future of driving. As the automated steering wheel turned itself and we manoeuvred deftly and safely around packed and unpredictable London streets, it felt as if that future was being built on firm ground. As with any new technology, there are risks that must be managed, but the safety, accessibility and economic benefits could be huge. The UK Government have been leading the way. I know the Minister is certainly not in auto-pilot mode as we continue to shape the self-driving century that is upon us.