Sarah Coombes MP: speeches

Speeches

• 5 Mar 2025 · Antisocial Behaviour and Illegal Bikes · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I thank my constituency neighbour and hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for securing this debate about the scourge of these illegal bikes. They are a nightmare; they are intimidating; they are used for crime; they keep our residents awake at night when they tear up and down the roads; and they tear up our green spaces. Before Christmas, we had a terrible incident in West Bromwich when some lovely football fields in Charlemont were fine one day but the next day completely ripped up. A local football club, Bustleholme FC, had spent thousands investing in those pitches. In one night, a few people tore them all up; it was a disgrace. We have beautiful canals in the Black Country that people would like to walk along, but they cannot because they are terrorised by bikers going up and down, nearly knocking them into the water, which is outrageous. I am glad that this Government are finally going to do something about it. I briefly want to mention the related issue of ghost number plates. They are illegal number plates that look normal to the human eye but cannot be read by police automatic number plate recognition cameras. That means that people, including those using these bikes, can speed, run red lights and even carry out serious crimes, while evading being caught. Those number plates are currently too easy to get. If the police catch someone with them, the punishment is far too little. I worry that, if we do not clamp down on them, those ghost number plates will end up terrorising our communities in exactly the way the bikes have been doing for far too long.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Gambling Harms · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) for securing this important debate. When I first became involved in this issue, the huge focus was on reducing the harm from FOBTs, and on the fact that people were losing hundreds if not thousands of pounds in a matter of minutes. That battle was won, but less than 10 years on it feels as though we are living in a different world. So many bets are placed on phones at all hours, encouraged by push notifications, email marketing and free bets. We have to do more to ensure that the regulation keeps up with reality. I want to focus on two things: how to make online gambling safer and what should happen in the event of a tragic suicide. Almost three quarters of callers to the national gambling helpline said that they had struggled with online gambling. Last week, a High Court judge found that a well-known gambling firm sent a problem gambler more than 1,300 marketing emails, despite rules stating that companies should not advertise to high-risk users. In a world in which the data that companies hold on each individual is so granular, I do not believe that they are doing anywhere near what they could to detect patterns of problem gambling and meaningfully intervene. The High Court ruling makes a link between customer protection and the suppression of marketing, yet the previous Government told us that there is no causal link between marketing and harm. I ask the Minister whether the Department will look again at the issue in the light of the ruling. What further safeguards could be put in place to protect vulnerable and at-risk players from marketing? Gambling addiction is hard to talk about. Many people’s gambling habits are a source of shame, which pushes the issue further into the dark. I met Liz and Charles —who is in the Public Gallery today—a long time ago. They have been powerful campaigners for families affected by suicide. Their charity is calling for an independent investigation into every gambling suicide so that lessons can be learned and fed into regulation and improved public information. Unfortunately, too many families who have lost loved ones through addiction tell stories of how hard it is to get information from the gambling companies. Will the Minister work with the Ministry of Justice to look at what happens when a death has occurred and at how licensing conditions can encourage operators to be more transparent? For many people, including me, gambling means an occasional each-way bet on the grand national or buying a scratchcard, but there are 168,000 people in the west midlands who say that problem gambling is devastatingly affecting their lives. For them and for their families, we need to do more.

• 21 Jan 2025 · Knife Crime: West Midlands · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered the prevention of knife crime in the West Midlands. It is a pleasure to serve under your first chairmanship, Sir John. I want to open this debate by talking about a knock on a mother’s door—the kind of knock that too many parents have experienced and too many more dread. Last week, a woman from my area told me her story. She had already heard through friends that something had happened that night. Her sister was out searching the local hospitals. She had rung the police and been told someone would be there soon. Then she heard a knock on the front door. She said: “What happened to my son was what I was always worried about. He was the kind of person who always protected his friends. That’s what happened—he stepped in front of his friend to protect him and he was stabbed.” The loss of a child in this way feels too enormous to comprehend. She explained to me the ways it had affected not just her life but those of her other children: “My daughter is so angry, but she won’t talk about what happened. She feels there is no justice for her brother. She’s only in primary school but she’s self-harming.” We are here for this debate because we have got to stop this happening—families being shattered and communities destroyed by knives. It is my duty, as the MP for West Bromwich, to do everything I can to work with the police, schools, constituents and my community to stop this nightmare happening in the first place. In the west midlands, we have the highest rate of knife crime per capita of any region in England. But I do not want to talk about stats today. I want to talk about the stories of the victims, of those who live in fear, and even of those who have committed these terrible crimes. This debate is focused on prevention, so I will talk about the role that policing has to play in that, as well as intervention by schools, communities and families to keep young people safe. Last year, I went to a football tournament in memory of one of the young players, who was stabbed to death. I spoke to some of the teenagers there and was truly shocked by what I heard. They were angry and distrusted the police, but they still felt there should be more of them around. They felt trapped in places where crime was all around them. They felt they had no opportunities for a different and better life. One teenage boy said to me—I will never forget this—that he did not think he would live to the age of 22. This past week I got in touch again with the coach and asked for the young people’s thoughts on what the Government need to do to tackle knife crime. Here is some of what they said: “The gang violence and knife crime is getting worse in my area. We need more youth centres and funding to help stop this.” “Could we do more to stop youths from buying knives on the internet?” “Why aren’t there more police patrolling the town centres that are known for knife crime or gang violence? Our local area is getting worse and no one seems to care enough to do anything to help it.” “Education around knife crime should happen at a much younger age. A majority of young people don’t take it seriously because it has not happened to someone close to them, so maybe education needs to be by someone who has really suffered as a consequence of knife crime.” The mother I mentioned earlier felt similarly: “There is no support, no prevention—not enough youth clubs…It’s too easy to access these weapons. You can go and buy them online with no proof of ID. There’s nothing for young people to do now. My youth club provided experiences—things like white-water rafting. Now the youth clubs are all gone, social media has come in and crime is through the roof.” After years of cuts to policing and youth services, it is no surprise that we have not been able to turn the tide on knife crime. Our new Labour Government have shown important ambition in committing to halving knife crime in a decade. I would appreciate the Minister going into detail about how we plan to achieve that. The young people I mentioned identified some themes that get to the heart of the matter: visible policing as a deterrent, reducing access to knives, and early intervention and education. How are young people being involved in policy design to ensure that the action the Government take is effective? The police service in the west midlands was slashed in the austerity years. We still have 800 fewer police officers and 500 fewer police community support officers than we had in 2010. The knock-on effect of that is obvious. It is not just seeing police walking around our town centres and crime hotspots that keeps us safe, but police and PCSOs having the time and space to build key community relationships and gain the trust and vital intelligence that can stop crime. One of our most important pledges during the election was to restore neighbourhood policing, and I look forward to us having 13,000 extra officers and PCSOs across the country. As well as wanting to see police on our streets, people often raise with me the need for strong sentences to deter people from carrying a knife. Fundamentally, we have to reduce access to these legal weapons. On the rates of knife crime per capita, West Brom has the highest rate for possession of weapons in Sandwell. We had a dreadful incident before Christmas when young people were running round West Bromwich in broad daylight wearing balaclavas and wielding machetes. That was terrifying for the people who were there and has a huge knock-on effect on local businesses and the entire area. West Midlands police has set up the Life Or Knife initiative, which provides education in schools and allows people to anonymously report when someone is carrying a knife. Our police and crime commissioner has also funded weapon surrender bins across the region. But we have to cut this off at source. My local paper, the Express & Star , ran an award-winning campaign with a Wolverhampton mother, Pooja Kanda, to ban zombie-style knives and machetes. I applaud the paper for that important work and I fully support the Labour Government’s commitment to ban them. As the victim’s mother I talked about earlier said to me, online retailers must be held to account. Now that the ban has been in place for a few months, will the Minister say whether it is proving successful? In particular, what enforcement action is being taken against online retailers who deliver zombie-style knives straight to people’s homes? Police presence and reducing access to lethal weapons are important, but perhaps the most important thing of all is education, early intervention and constant support for young people who could get caught up in violence. Research shows that young people who are excluded from education are at greater risk of getting involved in violence, which is why it is so important that we do everything we can to keep young people in school. In the last few years, there have also been important programmes with organisations such as St Giles Trust that have supported young people at teachable moments, such as when they are in custody or A&E. But in too many cases the intervention comes too late—as in the next case I will talk about. This might be slightly unusual, but I will read the words of someone on the other side: a constituent of mine who went to prison for 14 years for his involvement in the murder of a man using a knife. His words are powerful and important, because, as we have heard, young people respond to others’ lived experience. When I asked him how he feels now about being involved in a knife attack that took someone’s life all those years ago, he said: “I feel so many emotions. I feel ashamed, I feel embarrassed, remorseful, unequivocally. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t my plan and I didn’t wield the knife. Ultimately decisions I made that night led to that and if I hadn’t made certain decisions he would still be here. I feel dirty for that...I don’t dream often but when I do they are bad dreams, violent, people trying to kill me...Whenever I see knife crime stories about mothers losing their sons it takes me back. It’s the ripple effects...the people whose houses back on to the park where it happened, the first responders, the guy who was walking his dog who found the body. All these lives are changed forever.” Having spent so much of his life so far in prison, he now wants to work with young people to stop them following the same path of violence. I asked him what would make the difference for young people now to stop them committing such a terrible crime, and he said: “It’s more than what to say, it’s what I’d do. The authenticity and realness and empathy is so important. You need somebody like me who has the life experience. So you can openly talk about their home life, parents, friends, family, hobbies, hopes and dreams. And build the trust and rapport. And show love…Take them on positive trips—take them places they’d never usually be able to afford and show them that this could be your life. It has to be a 24/7 thing, support all the time. That night of the offence when I would have reached out—it would have been late and you need someone to be there then. Not office hours and then they turn their phone off. You need someone to say ‘Where are you, I’m coming to you, stay where you are.’” There is so much more of my conversation with him that I think it would be useful for Members to hear, but there is not the time, unfortunately. I hope the Minister will address the importance of wraparound and consistent support for young people, and the need to make interventions and offer mentoring from a very young age, not just at the point when a child is suspended or already in trouble. My constituent’s key message about what will reduce knife crime is that we need “education from an early age, in the right way, delivered by the right people.” Knife crime does not just destroy families. It destroys communities. It destroys towns centres when people are afraid. My constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) could not attend this debate, but she asked me to reflect on the impact that knife crime also has on schools such as Wodensborough academy, where a pupil who was killed will forever be remembered. I am proud that this Government are so committed to stopping the nightmare of knife crime in our communities, and I see it as my role as the local MP to do everything I can to be part of that.

• 12 Dec 2024 · Disability History Month · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for securing this debate, during which we can reflect on the treatment of disabled people in the past and on how we can learn from the experiences of our constituents to shape a better future. As we focus on this year’s theme of disability, livelihood and employment, the optimists among us like to think that the arc of history tends towards progress. We have heard about the important 1944 and 1970 Acts, and the fact that 2010 was a landmark year in disability history, with the introduction of the Equality Act. Prohibiting discrimination against disabled people, the Equality Act is still one of the most progressive and long-standing legacies of the previous Labour Government. Unfortunately, in 2024, after 14 years of Conservative Government, it feels like we are going backwards. In March this year, the UN’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities found that we have a system that “devalues” disabled people and that which results in “hate speech and hostility” towards them. A fragmented and inaccessible system that undermines human dignity is not one that this Labour Government stand for. Today the disability employment gap—the difference in the employment rates for disabled people and non-disabled people—stands at around 25 percentage points in West Bromwich. That is slightly less than the national average, but it is still far too large, which is why I am pleased that the Government are addressing this disparity and listening to disabled people regarding how to do that. It is clear that the employment support system for disabled people is not working properly, which is why the Government’s recent White Paper has a focus on enabling disabled people to find long-term work and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock said, well-paid work that they can thrive in. I am glad that the Government are investing £115 million next year to deliver Connect to Work, a new supported employment programme to match disabled people with job vacancies. It is hoped that from 2026 onwards the programme will support nearly 100,000 people a year. I can think of many very qualified disabled people in my constituency who do not have the jobs that they deserve and would do well in. In the Budget, the Government also addressed an issue that affects many disabled people: the carer’s allowance. The previous cap was trapping people in poverty and penalising them like criminals for earning just a few pounds over the threshold. We have raised the earning limit on carer’s allowance, meaning that it is easier for people who are caring for loved ones, many of whom are disabled, to go out and work. We should be clear, though, about the scale of the challenge that many disabled people come up against when looking for work, or just going about their daily lives, whether it is the social barriers presented by other people’s perceptions of their disability or the physical barriers presented by public transport, as my hon. Friend mentioned. Disabled people are more likely to rely on buses to get around, but unfortunately our bus system is just not good enough. The new Government are doing something about that, and I hope the Minister will say more about that in his response to the debate. Unfortunately, the 45 bus service from West Brom to Walsall, which I campaigned to save, is still so unreliable that it often leaves passengers stranded or forces them to abandon their journeys; the loss of the 46 bus means that elderly and disabled people on Old Walsall Road now have to navigate an enormous hill; and the fact that there are no direct buses to the train station from Oakham means that many residents find it hard to work further afield, go shopping in the city centre or take part in sport. I will touch on sport, as other Members have, because it is worth mentioning areas where progress has been made. Of course, we have a long way to go to make sure that all sport is accessible, but I will pay tribute to a few people in my area. In West Brom, we are proud that our local football club is famous up and down the land, but there is one part of the club that is not so widely known. West Bromwich Albion are the reigning champions of at least one league—the national league premiership for powerchair football. Their goalkeeper and player-manager Chris Gordon, who has spinal muscular atrophy, has a career and livelihood that is centred on sport—not despite his disability but because of it. Another local champion of sporting opportunities for people with disabilities and learning disabilities was Norma Hyde from neighbouring Halesowen. In 1983 she set up Special Olympics Sandwell, for which this year she was rightly recognised in the King’s birthday honours list. Finally, Blind Dave Heeley—as he calls himself—is a local legend in West Brom. Having lost his sight at a young age, he committed himself to fundraising through sport. He recently cycled 1,000 km along the western front in Europe, and once did seven marathons in seven days on seven continents, becoming the first and only blind person in the world to achieve this. In the process, he raised millions of pounds. Of course, not every disabled person needs to be inspiring, run marathons or be at the top of the league to deserve fulfilling employment, a decent livelihood and access to transport. As parliamentarians, we must put the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of what we do and work towards a future that is truly inclusive for everyone.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Black History Month · Hansard source

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  It is a privilege to speak in the debate and to follow such inspiring and educational speeches. The hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) has just left the Chamber, but she has been educating me for a long time; I did my year 10 work experience with her a long time ago. When October comes around each year, it gives us a chance to reflect on the incredible achievements and contribution of the black community. Of course, celebrating the black community should not be limited to only one month per year. As the chief executive officer of the West Bromwich African-Caribbean resource centre said to me earlier this week, they celebrate all year—from Jamaican independence and Windrush Day to music nights and fiercely competitive domino events. I want to recognise the contribution of the black community in my area of West Bromwich, Oldbury, Great Barr, Tividale and Rowley. After the war, Britain needed workers from across the empire to fill our factories, our foundries and our fledgling NHS. People from all over the world answered that call, including many from the Caribbean. They made their homes here; the roots that they put down are now deep, and their contribution over many decades is broad. The theme of this year’s Black History Month is reclaiming narratives, so I will share just a couple of stories from my area that speak to that theme. The first is about sport, and the story of West Bromwich Albion’s “Three Degrees”. The 1960s and 1970s were a hard time for many in the black British community; racism was rife and the National Front was on the rise. Football was no exception, with games marred by racism and prejudice against black players and fans. Around that time, three players at West Bromwich Albion were doing something exciting. The Baggies, under manager “Big Ron”, were the first English club to field three black players consistently in their lineup. In the 1978-79 season, the talented trio of Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson were an essential fixture of every Baggies side. The sons of Caribbean immigrants who came to Britain in the 1960s, they were among the first black players to play top-flight football in this country, writing their own story of struggle, success and stardom. Although that might not seem like a huge achievement today, three black players on one team was unheard of at the time. They were brilliant players in the face of the racism they endured—even sometimes from their own stands. At a time when racism in Britain was all too common, they broke down barriers for not only black players but black fans. This week I watched a great video by Richie Anderson, a Smethwick boy, an Albion season ticket holder and one of my favourite voices on Radio 2. Richie interviewed black fans about how much watching those players meant to them, and their testimonies were as poignant as they were powerful. I will also tell the story of a lesser known, but no less important, local hero. I am lucky to know her; she is one of West Bromwich’s strong, trailblazing women: Hyacinth Jarrett. Hyacinth had trained as a nurse in Jamaica but did not much enjoy it, so when she came to England she applied for a college course in hairdressing. She was the only black applicant to the course, and she had to persuade them to let her take the entrance test. She passed the test, completed the course and opened her business, Jarrett’s Hairdressers in Bull Street in West Bromwich, in 1970. Hyacinth ran that business for 40 years, during which time she was a pioneer in training people in the art of caring for black hair. Over the years, her talents and expertise were widely recognised. She was invited to work with Birmingham College and the University of London, eventually developing a module on black hair that was added to the national foundation syllabus for hairdressing. Hyacinth was one of the earliest members of the West Bromwich African Caribbean Resource Centre, which is where I first met her a few years ago. The resource centre and other local organisations such as the Kuumba Centre have contributed so much to the local community, and continue to campaign against the discrimination and disadvantage that black Britons sadly still face today. I am proud to have them, and so many other black-led organisations in my constituency. I look forward not only to working with them in the years ahead, but to sharing their stories, championing their achievements and helping to reclaim narratives. They have earned—and deserve—their place in British history.

• 10 Oct 2024 · Sport: Team GB and ParalympicsGB · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is an honour to make my maiden speech today in a debate that recognises the contribution of sport to our national life, and to follow two such inspiring maiden speeches. For most people, when they hear the words “West Bromwich”, the next word they think of is “Albion.” Unfortunately, that did not prove true for the Boundary Commission, which put The Hawthorns in the next-door constituency. But that does not change the special place that West Bromwich Albion holds in the hearts of my constituents. Our historic club puts us on the map, is one of the 12 founding members of the football league and, until last Tuesday night, was top of the championship table—let’s not talk about what has happened since. Madam Deputy Speaker, if you had looked up into the West Bromwich sky in 1878, when the team was first formed at George Salter spring works, what you would have seen all around you were clouds of black smoke coming from the forges, foundries and ironworks that powered the industrial revolution. If you had dug down into our earth, you would have found a black coal seam that fed our factories. That is how the Black Country got its name. We really were the engine room of Britain. And of course, in manufacturing towns such as mine, some of the most important people are the toolmakers. During the election, I must have met dozens of sons and daughters of toolmakers all over West Bromwich—and yet, strangely, none of them mentioned it. In West Bromwich, we are rightly proud of our industrial history, and that legacy lives on today in the vibrant manufacturing businesses in the area, from the fourth-generation family steel press company, William King—which supplies one of our midlands greats, Jaguar Land Rover—to Robinson Brothers, a chemical company that manufactures the tasty aroma you can smell when you open a jar of coffee, as well as the less tasty but safety-critical smell when you turn on your gas hob. After the war, Britain needed workers from across the empire to staff our factories, foundries and newly formed NHS. People from all over the world—India, Pakistan, the Caribbean and more—answered that call. They made their homes in West Bromwich, Oldbury, Tividale, Rowley and Great Barr. They put down roots, often against the odds. I recently went to the Shree Krishna mandir for its 50th anniversary celebration. People told stories and showed films of all those who struggled, fundraised and worked so hard to get the temple built and secure a base for the community. When I think about the landscape of my constituency, as well as the industrial skyline, the Rowley hills and beautiful Red House park, I think of the domes, minarets and spires of our places of worship. They include the langar hall of Guru Har Rai Saheb gurdwara, which offers free meals to all; the Sikh helpline based upstairs, which assists anyone who dials its number; the majestic Balaji temple; the grand All Saints church in Oakham, which is perched on top of the hill; and the Dartmouth Street mosques. They are an essential part of what makes my area what it is today: an exciting, creative and welcoming place. One of my old bosses, Sadiq Khan, used to say, “Our diverse communities don’t want to be tolerated; they want to be celebrated.” In my borough of Sandwell, that is how we do it. We do not just tolerate each other’s differences; we celebrate our cultural diversity. I was proud to show Sadiq around West Brom during the election campaign, and I think he was asked for more selfies there than he was in London. The thing I did not get to show him, but that I do love showing visitors, is our wonderful food scene, particularly our famous desi pubs, such as the Vine, the Rowley Bar and Grill, and the Red Lion. Not only is the food so good at the Red Lion that it is impossible to get a table on Saturday nights; it also has beautiful stained-glass windows that tell the story of Punjabi immigration to the area. What I love about Black Country people is the warmth, straightforwardness and willingness to get stuck in, whether that means the attendees at the regular cheese and wine afternoons at the Yew Tree community centre or the hundreds of people at my beloved Sandwell Valley parkrun every Saturday. I have noticed that the modern version of the tradition of each Member claiming to have the best constituency is now to claim the best and most beautiful parkrun, but I really do think that my own surely wins that prize—although the killer hills do not make it one for a PB. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to another parkrunner, my predecessor, Nicola Richards. Nicola worked really hard for the area—from her steadfast support for Albion fans and championing of an English football regulator, to arranging careers fairs for young people—and she was well respected for it. Our political culture can be adversarial, but Nicola and her team have been very generous with their time and advice since the election, which I really appreciate—they have even given us some of their office furniture. I would like also to take this moment to mention Nicola’s predecessor, a big figure in this house over many years, Tom Watson. Tom taught me many things: that people will think it is weird if you put butter in your coffee, that party civil wars are good for drastic weight loss, and that you probably should not call other Members of this House “miserable pipsqueaks”. He also taught me that the House of Commons can be an incredibly powerful agent for change, and that sometimes you just have to be brave. Tom was a fierce champion for West Brom and he was never scared to stand up for those who needed him. If he had not encouraged me with his sincere belief that being a young woman was a good and great advantage in a parliamentary candidate, I doubt I would be standing here today. I know what an honour and a responsibility it is to be sent here to represent my constituents. I come here to bang the drum for West Bromwich, Oldbury, Great Barr, Tividale and Rowley, and to demand the change my area needs. I will be a champion for our great midlands manufacturing businesses, which have so much to contribute to Labour’s national growth mission. That includes being on the cutting edge of green innovation, whether through getting solar panels installed on our acres of factory roofs or setting up training hubs for good green jobs. I worked at an environmental charity immediately before getting elected, and I think the task of shoring up Britain’s energy security and driving down emissions is an urgent one that is full of opportunity. Sandwell is a great place to live and work, but we face real challenges. Deprivation and poverty are too high, with families working hard but not being able to make ends meet. GP appointments feel impossible to get, buses are unreliable and our young people are not getting the chances they deserve. Almost half of children in Sandwell are leaving school without the qualifications to get an apprenticeship or go to college or university, and of all the boroughs in the UK, ours is the one with the highest proportion of people with no qualifications at all. It is a core aim of this new Government to break down barriers to opportunity; and for us, that mission is not just timely, but urgent. Let me end with one of my earliest memories: standing with my mum outside Safeway, handing out Labour stickers on the day of the 1997 general election. Thanks to my parents, even at the tender age of six I think I was aware that it was a moment of great national excitement and optimism about the future. Today our country faces huge challenges, but I am certain that just as the last Labour Government changed Britain, this new one will bring growth and opportunity right across our nation. It will be my job to be the voice and champion of the people of West Bromwich constituency as we deliver that mission, and I hope I can do them proud.

• 12 Sept 2024 · Water Pollution: Accountability · Hansard source

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  Our canals are the pride of the Black Country: they are very important to our communities, our wildlife and our tourism. Unfortunately, like the rest of the waterways, we have seen serious pollution incidents in the canals in recent years. What are the Government doing to protect our canals and waterways and clean up the failures of the last Government?