Sarah Coombes MP: speeches

Speeches

• 30 Jun 2025 · Welfare Reform · Hansard source

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  My borough, Sandwell, has one of the highest rates in the entire country of young people not in education, employment or training. This generation of young people have been let down by years and years of system failure by the Conservative party. As we go through this necessary piece of reform, we must do it carefully. Will the Secretary of State commit to working with the Department for Education and the Department for Business and Trade? For young people to get the jobs that will transform their life chances, they will need the right qualifications as well as needing the jobs to be available.

• 26 Jun 2025 · G7 and NATO Summits · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for his leadership in representing us around the world in the last two weeks—exactly where he should be. Does the Prime Minister want to remind the Conservatives that it was a Labour Government who last spent 2.5% of GDP on defence, and can he set out how increasing our defence spending will keep our country safe and support high-quality manufacturing jobs in West Bromwich and the whole nation?

• 23 Jun 2025 · UK Modern Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  The Black Country has been an industrial powerhouse for hundreds of years; it is famous for making everything from the glass in the White House to the Big Ben clocktower and the chemical odorant that people will smell when they turn on the gas hob. Will the Secretary of State set out how this 10-year plan for industry will support Black Country manufacturing businesses with lower energy prices and upskill the next generation of people for these highly skilled, well-paid jobs? Would he like to visit one of my brilliant businesses in West Bromwich?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Regional Growth · Hansard source

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  May I welcome this Government’s £2.5 billion investment into the west midlands? It will allow our Mayor Richard Parker to make strategic decisions such as the extension of the tram, enabling my constituents in West Brom to get to east Birmingham, which is fantastic. Does he agree that that will drive growth not just in Birmingham, but in the Black Country and the entire west midlands?

• 20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source

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  I spent this morning with British metal manufacturing businesses, which are so important in my constituency and across the west midlands. Like so many other sectors, this industry welcomes the deal, particularly the emissions trading scheme linkage and the steel safeguarding that will boost jobs, boost trade and cut red tape. Does the Prime Minister agree that this deal firmly backs UK manufacturing and metal industries, and will he continue to bang the drum for them here and around the world?

• 15 May 2025 · Solar Farms · Hansard source

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  Last year, I got elected on a Labour manifesto that pledged to make Britain a clean energy superpower that will create jobs, cut bills, boost our energy security and reduce the carbon emissions that are killing our planet. I have had so many conversations with people in West Bromwich who agree that it is a no-brainer. If we continue to rely on oil and gas from abroad, we will be at the mercy of spikes in prices, with the whims of foreign dictators affecting the energy bills of ordinary families in Britain. Our renewable energy from solar, wind and wave power is free. We have heard passionate arguments from hon. Members who are concerned about solar farms. As an MP from an industrial urban area, it is not my job to speak for MPs representing rural communities, but I do want to challenge the idea that solar energy is somehow a threat to our countryside. In fact, solar takes up about 10 times less land than that given over to golf courses. My dad is a big golf fan, so I am not attacking the golf industry, but if solar is threatening our food security, are golf courses not doing the same? Solar is also helping to restore nature, according to research by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Cambridge University, which found that solar farms contained a greater number of bird species than the surrounding arable land. A few hon. Members have asked why we do not just put solar on rooftops. The Government are also doing that. The Black Country, which I represent, is a proud manufacturing area, and as we look out across West Bromwich and Oldbury, we can see huge numbers of factories and industrial roofs.

• 15 May 2025 · Solar Farms · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member and I have nearby constituencies. The companies in my constituency that put solar on their roofs will see their energy bills reduce, and they could put more energy back into the grid. They think this will be a big benefit to their businesses. There are no formal estimates of the amount of factory roofs in the Black Country, but to take a local example, William King, one of West Brom’s longest running metal processing businesses, has 29,000 square metres of warehousing facilities—that is almost three hectares of rooftop that could be used to generate solar power. It has already made a start installing solar panels, and I hope that the 300 or so other manufacturing businesses in my constituency will soon follow suit. Lighting up the Black Country with solar will drive local growth, create new jobs, build new skills and power industry in our manufacturing heartlands. There are still many challenges to the private sector making the most of the solar opportunity—many of which the Government are working to address—including upgrading the grid so that factories can give away excess energy to local schools and delivering quick new grid connections. We also need to make the business rates system even more pro-solar. At the moment, if a business installs solar panels on its roof and consumes all that electricity itself, there should be no increase to the rateable value. However, local businesses have raised concerns that if they generate excess energy through their solar panels and want to sell that back to the grid, their business rates may increase. That creates a disincentive for companies to install maximum numbers of solar panels and generate additional clean energy. I met my hon. Friend the Minister just last week, and we had a good discussion about the full range of options at our disposal to make rooftop solar the norm and not the exception. I am excited about what unleashing the full potential of solar across the Black Country and Britain could mean. It will reduce our exposure to fossil fuels and their volatile prices, end our dependence on international markets and ultimately bring down household bills. Across Britain, we are on the brink of a clean energy revolution. We should seize the opportunity to unleash the full potential of solar power across our country, including by lighting up the Black Country using our plentiful factory roofs.

• 1 May 2025 · Energy Prices: Energy-intensive Industries · Hansard source

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  My constituency has many brilliant metal manufacturing companies that supply critical UK industries in defence, automotive and construction. However, many of them are struggling because the last Government left us with sky-high electricity prices and a dependence on foreign gas imports. Last month, I launched Make UK’s new “Electrify Industry” initiative in Parliament, which seeks to address this broad challenge. Can the Minister set out how the clean power 2030 action plan will make industrial energy costs cheaper and help us drive growth in the west midlands manufacturing industry?

• 7 Apr 2025 · Town Centres: Population Growth · Hansard source

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  In Sandwell, we have almost 20,000 people on the housing waiting list—we desperately need more affordable and social homes. We also have a town centre in West Brom that is busy during the day, but very quiet at night, with no night economy whatsoever. Both of those challenges could be addressed through development of residential properties in the town centre. We have a few places earmarked for development, but that has completely stalled, so can the Minister say what more he can do to help West Brom to get building and build the homes that people need?

• 7 Apr 2025 · Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate · Hansard source

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  Jaguar Land Rover and its wider supply chain employ huge numbers of people in my constituency, so I am very glad to see the Prime Minister and the Transport Secretary backing our automotive industry so strongly today. This commitment makes clear our strong climate commitments, but also our support for the transition in the industry. Will the Secretary of State say more about how we will support demand-side change to get EV charge points across towns such as Oldbury and West Brom in my constituency?

• 3 Apr 2025 · UK-US Trade and Tariffs · Hansard source

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  West Bromwich is a metal industry heartland. We are home to the Confederation of British Metalforming and many brilliant exporting businesses are in the automotive steel and aluminium supply chain. This morning, I spoke to the chief executive of William King, one of those brilliant local businesses, and she was clear that the Government are right to remain calm and to work to do the deal. While Ministers are working towards that deal, what else can we do to support those businesses to continue to trade and invest with confidence?

• 18 Mar 2025 · Welfare Reform · Hansard source

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  Labour believes in the value and dignity that having a job gives people, but too many disabled people who want a job are being let down and trapped by the current system. Organisations such as SWEDA—the Skills Work and Enterprise Development Agency—in West Bromwich help people with disabilities and long-term conditions into employment with tailored, local support. Can the Secretary of State confirm that this package of reforms will support people into good, fulfilling work via local organisations, and that we will protect people with long-term conditions who will never be able to work?

• 26 Feb 2025 · Vehicle Registration Offences (Review) · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for a review of certain offences relating to vehicle registration marks; and for connected purposes. I thank the roads Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood), for being present today. When I was elected I did not expect to be a road safety campaigner, but since I became the MP for West Bromwich, family after family have come to me having lost a husband, a mother or a son as a result of other people’s dangerous driving. Our roads are used by millions of people every day. They are vital to our communities and our economy, and to keeping us connected. Most people drive safely and are just trying to take their kids to school, get to work or do the weekly shop, but there are some selfish people who use our roads as racetracks, who care nothing about risking other people’s lives, and who are evading capture by using dodgy ghost number plates. One of the central missions of our Labour Government is to “take back our streets” and restore a sense of safety to our communities. We have already invested millions in filling potholes to reduce danger, and I hope that we can now take action on something that is making our roads unsafe for all. The issue of so-called ghost plates was first brought to my attention when I was standing on Kenrick Way, a busy A-road in my constituency, with our local police and crime commissioner and the Secretary of State for Transport. We were talking about the nightmare car races that cause hell for local residents on Friday and Saturday nights, when as many as 50 cars converge on the area to race up and down that long straight road. The police and crime commissioner, Simon Foster, and local roads policing experts explained that it was increasingly hard to catch these dangerous drivers owing to the rise in ghost plates, or “stealth plates”. That was the first time I had heard of ghost plates, and I believe that today is the first time that they have been raised in the House. There has been little mainstream media coverage, but it is clear from TikTok and Instagram that they are widely known. I thank the former camera commissioners Tony Porter and Fraser Sampson, as well as Rob Gurney and Stuart Barnes, Chief Inspector Keeley Bevington and West Midlands police for their advice and their hard work over the years in bringing this issue to light. So what is a ghost or stealth plate? They look like normal number plates to the human eye, but they have a reflective coating, or have been interfered with in some way, which makes them unreadable to the infrared police speed cameras on our roads. Those who Google “ghost plates” will be presented with websites where they can buy a ghost plate online for as little as £30, making the vehicle “invisible” to the automatic number plate recognition cameras that police use to stop drivers speeding and keep our roads safe. Those websites are full of disclaimers reassuring us that they are perfectly legal—as long as we do not use them on the roads. The fact is, however, that they are being used on our roads, by people who want to speed around freely, run red lights, and do much worse. Right now, if someone has a ghost plate and they speed past a camera at 100 mph, the likelihood is that they will not be caught. It is illegal to use these plates, but the current consequences of being caught with one are far too insignificant. At the moment, the penalty for driving with a ghost plate is just a £100 fine—no points and no driving ban; just £100—and that is if they are caught. It is less than they would get for a speeding ticket. For those wanting to drive around recklessly on our roads, or commit even worse crimes, why would they not do so, when the penalty is so small? The scale of the use of ghost plates is not yet widely known, although we do know there are major issues with cloned plates and wider forms of dodgy plates. One study found that as many as one in 15 drivers may already be using anti-ANPR technology, but among some groups it could be even higher. One police exercise conducted in London examined more than 1,000 taxi and private hire vehicles, and found that 40% of those vehicles had ghost plates. Wolverhampton council—my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton North East (Mrs Brackenridge) is in her place—is one of the local authorities taking a lead on this issue. It is working with the police to use new types of cameras to find and punish drivers using these ghost plates. Rochdale trading standards has also been among the pioneers in combating these plates. Those organisations have done great work, but it is truly a national problem. I worry that the supply of ghost plates is making all our roads less safe. In the west midlands, 1,000 people are killed or seriously injured on our roads each year. Across the UK, the figure is 30,000 people. I have been working with the charity RoadPeace, which has helped constituents of mine when they have suffered terrible losses, such as Diane, whose husband was killed by a driver on her phone, and a family in Oldbury who lost their mother and grandmother when she was hit by a car that sped away. A couple of weeks ago, the RAC found that almost half of UK police forces have caught motorists driving more than 90 mph on 30 mph roads, and West Midlands police clocked a driver going at 100 mph on a 30 mph road. If a driver is using a ghost plate, most current police cameras will struggle to identify the car, and catch and punish the drivers. The police and local authorities are getting wise to ghost plates and investing in new technology to catch them, but right now it is too easy to buy one, and the penalties for getting caught are far too soft. There are also no consequences for the companies that sell the plates online with disclaimers about people not being allowed to use them on the road, when they know full well that that is exactly what they are being used for. This Bill calls for a review of the penalties for ghost plates. I think we need to see fines of £1,000 as well as six points on someone’s licence. The current fine of £100 is hardly a deterrent, but a £1,000 fine, the threat of six penalty points and potentially even vehicle seizure or licence disqualification would be ways to clamp down on the use and supply of ghost plates. That would not only make our roads safer, but ensure that our roads cannot be used to carry out crime. This issue also speaks to something wider, which is the immense importance of the little piece of plastic that is a number plate. That little piece of plastic upholds the rules of our roads—from traffic laws and speeding fines to car insurance, road tax and bus lanes. It also enables the police to track and arrest criminals using cars to flee the scenes of crime, and to move drugs and stolen goods. Yet this little piece of plastic is removable, modifiable, cloneable and almost entirely unregulated. The humble number plate, as surveillance camera commissioner Tony Porter called it, is under threat, because the national camera system used to keep our roads safe—ANPR—is being undermined by people using dodgy and ghost plates. It should be a basic right for all of us to feel safe as we walk, cycle or drive along our streets, but the reality is that too many of us do not feel safe. That is why the new Government have committed to publishing a road safety strategy—the first in over a decade—which I really welcome. The majority of drivers in West Bromwich and around the country just want to get from A to B safely, but a select minority of people think they are above the law, and that by using ghost plates they can get away with running red lights, drink driving, speeding and much worse. It cannot be right that these drivers are not facing the consequences of their actions, and are creating so much danger for everyone else, so I urge the Government to consider this Bill in their road safety strategy. The drivers using ghost plates have gone under the radar for too long, but now they have been rumbled, and it is time to crack down on them. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Sarah Coombes, Chris Bloore, Antonia Bance, Mrs Sureena Brackenridge, Sonia Kumar, Shaun Davies, Gurinder Singh Josan, Jacob Collier, Sarah Edwards, Paul Waugh, Rachel Taylor and Leigh Ingham present the Bill. Sarah Coombes accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 7 March, and to be printed (Bill 188). Business of the House (Today) Ordered, That, at today’s sitting, business in the name of the Leader of the Opposition shall be treated as being taken on an allotted day provided under paragraph (2) of Standing Order No. 14 (Arrangement of public business); such business may be entered upon at any hour and may be proceeded with, though opposed, for up to six hours after the start of proceedings on the Motion for this Order; proceedings shall then lapse if not previously disposed of; and Standing Order No. 41A (Deferred divisions) shall not apply.— ( Lucy Powell .)

• 13 Feb 2025 · Electric Vehicles · Hansard source

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  The future of the car industry is important to West Brom, and that future lies in electric vehicles. One of the key issues on the demand side is that consumers do not have enough confidence in second-hand EVs, despite manufacturer warranties and increasingly good battery life. What steps are the Government taking to improve consumer confidence when buying second- hand EVs?

• 30 Jan 2025 · Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  Manufacturers in my constituency are really excited about the upcoming industrial strategy and all the growth that will bring. However, steel and aluminium businesses in particular are concerned about the upcoming carbon border adjustment mechanism, the gap with the EU, and whether the whole system will be ready for implementation. If we do not get it right, the CBAM will have a big impact on our ability to trade and on growth, so can the Minister assure me she is going to be working with the Treasury to ensure we get this right and that it supports manufacturers in the west midlands?

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

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  The Minister and the Chancellor are absolutely right that more growth means more pounds in people’s pockets, which is exactly what we were elected to deliver and what the Conservatives failed to do for years and years. The west midlands is a car manufacturing heartland and I was delighted about the big investment today in electric vehicle infrastructure. Will the Minister say more about how it will be great for EVs, great for the green transition and brilliant for the people of the west midlands?

• 8 Jan 2025 · Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · Hansard source

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  I welcome the measures that the Secretary of State has set out to drive up standards and protect children. It is just a shame that so much cynical politics has been played in relation to the Bill in recent days. One of the best parts of being a new MP has been visiting local schools, from Yew Tree primary to Tividale Hall, and seeing smiling faces excited about the future. However, it is a sad reality that children in my constituency and across the country have been let down—not by their hard-working teachers, but by a system in which public services have crumbled, rising special educational needs and disabilities have gone unmet, and children have slipped through the cracks. A central mission of this Labour Government is to break down barriers to opportunity. Every child deserves the best start in life, but we know that the playing field is not level, and we joined the Labour party to do something about it. In Sandwell, 37% of local children are eligible for free school meals, compared with 27% of children nationally. Education should be the springboard that breaks the link between the circumstances of a person’s birth and what they can achieve, but something is not working. In Sandwell, we do not recognise the rosy picture painted by the Conservative party—that everything is great in schools and all teachers love their jobs. The 18-year-olds who left sixth form in July 2024 have spent their whole school career under a Conservative Administration, and in that time, GCSE and A-level attainment has completely stagnated in my area of Sandwell. Anyone who looked at a graph of level 2 and level 3 attainment locally under the previous Labour Government would have seen a steady climb. Children did better and better in school, but over the period of the last Conservative Government, that progress has ground to a complete halt. We have been stuck in a situation where the proportion of children in Sandwell attaining two A-levels or equivalent is 10 percentage points below the national average. That is not because children in Sandwell are not as smart as children elsewhere; it is because the system has not been working. This Bill will put more qualified teachers in front of classes, create a cutting-edge national curriculum, and give all schools the flexibility to recruit and retain the expert teachers our children need. We want our children to go to school in the right headspace—with hungry minds, not hungry bellies. That is exactly what this Bill will do, with breakfast clubs that will improve concentration, behaviour and attendance and help family finances. I also want to touch on something that is at the heart of this Bill: the fact that it is the single biggest piece of child protection legislation in a generation. While some are playing politics, we are taking action, introducing a register of children not in school and a unique number for every child and implementing multi-agency child protection teams. In the past six months, the Labour Government have done more for children than the Conservatives did in 14 years. This Bill protects children—their childhoods and their futures—and breaks down barriers to opportunity. That is why I will be proud to vote for it today.

• 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.

• 12 Dec 2024 · Business Confidence · Hansard source

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  Steel manufacturing is a vital west midlands industry, but business confidence is being dented by retrospective charging of steel safeguarding duties by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Companies that are affected in my constituency and elsewhere feel that such duties were unfairly and wrongly imposed on them during the chaotic Brexit transition period. They tried to work with the last Government, but got nowhere. Given the importance of the steel sector to British industry, will the Minister work with the Treasury to resolve the issue, and ensure that these vital businesses are protected from hefty bills that they should never have been sent in the first place?

• 5 Dec 2024 · Plan for Change: Milestones for Mission-led Government · Hansard source

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  In West Brom, one issue dominates all else: the fact that people are working harder and harder, but can afford less and less. That is the record of the Conservative party, who crashed our economy and oversaw the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. Can my right hon. Friend set out how the plan for change will make ordinary people better off and deliver exactly what people voted for in July?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Income Tax (Charge) · Hansard source

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  For too long, our economy has not worked for West Bromwich—low wages, low growth, broken public services, families unable to make ends meet and our huge potential going unfulfilled. That was the legacy of the Conservative Government, and that is why the country voted for change. Last week, finally, we saw a Budget that turns the page. I would like to thank the Chancellor for this historic Budget and talk about three things: how it looks after the finances of families in West Brom, how it gets our public services back on their feet, and how it will turbocharge growth in the west midlands. Last week, Labour’s Budget looked after ordinary families in West Brom. During the election, we promised that we would not put up taxes on working people—a promise that we have kept. Carers were being trapped in poverty by the weekly earnings limit, so we have raised it. Young people were doing the same work for less pay, so we are changing that. Perhaps most significantly of all, 12,000 workers on the minimum wage in Sandwell will receive a £1,400 pay rise next year. That is the difference that the Labour Budget makes. The Budget was also for public services and, critically, our NHS. In West Brom, our GP satisfaction rate is 15% below the national average. We have 80,000 people waiting for a hospital appointment and, absolutely scandalously, life expectancy in my area has been falling over the last 10 years. The Conservatives spent a decade destroying the NHS and now it falls to us to rebuild it. Last week, our Labour Chancellor gave the NHS a cash injection that will deliver 40,000 extra appointments a week, state-of-the-art new equipment, and support for our NHS staff, who have been pushed to breaking point. All that is futile without reform, and earlier the Secretary of State set out how we will achieve that. But the people of West Bromwich know that if we want a well functioning and modern NHS, we have to pay for it. We have made difficult decisions to do that. I finish by highlighting that the Budget was fantastic for the west midlands. It will support manufacturing jobs in the automotive industry, which is so important to the region. It secured the future of HS2 to Euston because people do not want to get on at Birmingham and off at Old Oak Common. It funded the extension of the metro to Brierley Hill and gives our Mayor, Richard Parker, a funding settlement for good bus services and local projects that will make a difference. Under a Labour Government, West Bromwich is going to see the change that my constituents voted for. I am proud that my party has delivered a Budget that fixes the foundations, protects ordinary people and rebuilds our NHS.

• 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.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  The Black Country has long been a manufacturing heartland, home to numerous businesses, large and small, that support thousands of good-quality local jobs. Given the Government’s commitment to supporting British manufacturing, will the Minister set out how the upcoming industrial strategy will support manufacturing businesses in the west midlands?