Sarah Coombes MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 May 2025 · Independent Sentencing Review · Hansard source

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  I am amazed by the gall of the Conservatives, who left our prisons in utter crisis, failing victims. I thank the Lord Chancellor for her work. Five years ago, my constituent Diane had her world changed when her husband was killed by a driver who was on her phone. Not only did the driver do that, but the first call the driver made was not to 999, but to her sister. When the driver is released from prison, she will have a four-year driving ban, but Diane and her family have had their lives devastated forever. Can the Minister set out that, as we take this necessary action to fix our bursting prison system, we will make use of lengthy restrictions and lifetime driving bans for those who cause death by dangerous driving?

• 15 May 2025 · Vehicle Registration: Compliance · Hansard source

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  I recently spoke to a roads policing officer about drivers who use illegal number plates, such as ghost number plates that cannot be read by police and speed cameras. He told me: “The scale at which this problem now exists is frightening. These plates are on every street, in every town and they are being used to openly commit offences and evade capture, in the knowledge there’s very little we can do about it. The problem is only getting worse, posing huge danger on our roads. We need to toughen up the law urgently”. Will the Minister set out the action she is taking to increase the penalties for using these ghost plates to at least £1,000 and six penalty points, and put an end to this number plate wild west that is endangering our streets?

• 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.

• 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 .)

• 6 Feb 2025 · Criminal Justice System: Use of Technology · Hansard source

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  7. What assessment she has made of the potential merits of the use of technology to improve efficiency in the criminal justice system.

• 6 Feb 2025 · Criminal Justice System: Use of Technology · Hansard source

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  We have seen a sickening rise in predators using AI technology to generate child sexual abuse images. I am glad that the Government recently announced measures to close the loopholes in this area, but will the Solicitor General assure us that the whole criminal justice system is using every new technology and AI, as well as tough sentences, to crack down on it and protect children and victims of this horrific abuse?

• 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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  It has been a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I appreciate the very moving contributions from everyone in the room. The right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton), talked about the James Brindley Foundation and the “Knife Angel”, which we also had in Sandwell. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Edgbaston (Preet Kaur Gill) said that this is a public health crisis, which it absolutely is. The hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Manuela Perteghella) talked about Cody’s law, which she has been campaigning for. My hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) talked very movingly about the terrible case of Ryan, who was also killed in a nightclub. The hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) talked about the importance of youth clubs and his experience growing up in Aston. My hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss) talked about the west midlands being the knife crime capital of England; we need to change that. My hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton North East (Mrs Brackenridge) talked about her experience in school and the impact it can have when there are horrendous incidents nearby, such as those involving Ronan and Shawn. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) talked powerfully about the impact on women and girls of knives being used in sexual violence and the case of Natalie, which is extremely tragic. My hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Tom Collins) talked about the importance to young people in his area of tackling violence. I appreciate everything that the Lib Dem spokesman, the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Luke Taylor), said as well. The Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Stockton West (Matt Vickers) talked about welcoming the commitment to reduce knife crime by 50%, which is good—although our views on the figures about police in this country differ. I appreciate the Minister talking about how one of the top missions of this Government is to make our streets safer. That is about putting more resources into policing and about how we get those knives off our streets. I am glad that we are reviewing every bit of the current legislation and looking at the gaps regarding online retailers and how people are still getting these knives. Personal liability for the people who are selling them is absolutely essential. I am also glad about the work of Idris Elba and others around the coalition to tackle knife crime. It was great that the Prime Minister welcomed that coalition to the Cabinet table in September to tackle this issue. If we fulfil our commitment to halving knife crime in a decade, the rewards will not just be lives saved, but higher levels of trust in our communities, streets that feel safer and town centres that are more successful. The prevention of knife crime is not easy. There are no quick fixes for this, but it is our duty to try. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the prevention of knife crime in the West Midlands.

• 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.

• 27 Nov 2024 · Respect Orders and Antisocial Behaviour · Hansard source

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  Residents in Kenrick Way, in West Brom, dread Friday and Saturday nights, because selfish people race their cars up and down the street, causing deafening noise and extremely dangerous crashes. This has been going on for years and years, despite the efforts of Sandwell council and the West Midlands police. What will today’s announcement do to stop the racers and give residents in West Brom some peace and quiet?

• 14 Nov 2024 · Violence Against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  Last year, over 3,000 women in Sandwell were victims of domestic abuse. Getting cases through the justice system quicker is vital to breaking the cycle of abuse and protecting victims, so can the Minister set out further what the Government are doing to make sure the police and prosecutors work together to tackle domestic abuse?

• 14 Nov 2024 · Violence Against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  1. What steps she is taking to help increase prosecution rates for cases in relation to violence against women and girls.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Small Boat Crossings · Hansard source

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  People in West Brom are appalled by these criminal smuggling gangs. Does the Minister agree that the last Government wasted £700 million on the totally failed Rwanda scheme? Could she set out how the new Government are going to fix the situation?

• 10 Sept 2024 · Courts: Victims’ Experience · Hansard source

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  For victims, giving evidence in a court can sometimes be a very difficult and distressing experience, which is why they sometimes prefer to give evidence via video link. Can the Minister set out what steps the Government are taking to ensure that more victims can give evidence via video link across our country?

• 10 Sept 2024 · Courts: Victims’ Experience · Hansard source

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  6. What steps her Department is taking to improve the experience of victims at court.