Sarah Olney MP: speeches

Speeches

• 28 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T5. More than 1.3 million people use lifetime ISAs to save for their first home. The property cap of £450,000 has been frozen since 2017, despite rising house prices, but those buying their first home over that threshold face a 25% penalty. First-time buyers across London are disproportionately affected. Data from February this year showed that the average price paid by a first-time buyer in London was £463,000. Can the Chancellor tell us how she is ensuring that first-time buyers in London are not unfairly disadvantaged by using this saving scheme?

• 11 Mar 2026 · Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation · Hansard source

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  In each year since 2023, Royal Mail has been fined by Ofcom over delivery delays, amounting to nearly £40 million. Following recent announcements, it would not surprise me if it were fined again in 2026. When Royal Mail was reprimanded in 2023 and 2024, its leadership promised that reforms would be made to improve its services, but following the £21 million fine in October 2025, the company said it could not publish its improvement plan until negotiations with the Communication Workers Union concluded. The takeover of Royal Mail, which this Government supported, seems to have done nothing to improve the service so far. Over the past several years, an average of roughly one in four first-class letters arrives late, and recent reports suggest that 219 million letters may arrive late this year. These letters are sometimes urgent and hold important information, so it is clear that Royal Mail is repeatedly failing to meet its universal service obligation. Despite that, its stamp prices have consistently risen. That includes next month’s planned rise of 10p to the cost of first-class postage, taking the cost of a stamp to £1.80. The sorry saga of Royal Mail has gone on for far too long. Does the Minister believe that the British public should be paying more for their postal service, despite Royal Mail repeatedly failing to deliver their letters on time?

• 2 Mar 2026 · Representation of the People Bill · Hansard source

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  I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. Does she not agree that, since the House voted in favour of my Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill which I presented in December 2024, and since the Labour party voted overwhelmingly for a motion to bring in proportional representation at one of its conferences, there is a wide acceptance that it is time to scrap first past the post, which does not deliver the results that people vote for? Is the Bill not an enormous missed opportunity?

• 25 Feb 2026 · Post Office Green Paper · Hansard source

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  indicated dissent .

• 12 Feb 2026 · Onshoring: Fashion and Textiles · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Jardine—there is nobody better to chair a debate on fashion, if I may say so. I thank the hon. Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet (Catherine West) for her excellent opening speech and all the wonderful points she made. I want to get slightly competitive for a moment: I admire her skirt, which her sister made, but I want to draw attention to the top that I am wearing, which I made myself—onshoring fashion in action.

• 10 Feb 2026 · UK Emissions Trading Scheme · Hansard source

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  5. If he will update the UK emissions trading scheme to reflect the carbon abatement costs of major projects.

• 4 Feb 2026 · Postal Services: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for South Shropshire (Stuart Anderson) for securing the debate and for his excellent opening speech, which highlighted so many of the everyday frustrations and difficulties experienced by people who are not getting their post. I thank all hon. Members who have shared examples of their own.

• 28 Jan 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q9. A month ago today, protests erupted across Iran. In response, the Iranian Government launched a deadly crackdown. They fired indiscriminately on protesters, and they shut off internet access to hide what they were doing from the outside world. In April 2024, the then shadow Home Secretary, who is now the Foreign Secretary, asked the Conservative Government if they would finally proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. Just two weeks ago, she described the Iranian regime as a “consistent threat” to the UK’s“stability, security and freedom and to the UK national interest.” —[ Official Report , 13 January 2026; Vol. 778, c. 789.] The world order that we thought we knew is being shaken up. The US is no longer able to show moral leadership to Governments who kill their own citizens. Can this Government step up and take the lead, and will they now proscribe the IRGC?

• 22 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Sale of Fireworks · Hansard source

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  And certainly not in London, I can confirm. The hon. Member is absolutely right about the regulations that exist for the sale of fireworks, and I would be interested to hear from the Minister whether she thinks more could be done to enforce the existing regulations, as the hon. Member suggests, or whether we need to look at a wholesale change of regulations on sale to address some of the issues that Members have raised. As I mentioned, I represent a constituency that is much blighted by aircraft noise. We know as well as anybody the impact that regular, ongoing noise, particularly late at night and early in the morning, can have on residents’ health and ability to sleep, particularly young children. Almost every Member here has called for the limit on the decibel level to be reduced it from 120 dB to 90 dB. Whatever fireworks are sold, whatever use they are intended for and whichever celebration they are intended to mark, reducing the decibel limit would strike the right balance between our human need for celebration and our need for sleep and peace of mind.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Sale of Fireworks · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend mentioned drones, which I know can provide really spectacular sound and light shows, but I would be slightly nervous about endorsing the use of drones instead of fireworks. Richmond Park has some of the most contested airspace of anywhere in the country. We are very used to the impact of noise from aircraft in my constituency. I certainly do not want to add drones to the congestion in the skies over our heads. I will come to this shortly, but my hon. Friend is exactly right about needing to strike a balance between the enjoyment that fireworks can give and their impact on not just people, but animals. Fireworks are explosives and can be dangerous, so there are strict rules in place regulating their sale, possession and use. They include essential safety provisions, conformity to the relevant tests and correct application of kitemarks. The 2015 regulations categorise fireworks according to their net explosive content, discharge, safety distances and noise level. Category F1 fireworks present a low hazard and are intended for use in confined areas, although they must not be sold to anyone under the age of 16. Categories F2 and F3 are low to medium hazard and intended for outdoor use. Category F4 is high hazard and can be supplied only to persons with specialist knowledge. There already exists a range of regulations, although the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley made the important point that it is hard to enforce those regulations until after the firework has exploded, by which time it will obviously be too late.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Children’s Care Home Providers: Financial Oversight · Hansard source

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  15. Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill on levels of financial oversight for children’s care home providers.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Children’s Care Home Providers: Financial Oversight · Hansard source

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  Last Friday, the Public Accounts Committee, of which I am a member, published its report into the financial sustainability of children’s homes. The report highlights that there is very little financial and governance oversight of private companies, which run 84% of children’s homes in the UK. Given that the 15 largest private children’s homes providers make average profits of 22% on an average charge per child per year of £318,000, what more can the Government do to ensure that children’s homes have appropriate financial and governance oversight?

• 6 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Mr Speaker, “We owe it to future generations not just to have good environmental principles but to act on them. That is why I will be voting against the third runway at Heathrow”— not my words, but the words of the Secretary of State in 2018. Given that Heathrow is already the biggest single source of carbon emissions in the UK, and that expansion will add an extra 8 to 9 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, can the Secretary of State confirm that it is still his intention to vote against a third runway at Heathrow?

• 6 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I asked the Secretary of State a direct question about his former statements and how they conflict with current Government policy. Would you agree that the Secretary of State should have directly answered me?

• 11 Dec 2025 · Fairtrade Certification · Hansard source

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  rose—

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  I will finish this point, if I may. I think the EU would welcome that and would be very keen to have a conversation on that basis.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for sharing that knowledge with us all. Obviously, that is something to reflect upon. That is why we are pressing the Government. It is the Government who hold the purse strings and the pen here. It is up to them to make those advances on behalf of the country.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  The cost of the VAT cut could be met by—

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  I listened carefully to the hon. Gentleman’s speech yesterday, which I thought he delivered very well. I am grateful to him for putting the points against our Bill. He is absolutely right: it was 100 on each side. However, it passed with the help of Madam Deputy Speaker and it has progressed to Second Reading. I take his point, but I say to him: how does he know? If there is a political movement for change in this country, a political will towards further integration with the European Union and a political will in favour of a customs union—

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  That approach is very piecemeal and it is taking time. If we had a more wholehearted approach to a customs union, we would be able to unlock all sorts of benefits that are not possible with a piecemeal approach.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  I will give way to the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham) and then I will come back to the hon. Gentleman.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Tackling Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  11. What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to help tackle violence against women and girls.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Tackling Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  Today marks the final day of the UN’s 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, which focused primarily on ending digital violence against women and girls. The domestic abuse charity Refuge has experienced a 62% increase in referrals of technologically facilitated abuse from last year. That abuse can take the form of stalking via tracking devices, non-consensual sharing of intimate images and recording devices being used by abusers to monitor victims. Will the Minister confirm what steps she is taking with the Home Secretary to help tackle violence against women and girls, with specific reference to technologically facilitated abuse?

• 10 Dec 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 10 December.