Sarah Pochin MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jul 2026 · Access to Further Education · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered access to further education. I thank the Backbench Business Committee and all the Members who supported bringing this important debate to Parliament today. I want to raise an issue that goes to the heart of opportunity, aspiration and economic productivity in my constituency of Runcorn and Helsby: post-16 education. Too often, we speak about equality of opportunity as though it can be achieved through slogans, White Papers or ministerial announcements. For a young person leaving school at 16, opportunity is far more practical than that. It is about whether there is a good college course nearby; it is about whether they can afford to enrol on an apprenticeship without spending hours getting there, and how they find the money for travel; it is about whether they can see a clear route from the classroom into a skilled, well-paid job; and it is about whether they believe they can build a successful life in the town where they grew up. For too many young people in Runcorn, those routes are not clear enough. The existing provision is limited. Riverside college in Widnes does important work across Halton, but it is on the other side of the Mersey. For young people in Runcorn, that means a daily bridge crossing to access courses and facilities. Crossing the bridge into Widnes means paying the toll and facing additional travel time and cost. The sole local sixth form in Runcorn is at the Ormiston Bolingbroke academy. It has only 350 places, which is enough for less than 20% of the more than 2,000 16 to 18-year-olds in Runcorn. Provision is fragmented, options are limited and too many still face the prospect of travelling elsewhere for the courses, specialist facilities or technical opportunities they need. That is not good enough for a town with the industrial strength, scientific expertise and economic potential of Runcorn. Runcorn is home to major manufacturing, logistics, pharmaceutical and life sciences employers. We have DHL, Ineos Inovyn, Encirc, Essar and Cemex, to name but a few. At the Sci-Tech Daresbury park, there are opportunities in engineering, software, laboratory science, project management, advanced manufacturing and technology. These are not theoretical jobs of the future; they are real opportunities on our doorstep, yet too many young people do not see a direct bridge between their school and those careers. That is why I believe that Runcorn needs a dedicated post-16 skills and apprenticeship hub—a serious local offer, built around the needs of local employers and the ambitions of local young people. This should not simply be another institution, with another layer of bureaucracy, offering courses that do not lead to good jobs or which simply rack up student debt; it should be a practical partnership between Riverside college, local schools, Halton borough council, major employers and the Government. It could provide specialist technical education in engineering, construction, health and social care, digital skills, laboratory science, logistics and advanced manufacturing. It could offer high-quality T-levels, apprenticeships, traineeships and routes into higher education. It could give young people access to work placements, mentoring and guaranteed interviews with local employers. It could also give businesses a strong local pipeline of skilled young people who are ready to work, ready to learn and ready to contribute. Having spoken directly to many local employers, I know there is a strong appetite to support that kind of initiative, and to play an active role in shaping and delivering it. That is how we should think about post-16 education: not as a separate part of the education system, but as completing the education journey, which should not finish until 18. We do not need to import talent while overlooking the talent growing up in our own communities. Indeed, local talent should be our priority. Halton faces serious challenges. Too many children grow up in low-income households, too many pupils face disadvantage, and too many young adults leave education without the qualifications that would have opened up doors for them. In a constituency where many families have seen opportunities disappear over generations, post-16 education must be part of rebuilding hope, and that includes confronting difficult truths. The evidence shows that disadvantaged white British pupils, particularly boys, continue to experience poor educational outcomes in many parts of the country. In communities such as mine, where the population is overwhelmingly white and deprivation is entrenched, that cannot be treated as an awkward subject to be avoided. Neither should we ignore a generation of working-class children who feel that the education system does not understand them, does not speak to them and does not offer them a route to a secure future. When a young person cannot see the point of school, cannot see a realistic job at the end of it and cannot access training close to home, disengagement becomes more likely. The consequences are severe: fewer qualifications, weaker employment prospects, lower wages and a greater risk of being left behind, with nothing to show for years at school and no prospect of employment. That is bad for young people, bad for their families and bad for the community. Towns like Runcorn cannot thrive, grow or prosper without a high standard of education and decent job prospects for their young people. The answer is not to lower expectations, but to give young people something real to aspire to. A young person in Runcorn should be able to leave school knowing that they can train for a career in engineering, become a laboratory technician, enter digital work, learn a skilled trade, join a manufacturer or progress towards university. I therefore ask the Minister to work with local education providers, Halton borough council and employers to examine how a dedicated post-16 skills and apprenticeship hub for Runcorn can be delivered. That work should include a proper assessment of the local skills gap, the courses that employers need, the facilities required, and the opportunities for a satellite campus or specialist centre in Runcorn itself. It should also include a clear expectation that major local employers play their part through apprenticeships, placements, career advice, and direct partnerships with schools and providers. Runcorn has the businesses, it has the people and it has the potential. What it needs is a more ambitious local settlement between education, industry and Government. The young people of Runcorn, Frodsham and Helsby are every bit as capable, ambitious and hard-working as young people anywhere in Britain. They do not need pity; they need opportunity. They deserve the chance to gain the skills, qualifications and confidence to build successful lives in the communities they call home. For Runcorn, for our local economy and for the next generation, we must do better.

• 23 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T10. Is the Home Secretary comfortable with the reality that, as a woman, she could not stand and pray alongside the Mayor of London at last week’s event in Trafalgar Square?

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  I speak today in favour of the reasoned amendment standing in the names of Reform UK MPs. Although it has not been selected for debate, I would like to draw hon. Members’ attention to the wording, particularly where it says that “the right to trial by one’s peers…has been an essential part of UK freedoms for centuries.” As a magistrate of 20 years and a chairman of the court for 17 of those years, I hope that I have something to offer this debate. During those 20 years, I was part of a judicial process in which I, together with two fellow magistrates, sent many defendants to prison. I will never forget the first time I was part of a bench that sent someone to prison. I can still see that young man’s face, and see his distraught parents at the back of the court. I had to fight back my own tears, as a mother feeling for his mother and her pain, knowing the life-changing impact that our decision would have on that young man’s life. I should say that I toughened up pretty quickly. On many occasions, I found myself chairing a trials court that would inevitably start late or end up with magistrates twiddling their thumbs when trials cracked or fell apart. That could be for a variety of reasons, but it was often due to last-minute pleas by defendants who had been presented with irrefutable evidence, or to the failure of the Crown Prosecution Service to prepare adequately for the case. The process in the magistrates court is already inefficient, and a sizeable backlog of cases exist—reportedly, over 370,000. It is worth pointing out that a magistrates bench operates as a mini-jury, with three magistrates sitting on a trial to ensure a majority verdict, so it represents trial by the people, not the state. Be in no doubt: a prison sentence of up to three years will change someone’s life forever. A prison sentence of that length will mean the loss of employment, and therefore the loss of one’s ability to pay a mortgage or rent, often resulting in the loss of one’s home, which may in turn lead to a family being made homeless. A prison sentence often means the break-up of a family, with permanent damage inflicted on the partner and children in that family, whether by becoming outcasts in their community, being bullied at school, or adopting learned behaviour and offending themselves later in life. For one individual—one judge—to have the power and to be the only perspective in administering a prison sentence is not justice. Furthermore, a single justice acting alone may come under pressure from politicians not to send defendants to prison due to a lack of prison space available, regardless of whether that defendant should in fact receive a custodial sentence. There may also be cases where a single justice is more lenient towards defendants from ethnic minorities for fear of being called racist if custodial sentences are frequently given by that judge to such defendants from ethnic minorities, regardless of the demographics of that court area. With this Bill, there is no scrutiny of a judge, no ability to question that judge’s decision and no majority vote. A life-changing prison sentence can be given on the judgment of an individual with a single perspective and prejudice, without any checks and balances. The state will be administering justice, not the people. Everyone deserves the right to trial by their peers. In this Bill, the Government are removing trial by jury for serious crimes that attract prison sentences of up to three years. These could be serious domestic violence incidents, sexual assault, theft, fraud and so on. This Bill is intended to speed up justice and cut court waiting lists, but there is no credible evidence to suggest that will be achieved by these changes. Courts need investment and to be run more efficiently to speed up justice. Solicitors need to be on time and ready for trial. So much of the delay is caused in the process before the case even comes before a jury. These proposals are the exact opposite of justice. These proposals go against the foundations of law and order in this country.

• 10 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Many of my constituents are anxious about the consultation process and the environmental impact of the Peak Cluster project in rural Cheshire. Will the Secretary of State commit to meeting me and local representatives to ensure that community concerns are properly addressed before the development consent order is submitted?

• 19 Jan 2026 · Local Elections: Cancellation · Hansard source

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  Last year, a junior Housing Minister, the hon. Member for Peckham (Miatta Fahnbulleh), stood at the Dispatch Box and said that “local council elections are happening in 2026. We are cracking on with it”. —[ Official Report , 4 December 2025; Vol. 776, c. 1164.] For some communities, this is the second year in a row that elections have been cancelled. How does the Minister expect the British people to believe anything this Government say, or have any faith in their commitment to democracy?

• 24 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T10. Will the Minister confirm what oversight the Department has of the central Government grant given to Halton borough council and Merseyflow for the two bridges in Runcorn, bearing in mind that a substantial proportion has gone unspent in recent years? What steps are being taken to ensure that any unspent funds are used transparently?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Houses in Multiple Occupation: Planning Consent · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. It was in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election that I became aware of the issue of HMOs in our communities, and now I speak endlessly on this topic to highlight their impact on often deprived and forgotten communities that are bearing the brunt of the problem of housing people who are often asylum seekers. In my Runcorn and Helsby constituency, there are 200 HMOs in the Halton borough council area; 127 of them are licensed, which means that they have more than five tenants. These are statistics that I can evidence. I also know, because the Home Office statistics tell me, that more than 600 asylum seekers are dispersed across the same area. It is not student accommodation in my local HMOs—that is not an issue in my constituency —it is an issue of asylum seekers. The impact on the community locally is illegal working; it is gangs; it is drugs; it is crime; it is the limiting of housing possibilities for local people; it is increases in rent prices because of the agreements that housing suppliers such as Serco have with the private landlords; it is antisocial behaviour. I have endless stories of criminal activity, sexual assaults and rape. I urge that, under article 4, no new planning consent is given or granted in my constituency for HMOs. I urge the Home Office to give local authorities full power to act under article 4. Finally, I urge the Home Office not to send any more asylum seekers to my constituency.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Sentencing Bill · Hansard source

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  Today I speak in favour of the eight amendments tabled by Reform UK. Simply put, the Bill is motivated by the desire to free up prison spaces, and not by what is the best way to administer justice. Its primary function is not the protection of the public, or the protection of victims of crime or abuse—in fact, it is the opposite. Clause 1 is about the presumption of suspension of a custodial sentence of 12 months or less. We proposed an amendment to remove clause 1, which effectively discourages the magistrates court from imposing a custodial sentence. There are circumstances when a custodial sentence of 12 months or less is entirely appropriate, and the clause is tying the hands of magistrates, who will be under pressure from the clerks not to impose a prison sentence. What does that mean for those found in possession of a bladed article, namely a knife—an offence that currently attracts a mandatory six-month prison sentence? With this presumption of suspension clause, is the Minister now suggesting that offenders who are found guilty of carrying a knife will now have their sentence automatically suspended? If so, what does this mean for knife crime on our streets and the protection of the public? Community sentence options are often limited due to defendants claiming anxiety and depression, meaning that unpaid work is not an option and that tagging may be limited. In addition, fines are often meaningless because so many defendants are claiming universal credit. Let me turn to clauses 18 and 19. We have tabled new clause 24, which would abolish the Sentencing Council all together. The Sentencing Council was introduced to give statutory guidance to the judiciary to avoid inconsistencies in sentencing decisions. However, we believe that its work has become prescriptive and politicised, as shown by clause 19. We live in an era of two-tier justice. Let us not forget that in March, the Sentencing Council proposed treating ethnic minority offenders more leniently than white offenders. The Justice Secretary had to step in and overrule the Sentencing Council in order to stop this madness. For these reasons, the Sentencing Council should be abolished and sentencing powers should lie solely at the discretion of judges.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Sentencing Bill · Hansard source

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  No, I will make some progress; I have given way a lot. Let me move on and make a point of clarification with respect to clauses 26, 27 and 28, which are on recall. The current system allows for fixed-term recall of 14 days for custodial sentences of less than 12 months and 28 days for custodial sentences of one to four years. Standard recall offenders serve the rest of their sentence. Can the Minister confirm that this Bill introduces FTR and SR of 56 days for all custodial sentences of less than four years, with the exception of terrorists, such that offenders who have committed serious crimes including assault, robbery and possession of knives or other offensive weapons could be out again in two months? That is not protecting the public. However, I welcome the fact that the presumption of 56 days’ recall does not apply for domestic violence offenders who have breached their licence conditions and gone on to reoffend. Clause 42 is about foreign criminals. I propose to replace the clause and to move new clause 25, which would apply an automatic deportation order to foreign criminals sentenced to at least six months’ imprisonment or a six-month community sentence. The Secretary of State wrote to Members of Parliament claiming that he had strengthened the ability of the Government to deport foreign criminals. He said in a letter that it will be the duty of the Home Secretary to deport foreign offenders who receive at least a 12-month custodial sentence, yet in the same letter he stated that “this is subject to several exceptions, including where to do so would be a breach of a person’s ECHR rights or the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention.” In other words, nothing will change and no one will get deported. Finally, new clause 26 would make an addition to the Bill referred to as “Criminal Cases Review (Public Petition)”. Under the new clause, if it appeared to any British citizen aged 18 or over that the sentencing of a person in the Crown court has been unduly lenient or harsh, that British citizen—the petitioner—may refer the case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission for it to review the sentence. There would mean that there would be a platform for defendants like Rhys McDonald and Chris Taggart in my constituency, who received an average of 30 months for an ill-advised tweet, to have their sentence appealed.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Sentencing Bill · Hansard source

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  We proposed an amendment to remove clause 20 all together. The clause proposes to reduce the time served of a custodial sentence from a half to a third in order to free up prison capacity. This means that dangerous criminals who have been locked up for some of the worst possible offences, including paedophiles, could be let back into the community after serving only a third of their sentence behind bars. Only the most serious offenders, including those convicted of rape, will serve half their sentences in jail, reduced from two thirds. [ Interruption. ]

• 21 Oct 2025 · Sentencing Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank shadow Minister for supporting me on that point. I turn to clauses 24, 36 and 37 with respect to licences. These clauses all give powers to the Probation Service to reduce the length of a community order imposed by the judge or magistrate. The Probation Service is underfunded and overstretched already, and the real risk is that offenders will have their requirements reduced by probation officers in order to free up capacity in the service. The probation officer already has discretion on the number of days of rehabilitation required, and it is dangerous to give any more quasi-judicial power to the Probation Service.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Asylum Seekers: Support and Accommodation · Hansard source

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  I will make a bit of progress. The immediate action needs to be that all these hotels are closed to illegal migrants, and that they are moved out of the community into holding centres to be processed and sent home. The conditions in which they are held in these processing centres will be humane but not luxurious. There will be no free tickets to theme parks and no free trips out into the community. I had an asylum hotel—the Daresbury hotel—in my constituency. My campaign in the recent by-election saw the hotel eventually shut down, but the implications of shutting the hotels are that these illegal migrants are dispersed in houses of multiple occupancy in our communities. In Runcorn, we have approximately 900 illegal migrants in 80 HMOs that we know about. Once in those HMOs, they are lost to the authorities, yet still live free at the taxpayers’ expense.

• 15 Oct 2025 · Knife Crime · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) for securing this important debate. I will speak about some of my experiences as a magistrate for 20 years in Cheshire. I am sure many think of Cheshire as a sleepy county, but statistics show that knife crime increased there by 7% year on year from March 2024 to March 2025, which may surprise some. I will take time to look into that with my chief constable. Over my 20 years in court, I heard so many reasons—in fact, excuses—for why defendants might have been carrying knives at the time of the incident or when the police caught up with them. Those ranged from “I forgot it was in my pocket” to “I needed it for work”—that was always a standard one, no matter what they actually did for work. Today, there is a mandatory six-month custodial sentence for anyone caught carrying a knife in the community, but the fact is that magistrates often do not enforce it after listening to and accepting the mitigating factors put forward by the solicitor on behalf of the defendant. Sometimes, a suspended sentence might be given, but the point is that this is soft justice, and I have seen it time and again. The courts must get tougher on doing what they say they will do—doing what we ask them to do—and enforce that custodial sentence, because only by enforcing the custodial sentence will the message start to get through. I would say that the mandatory six-month sentence is not currently a deterrent, because people are not afraid of going to court. That is an issue for people like us who set policy.

• 15 Oct 2025 · Knife Crime · Hansard source

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  My point is that if stop and search is working, we will eventually get to a point where knives are found less often. That is the measure of success. We as politicians need to give our courts and our police the power to have a zero-tolerance approach to stop and search. The police need to have the confidence to carry out stop and search without fear of criticism. They need to be given funding to carry out thorough intelligence work on drug gangs, and they are doing an incredible job on the county lines operations that are now overtaking our society. However, they need to be given more funding for that work. The courts also need to be given the funding and resource to enact swift justice. Clearly, we also need education in schools and the community initiatives we have talked about. All of this is important, all of this is a package, but it starts at the top. It starts with us.

• 15 Oct 2025 · Knife Crime · Hansard source

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  Let me make a little progress, sorry. The other point about stop and search is that the police, and indeed politicians, should not congratulate themselves on how many knives are found through stop and search; we and the police should congratulate ourselves on how many knives are not found when stop and search is used to its maximum power, because that is the measure of success. I now come on to the point about why so many young men carry knives, and it is generally young men who carry knives. Again, over the years of my experience, I have seen the fear that young men often have—sadly, sometimes when they are going to school. People have said to me that they felt threatened at school, so they took knives into school. Of course, this also affects older men out in the community. There is a difference between these two groups, and it is a problem for magistrates. There is a difference between a young man, a youth, saying that they were frightened to go into school without a knife, and an older man going to a pub with a knife in his pocket. This is an interesting issue for magistrates, because magistrates need to have some insight into people’s lives. We have heard talk this morning about role models and that type of thing. It is a huge problem that we never see the parents when these young men are in court. The other thing is the problem of drug gangs and county lines, which we deal with all the time as magistrates. That culture on our streets is feeding this knife crime, and it is not just in cities any more. It is all over the counties, with young people—and they are often very young—carrying knives because they are drug runners.

• 16 Sept 2025 · Sentencing Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member—I was going to call him an hon. Friend, but I am not sure that is appropriate—and, yes, I could do that, but I think all Members know Reform’s policies on building prisons. [Hon. Members: “No, we do not.”] Let me finish my speech. The Bill proposes increased powers for the Probation Service such that it could shorten the length of a community order. It is entirely inappropriate for the Probation Service to be able to alter the sentence given by a magistrate or a judge. All this is open to abuse, and it means that the already stretched Probation Service can release convicted criminals from its books to free up capacity, rather than because rehabilitation or punishment has been successfully completed. The Bill is purposely vague and open to interpretation. It is not tough enough, and it does not address the problems our judicial system is facing. For that reason, I will not be supporting it.

• 16 Sept 2025 · Sentencing Bill · Hansard source

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  I will make some progress, please. It allows for the even earlier release of dangerous criminals into the community on licence, reducing the time served from 50% of a sentence to a mere third. The implications for public safety in general, and for the safety of women from repeat offender domestic violence perpetrators in particular, are concerning. Prisoners recalled to prison for breaking licence conditions would receive a reduced sentence of, I believe, 56 days—it was 28 in the Gauke review—as opposed to serving the full term of their sentences. That would apply to criminals convicted of serious offences, which is a betrayal of justice for victims and for brave women who have gone through the harrowing experience of a trial. What of the Bill’s intention to eradicate custodial sentences of less than 12 months? That in effect removes the ability of the magistrates court to give out a custodial sentence, leaving only community orders available as a means of rehabilitation and punishment. By the time a streetwise defendant has pleaded mental health problems and declared they are on universal credit, there are very few options available to the sentencing bench, and without custody there are even fewer. These elements of the Bill are designed to free up prison spaces as opposed to administering the justice that the British people want convicted criminals to face in return for the crimes committed. There are no concrete plans to increase prison capacity, and there is no policy on deportation. This Bill is all about leniency, not about the reality of the dangerous places that prisons currently are.

• 10 Jul 2025 · UK-EU Trading Relationship · Hansard source

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  In 1973, the UK joined the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union. Given this week’s visit by the French President and this Government’s desire for closer co-operation with the EU, will the Minister confirm that no new or existing trade deal will lead to this country rejoining the EU through the back door?