Sean Woodcock MP: speeches

Speeches

• 17 Jun 2026 · Defence Spending · Hansard source

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  12. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases in defence spending on Wales.

• 17 Jun 2026 · Defence Spending · Hansard source

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  This Government have a NATO-first approach, meaning that our strength is reinforced by global allies, so that, in an increasingly dangerous world, the UK will not stand alone. It is vital that colleagues from across the House and Governments across the UK remain united in that approach. Will the Secretary of State provide an update on any discussions she has had with the new Welsh Government regarding their contribution to the UK’s national security?

• 15 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for his decision about the continued and ongoing failings by Cherwell district council regarding a major planning application. Given that Banbury has a huge and desperate housing need, will he agree to meet me to discuss how we can fix that, despite the council?

• 10 Jun 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q10. Maternity care in north Oxfordshire declined under the previous Government, with the loss of consultant-led services at the Horton hospital—where I was born—and serious failings by the trust, which is now part of Baroness Amos’s inquiry. However, last week, the Care Quality Commission upgraded the Horton maternity unit to good. Will the Prime Minister visit the Horton hospital in Banbury to see the change that this Government’s £3.3 million investment has delivered since July 2024?

• 4 Jun 2026 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  6. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels of Crown Prosecution Service prosecutions of cases involving violence against women and girls.

• 4 Jun 2026 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  We know that 60% of victims drop out of rape cases before they go to trial. I would appreciate it if the Solicitor General could set out what she is doing to ensure that victims remain central to the work of the Crown Prosecution Service.

• 21 May 2026 · Middle East: Economic Response · Hansard source

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  I thank my right hon. Friend for her statement, especially the measures to support farmers and hauliers. Banbury has a thriving logistics sector, with brilliant businesses like TWE Haulage; I visited that company last month, and I know it will really welcome the measures that she has announced. Will she and her colleagues continue to keep under review the particular pressures on the logistics sector and be open to any further measures that may be needed?

• 19 May 2026 · Energy Security · Hansard source

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  You were very clear about taking interventions, Madam Deputy Speaker. Although I do normally appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s contributions, this time I will not— [ Interruption. ] As he asked so nicely, I will let him.

• 19 May 2026 · Energy Security · Hansard source

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  I will start by addressing comments made by Members on the Opposition Benches, in particular the hon. Members for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) and for Isle of Wight East (Joe Robertson), who decried Government policy on energy as ideological. I hold my hands up and say that, for me, it is ideological: making the UK more secure and making people better off is at the very core of my ideology. I would class that as ideological.

• 19 May 2026 · Energy Security · Hansard source

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  I think the right hon. Gentleman unintentionally misrepresents Government policy, as it is my understanding that we will continue to use oil and gas, and it will play a key part in the just transition. Events in the middle east have made it very clear and have reminded us that national security and energy security go hand in hand. When global events destabilise supply, it is families here at home who feel the impact on their energy bills. We must therefore prioritise energy independence, which is why I welcome the ambition set out in the King’s Speech to do exactly that. This is not just some abstract idea; in my constituency, we are seeing what that can look like in practice. I refer to Southill solar farm in the town of Charlbury, which is not a corporation but a co-operative set up by local volunteers who wanted to make a difference. Since 2016, they have been generating enough clean energy to power around 1,500 homes. Then there is Hook Norton Low Carbon, which is doing brilliant work to keep household energy bills below the price cap, which it does by teaming up with another local solar farm and an anaerobic digestion plant—another practical, community-led solution to a national and international challenge. What these projects show is Britain at its best. It is people stepping up when they are given the opportunity to do so because they want not just greener energy, but control, stability and the sense that they are no longer at the mercy of global markets. If we want to see more of that across the country, we have to address the barriers that are holding progress back. Too many brilliant community energy projects are stuck in limbo, not because they lack ambition or funding but because they simply cannot get connected to the grid. In some cases, they are waiting years just for a connection. Not only is that frustrating, but it is holding back our entire transition to cleaner energy. We need to modernise our grid infrastructure and streamline the planning system. If we do that, we can unlock a huge wave of locally generated renewable power. However, that is only part of the picture. If we want a truly secure energy system, we also need reliable, consistent power. That is why I welcome the nuclear regulation Bill. By making the process more efficient without compromising safety, we can finally start moving at the pace we need and usher in a new chapter for British nuclear energy. Energy security is not just about how much power we generate; it must also have a positive impact on people’s lives. That is why the energy independence Bill and the £15 billion warm homes plan are so important. Helping people to insulate their homes properly is one of the most effective ways that we can cut their bills, because when families save money on energy, that money does not disappear; it gets spent in local shops, cafés and businesses, supporting jobs and strengthening local economies. That is why it is not just good environmental policy, but good economic policy. That is how we build a system that is more secure, more resilient and fairer for the people we represent. That is why I am so pleased to support the King’s Speech.

• 28 Apr 2026 · Referral of Prime Minister to Committee of Privileges · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. Is it not the reality that this is about a Leader of the Opposition who called for us to join the US in the war in Iran, and who called the Prime Minister a liar when the evidence has shown that there is absolutely no basis for it? Is this not just the Leader of the Opposition once again shooting from the hip?

• 27 Apr 2026 · Lord Mandelson Humble Address: Government Response Update · Hansard source

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  This has been a very damaging issue. Peter Mandelson should clearly never have been made ambassador, and I am pleased that the Prime Minister has rightly apologised. There are, however, lessons to be learned already before the end of this Humble Address process. Can the Minister confirm that his Department has already started learning and implementing those lessons?

• 22 Apr 2026 · Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · Hansard source

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  Given the importance that the Conservatives are placing on the ban, why did they not impose it during the 14 years that they were in government?

• 22 Apr 2026 · Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Lady is being generous with her time. I ask her the same question that I posed earlier: if this is so important, why did the Conservatives not get round to doing it when they were in government for 14 years?

• 20 Apr 2026 · Security Vetting · Hansard source

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  I am sure that the Prime Minister is aware of the damage that this saga has done to public trust in politics and in politicians. However, will he confirm that his focus and that of his Government is on the issues that matter most to my constituents in Banbury, in particular tackling the cost of living?

• 16 Apr 2026 · Housing Needs: Young People · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship today, Ms Butler. When I first stood for election to this place, I did so with a mission to fix Oxfordshire’s broken housing market. I saw the mess that we were in. I saw the lives broken by that market long before I arrived here. Oxford faces a crisis of unique and crushing proportions. Homes now cost 12 times local earnings—a burden for the city, a burden for the county and a burden that no other part of this country is asked to bear. For our young people, the situation is transformative in the worst of ways. Those aged 25 to 34 are now the backbone of a private rented sector that has doubled in size since the start of the century. These young people are renters by necessity, renters without equity and renters without a clear path to a home of their own. In Oxford, nearly a third of households rent privately. As the city’s prices climb, the pressure climbs; as the pressure climbs, people leave. They leave and go to places such as Banbury. They come for the 20-minute commute, but they bring with them the weight of Oxford’s exhaustion. Thus Oxford’s housing problems become Banbury’s housing problems. Demand has surged. Supply has stalled. My inbox swells as the local housing waiting list ticks up and up, quadrupling in a single decade. This is what I say to the local voices who question why Cherwell district council, which covers Banbury, must contribute to Oxford’s unmet housing need: “It is no longer Oxford’s need. It is our need in Banbury as well. It is our future. It is our children who are being priced out of their own parishes.” Let us be clear: this is not merely a housing crisis. It is an economic crisis. Oxford does not just grow; it prospers. It does not just work; it innovates. Our high-tech industries generate £23.5 billion in gross value added annually. We are a net contributor to the Exchequer, a global destination for talent and a titan of enterprise. That is why the Chancellor is right to champion the Oxford-Cambridge corridor—it is a vision of growth, infrastructure and national renewal—but that vision will remain a mirage if the workers required to build it cannot afford to live within it. By failing to build, we are stifling the growth we seek, the talent we nurture and the very future we promised to deliver. I therefore urge the Government to give young people in Banbury and across Oxfordshire the tools, the support and the resolve that we need to help me to keep my promise of helping to fix Oxfordshire’s broken housing market.

• 15 Apr 2026 · Cost of Heating Oil · Hansard source

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  This crisis shows that we cannot rely on emergency payments to resolve geopolitical shocks; we need the electrification of heat in rural areas, and heat pumps play a significant part in that. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government taking steps to roll out renewables and heat pump technology across rural areas would go a long way to help to protect and preserve rural areas from these sorts of shocks in the future?

• 17 Mar 2026 · Rural Roads · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Minister for outlining the steps the Government are taking to make up for the years of underfunding of council highways by the Opposition parties. The Liberal Democrat spokesperson tried to defend Oxfordshire county council; will the Minister address what that council has done? I get complaints from constituents about the quality of the work. The newly repaired Stratford Road in Banbury has already disintegrated to expose under-street cables.

• 17 Mar 2026 · Rural Roads · Hansard source

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  For residents of north Oxfordshire, simple tasks such as driving to work or doing the weekly shop have become a daily slalom, swerving left and right to avoid potholes. We need to be very clear: that is a direct result of 14 years of largely Conservative Government neglect. Between 2010 and 2024, Oxfordshire saw its real-terms spending power slashed by 15%. However, we must also address the administrative failure at County Hall. Under successive administrations, the focus has too often drifted towards urban traffic experiments in Oxford, while rural arterial routes have been left in a reactive state of decline. The council’s own data is damning. In January 2025, 35% of category 2 defects—defined as serious, albeit not urgent—had missed their 28-day repair deadline. That represents 875 reports across the county. For many in north Oxfordshire, driving is a necessity, not a choice. The winding down of rural bus routes under previous Governments saw to that. That makes the record funding provided by this Labour Government even more vital, and I will not let my residents down.

• 17 Mar 2026 · Rural Roads · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 16 Mar 2026 · Heating Oil Support · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Minister for his statement. With over 5,000 properties off the grid in the Banbury constituency, I welcome this announcement. Can I add my voice to the others we have heard from around the Chamber in asking that this Government to do what the previous Government failed to do: finally tackle the lack of regulation and proper accountability in the sector?

• 23 Feb 2026 · Labour Together and APCO Worldwide: Cabinet Office Review · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister for his statement. I wonder if he could clarify the actions that the Government will take should the investigation show that further questions need answering.

• 11 Feb 2026 · Autumn Budget 2025 · Hansard source

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  The Government’s child poverty strategy aims to lift over 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030. What assessment has the Secretary of State made of the impact of the abolition of the two-child benefit cap for families in Northern Ireland?

• 11 Feb 2026 · Autumn Budget 2025 · Hansard source

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  4. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the autumn Budget 2025 on Northern Ireland.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. The Minister will be aware of my trip to Jordan last year, as part of a parliamentary delegation of colleagues from across this House. It was clear from speaking to members of the Jordanian legislature that Iran’s malign impact on the region’s security and stability is of great concern to Jordan. Can he provide me with reassurance that the Government are working with regional partners, such as Jordan, to ensure that Iran’s malign and malevolent influence on the region is withstood and held back?