Tom Rutland MP: speeches

Speeches

• 5 Jan 2026 · Migrants: Safe and Legal Routes · Hansard source

  More

  6. What steps her Department is taking to introduce new safe and legal routes for migrants.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Migrants: Safe and Legal Routes · Hansard source

  More

  I am proud of our country’s history of offering refuge to those fleeing persecution and want this to continue, as do many of my constituents in East Worthing and Shoreham. Can the Home Secretary set out how she will establish safe and legal routes for people while taking action to secure our borders from the criminal gangs profiting from dangerous small boat crossings?

• 1 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T7. Under the Conservatives, too many children’s life chances were scarred by poverty, but thanks to the choices made by this Labour Government last week, nearly 1,300 children in East Worthing and Shoreham are set to have their futures brightened. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is only under a Labour Government that all children will get the best start in life?

• 1 Dec 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

  More

  It is a little over a year since we had the first Labour Budget in 15 years, and since that Budget, many of my constituents in East Worthing and Shoreham have felt the benefit in some way or another. They include the 20,000 people no longer waiting for treatment and getting on with their lives, benefiting from a 15% fall in hospital waiting lists at my local trust since the election; the children at Holmbush primary academy, one of the schools in the early adopters scheme for a free breakfast club, who now start every day prepared, focused and equipped to make the most of their school day; the parents benefiting from the additional free childcare, freeing them up to get to work; and the thousands of workers across Adur and Worthing benefiting from the boost in the minimum wage and wages more broadly, which have increased more in the first year of this Government than in the first decade under the Conservatives. Now we have our second Labour Budget of the term, a Budget focused on giving people across the country a helping hand with the cost of living. Let us contrast that with the Tories and Reform, who have both promoted their ideas to return to the days of austerity, as if we were not already having a hard enough time trying to tell the difference between them, with another three former Tory MPs having joined Reform just today. But let me tell the Tories on the Opposition Benches and the Tories with Reform masks on over there—oh, what a surprise, they are not there—that when we stood on a promise to change this country last year, we meant it, and I am determined not to let my constituents down by allowing their failed ideas to creep into Government ever again and distract from the very real job of giving our country its future back. On the other side, we have the Greens accusing us of austerity. They should welcome the record investment in clean energy that this Government are making, including expanding the Rampion wind farm off the coast of my constituency. Unfortunately, their record of ultimately opposing green infrastructure when push comes to shove— or when shovels come to ground—in their constituencies suggests that when it comes to the climate, all they have to offer is hot air. So let me tell them something, too. In this Budget, we are not returning to austerity, because austerity would not lift 450,000 children out of poverty, but this Labour Government will. Austerity would not expand free school meals to 3,200 children in my constituency, but this Labour Government will. Austerity would not cut £150 off the average energy bill, but this Labour Government will. Austerity would not freeze rail fares, fuel duty and prescription charges, but we will, just as we will cut NHS waiting lists and support the 3,500 small and medium-sized enterprises in my constituency with fully funded apprenticeships. Austerity would not rebuild this country, but this Labour Government will. We will do all that while adhering to our fiscal rules and cutting the national debt over the course of this Parliament. That discipline and stability are important, not just for addressing the amount of interest the Government pay on their debt—to be clear, there is nothing progressive about spending £1 in every £10 of taxpayers’ money on debt interest—but for the cost to individual families. We on the Labour side of the House know that when a Government choose populism over realism, or the economics of fantasy over stability, it is working people who pay the price—those people whose mortgages soared after Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, leaving them scrabbling around to find the extra cash to keep the roof over their heads. As a result of this Government’s determination to deliver economic stability, those mortgage rates are now coming down, with interest rates already cut five times by the Bank of England since last year’s election, saving the typical family £1,000 a year. With this Budget forecast by the OBR to reduce CPI inflation by 0.4 percentage points next year, we can hope for further cuts to interest rates soon. We are under no illusion: there is more to do. But this Budget is another key step in turning the page on the chaos left by the previous Government. Guided by our Labour values, we are putting the priorities of the British people back at the heart of Government policy and, by doing so, giving working people the stability and investment in the future that they deserve.

• 26 Nov 2025 · Driving Test Availability: South-east · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend has made it clear that the issue of delayed freedom is not limited to my constituents in East Worthing and Shoreham. My constituent Angela told me that last year the nearest test available for her daughter was in Liverpool, and local driving instructor Lawrence has many test-ready clients who are unable to take a test, which impacts his livelihood. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government are right to ban bots from booking tests and to increase the number of tests available? They are tackling the touts so that our constituents can get off the waiting lists and get on with their lives.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Private Rented Sector · Hansard source

  More

  In my constituency more than 10,000 residents are renting privately. These families, couples, friends and individuals have too often been the victims of excessive rent hikes, no-fault evictions, substandard conditions, and a private rented sector that benefits bad landlords and disadvantages fair landlords and good tenants. Can my right hon. Friend tell me when the measures in the Renters’ Rights Act will come into effect and give security to my constituents who rent privately?

• 24 Nov 2025 · Private Rented Sector · Hansard source

  More

  17. What steps he is taking to improve the private rented sector for tenants.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q13. Seeing dentists is crucial not just for people’s dental health but for their broader health and wellbeing, but access to NHS dentistry has been a growing problem for a number of years. In my constituency, only two out of 10 dentists are taking on new adult NHS patients—the number is the same for children. Will the Deputy Prime Minister set out what the Government are doing to improve access to NHS dentistry and put healthy smiles on my constituents’ faces?

• 16 Oct 2025 · Community Relations: Impact of Church Leaders · Hansard source

  More

  6. What assessment the Church of England has made of the potential impact of church leaders on community relations.

• 16 Oct 2025 · Community Relations: Impact of Church Leaders · Hansard source

  More

  Over the recess, we witnessed the horrific antisemitic attack on one of Manchester’s synagogues and then, just days later, an Islamophobic attack on one of our Sussex mosques. It is in these difficult and worrying times that religious leaders can continue to play an important role in bringing communities together. What support can the Church provide to its leaders to continue to work across communities and across faiths, and to foster the supportive, inclusive and diverse tolerant communities that we are all proud to represent in this place?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q1. Last week I visited Rayner, a world-leading provider of cataract solutions based in Worthing, a winner of this year’s King’s Award for Enterprise for innovation, and a fantastic employer of local apprentices. I welcome the Government’s ambition to get two thirds of our young people into an apprenticeship, further education or university. What will the Prime Minister do to ensure that every young person in East Worthing and Shoreham has the skills they need to thrive?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 15 October.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Social and Affordable Housing · Hansard source

  More

  The only way to solve the housing crisis is, as my right hon. Friend so articulately puts it, to “build, baby, build”. In my constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham, the median wage is £37,000, but the median house price has soared to more than 10 times that. What will the Government do to ensure that social and affordable homes are built for my constituents who desperately need them?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Social and Affordable Housing · Hansard source

  More

  22. What steps he is taking to build more social and affordable homes.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  My constituents who use the A259 coast road are being deprived the choice of safe and sustainable travel to Brighton, as Conservative-run West Sussex county council has dragged its feet for more than three decades on delivering a cycle path. What can the Government do to help me and Shoreham-By-Cycle to push for that much-needed infrastructure, which West Sussex county council has long promised but failed to deliver?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q5. This Labour Government are getting our NHS back on its feet; there are 20,000 fewer patients on waiting lists at my local trust since the election, but there is still more to do, including making it easier to see a GP. Will the Prime Minister set out how the Government will give my constituents in East Worthing and Shoreham access to the healthcare that they deserve?

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

  More

  Last week, it was revealed that the chief executive of Southern Water was awarded an egregious, enormous pay rise worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, despite the company continuing to oversee sewage spills and infrastructure failures that affect my constituents. Does the Secretary of State agree that water bosses should not profit from overseeing catastrophic failure?