Tonia Antoniazzi MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 4 Feb 2025 · Six Nations Rugby Championship: Viewing Access · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the hon. Member for initiating this timely debate. Does he agree that the Six Nations needs to ensure that there is a balance between reach and revenue when entering into these conversations with broadcasters?

• 4 Feb 2025 · Six Nations Rugby Championship: Viewing Access · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the hon. Member for giving way on that point, because rugby does bring us together, but we cannot ignore the financial challenges faced by the sport we love in all of the home nations and overseas. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Does the hon. Member agree that it is important that public sector broadcasting comes to the table and is able to be competitive and to provide a future, so that grassroots sport and future generations keep playing rugby and have a love of the sport, as we all do in this Chamber?

• 3 Feb 2025 · Child Poverty Strategy · Hansard source

  More

  I know the Government are working hard on developing their child poverty strategy, but what discussions is the Minister having with the Welsh Government to ensure that combined efforts deliver the best for our children, wherever they live?

• 27 Jan 2025 · Fiscal Policy: Defence Spending · Hansard source

  More

  Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. Does the Minister agree that this solemn day is a reminder of what we are fighting to defend, and the need to always protect our values and freedoms?

• 27 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T3. Widely accessible violent pornography is fuelling a culture of extreme misogyny and the normalisation of sexual violence and is warping the perceptions and attitudes of both young boys and girls to sex and healthy relationships. What steps is the Secretary of State’s Department taking to encourage schools to be proactive in combating the influence of online pornography and the harms experienced by young people as a result?

• 17 Jan 2025 · Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I welcome that intervention, especially because we are talking about many groups who do not access their right to vote. I am proud of the fact that in Wales and Scotland people can vote from the age of 16. I used to be a schoolteacher, and I know how important it is to have that democratic conversation with young people so that they understand their rights. It is important for a strong message to come from both the Welsh Senedd and the Scottish Government, because their voices need to be heard, and the same applies to people who are unable to vote because of a disability. It is incumbent on our other Parliaments to proceed with what is a very big piece of work. As it stands, my constituents in Gower—a rural constituency containing many remote areas—who wish to vote via post or proxy in the upcoming Senedd elections in 2026 will still be required to fill out a paper application form and physically send it to be processed. That is time-consuming and people do not always do it. This lack of parity is unfair to electors in Wales and Scotland who should have the option of a digital route for absent voting arrangements in their devolved parliamentary or local elections. It is also not good for overall democratic health. We know that some people are deterred from voting if they encounter barriers in the run-up to an election or polling day. That inconsistency presents a barrier to voting that would, in some cases, contribute to people not voting at all. I welcome the Bill because it seeks to end that disparity and give voters in Wales and Scotland equal choice in how they can apply for an absent vote in devolved and local elections. With both the Senedd Cymru and Scottish Parliament elections coming up in May 2026, we should be doing all that we can to remove disincentivising barriers and to make the process of electors exercising their right to vote as smooth as possible.

• 17 Jan 2025 · Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Tracy Gilbert) for introducing the Bill, and for the work that has gone in to it, which I welcome, particularly as a Welsh MP for a rural constituency. Thinking about the history of parliamentary reform, my hon. Friend is a modern-day Chartist woman. She is a fantastic woman in this place, and she is absolutely right that voting—the mechanism by which people exercise their electoral preference or express their sense of civic duty—is the backbone of our democracy. Ensuring that electors can exercise that democratic right is essential, and an important part of it is recognising that many people face barriers that prevent them from voting in person. Thanks to the online absent vote application services enabled by changes in the Elections Act 2022, voters have the option to apply online for a postal or proxy vote in Great Britain for UK parliamentary elections, police and crime commissioner elections in England and Wales, and local elections in England. If electors do not wish to apply online for an absent voting arrangement, the existing option to apply via a traditional paper application remains available to them. These services allow people to choose whichever route they find easier. However, as has already been pointed out, there is an anomaly for voters in Wales and Scotland, which limits the extent of the digital application option for absent voting arrangements. While electors living in Scotland or Wales can apply online for a postal or proxy vote for general elections, they cannot do so for devolved parliamentary or local elections. I feel very strongly about that. In the Senedd parliamentary reform is happening and a great deal of change will come about, and I feel that there should be equality for everyone in the United Kingdom in respect of devolution.

• 17 Jan 2025 · Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  That really is true. In the seven years I have been in this place, I have found that people sometimes shut the door in my face and say, “You’re all the same.” There is a growing disrespect for parliamentarians, which I find hard to understand. Our democracy is the backbone of the United Kingdom and of our devolved countries, and I think it is really important for us to be positive and engaging and to let people know that their voices are heard in this place, whoever they voted for. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith for how she has worked on the Bill. I understand that the measures within it have been discussed with Welsh and Scottish Ministers, and that is a wonderful way to make change happen. The Bill is also very carefully drafted to emphasise the importance of devolution and to respect the devolved nations’ responsibility for their local and devolved parliamentary elections. The manner in which she has approached that, as well as the Bill itself, firmly aligns with the Government’s intention to re-set the relationship between central and local governments as partners in delivering better outcomes for the communities that we, collectively, represent. The Government have already made welcome significant progress regarding that re-set. They have also noted how supporting the sector to modernise democratic engagement is key to that re-set. That is what the Bill does. My constituents would really welcome the choice that the changes in the Bill would grant them in local and devolved elections. I thank the returning officers in Swansea and Gower for their hard work and for the even more hard work they will have with the upcoming Senedd reform in 2026. My constituents welcome the Bill and I thank my hon. Friend for bringing it to the House.

• 17 Jan 2025 · New Homes (Solar Generation) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson) for introducing this Bill. Rooftop solar panels are a huge area of huge potential. On such a grey day, I also thank him for bringing all the sunshine. I am pleased that the Government are already exploring rooftop solar panels on new build houses in the “Clean Power 2030” action plan, which aims to have at least 95% of Great Britain’s electricity produced by clean energy by 2030. The Government relaunched the solar taskforce quickly after the general election, bringing together experts from the Government and industry. The taskforce’s road map is due to be published in the spring, and it will set out recommendations for how we can triple the UK’s solar capacity by 2030. I look forward to that. The pylon issue has been brought up. I grew up and lived in a home under a pylon for nearly 50 years, and I do not think it has done me any harm. I know that the Government are due to introduce further standards later this year. They will set our new homes and buildings on a path away from reliance on volatile fossil fuels, and they will ensure that those homes and buildings are fit for a net zero future. I am sure the Minister will expand on that. As well as new builds, it is important that people know that assistance packages are out there to help them with installing solar panels on existing homes. That includes the energy company obligation, the warm homes local grant and the warm homes social housing fund. Owners of solar panels can also be paid for the surplus electricity their solar panels generate through the smart export guarantee, and there is a zero rate of VAT on residential solar panels. Much of what has being covered in this debate is devolved, although Members may not have known that I was Welsh. To my constituents in Gower and across Wales, I point to the Welsh Government’s Nest programme, which can provide free energy efficiency improvements, including solar panels, to those eligible. The Bill states that it “extends to England and Wales.” Of course, the hon. Member for Cheltenham will be aware that building regulations are devolved. What conversations has he had with the Welsh Government or Members of the Senedd about this? I am sure that the Welsh Labour Government would be delighted to work alongside the UK Labour Government—they probably are already doing so—to ensure that homes are more energy efficient and that our constituents have the opportunity to save money on their bills. The important thing about the path forward is that the Government should work with house builders to get the best outcomes for both our environmental targets and our housing targets. We must also build high-quality, sustainable and affordable homes. As has been mentioned by many, the scope of the Bill does not cover roofs other than those on new builds, so I highlight the need for solar panels on all roofs. As the right hon. Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale) said, we must take the agricultural land that we need for food to feed our country into consideration, and we must strike a fair and right balance. I know that the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) has also raised that issue. I feel very passionately that we must not do down one or the other. We must be aware that there are problems, particularly with tenant farmers and how they are being treated by companies. Where there are bad actors, I know that our Government—my Government—will seek to find them. I hope that the Government will work in collaboration with farmers, who may need to have a blend and have solar farms on their land, as well as with tenant farmers. I know that the Government are committed to find a workable way forward on this issue. I thank the hon. Member for Cheltenham for the chance to highlight it in this debate and for the sunshine he has brought.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Aerospace Sector · Hansard source

  More

  The Government have a visibly strong relationship with Airbus in respect of its presence in north Wales. What representations is the Secretary of State making to ensure that there is equivalent investment for the Spirit AeroSystems workers in Belfast?

• 8 Jan 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the help that you have given me over the last couple of days. I wrote to the England and Wales Cricket Board regarding the upcoming game against Afghanistan on 26 February, and the championship trophy. I have met with the ECB, and we are calling for the game to be boycotted. I thank everybody for the support that I have had across this House and in the other place. I also thank the Prime Minister very much for his intervention with the International Cricket Council yesterday, but will he please agree to meet his counterparts in South Africa and Australia, and ask them to boycott the games as well?

• 6 Jan 2025 · Support for Veterans · Hansard source

  More

  11. What steps he is taking to improve support for veterans.

• 6 Jan 2025 · Support for Veterans · Hansard source

  More

  I welcome this Government’s quick action to deliver on our promise to veterans of making veteran ID cards an accepted form of voter ID, which rightly ensures access to elections for those who have served to protect our freedoms. Will the Minister work with colleagues across government to ensure that veterans are made aware of that very important change?