Wendy Morton MP: speeches

Speeches

• 18 Nov 2025 · Land Use Change: Food Security · Hansard source

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  I appreciate a bit of knowledge in Westminster Hall, but the point remains that we still need to be more creative in where we put our solar panels. Maybe they could be put on larger rooftop spaces, and we often talk about brownfield and urban sites; to go straight for productive green fields is just total madness. There are real concerns about proposals that would give Natural England sweeping compulsory purchase powers that could see productive farmland acquired for environmental offsetting. If that goes ahead, the loss of farmland could become permanent and unchallengeable. I hope that the Minister will look very carefully at those proposals. Flooding is another consequence that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs cannot and must not ignore. Fields at Stonnall Road in my constituency and elsewhere do not only grow crops or support livestock; they also absorb water. They drain slowly and hold back surface run-off. If we replace them with bricks, concrete, tarmac and driveways there will be nowhere for the water to go. We saw this recently with the heavy rain this weekend causing flooding more quickly because the natural buffers have been reduced. Every time it happens, local people ask the same question: why were those fields built on? Natural flood management relies on soil, hedgerows, woodlands and wetlands, yet that is rarely at the forefront of planning decisions. If we are serious about preventing flooding, we must consider the cumulative impact of losing those natural soakaways. How is DEFRA working with the Environment Agency and local planning authorities to ensure that the flood risk from losing open land is properly accounted for before permissions are given? I do not wish to challenge your timings, Dr Murrison, so I will start to draw this all together. First, food production must be treated as a strategic priority. Departments should not be signing off major land use decisions without asking the basic question: what does this mean for our ability to grow food and feed our nation? The NFU is absolutely right to call for food security impact assessments on all relevant policies. We have impact tests for almost everything else, and it is extraordinary that food security is not one of them. Secondly, we need a firm and practical brownfield first approach. That may require investment to remediate sites, improve infrastructure or bring land back into productive use, but the alternative is the steady, irreversible erosion of farmland. Thirdly, the Government should revisit the family farm tax that introduces a new burden and risks forcing families to break up their farms and sell them to developers, which is surely directly at odds with any credible food security strategy. Fourthly, Ministers must halt the weakening of green-belt protections, including through the grey belt. Our communities need confidence that national policy is not quietly tilting the scales against them. In view of today’s ministerial written statement, my communities want to feel they and our councils still have a voice in planning decisions. Finally, we need a coherent national land use framework that recognises how housing, farming, environment, energy and flood management overlap. We cannot allow one Department to encourage woodland creation on productive fields, while another encourages development on the next field. Joined-up thinking is not a slogan; it is a necessity. To return to where I began, land use is about choices. In Aldridge-Brownhills, those choices can be seen from our front doors. We know that when farmland disappears, it does not return. We know that if we keep building over productive land, we will become more reliant on food imports and more exposed to global shocks. Food security is not an abstract concept; it is about whether this country can feed itself at a price that people can afford. If we care about that—and we should—we must take seriously the land that makes that possible. I hope the Minister will recognise the strength of feeling in my constituency and many others. Protecting farmland, resisting unnecessary encroachment on the green belt and supporting farming families are not about nostalgia—far from it; they are practical steps towards a secure and resilient food system. If we get those choices and decisions right, we can deliver the homes we need and safeguard our ability to produce food. If we get them wrong, the consequences will be felt for generations. I look forward to hearing from the Minister.

• 18 Nov 2025 · Land Use Change: Food Security · Hansard source

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  I beg your pardon—the hon. Lady. Maybe one day! It is one thing to see a few sheep grazing under a solar panel, but my point is about agricultural arable land that grows crops. I have yet to see a solar panel in an arable field because I do not think that is possible.

• 18 Nov 2025 · Land Use Change: Food Security · Hansard source

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  I am genuinely interested in what the Minister is saying about food and food systems, but how does she see the connection between that and our farmers? We do not want anybody to be reliant on a food parcel, but what is her Department doing to ensure that the food in a kitchen, in a parcel or on our shelves is produced by British farmers? That is at the heart of this debate: British food security.

• 18 Nov 2025 · Land Use Change: Food Security · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered the impact of land use change on food security. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I am grateful for the chance to raise this issue, which goes to the heart of our national interest. When I submitted my bid for the debate, little did I know that it would take place on a day on which there were members of the farming community out on Parliament Square with their tractors, with what we called a muck spreader where I was brought up, on a farm, but others might call a slurry tanker, and even with livestock. That is testament to the determination of the farming community to make sure their voice continues to be heard in this place. In simple terms, this debate is about what we choose to do with the land beneath our feet. If we keep tarmacking and concreting over our fields, we should not be surprised if one day we find ourselves asking a basic question: “Where is our food going to come from?” We must not become a country that produces some of the finest produce in the world, to the highest standard, and yet becomes dependent on imports of lower grade, substandard produce. Domestic food security is national security, and it must be protected. It is one of the principal duties of any Government to ensure that their people have access to sufficient safe, affordable and nutritious food. As Baroness Manningham-Buller, the former director general of MI5, has said, food security is national security. If we cannot feed ourselves, we are vulnerable—economically, strategically and in the choices available to us as a country. I sought this debate because of what is happening in my constituency, which I believe is a small version of what is happening right across the country. We face proposals for major development on open green spaces and on our farms—land that local people quite reasonably understand to be green belt, farmland and open countryside. These are not blank spaces on a map; they are working fields, grazing land and green buffers between communities. They prevent urban sprawl and prevent areas such as mine from simply being swallowed up into a suburb of a greater Birmingham. I want to look at three things: the effect on domestic food production; the environmental consequences, especially flooding; and the Government’s policy direction, which is pushing us down the wrong path, through the treatment of the green belt, the invention of so-called grey belt, and tax proposals that will make it harder for family farms to survive. In recent years, households across Britain have seen food prices spiral. We see it every time we go into the supermarket; we seem to put less in the trolley but pay more at the checkout. Of course, that is driven by global shocks, the war in Ukraine and supply chain pressures. At its peak, food inflation reached 20%, and people saw it in the basic cost of goods. Global instability, import prices, exchange rates, skyrocketing input costs and continued pressure from the war in Ukraine meant that between January 2021 and April 2025, UK food prices increased by 36%, over three times more than in the previous decade. At the same time, the UK’s capacity to produce its own food has steadily declined. We now produce roughly 60% of the food we consume by calories; in the 1980s, we were close to 78%. That is a huge shift in one working lifetime, and it is a worrying downward trend. The picture by sector is even starker. We grow just over half the vegetables that we eat and only around 15% of the tomatoes that we consume, and fresh fruit production stands at just around 16%. Those numbers should start to ring alarm bells if they are not doing so already. While that has been happening, we have lost hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland to development and long-term environmental land use change. These are not temporary changes. Once productive farmland is built on or turned over to schemes that cannot be reversed, it rarely comes back; when it’s gone, it’s gone. We all accept that homes are needed, but it should worry us that so many have been placed on productive land when large brownfield areas remain underused. There is enough previously developed land in England to take well over 1 million homes, yet the easier, cheaper option of edge-of-town, green-belt development continues to be both developers’ and the Government’s preference. This is where food security starts being undermined not by global events, but by our own planning choices. Against that backdrop, the last thing we should be doing is making it harder for farming families to stay on their land, yet that is exactly what this Government’s changes to agricultural inheritance—now widely referred to as the family farm tax—would do. Most farms in this country are family businesses. They are part of the local economy, of the landscape and of the food supply chain. The Government’s proposals would pull most of them into new inheritance tax rules. That is not a small technical tweak; it creates a financial hit at the very moment a family is trying to pass the farm on. If a family has to sell land, or even the whole farm, simply to cover a tax bill under the new rules, there is no safeguard that the land will remain agricultural. More often than not, it is snapped up by developers, meaning that previously productive farms become speculative housing sites.

• 18 Nov 2025 · Land Use Change: Food Security · Hansard source

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  I must respectfully disagree with the right hon. Lady—

• 18 Nov 2025 · Land Use Change: Food Security · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a really important point. Sadly, suicide is very high among the farming community, which is another indicator of the many pressures that our farms are facing. I return to the point that I do not think that we appreciate our farms, farmers or farming communities enough in this place. That is the backdrop that some of us are fighting against. To introduce a new tax burden at this moment risks accelerating the loss of domestic production. If we are serious about food security, it is exactly the wrong time to treat a farm as if it were simply an asset to be broken up. I will return to what is happening locally. At Stonnall Road in Aldridge, there is an outline planning application for around 355 houses on a site that we have always understood to be green belt—a vital green buffer for the village. Hundreds of residents have already backed my petition against the development. They are not opposed to housing, but they struggle to see why that productive land—well-used green space—has suddenly become the soft target, when brownfield sites exist in Walsall and, indeed, Birmingham city centre. Surely that is where we should be doing much more regeneration work.

• 17 Nov 2025 · Budget: Press Briefings · Hansard source

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  Leaks, unauthorised briefing and speculation—or maybe not speculation—are creating instability, chaos, volatility and uncertainty for the markets, for businesses and for households in my constituency, so why will the Minister not answer the shadow Chancellor’s question about having an inquiry into what has actually happened? Let us get to the bottom of this.

• 17 Nov 2025 · Illegal Waste: Organised Crime · Hansard source

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  The number of fly-tipping incidents per day is 3,157. That is equivalent to one every 27 seconds. We see fly-tipping all too often in the west midlands. In my constituency, despite the council’s great efforts to rid us of the scourge of piles of mattresses and fridges, what we see is absolutely shocking. The situation is not helped, of course, by the Birmingham bin strikes, which continue. Will the Minister support the introduction of penalty points on driving licences for those convicted of fly-tipping, to send a really strong message that those involved in organised waste crime will pay for the misery that they impose on our communities?

• 5 Nov 2025 · House Building: London · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend speaks passionately about this, but does he not agree that this absolutely shows the problem with centralising not just targets but powers in the hands of one person—the mayor or a combined authority? We need much more involvement of local communities, and we need councils to have a greater say on planning matters.

• 5 Nov 2025 · House Building: London · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member makes a really important point about grey belt. I completely understand her example of a car park, but grey belt needs much clearer definition, because we are seeing cases of development that inspectors are now saying is grey belt when it is actually greenfield, and that is really damaging to our communities.

• 5 Nov 2025 · House Building: London · Hansard source

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  The key thing is that until the Government recognise that they need to put some support into brownfield regeneration, our green belt and our green spaces will always be under threat.

• 5 Nov 2025 · House Building: London · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is painting a really bleak picture for London. Does he agree that to build the homes that we need in this country, we should focus not only on increased density in our city centres, but crucially on brownfield sites? We are not seeing from the Government a determined brownfield-first approach to housing that would protect the green belts surrounding our towns and cities.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady talks a lot about footfall on high streets, and I think we all agree that more footfall benefits businesses. With that in mind, what consideration has she given to regenerating our towns and city centres by building on brownfield sites and setting proper housing targets in our city centres, rather than on the peripheries of cities?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that we have a Government who simply do not understand business? They seem to think that they can just squeeze and squeeze small businesses because they make unlimited profits. If they do that, there will be no businesses left on our high streets.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions: Business Impact · Hansard source

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  6. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the increase in employer national insurance contributions on businesses.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions: Business Impact · Hansard source

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  I am not convinced that that answer went anywhere near my question. Family businesses are the lifeblood of communities and constituencies such as mine. Last week, I met Family Business UK to discuss how the Government’s national insurance hike and restrictions to business property relief are forcing businesses to pause investment, think twice about taking on more staff and, in some cases, even to close their doors. Ahead of the Budget, will the Chancellor meet me and representatives from family businesses to seek ways in which the Government will work with, not against, these really key businesses?

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

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  We are seeing more and more HMOs across Walsall borough and in my constituency, and it is leaving my local residents feeling that they have very little say on what is happening in their streets. Walsall council has worked on this. I welcome its new article 4 direction, which came into effect in October 2025 and is a much-needed step in restoring local accountability. However, the issue does concern me. The conversion of family homes into HMOs reduces the availability of affordable family homes and risks changing the nature of settled communities. There is also a growing fear and concern about the use of HMOs to accommodate illegal migrants or newly arrived asylum seekers, so once again I seek reassurance from the Government that, as those people are decanted from hotels, we will not see an automatic rise in the number of HMOs. The Government need to get a grip on this issue; a starting point would be a national assessment of the impact that HMO concentrations are having on community cohesion. Underpinning all this is the fact that our communities need to feel that they are being listened to. I urge the Government to take note and take action.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Official Development Assistance Reductions · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention; I was just going to come on to the point that I believe answers his question. Our development partnerships must adapt to the changing geopolitical landscape that we face today. That is at the heart of this issue. The minilateral model, where like-minded countries pool resources for shared objectives can be a powerful force multiplier, nimbler and more accountable than large multilateral programmes. Can the Minister confirm whether the Government are exploring new minilateral partnerships to deliver aid more efficiently and to help to ensure that developing nations choose genuine partnerships of openness and mutual benefit with the UK over one-sided deals with authoritarian powers that can often lead to debt traps? Within that same vein, the Commonwealth is an immense asset, so what are the Government doing to use ODA to strengthen democratic resilience, improve internal trade and support the new Commonwealth secretary-general’s priorities on prosperity and governance? We owe it to the British taxpayer to ensure that every pound of ODA is well spent, fully accountable and transparently reported. That means rigorous evaluation, better oversight and a clear demonstration of value for money. It also means having the courage to stop funding programmes that are no longer effective or aligned with our priorities, and to focus on what works. I ask the Minister to set out how her Department is strengthening accountability and transparency mechanisms across its ODA portfolio. We must recognise that defence, diplomacy and development are interdependent. Strategic flexibility matters in an increasingly dangerous world, and reprioritising elements of the aid budget to strengthen our defence and security capabilities is pragmatic and responsible. We must deliver on that. Security is the foundation of development. Without stability, prosperity and progress, it cannot take root. Finally, I return to the question raised last week at the Dispatch Box by my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel) regarding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Given the position expressed in recent days by the US Administration about its future role in Gaza, can the Minister confirm what discussions the UK has had with the US and other partners on that issue? What assessment has been made of the implications for UK aid, and what safeguards are in place to ensure that British taxpayers’ money is being used responsibly, effectively and in line with our values? As we look ahead, our approach to international development must continue to reflect who we are as a nation: outward looking, confident and compassionate. My party’s approach stands for a proud record of global leadership, a focus on results and accountability and a belief that partnership, not dependency, is the path to lasting progress and security. Britain will remain a force for good in the world, not because of the size of our aid budget, but because of the clarity of our ambition, the strength of our partnerships and the integrity of our leadership.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Official Development Assistance Reductions · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank the hon. Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) for securing this timely debate. I also welcome the Minister to her place on the Front Bench; I think this is the first time we have met across the Dispatch Box in Westminster Hall, and I genuinely wish her well. I also thank in particular my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell), who, as ever, demonstrates a very deep understanding and knowledge of development issues and, importantly, the challenges that we face in today’s world. The UK has a proud record as a global leader in international development. I am proud that that record was shaped and delivered by successive Conservative Governments. On this side of the House, we have always believed that development is not simply about charity, but about partnership, soft power, security and the projection of our national interest. Over the past decade, Conservative Governments delivered real and lasting results that have made the world healthier and safer, and unlocked economic opportunities. Millions of people were lifted out of poverty through targeted aid programmes and economic development initiatives. We were the single largest public contributor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which has saved over 18 million lives. Our water, sanitation and hygiene programmes reached over 120 million people worldwide. That is a record that we Conservatives can be proud of. Today, though, the world we face is very different from that of just a few years ago. We are living through an era of multiple and overlapping crises: conflict in Europe and the middle east; state fragility in the Sahel and the horn of Africa; climate and weather-driven disasters displacing millions and a growing contest of influence, where authoritarian regimes ruthlessly exploit entry points. Against that backdrop, the UK must ensure that every pound of taxpayers’ money spent abroad delivers maximum impact and advances our critical national interests. We need to focus our resources where they make the greatest difference, where they advance our economic prosperity, strengthen our national security and support global stability. Our country will always play its part internationally, but our development funding must work harder for Britain. Development assistance is a powerful tool of foreign policy: it helps us to prevent conflict before it reaches our shores, to tackle the root causes of migration, and to build the partnerships that underpin trade, investment and shared security. Our approach should therefore be guided by one simple principle: every pound we spend abroad should strengthen Britain’s influence, advance our prosperity and help to keep our people safe. That does not mean turning our back on those in need—far from it: it means ensuring that our aid budget is targeted, effective and sustainable, not fragmented across hundreds of small programmes, but concentrated in areas that serve both moral purpose and strategic value. To achieve that, we must also work differently. First, we need to harness the power of economic development. Development finance should not just be about grants; it should open markets, create opportunities and support British business too. When our aid helps to build capacity, digital connectivity and a resilient infrastructure, it lays the groundwork for trade and investment that benefit both sides. British International Investment is a vital vehicle for that. We should go further in aligning ODA with our export strategy and business partnerships. I ask the Minister what specific steps the Government are taking to ensure that private investment is being leveraged to its full potential. How is the FCDO supporting British International Investment and other financial instruments to deliver maximum value and measurable returns for both partner countries and the UK taxpayer? Secondly, we must modernise our partnerships. Development should be about partnership, not paternalism. It should empower countries to build their own institutions, tackle corruption and take ownership of their future. That is how we strengthen democracy, counter malign influence and help our partners to become resilient, prosperous nations and reliable allies of the UK. We also need to be bolder in linking aid to security outcomes. Our support has helped to build resilience in countries targeted by Russian destabilisation, such as Moldova. Those are examples of ODA directly strengthening our own national security. Will the Minister set out how the Department is embedding that security lens across its ODA portfolio, and whether new co-ordination mechanisms exist between the FCDO, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office to align aid spending with defence and resilience goals, including in relation to combating disinformation from hostile actors? In doing so, we should continue to ensure that our support reaches those to whom it makes the greatest difference. Women and girls must remain at the heart of our international development approach. Targeted programmes save lives and support education, health and safety. This work is not only a moral responsibility. It is one of the most effective and value for money ways to deliver on our wider development and foreign policy goals.

• 30 Oct 2025 · Sudan: Protection of Civilians · Hansard source

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  If I may, I will start by thanking the Minister for his update on Hurricane Melissa. On behalf of His Majesty’s official Opposition, I add my thoughts and solidarity for all those affected at this time. I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for granting the urgent question and to the right hon. Member for Oxford East (Anneliese Dodds) for raising the matter, because the reports of a massacre at the Saudi maternity hospital in El Fasher are appalling. The deliberate targeting of civilians, including women and newborns, is a disgrace. These latest atrocities underline the urgent need for renewed international resolve to protect civilians and ensure accountability for those responsible. The Conservatives have consistently called for stronger, co-ordinated international action in Sudan. As the UN Security Council penholder, the UK has both the platform and the responsibility to lead. Will the Minister tell the House what concrete steps the Government will take next? Will there be further targeted sanctions? What diplomatic action is being taken to deter the entities whose support continues to sustain the conflict? The Government hosted the international humanitarian conference on Sudan earlier this year. What has materialised from that? Has new funding been disbursed? What progress has been made since those pledges were announced? The collection and preservation of evidence is vital if perpetrators of these terrible crimes are to face justice. Will the Minister tell us the latest developments in the UK’s support for accountability mechanisms? Will the Government now redouble those efforts? On humanitarian assistance, millions remain displaced, with aid routes under constant threat. Will the Minister update the House on whether British aid is reaching those most in need? What assessment has been made of its efficacy? Sudan matters to its people, to regional stability and to our shared humanity. The UK must not shrink from its responsibilities to protect civilians, to pursue peace and to support the path to a democratic future.

• 30 Oct 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  It would not be business questions if I did not raise a certain topic, but I have let the newly appointed Leader of the House settle into his role before I raise the issue of Aldridge train station. In 2021, the Conservative mayor committed £30 million to build a new station in Aldridge and we were absolutely delighted about that. However, that risks being undermined by the Labour mayor of the combined authority in the west midlands, who has diverted the funding elsewhere. Will the Leader of the House put some pressure on the Mayor of the West Midlands to respond to my letter of many, many months ago and look at ways to reinstate that funding?

• 29 Oct 2025 · Asylum Seekers: MOD Housing · Hansard source

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  My constituents are increasingly concerned about the rising number of houses in multiple occupation. Can the Minister assure me that any overflow from these bases will not lead to an increased reliance on HMOs in our towns and cities, including Walsall, and may I ask what further powers the Government will give councils to protect the private rented sector from being squeezed out as a result of this?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  Russia’s war in Ukraine is fuelled by oil export revenues sustained by third-country refineries in India, Turkey and China. They process and re-export Russian crude as refined products, often to sanctioned states. These countries are fuelling Putin’s war chest. Last month, President Trump called on Turkey to halt Russian oil imports. Did the Prime Minister follow President Trump’s approach and demand that his Turkish counterpart stops the Star refinery and Tüpraş from buying Russian oil?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  The Chief Secretary to the Treasury indicated that if there was a plan to fund the proposal, he would back it. The shadow Chancellor has clearly set out that we do have a plan to fund it, so will the Chief Secretary back it?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  Does my right hon. Friend agree that, even in such a short period of time, this Government are showing that it is they who cannot be trusted with the economy and the future of this country? Is it not time they woke up to the reality?