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Category: Loyal Address Speeches

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Jeremy Corbyn, the Independent MP for Islington North, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024.

    It is a great pleasure to be able to take part in this debate. I congratulate the new Members on their maiden speeches. I put on record my deep thanks to all the people of the Islington North constituency for voting for me in the election to be an independent MP. Fighting as an independent was an interesting experience after fighting 10 elections as a Labour candidate. It is a very different experience. You have to have a deep and very honest conversation with everybody on every doorstep as to why you are doing it. I am grateful to the people for their response and for their confidence in me to be their Member of Parliament. I put on record my thanks to them.

    This election showed an enormous parliamentary majority for the Labour party. I congratulate all Labour MPs who have been elected and congratulate the Government on taking office, but I think people should be a little bit careful. The total vote for Labour was lower in this election than it was in the last two general elections. A number of independents like me were elected, and there was an increase in Green MPs, an increase in Plaid Cymru MPs and an increase in Sinn Féin MPs from Northern Ireland. There are levels of discontent in our society that were reflected in the election result. We ought to reflect on that.

    People in this election were totally fed up with falling living standards, increasing levels of poverty, increasing levels of homelessness, and higher levels of mental health stress and deep unease among many people in all our communities. As the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) said earlier, if the Government do not deliver on improving living standards for the very poorest in our society and deliver on improving the public services that everybody relies on, then the alternative is a turn towards the far right in politics, who will simply blame migrants, refugees or any handy minority for the problems that people face. We need something concrete that sets out a strong message about how we will improve living standards and make for a fairer society.

    A good start would be ending the two-child benefit cap immediately. It would cost £1.3 billion, take 250,000 children out of poverty instantly, and be a signal that we are serious. The idea of a commission to look at poverty is no doubt very welcome. I am sure Sir Humphrey thought that one up very fast: “Quick, folks, there is a problem. A lot of MPs are complaining about the two-child cap. Let us set up a commission and just delay this.” But why not do it now? Why not say, quite simply, “We are going to end the cap”? It is cruel and nasty to suggest that the third, fourth or fifth child in a family is less valuable than the first two. I hope the Government will listen to that, and I hope that if there is a vote next week, a substantial number will vote in exactly the same way as Members voted in 1997 when the incoming Government decided to cut the lone parent benefit, and were forever marked by that decision. Why not make this decision now?

    My constituency, like many others, suffers from serious housing problems. Levels of homelessness are increasing all the time, with not just rough sleeping but overcrowding, and the private rented sector is completely unaffordable. I was interested by the section of the King’s Speech about regulation of the sector. Everything in that was fine, and I agreed with it all, but there was something missing: there was no reference to controlling rent levels. That is the fundamental problem. Yes, we want security of tenure and yes, we want decent conditions, but if the private rented sector is not regulated, inner-city communities such as mine will simply suffer further migration as people are priced out of the area. We need a comprehensive housing strategy that regulates the private rented sector, brings the housing associations under control—because, in my experience, they are not democratic in any way—and, above all, ensures that resources are available for the building of council housing, which is the most secure, permanent form of housing that we can provide. That would help to reduce the level of housing stress: there are currently a million people on the social housing register.

    I want to make two more points in the short time that is available. The Thatcher Government from 1979 onwards were beyond obsessed with the privatisation of public services. Whenever they were opposed on that—I was in the Chamber throughout that time, and I am happy to say that I voted against every single one of the privatisations—they said, “It is fine: regulation will take care of it.” Well, we have had more than 30 years of regulation of the water industry, and during that time £72 billion has been taken out of water companies in either profits or dividends rather than being spent on investment in infrastructure. We now have record high bills, a demand for even higher bills from the water companies, and unprecedented levels of sewage disposal in our rivers and also in the sea, which is contrary to the global oceans treaty that we apparently support. Surely it is pretty obvious that the privatisation has failed. Let us bring the industry back into public ownership, and ensure that we have reasonably priced, clean water and investment rather than profit-taking.

    My last point concerns a global issue. I will say this very quickly, because I have only a minute left. The war in Gaza has already cost 40,000 lives, and surely now is the time to do a number of things. First, we should demand a ceasefire with all the vigour we can bring to that. Secondly, we should end the supply of arms to Israel: it is our bombs, in part, that are being used to bomb Gaza and have taken the lives of 40,000 people. However, it is also a question of the withdrawal of the occupying forces.

    Surely peace can come if we do something about it. I hope that the defence review coming up will be not just about increasing defence expenditure but will look at the global situation and see what we can do to promote a peaceful, sustainable world and defend human rights and democracy in the world. In the last Parliament I was a member of the Council of Europe, and I enjoyed defending the principles of the European convention on human rights and the universal declaration of human rights. We can make a contribution for a peaceful, sustainable world if we want to.

  • Ruth Jones – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Ruth Jones – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Ruth Jones, the Labour MP for Newport West and Islwyn, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024.

    It is a real honour to speak in this debate on the King’s Speech and to follow the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley). I thank her for her thoughtful and considered speech. I commend the three new Members on their maiden speeches. Each was individual and different, but heartfelt and completely appropriate. Well done to all of them. The good news is that they have now achieved that and got it out the way, so they can get on with the rest of the job. It is also a real privilege to speak as the first Member of Parliament for the new constituency of Newport West and Islwyn. As I said in my acceptance speech on 4 July, it is an honour to represent the constituents of the new constituency, which includes the former seat of Lord Neil Kinnock, Don Touhig and, of course, my immediate predecessor the late great Paul Flynn.

    I am very pleased that our new Labour Prime Minister set out so clearly that this Government are here to serve the country and not be self-centred or self-serving. We in this House are public servants. We should do all we can to ensure that we represent the people who voted for us, and those who did not, to ensure their voices are heard in this place of power. We must work to ensure the best outcomes for all of them. The King’s Speech is full of details of legislation to be laid in the coming months and I am excited to see it unfold. We can start to make a difference to people’s lives in Newport West and Islwyn, across Wales and the rest of the UK.

    As a former trade union officer, I am so glad to see that the new deal for working people will be brought forward to ban exploitative practices and to enhance employment rights. We need to end the terrible practice of fire and rehire quickly, and the use of zero-hours contracts. It is so important that people are paid fairly and that work is rewarded. But we also need a safety net for those who are not able to work and need support, sometimes for a short time, while others need longer term support.

    Legislation to reform rail franchising will be most welcome, especially by people like me who travel on the trains on a weekly basis. We need to ensure that there is fair investment across the rail network, and that passengers get a fair deal on tickets and get to their destinations in comfort and on time. I look forward to the establishment of Great British Railways in due course.

    I am also looking forward to the introduction of Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean power company which will be based in Scotland. I have to say gently to the Government that I am sure we could have had it based in Wales, but I will leave that debate for another day!

    I also welcome the measures to strengthen community policing, deal more effectively with antisocial behaviour and improve victim support. I have worked with a number of women in my constituency who have suffered domestic abuse for many, many years. I want to ensure the police learn from their stories, and that any potential victims in the future have their issues addressed and their lives made safer as quickly as possible.

    I am also pleased to see included a Bill to progressively increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes, and, most importantly, to impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes. As a former physiotherapist like my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell), I am extremely concerned that people across the UK are still dying from cigarette-related conditions. I have treated patients who had irreversible changes to their lungs and other conditions directly due to smoking. The evidence of the link between nicotine and poor health and premature deaths has been very clear for many years now, but we also know that the longitudinal evidence on vaping has not yet been undertaken fully. We need to be cautious about the use of vapes, in particular the easy way that children and young people are able to obtain them. The addictive nature of vapes is well known. I have spoken to local school teachers who find that pupils are having to leave lessons, or even exams, to vape. That is so disruptive to the individual pupil and the whole class. It would be good to ensure safety and limit access to vapes. That legislation cannot come soon enough.

    I must also mention the plans to reform the House of Lords, as my predecessor Paul Flynn spent many years calling for that. He would be delighted to hear this news and would immediately start asking when! He would be gratified to hear that the abolition of hereditary peers will be achieved within the first term of this Parliament. I look forward to learning more about these constitutional reforms and how the other place will continue to scrutinise the work of this Chamber, because that is very important. Its role has been so vital in recent months and years, as we witnessed in the last Parliament.

    It would be remiss of me not to mention some areas that were not mentioned in the King’s Speech. The right hon. Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale), and many Members of this House, are very well aware of the importance of animal welfare. I have hundreds of emails on this vital topic every month. I must admit I was disappointed not to read of any animal welfare legislation, such as the banning of hunting trophies or puppy smuggling, the introduction of a kept animals Bill, and the tightening up of the rules around trail hunting in the King’s Speech. I gently ask my Front-Bench colleagues to ensure that these important pieces of legislation are brought forward in this Parliament. I am happy to be reassured that not everything makes the final cut in the King’s Speech. You can rely on me, Mr Deputy Speaker, to speak out on animal welfare, because animals cannot.

    There are so many other aspects of the King’s Speech that I would like to commend, but I am very conscious of others wanting to speak. I support the planned legislation and I urge my Front-Bench colleagues to begin their work straight away to bring hope to people across the UK and to make this country a place fit for the 21st century—safe and prosperous, and where people are proud to live and raise their families.

  • Karen Bradley – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Karen Bradley – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Karen Bradley, the Conservative MP for Staffordshire Moorlands, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024.

    It is an honour to be called in this debate, Mr Deputy Speaker. Let me start by thanking my constituents for putting their faith in me again and returning me to this place for a fifth term.

    I want to comment on the previous speeches. There have been some excellent speeches, particularly the three maiden speeches that we have heard. This Parliament is unique, as is every Parliament because each and every one is made up of the Members. We heard today in those maiden speeches that we can have faith that this will be an excellent Parliament, because they showed us that we have some truly great champions for local areas here in Parliament.

    I also want to comment on the two opening speeches. The hon. Member for Bootle (Peter Dowd) made a wonderful speech to open the debate and propose the Loyal Address. He is one of the kindest Members of Parliament, and it was lovely that he was chosen to be the proposer. I want to pick up on the comments made by the seconder, the hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), about my very good friend Nickie Aiken. We miss Nickie desperately, but we are so pleased that she got her Pedicabs (London) Act 2024 through. It was an achievement for her, and I know that the hon. Lady is also benefiting from that.

    I am struck that much in the King’s Speech feels like a process, not an event. I look at many of those Bills, and I go back to when I was a Minister. I think about the work that I did in the Home Office on the violence against women and girls strategy and to strengthen our domestic abuse laws. I am very pleased to see a Bill that we will be working on. We cannot stand still on this issue. We constantly have to keep moving on it, because perpetrators get wise and work out ways to buck the system. I am very pleased to see that that has been included. I am pleased to see a new law on spiking—something that many colleagues were looking to introduce before the general election. I am also pleased that there will be a mental health Bill—something that many of us pushed for. Again, I pay tribute to a previous Member, Dame Jackie Doyle-Price, who was such an advocate for that and raised it on numerous occasions.

    I am pleased we will see Martyn’s law introduced. I was the Secretary of State in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport when the Manchester Arena attack happened. It is good to know that from the lessons we have learned from that attack we can take legislative steps to make things safer. I also pay tribute to the progress made from the work of a previous Prime Minister soon to be in the House of Lords, Theresa May. She introduced the race equality audit, which looked closely at what was going on in the public sector and other organisations. Without that work, it would not be possible for a new race equality Bill to be proposed. She was the one who took the issue of Hillsborough seriously. She made sure that we had the full inquiry and have found out the truth. It is quite right that the Hillsborough law will be brought forward.

    In the previous Parliament I had the honour of chairing the British group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. I have been heavily involved in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK and I co-chaired the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. It is good to see so many friends from all sides who were involved in those organisations. I would say to any new Members to get themselves involved with these fantastic bodies, which give us an insight into global issues and build connections and links with our friends in Parliaments around the world.

    I welcome a new Bill to look at legacy in Northern Ireland. That issue can be tackled only if there is cross-party support on the ground in Northern Ireland. It cannot be imposed from here. We all want a solution to that issue. It was raised time and again at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, so I am glad that it will be looked at.

    I am also pleased that there will be a Bill to settle the constitutional status of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. We did start that process, but we could not get it finished and it is incredibly important.

    Finally, I will just comment on global issues and the middle east. I have seen at first-hand, through the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly, just how difficult these issues are to address. There are disruptors in the world who want to do us harm. They are making sure that the views around the world are the views that they want to see. We need to be incredibly careful and take that very seriously, because we need the hostages released, we need a ceasefire and humanitarian aid in, and we need to ensure that international law is observed.

    My final point relates completely to my constituency: the status of the Staffordshire Moorlands. We are a very proud and unique area. We are part of the Peak District national park. We have beautiful Churnet valley, which is desperate for area of outstanding natural beauty status. But we face challenges. We are concerned about what might happen with devolution, as we do not want to be in a unitary authority across north Staffordshire. We want to keep our unique identity. We do not want the green belt between our villages and the city built on. We want powers to ensure that locally elected people make the decisions on solar farm development, battery storage development, pylons and other local matters. I urge the Government: please, no top-down targets; please, no imposition from above. Listen to the people on the ground. This matters to them. Staffordshire Moorlands needs to keep its unique identity.

  • Rachael Maskell – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Rachael Maskell – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024.

    May I congratulate all new and returning Members on their election success? The right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) is right in saying that it is the greatest of privileges to be able to represent our constituents. I certainly pay real attention to my constituents in York Central and assure them that I will do all I can to ensure that their voices are heard, not least with the privilege of being in power. We must make the most of every opportunity, as today’s King’s Speech has clearly demonstrated for all to see.

    First, on stabilising the economy, I say to those on our Treasury Bench that York Central will play its part not only by creating 12,500 new jobs in the York Central development, taking forward advanced rail technologies and biosciences, but through BioYorkshire, with 4,000 green-collar jobs and a green new deal for York and wider Yorkshire. It will be a huge privilege to work with Front- Bench colleagues to see that come to fruition.

    It is not just about the economy. We will build the homes and the public services that we longed to see in Opposition. We will overturn the injustice that has crushed so many hopes and so many communities, entrenched now in inequality, and ensure that we build those services in the interests of the people we represent.

    Labour’s employment rights Bill will be so refreshing to workers. I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests; I am a proud trade unionist. I am proud of the work of trade unions: working people, working together for a better future, ending fire and rehire and the disgrace of minimum service level agreements, and giving workers fresh rights from the day they start work. I ask my Front-Bench team to consider my private Member’s Bill to outlaw bullying at work, ensuring a legal definition of bullying alongside discrimination and harassment and providing a route to an employment tribunal to seek justice, alongside an enforcement body to improve workplace culture. It could be transformative, reduce absenteeism and increase productivity, and it needs including.

    I stand here as a Co-operative MP, of which I am so proud. I will ensure that we embed our values in the Government’s agenda, growing the co-operative sector, ensuring community energy alongside Great British Energy, creating those safer high streets and enabling local ownership so that assets in our communities are given back to our communities.

    Labour is determined to build the homes that our constituents desperately need. York has a serious housing crisis. Council housing and first homes will show that Labour is on the side of families and communities. With rents out of control and housing disparity failing our communities as the market determines everything, we can once again control the right that people should have to live in a safe home. The renters’ rights Bill and the draft leasehold and commonhold reforms will make a difference to my constituents, and I am proud that they were in today’s speech.

    I am still on the campaign trail on Airbnbs and short-term holiday lets. The last Government said before the summer that they would legislate and regulate, but they did not. I trust that my Front-Bench team will now bring forward not a registration scheme—we know where these things are—but a licensing scheme so that we can control the growth of short-term holiday lets. There are 2,000 of them in my constituency—one in 10 houses. We need to take control of all housing. I gently say to the Minister that we have been waiting 68 years and counting for a local plan. We need York’s local plan to be delivered.

    It will no longer be like pulling teeth to get action on NHS dentistry. My hon. Friend the Minister is already at work delivering for our future, but we should look at the Health Committee’s report from the last Parliament on NHS dentistry. It set out a blueprint to really reform dentistry, to ensure access, treatment and better oral health.

    As we know, the NHS as a whole is on its knees. As a former physio, I know the importance of getting it back on its feet again. When we left office in 2010, the NHS was the most efficient health service in the world. Our ambition in government must be to restore those credentials, and not just in health but in social care, too. This must be the Parliament of social care, to complete the deal that people can have security in later life, this Government will take care of them and they do not need to fear those latter years.

    There is so much we need to do on health. We have heard today about the Mental Health Act and the tobacco and vapes Bill, and so much more is on our agenda. I will do everything, as I have for over 30 years, to work for a better health service built by that radical, reforming 1945 Government. I trust that this Government will be as radical and as reforming as that, ensuring the NHS is safe in public hands.

    Finally, I turn to education. I say to our education team that we need a new approach. We need to rip up that behaviourist approach that is doing so much harm to our young people, and introduce a nurturing, therapeutic approach to education. I am heartened to hear about the children’s wellbeing Bill, which is so needed at this time, and reviewing the curriculum and ensuring that young children leave school not just with good results but as confident young people, whose wellbeing and mental health are as important as their exam results.

    I further call on the Government to take action on academy trusts, which have spun out of control. We need accountability, and education funding spent on actual education, not on executive salaries and bonuses, as it currently is. We need education brought back under local authority control, so that the whole system can hold together and work together. Those changes at Ofsted are necessary, but we need to ensure that all our children have access to a nurturing education system that will make a difference to them and their future. I will work with our Front-Bench team to ensure that we are looking after children, no matter what challenges they face at home and school.

  • Julian Lewis – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Julian Lewis – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Julian Lewis, the Conservative MP for New Forest East, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024.

    Who would have ever dreamt, Sir Edward, when we first met in October 1981, that so many years later both you and your equally radical and progressive friend, my constituency neighbour and hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope), would successively grace this House by occupying the Speaker’s Chair?

    I wish to make congratulations a theme of my short contribution. I want to congratulate in particular the three maiden speakers we have heard so far. It takes quite a bit of doing to make one’s maiden speech so soon after entering the House of Commons, and it is greatly to their credit that they made such generous tributes to their predecessors. The hon. Member for Bolton North East (Kirith Entwistle) talked about working across party boundaries, which I wish to come back to. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss) concentrated on housing issues and the great sports record and legacy of his beloved Wolverhampton. I, too, can remember Billy Wright from all those years ago. The hon. Member for Southport (Patrick Hurley), who has just spoken, showed an intimate knowledge of the local issues affecting his new seat, and I am sure he will be extremely assiduous in attending to them.

    I said that I believe congratulations are a theme that is in order, and I wish to echo what my right hon. Friend the Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale) said about the result of the election and the way in which power was transferred. It goes without saying that whenever we have a general election and one side achieves a significant absolute majority, as has happened in this case, there will be a majority of people in the Chamber who feel self-congratulatory, but I suggest that we all ought to congratulate ourselves and each other on the way in which we have handled the transfer of power. It is a cause for great concern that when we look among modern democracies, both in western Europe and, sadly, across the Atlantic, we see that the cause of democracy in those countries is currently so ragged and threadbare. Let us hope it is but a passing phase.

    To those situated on the Opposition Benches, I have to say that, bad though the result was for the Conservative party, those who observe these Benches today should not think it was quite as much of a wipeout as it might appear. I think that two of us at least have had the experience of sitting on these Benches before. I was one of 32 first-time Conservative MPs elected in the Blair landslide of 1997. I had 13 years on the Opposition Benches, and then after that I had five years in a coalition. Which was the worse I am not sure, but I offer a piece of advice to all new entrants to the House, including on the Government Benches: if you want to enjoy your time in this place, ask yourself the following question, and hopefully give yourself the right answer. Would you still want to be here if you knew that you were going to be a Back Bencher for all of your parliamentary career? If the answer is yes, you are in the right place. Cling to it, because then anything else that happens is a bonus. If the answer is no, you made the wrong career decision. Get out at the next possible opportunity, because you will never be satisfied. People who come in with that attitude are disappointed. They may make it to the Front Bench but not make it to be a Cabinet Minister. They may make it to the Cabinet but not get to be one of the top four, or they may make it to the top four but not get the top job. We know what happens even to many Prime Ministers who get right to the top. So enjoy the status that you have got, bank it and look on everything else as a dividend.

    I turn to the King’s Speech, on which I will make just a couple of observations, because we do not have the time for anything more detailed. On planning presumptions, I am always a little bit worried about presumptions in favour of this and presumptions in favour of that. Let us hope that is not a shorthand for ignoring what people want. In my constituency of New Forest East, the biggest local issue for the first six years of my time in this place was a proposal to build a giant container port on reclaimed land on Southampton water called Dibden bay. Associated British Ports said that, without doing that, the port of Southampton would begin to die. We fought that for six years and we won. Guess what? The port of Southampton did not die; it found other ways of dealing with the container traffic, which has thrived. Now we have the prospect of a freeport in the area. I like to think that the new people in charge of Associated British Ports will be a lot more sensitive about what they plan for the delicate parts of the constituency. All I would say is: do not trample roughshod over communities’ concerns about major infrastructure projects, because sometimes that may not get us the best projects.

    On conversion therapy, I just leave a question hanging in the air. Anybody who votes for this change needs to be able to answer this point: what is it that you are proposing to outlaw that is not already forbidden under existing laws? The danger with well-intentioned laws of this nature is that we can end up really talking about thought crime. Seventy-five years after George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” was published—technically speaking, perhaps it is now 76 years—we need to be wary of that.

    I have a constituent with whom I happen to disagree about abortion. He is totally opposed to abortion; I am not, and I do not think that there should be demonstrations outside abortion clinics. He wants to be able to stand silently by himself on the pavement and pray internally. If he is asked by the police what he is doing and he says, “I am thinking about my shopping list”—or some other domestic issue—he is fine, but if he admits that he is praying in relation to the abortion issue, he could end up being accused of committing an offence. We should be careful before going down that road too far.

    When it comes to modernising the membership of the House of Lords, we must be careful about blanket proposals. A well-informed group led by Professor Lord Norton of Louth have been grappling with sensible ways of trying to modernise and reform the House of Lords for quite a number of years. Such voices need to be listened to. The House of Lords, though some people are appointed to it on the wrong basis, does an important job.

    If I may please have a few more moments, I have one last point, which is significant and relates to the Intelligence and Security Committee. This is an essential matter that will need to be incorporated into one of the pieces of legislation that the Government are to introduce. A single amendment to the Justice and Security Act 2013 is required to protect a particular aspect of our parliamentary democracy that is currently being undermined. The amendment would establish an independent office to support the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament—which I chaired until recently—in order to safeguard the Committee’s independence.

    For the benefit of the newer Members of the House, the ISC is a cross-party and cross-House Committee created by statute. Under the Justice and Security Act 2013, the ISC has the legal responsibility for overseeing the UK’s intelligence community on behalf of Parliament. Newer Members will be surprised to hear that the ISC’s office—a very small number of staff—belongs to the Cabinet Office, when the ISC oversees large parts of the Cabinet Office. They would be right to be surprised. That is a fundamental conflict of interest. That is why, at the time of the Justice and Security Act, the Cabinet Office was supposed to be only a temporary home but, in the more than 10 years that have elapsed since then, the Committee’s office is still beholden to, vulnerable within and unfairly pressurised by the very part of the Executive that it is charged with overseeing.

    The Executive should not be able to constrain and control the Committee’s democratic oversight on behalf of Parliament by exerting control over the Committee’s small team to the extent that the Cabinet Office officials are actually overriding the Committee, as has happened repeatedly in respect of staff assessments in recent years, or starving it of resources so that it is unable to fulfil its legal responsibilities.

    The members of the ISC in the last Parliament therefore determined unanimously—across all parties and both Houses represented by its membership—that it was essential for parliamentary democracy that the Committee’s office move out from under the control of the Executive and be established instead as an independent body corporate with a link to Parliament rather than the Executive.

    In the King’s Speech—this is my final point—we heard this morning a programme outlined that gives an obvious vehicle for putting this matter right: the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and International Committee of the Red Cross Status Bill, which is designed to change the status of those two organisations. That is therefore the obvious place to include a short amendment to the legislation necessary to change the status of the Committee’s organisation as well. I hope that we can work across party boundaries to ensure that the resources and the independence of the staff of the Intelligence and Security Committee can now be secured after a difficult time in which the excellent staff have helped to produce many important reports. However, they should not have to be looking over their shoulders with a problem of this sort.

  • Patrick Hurley – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address and Maiden Speech

    Patrick Hurley – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address and Maiden Speech

    The maiden speech made by Patrick Hurley, the Labour MP for Southport, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024.

    Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me to make my first speech as part of this important debate.

    First, may I thank the right hon. Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale) for his contribution? May I also pay tribute to all those who are making their first speeches today? I wish them well today and for the remainder of this Parliament, and I hope that we each manage to repay the trust that our new constituents have placed in us.

    I am led to believe that certain conventions apply to Members’ first speeches. I wish to assure the House that I will abide by those conventions. Accordingly, I wish to pay sincere tribute to my predecessor, Damien Moore, who diligently served Southport for the past seven years, paving the way for a new Government to ensure that the town’s best days lie ahead. I wish him nothing but the best for the future.

    I also wish to refer to another of my predecessors as the MP for Southport, somebody already mentioned in today’s debate. At the 1865 general election, William Gladstone was elected as one of the three Members for the South Lancashire county constituency, which took in both Southport and my original hometown of Prescot. As I am sure Members will appreciate, this fact helped me somewhat over the past 12 months or so in drawing a link between where I was born and where I now represent in this House.

    I expect that I am not alone among new Members in having been rather overwhelmed over the past couple of weeks by the mountain of email correspondence that we have received from constituents and others since being elected.

    I can, though, take some comfort in the fact that my inbox refers solely to the much smaller constituency of Southport, rather than to the whole of the South Lancashire constituency that William Gladstone represented. I can only imagine the additional stresses and strains on Members in Gladstone’s day if they, too, had had access to a Parliamentary email address.

    As well as being part of the same old county constituency, both Prescot and Southport were also within the boundaries of the old hundred of West Derby. This fact was brought further to my attention when the Boundary Commission announced during the last Parliament that the new Southport constituency would, from now onwards, also contain Tarleton and Hesketh Bank, two beautiful villages on the south coast of the Ribble. As a result of this change, I researched at my local library whereabouts the boundary of the West Derby hundred was, hoping that I would be able to say that Tarleton and Hesketh Bank had, many years ago, also been under the same county division as Southport. Alas, this was not to be. After quite some hours of research, I realised that the information I was looking for had actually been staring me in the face all along. It appears that the boundary between the hundreds of West Derby and Leyland lay along—would you believe?—Boundary Lane, and that Boundary Lane is situated in a hamlet called Hundred End. It is a lesson, I think, in not ignoring the obvious when it is right there in front of you.

    My predecessors in previous Parliaments have talked about how they have felt that Southport has sometimes been taken for granted or taken advantage of, and so have subsequently sought to discuss and elevate divisions between the towns of the local borough. I wish to assure my constituents that I will take a different approach. Instead, I will work to ensure that our country’s new Government will not look to cause divisions with our neighbours, whether they be other countries thousands of miles away or even other towns just a few thousand yards away. Instead, I will work with colleagues to ensure that the Government will look to unite our country in the task of national renewal, because the politics that I believe in is a politics of the common good—a politics where each of us looks out for the wellbeing of the other, rather than tries to do others down.

    Many towns and villages in this country have seen better days than over the past few years. Southport is no different. Whereas other areas have had, for instance, much-needed housing not built, or much-needed transport links not implemented—two issues that I am pleased to see the new Government are planning to address—Southport’s problems have manifested themselves in the temporary closure of the town’s much-loved pier, and in the town centre, whose main streets need more than their fair share of love and attention. I promise to work with colleagues in this House and beyond to fix these issues.

    The new Government’s priority on economic growth is entirely the right approach. Unless we get the trend rate of growth back to pre-2008 levels, our task in this Parliament of reducing poverty will be much harder. The Government have my full support in their approach. I wish it to be known that I will do my utmost to make sure that Southport’s best days lie ahead of it, that the decline of recent years will be arrested and that the town’s fortunes will be turned around, and that I will work with good people of good faith to bring that about, no matter what their party affiliation. With that, I would like to thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me the opportunity to make my first speech in this place. I thank the House for the manner in which the speech was received.

  • Roger Gale – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Roger Gale – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Roger Gale, the Conservative MP for Herne Bay and Sandwich, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024.

    Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would like to start by adding my congratulations to both the hon. Members for Bootle (Peter Dowd) and for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) on their speeches earlier this afternoon. I suspect that you and I have heard quite a number of such speeches, and I think we can probably agree that those were two of the very best we have ever heard.

    May I also congratulate the hon. Member for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss), who spoke movingly of his football team and of his town, in which he quite clearly has great pride. I have not visited Wolverhampton for over 60 years, and I do not know whether the Ambassador bowling alley is still there, but I recall that Berry Gordy brought the Motortown revue to Wolverhampton, and I actually watched Stevie Wonder playing ten pin bowls in the Wolverhampton bowling alley—think about that.

    It is 41 years since I was first elected to this House as the then youngest Member of Parliament for the new seat of North Thanet, and I am delighted that, 41 years later, I find myself elected as the youngest Member of Parliament for Herne Bay and Sandwich. New colleagues on both sides of the House who have not heard these types of speeches before—you and I both know this very well indeed, Mr Deputy Speaker—will find that they will make great friendships right across the House over the coming weeks and months, and that is as it should be. Out there, in the real world, people do not understand that we work so closely together, but we do, and so we should. Jo Cox was absolutely right when she memorably said that there is much more that unites us than divides us. And so it is with this speech today.

    I should also place on record my thanks and, I hope, the thanks of the whole House to the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister for the way in which they have managed with great dignity the transfer of power. This country does state openings rather well, and it does democracy even better. There are many who envy us for that, and it is a precious jewel that we should never lose.

    This King’s Speech has much in it that I trust we can all applaud. It makes clear reference to defence of the realm, which is so vital to our country, and a commitment to NATO. It also commits us to support Ukraine in what is not just their war but our war—a war to defend democracy. There is also a commitment—although not everybody will agree with this—to a two-state settlement in the middle east. Those are all laudable aims, and I trust we can all support them. There are other areas that are greyer and that we shall have to take some issue with. That is the job of the Opposition, as the Prime Minister would expect. The Opposition will hold his feet to the fire and hold him to account when we think that he has got it wrong.

    There are three issues that I want to raise very briefly this afternoon. I have grave concerns about the proposed reforms of planning law. Like Many Government Members, I represent a rural constituency and I fear for the loss of farmland. I am not sure—this is a genuine confusion and concern—whether it is the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the Secretary of State for Housing who is driving the proposed planning reform policy. I have a very real concern that local democracy will be removed, and that we shall find ourselves with a slash-and-burn policy that will destroy yet more of not only the green belt, but of the land we need to grow the food to feed our country. I trust that the Government will address that issue very clearly and very seriously indeed.

    The new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero has moved very fast indeed to grant planning consents that give me cause for concern. I find it wholly unnecessary that East Anglia and Thanet should have to place solar farms on prime agricultural land—grade 1 land—that generates wheat of bread-making quality. We have acres of rooftops and car parks in public ownership that could and should be used to protect the land that we need.

    I have a particular concern about a project that two colleagues from East Anglia referred to earlier. The Sea Link project is designed to run a power cable from East Anglia under the Thames and around the coast to make landfall close to Sandwich. The proposal is to build on marshland immediately next to a site of special scientific interest, having crossed the Pegwell bay nature reserve, a 90-foot high structure the size of about four football pitches. National Grid has got this so horribly wrong that it only now realises that marshland is wet, which means it will have to pour thousands of tonnes of concrete into the land, drill down and pile before it can even begin to build its structure. Viable alternatives have been suggested, so I hope that the new Secretary of State will take this concern on board and use his powers to instruct National Grid to go back to the drawing board and get it right. We all want clean energy and renewable energy, and we all want to hit the net zero target, but not at any price. If we rush into this, we will get it wrong. We owe it to the grandchildren of every Member present to get it right.

    Finally, I am concerned about an omission from the King’s Speech. Given the comments and publicity, I am sad that the speech makes no mention of animal welfare. I would hope that, at the very least, His Majesty’s new Government will reintroduce and ram through the trophy hunting bill that two Members of Parliament—one Labour and one Tory—tried but failed to get through the last Parliament.

    With that, in the interests of this United Kingdom, I wish the Government and their programme well. We will hold feet to the fire where necessary, but I trust, as the Leader of the Opposition said this afternoon, that we will not be obstructive. A Government have a right to get their business through.

  • Bill Esterson – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Bill Esterson – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Bill Esterson, the Labour MP for Sefton Central, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024.

    It is always a pleasure to speak in this Chamber. I have had the pleasure of doing so for the past 14 years, but it is not half a big improvement to be standing on the Government side of the Chamber. I look forward to giving full support to this new Labour Government in their endeavour, as they take their first steps in changing our country for the better.

    I congratulate my hon. Friends the Members for Bolton North East (Kirith Entwistle) and for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss), who gave outstanding maiden speeches. They have set the bar rather high for the rest of my hon. Friends, as I think they would all agree, but I wish them all well in their endeavours. Indeed, I congratulate all new and returning Members.

    We have an inheritance after 14 years, and I would just say to some of the Conservative Members who have defended the previous Government’s record, or at least have attempted to do so as they have made their various leadership pitches, that the economic performance of those 14 years tells a rather different story, with low living standards, a cost of living crisis and low growth. In fact, growth has been so low that, had we maintained the growth of the last Labour Government, GDP would be £140 billion higher, every household would on average have £5,800 more every single year and there would be £50 billion more, on the same tax rates, for spending and investing in our public services and our infrastructure. That is what 14 years of Conservative Government have meant for this country, and to cap it all we had the Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng exuberance of the mini-Budget, with the disastrous crashing of the economy, which has left people paying high interest rates even now, two years later. That is the record we inherit, it is what we have to fix and we have made a very good start.

    In the Gracious Speech, the importance of economic stability was underlined with the announcement of a Budget responsibility Bill to deliver stability and to attract investment by creating confidence throughout the economy. There is the national wealth fund to attract private investment and to invest in the massive opportunity available to us in this country, which, almost uniquely in western Europe, is through clean energy, with our geographical and geological opportunities, as well as our marvellous tech in this country, our science base and our universities. There are the reforms to planning to deliver infrastructure and housing, and the reform to skills to deliver for our workers and for their employers. The investment we have announced in transport, which is so important—the improvements in rail and in buses and the commitment to sustainable aviation fuel—show that this is a Government who actually understand the importance of integrated transport in delivering societal and economic improvements.

    Turning to the impact on my constituency, we, like everybody in this House, will benefit from the commitments to take action on NHS and dental waiting lists, and to improve appointments, as well as to recruit additional teachers and to bring in breakfast club places for our children. All of those will make a massive immediate difference, and they are part of the down payment that the Prime Minister committed to during the election campaign and reiterated in his brilliant speech earlier. In my constituency, one piece of legislation announced today above all is of particular significance. I represent many people whose loved ones died at Hillsborough, or who were injured or who attended, so I am very pleased—along with all of my Merseyside and Liverpool city region colleagues, and indeed many more in this House—for everyone who has campaigned so hard for justice for 35 years. The legal duty of candour on all public officials and authorities will now be created, as it should have been so many years ago.

    I am thrilled at the announcement about and the commitment to mental health in the Gracious Speech. Maghull health park in my constituency arguably has the most comprehensive array of mental health services in Europe, with medium and low secure provision to go with the well known high-secure Ashworth hospital, which is the best arrangement on a single location. Mersey Care NHS foundation trust, along with the Liverpool city region combined authority and Sefton council all want to see, as do I, investment in a world-leading diagnostic and research mental health facility on the same site. What we heard in the Gracious Speech gives me great confidence that such investment is likely to be available so that we can make the most of what we are already very good at in this country and make so much more of it. It must be right, as the sovereign said in the other place, that mental health should have the same attention as physical health.

    This brings me on to speak in more detail about energy. The Liverpool city region and the north-west of England are supremely well placed to be at the heart of the Government’s plans for investment in clean energy and energy security. Contrary to what some Conservative Members have been saying, this is about jobs, cheaper transport and lower energy bills. It is an economic investment as much as it is an environmental one. It is of course essential that we support workers in the oil and gas industry, so that we avoid the mistakes of deindustrialisation, and that there are jobs and training for people to make the transition and take advantage of the lower-carbon future that we all know is coming.

    In the Liverpool city region and across the country, it is absolutely right that we make the most of opportunities in fixed and floating offshore wind. I am so pleased that one of the Secretary of State’s first acts has been to end the ban on onshore wind, and indeed that he has announced three new solar farms. In the north-west and elsewhere there are plans for hydrogen, for carbon capture and storage, and for nuclear, and uniquely in the north-west, in the city region, we have great plans for the Mersey tidal project. They are all key to growth, to prosperity and to addressing the climate crisis, so I am thrilled that this is front and centre of Labour’s plans for government.

    There are many other aspects of the low-carbon future, including improvement in insulation in housing and plans for solar for people at home. That is something I have invested in, and I have seen the benefits with lower bills already. I would advocate that for everybody, and it is brilliant that we are committed to giving everybody the ability to make the most of such an opportunity.

    The Liverpool city region and the north-west are part of the HyNet project, which is a commitment to a series of green hydrogen generation units. We are also committed to improvements in green transport through the roll-out of EV charging points—something that has to happen much more quickly right across the country—and there are already net zero hydrogen buses in service in the city region. Elsewhere in the city region, Glass Futures is leading the way internationally in decarbonising the production of glass, and we are also looking at battery storage.

    Whether in the city region or elsewhere in the country, this really is key not just to Labour’s energy mission, but to the mission of sustaining the highest growth in the G7, and whether through investment in energy or improvements in public services, by having growth at the centre we really will see improvements in this country and we really will see a change from what we have seen over the past 14 years. The 14 years of chaos are over, and it is time to turn the page. As the Prime Minister said, it is time to work together—and he offered to do so with all Members in this House and people beyond this House—to start to rebuild Britain. Today’s Gracious Speech is an important down payment in securing Britain’s future.

  • Liz Saville Roberts – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Liz Saville Roberts – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024. The speech was noted for being unusual in not praising the maiden speech made in the speech immediately before hers.

    This morning’s King’s Speech was a different sort of Gracious Speech from that to which some of us in this House are accustomed. It was heartening to hear some positive proposals that I look forward to debating, such as measures to address the need for long-overdue improvements to employment rights, reforms to the archaic House of Lords, and the extension of VAT to private schools. I particularly look forward to working together on the issues related to violence against women and girls, and was very interested to hear the Prime Minister name some activists in this area. I put on record the name of Rhianon Bragg of Rhosgadfan in my constituency, and the work she has been doing after the experiences she suffered at the hands of her offender. I would also like to mention Elfyn Llwyd, my predecessor, and the work that he did on stalking legislation, which I hope we will be able to strengthen.

    However, considering Labour’s message of change, I was disappointed not to hear about legislation to address the inadequate funding framework which leaves us short-changed in Wales. We have heard, of course, about the situation in the north of Ireland, where I believe further steps have been taken than have been taken in Wales. While Labour’s Government in Wales have been distracted by internal party politics, Plaid Cymru has reiterated our clear and credible call for fairness and ambition for Wales. That means a fairer funding deal so that we can properly invest in our public services; it means the billions owed to us from HS2 so that we can connect our communities north to south; and it means powers over our natural resources so that we can ensure energy profits are directed into Welsh communities, helping us to build an economy fit for the future and creating well-paid green jobs.

    Of course, we face the immediate challenge to the economy in Wales of the situation of Port Talbot. I think everybody in this House will be very much aware that we need security of supply when it comes to virgin steel for all the other projects that we hope to bring forward with net zero. The UK Government need to be working closely on finding some solution to what is happening in Port Talbot.

    This is an important point: when we talk about fairness, it is not a matter of begging for money from Westminster. On the one hand, it is about demanding the money that is rightly owed to Wales. People who argue for the strength of the Union—possibly from the Government Benches; it is not something that my party does—should be looking for that giving the nation of Wales fair funding. However, it is equally significant to me and my party that we have the necessary levers—the tools that we need to drive up our own economic development in Wales. We do not want to have our hands out with a begging bowl; we want the means to grow our own economy, and for that to be answerable in Wales.

    Interestingly, that point was raised in the King’s Speech today in relation to devolution in England. Having had a quarter of a century of devolution in Wales under the model devised by Labour and under a Labour Government, it would be very interesting to strengthen the economy in Wales as well. Plaid Cymru’s amendment sets out that vision in plain terms. It calls for measures to reform Wales’s fiscal framework to provide consistency, transparency and fairness—replacing the Barnett formula with a needs-based formula, introducing multi-year funding settlements, and restoring the Welsh budget to 2021 spending review levels. That is how Labour could bring about real change in Wales.

    Indeed, what is missing from this King’s Speech is just as important as what is in it. The decision not to scrap the two-child benefit cap shows Labour’s choice not to prioritise the immediate needs of nearly a third of children in Wales who live in poverty. Labour officials have repeatedly refused to make that so-called unfunded commitment, but the point—this matters—is that the decision not to fund that commitment is a political decision. Plaid Cymru has championed real change: alternative means of taxation that would enable the funding of progressive policies, such as equalising capital gains tax with income tax, which would raise £15 billion a year. Some £2.5 billion is needed to fund the abolishment of the two-child benefit cap, less than a fifth of all that potential income. Just imagine how much we could do with the remaining contribution to the public purse.

    Scrapping that cap alone would help lift 65,000 affected children out of poverty in Wales—that is 11% of children in Wales. Child poverty levels are unacceptably high, and this policy only increases those levels further. Investing in our children’s futures would be a real, powerful change in the here and now. Labour has committed to the idea of a taskforce, and I have to welcome that, because it is a step in the right direction. It is very interesting that that has happened today; is this the first indication of a U-turn on the part of Labour? If so, I would welcome it, and I look forward to hearing more on that.

    Today, Labour also committed to strengthening devolution in England. It is of course important that communities have a real say in decisions that affect them, yet similar promises were not made to Wales. Labour’s manifesto committed to strengthening the Sewel convention and to “considering”—that weasel word—the devolution of justice and policing to Wales. That has already been considered, because it is the policy of the Labour party in Wales, but it has not been brought forward. Given the state of our prisons as bequeathed to us by the previous Government, with their policy of 14 years of austerity, we need radical ideas to tackle that blight and the question of how we rehabilitate people and deal with justice. In Wales, of course, the key measures involved with rehabilitation and making our communities safer—namely health and housing—are already in the hands of the Senedd. We need all this in place.

    In recent years, Welsh devolution has been constantly undermined. It is high time to go further and pass legislation to put legal safeguards in place to protect devolved powers. We also need to heed the recommendations of experts and expand devolved powers, particularly in policing and justice, but in broadcasting too. If we are to tackle the question of the expansion of far-right populism, we need to have the means to do so through broadcasting. We also need to expand devolved powers in rail services and the Crown Estate, to name just some.

    Plaid Cymru will use the clear role that we have in this new Parliament to demand that Wales is treated fairly. We will, of course, also be raising with colleagues in this place the question of our relationship with our nearest neighbours. When I am standing in Pen Llŷn, the nearest capital city is not London but Dublin, and our relationship with the rest of the EU is absolutely critical since the economic damage that Brexit caused.

    We will also be raising the issue of the disaster that is unfolding in Gaza and the response of this place, and how we seek justice for the people of Palestine and make sure that in future they are properly treated and recognised as a nation in the world. Again, we will be using this theatre to make sure that our voice is heard. We will therefore continue to push the UK Labour Government to be more ambitious. I heard the Prime Minister talk about the “lobby of good intentions”. Yes, there are good intentions; there are also good intentions to work together where we can, and Plaid Cymru will hold this place to account for the people of Wales.

  • Warinder Juss – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address and Maiden Speech

    Warinder Juss – 2024 Speech on the Loyal Address and Maiden Speech

    The maiden speech made by Warinder Juss, the Labour MP for Wolverhampton West, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2024.

    I am deeply honoured and privileged to represent the new constituency of Wolverhampton West, which was created through the amalgamation of the seven wards of the former Wolverhampton South West constituency, one ward from Wolverhampton North and one from Wolverhampton South East.

    As in so many other places in our country, housing is a major issue in my constituency. I am pleased to note the housing measures set out by His Majesty’s Government in the Gracious Speech. Our country faces a growing housing crisis. In the year to March 2024, the number of new homes started by builders in England was about 135,000—a 22% fall on the previous year. Just over 153,800 housing units were completed in England, representing a 12% annual fall. Moreover, planning applications have fallen.

    In late November 1918, Prime Minister David Lloyd George chose to start his general election campaign in the Wolverhampton West constituency with the famous “homes fit for heroes” speech. He demanded better homes and said:

    “What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.”

    I echo that sentiment and have every confidence that the Government will deliver a significant boost to house building—especially, I hope, council housing—just as they did in the 1920s and the 1960s. Less than 25 years ago, it was possible to allocate a one-bedroom Wolverhampton council flat in less than 48 hours. Now it seems that, as in so many parts of the country, the waiting list is nearer 48 months. We desperately need a mass programme to build council housing, which is quite literally an investment for the future.

    I am a proud son of Wolverhampton—a Wulfrunian. We are so called because our great city was founded over a thousand years ago by Lady Wulfrun, and is perhaps the only city in the country founded by a woman. I have lived in the city that I love since I arrived from east Africa aged four. I went to school, college and university in the city, where I did my law degree and professional exams, and did my legal training in a solicitor’s office there to begin with. I have spent my working life as a social justice lawyer at the great firm of Thompsons solicitors, focusing on work for trades union members and on clinical negligence cases.

    Wolverhampton has a long and proud tradition of manufacturing. It was formerly home to renowned companies Sunbeam Motor Car Company—which held the land speed record—and Guy Motors. Incidentally, my father worked on a laser machine at Guy Motors. The constituency also contains the headquarters of Marston’s, a big pub chain whose brewery is being sold to Carlsberg this month. I wish to work with others to encourage Marston’s to continue our city’s 149-year tradition as a major brewing location.

    Our city has a fine tradition of assisting the disadvantaged. For example, headquartered in the constituency is the Haven—the second oldest charity in the country—which provides refuge accommodation for women and children escaping domestic abuse. We also have the head office of the excellent Refugee and Migrant Centre, a national centre of expertise. I am a long-standing and active trade unionist and sit on the executive council of the GMB. I am always conscious that the first national union agreement with an employer for an eight-hour day was signed in Wolverhampton in the 1930s.

    Those who are unfortunate enough not to know Wolverhampton are often surprised about how much the city has to offer. We have a premier league football team in Wolverhampton Wanderers, or Wolves. I am a proud wearer of the Wolves badge, and I am fortunate enough to have a season ticket for the club with my son. In this week when English football players have done us proud and have achieved so much as a team, it is worth bearing in mind that Stan Cullis, who lived in the city for many years, captained England, as did the great Wolves player Billy Wright, who was captain of England on the most occasions. Molineux, the city centre stadium, has a statue of Billy Wright. Correspondingly, perhaps the best known captain of the England cricket team was Rachael— later Baroness—Heyhoe Flint, who in 1963 hit the first six in a women’s test match against the old enemy, Australia, and was unbeaten in six test series. Also capped for England in hockey, she grew up in the city and lived there all her life.

    Wolverhampton West is also home to the country’s first all-weather floodlit racecourse. Despite the budget cuts of recent years, there are three hospitals in the constituency, as well as many fine schools, including, I am pleased to say, four special schools. We are blessed with cultural facilities such as the fantastic Victoria-era West park, the 19th century Grand Theatre, Wightwick Manor—the finest arts and crafts National Trust house in the country—and the Wolverhampton art gallery, which is home to nationally important collections of pop art and Northern Ireland troubles art.

    I note the contributions and influence of my predecessors, the most well known of whom may well be, regrettably, Enoch Powell. Having lived in Wolverhampton since the age of four, I can attest that community relations have improved very markedly. That has not happened by chance; it has come about because of hard work by many people, including several of my predecessors and groups such as Interfaith Wolverhampton, of which I have been a member for several years.

    I pay tribute to the work of my predecessors the hon. Member for South Shropshire (Stuart Anderson), who was the MP for my constituency before deciding to stand in South Shropshire, and Jenny Jones, who fostered the developing democracies of eastern Europe around the turn of the century. I commend the work of my great friend and predecessor, and 2008 Back Bencher of the year, Rob Marris, particularly for his Assisted Dying (No. 2) Bill and his pioneering work on adaptations to climate change.

    Wolverhampton is underrated. It a great place to live and a great city. I am sure that the measures set out in the Gracious Speech will help it to become greater still.