Category: Speeches

Jess Brown-Fuller – 2026 Speech on Windrush Day

The speech made by Jess Brown-Fuller, the Liberal Democrat MP for Chichester, in the House of Commons on 25 June 2026.

I thank the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) for bringing forward this important debate, as I know she does every year on behalf of her constituents. I also thank her for setting the scene so beautifully as we celebrate Windrush Day.

It is a pleasure to speak today to celebrate the incredible contribution of the Windrush generation to our society, while also recognising the immense failings of the state in its treatment of them. The Caribbean and broader black communities have enriched the social fabric of the United Kingdom, adding vitality to our streets, shops and culture throughout the country. That generation and their children and grandchildren have inspired us, as the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey) has said, and served our national interest through their contributions to our public institutions.

We would be a poorer, less exciting, less dynamic and less colourful country had individuals not boarded ships such as the HMT Empire Windrush destined for the United Kingdom to help us rebuild after the second world war. The hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) spoke about Winston being embarrassed or ashamed by being a victim of what was a scandal, when he should just have felt pride in his contribution to our society after serving the council for decades.

The hon. Member also asked some really important questions about the efficacy of the compensation scheme. We often hear similar issues raised, when we are talking about the infected blood compensation scheme or the LGBT veterans who were kicked out of the armed forces, about how these schemes run and the case workers on them. It is so important that we get this right, so that people are not retraumatised or expected to provide information that they quite often do not have and cannot provide.

In my constituency of Chichester there were four passengers on the Empire Windrush—that we know of—Roger, who was a student; Violet, a domestic worker; Samuel, a member of the Royal Navy; and we, too, had a Winston, an accountant. Their stories and experiences will no doubt have varied, but Chichester was undoubtedly enriched by their presence, no matter how long they stayed with us. Winston’s daughter was the late Andrea Levy, who represented so many of that generation in her writing about the lived experiences of Jamaicans who moved to the UK.

In my constituency we have seen extraordinary performances at Chichester festival theatre, often featuring and written by black actors. I refer members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am a trustee of Chichester festival theatre. Our city is not very multicultural—I think we are 96.8% white—so we have been on a real journey, as a theatre, to make sure that when people come to provide incredible shows, they feel welcome while staying in our city. I know that the theatre has done a lot of work to make sure that those experiences are the best they can be.

Our local students in Chichester have benefited from the work of Hakim Adi, the first African-British historian to become a professor of history in the UK, who taught at the University of Chichester. Meanwhile, locals and tourists can learn much about the involvement in Britain of those who came here during the Roman empire when they visit our remarkable Fishbourne Roman palace.

In Chichester, and throughout the country, we owe our black communities so much, yet at times we have let them down badly. The scandal that led to people being wrongly detained and deported due to a lack of documentation was a shameful chapter in our history. They were invited here as British citizens, yet their dignity and rights were disregarded because of failings in the state apparatus.

The previous Conservative Government failed to deliver the justice that those Windrush victims deeply deserve. There was dither and delay in the implementation of the recommendations of the Windrush lessons learned review, and the independent Windrush commissioner has recently emphasised that the Windrush compensation scheme is not fit for purpose, as the hon. Member for Brent East mentioned. Claimants often find the process of applying for compensation exhausting and painful. Many receive no payment at the end of a lengthy and difficult process. Currently, six in 10 applications result in no compensation being awarded. The Liberal Democrats would urgently implement all the recommendations of the lessons learned review in full and make the compensation scheme independent of the Home Office.

Beyond the scandal, far too many people’s lives are still blighted by prejudice, discrimination and inequality. We all have a responsibility to recognise that reality, and the role that we can play in challenging those injustices. That is even more important in this Chamber because of the unequal experiences of people from ethnic minority backgrounds across our public services. Whether it is in the criminal justice system, the NHS or education, outcomes and opportunities are not equal, and it should be the ambition of us all to change that. It is particularly important in parts of the country that are not as diverse as others. As I said, my constituency of Chichester is proportionately less diverse than others. Having said that, growing numbers of individuals from different ethnicities are moving into my city. It is important that we commit to ensuring that this is not used as a political football to stoke division or hate.

I am proud that the Liberal Democrats are committed to fighting for racial equality, which means unequivocally condemning racism in all its forms and tackling injustice wherever we see it. In our election manifesto, we committed to implementing a comprehensive race equality strategy aimed at reducing the disproportionately high maternal mortality rates experienced by black women and eliminating racial disparities in maternal health through a cross-departmental target and strategy. We also want to end the disproportionate use of stop and search and require all police forces to adopt ambitious targets for improving the diversity of their workforce throughout the country. We have also called for the reversal of the Conservatives’ voter ID scheme, which disproportionately excludes minorities from democracy, and for all parties to publish candidate diversity data.

As has been outlined today in the outstanding contributions, the Windrush generation, and our Caribbean and black communities more broadly, have given so much to this country. I would particularly like to put on record a tribute to my noble Friend Baroness Floella Benjamin. Her story, her upbringing, her work and her continued advocacy on behalf of the Windrush generation—those invited here to help rebuild Britain—are truly inspiring. She continues to hold the Government to account in the other place to ensure that people just like her, who came here from the Caribbean in the 20th century, receive the justice they deserve. I believe that she first proposed the idea of a national Windrush Day, so I pay tribute to her. I put on record our thanks to the Windrush generation for their incredible contribution to our society over the past 80 years.

29/06/2026
James Wild – 2026 Comments on Poor Performance of Government Operated Great Northern

The comments made by James Wild, the Conservative MP for North West Norfolk, on 28 June 2026.

4 hours and 20 mins and 3 changes with rail replacement services for a journey that should take 1 hr 45 on a train.

Another weekend of poor service from the now state controlled Great Northern which causes huge inconvenience to passgeners and damages the economy.

Passengers should be offered discounted tickets when there are rail replacement and much longer journey times.

The government now controls the track and the trains and so I urged the Tranapoet Secretary to provide discounts. She declined.

I will be taking this up with Great Northern when I meet them again shortly, as well as the continued unreliable service and cancelled trains

28/06/2026
Kemi Badenoch – 2026 Comments on Sir John Major

The comments made by Kemi Badenoch, the Leader of the Opposition, on 28 June 2026.

Sir John Major makes the essential point. Parents who send children to private school save the state money.

Labour’s tax on them has failed. Now the state has 2,000 fewer teachers than when Conservatives left office.

So we will reverse this futile, vindictive policy.

28/06/2026
Joy Morrissey – 2026 Speech on Windrush Day

The speech made by Joy Morrissey, the Conservative MP for Beaconsfield, in the House of Commons on 25 June 2026.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was so inspired by the speech of the hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) that I thought I would say a few words.

I just want to thank the Backbench Business Committee for bringing forward this debate and to say a personal thank you to the Windrush generation and their grandchildren for making me feel British when I first came here. We talk about what we have in common and what divides us, and what is great about the Windrush generation is that they came here, they contributed, they were proud to be British and they have brought so much enrichment to being British. When I came here as an immigrant, it was my West Indian friends who taught me how to be British, and who showed pride in being British and pride in the flag.

My first coronation party was a Jamaican-inspired coronation party, and that is the best kind of party to have. As the hon. Member mentioned, there were none of those transparent bags; it was classy and wonderful, and I had the best time. I think my being proud of being British came from the kindness shown to me when I first came here as an immigrant.

I just want to thank the Backbench Business Committee for having this debate and the Windrush generation and their grandchildren for their incredible contribution to this country.

28/06/2026
Dawn Butler – 2026 Speech on Windrush Day

The speech made by Dawn Butler, the Labour MP for Brent East, in the House of Commons on 25 June 2026.

It is an absolute and wonderful pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) and her beautiful tribute to the Windrush generation and her constituents. I know how much they appreciate the fact that she calls for this debate in Parliament every single year, and I concur with her on the beautiful exhibition in Portcullis House. However, I slightly disagree on raising the Windrush’s anchor. I have had this conversation with Sir Patrick Vernon, and I would prefer the money to be spent on a learning centre and an educational trust. I feel that would be a more worthwhile spend of money.

My mum and dad came here on British passports. They would be considered part of the Windrush generation, and they are extremely proud of coming on their British passports. The way they were taught English in school was way better than how we were taught English in school, and we often got into trouble for how we spoke, because we were not speaking the Queen’s English. I remember being in the garden with my father one day and asking him to sing the national anthem. He started singing “God Save the Queen”, but I wanted him to sing the Jamaican national anthem, because I wanted to learn it. There is a deep history there. As my hon. Friend said in her moving speech, some politicians are trying to divide us, but there is so much that unites us.

The Windrush scandal has been such a painful time. The first time I heard of it was when Winston, as I will call him, came to see me in my surgery. He had been working for the council for 40 years and was looking forward to his retirement, but when it was time for retirement, he was told that because he was not legally here, he would not have access to his pension. I was absolutely stunned by that. Sometimes constituents do not tell us the full story, and I thought that maybe there was more to it, but on further investigation I found that it was just a complete injustice.

Winston was embarrassed and ashamed. I would say to him that it was not his embarrassment or shame to carry, because this was something done to him by the British Government. However, there is a lack of understanding of the pride that this generation brings with them, as seen in how they carry themselves, how they speak and how they dress. People carrying things in a plastic bag is a no-no in the Jamaican community. If it is see-through, it is called a scandal bag, and is embarrassing because nobody should see what someone has in their bag. There is a lot of pride, which is why this has caused such embarrassment and shame.

I asked Jacqui McKenzie, who is the head of immigration, asylum and Windrush cases at Leigh Day, about the cases she is currently dealing with. The first issue, she said, is the excessive delay, with some people waiting four years. Many of them are very elderly, and the stress of the wait has caused illnesses such as dementia. We should hold our heads in shame. There are problems with claims for loss of earnings and the impact on people of a life lived in limbo, waiting for a decision, or in shame, waiting for the Government to acknowledge they belong in the country. That has a profound effect, and the fact that it is not considered is unacceptable. People were sacked from their jobs and they did not get their promotions. Some people could not find places to live or to rent, and as I have mentioned, they did not get their pensions. All of this is unacceptable.

Caseworkers are currently not sufficiently trained. Constituents have told me that caseworkers have said to them, “Whereabouts is that?” or, “Are you sure?” when they present information. Teachers have contacted me saying that they can vouch for the West Indian children they taught in their schools if we need evidence, and that is how the community is coming together to try to right these wrongs.

Jacqui also mentioned the misinterpretation of demonstrating lawful status, which has led to cases being refused incorrectly. For example, two brothers, now in their 30s, applied for indefinite leave to remain in 2008 as children of settled Windrush parents. The Home Office wrongly refused their application, but years later the Home Office admitted it had made a mistake. However, it has not corrected the knock-on effects that the error caused, and those brothers are still waiting for justice five years later.

I have constituents who went to Jamaica to visit family or bury a relative, and when they went to the airport, they were told they could not come back and they were stuck in Jamaica. We have cases of people stuck in Jamaica for 10 years—10 years! One resident who is stuck in Jamaica has plenty of evidence, but he has been refused compensation based on having no lawful status, which is wrong. He was offered £10,000, but then was told that giving him that amount of money was a mistake, which has retraumatised him, and he is now showing signs of dementia.

There are problems with requests for updates, and there is a lack of transparency and a lack of care. All of this is unacceptable. As my hon. Friend mentioned, there is also a discrepancy between claimants in decision making. In exactly the same cases, sometimes in the same family, when people have presented their information, they have been given different awards. Some get no award, some get £10,000 and some get £40,000. All this shows that the system is not fit for purpose.

The scheme should be moved from the Home Office, which should never have been the administrator of a scheme when it was responsible for the injustice it has inflicted on others. We also need a truly independent appeal mechanism, as well as more experienced staff. At the moment, constituents have to go to the ombudsman, which means they have to go to their MP, who has to sign the application, so we need a straightforward appeal system. The current system is built to retraumatise people who have been wronged.

Lastly, we need a Windrush inquiry. We really need to know and understand the cause of the scandal, but also why it is still ongoing. We should be providing redress instead of causing trauma. Next year is the 10th anniversary of this scandal, and the consequences and injustices are still ongoing. It is our job to do this, and when the Minister gets to her feet, I hope she will commit to our putting these injustices right.

28/06/2026
Helen Hayes – 2026 Speech on Windrush Day

The speech made by Helen Hayes, the Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, in the House of Commons on 25 June 2026.

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Windrush Day 2026.

I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for allocating time for this debate. Windrush Day is on 22 June, the anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks. The Windrush has become a symbol of a period in our history when many people came to the UK from the countries of the Commonwealth. I am grateful to Arthur Torrington, who co-founded the Windrush Foundation with his dear friend, the late Samuel Beaver King, for his work documenting the history of the Windrush. Later this week, everyone will be able to read Arthur’s new book, “Windrush Myths and Misconceptions”, which I highly recommend.

The Windrush began its voyage in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on 20 May 1948. It made a number of stops in the Caribbean, including at Kingston in Jamaica. We do not know everything about the passengers on the Windrush, in part because the ship’s manifest records limited information, and in part because there were a number of service personnel on board who, for security reasons, were not recorded on the manifest. We know that there were at least 1,067 passengers on board, probably considerably more. The Commonwealth passengers on the Windrush travelled straightforwardly on British passports, knowing that they had the right to come to the UK, the place they called the mother country.

The passengers were a diverse group with differing levels of income, different reasons for travelling, and a range of skills and occupations. Among them were 66 Polish refugees. Not all the passengers were coming to look for work. Some were visiting the UK as tourists, and at least one was coming to watch a relative who was competing in the 1948 London Olympics. Upon their arrival, around 230 of the passengers were provided with temporary accommodation in the Clapham Common deep shelter, from where some of them came to Brixton and found work and accommodation. That gives my constituency a proud and direct relationship with the Windrush, recognised in the naming of Windrush Square in the heart of Brixton.

One of the passengers was Sam King, an RAF airman who had served during the second world war. He returned to the UK on the Windrush and regarded the voyage as historic. He made great efforts to ensure that it would not be forgotten, keeping in touch with his fellow passengers and, from 1968, bringing them together to commemorate anniversaries. Sam King became known as Mr Windrush, and started the tradition of Windrush Day, long before it became a national day recognised by the Government in 2018. Sam King achieved many things in his life, including working with Claudia Jones to found the Notting Hill carnival. We are immensely proud in my constituency that he became the first black mayor of Southwark.

HMT Empire Windrush entered our narrative as a symbol for a whole cohort of people who came from the Commonwealth to live in the UK from approximately 1948 to 1971. They became known as the Windrush generation, and we have a debt of gratitude to them. Toggle showing location ofColumn 563They came here to contribute, founding businesses, working in our NHS and transport systems, helping to rebuild our country from the ruins of the second world war. They enriched our culture and national life through food, music and faith communities, and they helped to forge the identity of modern Britain.

Members may have seen the “Windrush Untold Stories” exhibition that has been installed in the Portcullis House atrium for the whole of June. The exhibition features beautiful portraits of 18 individuals who are all either members of the Windrush generation or their descendants. They include: the Reverend Michael King, son of Sam King; the late Clovis Salmon, wheelmaker and documentary maker, who lived in my constituency; and Dawn Hill CBE, one of the founders of the Black Cultural Archives. Each portrait has a QR code, through which people can listen to the subject telling their story. I encourage anyone who has not yet done so to listen to the stories. They are moving, humbling and inspiring. They capture perfectly the courage, grit, determination and passion of the Windrush generation, alongside some of the pain that members of that generation endured. I pay tribute to Ros Griffiths, who initiated the “Windrush Untold Stories” exhibition; Amit Lennon, who took the photographs; and the Empathy Museum, which gathered the stories and produced the exhibition. I look forward to celebrating Windrush Day with Ros at the Big Caribbean Lunch on Windrush Square in my constituency this weekend.

However, our celebration of the Windrush generation is not a sentimental thing. Despite their commitment and contribution, members of that generation faced terrible racism, hostility and hardship, from the signs in the windows of rental properties that read, “No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish”, to the workplace racism, and eventually the Home Office scandal, which broke in 2018. The Windrush scandal saw the citizenship of those who had come here on British passports—whether before or after the British Nationality Act 1948—being denied their citizenship, often with utterly devastating consequences.

Eight years on from the scandal coming to national attention in the media, there is still work to be done to secure justice for its victims. I pay tribute to the former Minister for Migration, my hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra), for the work she did to rebuild trust with many of the victims of the Windrush scandal. She reformed the compensation scheme and resourced the Windrush unit in the Home Office, resulting in an event that many would never have thought possible: the holding of a Windrush conference in the Home Office itself, which was attended by many elders of the Windrush generation and many victims of the scandal.

But there is still considerable work to do. Research by JUSTICE and the University of Sussex has found that claimants to the compensation scheme received an average offer of £11,400 when they applied for compensation by themselves, but an average of £83,300 for the same cases once they had legal representation. Such disparity is completely unacceptable, and it must be addressed. There are still victims who do not trust the Home Office to administer the scheme, and who have not come forward to apply for the compensation to which they Toggle showing location ofColumn 564are entitled. There are still individual cases—including at least one that I have been made aware of in detail—in which people are being denied their status, based on an inaccurate understanding of history.

We should not mark this year’s Windrush Day without reflecting on the fact that political parties in our country are now seeking to rewrite the definition of Britishness as being based on ancestry alone. They are trying to create a false and completely unacceptable distinction between native Brits and non-native citizens, focusing implicitly on whiteness. This is a divisive, abhorrent and, most importantly, completely inaccurate articulation of Britishness, and we must reject it with all our strength. In recent weeks, the stoking of racist hatred and division has resulted in long-term residents of Belfast being hounded out of their homes based on the colour of their skin, in a sickening echo of the “No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish” signs that greeted many of the Windrush generation. It is making many black and brown Britons feel anxious and fearful in their own communities. It is shameful and it is wrong.

We do not have different categories of British citizen; we just have citizens of many different backgrounds, all together. We are one United Kingdom, with more in common than divides us. People come to citizenship through a range of routes—some by birth, and some by naturalisation. We are diverse, but we are all equal in status. Our task as citizens is to live well together in our communities and have respect for each other, to contribute to our society in the ways that we can, and to build places in which all our children and grandchildren can thrive.

I pay tribute to all those who work to preserve the history of the Windrush generation, to educate people about it and to campaign for justice. In particular, I want to mention Arthur Torrington and the Windrush Foundation; Bishop Desmond Jaddoo and the Windrush National Organisation; Garrick Prayogg and Justice for the Windrush Generations; Sir Patrick Vernon, who I was delighted to see knighted in the King’s birthday honours this month; Ros Griffiths; the Windrush Justice Clinic; the Black Cultural Archives in my constituency; and Dr Les Johnson and Denize Ledeatte at the Windrush Museum.

I want to make a number of asks of the Minister. Will she take seriously the need for support for victims of the Windrush scandal who apply to the compensation scheme, and work with the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice to ensure that they have access to funded legal support? In the light of concerns that the scheme is not on an equal footing with others, such as the infected blood compensation scheme and the Post Office/Horizon scandal compensation scheme, will she work with the Home Office to commission an independent review and address any disparities? Will she raise with the Home Office the calls for the scheme to be made fully independent from the Department responsible for the scandal?

Will the Minister start work to plan for the 80th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush in 2028 so that commemorative and celebratory events like the Big Caribbean Lunch can take place across the country? Will she consider calls to deepen our celebrations by having a Windrush Month or a national Windrush motion, to embed Windrush history further within our civic life? Will she provide support for recording and Toggle showing location ofColumn 565preserving the oral histories of members of the Windrush generation, as has been done for the “Windrush Untold Stories” exhibition? Those stories are powerful, and they have an important role to play in educating people about our shared history.

As part of that work, will she support the campaign by Sir Patrick Vernon and others to raise the anchor of the HMT Empire Windrush from the Mediterranean seabed, so that this important symbol of resilience and hope can be restored and used as an opportunity to tell this story? Finally, in the light of the abhorrent narratives on immigration that are currently gaining currency in our politics, will she commit to do everything possible to ensure that the Government’s policies always reflect and celebrate our rich and complex identity as an island nation to which people from all over the world have always come to make their home, including through upcoming legislation on immigration?

The story of the Windrush generation is remarkable in so many ways. Most importantly, however, it is part of the story of us. It is an integral and interwoven part of the history of our country and our identity as a nation, and we must never forget it.

28/06/2026
Andrew Western – 2026 Statement on the Department for Work and Pensions Workplace Transformation

The statement made by Andrew Western, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on 25 June 2026.

Today the Department announced plans to consolidate some service and support centres as part of the continued transformation of DWP’s office estate across England, Scotland and Wales. This sits alongside wider activity to modernise how services are delivered in the future, including the future operating model of the job and careers service, but these sites do not see customers face to face.

As the Department’s estate continues to evolve, it will become smaller, better and greener, thereby supporting the Government’s priorities of delivering long-term savings for the taxpayer and high-quality public services through more affordable, sustainable and inclusive workplaces. This involves investing in existing buildings to improve working environments, as well as acquiring new premises in some areas.

Since 2021, the number of service and support centres has reduced from 127 to 74, delivering net recurrent cashflow savings of £72.2 million between 2022-23 to 2024-25, with significant further savings expected in future years. Despite this progress, DWP still operates one of the largest leasehold estates in Government. With hybrid working now well established, capacity across the estate exceeds requirements, and the estate is underutilised by around a third. That is why, earlier today, the Department informed colleagues of its plans to make changes at these nine service and support centres, and to relocate colleagues and services to alternative sites nearby, where this is possible:

Blackpool Peel Park

Derby Holborn House

Glasgow Northgate

Halifax Dean Clough Mills

Hyde Beech House

Liverpool Belle Vale

Motherwell Johnstone House

Sunderland Wear View House

Torquay Cotswold House

DWP remains committed to maintaining a national footprint, including a presence in some of the most deprived areas of the country. Creating fewer but larger offices also supports the Government’s Places for Growth agenda, with the Department continuing to move roles out of London, so that the civil service better reflects the communities it serves.

These changes are not driven by a plan to reduce headcount. We are committed to treating all affected colleagues with fairness and respect, giving them sufficient notice of any changes to where they work. Most will be offered a move in their current role to a nearby location, where this is reasonable. Where relocation is not possible, redeployment within DWP or across other Government Departments will be the priority.

These announcements will affect each location differently. I have written to every MP with an affected site in their constituency to explain what this means for their area, and have invited them to meet me to discuss it further. We commit to doing the same for any future announcements.

28/06/2026
Mary Creagh – 2026 Statement on the Government Estate Nature Plan

The statement made by Mary Creagh, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in the House of Commons on 25 June 2026.

Tomorrow, during London Climate Action Week, I am publishing the first ever Government estate nature plan, which sets out a new, smarter way of using Government land to support nature recovery, climate adaptation and the resilience of public services.

Bringing together action across more than 577,000 hectares—roughly 4% of England’s land—the Government estate nature plan moves from fragmented, site-by-site efforts to a more co-ordinated, whole-estate approach, strengthening resilience and helping protect critical public services from climate impacts. This is a new way of seeing public land—not as scattered parcels, but as a living system that can restore nature, strengthen resilience and support the services that people rely on. As the largest landowner in the country, the Government will lead by example, showing how nature can be restored at scale while supporting essential public services.

For the first time, the Government will apply the principles of the land use framework to their own estate, managing land more strategically to deliver for nature alongside core public services.

The plan is supported by £4.1 million of funding for a series of pilot “lighthouse” projects across the estate. These projects on operational land, including defence training areas, transport corridors and prison estates, will demonstrate how nature recovery can enhance the resilience and delivery of public services. Evidence from these pilots will inform future, larger-scale delivery.

Recent independent analysis indicates that the Government estate has the potential to generate ecosystem services with an estimated value of up to £67 billion where natural assets are maintained in good condition.

This new plan is the first of its kind globally. By managing land more strategically across the Government estate and working with partners, it will support the delivery of Environment Act targets on biodiversity, water quality and woodland cover, and ensure progress to the UK’s commitment to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. A digital map of the Government estate will be published by April 2027 to support transparency and improve spatial planning.

The Government estate nature plan sits alongside a wider set of plans published by the National Estate for Nature, a coalition of 26 major landowners who together manage around 10% of England’s land. Members include Government Departments and public bodies, as well as organisations such as the National Trust, the Crown Estate, the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, the Church Commissioners and the RSPB.Toggle showing location ofColumn 30WS

Together, partners have set out how they will manage their landholdings to restore and enhance priority habitats, and contribute to national targets. These include commitments such as increasing woodland cover, restoring peatlands, and expanding nature-friendly farming practices.

28/06/2026
Josh MacAlister – 2026 Statement on Higher Education and Student Outcomes

The statement made by Josh MacAlister, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 25 June 2026.

Our higher education sector has a world-leading reputation. The evidence shows that most graduates are significantly better off as a result of undertaking higher education, but we are determined to ensure that everyone can be confident of a good experience and strong outcomes from their investment in higher education.

We came into Government with a manifesto commitment to raising teaching standards in higher education. The post-16 education and skills White Paper last autumn placed quality at the heart of our vision for the sector.

We acted quickly to support financial sustainability for providers through the tuition fee increase. We are improving support for access and participation, re-introducing maintenance grants and supporting better pathways through the system. However, there is more work to be done to ensure consistent high quality across the sector. Too many courses are not delivering the outcomes students deserve.

New analysis published today by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that 25% of students do not see a positive return from their studies, with negative returns concentrated in certain subjects. I have today written to all higher education providers to outline further reforms to tackle the issues exposed by today’s IFS analysis and elsewhere, so that we can help all students benefit from everything our higher education system has to offer.

We will legislate to limit the growth of some courses that lead to poor earnings returns at some providers, when parliamentary time allows. This will not be a blanket cap on student numbers, but a focused measure to support the sector to prioritise provision where it delivers good value for students and the taxpayer. We will engage a wide range of stakeholders to inform the development of these options.

We also expect providers to include clear information about destinations and outcomes on their own websites, so that students can make choices that work for them. We are working with the Office for Students, UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) and sector partners to make it easier for students to access the information available on Discover Uni, in time for the next cohort of students to consider their options in spring 2027.

Alongside this, our “Pathways to Priority Occupations” report, also published today, will support students to make informed choices about their courses. We are exploring how artificial intelligence can further strengthen the information available to them.

Finally, there must be robust standards to protect students and taxpayers from abuse. We intend to consult in the autumn on new minimum English language requirements for student finance, to provide greater confidence that recipients are able to benefit from their course. We will design this carefully, in collaboration with the higher education sector.

Together, these actions will help ensure that all students can benefit from the opportunities that higher education provides.

28/06/2026
Chris Bryant – 2026 Statement on the Steel Trade Measure

The statement made by Chris Bryant, the Minister for Trade, in the House of Commons on 25 June 2026.

The Government are today announcing the final details of the new steel trade measure coming into effect on 1 July 2026, a cornerstone policy of the UK’s steel strategy, and a further example of delivery on our modern industrial strategy, which charts a strategic course that allows business to make long-term decisions and focus on creating wealth and prosperity.

Steel overcapacity continues to distort markets, drive down prices and threaten the viability of our already fragile domestic steelmaking sector. UK steel production has more than halved in the last decade. Other countries are acting, including the US, Canada and the EU, with the EU’s measure also coming into force on 1 July 2026. This Government cannot, and will not, jeopardise domestic steelmaking given its importance to critical national infrastructure and defence. We must act now to secure its future.

Since our 19 March announcement, we have listened to stakeholders across the steel supply chain, including producers and downstream users, and have adjusted the steel trade measure’s product scope and quota volumes. We have also engaged closely with the EU and agreed an approach that reflects the UK and EU’s highly interconnected supply chains. This will provide stability for UK-EU steel trade from 1 July, while we continue to work together to strengthen UK-EU steel trade longer term.

We recognise that this will create changes to trade flows including with some of our closest trading partners. We want to reassure them that the UK remains committed to our international obligations and to constructive engagement on our steel measure. We recognise that this is a challenging time for steel industries globally, and that is why we will continue to prioritise working with partners to tackle overcapacity.

From 1 July 2026, we will now limit tariff-free steel imports and reduce overall quota volumes by 51% compared to the steel safeguard, protecting domestic producers while maintaining continuity of supply for downstream users, including the automotive, construction and defence sectors. The overall quota volume will be 3.2 metric tonnes, an increase of 21% compared to our previously published provisional volumes. We have also removed 11 product codes, where new information confirmed there was no UK production, and added two codes where there is evidence of production. Detailed information on quotas will be published on gov.uk.

Where quotas are filled, imports above these levels will face a 50% tariff. The measure will apply only to products that can be made in the UK. In a limited number of cases, technical constraints mean that product codes cannot be cleanly separated, with some codes covering both UK-produced and non-UK-produced grades and sizes of products. In these instances, quotas have been designed to allow sufficient imports, ensuring continued availability for UK users without imposing unnecessary additional costs.

We will continue to engage closely with industry across the supply chain. We will actively monitor implementation of the measure to ensure it operates as intended, and we will continue to engage with businesses. We will also review the measure after 12 months to ensure it remains effective and that the balance is right for industry. To ease potential short-term impacts, a transitional arrangement will apply whereby goods under contract before 14 March 2026 and imported between 1 July and 30 September 2026 will not face the 50% tariff or count towards quota volumes in the first quarter. We have provided technical guidance on these arrangements and on quota administration, including how unused quota volumes will “roll over” across quarters within the same quota year.

Specific arrangements will be in place to ensure that steel can flow to Northern Ireland. The Government will continue to provide guidance and support traders moving goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland through the trader support service and work closely with the EU to ensure these arrangements operate effectively in practice.

In parallel, the UK has launched an article XXVIII process at the World Trade Organisation to permanently raise the maximum most favoured nation steel tariffs that we can apply to steel imports. We will shortly confirm members’ rights and expect to begin negotiations in the autumn. This process is separate to the new steel trade measure and will create the necessary policy space to ensure the sector has sufficient tariff protection in the long term.

This Government are acting now to secure the future of the UK steel industry. We are determined that steel will remain at the heart of Britain’s future.

28/06/2026