Oral Answers to Questions
(1 day, 14 hours ago)
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Sarah Bool (South Northamptonshire) (Con)
Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Anna McMorrin)
Thank you, Mr Speaker. As a proud Welsh MP I am honoured to be here for my first Welsh questions.
We fully recognise the role of farmers and the agricultural community in Wales. That is why one of the first things that I did as Minister was meet members of the Farmers’ Union of Wales at the farm of one of its members just two weeks ago. I will be meeting with the National Farmers’ Union later today to discuss important matters for its members, including inheritance tax. This Government have also made sure to protect the farm budget for Wales, ensuring that the full £337 million has been allocated to the Welsh Government.
Sarah Bool
I welcome the Minister to her place. The impact of the changes to IHT goes far beyond just farmers. Last month, a Pembrokeshire farm gathered 57 businesses from vets, machinery dealerships, and milk processors, to electricians and fencing companies, employing almost 11,000 people. Almost half of those were totally reliant on incomes from local farms. Have the Government fully considered the ripple effect of that policy on farms in Wales and across the UK, including in my constituency?
Anna McMorrin
This Government want to strike a fair balance between supporting farmers and fixing our public finances on which our communities, including those important agricultural communities, rely so heavily. The vast majority of farmers will not be affected by this change, and they will be able to pass the family farm down to their children. Welsh Conservatives voted to block the support reaching Welsh farms in March, which shows that the Conservative party just does not care for farmers and the agricultural community.
Jerome Mayhew
I welcome the Minister to her position at the Dispatch Box. I know she will be excellent at the job. I also refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Welsh farming is central to the Welsh economy—we can all agree on that—but it is now facing a double whammy from the mad sustainable farming scheme from Labour in Cardiff, and the frankly bad family farm tax that has been dreamt up by Labour in London. The Farmers’ Union of Wales tells us that more than 85% of active farms in Wales will have IHT bills that exceed their incomes. That spells economic disaster. Why is Labour so deaf to the voice of farmers in Wales?
Anna McMorrin
As I said, the Government want to strike that fair balance, and that is what they are doing. Our reforms mean that the majority of those claiming agricultural property relief will not be affected. That is a fair approach that balances fixing our public finances after the chaos of the Conservative party, and maintaining much needed support for families, farms and the wider rural agricultural community.
Dame Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)
I welcome my hon. Friend to her place. Was she as shocked as I was last year that Plaid Cymru and Conservative Senedd Members voted against the £300 million funding for Welsh farmers? Will she join me in urging them to stop playing political games, put the people of Wales first, and work with the Welsh Government constructively to ensure that we do not have uncertainty for our farmers and our public sector, which we all depend on in Wales?
Anna McMorrin
I thank my hon. Friend and pay tribute to her work in this role prior to my appointment. I completely agree: the Welsh Government published their outline draft budget earlier this month, and are working with Opposition parties to ensure that it has broad support. The question everyone in Wales wants the answer to is whether the Opposition parties will vote against billions of pounds for public services, including vital support for Welsh farmers, just like they did last year.
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
I note that it takes three women to take me on now, but I very much welcome the Ministers to their places. Charles Rees, a fifth-generation Pembrokeshire farmer, has bravely and moving shared his battle with cancer on the BBC’s “Countryfile”, and I know this House will send him and his family our best wishes. His illness is not his only worry; he is also seriously concerned that his son, who is running his farm, could now be facing an unaffordable inheritance tax bill of £1 million, solely due to this Government’s catastrophic family farm tax. Despite Ministers saying differently, Charles and many other farmers across the country are fearing for their livelihoods, their way of life, their futures, and for food security. Will the Government scrap the family farm tax?
Anna McMorrin
I reiterate that our reforms mean that the majority of those claiming the relief will not be affected. As confirmed by the Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle), there will be no change and no U-turn on inheritance tax. This policy strikes a fair balance and is fixing our public finances, after the chaos that the Tories left, while protecting our rural communities.
Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)
Rachel Blake (Cities of London and Westminster) (Lab/Co-op)
The Secretary of State for Wales (Jo Stevens)
Economic growth is the No. 1 priority for this Government. The UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year. Wages are up, inward investment is up, inactivity is down on the year and interest rates are down. This Labour Government are delivering for working people all across Wales and the United Kingdom.
Alison Hume
It is brilliant that last month a total of £214 million was invested in communities across Wales as part of the Government’s pride in place scheme. In my patch, I was delighted that earlier this year Scarborough was awarded £20 million through the plan for neighbourhoods. These initiatives will give local people the power to decide how funding will transform our towns. Will the Secretary of State update the House on how funds such as these will boost local economic growth and restore pride in our communities?
Jo Stevens
Through the pride in place initiative, we are putting power and resources directly into the hands of local communities, from Conwy to Carmarthenshire, giving them the ability to decide the priorities that matter most and the funding to pay for visible and lasting change. In Wales, 14 communities will benefit from £20 million of investment, alongside a further £34.5 million benefiting every single local authority across Wales. Together, the investments will help revitalise high streets and improve public spaces and community facilities, which is a central part of our mission to boost the economy and break down barriers to opportunity.
Rachel Blake
As the MP for the centre of London, including Paddington station, I know how interconnected our countries and our economies are. In stark contrast to the nationalist parties of Reform and Plaid Cymru, the Labour Government are focused on job creation. Will the Secretary of State update us on the impact of Plaid Cymru’s damaging independence plans?
Jo Stevens
Plaid Cymru’s disastrous plans for independence will cost Wales £21.5 billion every year— over £11,000 for every working-age person in Wales or over £7,000 for every adult and child in Wales, every single year. The people of Wales deserve to know what public services Plaid Cymru will cut or what taxes it would raise to pay for its divisive, separatist plans?
Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)
It is not just farmers but lots of other family businesses who are terrified for their future. Under the business property relief, a company worth £20 million would have to pay £4 million in tax, yet that responsibility falls not on the business but the person who inherits it, so they will have to extract another £4 million to pay that tax, crippling family businesses, crippling investment and hurting growth in Wales. That is true, is it not?
Jo Stevens
It is certainly not. The right hon. Gentleman will have heard of tax planning, and so will the people he has been talking about. Investment is up in Wales and we have had record inward investment in Wales, with a 23% increase on the previous financial year and a 30% increase in jobs created. The UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year. Businesses are growing, developing and creating jobs under this Government.
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
Under the watch of the current Secretary of State, opportunities for young people are now unbelievably dire. Despite what she says, unemployment is rising and employment is falling, and that situation is not good enough for the next generation in Wales. Last week, my colleague, Darren Millar, who is the Conservative leader of the Senedd group, met the Welsh First Minister—does anyone know who that is?—offering to potentially support the Welsh Government’s budget, provided Labour Ministers agree to scrapping Welsh stamp duty. That would help young people on to the property ladder in Wales, where it is the hardest to achieve that, and boost the Welsh economy. Will the Secretary of State confirm that she agrees with scrapping Welsh stamp duty? If so, what measures is she taking to persuade Baroness Morgan of Ely to scrap the tax in Wales?
Jo Stevens
I am very glad that the hon. Lady knows the name of the Welsh Conservative leader in the Senedd, because clearly her colleague the shadow Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp), does not. They must have ended their fight about who is the actual leader.
We are delivering for the people of Wales. We have ended Tory austerity, and we have the largest budget settlement in the history of devolution, with nearly £5 billion extra to spend on public services over the next three years. We are creating jobs, and we have increased the minimum wage and the national living wage for 160,000 Welsh workers. We are fixing the foundations and the chaos that the hon. Lady’s party left behind.
Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)
Allow me first to congratulate Lindsay Whittle on his seismic victory in Caerphilly. In doing so, I pay tribute to the late Hefin David, whose service to his community was deeply respected. As Mr Whittle has said:
“He will be a hard act to follow. I will never fill his shoes but I promise you I will walk the same path that he did”.
The result shows that people in Wales seek real change. In her capacity as Secretary of State at the Wales Office, what is she doing to press the Labour Chancellor to include measures that benefit Wales in the autumn Budget?
Jo Stevens
I thank the right hon. Lady for her words about our late colleague Hefin David. I congratulate Lindsay Whittle on his victory and on becoming a Senedd Member; I am sure that he will work very hard for his Caerphilly constituency for the next six months. As she will know, I am not going to comment on discussions between myself and the Chancellor ahead of the Budget. She will have to wait and see what the Chancellor says on 26 November.
Liz Saville Roberts
None the less, I think we all know that the autumn Budget risks falling short of tackling the deep poverty and lack of opportunities that still scar far too many Welsh communities. We need to tax income from wealth fairly, scrap the two-child limit and ensure that families have the support they need to cope with rising costs. The Secretary of State tells me to wait for the Budget. Perhaps she is therefore prepared, for once, to meet with me to discuss Plaid Cymru’s proposals for a fairer, more ambitious UK Budget that actually works for Wales. Will she meet with me?
Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)
The Secretary of State for Wales (Jo Stevens)
I have regular discussions with the Chancellor and Treasury Ministers on a wide range of issues, including the cost of living. This Labour Government are on the side of working people. That is why we have already taken action by increasing the national minimum wage and the national living wage for 160,000 workers across Wales. We have frozen fuel duty and extended the warm home discount. There is more to do, and we are determined to put more money into people’s pockets right across Wales.
Dave Doogan
A century of Labour taking the people of Wales for granted came crashing down last week with the sensational victory of Plaid’s Lindsay Whittle in Caerphilly, with Labour reduced to third place. Why would anybody accept any more Labour, as Labour’s cost of living soars, its Westminster perma-crisis deepens, and 700,000 people in Wales live under its poverty prospectus? The Secretary of State will not say what she is going to speak to the Chancellor about, but does she think the Chancellor is ready and willing to help the people of Wales? The people of Wales feel abandoned by Labour over the last five decades.
Jo Stevens
I am not sure whether the hon. Member has ever been to Caerphilly or even to Wales. If he has, that is good; if he has not, he needs to be careful about what he says about the people in Wales. He absolutely does not know what he is talking about. His party’s record in Scotland is nothing to boast about. Nationalists will divide the United Kingdom, costing Wales £21.5 billion every single year.
Ruth Jones (Newport West and Islwyn) (Lab)
I welcome last month’s news that Newport city council and Caerphilly county borough council will each receive £21.5 million from the UK Labour Government’s Pride in Place scheme. That funding will empower communities across my constituency to invest in community assets and their local high streets, drive local growth and create jobs, thus reducing the cost of living. Does the Secretary of State agree that at last in Wales, we have two Labour Governments delivering for the people of Wales?
Jo Stevens
My hon. Friend, the Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, is absolutely right. Our pride in place programmes, the local growth fund, the city and growth deals, the investment zones and our freeports are all the result of having two Labour Governments working together for the benefit of everyone across Wales. Taken together, they will boost the economy, draw in further investment, create thousands of jobs and raise living standards across Wales. They demonstrate this Government’s commitment to growth—practical, visible, long-term investment that empowers local communities and delivers real benefits for them.
Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)
The Secretary of State for Wales (Jo Stevens)
Overhead lines are much cheaper to build; according to the Institution of Engineering and Technology, undergrounding costs an estimated four and a half times more than overhead lines. Overhead lines are also quicker to build, cause less environmental damage, and are much easier to maintain. The cost of building this infrastructure is borne by electricity bill payers, and Plaid’s policy on undergrounding will not only increase bills, but suffocate the economic potential of Wales’s green industrial revolution.
Ann Davies
My constituency is the location of two major infrastructure projects—a network of pylons of 97 km and 60 km, alongside 248 wind turbines that are 230 metres tall. The cumulative impact of these projects is significant, occupying land that could support other development, and it remains unclear whether they will lower electricity bills or improve electricity connectivity for local households or businesses. What discussions has the Secretary of State had with the Welsh Government to ensure that those projects deliver genuine benefits for our communities?
Jo Stevens
I have heard what the hon. Lady has said, but we do have a policy to ensure that communities that host clean energy infrastructure can directly benefit. The new community funds guidance aims to improve the consistency and amount of funding for communities that could be used for local projects. Turning to bill discounts, we are introducing a scheme that will provide household discounts to those living closest to new and significantly upgraded transmission infrastructure projects.
Henry Tufnell (Mid and South Pembrokeshire) (Lab)
I like my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Caerfyrddin (Ann Davies), and Plaid wants to be taken seriously as a party of government, but it fails to recognise the importance of the role that renewable energy will play. Does the Secretary of State agree with RenewableUK Cymru, which recently concluded that Plaid’s approach would cost jobs and investment in communities such as mine in Pembrokeshire?
Jo Stevens
Labour is the only party that is committed to investing in renewable energy, which will bring down bills and create thousands of jobs for people right across Wales. Plaid and Reform are against renewable infrastructure, and Plaid and the SNP do not want nuclear—Plaid’s economy spokesperson in the Senedd is anti-nuclear. Plaid is happy to see people pay higher bills, to spurn investment, and to see job opportunities slashed.
David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)
During the second world war, over 200 people were forced to leave their homes and give up their land in the Epynt when more than half of the community was taken for use by the Ministry of Defence. The people of the Epynt understood why that sacrifice had to be made, but now, Bute Energy and its wealthy investment backers want to take the rest of the Epynt. Does the Secretary of State agree that the Epynt has already sacrificed enough, and will she work with me to defend the Welsh countryside from once again having its wealth extracted from it, with no benefit to local communities?
Jo Stevens
It sounds like the Liberal Democrats in Wales have the same position as Plaid Cymru. Our priority is to drive growth, lower bills and create jobs for people through our new green energy revolution, including those in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. Investment in his constituency is something he should be welcoming.
Rebecca Smith (South West Devon) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Anna McMorrin)
We inherited a broken asylum system in absolute chaos from the Tories, with tens of thousands stuck in a system dependent on expensive asylum hotels. We are committed to ending the use of hotels as asylum accommodation as soon as possible and before the end of this Parliament, as part of a controlled, managed and orderly programme.
Rebecca Smith
Under the Welsh Labour Government, waiting lists, educational standards and opportunities for young people have all ground to an abrupt halt. It is therefore shocking that the Welsh Labour Government are not prioritising issues that would make a real difference to the people of Wales. Instead, Labour Ministers, supported by Plaid Cymru, are ploughing tens of millions of pounds into their nation of sanctuary policy, which is believed to support services for some illegal immigrants. Does the hon. Lady agree that it is high time her colleagues scrapped this wasteful, non-devolved policy and instead focused their time on lowering NHS waiting times and improving standards?
Anna McMorrin
It sounds like the hon. Member does not agree with welcoming the thousands of Ukrainian refugees that the UK Government’s nation of sanctuary has supported. The scheme has been used to welcome Ukrainian families fleeing from Russian aggression. That is a cause that I understood her party supported.
Chris Evans (Caerphilly) (Lab/Co-op)
I associate myself with the remarks of the leader of Plaid Cymru in paying tribute to Hefin David, my friend and colleague. He was an amazing representative for Wales and a real warrior for those who are neurodivergent or find themselves on the margins of society.
I am delighted that Caerphilly is so popular today. It seems that so many people who have either only visited several times, or not visited at all and have only read about it in the press, have become experts about my constituency.
I am also pleased that the Minister has raised the plight of Ukrainians who came to Wales to seek sanctuary, running from war, because if there was one downside to the by-election, it was the talk of asylum seekers being bad people—that they are all illegal and that they do not contribute anything. Those who said such things should see the exhibition that was on at Caerphilly council and see what asylum seekers have contributed. What message does the Minister have for those Ukrainians who are still seeking asylum in Wales?
Anna McMorrin
We offer sanctuary for those who desperately need it, and we are proud of that, but we inherited contracts and a broken system from the Conservatives. Hotel use has nearly halved since the last election, and we have removed 30,000 people who have no right to be here, ensuring that those who do need to be here have the welcome and support that they need. It is not job done, but work in progress. We can compare that with the 14 years of the Tory Government.
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
After wantonly scrapping the Rwanda scheme, the Labour Government are now overseeing record-breaking figures of illegal immigrants. It is reported that the scandal is now engulfing north Wales, where more than 200 illegal immigrants have tried to gain entry to the country on ferries from Dublin to Holyhead. Meanwhile, there is talk about Penally military camp in south-west Wales, which was previously condemned by the Welsh Labour Government. It appears that their policy, along with Reform’s, is from boats to barracks, as is happening in Scotland and Sussex, yet Plaid says that there is no such thing as illegal immigration. Does the Minister agree that her Government and Plaid have no idea about and no interest in how to make our borders safe?
Anna McMorrin
I fear that the Conservatives forget about the chaos that they created. We inherited a broken system after 14 years of chaos, and contracts that we have to honour, but in the past year we have halved the use of hotels. We have removed 30,000 people who have no right to be here. It is not job done, as I say, but it is a work in progress. We can compare that work in just one year with 14 years of chaos under the hon. Lady’s Government.
Catherine Fookes (Monmouthshire) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Anna McMorrin)
We are investing at least £445 million in Welsh rail in order to right years of underfunding by past Governments. That will mean new stations and more and faster trains along the key lines, and will improve cross-border connectivity, create jobs and boost economic growth.
Catherine Fookes
I thank the Minister for that £445 million investment, which will be a fundamental driver of economic growth and connectivity in south Wales. What action is she taking with Cabinet colleagues and industry partners to ensure that a new station serving my constituents in Magor and Undy is delivered without delay, getting my constituents on track, and faster, towards their destinations?
Anna McMorrin
My hon. Friend has been a strong champion for this rail investment, which is the key to unlock Wales’s economic potential. It includes funds to progress the five Burns stations in Cardiff East, Newport West, Somerton, Llanwern and Magor and Undy. I will continue to work with the Wales Rail Board and the Welsh Government to ensure that the community my hon. Friend represents is given the infrastructure that it needs.
Aphra Brandreth (Chester South and Eddisbury) (Con)
The huge potential of both the north-west of England and north Wales is being held back by poor rail infra-structure. The last Conservative Government committed themselves to spending at least £1 billion to upgrade and electrify the railway lines from Crewe and Warrington through Chester and into north Wales, but this Labour Government have scrapped those transformational plans, at a time when economic growth is a priority. Will the Minister seek to reinstate the vital rail infrastructure investment in the Mersey Dee and north Wales region?
Anna McMorrin
That money just did not exist. We are investing a historic £445 million in Welsh rail to right years of underfunding by previous Governments, unleashing Wales’s economic potential. That will mean new stations, faster trains on key lines, and connecting people with well-paid and better jobs right across Wales. Two Governments are working in partnership to deliver for the people of Wales.
Mr Speaker
Order. Before we come to Prime Minister’s questions, may I welcome, in the Gallery, the honourable Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and his delegation?
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney) (Lab)
The Prime Minister (Keir Starmer)
The scenes of destruction emerging from Jamaica are truly shocking. Both the Foreign Secretary and I have been in close contact with our Jamaican counterparts in recent days to offer the UK’s full support. I can update the House: HMS Trent and specialist rapid deployment teams are pre-positioned in the region, and we stand ready to provide humanitarian support.
Awaab Ishak died five years ago from a respiratory condition caused by exposure to black mould in his flat in Rochdale. He was just two years old. No child should grow up without the safety and security of a decent home. For far too long, millions of people have lived at the mercy of rogue landlords and insecure contracts. Labour is ending that. Despite the best efforts of the Tories and Reform, who voted against it, our Renters’ Rights Act 2025 is now law, including Awaab’s law.
Fighting for working people: that is the difference that a Labour Government make, and on that issue, this Government have secured the biggest deal to manufacture Typhoon fighter jets in this country for almost 20 years. We secured that deal because the UK is back as a leading and trusted member of NATO. That is a timely reminder for the Green party, whose policy is to take us out of NATO; for the Putin-friendly Reform party, which would have no standing with NATO; and for the Leader of the Opposition, because you do not win NATO deals by not turning up to NATO summits.
This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall have further such meetings later today.
Nick Smith
I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about supporting Jamaica.
Across our country, and in Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, off-road bikers are a menace. They tear up our environment, and turn our streets into racetracks. After years of Tory cuts, Gwent police are now tackling that. Does the Prime Minister agree that police forces, and communities such as mine, are seeing the difference that Labour can make in power?
The Prime Minister
I share my hon. Friend’s determination that everyone should feel safe and secure in their community. Neighbourhood policing was decimated by the Conservative party, and we are restoring it with 3,000 extra officers by spring. We are also giving them the powers that they need, including tough new respect orders that allow the police to seize and destroy vehicles within 48 hours. The Tories walked through the Lobby, with Reform, to vote against our Crime and Policing Bill.
Mrs Kemi Badenoch (North West Essex) (Con)
Last year, in its manifesto, Labour promised not to increase income tax, not to increase national insurance, and not to increase VAT. Does the Prime Minister still stand by his promises?
The Prime Minister
I am glad that the Leader of the Opposition is now finally talking about the economy. I can update the House: retail sales are higher than expected; inflation is lower than expected; growth has been upgraded this year; and the UK stock market is at an all-time high. The Budget is on 26 November, and we will lay out our plans then, but I can tell the House now that we will build a stronger economy, cut NHS waiting lists and deliver a better future for our country.
Mrs Badenoch
Well, well, well; what a fascinating answer. It is not the same answer that I received when I asked exactly the same question, word for word, on 9 July. Then, the Prime Minister replied with just one word—yes—and then he sat down with a smug grin on his face. What has changed in the past four months?
The Prime Minister
As the Leader of the Opposition well knows, no Prime Minister or Chancellor will ever set out their plans in advance. But I can say this: the figures from the productivity review that is being undertaken—which is a judgment on the Tories’ record in office—are now coming through, and they confirm that the Tories did even more damage to the economy than we had previously thought. We will turn that around. We have already delivered the fastest growth in the G7 in the first half of this year, five interest rate cuts in a row, and trade deals with the US, EU and India. The Tories broke the economy; we are fixing it.
Mrs Badenoch
The right and learned hon. Gentleman says that no Prime Minister or Chancellor will say these things before the Budget. Has he told his Chancellor? She has been out there flying kites, causing constant speculation around the Budget that is damaging the economy. All week, the Government have been briefing about tax rises. What we have heard is that he does not have a plan, so we have some ideas for him. [Interruption.] It is quite clear that they need some ideas. On the Conservative Benches, we believe in scrapping taxes on family homes. Yesterday, we voted to abolish stamp duty; Labour voted against it. Even the former Deputy Prime Minister, who resigned in disgrace for not paying stamp duty, voted to keep it. I remind them that on this side of the House we know that abolishing stamp duty is how we get young people on the housing ladder and get the economy growing. So why will he not scrap this terrible tax?
The Prime Minister
Why did the Tories not do it, then, in their 14 years in office? As I said, the productivity review figures are now coming in, and those show the true extent of the damage that they did. The Leader of the Opposition asks us to take advice from them. These figures are coming out, and we all know that austerity damaged the economy on their watch. The botched Brexit deal damaged the economy on their watch. Liz Truss’s mini-Budget damaged the economy on their watch. So we will take no lectures or advice from them on the economy. They will not be trusted on the economy for generations to come. That is why I can be clear that, at our Budget, there will be no return to austerity—that is what broke the country—and no return to the instability of their mad borrowing spree, and we will end the unfairness and low growth that squeezed living standards for working people. That is the path to national renewal.
Mrs Badenoch
The Conservatives reduced the deficit every year until the pandemic. We more than doubled the personal allowance. We left 4 million more jobs than we found from Labour. We brought inflation down to 2%; it has nearly doubled—[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. Mr Tufnell, you are in my sights. The pantomime season has not arrived—do not start it too early.
Mrs Badenoch
On our record, we brought inflation down to 2%; it has doubled under the Prime Minister. We left him the fastest growing economy in the G7; it is no longer. The truth is, the Government have no ideas; we are giving them some. There is another way to get growth: cutting welfare spending and getting people into work. Last month, I offered to work cross-party with him to bring down welfare spending, because he knows and we know that he would rather dip into people’s pockets than upset the people behind him. Instead of tax rises, will he work with us to find a way to cut welfare spending and get Britain working again?
The Prime Minister
The right hon. Lady talks about the Conservatives’ record, so let us go through it. They crashed the economy. Inflation went up to 11%. Mortgages went through the roof. Welfare spending went up by £33 billion. And they want to give us advice! They reduced the UK to a laughing stock. Because of our Budget, waiting lists have come down, wages are up, mortgage rates are down and other countries want to do deals with us. Just on Monday of this week, the Turkish Government signed an £8 billion deal for Typhoons. Earlier this year, the Norwegian Government signed a £10 billion deal for frigates. That is because of the Budget that we passed—fixing the mess that the Tories left.
Mrs Badenoch
It is not because of the Budget that the Prime Minister passed; I started that deal back in January 2024, and I welcome it. [Interruption.] It has nothing to do with the Government’s Budget; we are lucky the deal is still happening. I welcome the £8 billion deal that he has done with Turkey, but I remind him that just last month his Chancellor borrowed £20 billion. He will have to sell a hell of a lot more jets to make up for that. He will not rule out any tax rises, he cannot cut spending and he is increasing unemployment. This man knows nothing about economic growth, except how to destroy it. In his weakness, he has caved in to the unions on their regulations that will cripple businesses, costing them £5 billion every year. [Interruption.] Yes, please do speak up, because I want every single business out there to hear Labour MPs heckling when we talk about the damage that they are doing. I ask the Prime Minister: how on earth can he consider adding more burdens for these firms to deal with?
The Prime Minister
The right hon. Lady has overlooked the fact that we had the highest growth in the G7 in the first six months of this year—and that growth has just been upgraded—and we had three interest rate cuts. We are not going to take lessons from the Conservatives. She has now introduced what I think she calls a “golden economic rule”. This golden rule that she is now putting forward—very golden!—is £47 billion-worth of unspecified spending cuts, with no detail whatsoever. Let me put that in context: that would mean 85,000 fewer nurses, 234,000 fewer teachers or cutting every police officer in the country twice over. No wonder the Institute for Government said she is on “shaky foundations”. That is exactly what caused the problem in the first place.
Mrs Badenoch
The fact that he has to stand there and make stuff up just shows what kind of Prime Minister he is. We had an itemised list worth £47 billion; £23 billion was on welfare spending, which I asked him to work with us to cut. He refuses to do so. All he knows how to do is tax, tax, tax. If you work, the Government tax you more. If you save, they tax you more. If you buy a home, they tax you more. None of these taxes were in their manifesto, which he had four years to prepare. He is raising taxes because he is too weak to control spending. He is blaming us, he is blaming the OBR. Last week, they were blaming Brexit. Is it not the truth that with this Prime Minister, it is always someone else’s fault?
The Prime Minister
The Conservatives were kicked out of office because they broke the economy. They will not be trusted for years to come. The right hon. Lady cannot tell us what her position is on the last Budget, and she has a phantom £47 billion with no foundation as we go forward. That is exactly the mess that they caused, and they have not changed one bit. Meanwhile, we are fixing their mess: 5 million extra NHS appointments, five interest rate cuts, and growth and wages are up. That is the change a Labour Government make.
Jeff Smith (Manchester Withington) (Lab)
The Prime Minister
I thank my hon. Friend for raising this point. I am deeply concerned by the strikes. This underlines the fragility of the ceasefire deal. All sides need to uphold President Trump’s peace plan. It is the only route to long-term peace for Israelis and Palestinians. We are of course in close touch with the US and regional allies pushing for de-escalation. The scale of destruction in Gaza is unimaginable. The immediate priority remains getting aid in at the speed and the volume needed.
Ed Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)
May I associate myself with what the Prime Minister said about Jamaica, and indeed all the islands and countries affected by Hurricane Melissa? Our thoughts and prayers are with them all.
I am sure the whole House will also want to join me in paying tribute to Prunella Scales. I suspect I am not the only Member of the House with a “Fawlty Towers” DVD box set. She will be greatly missed.
Across Europe, in countries like Poland, Germany and France, we have seen evidence of dangerous Russian political interference. Last month, the former leader of a major party in Wales pleaded guilty to taking bribes to make pro-Russian statements. The evidence shows that Nathan Gill was a close confidant of the current Reform party leader for years. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that it is time we had an in-depth investigation into Russian meddling and money in British politics?
The Prime Minister
I join in the right hon. Member’s comments on Prunella Scales.
On the question of Russian interference, it is a serious problem in countries across Europe, including in our country, where it is a constant threat. For NATO allies, the conflict in Ukraine and dealing with Russian aggression is the No. 1 issue. That is why I have to say the Reform party would be an absolute disaster for our defence. We are a trusted member of NATO; we would not be a trusted member if we were Putin-friendly. We are leading the coalition of the willing, giving security and comfort to 30 other countries. That would collapse under Reform because it is Putin-friendly, and it would be a real threat to our defence and our security.
Ed Davey
I am grateful for the Prime Minister’s reply, and I agree with him on Ukraine, but I do hope he will look to have an investigation into this Russian interference in our politics.
Last week, I questioned how the Prime Minister can accept the damage of Brexit while refusing to do anything meaningful about it. The damage is clear, with the Financial Times reporting that lower productivity growth alone has blown a £20 billion black hole in the public finances—just part of the Brexit black hole that the Conservatives and Reform will not apologise for. Last week, he rejected my plan for a new customs union, so can I ask him what action he will take to change the Brexit deal, or is he just planning to complain about it?
The Prime Minister
The right hon. Member must have overlooked the fact that there was a UK-EU summit earlier this year, in which there were 10 strands to the change that we have already agreed in relation to the relationship with the EU, including closer trading relationships and closer work on defence and security; that is an iterative process that we will continue into next year. But he is absolutely right about the botched deal of the last Government and the damage that has done to our economy. We are just seeing some of the figures coming through in relation to that. That is one of the factors behind the way they crashed the economy.
Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)
The Prime Minister
Can I start by wishing Hartlepool United the best for this season? My hon. Friend will appreciate that the structure of the leagues is a matter for the leagues themselves, but I commend his campaign and everything that he is putting behind it. I also pay tribute to the staff, fans and players of Sheffield Wednesday at this difficult time. We have delivered the Independent Football Regulator to stand up for fans and to make sure that clubs have fit and proper owners. The Conservatives used to support that, but now they oppose it.
Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)
The Prime Minister has a deep understanding of policing in Northern Ireland and its importance. He knows about the ongoing national security threat and about the additional costs of dealing with the legacy of our past. He knows that the Police Service of Northern Ireland has been underfunded, and that the Northern Ireland Executive have rightly brought forward a stability programme for it. He also know that it is under strength; in 2020, New Decade, New Approach suggested that there should be 7,500 police officers in Northern Ireland, but today there are 6,200.
Does the Prime Minister know, however, that the Treasury did not look favourably on a request to draw on the reserves for a data breach that cost £120 million? Does he recognise that, in Treasury terms, the incident was “unforeseen, unaffordable and unavoidable”, and therefore matches the Treasury’s criteria? To set aside that money in-year would be 10% of the PSNI’s overall budget—it is not affordable. Can I ask him to think about this issue again, in engagement with the Chancellor, and to ensure that our Police Service of Northern Ireland and the national security threat that it faces are not hampered by in-year financial rules?
The Prime Minister
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising this important issue, which I know is of real concern to him. I reassure him that I am in regular contact with Chief Constable Jon Boutcher and the PSNI on it, as he would expect. As he is aware, we provided a record settlement of £19.3 billion a year on average for the Executive, and we invested £113 million in additional security funding for the PSNI to help to address specific security challenges. While it is for the Executive to set the PSNI budget, I reassure him that our commitment is to keeping people safe in Northern Ireland.
Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) (Lab)
The Prime Minister
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that tragic case. I am sure that I speak for the whole House in saying that we send our sympathies and thoughts to Hudson’s parents, Shannon and Tyler. I will make sure that they get the meeting that he has asked for. This is exactly why we are working to improve access to face-to-face appointments for those who want one. To enable that, we have delivered the largest cash uplift for GPs in a decade, have put over 2,500 GPs into general practice, and are upgrading 1,000 surgeries to deliver 8 million more appointments.
James McMurdock (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Ind)
The Prime Minister
I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue and for the two examples that he has given. The downgrading of Basildon hospital is deeply disappointing. The Care Quality Commission has set out immediate actions for the trust leaders to deliver improvements. Our decisions in government have seen a £26 billion boost for our NHS, helping to deliver over 5 million extra appointments. I gently point out that he was elected to represent a Reform party that would dismantle our NHS and charge people to see their doctor.
Anneliese Midgley (Knowsley) (Lab)
The Prime Minister
I am proud that we have delivered the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation—which the Tories and Reform have voted against at every turn, as they always do with any form of workers’ rights and protections. The deal that we struck on Monday with Turkey is worth £8 billion, 20,000 jobs and 10 years of work in manufacturing the Typhoons. It was possible only because we are a trusted member of NATO. Reform would be an absolute nightmare on defence—it would not be a trusted member of NATO because it is Putin-friendly.
Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)
The Prime Minister
I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this matter, which I know is personal to him. We are investing £600 million to improve diagnostic capacity and are rolling out new radiotherapy machines, including, I am pleased to say, in his local trust. We have seen real improvements, with 148,000 more people now having cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days, but I acknowledge that there is more to do. The national cancer plan will set out how we will go further and deliver the best care for every patient.
Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington) (Lab)
The Prime Minister
I know how important face-to-face banking is on our high streets. As my hon. Friend says, we have committed to rolling out 350 banking hubs across the United Kingdom, and over 180 are already open. However, I want to reassure him that 350 is not the limit; although decisions over hubs are taken independently, they can be rolled out wherever a community needs one. I am happy to make sure the relevant Minister follows up with details for him.
Mike Wood (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) (Con)
Mr Speaker
Order. The problem is, one or two of you are trying to catch my eye. If we don’t get through this, you won’t get a chance.
Mike Wood
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
The triple lock was a great achievement of the previous Government, and we will be keeping it. From April, pensioners with private pensions as low as £2 a month will be paying income tax for the first time. At last year’s Budget, the Chancellor was clear that extending the freeze on personal allowances would breach Labour’s manifesto commitment. Will the Prime Minister prove the media speculation wrong, keep his promise and guarantee that there will be no extension to the freeze on personal allowances?
The Prime Minister
The freeze was introduced by them. That is why it is coming in next year.
Graham Stringer (Blackley and Middleton South) (Lab)
The Prime Minister
Yes. She is bearing down on the challenges at the Home Office—most of them inherited from the last Government. We will make the changes necessary, and I have every confidence in the Secretary of State to do so.
Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)
The Prime Minister
I agree. I thought that the King and the Pope praying together sent an incredible message to the world and was very powerful. I agree that if we all work together, we can bring people together, notwithstanding the very many difficulties and challenges around the world and in our own country. It is why we should, so far as we can, unite on national patriotic renewal in this country, rather than have the toxic division we see from some on the Benches opposite.
Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) (Lab)
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend’s constituency is just one example of why the United Kingdom is a world leader in educating and attracting the brightest minds. Our immigration White Paper includes changes to make sure that more of the world’s best graduates and entrepreneurs start their careers and businesses here. We are also boosting our research and development sector with more than £86 billion, to ensure that we continue to attract the best and the brightest.
Alison Griffiths (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)
The Prime Minister
Our small business plan was widely welcomed by small businesses across the country, not least because of their input into it. The hon. Lady complains about the measures we had to take at the last Budget, including national insurance—[Interruption.] The Conservative Front Benchers are saying that we chose to take them, but they still cannot say whether they would reverse them. They know nothing about the damage they did to our economy.
Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)
I am wearing all black today to demonstrate my sorrow over a fatal stabbing that took place in my constituency yesterday. We all know that one death is one death too many, but I have had two deaths in my constituency in the last few weeks. My community needs reassurance. Knife crime must end. Will the Prime Minister say what more his Government are doing to tackle knife crime?
The Prime Minister
I thank my hon. Friend for raising these tragic cases, which have a huge impact on families, friends and communities. I know that she is a passionate and dedicated campaigner on this issue. Every single life lost to knife crime devastates communities. That is why we banned zombie knives and ninja swords and are strengthening controls on online knife sales. We are also giving stronger powers to the police in our Crime and Policing Bill, which both the Conservatives and Reform voted against.
Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage) (LD)
The Prime Minister
I am grateful to the hon. Member for raising that. I think the broken SEND system has been raised with me more frequently than any other issue at Prime Minister’s questions. We need to review it because it is not working for any of those involved, particularly children and parents. It is important that we get it right and, in so far as we can, that we get a consensus on how we go forward. That is what we are attempting to do.
Dame Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)
A fourth patient has entered the glioblastoma drug trial set up in memory of my late sister. Today, we are joined by Ben Trotman, a patient of a similar trial in 2022 that was funded by the Jon Moulton foundation. Since then, Ben has married Emily, and in March they welcomed beautiful baby Mabel. When will the National Institute for Health and Care Research spend the £40 million given in 2017 for trials on brain tumours, or will glioblastoma patients always have to rely on the grief stricken or the philanthropist for life and hope?
The Prime Minister
I begin by paying tribute to my hon. Friend’s sister Margaret, who was a guiding figure in the Labour party and left a powerful legacy in helping us to tackle brain cancer. We are determined to improve cancer survival rates and hit all NHS waiting times in relation to cancer so that no patient waits longer than they should. That is why we are investing £1.5 billion in new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners to help deliver over 30,000 more procedures and over 1.2 million diagnostic tests.
Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)
I recently met about 20 independent local traders in Totnes who are furious that the last bank in town will close in January and that Link has refused to consider a banking hub. My businesses and constituents—1,100 of them have signed a petition—deserve better. The Prime Minister just told the hon. Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) that a banking hub can be rolled out wherever a community needs one, so will he now back my campaign, ask his Ministers to write to Link and instruct it to grant a banking hub to Totnes, and review the eligibility of rural towns for such hubs so that we can keep our vital high streets alive?
The Prime Minister
I thank the hon. Member for raising that. She will have heard the answer I gave a few moments ago. I will ensure that she gets a meeting with the relevant Minister so that she can put the case for the banking hub in question.
Gaza and Hamas
(1 day, 14 hours ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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Priti Patel (Witham) (Con)
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs if she will make a statement on the actions taken to secure the elimination of Hamas from Gaza and the preservation of the ceasefire.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr Hamish Falconer)
The House will be aware of events over the past 24 hours in Rafah, including reports that Israeli strikes took place last night. Estimates of the death toll vary, but the suggestion is that up to 100 people in Gaza have been killed. We understand that these strikes followed an attack yesterday afternoon, where responsibility remains unclear.
As the Prime Minister said earlier, we echo the Americans in calling for urgent de-escalation and for all parties to keep the commitments they have made in the ceasefire agreement. We are clear that Hamas must release the bodies of all remaining Israeli hostages. The immediate priority is to ensure the unrestricted flow of aid into Gaza. The Israeli Government must urgently lift restrictions on aid entering, and international non-governmental organisations must be permitted to operate in Gaza to provide the scale of support that is needed. Civilians cannot wait.
This Government are working closely with our partners to do everything we can to support the transition from the ceasefire to phase 2 of the peace plan. This includes the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of a ceasefire monitoring mission, an international security force and the implementation of transitional governance arrangements in Gaza. We are clear that there can be no role for Hamas in the future governance of the strip. In recent days, the Foreign Secretary has spoken to the UN Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordination, Tom Fletcher, the Egyptian Foreign Minister and the Israeli Foreign Minister about the importance of opening more crossings and removing restrictions on aid. As I told the House yesterday, the Foreign Secretary and I will be heading to the region shortly.
On 13 to 15 October, I co-hosted with the Egyptian Government and the Palestinian Authority the first conference to look at how we can leverage sustainable support to Gaza’s reconstruction. Britain will continue to play our full part in support of the ceasefire and the wider peace initiative. There is not a moment to lose to get relief at scale to those in need and to make progress on the pathway to a lasting peace.
Priti Patel
The situation in Gaza is fragile. We all want the ceasefire to hold and endure, and for it to transition into a sustainable end to the conflict, but that requires the terms of the ceasefire to be adhered to. The scenes of masked Hamas gunmen carrying out summary executions is sickening. Their continued hoarding and disruption of aid to starve Gazans is shocking. Their refusal to disarm is disturbing, and their failure to return the bodies of the deceased hostages is distressing. The hostages and their families deserve the dignity of a proper burial. Their loved ones have already been through terrible pain and suffering. No more coffins should be released with the wrong remains. This is a disgusting game that has to end immediately.
Can the Minister explain what pressure is being exerted on Hamas by the UK Government to ensure that they comply with the full terms of the agreement and release all the deceased hostages? Yesterday it was reported that Hamas gunmen killed an Israel Defence Forces soldier, violating the ceasefire and leading to the targeted IDF action in response. What is the Minister’s assessment of the threat that Hamas pose, and what practical steps is the UK taking to support the disarming and elimination of Hamas and the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza?
Yesterday, the Secretary of State told the House that
“the UK has been proposing different ways in which we can help in the process of decommissioning and disarming Hamas, using expertise that we have built up over very many years.”—[Official Report, 28 October 2025; Vol. 774, c. 150.]
Can the Minister now say what Britain’s specific role is? This is a unique situation regarding Hamas, with terrorist infrastructure and threats funded by Iran across the region. What actions are the Government taking to rebuild their relationship with Israel, given the important partnership that we have with Israel?
On aid, what steps are being taken to increase getting aid into Gaza? Given the remarks by the US Secretary of State about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and its role in Gaza, what discussions have taken place with the US Administration about UNRWA’s future and the implications for the UK following the Government’s decision to give it millions of pounds, despite knowing some of the risks?
Mr Falconer
We track events in Gaza incredibly carefully. I do not intend to give the House a running commentary on each and every individual incident that takes place. The situation remains volatile and messy. I hope not to disappoint hon. Members if I avoid giving very specific answers on very specific incidents. Structures are now being put in place, including the Civil-Military Co-ordination Centre, which plays a role in seeking to verify the facts on the ground where we can. That work obviously takes some time. The UK is making a contribution to it, but I do not wish to get ahead of that process from the Dispatch Box.
What I will say is that we have been absolutely clear on the threat that Hamas poses to Palestinians, Israelis and the wider world. That is why it is sanctioned as a terrorist organisation here. We are taking a range of measures with our partners to work through the very complicated but necessary steps, whether that is about transitional governance in Gaza, the security arrangements that need to follow, the international security force, or a whole range of other questions. I assure the shadow Foreign Secretary that we are deep in those discussions. We have been having them over the last few days, and we will have them in the region, too. This is an incredibly complex piece of work, and we remain very focused on it.
Just quickly on aid, I would like to inform the House that there appears to have been quite a significant uprating of the aid going in, particularly through Kerem Shalom, which is welcome, but the House will know of the centrality of the other crossings, particularly Rafah and the Allenby bridge. They are not yet fully open. Aid cannot therefore flow in the volumes that we would wish to see. We continue to work with all our partners to try to see them reopen.
Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)
I welcome the statement from my hon. Friend. It is fairly clear that the Israeli Government agreed to the peace deal only because they felt they had to, not because they necessarily wanted to. After all this time, we still have not got aid flowing into Gaza in the way we would all want to see. What further action can the Government take to put pressure on the Israeli Government to ensure that all the aid that is needed actually gets in, and gets in quickly?
Mr Falconer
That is a vital question from my hon. Friend, who follows these things closely. As I said in my last answer, to get to the volumes that we need, we will need both Rafah and the Allenby bridge to be reopened. It is welcome that there appears to be an increase of aid through Kerem Shalom—both UN aid and private trucks. It is vital that the Palestinian private sector, particularly in Gaza, can get goods in, restart the market and enable people to go about their normal lives. We will, as he would expect, continue to work with all our partners until we see the reopening of those crossings.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)
The ceasefire was a rare moment of hope despite the challenges ahead, so we share the dismay that extremists on both sides continue to look for opportunities to restart the war. We feel the distress of the hostage families being tortured by Hamas cruelty, and the grief of those whose family members—women and children—die under IDF bombs. The fake recovery of bodies by Hamas, as evidenced by the Red Cross, is a cruel and despicable act. Yet we can also see that extremists in the Netanyahu Cabinet, who have no interest in peace nor in the rights of Palestinian civilians, are straining at the leash to retaliate. It is this cycle of violence and suffering that we must break.
What steps have the Government taken to work with regional partners to force Hamas to find and return the remaining hostage bodies and to disarm? Given the importance of maintaining President Trump’s interest and attention, what conversations has the Minister had with US counterparts to ensure that the White House does not lose focus on the prize of peace through a two-state solution?
Mr Falconer
I can reassure the House that the British Government remain in very regular contact at the highest levels with the American Government on these questions. The American Government, as I think has been clear in recent days, remain very focused on these issues, which is to be welcomed and supported, as the hon. Member says. He raises important points about the recovery of bodies. I can confirm that I have been in talks with many of my opposite numbers across the region—most recently my Qatari opposites yesterday—as has the Foreign Secretary, and we continue to make these points with force.
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for his answer to the urgent question. He has done a great job over time updating this Chamber—he has been terrific through this difficult period. Will he say more about the type of aid that he thinks our country needs to send into Gaza to support the people there?
Mr Falconer
I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words. There are two areas in which aid will be particularly vital. Of course, there are the immediate needs of the Gazan people. Most recently at Sharm el-Sheikh, the Prime Minister announced a £20 million contribution to the humanitarian programme to meet those needs, which will be focused on water, sanitation and health. There is also a need for the sustainable reconstruction of Gaza. The message that we hear so often from Palestinians is that they wish for their own companies and private sector to be engaged in that endeavour, and do not simply wish to see the World Bank or the United Nations leading the charge. They, too, want to take agency in those questions. That was one reason we involved them so closely in the conference that I held in October.
Kit Malthouse (North West Hampshire) (Con)
Once again, it is the children of Gaza who seem to bear the brunt of the violence, with reports that 35 of them were liquidated overnight in the casual dropping of bombs in retaliation. Equally as shocking is the realisation that there will be absolutely no accountability whatsoever for those deaths, likely no investigation into the targeting or intelligence used, and no sense of any punishment for what is very obviously a significant crime. Allied to that is the fact that it has proven quite a handy distraction from the significant violence and brutality taking place daily in the west bank. Given that we have now recognised Palestine as a sovereign nation, will there be any further measures to deter Israeli aggression on Palestinian soil?
Mr Falconer
We have spoken in this House on a number of occasions about events in the west bank, and we have announced three waves of sanctions—including at the most senior levels—against the Israeli Government. I reassure the House that we remain very focused on settler violence. We are moving into the olive harvesting period, which, as the right hon. Member will know, is a period in which violence is often particularly high. Regrettably, we are seeing similar trends this year. I will have more to say about that later in the day.
In relation to the right hon. Member’s first point on individual incidents, I refer him to my previous comments. It is important, at such a delicate moment for the ceasefire, that we are as precise as possible. That is why the CMCC is engaged in the way that it is.
Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)
The International Court of Justice has called on Israel to allow aid into Gaza, denounced its occupation of Palestinian territories as unlawful, and demanded the removal of troops. Does the Minister understand that as long as there are boots on the ground and UK arms are still sold to Israel, and unless Palestinians are allowed to determine their fate and be free of the violence that they continue to face, they will not have the peace that they need?
Mr Falconer
I think my hon. Friend refers to the ICJ advisory opinion in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. As the House will be aware, there has been another advisory opinion from the ICJ more recently in relation to aid accessing Gaza. Assuming that she is asking about the former, we have made significant decisions since that advisory opinion—not least on the recognition of the Palestinian state. I clarify once again for the House that no British weaponry is used either in Gaza or in the west bank, other than subject to the messages relating to F-35s that we have discussed previously.
Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)
The Minister quite rightly said that Hamas must disarm and that there can be no place for Hamas in the future of Gaza, yet the White House appears to be licensing Hamas to conduct internal security operations. What conversations is he having with his US counterparts to reconcile the UK position, which he clearly outlined, and that of the US?
Mr Falconer
As the right hon. Member knows, disarmament is usually a process. It takes time and requires serious and greatly complex technical work. We want to ensure that Gaza is free of Hamas and that Hamas are disarmed. That will take time, and it is the work that we and the Americans are engaged in.
Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay) (Lab)
Both in Gaza, where grassroots peacebuilders will face the immense task of reconciliation, and here at home, where debate has become dangerously polarised, the peace plan and the two-state solution remain the only credible path forward, and we must all be absolutely clear in condemning Hamas, who have no place in the future governance of a free Palestine, and the atrocities that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s far-right Government continue to commit. Put simply, two wrongs do not make a right. I urge the Minister to make a statement calling for unity at this fractious time.
Mr Falconer
There have obviously been innumerable wrongs in the region in recent months. It is important that we now continue the work, move forward with the ceasefire into phase 2, and see the wider peace plan fully implemented.
Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)
Throughout these horrific two years, I have kept trying to make the case for the innocents—for the people who did not choose any of this and who are not responsible. It is completely unacceptable that Hamas have not released all the bodies, and it is equally unacceptable that the Israeli authorities released 100 Palestinian bodies with just numbers. What are the Government doing to help the Palestinian authorities to identify all the bodies that have been returned, in both Israel and Palestine, so that families can grieve and the dead can have the dignity that they deserve?
Mr Falconer
The hon. Member speaks with personal experience, real force and a long track record on these issues. My heart goes out to families on both sides. Mortuary processes are difficult at the best of times; one can only imagine the agonies that they are facing. We are not aware of specific requests for support in mortuary services, but if they are any, I am very happy to consider them.
Imran Hussain (Bradford East) (Lab)
Let us be clear: peace cannot exist under impunity. Weeks into the ceasefire, Israel has once again bombed Gaza, killing over 100 Palestinians, including 35 children, as it continues its genocide. Our Government have shamefully yet to reply more than a year and a half after the substantial ruling by the International Court of Justice, which made it absolutely clear that any Government who allow trade with Israel’s settlement economy are complicit in sustaining the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories. British companies continue to trade in goods and financial services with the settlements, undermining our obligations under international law. When will the Government suspend the UK-Israel trade deal and end all trade linked to the settlements, or will the Minister continue to sit back and allow this complicity?
Mr Falconer
The hon. Member refers to the ICJ advisory opinion. I would not want the House to have the impression that the British Government have done nothing. At the centre of that advisory opinion is the question of the status of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We have been clear, subsequently, in recognising the status of that territory.
The hon. Member raises important questions about the trade in goods with settlements. We do not accept trade with settlements on the same basis as trade with Israel. Where British companies are doing so, they are in breach of the trading arrangements, and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will take an interest. They must ensure that they know who they are trading with and in which territory. If people in settlements wish to falsely label where the thing is produced, it is difficult—as a whole range of nations and states have found—for others to determine.
I know that the hon. Member follows these issues closely. He will no doubt be interested in the efforts of the Irish Government to try to pass exactly the kind of legislation that he is describing, and in the very many difficulties that they have encountered in so doing. We are not in breach of our international obligations. If he could point me to legislation that is in operation and does what he says, I would be grateful to see it, but I think this is one of those questions on which we must continue to work with our partners to ensure that the status of the Occupied Palestinian Territories—part of the Palestinian state—is understood by all.
Greg Smith (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)
Does the Minister agree that, on top of the absolute imperative of Hamas releasing the remaining hostage bodies and not only completely disarming but being removed from all governance in Gaza, there must be a widespread deradicalisation programme to undo the damage done by innocent children in Gaza being taught in their textbooks, some of which were funded through the UNRWA—an uncomfortable truth—to hate Israel and Jews? That deradicalisation must happen too.
Mr Falconer
Much work has been done in recent months, including under this Government, in relation to the curriculum in Gaza, and I am aware of the concerns that have been raised. The funding to UNRWA that we have provided, which the shadow Foreign Secretary referred to, included specific provision for ensuring that all reforms identified in the Colonna report, including on curricula, were followed through, and we continue to engage with UNRWA on those questions.
Lizzi Collinge (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)
My colleagues have already asked about the current horror in Gaza, so I will pivot to the longer term. Before this crisis, we saw decades of illegal settlements on Palestinian territory, so I welcomed the Government’s sanctions on extremist settlers and Israeli Ministers. I do not want us to lose sight of that issue, so will the Minister consider what further steps he can take, including trade restrictions, to combat illegal settlements?
Mr Falconer
My hon. Friend is absolutely right: there has been a significant increase in settlements and in violence associated with those settlements. This is a continued problem, and we will continue to work at it, alongside our partners, to try to see that terrible trend reversed.
Stephen Flynn (Aberdeen South) (SNP)
I get the impression that the Minister shares my despair at what feel like constant impediments to real progress that are being put in place by the impunity of both Hamas and of Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocidal regime. The United States of America has indicated that Israel’s response last night was proportionate, and it backed the action. I am curious: is that view shared by His Majesty’s Government?
Mr Falconer
For the reasons I gave earlier, I am reluctant to be drawn into a day-by-day commentary on the actions of both sides. What is key is that we keep the ceasefire going, and that is what the Americans have been clear is still in place. This is going to be difficult. The events of the last 24 hours have been difficult, and I am sure that we will have further difficult days ahead. This is not a straightforward path, and if the right hon. Gentleman doesn’t mind, I will not be drawn on an individual instance today.
Ms Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)
It is now 19 days since 10 October, and there are still hostage families who cannot grieve for a loved one, and still people starving in Gaza because there is not enough aid, and now we are seeing the west bank deteriorate. In the last 24 hours, Vice-President Vance has argued that “skirmishes” are somehow inevitable. With the greatest will in the world, the death of 35 children and possibly more is not a “skirmish”. If the international community can do anything, it is to be involved in the detail of ensuring that the ceasefire holds. If the Minister will not tell us what the Government’s response is, will he at least say what possible justification the Israelis have given for the latest incident?
Mr Falconer
I do not wish to spend too much time at the Dispatch Box repeating the statements of others. I am sure that my hon. Friend, who follows this issue closely, will have seen what the Israeli Government provided as justification, the statements from Hamas denying that they were involved in the shooting in Rafah, and the considerable uncertainty that has surrounded some of those events. The key question for the British Government is whether or not we think the ceasefire can hold, and whether we think we can make all the progress, that my hon. Friend describes, on reopening the aid crossings, disarming Hamas, and transitional governance arrangements. I am not for one second taking away from the gravity of these incidents—lives have been lost, children have been killed—but the role that stands before the British Government at the moment is to ensure that the ceasefire does not break down. That does not mean that we do not get into the detail. We have a major general in the Civil Military Co-ordination Centre who is part of the efforts to ensure that when violence and threats to the ceasefire occur, we understand the who and the why, but I will not give a running commentary from the Dispatch Box until we are in a position to do so.
Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)
The Minister has already acknowledged that it is olive harvest season in the west bank—a harvest that supports approximately 100,000 farming Palestinians—yet we have seen more than 150 attacks by settlers against those farmers. How are the Government holding the Israeli Government to account to stop those settlers acting with impunity?
Mr Falconer
As the hon. Member rightly identifies, this is a period of particular danger. We have repeatedly condemned the increase in violence that is associated with settlements, and we have made sanctions against that. We will continue to make those points strongly in this harvest season as we did during the last.
Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)
All Members have been appalled by the scenes that emerged from Gaza in the wake of the ceasefire, showing Hamas executing people in the streets as they seek to reassert control over the area. Does the Minister agree that such scenes simply reinforce that Hamas are nothing but terrorists and murderers, and that they must have nothing to do with the future governance of Palestine?
Mr Falconer
I agree with my hon. Friend. The scenes we have seen, which the shadow Foreign Secretary referred to, are chilling. Hamas are terrorists and they can have no role. The work to remove and disarm them will not be easy, but it is the vital and necessary next step.
Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)
Yesterday it emerged that Hamas do know where the bodies of the remaining hostages are, as video evidence emerged of them playing games with one body, removing it from a building, burying it, then bringing along the International Red Cross and pretending that they had found it and dug it up. Do the Minister and the Government condemn that, and what more can they do with our international allies and the Gulf nations to put pressure and leverage on Hamas to return all the remaining bodies immediately?
Mr Falconer
The hon. Member is right: Hamas must return all the bodies immediately. We have made that point to our regional partners with force, and we will continue to do so.
Richard Burgon (Leeds East) (Lab)
The war crimes carried out by Israel last night, including the killing of 35 children, are a continuation of the horrors that we have seen over the last two years visited on the people of Palestine by a state led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is currently wanted for war crimes. The Government rightly brought wide-ranging sanctions on Russia for its unlawful invasion of Ukraine and its war crimes, but is it the truth that unless there are real consequences for Netanyahu and Israel for these war crimes, they will carry on? A lack of action and sanctions is giving the green light and treating them with kid gloves, so is now the time for extensive widespread sanctions on Israel? Why is Israel treated differently from Russia, and why is Netanyahu treated differently from Putin?
Mr Falconer
We have discussed sanctions in this House many times, including the three waves during my time in government, and including against two Ministers. The priority now has to be to make the ceasefire work, to move to phase 2, and to get through all these incredibly important and complex questions, and that is the focus of this Government.
Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)
Over the past decade there has been a stark absence of diplomatic efforts to address the core issues of the conflict, and the continued advocacy for a two-state solution. Civil society organisations have played a vital role during this time in entering that chasm. Will the Minister outline how the Government are providing help to those organisations? For example, will it be through the recently announced international fund for Israeli-Palestinian peace?
Mr Falconer
We remain focused on supporting the whole range of civil society. The hon. Member will be aware of some of the proposals in the Knesset, which we have opposed and to which I referred in my opening remarks. We will continue to conduct that work and will have more to say about the fund she refers to in the coming days and weeks.
Dame Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West) (Lab)
The ceasefire has been one of the few positive achievements in what has been an unending tale of misery, violence, and horrific suffering, and all those involved in achieving that ceasefire deserve the gratitude and recognition that has been received. Now as Israel continues to kill Gazan children, and Hamas refuse to disarm, will the Minister reassure us that everyone involved in achieving a ceasefire in the US, the UK, and the middle east is equally concentrated and focused on keeping the peace and making the ceasefire work as a beginning of a peace process? Can he further reassure us, given our recognition of Palestine, that the Palestinian voice will be heard?
Mr Falconer
I reassure the House that I am absolutely certain that everyone in the UK who is working on this is focused on ensuring that the ceasefire sticks in the way that my hon. Friend describes. Indeed, I can tell from our many contacts with the American system that they remain similarly focused. They want this ceasefire to stick, and they are working to try to ensure that it does.
Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)
Will the Minister give assurances to the House that this Government are utterly committed, along with our international allies, to eradicating Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure, and that they will not cease until Hamas have been fully dismantled and obliterated, and the remains of those hostages murdered in captivity have been returned?
Mr Falconer
As I said to the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice), we are committed to ensuring that those bodies are returned and that Hamas are disarmed. The infrastructure of Hamas is not just heavy weapons and small weapons, as has been the case in other conflicts; there is also a network of tunnels under Gaza that have posed a very significant threat to Israel. Dismantling them is a difficult and complex engineering and military task, but it needs to be included as part of the process.
Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)
I strongly welcome the Minister’s commitment to work to support Chevening scholars to leave Gaza, particularly the decision to extend that support to students with full scholarships. Will the Minister update the House on the latest steps that the Government have taken to support Gazan students who wish to study in the UK, particularly those I have been arguing about who have dependants who they understandably do not wish to leave in Gaza?
Mr Falconer
If you will permit me, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will say a little bit about the wider evacuation operations. Evacuations have continued, including on Monday and Tuesday this week, both for students, who my hon. Friend has been so doughty in pursuing, and for highly medically vulnerable children who can benefit from UK support. That work continues, and I have been working alongside the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West (Dr Ahmed). We have been able to help many people to get to the UK to transform their lives by getting vital medical assistance and educational opportunities, which I hope will allow all of them to make a real contribution to the future of Palestine.
The operations to get people in and out of Gaza have been incredibly complex, not least given the most recent closures. I am afraid that there are very strict limits on how many dependants anyone can bring out. We have made an update to our policy in relation to students who are fully funded, which says that we can support a very small number of dependants to leave. I know that many hon. Members with an interest in this have engaged with me directly, and I reiterate that these operations remain incredibly complex. I am happy to talk to all hon. Members who have an interest, but there is neither infinite capacity in the UK to support people, nor, even with our partners, unlimited capacity to get people out. We have made an announcement and I pay tribute to the work of my hon. Friend and many others across the House, but I wish to keep people’s expectations suitably focused on the very many constraints that remain on these operations.
Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) (LD)
Renewed violence in Gaza continues against a backdrop of unimaginable human suffering. Millions remain in desperate need of food, water and medical supplies, yet aid convoys continue to face unacceptable obstacles. The UN reported yesterday that many of the 177 aid trucks that entered Kerem Shalom were limited by congestion on coastal roads, in part because of damage to that aid route, meaning that they were forced to limit their supply of aid far below what was agreed. As yet, aid routes are not fully open, but Gazans cannot wait any longer. Aid restrictions should never have been there in the first place. What specific pressure are the Government exerting on Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli authorities to get the routes fully open and the aid in?
Mr Falconer
The hon. Member asks an important question. As I said earlier, it is welcome that there has been an increase in Kerem Shalom, but there is congestion too. The UN, the private sector and a number of donors who are not using the UN are all trying to get aid through Kerem Shalom, so the congestion that she describes is perhaps to be expected. It is vital that other routes, including the Allenby bridge with Jordan and the Rafah crossing, which has already been the subject of much discussion, reopen too. We are working with our partners on these questions. We want to see progress soon—I would like to see it in days—but this has proved to be more complex than I had hoped and talks are ongoing.
Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)
I place on record my thanks to the Minister for his tireless work on the issues in the middle east. The devastation continues for Palestinian people living in Gaza, whether from the murderous intent of Hamas or from further strikes from Israel, which reportedly killed 104 people, including 46 children, overnight. Alongside that, Gaza’s healthcare system has been decimated, and it is always women and girls who end up being the worst victims in such circumstances. Does the Minister agree and will he update the House on how further aid can be directed to support women and girls in particular, and to rebuild healthcare systems in Gaza?
Mr Falconer
These are vital questions from my hon. Friend, who I know has remained very focused on the issues. The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West, who has kindly joined me on the Front Bench, and I remain focused on the issues. As access to Gaza becomes easier, as we all hope that it does, among the most urgent actions are ensuring that medical supplies, personnel and infrastructure are in place to meet the very significant needs of Gazan people. We will continue to work closely on that.
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Ind)
Every day since the ceasefire took place, at least 20 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by the IDF. There have been numerous other breaches of the ceasefire and continued military activity in the west bank. Will the Minister assure the House that Britain no longer flies RAF aeroplanes over Gaza, no longer co-operates with Israel on its security arrangements, and no longer supplies any weapons to Israel, because of its frequent breaches of the ceasefire and its continued abuse of the people of Gaza and the west bank?
Mr Falconer
I have set out our arrangements in relation to arms and the very significant suspensions that we made from the Dispatch Box a number of times—they remain in place. The right hon. Member asks about RAF flights; I think he refers to the RAF flights that were attempting to find hostages in Gaza. Those flights have stopped. The hostages have been released, so there is no further function for those flights and they have ended.
John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)
One crucial factor in achieving the current ceasefire was the unprecedented declaration at the end of July by all 22 members of the Arab League, calling on Hamas to release the hostages, lay down their arms and give up power in Gaza. That was hugely important in showing Hamas that they had run out of road. What role do the UK and our partners have in influencing that declaration? Does the Minister agree that our strong diplomatic relations, led by our excellent diplomats, have a positive impact?
Mr Falconer
I associate myself very much with my hon. Friend’s comments. He knows that neck of the woods well. Our diplomats are excellent. I was pleased to be in New York in July when the declaration he describes was made. It was part of a declaration that included our own commitments in relation to the Palestinian state, which led to our recognition in September.
Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) (LD)
We all hope desperately for a just peace in Gaza. I served alongside the Minister as a diplomat in the middle east and as a soldier. Given that, I particularly welcome the proposed international security force, but it is essential that such a force includes troops from Arab countries and possibly from western countries too, in order to reassure the Israelis, and that it is there for the long term and ready to take casualties. Will the Minister update the House on what progress there has been on the composition and the mandate of the potential force?
Mr Falconer
My friend the hon. and gallant Member is right to focus on some of these practical questions. He, like me, served in countries where peacekeeping forces were unable to keep the peace and unwilling to take casualties, and were therefore unable to fulfil their mandate. These are some of the most central and most delicate questions around the ISF. I hope he will forgive me for not giving a detailed commentary at this time, but I expect to return to the House to provide more detail when I am able.
Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)
There have been recent press reports that the Israeli Government have been arming factions within Gaza in order to destabilise Hamas. Can the Minister comment on any of those reports? What is the position of the British Government on that?
Mr Falconer
As I said earlier, I will not provide extensive commentary on reports, but clearly safety and security for Gazans will involve Palestinian authorities able to ensure law and order. Those who have been living in Gaza have suffered terribly; there has been widespread looting and violence. I am sure many will pore over the question of who those factions and criminals are and who is supporting them. The key thing now is that security needs to return to Gaza, and that security cannot be provided by the masked Hamas gunmen that the shadow Foreign Secretary rightly referred to at the outset, so that work continues.
Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)
The Minister has rightly emphasised the importance of securing the swift and urgent supply of aid to all those in need in Gaza, but he has also mentioned that some of the crossings remain disrupted or fully closed. What reasons have been given for the continued delay in reopening all the crossings?
Mr Falconer
There has been some public reporting of Israeli concerns about the Allenby bridge, particularly after the violence there. Rafah is a subject that we have discussed many times in this House, and it remains an absolutely critical artery. It is true to say that in both the Allenby crossing and Rafah there will need to be agreement between both countries. I hope that agreement can be secured quickly, that Israel removes the restrictions in place, and that we see the free flow of aid through those crossings very shortly.
Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for his statement and his focus on maintaining the ceasefire. I stand in solidarity with the many ordinary Palestinians living under Hamas and with the families in Israel waiting for their loved ones to be returned, but I cannot conclude that what Netanyahu has done in the last 24 hours was proportionate in any way. I continue to hope and pray for peace. With peace will come the opportunity to rebuild Gaza, but I do not see how that can be done when Israel holds so many people without charge, particularly healthcare workers. My constituent Eman is really concerned about Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who is being held. Does the Minister agree it is really important that people, particularly healthcare workers, should not be held without charge? Is he having negotiations with Israel on their release?
Mr Falconer
Due process is incredibly important. I have raised this specific case with the Israeli authorities. It is important that adequate explanations are provided where people are detained, particularly doctors who are providing vital, lifesaving work. We will continue to take this matter up with the Israelis.
Brendan O’Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber) (SNP)
Overnight, more than 100 Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli airstrikes. Once again, innocent civilians are suffering a collective punishment, this time imposed for breaches of the ceasefire by Hamas. Unless this Government believe that all Palestinian civilians are Hamas and are therefore legitimate targets, the Minister must unequivocally condemn these attacks on innocent civilians. Will he unequivocally condemn those attacks and call them what they are: an egregious breach of international humanitarian law?
Mr Falconer
I think I have covered those questions already in this session, but let me be absolutely clear: all Palestinians are very clearly not part of Hamas. So many Palestinians want to see an alternative. They want to see this process succeed and to see the ceasefire hold, and that is where our focus is.
Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)
The Israel Defence Forces said this morning that they had
“renewed enforcement of the ceasefire”.
The strikes are reported to have killed 20 women and 46 children following the death of one IDF soldier. President Trump’s peace plan makes provision for Arab states to commit stabilisation forces. I appreciate the Minister’s point that he cannot provide a running commentary on such a stabilisation force, but does he share my view that after a ceasefire, the protagonists are the least well-placed to enforce peace?
Mr Falconer
I am not sure that I totally follow. The composition of the ISF is not yet determined, as I said to the hon. Gentleman’s colleague. We will no doubt discuss this matter further in the House once we are in a position to provide a fuller update. A number of states have indicated some willingness to provide troops to the ISF. I will clarify for the House that we have provided military personnel into the region, but it was into the Civil-Military Co-ordination Centre, which has a different tasking to the ISF. These are all complex questions that are very much in negotiation at the moment. When some of those matters are more clear and finalised, I am happy to return to the House.
Adrian Ramsay (Waveney Valley) (Green)
It is horrifying that Netanyahu has bombed Gaza in a clear violation of the ceasefire. The suffering in Gaza is unimaginable. To move forward, we must demand justice and reparations for all victims of atrocity crimes and hold to account the perpetrators. What are the Government doing to uphold UK obligations under international law to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide? What are the Government doing to push for journalists to be allowed in, given the Israeli Government’s outrageous restrictions, which prevent them from documenting the horrors?
Mr Falconer
International justice and accountability are of vital importance. That is why this Government removed the block on the International Criminal Court and continued to support that very important body, and that is why we continue to support the International Court of Justice. They are the competent courts and the process by which justice will be secured, and we continue to support them in those endeavours.
Jim Allister (North Antrim) (TUV)
Are we expected to believe that in the months and years ahead, the Government will stand by their promise that Hamas must be fully disarmed and play no part in the Government in Palestine? I ask because a previous Labour Government, under Tony Blair, with the present National Security Adviser by his side, promised the people of Northern Ireland that the IRA and other terrorists would be totally disarmed through decommissioning. That did not happen: supposedly decommissioned weapons continued to be able to be used to kill, and we ended up with the surrogates of the IRA in government. Will it be any different in Gaza?
Mr Falconer
One thing I have learned so far as a politician is not to make comparisons between the middle east and practically anywhere else, and certainly not with Northern Ireland. I will allow the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to answer the hon. and learned Gentleman’s particular questions about the current arrangements. Clearly, peace is possible—we have demonstrated it here and in many other places. That has to the be the work of the Government, and that is what we are focused on.
Shockat Adam (Leicester South) (Ind)
It appears that this ceasefire is going in the same vein as previous announcements on ceasefires—primarily one side, the Palestinians, cease; the other side, Israelis, continue to fire. Some 20 Palestinians have been killed every single day since this so-called last ceasefire. Last night was the most violent, with more than 104 Palestinians killed and the targeting of a cancer patient camp. We all appreciate the Minister coming in week in, week out to answer these questions—I certainly do—but given that the UK has not stopped arming Israel since the genocide began, can he confirm how many export licences to Israel have been granted in Labour’s time in office?
Mr Falconer
I hope the hon. Member will forgive me, but I do not have the numbers precisely to hand. I did an extensive hearing in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee in which we went through the numbers in some detail, but let me focus on the key point. We have suspended all arms that could be used in this way; we are not selling bombs or bullets that could be used in Gaza or the west bank. The munitions that he and so many others in this country saw exploding last night on their television screens were not British.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister very much for his answers, his tone and his well-chosen words; we appreciate them. The moment that there were reports of shots fired at Israeli soldiers in Rafah and of an IDF soldier being murdered, my heart sank—as the hearts of many others probably did—because I knew that the tenuous peace had been broken by Hamas. Does the Minister accept that retaliation is inevitable? What role can the Government play, along with our allies, to rebuild the fragile peace process and disarm Hamas, remove their weapons and destroy them? Real and lasting peace can then actually happen.
Mr Falconer
I thank the hon. Member for his important question and his as ever courteous tone. The work is important. The threats to the ceasefire are many and varied, and we will continue to work with our partners in exactly the way that he describes.
Asylum Seekers: MOD Housing
(1 day, 14 hours ago)
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Mr Angus MacDonald (Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire) (LD)
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make a statement on the planned use of MOD barracks to house asylum seekers.
The Minister for Border Security and Asylum (Alex Norris)
The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is a disgrace. As Members on both sides of the House know, it is a practice that became widespread long before this Government entered office, and it is one of the clearest indicators of the shambles that we inherited last summer. People across the country are frustrated, if not furious. We wholeheartedly agree, and that is why since the general election we have been working to address the chronic issues in the asylum system that have been allowed to build up over several years. At their peak under the previous Government, there were 400 hotels in use; now, the number is around 200. That reduction has been achieved despite what the Home Affairs Select Committee has called a “dramatic increase in demand”. Under this Government, decisions on asylum applications are up, as are asylum-related returns, while system costs are down.
However, as my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has made clear, we must go further and faster. That means moving at pace to fulfil the Government’s commitment to close every asylum hotel. Work to facilitate this exit is ongoing, and the asylum accommodation taskforce is working across Government to deliver alternative asylum accommodation. I can confirm to the House that plans are under way for the temporary use of Ministry of Defence sites at Cameron barracks in Inverness and at Crowborough training camp in East Sussex for the purpose of asylum accommodation. Under the plans, a total of around 900 people will be housed across both sites.
Those two sites are among a number of options that we are looking at as we seek to alleviate the pressure on the system and drive down hotel use, and while this is a complex and fast-moving operating environment, there is a strong understanding within the Home Office of the importance of local engagement. My officials have been engaging directly and regularly in advance of this announcement with the Scottish Government, the relevant councils and local service providers, and will continue to do so. Whatever decisions are made regarding specific locations, we are clear that the impact on communities must be minimised. The safety and security of people living and working in the surrounding areas is paramount.
A crisis of the scale we were left with was always going to take time to correct, but we know that the British people are impatient for change, as are we. This Government will do whatever it takes to end hotel use, fix the broken asylum system, and secure our borders.
Mr MacDonald
I thank the Minister for his answer, and the Speaker for allowing me to ask this urgent question.
I got a call yesterday at 7.10 in the morning from the BBC, who asked, “What is your comment on the Cameron barracks being taken over and used to house migrants?” I know that place well, because I was based there when was in the Army. It is residential—it is surrounded by housing that is very close by—and what is more, it is only 10 minutes from Inverness city centre. I asked for a briefing from the Home Office and got one, which was wonderful. What I learned is that there are going to be up to 309 single male asylum seekers there, who will move in at the end of November. I have a few questions arising from that.
First, why was I not engaged in any discussion? Why were the Scottish Government not engaged in conversation, and why were Highland council and other authorities just informed, rather than engaged, which is the word that the Minister used? Secondly, did Home Office officials consider the fact that the site is in a city centre before they agreed to take it on? Why is it okay to close town centre migrant hotels in the south of England, yet plan to house 300 migrant men in Army quarters in Inverness city centre? It is effectively the same thing. Thirdly, will the Minister meet me to discuss the Home Office halting its plan to utilise Cameron barracks to house migrants?
Alex Norris
I am grateful for those questions, and recognise the anger that the hon. Gentleman has conveyed. I am sorry that he heard in the way he did, and of course I will have that meeting with him. It can be difficult to sequence these things correctly; as all colleagues know, we live in an age of misinformation and disinformation, and trying to sequence who hears what and when can be sticky. Nevertheless, the hon. Gentleman should not have heard in the way he did. The same is true for the hon. Member for Sussex Weald (Ms Ghani), whose duties as Deputy Speaker preclude her from taking part in these proceedings. I recognise the strength of feeling that she has conveyed to me in no uncertain terms about her views and the views of her constituents, and their opposition to these plans. I will continue to engage with the hon. Gentleman and the hon. Lady, and I encourage her local authority also to do so. Again, I recognise the strength of feeling.
Turning to the hon. Gentleman’s other questions, of course the location of the site has been considered. We are looking at all sites in that way; whether it is a hotel or dispersed accommodation, the local context is always considered. I would gently say that both sites have been used recently for the Afghan resettlement scheme, so there is a clear understanding across Government of the capabilities of those sites and their locations.
However, I want to be very clear about what is at stake here. The hon. Gentleman talked about the closure of hotels, and we know that hotels are an exceptionally challenging issue in this country. Too many people come to this country having been sold the dream that they will be housed in a hotel and will be able to work illegally in our economy. Today, we have announced that we have had our best ever year for illegal work raids, with 1,000 people deported as a result, but we have to break the model that says, “You’ll get to live in a hotel and work illegally.” Closing the hotels is a really important part of that work.
Matt Vickers (Stockton West) (Con)
Since this Government entered office, the illegal immigration crisis has gotten seriously worse on every front. The number of people arriving in this country illegally is up, and not just by a little bit; arrivals are up by more than 50% compared with the same period before the election. Before the election, the number of migrants staying in hotels had fallen by 47%. It has now gone up, and fewer of the people breaking into this country illegally on a small boat are being removed.
We are now in a position where the Government are putting forward a proposal that, in opposition, they described as “an admission of failure”. The Defence Minister, the hon. Member for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard), is unable to say whether the plan will save us money or cost us more. We also hear that this proposal will involve accommodation on a site that is directly next to homes provided to the families of our brave armed forces personnel. Have the Government consulted those families about this plan?
All this demonstrates that we need much stronger proposals than the weak efforts the Government are presiding over. That is why we have put forward the borders plan, which goes beyond tinkering with the system. If we want to stop the use of this accommodation, we need to change completely how we approach this problem and ensure that all illegal immigrants are removed within a week. It is a comprehensive plan based on our proposals to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, reform how our asylum system operates, and remove the blockages that have prevented the removal of illegal entrants. It is a proposal that is not only practical, but fair, as those who come to the UK illegally should not be housed at the taxpayer’s expense in ever greater numbers. People need to know that if they break into this country, they will be detained and deported. That is how we will solve this crisis.
I will finish by asking the question we are all wondering: when will the asylum hotels close? Will the Government commit to closing all asylum hotels within a year?
Alex Norris
What an optimistic effort by the hon. Gentleman! He invites us to believe that he and his colleagues have worked out in 14 months how to fix a system that they broke over a period of 14 years. The British public saw through that in July 2024, and I suspect that they will see through it again.
The hon. Gentleman talks about removals. Of course, removals are up—over 35,000 since we took office. When it comes to the question of why we have hotels in the first place, what was the original sin? It was that Conservative colleagues stopped assessing claims. That is why we have hotels, and it is why we have made the efforts to shift the backlog.
The reality is that the system is broken. It is a very simple equation—it is a complicated issue, but a simple equation. We are a very popular country and people want to come here. Of course we are popular—we are the greatest country in the world, with brilliant institutions—but that popularity is also due to the fact that people are sold a dream that they will be able to come here, live in a hotel and work illegally. Until and unless we attack those two fundamental factors, nothing will change. We know that the Conservatives do not oppose the plans we are debating today, because after all, they used two military sites themselves.
Chris Murray (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab)
The Home Affairs Committee this week released a report into asylum accommodation and it is utterly damning. In 2019, the Conservative Government bound the country into asylum contracts that have been disastrous for local communities, disastrous for asylum seekers themselves and disastrous for the taxpayer, but they have been brilliant for private providers who have made tens of millions of pounds of profits. It is right that the Government are looking at alternative ways to house asylum seekers that will be better for communities, asylum seekers and the taxpayer. Scotland is a welcoming, tolerant country, and we are willing to play our part, but will the Minister give us assurances that he will learn from the mistakes of the previous Government and work with local communities, local authorities and devolved Administrations to make sure that this works and solves the problems we have seen?
Alex Norris
I have studied that report closely. There have been more than a thousand lessons learned from the previous Government’s attempts to solve this issue. We are taking those in hand to make sure we do it right. My hon. Friend talks about the cost. I am pleased that in our time in office we have reduced the cost to the taxpayer of the asylum system by £1 billion, including £500 million across the hotel estate, but it is clear, including from his Committee’s reports, that we have to go further, and that is what we are doing. We are, within the parameters of the contracts we inherited, sweating things. Where there is money to be recouped, we will recoup that for the taxpayer, but it comes back to the fundamental question that if we want to spend less money on this type of activity, we have to have fewer people in the estate. That starts with breaking the attraction that they have to come to this country.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Max Wilkinson (Cheltenham) (LD)
We share the Minister’s concern about the approach of the official Opposition. Clearly, they left us with this mess and now they feign outrage. It appears that this Government’s proposal, sadly, is to decant asylum seekers from one kind of unsuitable and costly accommodation to another. Instead, they should be tackling the real issue: speeding up asylum decisions so that those with no right to stay are returned and those with a valid claim can work, pay tax and integrate.
I will pick up the Minister’s point about the difficulty of sequencing communications. As a Member of Parliament who had an asylum hotel opened in his constituency, I was informed several weeks in advance. I offered a much better alternative form of accommodation somewhere else nearby. As I found out, the Home Office was determined to open a hotel, because that alternative was not taken up. The alternative accommodation would have been more appropriate, and my constituency feels let down.
The Government have promised to end the use of hotels by 2029, yet they have put forward no credible plan to achieve that. The Lib Dems have set out a plan for ending hotel use in just six months by declaring a national emergency and setting up Nightingale processing centres to bring down the backlog. Will the Home Secretary match the Lib Dem plan by declaring that national emergency today? Will the Minister confirm whether the plan that he has put forward means speeding up decisions and returning those with no right to stay, or does it simply mean shifting large numbers of asylum seekers from one form of accommodation to another? Will he share what assessment has been made of the relative merits of Army barracks that are in or next to urban areas, as opposed to those in rural areas? Finally, will he concede that cutting overseas development spending will drive more people away from conflict zones to seek safety in Europe and onward unsafely on to boats in the English channel?
Alex Norris
I recognise the spirit with which the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues speak, and I share their zeal. Indeed, I think we can demonstrate it through our actions to speed up decisions. That is why we have made such a significant increase in decision making. Our commitment to speeding up removals is a matter of record. That is why we have seen well over 35,000 people with no right to stay removed since we took office. I gently say to him that as we deal with the backlog left by the Conservatives, we still have a significant cohort of people who will need to be housed and accommodated while their claims are processed.
Additionally, there is an attraction. We see that in the numbers who seek to cross the channel to come here. Until and unless we address that element, the suggestions from the hon. Gentleman alone will not create that deterrent. What we offer today is a significant and real deterrent to break that pull factor. On his point on overseas development, he will know the commitment made by the Prime Minister. We want to return that spending to 0.7% as soon as we can, because it makes a huge impact across the world, and we want to continue to do that.
Dame Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West) (Lab)
I have visited the hotel in Newcastle where up to 400 asylum seekers are living. I have listened to local community concerns. I have spoken to the asylum seekers, the hotel owners, the programme managers, the police, and local stakeholders. It is clear that the policy of housing asylum seekers in hotel accommodation, instituted by the last Government, is failing everybody concerned, except for possibly the private providers profiting from the contracts. Newcastle city council is in discussions with the Home Office about alternative models for accommodation that better meet the needs of the city and of asylum seekers. Can the Minister tell us how those discussions are going and when we can expect to see progress?
Alex Norris
My hon. Friend will know that in the spending review, £500 million was set aside for working with local government to try to identify those exact sites that she is talking about and to bring them forward for use. In the spirit of what the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson) said, and in the spirit of what other colleagues have said about early engagement, there may well be better ways to build public confidence in what is being provided and that it is in the right locations with the right support. Those conversations with the city of Newcastle are ongoing, and we will be working hard to bring them to a satisfactory conclusion.
Dr Kieran Mullan (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)
Let me begin by making it crystal clear that Madam Deputy Speaker, my hon. Friend the Member for Sussex Weald (Ms Ghani), is doing everything she can to object to proposals to house illegal migrants at the Crowborough training camp in her constituency, just over the border from mine. The site is not suitable. It was previously considered by the Home Office and rejected, but it seems that we now have a council willing, for ideological reasons, to roll over to the suggestion that it is used. Councils can object to these proposals, so what objections has the Green and Liberal Democrat-led Wealden council made to the proposals to use the Crowborough training camp to house hundreds of asylum seekers?
Alex Norris
As I have set out, we have had significant discussions with local authorities. They challenge our assumptions, and they challenge scale and location, as is always the case. Nevertheless, I gently say to the hon. Gentleman that when he says, “No, it is not the right location”, he should be clear about what he is saying yes to. Is he saying yes to the continued use of hotels, or is he simply saying they should be somewhere else? I know those conversations will continue, and I encourage the local authorities to engage with local Members of Parliament.
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney) (Lab)
I am often asked on the doorsteps what we are doing to tackle this issue. Will the Minister please set out more information on what the Government are doing to stop small boat arrivals in the first place, so that we can close more hotels more quickly?
Alex Norris
My hon. Friend raises the crucial part of the equation. Over the past year, we have made significant inroads in our efforts to disrupt organised crime and the people who use this model to prey on others. We have done 350 disruptions—an increase of 40% on what we inherited. These are embedded gangs who have had a six-year head start on this Government thanks to the Conservatives. That work is vital, but underpinning the gangs’ business model is the attraction of this country. We have to remove the hotels and illegal working to make sure we are not so attractive.
Mr Paul Kohler (Wimbledon) (LD)
My colleague on the Home Affairs Committee, the hon. Member for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray) made an excellent point. The asylum accommodation contract signed under the previous Tory Government gifted scandalously high profits to private providers. Frankly, it is a PPE-type scandal. Clearsprings’ profits soared from £6,000 per employee in 2020 to £300,000 per employee in 2024, with its owner Graham King entering the Sunday Times rich list. Vast sums are still being wasted on asylum hotel accommodation under those same flawed arrangements, despite this Government having been in power for 16 months, and the numbers housed in hotels has increased by 8% over the past year. Will the Minister please explain how any new asylum accommodation will be provided in a cost-effective manner that does not allow private companies to make further obscene profits on the backs of the UK’s hard-working people?
Alex Norris
We have to work within the parameters of the contracts that we inherited from the Conservatives, but I can give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that we have reduced that bill by £1 billion, including £500 million from hotels. We are looking further at the profit-sharing elements of those contracts, and are recouping money for the taxpayer by making sure we get the best deal possible.
Torcuil Crichton (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (Lab)
As the Minister pointed out, and as Shaun Fraser, the Labour candidate for Inverness, said yesterday, this situation has arisen because of the broken asylum system that the Labour Government inherited from the Conservatives, but it must be handled sensitively. While I sympathise with my friend, the hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald), given how he heard this news, I must caution him against leaning into language about Army patrols, security fences and the security of young women. As I have said, this must be handled sensitively, and it falls to us all to set a reasoned tone when expressing reasoned concerns.
May I ask the Minister how he will deal with the situation locally, and what talks he will have with Highland council, and other councils, when it comes to dealing with this proposal?
Alex Norris
My hon. Friend has made an important point about the effectiveness of these sites. We have engaged with the local authorities, the health services, the police services and the fire services to ensure that the impact on the community is as light as possible. The experience from Napier barracks and from RAF Wethersfield is that if it is done thoughtfully it can be done well, and that is our commitment.
Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)
My constituents are increasingly concerned about the rising number of houses in multiple occupation. Can the Minister assure me that any overflow from these bases will not lead to an increased reliance on HMOs in our towns and cities, including Walsall, and may I ask what further powers the Government will give councils to protect the private rented sector from being squeezed out as a result of this?
Alex Norris
The right hon. Lady has alighted on an important point. There is, of course, an option open to the Government: if we want to close the hotels, we can simply pull the lever of houses in multiple occupation and change the character of communities across the country, but we are clearly not doing that. We want to find the right balance, and dispersed accommodation is an important tool that local authorities have in relation to people fleeing violence, people with substance abuse and, in this instance, people who are seeking refuge. As I have said, we must find the right balance, and that is the choice. Opposition Members want the hotels to be closed, and they apparently do not want us to use military barracks, having done so themselves. They also do not want us to use houses in multiple occupation. That is an unserious approach to what is a very serious problem.
Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)
The Conservatives left our asylum system in an absolute mess, and now they claim to care about consultation and community impact. Where was that when my community got two asylum hotels more than 10 years ago? This Government, by contrast, are bringing the number down while increasing the number of people with no right to be in the country who are returned, which shows how seriously we take the issue. Can the Minister please tell my constituents what more the Government are doing to close every single asylum hotel?
Alex Norris
I can give that clear message to my hon. Friend’s constituents form the Dispatch Box. We will close every single asylum hotel, as we committed ourselves to doing at the time of the general election.
My hon. Friend has raised an important point, and I acknowledge the shortcomings in this exercise that were raised by the hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) and also by Madam Deputy Speaker, the hon. Member for Sussex Weald (Ms Ghani). We want to reset the Home Office’s relationship with local government, which is why we have had those conversations, but we need to ensure that local decision makers and local leaders are wired into these decisions earlier so that we can collectively ensure that they are a success.
Graham Leadbitter (Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey) (SNP)
My colleague Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice in the Scottish Government, wrote to the Secretary of State about this issue on 26 September, seeking an urgent meeting with Highland council and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. No reply to that letter was received, and the first she knew of the decision was when she heard about it on the radio, as many of the rest of us did.
Asylum seekers, by their very nature, are fleeing conflict and persecution. Many require wraparound support, having suffered significant mental and, in some cases, physical trauma. If there is no support package in place, things are not going to go well. The arrival of 300 people in Inverness in such a short space of time puts a huge strain on local services. What is the Minister doing to address those issues with the Scottish Government and with Highland council?
Alex Norris
That point about wraparound support is very important as well. The point of using these sites is that we are able to provide local amenities and vital services for that cohort without having to rely on the local health services. We are having those conversations with health authorities, police and fire services and the local council to ensure that that support is in place, so that, as I said earlier, the impact on the existing community is as light as possible.
Euan Stainbank (Falkirk) (Lab)
I welcome the urgency with which Ministers are seeking to end Tory-created asylum hotel use—which does not work for those fleeing persecution, or for local communities such as those in Falkirk—while also lowering the cost of the asylum system and speeding up processing. Will the Minister elaborate on the criteria that the Department will apply in deciding the sequence of asylum hotel closures, and on how they will be applied fairly and equitably across all the nations and regions of the United Kingdom?
Alex Norris
My hon. Friend tempts me, as he has tempted me on multiple occasions—this time to give him details on the sequence. I know of his vigour in closing hotels in his community. As I have said, we will close every single one of those hotels, and none will be open a day longer than they have to be. My hon. Friend will have to bear with us a little longer in respect of the sequence, but we will be clear about the decisions that we make when we make them.
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
Well, what a bolt from the blue! There has been huge concern throughout the Wealden district since the news broke of a “boats to barracks” plan in Sussex. The council leadership urgently needs to speak to local MPs, as do many other councillors, to assuage deep concerns about hundreds of asylum seekers coming to a very rural part of Sussex. Does this simply mean that people living in the Copthorne hotel will move to the barracks? Will the Minister kindly try to work with the Wealden district council leadership, so that public meetings can be held locally to discuss the significant issues that have arisen and the discussions that have taken place? What is happening about the planning process, and the community and police support? Many people need to understand these matters, given the unexpected choice of such a countryside location.
Alex Norris
The hon. Member has raised a number of important questions. Of course we want to work with the local authority to ensure that the public are giving the information and the reassurance that they need; as I have said, there is always a great deal of misinformation and disinformation, and I can give that commitment to her. She will have heard what I said about the timeliness of engagement with colleagues, and I reiterate my sadness in that regard. We will do better for her and her colleagues in securing the answers that they need as leaders in the community. Let me also reiterate, to her and her community, that we intend this to have the lightest possible impact on them. It has been proven to be done at Wethersfield and at Napier, and I have no doubt that we can do it again.
Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)
The number of boat crossings has risen from 800 in 2018, before we left the European Union, to 40,000 a year because of Brexit. Can the Minister provide some clarity on the measures that he is taking to help solve this immigration crisis at its core, without falling back on yet another fake silver bullet—leaving the European convention on human rights, which some Opposition parties are suggesting—which would get rid of not only the rights of asylum seekers but those of my constituents?
Alex Norris
My hon. Friend has made an important point about the global nature of this challenge—[Interruption.] It is like being at a party you were not invited to at the moment, Madam Deputy Speaker.
My hon. Friend, and other Members, will know of the work that we are doing with France, our most immediate neighbour, and the importance of scaling up our returns pilot. She will also know of our engagement on the continent with regard to organised crime. These are highly sophisticated global networks, and a global response is required to break them.
Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)
Will the Minister ensure in future that Members are given some notice of the Government’s plans relating to MOD accommodation? Will he ensure that the gross discourtesy that has been visited on the hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) in this particular case is not repeated, and that communities may even be able to suggest to the Government alternatives, where alternatives exist? As for the pull factors to which he rightly alluded, will he ensure that accommodation that is offered up by the Ministry of Defence is at the more austere end of the spectrum? It is certainly the case that the men and women of our armed forces, families and veterans are heartily fed up with seeing people not being put in accommodation that apparently is not fit, but that apparently was fit to hold soldiers, sailors and airmen.
Alex Norris
These sites are austere accommodation. The whole point is to change the narrative that is sold to people on social media—that they can come here, live in a hotel and work illegally. The accommodation will be functional and it will be humane, but it will be basic. I can give the right hon. Member that assurance, because the point is exceptionally important.
On the right hon. Gentleman’s point about engagement with colleagues, I hope he will know, from the short time I shadowed him in opposition, that I would never knowingly be discourteous to colleagues—I value colleagues across this place, of all parties and none. I have reflected a lot on what has happened in this case, exactly as he says, and yes, certainly with regard to colleagues, I need to do more directly. I have taken that on board as part of those reflections.
Carla Denyer (Bristol Central) (Green)
The Refugee Council has a clear proposal that would allow the Minister to close asylum hotels within a year without resorting to barracks: a one-off scheme to give a time-limited permission to stay, subject to rigorous security checks, to people from countries that mean they are almost certain to be recognised as refugees if it were not for the backlog. Will the Minister adopt that sensible solution, and also provide safe and legal routes so that people are not pushed into the hands of people smugglers in the first place?
Alex Norris
The hon. Lady mentions an important proposal, and it is a reasonable thing to mention. We are talking about capacity in the system, and one way to resolve that, of course, would be to let significant numbers through the system without processing their claims in the normal way. I cannot support that. As she has heard me say on a number of occasions, the root of this is not just the strong day-to-day administrative running of the system; the reality is that we have managed to really improve the performance of it and reduce costs. But that alone will not stop what is happening, due to the significant pull factor to this country. I believe that doing as she suggests would merely turbocharge that, which I cannot support.
Nick Timothy (West Suffolk) (Con)
The Minister has given us the usual Government lines on returns under this Government, when the majority of them are obviously voluntary returns. When it comes to enforced returns, the numbers are lower than in nine of the 14 years of Conservative Government, and 15% lower than the Tory average.
I want to raise the case of Hadush Kebatu. The Home Secretary said that she had “pulled every lever” to deport him, but when it emerged that he was paid £500 after threatening to disrupt his departure, we were told that was actually an operational decision. Can the Minister confirm that Kebatu withdrew his asylum claim and forfeited appeal rights, and admit that we will not be able to deport foreign criminals in sufficient numbers unless we cut off the endless routes for human rights claims and legal appeals?
Alex Norris
I can say to the hon. Gentleman that returns are up by more than 10% under this Government. I think the British public care about that. I make no apology for doing that in the quickest, cheapest and most expeditious way, which is what we pursue in many cases.
The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about Hadush Kebatu, a convicted sex offender who had no place on our streets and no place in our country; it is right that he has been removed. He was forcibly deported and a team of five escorts accompanied him on that flight. We turned down an application regarding the facilitated return scheme—which, under successive Governments, has offered grants of up to £1,500—but, given the very real threats to disrupt the flight, an operational decision was taken to provide a £500 payment. That was taken because the alternative would have been slower and more expensive for the taxpayer, and it would have included detention, a new flight and, no doubt, subsequent legal claims. That decision was not taken at the ministerial level, but I am not going to second-guess what is a difficult operational environment.
Sorcha Eastwood (Lagan Valley) (Alliance)
This is a really difficult issue. The Minister spoke about people wanting to come to the UK because they had a dream. I want to be clear: I welcome people who want to come to the UK and live in a way that is reflective of our values, but so often we ask the most of communities who have the least. Does the Minister agree that the continued use of public money for asylum hotels poses a risk not just to our politics, but in terms of value for public money and social cohesion?
Alex Norris
I would start by saying that I share the hon. Lady’s spirit on that, and I believe that the British public do too. Whether it is regarding Syrian refugees, Homes for Ukraine, the Afghan resettlement scheme, or British nationals overseas, the British public meet the moment when people need shelter, and show extraordinary capacity for compassion. But there has to be a limit on that, exactly as she says. I can assure her that we will break the pull factors, so that those who do not have a legitimate claim—more than half of those assessed do not have a legitimate reason—will no longer have a reason to come. In the meantime, in exactly the spirit of what she said regarding public confidence, we have removed £1 billion of spending from this area for exactly that reason.
Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)
The UK is spending a fifth of its official development assistance budget on hotel bills. Some of that money was previously used to prevent conflict and to help refugees find refuge in their own regions. I served with an Army training regiment at Crowborough, one of the two sites, and I consider that if it was good enough for us, it is good enough for some of the refugees who are seeking asylum. But can the Minister assure the House that this move to use decommissioned barracks will cost taxpayers less than hotels currently do?
Alex Norris
The reality is that the unit cost per night is broadly similar. The point is that we have to reduce the number of people in that accommodation. That is how we get value for the taxpayer and how we will not need the accommodations at all.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister for his answers and his dedication to finding the answers that we need. While it was good to hear that there is a plan to house asylum seekers more cost-effectively, the Government must ensure that those areas do not become states within this state. What steps have been taken to ensure that law and order is upheld in any designated large areas, such as those proposed by the Minister?
Alex Norris
I am grateful for that question, and I would start by acknowledging the hon. Gentleman’s Herculean work throughout my time in Parliament, and before, regarding Christians persecuted abroad, so that people do not have to leave their homes. That is important work, and that opinion is shared across this place. I want to be clear: the rule of law has primacy; it is absolute in this country, and it is the same for all of us. People who come here and want to make their homes here, as the hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sorcha Eastwood) said, must embed themselves into communities, reflect our values and behave in those ways.
Mr Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford) (Con)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. We have just been debating the important matter of asylum seekers in MOD accommodation. Could you confirm, as I hope Hansard will, that in the nearly 37 minutes that we have spent debating this important matter, no Member of Reform has been in the Chamber or, indeed, made any contribution whatsoever?
Madam Deputy Speaker
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order. However, he will know that it is not a matter for the Chair.
UK-Türkiye Typhoon Export Deal
(1 day, 14 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry (Luke Pollard)
With your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to update the House on the UK-Türkiye deal to sell 20 British-built Typhoon fighter jets.
On Monday, the Prime Minister travelled to Ankara with the Defence Secretary, where he finalised an agreement with President Erdoğan for Türkiye to purchase 20 British-built Typhoon fighter jets. That deal is worth £8 billion and is our biggest fighter jet export contract since 2007. This is a massive boost for our defence industry, for our economy and for our country. It confirms that defence is an engine for growth.
This deal will support 20,000 jobs across 330 UK companies across the country. In particular, it will support jobs in Lancashire, Bristol, Luton and Scotland for many years to come. That includes nearly 6,000 jobs directly supporting the Typhoon programme at BAE Systems sites, particularly at Warton and Samlesbury; more than 1,100 jobs in the south-west, such as at the Rolls-Royce facility in Bristol, producing modules for the EJ200 jet engines that will power these new Typhoon jets; and over 800 jobs in Scotland, including manufacturing cutting-edge radar systems at Leonardo in Edinburgh. Those are high-value, well-paid, good, unionised jobs—the kind of jobs that put money in working people’s pockets, help revitalise communities, and help deliver on defence as an engine for growth.
This deal also preserves our sovereign skills, which underpin our national security and prosperity, so that they can be handed down to new generations. But it goes far beyond the procurement of Typhoon jets alone; it represents the leading edge of our enhanced strategic partnership between the UK and Türkiye. This agreement between our two countries is emblematic of a growing defence and industrial partnership, and will serve as a springboard for deeper collaboration in future.
Türkiye is a key NATO ally in a strategically critical part of the world and the gatekeeper to the Black sea. By equipping it with top-of-the-range Typhoon fighter jets—the best fourth-generation all-round fighter in the world—this deal strengthens NATO’s collective deterrence in a crucial region. It boosts interoperability between our air forces and makes us all safer and more prosperous.
This deal comes just weeks after Norway chose the UK to supply it with at least five Type-26 frigates in a £10 billion deal—the biggest ever warship export deal by value in our history. That contract alone secures 4,000 UK jobs, including more than 2,000 in Scotland, and supports over 400 British companies right across our supply chain. Both deals, worth a combined £18 billion, are proof positive that other countries want to invest in Britain. When allies choose our capabilities, it leads directly to greater interoperability and investment back into our technology to achieve warfighting readiness. The deals are clear evidence that this Government’s defence industrial strategy is delivering.
Here is what we are doing differently. This Government are going further and faster to back British industry, British jobs and British innovation. We are working more closely with allies around the world to strengthen our collective security. We are bringing forward the biggest sustained increase in UK defence spending since the cold war to make Britain secure at home and strong abroad—£5 billion extra in the defence budget this year, achieving 2.5% of GDP by April 2027 and 3% in the next Parliament. And we are making defence an engine for economic growth for the next decade and well beyond, driving renewal and opportunity up and down the country.
As we set out in our defence industrial strategy, our armed forces are only as strong as the industry that stands behind them. We are fortunate in this country to have a world-class industry and a world-class supply chain, but we are making them even stronger by opening up defence to innovators, overhauling our procurement system, cutting contracting time, and increasing foreign direct investment in our defence sector by more than eight times over the past year.
Last week, before I visited BAE Systems in Warton and Samlesbury, I launched a consultation on an offsets policy, which will ensure that every pound spent on defence will make our armed forces stronger and the British public better off. The proposal would mean that when the UK buys from international partners, the winning contractor would be required to create jobs, know-how and investment opportunities here in the UK, strengthening the UK economy.
To the workers, managers and apprentices I met last week in Warton and Salmesbury, but also to those in Bristol, Edinburgh and across the UK, let me say this: this Government promised that we would have your back, and we are delivering on that promise with this deal. Your hard work, dedication and commitment helped deliver this deal, just as much as diplomacy and negotiation did. Thank you.
The UK and Türkiye may be positioned at opposite ends of Europe, but our partnership is helping to protect the continent at a time of rising threats, and the deal that we have announced this week only reinforces that partnership for the future. Work on the new Typhoon jets begins immediately. The first British-built Typhoon for Türkiye will be delivered in just five years’ time, so the benefits will be felt immediately too: more jobs for working people, more investment in the supply chain, more confidence in the UK economy, defence as an engine for growth, security at home, and strength abroad. That is what this Government are delivering, and that is why I commend this statement to the House.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
I am grateful to the Minister for providing advance sight of his statement. I strongly welcome this very important news for UK fighter production. Combat air has historically been the largest component of UK defence exports, and few nations can hope to sustain such an advanced industrial base purely on domestic sales. I stressed throughout my time as the Minister for Defence Procurement the critical importance of exports, and this deal is very positive for the workforce in Warton—but also, as the Minister said, in Bristol, Edinburgh and elsewhere in the UK—for the wider small and medium-sized enterprises supply chain, for our NATO ally Turkey and for the Royal Air Force, which requires a domestic base of highly skilled workers to maintain our ability to deliver sovereign competitiveness in the air domain.
At the very well-attended global combat air programme event in Mr Speaker’s state rooms, I said that defence exports were like a baton passed between Administrations, because the biggest deals take years to pull off and require teamwork within and across Administrations. As with the Norwegian frigates, there was a massive and concerted effort under the previous Government to engage constantly with Turkey in support of Typhoon exports. In my time as a Minister, Typhoon exports were a top priority in the MOD and I chaired a weekly cross-Government committee that was focused in particular on persuading our German allies to change their long-standing position of opposing Typhoon sales to Saudi Arabia and Turkey. That work irrefutably helped pave the way for this deal.
I note that the Trinity House agreement with Germany, which I welcome, builds on the proposal to restore large-calibre barrel production to the UK, which I initiated from scratch. Does the Minister agree that Germany’s change of position on Typhoon exports underlines the strength of our bilateral relationship with the Germans and the welcome stiffening of their military disposition more broadly, given the common threat we face?
Of course, we should also recognise the important role of other long-standing defence export partners in this announcement. I note that it has been reported that the deal involves Qatar and Oman giving Turkey up to 24 existing Typhoons. Can the Minister confirm whether either will be buying replacement Typhoons? I note that Qatar has the option on 12, which I understand is still outstanding. Can the Minister update us on progress on Typhoon exports to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
That brings me to the very relevant matter of GCAP, the programme that is developing the Typhoon’s successor. I have previously spoken of how GCAP is, like AUKUS, effectively two pillars: the Tempest platform is pillar 1, and pillar 2 includes critical elements such as loyal wingmen and electronic warfare, with significant potential benefit to the RAF’s immediate lethality. While appreciating the complications in inviting new nations to join pillar 1, and having given strong hints about the German position in relation to its SCAF partnership with France, has the Minister considered inviting Germany to be a pillar 2 partner of GCAP? Does the deal include any movement on complex weapons for integration into Typhoon, given our industrial strength in that area?
The MOD has now retired some 30 RAF tranche 1 Typhoons. Does the Minister plan to order any further Typhoons for the RAF to replace those, and if so, when?
E-Scan radar for the RAF’s Typhoons, which is led by Leonardo in Edinburgh, has been successfully developed, but no production orders have been placed. I have previously urged Ministers to accelerate procurement to boost the lethality of our existing Typhoon fleet. When will E-Scan radar be in service for the RAF? The Typhoon needs an associated electronics upgrade known as P4E—phase 4 enhancement—to fully exploit the capabilities of E-Scan radar, but I understand that no contract for that has been placed yet either. When is P4E intended to be on contract?
Finally, it would be wrong of me not to welcome the Minister to his newly named position as the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry. Personally, I think it is a shame that there is no longer a Minister for Defence Procurement, but perhaps that should not be a surprise, given how little procurement is going on in the MOD. Is it not the reality that, for all the boasts about defence spending, Labour is prioritising penny-pinching in the MOD and forcing a deep freeze in procurement? Specifically, can he confirm or deny reports in The Telegraph that he is demanding that the armed forces make in-year cuts this year of £2.6 billion?
Luke Pollard
I was nearly going to say that I warmly welcome all the hon. Gentleman’s remarks, but I am afraid that the good news had to be tempered with a little bit of partisan attack. First, let me welcome his welcome for this deal. It shows that when there is good cross-party work, we can achieve things well. I am very proud that it is this Government who have landed this deal. We know that when we took office, a substantial amount of work was required to improve the MOD’s export offer, and we have undertaken that work. It has shown benefits in the Norway deal, and now in the Türkiye deal, and we are working on a number of other contracts with our allies that I hope will produce similarly good news for workforces up and down the country in due course.
The hon. Gentleman asked about approvals from our allies. I can confirm that all Eurofighter nations have indeed signed off this export, including Germany. It is right that he raised the Trinity House agreement that was signed between this Government and Germany, which provides a huge amount of opportunity. Last week, to mark the one-year anniversary of the signing of that deal, Boris Pistorius and our very own Defence Secretary were in a P-8 flying from RAF Lossiemouth, which underlines our commitment to have German P-8s flying from Lossiemouth and to have German aircrews participating with our RAF jets in a really important international mission that flies from Lossiemouth.
GCAP is an essential part of our future combat air offer. That was reinforced in the strategic defence review that we published earlier this year, and the Typhoon order for Türkiye helps fill a gap in the production line between our current Typhoon orders and the production of GCAP platforms in the future.
The hon. Gentleman will know that all our spending announcements will be made as part of the defence investment plan towards the end of this year. The radar he mentions is an incredible piece of technology, which is of benefit not only to the RAF, but to other Typhoon nations.
I gently point out to the hon. Gentleman that, since taking office just over a year ago, we have signed 1,000 major deals in the MOD. We continue to procure not just traditional aspects, but cyber, drones and other capabilities for our armed forces. We will continue to work with our allies because the change we need in our armed forces is not just about renewing the kit and equipment for our forces, but about buying equipment alongside our allies, cutting research and development costs, increasing interoperability, moving towards interchangeability and strengthening our warfighting resilience.
I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s support for this deal, and I hope he will join in thanking all the workers for their tireless efforts in supporting our national security and that of our NATO allies.
Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)
This deal will support 20,000 jobs and make sure we have the skills we need for future combat air programmes. Defence supports 37,000 jobs across the south-west. What steps are the Government taking to support skills across the whole defence sector and to support the space, satellite and drone sectors that are so strong in Cornwall?
Luke Pollard
As a fellow south-west MP, I know how important defence is to our region, and how important it is that we not only continue the investment in our armed forces, but renew those capabilities. Space has a critical part to play in our future capabilities and, indeed, the ability of our armed forces to deploy with effect today.
On skills, my hon. Friend will know that, as part of the £773 million package in the defence industrial strategy, we are looking to open a number of defence technical excellence colleges across England, which will provide an increased boost in the skills base we need. Our challenge to all defence companies, large and small, is to grow the skills base so that we have greater resilience and a greater ability to direct more of that increasing UK defence spend at British companies delivering for our armed forces.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)
I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. Let me begin by warmly welcoming the announcement of this deal. It will generate jobs for a skilled and dedicated workforce here in the UK and generate much-needed growth, while contributing to the security and deterrence capability of the NATO alliance. The Government are right to see Türkiye as a key strategic partner in the Black sea and, as a NATO member, as an essential partner in our collective efforts to contain Putin’s imperial ambitions by defending our eastern flank.
Yet even as we recognise our shared security interests, we must be clear on Ankara’s actions when they depart from our values and standards. The continued detention of Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, which is widely believed to be politically motivated, remains egregious and speaks to an alarming trend of democratic backsliding in Türkiye. Can the Minister confirm whether he or the Prime Minister raised concerns about Mayor İmamoğlu’s continued detention while concluding this deal, and if not, will the Minister call on the Foreign Secretary to raise this with her Turkish counterpart at the earliest opportunity?
This deal speaks to the strategic imperative of deepening ties with our security partners across Europe and our alliance network. In May, the Government trumpeted their new security framework with the European Union—a move that the Liberal Democrats welcomed. However, five months on, it is not clear what progress, if any, the Government have made to flesh out the substance of the framework. Can the Minister please provide an update on what steps have been taken since May to strengthen security ties with the EU? In particular, will he commit the UK to membership of the European Defence Agency to support a joined-up approach to collective rearmament with our European allies?
Luke Pollard
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his warm welcome of this deal. The message that goes out loud and clear to the workforce of not just BAE Systems, but the entire supply chain, is one of cross-party support for their work that this statement has announced.
On the question of the Istanbul mayor, it is not for the Ministry of Defence to comment on individual legal cases in other countries. Our defence engagement with Türkiye is focused on shared security interests and NATO co-operation. However, I recognise what the hon. Gentleman has said, and I will ask the Foreign Office, which leads on that matter, to update him.
I was very pleased to hear the Prime Minister, at this Dispatch Box during Prime Minister’s questions today, remark on the importance of the EU reset deal, our commitment as part of that deal to defence and security arrangements between the UK and the EU, and the progress we are seeking to make in forming closer ties with the EU. The hon. Gentleman will know that those negotiations are ongoing with our EU friends, and we hope to have updates shortly. However, let me say very clearly that our EU friends are also our NATO allies, and there is real common cause and a common opportunity to strengthen our collective defence by working together.
Mr Paul Foster (South Ribble) (Lab)
I had the privilege of being at BAE Systems in Warton yesterday with the Prime Minister, and it is fair to say that the workforce are utterly buzzing about this announcement. It is the first new order of aircraft since 2017, as the Minister said, and the largest order since 2007. It was hard-won against the likes of the US, the Swedes, the French and other allies, but guess what? Lancashire won. It is for 20 aircraft signs now, with an option for a further 20, worth £8 billion. Generations of my constituents in South Ribble have worked or still do work in Samlesbury and Warton, and this deal has secured thousands of jobs for at least a decade, or even more. Can I please urge the Minister to still prioritise the Typhoon and to get us more orders as quickly as he can?
Luke Pollard
I thank my hon. Friend for the important work he has been doing alongside other Lancashire MPs not only Labour Members, but on a cross-party basis—in support of the workforce at Samlesbury and Warton. He says that Lancashire won, but I should place on the record that a key part was played by the Yorkshire Defence Secretary, and I think that when they each play nicely with their neighbours, they can achieve great things together.
My hon. Friend is exactly right that the Typhoon offers an incredible platform. As part of the Government’s efforts to promote British industry and our products around the world, we will continue to promote the opportunities that the Typhoon presents to our allies, given the interoperability and close partnerships that Typhoon nations have with the RAF in particular, but also, as we move towards GCAP and the opportunities that it provides, the importance of saying that cutting-edge British innovation, especially in the combat air sector, keeps us and our allies safe.
Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)
I welcome this announcement, and I congratulate the Minister and, indeed, the right hon. Member for Liverpool Garston (Maria Eagle) and their Conservative predecessors on the team effort in getting us to this point. Following this announcement, what next steps are the Government planning to take to build on it and further strengthen the UK’s hugely important defence, diplomatic and economic relationship with our close NATO ally Turkey?
Luke Pollard
I thank the right hon. Member for his welcome, and for his thanks to my immediate predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Garston (Maria Eagle).
The partnership we are seeking to develop and which we are enhancing with the signing of the Typhoon deal between the UK and Türkiye is not just about a jet and a platform, but about the ongoing support and training arrangements for that provision. As we come together across a number of workstreams in support of NATO security, there will be more opportunities for military-to-military co-operation with our friends in Türkiye, but also for aligning our political objectives in what is an incredibly important part of the world. Türkiye is the gateway to the Black sea and our friends in Ukraine, and it is also an important regional player in the middle east, particularly in Syria. There are huge opportunities to work together with our friends there that this deal will help to reinforce.
Jonathan Hinder (Pendle and Clitheroe) (Lab)
Many of my constituents in Pendle and Clitheroe work at the BAE site in Samlesbury, and they are delighted at this news, so I thank the Minister for his work and everyone who has worked on the deal. This deal is good for our national security, high-skilled jobs and local economies such as mine in Lancashire. Will the Minister outline what these contracts mean for opportunities for apprenticeships for young people?
Luke Pollard
I thank my hon. Friend for his welcome, and for the support he has provided to the workforce at Samlesbury, and indeed in the wider supply chain. I was at Warton and Samlesbury last week to see and hear from apprentices, especially at the BAE Systems skills centre, about the opportunities that an apprenticeship has opened up for them.
Importantly, those opportunities are not just for those leaving school and directly taking up an apprenticeship. I was struck that one gentleman has left the Parachute Regiment to pursue his skills with BAE Systems at Samlesbury, and is using the skills he learned in the armed forces and putting them to good use in support of our national security. We want to expand the number of apprenticeship opportunities in defence and to expand the skills base, because there are good opportunities in defence for more of our young people—and perhaps those people who are still young at heart—to make sure that we are enhancing our national security. That is at the heart of the defence industrial strategy.
Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)
Ever since I was elected, it has been a critical part of my work to push to secure Typhoon orders at the Warton site because of the impact those orders would have not only on jobs across Fylde and Lancashire, but on our sovereign capability to build our own military aircraft. I massively welcome this announcement and the work that has been done by Ministers on the Front Bench and former Ministers on the Opposition Benches. I was touched that the Minister invited me to join him on his visit to BAE Systems last week, although the Prime Minister did not invite me to the announcement in my own constituency yesterday—perhaps he has been taking my questions at PMQs too personally.
The deal is welcome, but it means that we are now the only major partner in the Eurofighter project that is not ordering the aircraft that we are trying to sell to other countries. We are trying to sell aircraft abroad that we are not buying ourselves. I am sure it would be a great aid to future export deals—for getting that extra 20 further down the line and for looking at Saudi and other places where we are trying to sell them—and equally, it would continue to boost our sovereign capability in military aircraft and maintain jobs across our country if we placed that order for more Typhoons for the RAF. I would happily heap praise on the Minister if he did so.
Luke Pollard
I am heaping praise on the workforce in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and across Lancashire. It makes it so much easier to sell our products when we have a world-class workforce producing world-class products. I am sorry that he was not able to join me on my visit, but I know that he is a regular visitor to those facilities, so he will have heard about the importance of this order and why it has been such a priority for the Government to get it over the line.
The hon. Gentleman will know that all our spending commitments will be made in the defence investment plan that will be published towards the end of this year, something that I spoke to the workforce and the trade unions about when I met them on my recent visit. There are enormous opportunities in the export market to help to support the supply chains in the meantime, and they are not just about the end product—although his constituency really values that. This is a good news day for the 330 companies across our country for which there will be more orders to sustain good, well-paid jobs.
Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)
I welcome this deal, which is the biggest of its kind in a generation. As the world is becoming more unstable, this ambition should turn world-class defence deals into growth that we can feel in workshops, factories and communities across the country. In Calder Valley—or valve valley, as it is known because of its specialist valve manufacturers—businesses tell me that they want to play a bigger role in that success, but small and medium-sized firms feel locked out of defence procurement and supply chains. Worse, the big companies that dominate the field sometimes poach skilled staff from companies that cannot access the process. Can the Minister make sure that the procurement system is more open and competitive so that more communities such as Calder Valley can benefit from that investment?
Luke Pollard
I thank my hon. Friend, who I will have to refer to as the Member for valve valley from now on. He raises an important issue about the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises to access defence. Over the last decade, the amount of direct MOD spend with SMEs has fallen from 5% to 4%. We have set an ambition to spend an additional £2.5 billion directly with small businesses by 2028. As part of that, we will be opening our office for small business growth at the start of the new year—a one-stop shop for small businesses to access MOD contracts and navigate the procurement system. At the same time, we are seeking to cut the contracting time, which favours large companies with bigger contract teams over small enterprises, to give more small businesses a shot at some of the increasing defence spending that the Government are making available.
Cameron Thomas (Tewkesbury) (LD)
For over 20 years, the Eurofighter Typhoon has showcased the merits of European co-operation and the marvel of UK aerospace engineering. I commend the Government on this deal with our Turkish allies, which will secure British jobs, maintain our expertise in this field and park a squadron of multi-role-capable strike aircraft just south of occupied Crimea. I register my disappointment that the Government’s press release neglected to credit the contribution of many of my constituents who, working with GE Aerospace in Bishops Cleeve, have supported the programme since its inception. Will the Minister take this opportunity to recognise them now?
Luke Pollard
I thank the hon. Gentleman for championing his workforce. One of the things that makes this House stand in contrast with some other places around the world is that we can, on a cross-party basis, support our defence industry and the people who are working hard to keep our nation safe, including those who work at GE Aerospace. I will be happy to work with him to thank not just his constituents, but all those in the supply chain who have made such a big difference to securing this deal. I also thank all those people working in sub-prime areas—not in one of the large defence companies—without whom we would not be able to produce the cutting-edge capabilities that our armed forces and our allies rely on. Millions of parts go into each of those platforms and every single one is important. Without them, we would not be able to fly those Typhoons, so the contribution of companies big and small is so important.
Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith and Solway) (Lab)
Many UK manufacturers are part of international groups and have the opportunity to transfer UK-generated profits to overseas entities via internal pricing mechanisms and management fees. Can the Minister confirm whether those profit-shifting mechanisms are assessed and dissuaded as part of UK defence procurement practices?
Luke Pollard
I suspect that I will need to meet my hon. Friend to get to the bottom of that question, but I am very happy to do so. As a nation, we certainly welcome the investment of overseas firms in the UK. The UK is a good place to invest in defence and to start a defence company. We need to make sure that all our contracts, big and small, return the value to the taxpayer. It is our intention that, where possible, intellectual property and profits should be held in the UK to support our growth mission. I am happy to meet him to discuss that further.
Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)
The news is welcome, but the future is unmanned, as the Minister knows. With that in mind, what UK equity have the Government secured in the drone joint venture that was signed in June between Leonardo and the Turkish company, Baykar?
Luke Pollard
I am happy to write to the right hon. Gentleman about the precise details of that deal. I politely say to him that the future is crewed, uncrewed and autonomous. That is what the strategic defence review set out, and that is why the platforms that we are looking at, such as GCAP, will start as a crewed platform but have the ability to spiral develop into an uncrewed and autonomous platform. That is a key part of staying ahead of our adversaries by making sure that we can increase the lethality of our crewed platforms by having uncrewed and autonomous platforms alongside them. That is the spirit not just in the combat air domain, but on land and at sea as well.
Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)
The Minister knows that I took part in the armed forces parliamentary scheme this year and last year, and I had the great privilege of visiting the NATO airbase in Poland where I saw Typhoons scramble to the skies to protect us from Russian aircraft. He rightly points out that Türkiye is an important NATO ally, and I am proud that Labour played an important part in founding NATO. Does he agree that it is shameful and wrong to suggest that NATO’s presence in eastern Europe was provocative to Putin, as the leader of Reform, the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), has previously asserted?
Luke Pollard
The armed forces parliamentary scheme is a brilliant opportunity for parliamentarians with or without defence knowledge to learn more about our platforms and, perhaps most importantly, about our people. The RAF crews that we forward-deployed to Poland to help to support our eastern flank allies did a superb job, as are the Typhoon crews leaving RAF airbases in the UK to support our eastern flank allies as part of our commitment to Eastern Sentry.
Let me be clear: our national security would not be helped by Putin-friendly policies or Putin-friendly politicians. That is why we all make a strong case about our support for NATO and our pride in being a party and a Government with a NATO-first defence policy. I encourage all those toying with the idea of siding with a Putin-friendly Government to look at what is happening in Ukraine, with the theft of Ukrainian children by Russia, the unprovoked illegal attack on civilian infrastructure, and the threats that Putin and his illegal war machine make not just to our friends in Ukraine but to our NATO allies, and come to the firm conclusion that being Putin-friendly is certainly un-British.
Sir John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)
The Minister will be aware that Türkiye was removed from the F-35 programme following its acquisition of the S-400 Russian air defence system amid concerns that it could compromise the F-35 technology. Can he say whether Türkiye has agreed to return the S-400, and if not, is he confident that our technology will not be similarly at risk?
Luke Pollard
I am comfortable that we have adequate measures in place on that matter. However, the right hon. Gentleman is right that Türkiye does not participate in the F-35 programme. As part of our work with Türkiye, there is a strong opportunity to ensure that the procurement opportunities that Türkiye has face firmly west rather than east, and that is an important part of the strategic relationship that the UK is seeking to build with our friends in Ankara. If we can find more opportunities to procure British and allied technologies into Türkiye, with it then having less of a reliance not just on combat and sensing systems, but on oil, where it may look elsewhere, that will help to improve all of NATO’s security, as well as supporting our friends in Ukraine.
Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, in particular the 8,000 jobs in the east of England resulting from the deal. Does the Secretary of State agree that this further demonstrates this Government’s commitment to being a key NATO ally, which will inevitably keep residents in my constituency safe? I will briefly also pay tribute to my workforce—the Minister will be aware that Raytheon is based in Harlow, and we have a lot of expertise there.
Luke Pollard
I thank my hon. Friend not only for the promotion that he has offered me twice in his question, but for the support he has shown for his workforce. In these times of increased threats, as we are living in a new era of threat, it is important and incumbent on all parliamentarians of all parties to not only become more familiar with the brave men and woman serving in our armed forces who come from our constituencies, but champion the defence opportunities for industries and companies big and small in our constituencies. I know that my hon. Friend does so in Harlow, as do other Members across the House. Please keep that coming—that is how we increase our resilience and our warfighting readiness.
Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)
I am pleased to hear the announcement of the order for 20 Typhoons from Turkey. Having met with representatives from the workforce at Warton in Parliament earlier in the year, I recognise that maintaining those crucial skills was balanced on a knife edge. I want to ask today about the European Common Radar System Mark 2, which is forecast to achieve an initial operating capability on our Tranche 3 Typhoon aircraft by the end of the decade. Given the Turkish Typhoon order will be Tranche 3 or 4, we can assume it will be specified with the ECRS MK2 and the wider Phase 4 Enhancement programme. Given that we are looking at the same staff, what impact will the Turkish order have on the timeline for the enhancement programme of our Typhoon fleet?
Luke Pollard
I am happy to write to the hon. Gentleman with the full details, but having another Typhoon partner nation using UK radar technologies provides the opportunity for us to get greater value out of the R&D costs that the UK has put into the development of those new technologies, but also provides more opportunity for the workforce and the companies, especially Leonardo in Edinburgh, to be able to deliver that as well. It is not just radar, of course; as the shadow Minister suggested, it is also the software upgrades that are required to do so. I am very happy writing with the fuller details, and will share the letter with the House for Members who may be interested.
Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)
I warmly welcome this Typhoon export deal not only for entailing the strengthening of the NATO alliance, but for the jobs it will bring to the south-west of England. Plainly, these expensive Typhoon platforms will not be subject to re-export and are bound for Türkiye. However, given that UK manufactured arms have been found in the hands of the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan in recent weeks, how satisfied is the Minister with the integrity of the UK’s arms export regime to states in eastern Europe and the middle east?
Luke Pollard
I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s welcome of the good-value platforms that we are exporting to Türkiye; it is really important that we have a strong relationship with Türkiye. He will know that the arms exports regime is run by the Department for Business and Trade. I have to say that the risk of diversion from some locations is real, and that is why before any arms exports licence is agreed by DBT, there is input from not just the MOD but other sources across Government to assess the risk of diversion or the equipment being lost or used in a way that does not accord with international humanitarian law. Where we think there are such risks, we do not grant those export licences. I encourage the hon. Gentleman to take up the matters he has raised further with DBT colleagues.
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)
I welcome today’s statement, of course. It is interesting that the Minister comes to the House with good news, but has to be dragged here when there is less good news. Nevertheless, this is welcome news and a real boost for defence jobs in this country. The Minister mentioned that some of our Eurofighter allies had signed this off and were happy with the deal. Would he like to comment on whether the White House is happy with it? Of course, anything that weans Turkey away from the Russian defence industrial complex and supply chain is to be welcomed, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale) outlined. When the Prime Minister met the Turkish President on Monday in Ankara, did he also discuss Turkey being weaned off Russian oil and gas and being used as a conduit for Russian oil and gas going into some parts of the European Union—up at 36% at the moment, I think—which, of course, is funding the Russian war effort in Ukraine?
Luke Pollard
There are a number of nations across Europe and Asia with complex energy dependencies on Russia. This Government and our partner nations have been very clear that there needs to be a fast and smooth transition away from using Russian oil and gas, and it is something we continue to work on with our allies. We encourage all those that are using Russian oil and gas for their own economies, and, in doing so, effectively supporting the coffers of the Russian regime, to move at pace to get away from that. I can confirm that all partner nations and allies that were required to sign off this deal have done so.
Points of Order
Seamus Logan (Aberdeenshire North and Moray East) (SNP)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. On two separate occasions in July and September, the former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the right hon. Member for Streatham and Croydon North (Steve Reed), made some very dubious claims from the Dispatch Box about water quality in Scotland, which were repeated in writing to a Cabinet Secretary in the Scottish Government, on social media and in broadcast interviews. I wrote to the Office for National Statistics to seek clarification. It has confirmed that the statements lack verifiable transparency and that the broad evidence does not support them, saying that:
“without appropriate discussion of the limitations of some of the more specific figures quoted”,
they run the risk of “misleading the public”.
I believe this to be a clear breach of public trust by a Minister and a Government who have staked their reputation on restoring trust in politics. I therefore ask you, Madam Deputy Speaker, whether it is in order for the former DEFRA Secretary repeatedly to make clearly misleading statements in this place that are not supported by the facts, as demonstrated by the ONS, and whether you will call the right hon. Member to this House to apologise.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I thank the hon. Member for his point of order. The Chair is not responsible for what Ministers say or the way in which they use data, but the hon. Member’s point of order is on the record. Those on the Government Front Bench will have heard his concerns, and, if a correction is necessary, I am sure one will be forthcoming. I gently remind the hon. Member that I am sure he meant to say “inadvertently” misleading.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Cabinet Office guide to parliamentary work is very clear that
“Every question should be approached with a predisposition to give relevant information fully. There should be no inconsistencies between the provision of information in answers to written questions and information given”
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If
“information would be released under FOI, it would also be released in response to”
a written parliamentary question. This position was confirmed by the then Leader of the House in October last year when she stated that if information would be released under freedom of information legislation, it would also be released in response to a written parliamentary question.
This guidance appears to have been breached in relation to questions about representations on the Government’s plans to hike up parking fines. On 10 July, in answer to parliamentary question 64511, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood), refused to publish the material. On 19 August, the Department released the same information under the Freedom of Information Act, explicitly referencing the unanswered parliamentary question. When asked again to publish the released material, on 16 October, in answer to parliamentary question 77651, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Wakefield and Rothwell (Simon Lightwood), once again refused to do so.
We now have a situation where Parliament is being treated with contempt and information is being provided to members of the public under FOI but withheld from Members of this House. This is a direct breach of the Government’s own guidance and of the principle of accountability to this House. Madam Deputy Speaker, will you consider communicating to the Leader of the House and to the Departments that such inconsistencies are wholly unacceptable and that information that would be released under FOI must also be released to Parliament? Should the two Ministers not now correct this affront and place the information in the Library of the House?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
Before I respond to the right hon. Member’s point of order, I say for the benefit of all Members that points of order should be concise. There is an increasing tendency to use them to make points that should be properly made in debates. I remind all Members that points of order should be limited to matters relating to the business before the House or the rules and conventions of the House.
On the point raised by the right hon. Member, he will know that it is Ministers, rather than the Chair, who are responsible for the responses that they give to parliamentary questions. However, he raises a serious point that those on the Government Front Bench will have heard. Members of this House play an important role in scrutinising the Government, and written parliamentary questions have an important role to play. I know that the Procedure Committee takes an interest in these matters, so the right hon. Member may also wish to raise the issue with that Committee.
European Convention on Human Rights (Withdrawal)
15:10 - The House divided: - Ayes: 96 / Noes: 154 - Question accordingly negatived.
Nigel Farage (Clacton) (Reform)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, and to make further provision in connection with the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from that Convention.
In many ways, this is unfinished business. On 23 June 2016, in the biggest democratic exercise in the history of these islands, the British people—[Interruption.] Despite what they were told by all the businesses and all the trade unions and much of the press and most of this House, the British people managed, despite everything—[Interruption.] Children, be quiet.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
Order. I will be responsible for maintaining order in this Chamber.
Nigel Farage
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am sure you will allow me the opportunity to continue to try to say something despite such constant interventions.
The British people voted clearly, by a massive margin, to bring back the sovereignty—[Interruption.] By the way, what makes me laugh about this is that it is not just about the sovereignty of this country; it is about the sovereignty of this very Chamber and the people within it. It is about bringing power back to this very place, and that is what we voted for.
One of the biggest reasons why the vote happened was the deep alarm at the huge numbers of people coming into our country and the fact that we effectively had open borders, making us poorer in every way. Of course, our membership of the Council of Europe and the European convention and its writing into British law in 1998 kind of enshrined that, and I think it is what Tony Blair wanted us to do.
I believe that Brexit cannot be complete all the while we are subject to a foreign Court and a piece of legislation brought in by the Blair Government on which judges can choose their own political interpretation. We are not sovereign all the while we are part of the European convention on human rights, the Council of Europe and its associated court. It is as simple as that.
Nigel Farage
It is marvellous to see the intellectual levels of debate in this place—it really is.
Is it any wonder—[Interruption.] Is it any wonder that out in the country there is growing frustration—[Interruption.]
Madam Deputy Speaker
Order. Can I remind Members that the hon. Gentleman has a ten-minute rule Bill in front of this House and should be listened to without interruption?
Nigel Farage
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was talking about fear and anger growing in the country—and I sense there is also a bit of that growing in this Chamber.
When it comes to controlling our borders and to who should be able legally to live, work and settle in this country, and, indeed, to who should not be allowed to stay in our country, I do not believe it is right that that should be under the remit of judges in Strasbourg—who by the way are jurists, most of them not even legally qualified—and under the political control of judges in this country, who now can make their own interpretation of what we have understood for many, many years to be British common law.
This Bill intends to restore the power of this Parliament—the power of all of you as MPs to actually be in control of the things that matter most to all voters, whether they supported you or not. This Bill intends to bring back British common law and some ideas—rather than state-given rights, those of birthrights of liberty and freedom. These are things that over centuries served our country far better than any other nation in the European continent.
This is about liberty, it is about freedom, it is about democratic control. Just think, whatever the election result, even if 650 of us wanted to change rules on who can come across the channel and stay, we could be overruled by a convention that we signed up to in 1998—[Interruption.] Members shake their heads, but we could literally be overruled. This is about sovereignty—sovereignty of the country, sovereignty of our Parliament. It is about our voters being able to choose the future course and direction of our own country. That is why this matters.
Let us remind ourselves briefly of some of the worst examples of the ECHR taking away our democratic rights. Interestingly, it was the last Conservative Government who decided to put in place the Rwanda legislation. It was, in theory, very good, as it would act as a deterrent—[Interruption.] Unless people support the criminal gangs, yes it was a very good idea. The trouble was that it could not happen. Why could it not happen? In the case of the 2022 Rwanda deportation flight, at 10 pm a single judge in Strasbourg, without any legal qualification, decided on the basis of article 3 that the flight could not take off.
We have since seen horrendous stories, particularly under article 8 on the right to family life. Well, whose family? The families of British people, or the families of those who have come into Britain, in some cases illegally, and been waved through? Some of it is disgusting beyond belief. A Pakistani child sex offender dodged deportation on the basis that his removal would harm the children he had had in this country. The list goes on and on—Brazilian murderers, rapists and many others who claim the right to a family life under article 8. Well, what about British families? What about their rights and their freedoms? What are the priorities of Members of this place?
Of course, we will be told that by leaving this completely outdated, 75-year-old convention—[Interruption.] By the way, I fully understand why it was signed up to in the 1940s—the other European countries did not have constitutions or democracies that could prevent them from going into extremism—but we are not Russia and we are not Belarus. Nobody in the Chamber would say that countries like New Zealand, Australia and Canada are barbaric or backward; they defend freedoms. But I do not defend state-given human rights, because they can be taken away by the very states who has given them in the first place. [Interruption.] I have never seen so many Liberal Democrats in all my life—it is absolutely marvellous. [Interruption.]
Nigel Farage
I ask the Liberal Democrats and others in this place: what is wrong with you? Do you not believe that this country is good enough to make its own laws? Do you not believe in the country that since Magna Carta has developed the principle of common law—which, with its faults, has been perhaps the best ever developed by civilisation? Do you not believe we are good enough to make these rules? Should we stick with outdated conventions preyed on by human rights lawyers in this country? This Bill would restore democratic trust and faith in this once great nation.
Ed Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)
The speech we just heard totally misrepresents the European convention, and the failure of the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) to mention the huge benefits and rights that the European convention has brought to millions of British people says it all. Let me give those attracted by the argument we have just heard one strong reason to think again. Russia under Vladimir Putin is the only country to have withdrawn from the European convention on human rights. Maybe that is what attracts the hon. Member—after all, he said that Putin is the world leader he most admires.
Russia: a country where those who oppose the regime are mysteriously pushed off balconies, and where, if it is not enough to murder a political opponent like Alexei Navalny, Putin has even jailed lawyers who dared to represent him—things not allowed under the European convention. As we have seen Nathan Gill, a leading political ally of the hon. Member for Clacton, imprisoned for taking Russian bribes, perhaps we should not be surprised that the Reform party is so keen to follow Russia.
Besides Russia, where else are people’s hard-fought-for rights under attack? Trump’s America. Of course, the US is not part of the European convention, yet its citizens have benefited from something similar: the US constitution, which was designed to check the power of tyrants and protect the individual from the state. Just as the hon. Member for Clacton desires to remove people’s rights here, his hero Donald Trump is doing the same in America, attacking the courts and the rule of law, and even inciting a violent mob against the US Congress to overturn an election. But of course, the hon. Member has called President Trump “an inspiration”. If we want to know the hon. Member’s intentions for British people’s basic rights and freedoms, we only need to look at Putin’s Russia or Trump’s America. That is not patriotic. It is deeply un-British, and he should be ashamed.
Unlike the hon. Member for Clacton, I am proud of our country; I love our country. I am proud that Britain helped to create the European convention on human rights, championed by Winston Churchill himself. The convention protects the very people who need it most: our elderly and most vulnerable, so that they may live and grow old with dignity; and our children, so that those facing horrific abuse have better protection. It also upholds our freedom of speech so that the press and public can criticise those in power without fear, and it protects our right to peaceful protest.
Seventy years ago, Britain became the first country to ratify the convention, as a leading voice on the global stage for human rights and the rule of law. That is our history. That is who we are. That is Britain at our best. Yet the hon. Member for Clacton wants us to forget our history, dump British values, undermine the rule of law and row back on people’s hard-won rights. I say no.
To help get across how wrong the hon. Member, the Reform party and the Conservatives are on this, let me give some examples. When people died because of poor care at Stafford hospital, their families secured change—because of these laws. When British troops died in Iraq because of poor equipment, the Supreme Court ruled that the Government were accountable—because of these laws. After 96 people were killed in the Hillsborough disaster and the victims themselves were blamed, their families finally got to the truth—because of these laws. When the Metropolitan police failed to properly investigate the horrific assaults of John Worboys, his victims were able to take the police to court—because of these laws.
Time and again, the European convention and its British twin, the Human Rights Act, have brought justice for our people, and protected them from gross misconduct and unfair treatment. These laws help individuals hold the powerful to account—to hold Governments to account. These laws can get justice when the elite and powerful cover up and abuse their power. So it is clear, is it not, that the hon. Member for Clacton is not about standing up for the individual—for the ordinary person, for the people with no voice—but that he is the friend of the elite and the powerful?
If we do not defend our human rights here at home, how can we possibly persuade other countries of the importance of human rights for their own people? If we do what Reform wants, the biggest cheers will come from the Kremlin, from Beijing, from Tehran, from Pyongyang, and from dictators and authoritarian regimes the world over. That would be a betrayal of everything our country stands for. The hon. Member’s plan would damage our country’s ability to shape our world.
Leaving the convention would be another nail in the coffin of Britain’s unique soft power. We have so often influenced world events for the better by being part of international agreements, by upholding international law and by leading. Of course, the hon. Member for Clacton has made his career by damaging our country and our influence. Remember how he led the campaign for Brexit with his Conservative friends? We know what a total mess that has turned out to be. He and his friends argued that Brexit would cut immigration, but immigration has gone up. Just look at how badly he has betrayed the people he claims to speak for. Brexit made the small boats crisis possible.
Before Brexit, we effectively had a returns agreement with every EU country: the Dublin system—a deterrent that worked. Now, undocumented migrants are trying to reach the UK because they know they cannot be returned. Thanks to the hon. Member, his Brexit ripped up Britain’s rights to return people with no right to be here and people who should have claimed asylum elsewhere in Europe. [Interruption.] Conservative Members may shout—they caused it!
Let us look at one of our closest allies, the Republic of Ireland, and a vital part of our country, Northern Ireland. The Good Friday agreement references the European convention seven times. The guarantee of basic rights and freedoms in the convention was fundamental to securing the Good Friday agreement, to ending the conflict, to stopping the bombs and to getting peace, yet the hon. Member for Clacton stands here today prepared to risk peace in our country—how utterly shameful.
As we approach Remembrance Sunday, let us never forget the sacrifices made for our freedoms today, and let us never forget the lessons that that greatest generation of British people learned and passed on to us— Interruption.] I think the veterans will notice this barracking. Our greatest generation showed us that we needed these laws to protect people from state abuse, to stop authoritarian Governments and tyrants, and to defend people’s rights. The post-war generation knew how costly far right-wing populism had been for our country and our people, so for our greatest generation, for British people today and for our democracy, I urge Members to vote against this Bill.
Question put (Standing Order No. 23).
Sentencing Bill
Wednesday 29th October 2025
(1 day, 14 hours ago)
Commons ChamberSentencing Bill 2024-26 View all Sentencing Bill 2024-26 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Consideration of Bill Amendments as at 29 October 2025 - large print - (29 Oct 2025)
17:55 - The House divided: - Ayes: 170 / Noes: 328 - Question accordingly negatived.
18:09 - The House divided: - Ayes: 82 / Noes: 314 - Question accordingly negatived.
18:21 - The Committee divided: - Ayes: 173 / Noes: 323 - Question accordingly negatived.
18:33 - The House divided: - Ayes: 182 / Noes: 311 - Question accordingly negatived.
18:52 - The House divided: - Ayes: 321 / Noes: 103 - Question accordingly agreed to.
Mr Peter Bedford (Mid Leicestershire) (Con)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
New clause 2—Re-sentencing those serving a sentence of imprisonment for public protection—
“(1) The Lord Chancellor must make arrangements for, and relating to, the re-sentencing of all prisoners serving IPP sentences within 18 months beginning on the day on which this Act is passed.
(2) Those arrangements must include arrangements relating to the establishment of a committee to provide advice regarding the discharge of the Lord Chancellor’s duty under subsection (1).
(3) The committee established by virtue of subsection (2) must include a judge nominated by the Lord Chief Justice.
(4) A court that imposed an IPP sentence has the power to re-sentence the prisoner in relation to the original offence.
(5) But the court may not impose a sentence that is a heavier penalty than the sentence that was imposed for the original offence.
(6) In relation to the exercise of the power in subsection (4)—
(a) that power is to be treated as a power to re-sentence under the Sentencing Code (see section 402(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020);
(b) the Code applies for the purposes of this section (and, accordingly, it does not matter that a person serving an IPP sentence was convicted of an offence before 1 December 2020).
(7) In this section—
‘IPP sentence’ means a sentence of imprisonment or detention in a young offender institution for public protection under section 225 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 or a sentence of detention for public protection under section 226 of that Act (including such a sentence of imprisonment or detention passed as a result of section 219 or 221 of the Armed Forces Act 2006);
‘original offence’ means the offence in relation to which the IPP sentence was imposed.
(8) This section comes into force at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which this Act is passed.”
This new clause would implement the recommendation of the Justice Committee’s 2022 Report that there should be a resentencing exercise in relation to all IPP sentenced individuals, and to establish a time-limited expert committee, including a member of the judiciary, to advise on the practical implementation of such an exercise.
New clause 3—Use of funds raised through income reduction orders—
“(1) The Secretary of State must undertake an assessment of the potential benefits and costs of directing the funds raised from income reduction orders into a fund that provides support for victims.
(2) The Secretary of State must, within a year of the passing of this Act, lay a copy of the assessment under subsection (1) before Parliament.”
This new clause would require the Secretary of State to undertake an assessment of the potential benefits of using the monies raised through income reduction orders to fund support for victims.
New clause 4—Probation caseloads—
“(1) The Secretary of State must, before laying regulations to commence the provisions in this Act, establish maximum caseload limits for probation officers supervising individuals subject to—
(a) licence conditions;
(b) community orders; or
(c) any other form of court-imposed supervision by the probation service.
(2) The Secretary of State must, each year, lay before Parliament a report on compliance with the caseload limits set under this section.”
This new clause would require the Secretary of State to set maximum caseloads for probation before implementation of the Act, and to report annually on compliance.
New clause 5—Access to rehabilitation and support services—
“(1) The probation service must ensure all individuals subject to licence conditions, community orders, or other court-imposed supervision have access to—
(a) NHS mental health and substance misuse services,
(b) education, training and employment support, and
(c) approved behaviour change or offender behaviour programmes.
(2) The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament, each year, a report on the availability and use of the services provided under subsection (1).”
This new clause would require the probation service to ensure people under its supervision can access mental health and substance misuse services; education, training and support; and approved behaviour change or offender management programmes, and to report annually on the availability and uptake of those services.
New clause 6—Digital systems for tracking offender progress—
“(1) The Secretary of State must, within one year of the passing of this Act, undertake an assessment of the benefits and costs of implementing a digital sentence management system for prisoners and individuals who are subject to supervision by the probation service.
(2) The assessment must consider the following potential functions of a sentence management system—
(a) tracking offender progress,
(b) providing for the sharing of information between the courts, probation service, and other relevant agencies, subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018,
(c) monitoring compliance with rehabilitation programmes, and
(d) any other functions that the Secretary of State deems appropriate.”
This new clause would require the Secretary of State to undertake an assessment of implementing a digital sentence management system for prisoners and individuals subject to supervision by the probation service.
New clause 7—Specialist teams for high-risk or complex offenders—
“(1) The probation service must undertake an assessment of the potential benefits of establishing specialist probation teams to supervise—
(a) high-risk offenders,
(b) offenders with complex mental health needs,
(c) offenders with substance misuse needs, and
(d) young offenders who are transitioning to adult supervision.
(2) The assessment must consider the potential benefits of specialist probation teams having lower average caseloads per probation officer.
(3) The assessment must consider the potential arrangements for specialist probation teams accessing support from other relevant agencies.
(4) The Secretary of State must, within a year of the passing of this Act, lay a copy of the assessment under this section before Parliament.”
This new clause would require the probation service to assess the potential benefits of establishing specialist probation teams to supervise offenders who are high-risk; have complex mental health or substance misuse needs; and young offenders transitioning to adult supervision.
New clause 8—Domestic abuse aggravated offences—
“(1) A court must treat an offence committed in England and Wales as domestic abuse aggravated, if—
(a) the offender and the victim are personally connected to each other; and
(b) the offence involves behaviour which constitutes domestic abuse.
(2) In this section—
‘domestic abuse’ has the meaning given by section 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and
‘personally connected’ has the meaning given by section 2 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.”
This new clause would require a court to treat a domestic abuse offence as aggravated.
New clause 9—Rehabilitative programmes for offences relating to violence against women and girls—
“(1) The Secretary of State must undertake an assessment of the potential benefits of creating mandatory rehabilitative programmes about women and girls, for individuals sentenced for—
(a) assault;
(b) battery; or
(c) actual bodily harm
when the victim is a woman or girl.
(2) The Secretary of State must, within a year of the passing of this Act, lay a copy of the assessment under this section before Parliament.”
This new clause would require the Secretary of State to carry out an assessment of the potential benefits of creating mandatory rehabilitative programmes about women and girls, for individuals sentenced for certain offences.
New clause 10—Screening for traumatic brain injuries—
“(1) The Secretary of State must undertake an assessment of the potential costs and benefits of screening all prisoners for traumatic brain injuries at the start of their custodial sentence.
(2) The assessment should consider—
(a) how screening for traumatic brain injuries could inform the management of a prisoner’s sentence,
(b) the health services and rehabilitation programmes available for prisoners with traumatic brain injuries, and
(c) any other matters that the Secretary of State deems appropriate.
(3) The Secretary of State must, within a year of the passing of this Act, lay a copy of the assessment made under this section before Parliament.”
This new clause would require the Secretary of State to carry out an assessment of the potential benefits of introducing standardised screening for traumatic brain injuries for prisoners starting a custodial sentence.
New clause 11—Suspension of driving licences during bail for driving related offences—
“(1) This section applies where an individual has been granted bail in respect of one of the following offences—
(a) dangerous or careless driving;
(b) drink driving; or
(c) drug driving.
(2) The court may suspend the driving licence of the individual, pending the outcome of any criminal proceedings.”
This new clause would allow the court to suspend the driving licence of an individual charged for certain driving offences, pending the outcome of the trial.
New clause 12—Access to rehabilitation programmes and education for individuals held on remand—
“(1) Where an individual is held in custodial remand pending sentencing, the probation service must provide access to the same rehabilitative programmes that are available to prisoners after sentencing.
(2) Where an individual is held in custodial demand pending trial, the probation service must provide access to the same—
(a) education;
(b) therapy; and
(c) any other support that the probation service deems appropriate,
that is available to prisoners after sentencing.”
This new clause would allow prisoners held on remand to access rehabilitative programmes, education, therapy and other support before the start of their sentence.
New clause 14—Under-18 anonymity for cases involving serious crime—
“(1) This section applies where a person (‘P’) aged under 18—
(a) has been convicted of an offence; and
(b) will receive a custodial sentence of four or more years.
(2) Where this section applies, prior to delivering sentencing remarks, the court must lift any reporting restrictions identifying P.
(3) This section applies notwithstanding the provisions of Chapter IV of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.”
This new clause would require reporting restrictions to be lifted at the point of sentencing for young offenders who have received a sentence of four or more years.
New clause 15—Court transcripts of sentencing remarks—
“(1) All transcripts of sentencing remarks made in the Crown Court must be published within two sitting days of being delivered.
(2) All published sentencing remarks must be made freely available, including online.”
This new clause would require all sentencing remarks made in the Crown Court to be published and made available to all.
New clause 16—Sexual offences: Offender Personality Disorder Pathway—
“(1) The Prison Rules 1999 are amended as follows.
(2) In paragraph 20 (Health services), after sub-paragraph (1) insert—
‘(1A) Provision under subsection (1) must include access, for all eligible prisoners serving custodial sentences for sexual offences, to services provided under the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway.’”
This new clause would require the Government to provide access to the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway to all eligible prisoners serving sentences for sexual offences.
New clause 17—Sexual offences: chemical suppression—
“Within one year of the passing of this Act, the Secretary of State must publish and lay before Parliament a report on how most effectively to introduce mandatory chemical suppression for certain individuals serving sentences for sexual offences, with appropriate legal and clinical safeguards.”
This new clause would require the Government to publish a report on mandatory chemical suppression for certain sex offenders.
New clause 18—Sentencing Council: abolition—
“(1) The Sentencing Council (established under section 118 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009) is abolished.
(2) The Secretary of State may prepare—
(a) sentencing guidelines which may be general in nature or limited to a particular offence, particular category of offence or particular category of offender;
(b) sentencing guidelines about the discharge of a court's duty under section 73 of the Sentencing Code (reduction in sentences for guilty pleas); and
(c) sentencing guidelines about the application of any rule of law as to the totality of sentences.
(3) The Secretary of State may prepare sentencing guidelines about any other matter.
(4) When developing sentencing guidelines, the Secretary of State must—
(a) promote understanding of, and public confidence in, the sentencing and criminal justice system;
(b) consult Parliament on all draft guidelines; and
(c) publish the reasons for proposing any guidelines that could result in an offender receiving a shorter sentence than that set out in an Act of Parliament.
(5) The Secretary of State may report, from time to time, on the impact of sentencing guidelines on sentencing practice.
(6) The Secretary of State must monitor—
(a) the application of the sentencing guidelines; and
(b) the impact on victims of sentencing decisions.
(7) The Secretary of State may by regulations make further provision under this section.”
This new clause would abolish the Sentencing Council, give the Secretary of State the power to publish Sentencing guidelines, and impose various requirements linked to consultation and monitoring.
New clause 19—Whole life order: murder of a police or prison officer—
“(1) The Sentencing Code is amended as follows.
(2) In paragraph 2 of Schedule 21 (Determination of minimum term in relation to mandatory life sentence for murder etc), in sub-paragraph (2)(c), after ‘duty,’, insert ‘or if the motivation for the murder was connected to the police officer or prison officer’s current or former duties,’”
This new clause would expand the circumstances in which it is appropriate to apply a whole life order for murdering a prison or police officer, to include murder motivated by the victim’s current or former duties.
New clause 20—Child cruelty offences: notification and offender management requirements—
“(1) A person (‘relevant offender’) is subject to the notification requirements of subsections (2) and (3) for the period set out in subsection (4) if the relevant offender is convicted of an offence listed in subsection (6).
(2) A relevant offender must notify to the police within the three days of the time of their conviction or their release from custody, and annually thereafter, providing—
(a) the relevant offender’s date of birth;
(b) their national insurance number;
(c) their name on the notification date and, where using one or more other names on that date, each of those names;
(d) their place of residence on the date of notification;
(e) the address of any other premises in the United Kingdom at which, at the time the notification is given, they regularly reside or stay; and
(f) any information that may be prescribed in regulations by the Secretary of State.
(3) A relevant offender must notify to the police, within the period of three days beginning with the event occurring, about—
(a) their use of a name which has not been notified to the police under subsection (2);
(b) a change to their place or residence; and
(c) any other prescribed change of circumstances as defined in regulations made under this section.
(4) The dates of discharge from notification requirements under this section are the same as those set out in Section 88B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
(5) The information required by subsections (2) and (3), once received, must be—
(a) monitored regularly by the police and probation service; and
(b) retained for the purposes of offender management.
(6) The relevant offences are—
(a) causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult, or allowing them to suffer serious harm (section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004);
(b) child cruelty, neglect and violence (section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933);
(c) infanticide (section 1 of the Infanticide Act 1938);
(d) exposing children whereby life is endangered (section 27 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861);
(e) an offence under sections 4, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23 or 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1860, if the victim is under the age of 16;
(f) an offence under any of the following provisions of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003—
(i) female genital mutilation (section 1);
(ii) assisting a girl to mutilate her own genitalia (section 2);
(iii) assisting a non-UK person to mutilate overseas a girl's genitalia (section 3); and
(g) cruelty to children (section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933).”
This new clause would create notification requirements for people convicted of child cruelty, analogous to the Sex Offenders Register. Their information and personal details would be kept on record by the police for the purposes of offender management, with the aim of reducing the risk to children from future offences.
New clause 21—Lifetime driving ban for death by dangerous driving—
“(1) This section applies where a person is convicted of an offence under section 1 the Road Traffic Act 1988.
(2) Where this section applies, notwithstanding the provisions of Chapter 1 of Part 8 of the Sentencing Code (Driving disqualification), the driver must be banned from driving for life.”
This new clause would mean that anyone who causes death by dangerous driving would be banned from driving for life.
New clause 22—Review of sentence following a change in law—
“(1) Where a person is serving or subject to a sentence imposed for an offence, and—
(a) the offence has been abolished, or
(b) there has been a change in the law which materially alters the sentence that would be imposed for the same offence following that change in the law,
that person may apply to the sentencing court, or to such other court as may be prescribed, for a review of the sentence.
(2) On such an application, the court may—
(a) quash the sentence and resentence the person in accordance with the existing law; or
(b) make such other order as necessary in the interests of justice.
(3) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for the procedure and eligibility criteria for applications under this section.”
This new clause would allow a person still serving a sentence under a law that has changed to seek review or resentencing in line with the existing law.
New clause 23—Review of the impact of a change in the law on unspent convictions—
“(1) The Secretary of State must, within 12 months of the passing of this Act, lay before Parliament a report reviewing—
(a) the effect of changes in the criminal law, whether legislative or judicial, on those serving sentences for offences that would attract a different sentence following the subsequent changes to the criminal law; and
(b) the adequacy of existing mechanisms for addressing any perceived injustice arising from such changes.
(2) The Secretary of State must thereafter lay a further report under subsection (1) every three years.
(3) A report made under this section must include—
(a) recommendations for legislative or administrative steps to prevent any instances of injustice arising from changes in the law; and
(b) data on the number of persons serving sentences in the scenario set out in subsection (1)(a) and, of those, the number who remain imprisoned.”
This new clause would create a statutory duty for the Government to review, on a recurring basis, how changes to the law affect those already convicted or sentenced.
New clause 24—Deportation of foreign criminals: European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018—
“(1) Section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007 is amended as follows.
(2) At the start of subsection (5), insert ‘Notwithstanding the provisions of section 7A of the European Union Withdrawal Act 2018 and Article 2 of the Windsor Framework,’.”
This new clause would seek to disapply section 7A of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended under the Windsor Framework) to the deportation of foreign criminals, with the aim of preventing the courts from disapplying those provisions to Northern Ireland if they are deemed incompatible with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
New clause 25—Electronic monitoring: oversight—
“(1) The Sentencing Code is amended as follows.
(2) In Part 14 of Schedule 9, in paragraph 31 (Electronic monitoring: person responsible for monitoring), after sub-paragraph (2) insert—
‘(3) Regulations under this section must ensure that—
(a) electronic monitoring is overseen by the Probation Service;
(b) the fitting of necessary apparatus for the purposes of electronic monitoring may only be undertaken by those in the employment of an organisation with responsibility for delivering electronic monitoring; and
(c) the fitting of necessary apparatus may not be undertaken by an employee of HM Prison and Probation Service unless the responsibility for the delivery of electronic monitoring is held solely by HM Prison and Probation Service.’”
This new clause would ensure that the probation service oversees electronic monitoring, and that prison officers would not be responsible for fitting tags unless tagging contracts are brought into the public sector.
New clause 26—Unpaid work requirements: community work—
“(1) The Sentencing Code is amended as follows.
(2) In paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 9 (Restriction on imposing unpaid work requirement), after sub-paragraph (1)(b) insert—
‘(c) that the unpaid work is work undertaken for a non-profit organisation, social enterprise, voluntary organisation or local authority.’”
This new clause would prohibit private sector involvement in unpaid work as part of a community sentence.
New clause 27—Probation capacity: independent report—
“(1) Within three months of the passage of this Act, a report must be published and laid before Parliament by HM Inspectorate of Probation (‘the Inspectorate’) determining whether there is adequate capacity in the Probation Service to meet provisions of this Act anticipated to increase levels of demand on the Probation Service.
(2) If the report under subsection (1) determines that the capacity of the Probation Service is inadequate, provisions of this Act anticipated to increase levels of demand on the Probation Service may not come into force until a further report determines that the Probation Service has adequate capacity.
(3) Following a report under subsection (1), the Inspectorate must publish and lay before Parliament a further report, no less than once every twelve months, determining whether there is adequate capacity in the Probation Service.
(4) If a report under subsections (1) or (3) determines that the capacity of the Probation Service is inadequate, the Inspectorate may direct that a prioritisation framework must be issued to the areas in which the capacity concerns apply, in order to provide local services with guidance about which activities to deprioritise.
(5) The Secretary of State must, within two weeks of the laying of a report under subsections (1) or (3) with a finding of inadequate capacity, make a statement to Parliament setting out how probation capacity will be increased to an adequate level.”
This new clause would ensure that the provisions of this Bill likely to increase demand on the Probation Service cannot be implemented until HM Inspectorate of Probation determines that there is adequate capacity to address those demands, and would enable the Inspectorate to trigger the issuing of a prioritisation framework to help local areas to identify which activities to deprioritise.
New clause 28—Management of offenders: devolution to Wales—
“(1) Schedule 7A of the Government of Wales Act 2006 is amended as follows.
(2) In Paragraph 175 (Prisons and offender management)—
(a) omit sub-paragraph (2); and
(b) in sub-paragraph (3), omit ‘probation’
(3) The Secretary of State may by regulations make further provision under this section.”
This new clause seeks to devolve probation services and offender management to Wales, by removing it from the list of reserved matters in the Government of Wales Act 2006.
New clause 29—Foreign criminals: risk assessments prior to deportation—
“(1) The UK Borders Act 2007 is amended as follows.
(2) After section 32 (Automatic deportation) insert—
‘32A Deportation following stalking offences: risk assessments
(1) This section applies where a foreign criminal—
(a) has been convicted of an offence under sections 2A or 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 or section 42A of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001; and
(b) is subject to a deportation order under this Act.
(2) Where this section applies, prior to deportation, a risk assessment must be prepared to assess the likelihood after deportation of the foreign criminal—
(a) committing an offence which, were it to be committed in England or Wales, would constitute a further offence under sections 2A or 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 or section 42A of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001; or
(b) contacting or seeking to contact the victim of the offence for which the foreign criminal was convicted in England or Wales.
(3) A risk assessment prepared under this section must be shared, subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018, with the relevant authorities in the country to which the foreign criminal will be deported.
(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations make further provision under this section.’”
This new clause would require the preparation of a risk assessment for any foreign criminal being deported after a stalking conviction, and for the assessment to be shared with the authorities in the country to which the offender is returning.
New clause 30—Foreign criminals: potential stalking offences following deportation—
“(1) The UK Borders Act 2007 is amended as follows.
(2) After section 32 (Automatic deportation) insert—
‘32A Potential stalking offences following deportation
(1) This section applies where the conditions in subsections (2) and (3) apply.
(2) Condition 1 is that a foreign criminal—
(a) has been convicted of an offence under sections 2A or 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 or section 42A of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001; and
(b) is subject to a deportation order under this Act.
(3) Condition 2 is that they have—
(a) committed an offence which, were it to be committed in England or Wales, would constitute a further offence under sections 2A or 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 or section 42A of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001; or
(b) they have contacted or sought to contact the victim of the offence for which the foreign criminal was convicted in England or Wales.
(4) The Secretary of State must issue guidance to the relevant authorities, setting out—
(a) a police point of contact in the country to which the offender is returning;
(b) steps to protect and safeguard the victim in the UK; and
(c) any other matters that the Secretary of State deems appropriate.’”
This new clause would require the Secretary of State to issue guidance in dealing with foreign criminals who have been deported after a stalking conviction, and who seek to continue to stalk the victim.
New clause 31—Exclusion from automatic release following fixed-term recall for specified serious offences—
“(1) An offender shall not be eligible for automatic release following a fixed-term recall where they have been convicted of any of the following offences—
(a) rape;
(b) assault by penetration;
(c) rape of a child under 13;
(d) assault of a child under 13 by penetration;
(e) inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity;
(f) paying for the sexual services of a child aged under 13;
(g) kidnapping or false imprisonment with the intention of committing a sexual offence;
(h) creating or possessing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children;
(i) grievous bodily harm (under section 18 or section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861);
(j) grooming (under section 15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003);
(k) stalking (under section 2A or 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997);
(l) causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable child or adult (under section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004); or
(m) causing death by dangerous driving (under section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1988).
(2) For the purposes of this section, a person shall also be ineligible for release following a fixed-term recall if they have been convicted of an attempt, conspiracy, or incitement to commit any of the offences listed in subsection (1).
(3) The Secretary of State may by regulations add or remove offences from the list in subsection (1).”
This new clause would mean offenders who had committed certain serious offences would not be eligible for automatic release following a fixed term recall.
New clause 32—Powers of the probation service to impose and vary conditions of supervision—
“(1) Where an offender is—
(a) subject to a community order, a suspended sentence order, or a period of probation supervision; and
(b) required to reside at a specified address as a condition of that order or supervision,
the Probation Service may, in accordance with this section, direct that the offender reside at an alternative address.
(2) A direction under subsection (1) may be given where—
(a) it is necessary to protect another person (including a partner, former partner, or family member) from risk of harm;
(b) it is necessary for the effective management or rehabilitation of the offender; or
(c) it is otherwise in the interests of justice.
(3) Where the probation service has made a direction under subsection (1), it may recommend or determine other terms of supervision, including—
(a) restrictions on contact or association with specified individuals;
(b) requirements relating to participation in programmes addressing offending behaviour; or
(c) curfew or exclusion requirements, subject to approval by the sentencing court.
(4) Where a direction or variation made under this section materially alters the conditions imposed by the sentencing court, the probation service must—
(a) notify the court and the offender as soon as possible; and
(b) seek confirmation by the sentencing court of the varied terms within 14 days.
(5) Any direction or variation made under this section shall have effect as if imposed by the sentencing court, until it has been confirmed, revoked, or amended by the court.
(6) In this section, “the probation service” includes any person or body authorised to supervise offenders under the Offender Management Act 2007.”
This new clause would give the probation service the power to change the residence requirement of an individual subject to supervision in certain circumstances, and to make other changes to the terms of supervision, subject to confirmation by the sentencing court.
New clause 33—Mandatory dependent support orders upon sentencing—
“(1) Where an offender is known to have dependents who rely on them for financial or other material support, the court shall, at the time of sentencing, inquire into the circumstances and reasonable needs of those dependents.
(2) In addition to any sentence imposed, the court must make an order requiring the offender to make periodic payments or other contributions towards the maintenance and welfare of their dependents (‘dependent support order’), unless the court determines that such an order would be manifestly unjust or impracticable.
(3) The amount, frequency, and method of payment made under subsection (2) shall be determined by the court having regard to—
(a) the offender’s financial means, earning capacity, and assets;
(b) the reasonable living costs and needs of the dependents; and
(c) any other relevant circumstances.
(4) The court may direct that payments be made—
(a) through a designated collection authority; or
(b) directly to the dependent’s guardian, caregiver, or other appointed representative.
(5) An order made under this section shall remain in effect—
(a) for such time as specified by the court; or
(b) until it is varied or discharged by the court on application by any interested party.
(6) A failure to comply with an order made under this section shall constitute a breach of the sentence.”
This new clause would create a power for a sentencing court to require an offender to make periodic payments or other contributions towards the maintenance and welfare of their dependents.
New clause 34—10-year driving ban for death by dangerous or careless driving and related offences—
“(1) This section applies where a person is convicted of an offence under sections 1, 2B, 3ZB, 3ZC or 3A of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
(2) Where this section applies, notwithstanding the provisions of Chapter 1 of Part 8 of the Sentencing Code (Driving disqualification), the driver must be banned from driving for 10 years.”
This new clause would mean that anyone who causes death by dangerous or careless driving (or related offences) would be banned from driving for ten years.
New clause 35—Causing death or serious injury by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate driving: statutory aggravating factor—
“(1) The Road Traffic Act 1988 is amended as follows.
(2) After section 3A, insert—
‘3B Causing death or serious injury by dangerous, careless of inconsiderate driving: aggravating factor for sentencing
In considering the seriousness of any offence committed under sections 1, 1A, 2B, 2C, 3ZB, 3ZC, 3ZS or 3A for the purposes of sentencing, the court must treat failure to—
(a) stop at the scene of the accident;
(b) call the emergency services; or
(c) administer first aid, where it is possible to do so;
as an aggravating factor, and state in open court that the offence is so aggravated.’”
This new clause would create statutory aggravating factors, for the purposes of sentencing, of failure to stop, call the emergency services, or administer first aid where it is possible to do so, in cases of causing death or serious injury by dangerous, careless of inconsiderate driving.
New clause 36—Earned progression for prisoner release—
“(1) The Criminal Justice Act 2003 is amended as follows.
(2) In section 244, after subsection (4), insert—
‘(5) The duty to release under subsection (1) is subject to the prisoner demonstrating compliance with the earned progression scheme during the course of their custodial sentence.
(6) The Secretary of State must issue regulations, under section 267 (alteration by order of the relevant proportion of sentence) setting a higher requisite custodial period for prisoners who have not demonstrated compliance with the earned progression scheme during their sentence.
(7) In this section, ‘the earned progression scheme’ must include—
(a) compliance with prison rules;
(b) engagement in purposeful activity;
(c) attendance at any required work, education, treatment or training obligations, where these are available; and
(d) any other factors that the Secretary of State deems appropriate.
(8) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide further guidance to prisons on the operation of the earned progression scheme.’”
This new clause seeks to implement the recommendation of the independent review on sentencing for the release of prisoners at the one third point of their sentence to be subject to their compliance with an earned progression scheme.
New clause 38—Sentencing Council—
“(1) The Sentencing Council of England and Wales is abolished.”
New clause 39—Deportation of foreign criminals—
“(1) A foreign criminal who has been sentenced to—
(a) a custodial sentence of at least 6 months; or
(b) a community sentence of at least 6 months,
must be the subject of an immediate deportation order, subject to subsection (2) below.
(2) The Secretary of State may determine, in exceptional cases, that a deportation order under subsection (1) does not apply.
(3) In this section, ‘foreign criminal’ means a person who—
(a) is not a British citizen or an Irish citizen, and
(b) is convicted in the United Kingdom of an offence.”
This new clause would apply an automatic deportation order to foreign criminals sentenced to at least six months’ imprisonment or a six month community sentence.
New clause 40—Criminal cases review—
“(1) The Criminal Justice Act 1988 is amended as follows.
(2) After section 36 (Reviews of sentencing), insert—
‘Part IVB
CRIMINAL CASES REVIEW (PUBLIC PETITION)
36A Scope of this Part
(1) A case to which this Part applies may be referred to the Court of Appeal under section 2 below.
(2) Subject to Rules of Court, the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal under section 36B shall be exercised by the criminal division of the Court, and references to the Court of Appeal in this Part shall be construed as references to that division.
(3) This Part applies to any case—
(a) of a description specified in an order under this section; or
(b) in which sentence is passed on a person—
(i) for an offence triable only on indictment; or
(ii) for an offence of a description specified in an order under this section.
(4) The Secretary of State may by order provide that this section shall apply to any case of a description specified in the order or to any case in which sentence is passed on a person for an offence triable either way of a description specified in the order.
(5) A statutory instrument containing an order under this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(6) In this Part, ‘sentence’ has the same meaning as in the Criminal Appeal Act 1968, except that it does not include an interim hospital order under Part III of the Mental Health Act 1983, and ‘sentencing’ shall be construed accordingly.
(7) In its application to Northern Ireland, this section shall have effect subject to the modifications set out in subsections (8) to (11).
(8) Subsection (2) shall not apply to Northern Ireland.
(9) In this section—
‘offence triable only on indictment’ means an offence punishable only on conviction on indictment;
‘offence triable either way’ means an offence punishable on conviction on indictment or on summary conviction; and
any reference in subsection (4) to the Secretary of State must be construed as a reference to the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland.
(10) For subsection (5), in Northern Ireland an order under subsection (4) shall be a statutory rule for the purposes of the Statutory Rules (Northern Ireland) Order 1979 (and not a statutory instrument), and any such order shall be subject to negative resolution (within the meaning of section 41(6) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954).
(11) References in subsection (6) to the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 and Part III of the Mental Health Act 1983 shall be respectively construed as references to Part I of the Criminal Appeal (Northern Ireland) Act 1980 and Part III of the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986.
36B Criminal cases review (public petition)
(1) If it appears to any adult British citizen aged 18 or over—
(a) that the sentencing of a person in a proceeding in the Crown Court (‘the person sentenced’) has been unduly lenient or unduly harsh; and
(b) that the case is one to which section 36A applies,
that British citizen (‘the petitioner’) may refer the case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (‘the Commission’) for it to review the sentencing of the person sentenced, in accordance with section 36C below, and if the Commission refers the case to the Court of Appeal, upon such a reference the Court of Appeal may—
(a) quash any sentence passed on the person sentenced; and
(b) in place of it pass such sentence as they think appropriate for the case and as the lower court had power to pass when dealing with the person sentenced,
provided that the petitioner has filed the reference with the Commission in writing, signed by at least 500 signatures (‘the co-petitioners’) including his own.
(2) The Secretary of State may by regulations stipulate the information and form that the petitioner must provide when filing the reference.
(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) above, the condition specified in paragraph (a) of that subsection may be satisfied whether or not it appears that the judge—
(a) erred in law as to his powers of sentencing; or
(b) failed to comply with a mandatory sentence requirement under section 399(b) or (c) of the Sentencing Code.
(4) For the purposes of this Part, any two or more sentences are to be treated as passed in the same proceeding if they would be so treated for the purposes of section 11 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968.
(5) Where a reference under this section relates to a minimum term order made under section 321 of the Sentencing Code, the Court of Appeal shall not, in deciding what order under that section is appropriate for the case, make any allowance for the fact that the person to whom it relates is being sentenced for a second time.
(6) No judge shall sit as a member of the Court of Appeal on the hearing of, or shall determine any application in proceedings incidental or preliminary to, a reference under this section of a sentence passed by himself.
(7) Where the Court of Appeal has concluded its review of a case referred to it under this section, and given its judgment thereon, the Court of Appeal, the petitioner or the person sentenced may refer a point of law involved in any sentence passed on the person sentenced to the Supreme Court for its opinion, and the Supreme Court shall consider the point and give its opinion on it accordingly, and either remit the case to the Court of Appeal to be dealt with or itself deal with the case.
(8) A reference under subsection (6) shall be made only with the leave of the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court and leave shall not be granted unless it is certified by the Court of Appeal that the point of law is of general public importance and it appears to the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court (as the case may be) that the point is one which ought to be considered by the Supreme Court.
(9) For the purpose of dealing with a case under this section, the Supreme Court may exercise any powers of the Court of Appeal.
(10) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland—
(a) subsection (2)(b) shall read as if for the words after ‘failed to’ there were substituted ‘impose a sentence required by—
(i) Article 70(2) of the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 2004,
(ii) paragraph 2(4) or (5) of Schedule 2 to the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006,
(iii) Article 13 or 14 of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008, or
(iv) section 7(2) of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015’.
(b) the references to sections 11 and 35(1) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 shall be read as references to sections 10(2) and 33(1) of the Criminal Appeal (Northern Ireland) Act 1980, respectively; and
(c) the reference in subsection (3A) to a minimum term order made under section 321 of the Sentencing Code shall be read as a reference to an order under Article 5(1) of the Life Sentences (Northern Ireland) Order 2001.
36C The Commission
(1) The Commission under section 36B is the same body as that established under section 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 and the provisions of section 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 shall apply to the role of the Commission under this Part.
(2) Sections 9, 10, and 12A to 25 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 shall apply to this Part.
(3) The Commission must review all cases referred to it within 8 weeks of receiving any such referral and must, within that time, make its decision.
(4) If the Commission decides that the case should be referred to the Court of Appeal by reason of an unduly harsh sentence then, immediately upon receipt of the referral, the Court of Appeal must make an order that the person sentenced be released on temporary licence (‘ROTL’) until further order of the court, and the Court of Appeal must also determine suitable bail conditions, if any and the person sentenced must remain ROTL until the Court of Appeal has determined the referral.’”
This new clause would allow any British citizen to refer a sentence to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, for the Commission to review the sentence and consider whether to refer it to the Court of Appeal.
New clause 41—Sentencing statistics: duty to publish—
“(1) The Secretary of State must, within six months of the passing of this Act, direct His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) to record and retain, in relation to all offenders convicted and sentenced in the Crown Court or Magistrates’ courts, the offender’s—
(a) country of birth
(b) nationality,
(c) ethnicity,
(d) immigration status, and
(e) the offence(s) for which they were sentenced.
(2) The Secretary of State must make arrangements for the data recorded under subsection (1) to be published and laid before Parliament—
(a) within twelve months of the passing of this Act, and
(b) annually thereafter.”
This new clause would require the Government to record and publish statistics on convicted offenders’ birthplace, nationality, ethnicity and immigration status.
New clause 42—Crown Court sitting days for the delivery of sentencing—
“(1) The Secretary of State must, within a year of the passing of this Act, undertake an assessment of the potential merits of removing the cap on sittings day in the Crown Court in so far as it applies to sentencing hearings.
(2) The Secretary of State must lay a copy of the assessment made under subsection (1) before Parliament.”
This new clause would require the Secretary of State to undertake an assessment of the potential merits of removing the cap on sittings days in the Crown Court in so far as it applies to sentencing hearings.
New clause 43—Expiry—
“This Act expires at the end of the period of two years beginning with the day on which it is passed.”
This new clause is a sunset clause, meaning the Act would cease to have effect after two years.
Amendment 5, page 1, line 4, leave out clause 1.
Amendment 32, in clause 1, page 1, line 14, after “months” insert
“before any credit is given for a guilty plea”.
This amendment would mean that the presumption for a suspended sentence would apply to sentences before credit is given for a guilty plea.
Amendment 35, page 1, line 17, after “order” insert
“with the maximum operational period”.
This amendment would mean that all suspended sentences given in place of immediate custody would be suspended for the maximum period.
Amendment 33, page 3, line 9, after “individual” insert “or the public”.
This amendment would mean that the presumption for a suspended sentence would not apply where the court was of the opinion that not imposing an immediate custodial sentence would put the public (as well as an individual) at significant risk of harm.
Amendment 34, page 3, line 9, leave out “significant”.
This amendment would mean that the presumption for a suspended sentence would not apply where the risk of harm applies, removing the requirement for the harm to be significant.
Amendment 14, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
“(3A) Where a court has passed a suspended sentence under this section, it must also require the offender to be subject to an electronic monitoring requirement for the duration of the sentence.”
This amendment would require offenders (under the age of 21) given suspended sentences to be subject to electronic monitoring.
Amendment 15, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is not a British citizen or an Irish citizen.”
Amendment 16, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender—
(a) has been convicted of three or more other offences in the 12 months leading to the conviction for which a suspended sentence would otherwise have been passed (the ‘current offence’);
(b) has been convicted of 10 or more offences prior to the current offence;
(c) has been convicted of the same offence as the current offence on three or more previous occasions;
(d) is convicted of an offence (the current offence) with a mandatory minimum custodial sentence;
(e) has previously received a suspended sentence order or a custodial sentence for the same offence as the current offence;
(f) has breached a suspended sentence order or orders on three or more occasions, either by breaching community requirements or committing a further offence;
(g) has a history of poor compliance with court orders, according to a written or oral statement from a probation officer;
(h) at the time of the current offence, was—
(i) subject to a supervision order; or
(ii) on licence, or subject to supervision, under Chapter 6 of Part 12 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (release, licences, supervision and recall).
(i) is convicted of an offence eligible for consideration under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme under sections 35 and 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988; or
(j) is being sentenced for three or more offences concurrently.”
This amendment would prevent suspended sentences from being passed in a range of circumstances.
Amendment 17, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of an offence—
(a) under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 or section 89 (1) of the Police Act 1996; or
(b) aggravated by section 68A of the Sentencing Act 2020 (assaults on those providing a public service etc).”
Amendment 18, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of an offence involving a firearm or ammunition, including but not limited to the Firearms Act 1968 and the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006.”
Amendment 19, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of a burglary offence.”
Amendment 20, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of an offence involving possession of or threatening with an article with a blade or point or an offensive weapon,”
Amendment 21, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of a terrorism offence.”
Amendment 22, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of an offence under section 6(1) or (2) of the Bail Act 1976 (failure to surrender to custody).”
Amendment 36, page 4, line 4, after “months” insert
“before any credit is given for a guilty plea”.
This amendment would mean that the presumption for a suspended sentence would apply to sentences before credit is given for a guilty plea.
Amendment 39, page 4, line 7, after “order” insert
“with the maximum operational period”.
This amendment would mean that all suspended sentences given in place of immediate custody would be suspended for the maximum period.
Amendment 37, page 5, line 20, after “individual” insert “or the public”.
This amendment would mean that the presumption for a suspended sentence would not apply where the court was of the opinion that not imposing an immediate custodial sentence would put the public (as well as an individual) at significant risk of harm.
Amendment 38, page 5, line 20, leave out “significant”.
This amendment would mean that the presumption for a suspended sentence would not apply where the risk of harm applies, removing the requirement for the harm to be significant.
Amendment 23, page 5, line 21, at end insert—
“(3A) Where a court has passed a suspended sentence under this section, it must also require the offender to be subject to an electronic monitoring requirement for the duration of the sentence.”
This amendment would require offenders (aged 21 or over) given suspended sentences to be subject to electronic monitoring.
Amendment 24, page 5, line 21, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is not a British citizen or an Irish citizen.”
Amendment 25, page 5, line 21, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender—
(a) has been convicted of three or more other offences in the 12 months leading to the conviction for which a suspended sentence would otherwise have been passed (the ‘current offence’);
(b) has been convicted of 10 or more offences prior to the current offence;
(c) has been convicted of the same offence as the current offence on three or more previous occasions;
(d) is convicted of an offence (the current offence) with a mandatory minimum custodial sentence;
(e) has previously received a suspended sentence order or a custodial sentence for the same offence as the current offence;
(f) has breached a suspended sentence order or orders on three or more occasions, either by breaching community requirements or committing a further offence;
(g) has a history of poor compliance with court orders, according to a written or oral statement from a probation officer;
(h) at the time of the current offence, was—
(i) subject to a supervision order; or
(ii) on licence, or subject to supervision, under Chapter 6 of Part 12 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (release, licences, supervision and recall).
(i) is convicted of an offence eligible for consideration under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme under sections 35 and 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988; or
(j) is being sentenced for three or more offences concurrently.”
This amendment would prevent suspended sentences from being passed in a range of circumstances.
Amendment 26, page 5, line 21, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of an offence—
(c) under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 or section 89 (1) of the Police Act 1996; or
(d) aggravated by section 68A of the Sentencing Act 2020 (assaults on those providing a public service etc).”
Amendment 27, page 5, line 21, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of an offence involving a firearm or ammunition, including but not limited to the Firearms Act 1968 and the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006.”
Amendment 28, page 5, line 21, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of a burglary offence.”
Amendment 29, page 5, line 21, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of an offence involving possession of or threatening with an article with a blade or point or an offensive weapon,”.
Amendment 30, page 5, line 21, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of a terrorism offence.”
Amendment 31, page 5, line 21, at end insert—
“(3A) But this section does not apply if the offender is convicted of an offence under section 6(1) or (2) of the Bail Act 1976 (failure to surrender to custody).”
Amendment 6, page 6, line 28, leave out clause 2.
Amendment 1, in clause 4, page 14, line 10, after “(including victims of crime” insert
“, ensuring their protection from further physical or psychological harm”.
This amendment would amend the statutory purposes of sentencing to incorporate safeguarding victims from further physical or psychological harm.
Amendment 9, page 36, line 9, leave out clauses 18 and 19.
Amendment 7, page 37, line 9, leave out clause 20.
Amendment 11, page 47, leave out lines 16 to 19.
This amendment would leave out the Bill's provision to give probation officers more discretion in relation to licence conditions
Amendment 2, in clause 24, page 49, line 14, at end insert—
“(10) The Secretary of State must, before laying regulations commencing subsection (4) of this section, undertake an assessment of the potential effects of a driving prohibition condition on a person’s ability to attend—
(a) employment,
(b) education, or
(c) a rehabilitation programme.
(11) The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a report of the assessment carried out under subsection (10) including recommendations on—
(a) offender rehabilitation,
(b) offender reintegration, and
(c) any other matters that the Secretary deems appropriate.”
This amendment would require the Secretary of State, before commencing the driving prohibition provisions in the Bill, to publish a report on their potential effects on the ability of ex-offenders to attend employment, education and rehabilitation providers.
Amendment 3, page 49, line 14, at end insert—
“(10) The Secretary of State must, before laying regulations commencing subsection (7) of this section, undertake and publish an assessment of the potential effects of a restriction zone condition on a person’s ability to attend—
(a) employment,
(b) education, or
(c) a rehabilitation programme.
(11) The court may provide for exemptions in a restriction zone condition to allow a person to attend employment, education or a rehabilitation programme.
(12) A probation officer may vary a restriction zone condition imposed by the court to allow a person to attend employment, education or a rehabilitation programme.
(13) The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament, each year, a report on—
(a) the number of people subject to a restriction zone condition,
(b) the number of cases where a restriction zone condition has included an exemption or modification to allow a person to attend employment, education or a rehabilitation programme, and
(c) evidence on the effects of restriction zone conditions on reoffending and rehabilitation.”
This amendment would require the Secretary of State, before implementing the relevant provisions, to assess the potential effects of a restriction zone condition on an ex-offender’s ability to attend education, employment or a rehabilitation programme. It would allow for exemptions to restriction zone conditions, and require an annual report on their use and effectiveness.
Amendment 12, page 66, line 34, leave out clause 36.
Amendment 13, page 68, line 8, leave out clause 37.
Amendment 4, page 68, line 24, leave out clause 38.
Mr Bedford
In September 2024, my constituents and, indeed, the country were left shocked by the senseless killing of Braunstone Town resident Bhim Kohli. Mr Kohli, a well-respected and decent man, was just walking through Franklin park as he usually did, accompanied by his dog Rocky, when he was targeted and assaulted to death by a 14-year-old boy, egged on by a 12-year-old girl.
Since this horrific event, I have been working with Mr Kohli’s daughter Susan, and I pay tribute to the Kohli family for the dignified manner in which they have dealt with the emotional and tragic aftermath of such a horrific incident. Susan is not looking for retribution; she is simply looking to promote justice for the families of victims, who at the moment do not feel that the justice system works for them. I pay tribute to Susan, who I know is sitting at home, alongside Rocky, watching today’s debate.
I have tabled new clauses 1 and 14 in memory of Mr Kohli, and I would like hon. Members across the House to support them. They would place greater responsibility on child offenders and the parents of child offenders. New clause 1 would require the Secretary of State to undertake an assessment of the effectiveness and use of parental orders throughout the justice system. For hon. Members who do not know, parental orders are measures that either require parents of child offenders to pay for their children’s crimes, or force them to attend parenting classes. Yet, despite those powers being on the statute book, they are rarely used. In fact, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that their use has decreased from over 1,000 in 2010 to just 27 in recent years. That is woefully inadequate.
These measures are designed not to punish, but to support; to help families restore discipline and stability; and to prevent the next crime before it happens. Susan put it to me that if the parents of the two individuals in this case were placed under parental orders, they would perhaps appreciate the damage and impact that their negligent behaviour has caused. The fact that one of the parents recently asked for their child’s tag to be removed so that they could go on a family holiday is shameful.
New clause 14 would bring an end to anonymity protections for young offenders who commit the most heinous and serious crimes. I believe in deterrence, and I believe that when an individual commits an act so vile and abhorrent, the full weight of justice must be felt, including being named publicly. The boy—15 years old by the time of the trial—should not be shielded. Our judicial system should not protect those who have shown such disregard for human life; they should be named, just as Axel Rudakubana was following a court order, and as Mohammed Umar Khan was last week.
New clause 14 is simple: if an individual under the age of 18 commits a serious crime, they will be named—no ifs, no buts. In my eyes, if someone is old enough to commit such an appalling crime, they are old enough to face the full consequences of their actions.
Lewis Cocking (Broxbourne) (Con)
My hon. Friend is making an excellent and passionate speech. Does he agree that the Government should consider supporting new clause 14 and removing anonymity for young people who commit such serious crimes, because they are looking to reduce the voting age to 16? We should talk about when people in this country become adults. They should not be protected if they commit such serious crimes.
Mr Bedford
I could not agree more. My hon. Friend mentions the rumours that the Government are planning to lower the voting age, and it would seem contradictory to have two ages of responsibility.
I will turn now to new clause 18, tabled my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan). It is shocking that the girl who was with the 14-year-old boy, and who egged him on to commit the assault—quite literally to kill a man—did not receive a custodial sentence. Sentencing guidelines make it nearly impossible for individuals of that age to receive a custodial sentence. But what can we in this House do about that? The answer is “very little” because we have an unelected and unaccountable quango determining sentencing guidelines, rather than democratically elected Members in this place. That is wrong and must change.
We must abolish the Sentencing Council and restore democratic accountability to our judicial system to promote equality before the law and ensure that serious crimes are treated with the tough punishment that they deserve, irrespective of a defendant’s sob story. Crime is crime. That is why I also support new clauses 17 and 19, which would ensure tough sentences for those who commit sexual abuse or murder.
I also support new clause 21, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty), which would deliver a powerful message: someone who takes a life through dangerous or reckless driving should forfeit the privilege of driving. It would prioritise public safety and provide justice for families who have lost loved ones, like my constituent Emma Johnson who lost her parents to the actions of a careless driver.
I sincerely hope that the Government support the amendments. We in this place must ensure that justice is done and seen to be done.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
Does the Chair of the Justice Committee wish to make a speech?
John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab)
I have only a couple of sentences, Madam Deputy Speaker.
To remind the Minister, in last week’s Committee, my new clause—which is effectively new clause 26 today—represented the views of a number of organisations, including the National Association of Probation Officers, recalling the problems that we faced with privatisation, particularly in relation to community service and unpaid work. In London in 2013, the supervision of unpaid work was privatised to Serco, and it was a catastrophic failure in providing both effective work and security for the community overall. It left a stain on the old process of managing community work. That was reflected when the previous Government totally privatised probation, which then had to be brought back in-house.
New clause 26 simply asks for an assurance from the Government that, although we will want to engage with voluntary organisations, charities and non-profit bodies, we will not seek the privatisation of community service and unpaid work, in particular the placement of former prisoners in work in which they could be exploited.
Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)
I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman, who I am sure will join me in supporting my new clauses 27 and 28, and new clause 25 in the name of the hon. Member for Liverpool Riverside (Kim Johnson). My new clauses relate to probation capacity and the devolution of probation services to Wales, but in Committee we had no feedback whatsoever from the Minister at the close of the day. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that those four new clauses, including his own, warrant a response from the Minister?
John McDonnell
That is why I tabled my new clause in Committee. I did not want to be a pain in the neck; I just wanted the Minister to acknowledge our understanding of the implications of the measures and the Probation Service’s overall concerns about these matters. I have re-tabled the new clause simply to get the Minister’s view and to hear the Government’s attitude on those issues. A range of amendments have come from the justice unions parliamentary group, which the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) chairs.
Let me be absolutely clear: community service has always been state-supervised work with charities and non-profit organisations. At no stage do we want to allow private sector organisations to profiteer in that area of service. No matter what attitude the Minister takes, I hope that he can give us an assurance on that. If there is a need for further discussion and dialogue, I am sure that the justice unions parliamentary group will be willing to meet him to go through those issues in more detail.
Andy Slaughter
My right hon. Friend makes a good point. Although commercial organisations may well be able to run community schemes, it is clear that the ambition of voluntary organisations is rehabilitation and the prevention of reoffending, and that really must be the goal of community sentencing, which is at the heart of the Bill.
John McDonnell
I can only draw on the experience that my hon. Friend and I had when Serco was in charge, which was about profiteering and reducing costs, largely through a reduction in staff. He might recall that on occasion we had reports that community service volunteers were turning up, and the tools were not available for them to do their work. There was a lack of supervision, and in a few instances we discovered that some of the vehicles that they used had been forced into and were unsafe.
We do not want to go back to that profiteering. That is why an assurance that this provision will be managed and orientated by the state, using non-profit-making voluntary organisations and charities, would reassure those professionals who have unfortunately experienced the privatisation that has taken place in the past, to the detriment of us all.
Dr Kieran Mullan (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)
I rise to speak in support of new clause 19, and other new clauses tabled in my name and those of Opposition Members. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford) for opening the debate. He has drawn attention to an important issue, and something I often ponder. I am aware that many powers are available to tackle the involvement of parents in offending, but I never get the sense that they are working as well as we would want them to. My hon. Friend’s new clause would help us to get to the bottom of that.
It is a privilege to take part in this debate on behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition, and to have a further opportunity to do what I can to make clear to Labour Members the enormous negative impact on victims that the Bill will have. The Bill will fundamentally change how we deliver justice for victims of serious violent and sexual crimes in this country. The official Opposition tabled amendments and new clauses in Committee, but we did not get to undertake line-by-line scrutiny in a proper Bill Committee. I suspect that that is because the Government know that the reality of the Bill is so damning that they fear an outright rebellion of their MPs if they cannot continue the pretence about what it does and does not do. Nevertheless, we attempted to provide a limited and more acceptable reform of the early release measures to exclude sexual and serious violence offenders. Labour MPs rejected that, and we are now left only with a new clause to remove those measures entirely.
Why do we persist? Because the consequences if we do not are dire. The Government have said time and again that no person who has committed what they describe as the “most serious” offences would be released earlier, but we know that to be completely false. The change in automatic release rules applies to all standard determinate sentences, and to every person who is on one.
I reiterate that the independent Library briefing note confirms that these releases will be automatic. More than 60% of offenders sentenced to prison for rape receive standard determinate sentences, as do more than 90% of those convicted of child grooming offences. Around half of individuals imprisoned for attempted murder are also given standard determinate sentences. Each year, hundreds of people convicted of child rape or sexual assault, including offences involving victims aged under 13, serve those types of sentences. In total, more than 6,000 offenders are sent to prison annually for serious violent sexual offences, and they will get out of prison earlier under the Bill.
I do not know in how many ways I can explain that to Members to overcome the briefing that it is not true, which is happening outside the Chamber. I have no choice but to take Members through the numbers. I have in front of me the sentencing data for those convicted of the rape of a female aged 16 or over. In total, 590 men on average are sent to prison for that offence every year. One hundred and ninety-seven of them would be excluded from the early release measures because they were given extended determinate sentences or life sentences, but 393 would not. That is 393 rapists—the vast majority—being sent to prison every year who will be let out of prison earlier. That is without including those guilty of the rape of children, many of whom will also be let out of prison earlier.
Many Members have spoken about terrible cases of causing death by dangerous driving. Glenn and Becky Youens from Justice for Victims campaign in memory of their daughter, Violet-Grace, who was killed at four years old by a drug dealer going at 80 mph in a 30 mph zone. The drug dealer fled the scene then returned, stepping over her as she lay injured on the pavement, to get to their drugs. Are we seriously going to tell people such as Glenn and Becky that those perpetrators can get out of prison earlier in future? Because that is what will happen. Every year, 169 offenders on average are sent to prison for causing death by dangerous driving. Some 163 of them are given a standard determinate sentence and will get out of jail earlier as a result of the Bill, and some of them will serve only a third of their sentence.
I have pages of examples. Out of 228 offenders sent to prison every year for sexual grooming, 211 serve standard determinate sentences, and under the Bill, 196 will serve only a third of their sentence. Out of 475 people sent to prison every year for stalking, 458 serve standard determinate sentences, and under the Bill, 427 will serve only a third of their sentence. Out of 576 offenders sent to prison every year for the offence of sexual activity involving a child under 16, 502 will get out of prison earlier because of the Bill, and 269 of them will serve only a third of their sentence.
This morning, the Home Secretary said that she was glad that the “vile child sex offender”, as she described him, Hadush Kebatu, is off our streets. She is right to welcome that. Kebatu was convicted of sexual assault offences against women and girls. What do the measures proposed by the former Justice Secretary, who is now Home Secretary, mean in relation to other vile child sex offenders who have been sent to prison for the same offences? I can tell the House that under the Bill, two thirds of the offenders sent to prison for similar sexual assault offences will have to serve only a third of their sentence. The Government celebrate removing those offenders from the streets, while at the same time legislating to put them back on the streets.
It is shameful that Labour Members, with their majority, voted against our amendments and new clauses to remove the early release measures in specific circumstances. Our new clause to remove the measures entirely remains before the House, even if we will not get the opportunity to vote on it today.
New clause 19 seeks to address a clear gap in the law that I believe the majority of Members across the House would agree must be closed. At present, our sentencing framework requires that a whole life order be imposed on anyone convicted of murdering a police or prison officer while that officer is carrying out their duties. That provision acts as both a deterrent and a guarantee of justice for those who risk their lives in confronting dangerous offenders, yet a recent court case has created a precedent that that measure will not be applied if the prison or police officer is not actively on duty at the time of their murder.
I want to describe to the House the disturbing events surrounding the murder of former prison officer Lenny Scott, who was killed by a violent offender he had once supervised. Mr Scott was working as a prison officer at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool. In 2020, Elias Morgan offered him a bribe to keep it to himself that a phone had been found in Morgan’s cell. The vast majority of prison officers do an excellent job and follow the rules, but the House will be aware of examples of corruption in our prison service. Mr Scott could have taken that bribe—he almost certainly knew that Morgan was capable of violent offences and was involved in organised crime—and forgotten his duties and responsibilities, but he did not. He refused the bribe. He was then subjected to death threats by Morgan.
It is a matter of public record that Mr Scott’s time as a prison officer was not unblemished, but when it comes to the question of courage, sheer guts and bravery, refusing to be cowed by a violent thug, and refusing to take the easy way out, Mr Scott was an exemplar, not just to prison officers but to all of us. But Morgan made good on his threats, waiting for years, until 2024, to murder Mr Scott in cold blood. It was a carefully planned murder. Lancashire police found evidence that the month before the murder, Morgan was scoping out locations linked to Mr Scott. He drove close to Mr Scott’s home in Prescot in Merseyside, a gym in the Speke area of Liverpool where Mr Scott sometimes trained, and a gym on Peel Road in Skelmersdale, where the shooting would later take place. Morgan gunned down Mr Scott as he was leaving the gym, shooting him six times. Mr Scott did not stand a chance.
In 2013, the then Home Secretary, Theresa May—the former Prime Minister and right hon. Member for Maidenhead—announced that we would change the law so that the murder of a police officer or a prison officer would result in a whole life order. Speaking at the time in relation to police officers, she said:
“We ask police officers to keep us safe by confronting and stopping violent criminals for us. We ask you to take the risks so that we don’t have to…We are clear: life should mean life for anyone convicted of murdering a police officer.”
As prison officers carry out similar duties, the measures rightly included them.
However, the sentencing for Mr Scott’s murder has made it clear that the courts have not understood the will of Parliament, because Morgan was not given a whole life order. He was given a life sentence with a minimum tariff. It is true to say that his sentenceis longer than most, at 45 years, but Morgan was 35 when he was convicted, so it is not inconceivable that he could get out one day. I do not believe that Parliament intended for criminals like him to ever get out. I was shocked at that outcome; it had not occurred to me that the measure would not apply. I was very familiar with the measure in relation to police officers, following my own time as a volunteer police officer, so my initial reaction was to believe that it must not have been applied to prison officers, and I raised that in the House.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jake Richards)
indicated assent.
Dr Mullan
I note that the Minister is nodding.
We can ensure that criminals know that the fullest possible consequences of the law will follow if they murder a police or prison officer simply because they were doing their job.
New clause 20 seeks to establish notification and offender management requirements for those convicted of child cruelty offences, in effect creating a system similar to the sex offenders register for individuals who have abused and neglected children. I want to be clear why this matters. Every one of us in this House knows that behind the legal language of child cruelty or abuse lie some of the most distressing and life-altering crimes imaginable—crimes in which a child, utterly dependent and vulnerable, gets the worst instead of the best, often from those who are supposed to love and care for them.
This measure will not fix everything—sadly, that is not the world we live in—but before us there is a clear and proven step we can take towards improving how we protect our children. At present, if somebody is convicted of a sexual offence against a child, they are rightly placed on the sex offenders register. They are required to keep the police informed of their whereabouts, their identity and any change to their circumstances, including whether they live with children.
The requirement sits separately from probation requirements. If a person is convicted of an offence to which the requirements apply and receives a prison sentence of 13 months or more, the notification requirements are indefinite. That allows the police service, along with other agencies, better to assess and manage risk and ultimately to protect children and others from harm. If a person is convicted of horrific physical abuse, of neglect, or of causing a child’s death through sustained cruelty, there is no equivalent requirement. Once their sentence and probation is over, they can disappear into the community with no requirement to report where they live, no oversight by those who might need to protect other children, and no legal mechanism for ongoing management. That is a clear gap in our child protection system, and new clause 20 would correct it.
A person convicted of any of the listed child cruelty or violence offences, including causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult, child cruelty or neglect, infanticide, exposing children whereby life is endangered, and female genital mutilation, would be required to notify the police of their details within three days of conviction or release. They would have to confirm where they live, any other addresses they use and any names that they go by. They would have to keep that information up to date and confirm it annually, just as child sex offenders already do.
Importantly, that information could be shared between the police and other agencies that work to safeguard children. That would give local law enforcement the information it needs to identify the risk that individuals could pose to the local community and to intervene with any precautionary measures early to protect children before harm could come. It would offer greater protection to the public by ensuring that those who have committed abuse and cruelty to children are treated in the same manner as those who have committed sexual abuse.
Let me say a few words about the reason why we are considering this measure and about an extraordinary lady called Paula Hudgell. Paula Hudgell’s name has been spoken before in this House. She is the adoptive mother of 11-year-old Tony Hudgell, who had both legs amputated after abuse by his birth parents. She has previously campaigned successfully for tougher sentences to be available for child abuse offences, for which she was awarded an OBE. When Paula adopted Tony, the criminals responsible for what happened to him—his birth parents—were not even going to be prosecuted. Paula told me that if anyone had done to her birth children what they had done to Tony, she would have done everything that she could to pursue justice, and that Tony was no different, even though he was adopted. That is exactly what she did for him, and in the end his birth parents were convicted. The maximum sentence they received appalled Paula, and her first campaign began, to change that maximum to a life sentence.
However, during the course of her campaigning and from getting to see the parole system and what it can do to monitor people after they have served their sentence, Paula got an incredible insight into the system’s flaws and what needed to change. Discussing it with a police officer, Becki Taft—I also pay tribute to her—who Paula got to know during the course of the prosecution, they both recognised the glaring omission that we are seeking to remedy today, so Paula acted. She is continuing to act despite facing enormous challenges in her personal circumstances, as she is undergoing treatment for cancer that can no longer be cured. Paula said:
“I’ve been battling cancer, but as long as I have fire in my belly, I’ll keep fighting to protect children by pushing for this register. That’s what keeps me going—knowing that Tony’s legacy can help save other young lives.”
She is an incredible woman who I am honoured to have gotten to know, and her MP, the shadow Solicitor General, my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and Malling (Helen Grant), has done so much to help Paula turn her campaign into words on a page—into legislation we can pass. She is someone I am pleased to be able to call a friend.
I sincerely thank the Justice Secretary for taking a direct interest in this issue, and I am sure that the Minister will also want to closely consider it. I want to ensure that the strength of feeling among Conservative Members and others is reflected in the Lobby tonight. It may be that the Government are not ready to support this measure this evening. Labour MPs may feel that that is reasonable at this stage, but I would welcome a commitment from the Dispatch Box that will enable me to conclude that we can agree to work cross-party in the other place to get this done.
I look forward to the rest of the debate, and to considering amendments tabled by other Members. I hope I have been able to clearly explain our proposals, which relate to prison and police officer whole life orders and the child cruelty register. However, whatever else this Bill achieves and whatever else we might reasonably disagree on, at the heart of the Bill is the biggest step backwards in securing justice for the victims of serious crime in a generation. For it to pass unamended would represent a betrayal of victims. I do not believe that Labour Members want that, and it is not too late. I am confident that the Lords will not let this Bill pass unamended, so at some point, Labour MPs will again be able to decide to say no to the Prime Minister and his plan.
MPs always have choices, and this Government spend £1 trillion a year on various services. Whatever the positive and honourable intentions Labour Members have when it comes to securing justice for victims, and whatever positive measures they suggest, they will be disastrously undone if they do not work collaboratively to make clear that they will not support measures that will let thousands of serious violent and sexual offenders out of prison earlier.
Linsey Farnsworth (Amber Valley) (Lab)
My new clause 36 seeks to implement a key recommendation of David Gauke’s independent sentencing review, on which the measures in this Bill are based. The new clause proposes that release at one third of a sentence should be conditional on positive actions and purposeful activity, such as attending education classes, engaging in voluntary work and participating in drug rehabilitation.
My amendment seeks to address the prison capacity crisis by embedding an emphasis on rehabilitation into the earned progression model from its very first stage. Incentivising purposeful activity will do two things. First, it will actively reward better behaviour within prison, leading to fewer instances of additional adjudication days being added.
Pam Cox (Colchester) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that offering clear incentives for earned release is a key way of offering certain offenders clear chances to change, thereby reducing the risk of reoffending and enhancing public protection?
Linsey Farnsworth
I absolutely agree. As my hon. Friend will have seen—she sits alongside me on the Justice Committee—there is clear evidence to back that up. Secondly, starting the process of rehabilitation through positive requirements earlier will reduce reoffending rates on release, thereby cutting crime and consequently easing pressure on prison capacity in the longer term.
To develop my first point, inquiries by the Justice Select Committee have found worryingly high rates of drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm, and violence against inmates and staff. Evidence submitted by Collective Voice shows that prisoners are more likely to develop substance misuse issues while in custody if they lack meaningful activity. The Prisoners’ Education Trust has described how participating in education has rehabilitative benefits, helping people in prison to occupy their time positively and learn new skills.
His Majesty’s inspectorate of prisons found that the prisons best able to tackle substance abuse combined clear boundaries, high expectations and, importantly, meaningful incentives. Prisons such as HMP Oakwood and HMP Rye Hill, which offer rich, purposeful activity, see significantly lower rates of drug use and better behaviour. By incentivising engagement in well-resourced, purposeful activity, new clause 36 would reduce the likelihood of prisoners turning to substances or violence. In turn, fewer prisoners would incur additional days on their sentence, which would ease overcrowding and the strain on prison staff.
Andy Slaughter
My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. As she said, the chief inspector of prisons has found that rehabilitation in prisons is not working. This Bill presents an opportunity for a sea change in how that works, as well as in reoffending when people leave prison. As a member of the Select Committee, she will know that we will soon produce a major report on rehabilitation. It is essential that purposeful activity becomes the norm in prisons, and not the exception.
Linsey Farnsworth
I thank my hon. Friend, the Chair of the Select Committee. I greatly trust and rely on his opinion. It is essential that rehabilitative work is available to all in prisons, as I will go on to talk about in a little more detail.
On my second point, structured rehabilitation during custody prepares individuals for life after release. As the earned progression model stands, the emphasis on rehabilitation begins largely during the intensive supervision stage. While I welcome the focus and measures in the Bill to tackle the root causes of crime, we should not wait until release from custody to begin that important work. Too often, individuals return upon release to the same environments, the same pressures and the same risks that contributed to their offending in the first place. Why wait, when we can intervene when they are most reachable? We literally have a captive audience. If people leave custody having already engaged in structured rehabilitation, they are more likely to respond positively to supervision and less likely to reoffend. That in turn reduces pressure on the Probation Service, which is also already under immense strain.
To summarise, the model proposed by new clause 36 is fair and proportionate, actively rewarding good behaviour while existing provisions in the Bill punish bad behaviour. Those who engage constructively while in custody through an earned progression scheme may be released as early as a third in. Those who break the rules will serve more days. Meanwhile, those who neither engage positively nor breach rules will see no change in their release date. That ensures that rehabilitation, positive behaviour, purposeful activity and steps towards reintegration are actively incentivised and baked in to the earned progression model from the start.
Having said that, I understand that practicalities have to be considered in implementing this positive requirements scheme, if it is to be successful. Years of neglect by the previous Government have left our prison system overstretched and under-resourced. On 4 February, the Justice Committee heard evidence from Clinks, the Prison Reform Trust, Women in Prison, and Nacro. We were told during that session that only 50% of prisoners are engaged in education or work, which is often part-time and not rehabilitative. That is due to staffing shortages, overcrowding and limited resources and facilities. In essence, we have inherited prisons that cannot offer the programmes people need and access to purposeful activity is highly inconsistent.
I recognise the immense scale of the challenge in getting the prison system to a place where the proposals in my new clause can be implemented fairly, effectively and with the necessary resources across the country. While I do not expect the Government to accept my new clause today, I strongly urge the Minister to commit to incorporating positive requirements on purposeful activity in the earned progression model as soon as conditions allow. This incremental approach is in line with the position that David Gauke outlined in his review.
He said:
“This Review holds the view that, as prison capacity eases and fuller regimes become possible, compliance requirements for earned release should become more demanding.”
Only by doing this will we truly future-proof our prisons, help people to turn their backs on crime, and ensure, unlike the last Government, that we always have places in our prisons for the most dangerous offenders.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)
As the House has heard repeatedly in recent weeks, our justice system is crumbling under the strain in our courts, prisons and probation services, bulging at the seams, stretched to the limit and ultimately failing all who come into contact with it. It is not adequately punishing criminals, not rehabilitating them, and not protecting victims and survivors. Confidence has been slowly eroded and undermined. This has to end. The Bill provided ample opportunity for us to address these issues, with scope to consider how we tackle the looming projection of a prison population of over 100,000 in just three years’ time. I am disappointed that such a large Bill, which makes fundamental changes to sentencing, was not given the line-by-line scrutiny that a Bill Committee, rather than a Committee of the whole House, could have afforded it.
The Liberal Democrats are supportive of many of the steps taken in the Bill, and, in the spirit of working collaboratively on a crisis that affects us all, we have tabled a number of amendments that seek to improve and strengthen it. For example, we welcome clause 3, which would give courts the power to order offenders to make monthly payments from their income, and we have tabled new clause 3 to ask the Government to assess whether income reduction orders could be used to fund victim support. On the topic of financial penalties, new clause 33 would create a power for sentencing courts to require offenders to make periodic payments or other contributions towards the maintenance and welfare of their dependants, ensuring that their responsibility to provide support is not automatically void during a custodial sentence.
Creating a presumption of a suspended sentence for terms of under 12 months is a measure for which the Liberal Democrats have long campaigned. It is a necessary step to reduce prison overcrowding, but it also plays a vital role in reducing reoffending, with rehabilitation offered in the community. Sixty-two per cent of those serving custodial sentences of less than 12 months go on to reoffend, but only 24% reoffend if they are given a suspended sentence or a community order. We do not need to send offenders to prison to become better criminals; we need to support them to become better citizens. Creating a rehabilitative system will, in the long term, reduce costs, protect victims and ease the pressure on our public services. The work of our justice system should be centred on that goal, for the good of all.
To that end, new clause 12 would allow and facilitate access to rehabilitative programmes, education, therapy and other support for prisoners held on remand before their sentencing hearings. As of June this year, 20% of the prison population are on remand and yet to have their sentencing hearings. With court backlogs at an all-time high, we see offenders arriving at their sentencing hearings, receiving their sentences, and then heading straight home because of the length of time that they have served on remand. Remand prisons are often overcrowded, and typically suffer from understaffing and inadequate facilities. These prisoners should be offered the same level of support as sentenced prisoners if we are to reduce the levels of reoffending.
We are, of course, supportive of the identifier that was included in the Bill following the work of my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde), in collaboration with the Government. I commend his hard work and determination to make tangible changes for those who have experienced domestic abuse, providing greater confidence that their abusers will be dealt with suitably in the system, and I thank the Government for their constructive engagement with him on this issue. However, our campaign does not end there. New clause 8 would ensure that domestic abuse was treated as an aggravated offence, reflecting the severity and the long-term impact of such crimes on victims. New clause 9 asks the Government
“to carry out an assessment of the potential benefits of creating mandatory rehabilitative programmes”
to tackle violence against women and girls, for individuals sentenced to offences such as assault, battery and actual bodily harm when the victim was female.
We have also tabled a number of amendments relating to the Probation Service, because none of this means anything if probation is not properly resourced. I know that the Government will refer to the £700 million of additional funding, but it is not yet being felt on the frontline of probation, where the situation remains as described by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation earlier this year. According to the inspectorate, the service
“has too few staff, with too little experience and training, managing too many cases.”
Without maximum caseloads, we open ourselves up to a higher risk of human error and also a more cautious approach to recalling, because staff simply do not have the capacity to manage people in the community effectively.
Probation officers believe fundamentally in rehabilitation and in supporting offenders to reintegrate into society, but I must raise some serious concerns around the removal of the existing short-term and standard recalls in favour of a 56-day blanket recall for all offenders except those identified through a multi-agency public protection arrangement.
For example, under the current guidance, somebody who might be engaging with mental health services in the community but not attending their probation appointment—somebody who is therefore non-compliant with their agreement—would be recalled for 28 days under a fixed-term recall. That means that, if they are in temporary accommodation, as we know a lot of people coming out of prison are, the likelihood is that the accommodation will still be there when they have served their fixed term, and they can re-engage with the programmes in the community that they were already on.
Under the new arrangements, though, in the same circumstances, somebody recalled for 56 days would be coming out and, in effect, starting again, having lost their accommodation arrangements and their place on the community programme with which they were engaging, as places are typically only held for up to four weeks. The likelihood of them then going on to reoffend—in a cycle—will increase, and we will see the same people being recalled.
At the other end of the spectrum, if a serious offender breached their licence by intimidating, harassing or stalking their victim, instead of receiving a standard recall, which would last until the end of their sentence, they would be returned to serve just 56 days. Those who in probation are classified as medium-risk offenders—that covers the majority of offences related to violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse perpetrators and stalkers—would not come under the Government’s proposed exclusions relating to MAPPA levels 2 and 3.
On Monday in this Chamber, we spoke at length and there was consensus across the House that we needed to do more to support victims, but the recall measures in the Bill directly contradict that desire. There is a serious omission, which we are extremely concerned will lead to the release of dangerous criminals on to our streets, who will then continue to reoffend. New clause 31 would ensure that offenders who have committed certain serious offences would not be eligible for automatic release following a fixed-term recall, and I implore the Minister to go away and look at that proposal.
This Bill provided a great chance to address some key issues in our justice system, and it showed signs of life, taking an innovative approach to some issues, but it ultimately lacks vision and, expectedly, funding. I thank Members for their engagement, and encourage them to support new clause 12.
Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)
I am pleased to support this vital Sentencing Bill, which represents a significant step towards protecting victims and delivering justice.
I would like to draw Members’ attention to new clauses 8 and 31 and amendment 1. The Conservatives claimed to be champions of law and order, yet their record was of lawless disorder. After 14 years in power, they increased sentence lengths without planning the prison places to uphold them, delivering just a few hundred spaces while violence, drugs and chaos spiralled across our prison estates. They left our justice system on the brink, and forced the early release of more than 10,000 offenders in secret, shattering public confidence.
This Government are taking a different path. We are delivering the largest prison expansion since Victorian times; 2,500 new places are already open and we are on track for 14,000 by 2031. We will ensure that we will never again run out of prison capacity. We must also make prisons work. That means punishment that cuts crime through earned release, tougher community sentences, intensive supervision and proper rehabilitation that turns offenders away from crime for good.
Central to making sentencing work is protecting victims, not just at the point of conviction but every day thereafter. I thank the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) for highlighting the important issue of domestic abuse in new clauses 8 and 31. The Bill introduces a powerful new mechanism under clause 6, “Finding of domestic abuse”, by ensuring that, once the court is satisfied that an offence involves domestic abuse, it must declare that is the case in an open court, permanently recognising the heightened harm to victims. This activates stronger protections, which can include electronic tagging and exclusion zones, ensuring that offenders can be tracked in real time and kept away from victims’ homes and workplaces.
The “Loose Women” Facing It Together campaign has powerfully shown the real human impact of domestic abuse and the urgent need for continuous protection. The measures in the Bill meet that need, ensuring that abusers cannot return to intimidate or control and that victims are safeguarded, with the full force of the law behind them. These landmark reforms will end the crisis that we inherited, and restore faith in a justice system that protects the public and puts victims first.
Since my election, I have been campaigning tirelessly on the issue of tool theft, a crime that devastates the livelihoods of tradespeople across our country. There are too many to list in this House today, but I expect that we all know someone who has been a victim of this crime. The rate of suicide among construction workers is the highest of any profession—four times higher than that for any other occupation. In December 2024, I laid a ten-minute rule Bill before the House that called for tool theft to be recognised as a significant additional harm and for courts to consider the total financial loss to victims. That would mean considering not just the value of the tools themselves, but the cost of repairs and the loss of work, and the ripple effect on businesses and families.
Having worked closely with Justice Ministers over the past year, I am pleased to see that the Bill recognises the additional protections needed for victims, for which the sector has been calling. This Bill, with its provisions requiring courts to consider the full impact of theft on victims, its new restriction zones that can ban prolific thieves from construction sites and tool retailers, and its tougher community sentences, delivers transformative protections for tradespeople. Although the Government do not support amendment 1, tabled by the hon. Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello), I thank him for enabling a discussion on the wider impact of crime.
I am pleased to note that the Bill requires courts to consider the full impact of crime, including psychological harm. It recognises what victims of tool theft and, indeed, all crimes have been telling us all along: harm does not stop when tools are stolen or a crime is committed. The psychological harm of losing one’s livelihood, the anxiety about future thefts and the mental health impact of not being able to work are real harms that must be considered when sentencing offenders, and the Bill delivers in this regard.
These reforms will protect the public through tougher sentencing and tighter monitoring, cut crime by stopping reoffending before it happens, support victims by recognising harm and preventing future abuse, and build a safer society with less crime and, ultimately, fewer victims.
Helen Grant (Maidstone and Malling) (Con)
I wish to speak to new clause 20, regarding the introduction of a child cruelty register. Tony and Paula Hudgell are my constituents, and I have had the honour of getting to know both of them—especially Paula, Tony’s adoptive mum—extremely well. One special aspect of our job as MPs is getting to meet incredible people doing incredible things, often behind the public gaze, but in a decade and a half as a Member—I am showing my age now—I have personally never come across such a courageous, driven and united mother-and-son team. That is what they are: a team, especially given Tony’s young age of 11.
New clause 20 would introduce a child cruelty register, described so eloquently and passionately by the shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan), who is also a great champion of victims. It underlines what our job is really about: changing and improving the lives of our constituents, keeping them safe and protecting the most vulnerable.
When Tony was just a little baby—41 days old—his birth parents, Jody Simpson and Anthony Smith, abused him so badly that he had to have both his legs amputated. Tony will have to live with the consequences of his injuries for the rest of his life. Smith and Simpson were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by a judge at Maidstone Crown court—at the time, the maximum that the judge could give. They served eight years, and were released quite recently. They will be managed and monitored by police and probation for the remaining two years of their sentences, but after that, there is nothing—zero. There will be no management, no monitoring, and no reporting requirements if they change their names, start a new family, move county or have more children, and their case details will be archived, leaving a terrible and dangerous gap in our child protection system.
Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)
I want to speak in support of new clause 36, which would require offenders to comply with an earned progression scheme before being subject to release. I think that is an important opportunity to enhance the Government’s ambitions for this Bill, because shoplifting, antisocial behaviour and car break-ins continue to plague my constituents in Accrington town centre.
Increases in levels of town centre crime and break-ins are often caused by offenders released early who have failed to receive the rehabilitation they require. They often have drug or alcohol addictions, and they are back on the streets trying to feed those addictions, and stuck in a cycle of lose, lose, lose—for my residents, for the police and for the taxpayer. Although we must be tough on crime, we must also tackle the root causes of crime and ensure that the system delivers for victims and stops the revolving door of our prisons that serves none of us.
The reforms to the community order requirements will lead to less crime and safer streets for my constituents in a number of areas. The Bill will provide a more tailored and effective approach to punishment and rehabilitation, because courts will have expanded tools to tailor community and suspended sentence orders to better fit the individual offender, the offence and the risk posed. The Bill adds new community requirements to the list of options attached to a community or suspended sentence order, such as prohibitions on driving or attending pubs, bars, clubs or public events, and being restricted to geographic zones. That enhanced flexibility means that sentences in the community can be more meaningful and effective—not just a series of generic tasks, but specifically calibrated to the offender’s behaviour, the harm caused and the need to protect the public and victims. It ensures that community-based sentences are not perceived as light or ineffective, but carry real conditions and consequences.
The Bill also strengthens public protection and victim confidence; in fact, bolstering protection for victims and communities is one of the key aims of the reforms. By allowing restriction zones, bans on attending premises that sell alcohol or public events, and driving prohibitions, the Bill enables courts to impose orders that explicitly guard against certain behaviours or contexts associated with risk. Those measures reassure victims that offenders remain under meaningful restrictions and that community sentences carry real weight and oversight, rather than being a passive “watch and wait” approach. In turn, that helps to maintain public confidence in our justice system and supports the principle that people who offend should face real consequences.
Furthermore, the Bill supports rehabilitation while reducing the unnecessary use of custody, which must be for the most violent and serious offenders. It complements the broader move to ensure that custody is used appropriately—not as a default for lower-level offenders, but reserved for cases where it is necessary for public protection. By strengthening community orders and equipping the courts with more tailored requirements, the Bill supports the case that many offenders can be managed in the community through conditions that deter, restrict and rehabilitate. For far too long, the evidence has shown that it is those changes that will tackle the ongoing problems that the courts and prisons are facing, as well as the ongoing issues with that low-level but incredibly damaging crime happening time and again in our communities.
Such approaches help to reduce prison overcrowding, better align our resources, and focus custodial capacity on those who most require it. At the same time, the reforms encourage compliance—for example, by introducing a community sentence progression scheme, under which offenders who fully comply with the requirements and complete their sentence may have their community order terminated early.
There are practical benefits for communities, offenders and the Probation Service. For communities, community orders become more visible and meaningful. The added conditions reflect the reality that punishment and supervision in the community should be not lesser than custody, but different. For offenders, the structured environment of a community sentence with tailored requirements offers the possibility of real change through supervision, conditional freedom and accountability, rather than automatic imprisonment, which can increase harm and reoffending. For the Probation Service, the Bill’s provisions also include strengthened investment in community supervision, better tools for monitoring and enforcement, and clearer mechanisms for rewarding compliance.
In conclusion, the Bill represents a significant advance in our justice framework, offering modernised, flexible and robust community sentencing options that strengthen public protection, shore up victim confidence, support rehabilitation and make more effective and efficient use of our resources. The new community order requirements and community requirements are central to that: by giving courts more precise, meaningful powers, they ensure that justice is done in the community as well as through custody. I am confident that they will make a real difference to my constituents in Hyndburn, who are rightfully frustrated that they see the same people causing the same problems, and no real solutions to the crimes that those people are committing.
Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)
As we return to consideration of this dreadful Bill, we debate amendments and new clauses that are designed to mitigate its worst effects, in particular new clauses 43, 21, 18, 19 and 20, which I have signed, and new clause 1.
Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)
On new clause 1, will my right hon. Friend give way?
Sir John Hayes
It is early in my speech, but such is my regard for my right hon. Friend that I will.
Edward Argar
I am very grateful. As a former sentencing Minister, I can see no logical reason why the Government would oppose new clause 1—tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford), my fellow Leicestershire MP—which simply asks for an assessment and recommendations to be made and for them to be reported back to this House. Can my right hon. Friend, who is himself a former senior Home Office Minister, see any reason why the Government could not simply do the right thing and accept new clause 1?
Sir John Hayes
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his remarks about my experience in government, which are far too flattering. I agree that new clause 1 is precisely the kind of amendment that the Government could accept. He will know from his time in government, as I do, that no Act is the Bill as it began, for Bills metamorphose during their consideration. Wise Governments listen to arguments that are made during scrutiny, either on the Floor of the House or in Committee, and the best Ministers allow the Bill that they introduced to change over time. That is the purpose of Parliament. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford) has done a service to this House in tabling this new clause, thereby allowing the Minister to improve the Bill in the way he suggests.
As we have debated this Bill over time, a distinct difference has emerged between practicalities and principles. The question remains: is this a Bill built on expediency—a necessary response to the unbearable tension between prison supply and the demand for prison places—or a Bill born of a distaste for incarceration as a means of delivering justice? The first is inexcusable; the second indefensible; but neither is inexorable.
In practice, as the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) said, if remand were treated in a different way—and that, essentially, is about more court sittings and more court time for faster access to justice—fewer prisoners would be kept on remand. If we do not believe that, we would have to assume that every person brought to trial would be found guilty or imprisoned, which cannot be true.
If we dealt with the huge number of foreign national offenders more swiftly—[Interruption.] I know the Government are making those attempts, but it is not enough, any more than what the previous Government did. If we dealt with that issue more swiftly, we would alter the demand for places, for too much of the debate focuses on the supply of prison places and not on the demand-side drivers that absorb places, which could be eased.
When we last debated the Bill, we talked about my ideas for supply-side change. I will not repeat myself, for you would not allow me to do so, Madam Deputy Speaker, in relation to the amendments and new clauses before us today. However, the Minister needs to think more laterally and creatively. I imagine that he is a bright man—or bright-ish, at least. If he did so, he could look at those demand-side drivers and deal with the practicalities.
As for principles, it is time to end the liberal orthodoxy that has perpetuated the pervasive myth that crime is an illness to be treated, and not a destructive, deviant decision that warrants punishment. In the previous debate we heard many times the argument that everyone deserves a second chance, which I have no doubt underpins much of the resistance to the amendments proposed today.
As I listened to the powerful case my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and Malling (Helen Grant) made, I asked myself this: can anyone in this place with a heart believe that those who terrorise and torture children persistently and who maim and murder innocent babes—sometimes their own—deserve a second chance? Can anyone with a heart really believe that those who killed two people dedicated to the service of others—Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, Members of this House—deserve a second chance? Does that awful self-deluded Islamist fanatic who plotted and planned and executed little girls at a pop concert deserve a second chance? The only second chance they all deserve is when they stand before their maker and beg for forgiveness. For us to forgive such extreme acts is to play God. Forgiveness at that level and to that degree is beyond any Member in this Chamber, for it is beyond any human being. That is what I think about second chances.
Linsey Farnsworth
Does the right hon. Member realise that the Sentencing Council does not just pluck out of the air its sentencing recommendations? It consults widely with a variety of organisations, people working in the criminal justice system and the public before coming to its conclusions about the right sentences for offences. I would submit that there should be recognition of the work that it does.
Sir John Hayes
I simply say to the hon. Lady that when we delegate that kind of authority to those who are unelected and unaccountable, we are no longer doing our job. Her view, which has prevailed for a very long time, is not entirely the fault of Labour; it is a problem with the whole political class. We have created every kind of body imaginable in every aspect of government to do things that should be done by this House and by Ministers of the Crown.
The Sentencing Council is just another of those bodies. Who knows who is on the Sentencing Council? Certainly most of the hon. Lady’s constituents and most of mine would not have a clue, and they certainly would not know how to influence them in any way. Of course, it is working people who are most disadvantaged by that, not the privileged few who occupy the social circles that the Sentencing Council no doubt occupies. It is the hard-working, patriotic and law-abiding majority in my constituency and hers who are frustrated by a criminal justice system that persistently excuses the worst kinds of crimes rather than punishing them as they deserve to be punished.
There is a new future emerging in the post-liberal age as we build a new order. That order will be inspired by time-honoured truths, rooted in the will of the people and powered by a ceaseless determination to recapture our country for our people. Burke said:
“Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.”
The tyranny of the cruelty of crime and disorder will haunt places and people across our country as the vile and vicious are let loose. I urge the House to accept the variety of amendments that I have mentioned and the many others on the amendment paper that are attempts to rescue the Bill from that horror.
Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)
I rise to speak to the amendments that I have tabled. I am delighted to have another attempt to stop the Government doing something that defies justice as well as common sense and that will make our streets less safe. As I said in Committee, my amendments would mean that some serious offenders would not be given the “get out of jail free” card proposed by the Government.
Since Committee, we have had the ludicrous situation involving Hadush Kebatu, who was released from prison after being jailed for sex offences. Quite rightly, there was a public outcry and widespread condemnation from politicians. The massive irony is that if the Bill had already been passed, he would have qualified for the presumption in favour of a suspended prison sentence and would not have been in prison in the first place.
Under my amendments 15, 16, 24 and 25, foreign offenders and sex offenders would not be included in the presumption in favour of a suspended sentence when an immediate prison sentence was deemed to be the right outcome by the courts, so someone like Kebatu would still be sent to prison. I hope that Labour Members agree with those amendments, especially given that the Health Secretary said:
“This man was behind bars because of serious sex offences…So the idea that he’s loose on the streets is incredibly serious.”
Perhaps the Health Secretary will back my amendments, and perhaps he will have a word with the Justice Secretary to get him to back my amendments as well.
Following the Kebatu debacle, people have blamed the incompetence of prison staff in releasing him, yet if the Government do not accept my amendments we will not need to be concerned about the incompetence or otherwise of our Prison Service, because such offenders will not even go to prison. However, we can be sure of the incompetence of the Government in allowing these sentencing changes to happen and in not sending offenders like Kebatu to prison. Even the Secretary of State for Justice said:
“Let’s be clear, Kebatu committed a nasty sexual assault involving a young child and a woman, and for those reasons this of course is very serious.”
On Monday, he said to the House:
“Mr Kebatu’s victims are rightly outraged about what has happened. I am livid on their behalf, and on behalf of the public.”
He also said:
“He is back where he belongs: behind bars.”—[Official Report, 27 October 2025; Vol. 774, c. 43.]
If it is so serious, and the Justice Secretary really means that Kebatu belongs behind bars, why on his watch will the Bill ensure that the next Kebatu will not be behind bars, and will not be sent to prison in the first place? These are serious questions that need to be answered. It is not too late for the Government to stop this dangerous aspect of the Bill and prove to everyone outside this Chamber that they are not hypocrites, by accepting my amendments.
While they are at it, the Government need to seriously consider accepting my amendments 20 and 29, which would prevent those who commit knife crimes from being eligible for suspended sentences. The Government should hang their head in shame for proposing a non-prison sentence for the offence of carrying a knife on our streets, and even for those who commit the offence more than once. I am sure that many Members will know of cases where someone has been injured or killed by a knife. Everyone who votes for the Bill without amendment will be voting to enable someone who carries a knife or threatens people with a knife, even repeatedly, to avoid prison.
John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)
While I do not doubt for a second the right hon. Lady’s impassioned belief in the need to keep dangerous offenders off our streets, does she agree that it was actually the Conservative Government that cut funding to our prisons? There was a 24% real-terms cut from 2010 to 2015, resulting in 30% cuts in staffing. That has clearly had an impact on the ability of any Government to send individuals to prison, and it happened under the last Government.
Esther McVey
I shall remind the hon. Member what happened. The last Labour Government collapsed the economy, and the coalition was brought into power to get the books back on track. Unfortunately, as always happens after a Labour Government, spending had to be cut because they had bankrupted the country. When there was more money in the bank, we did need to invest more, and that is why the last Conservative Government put £4 billion into building more prisons. Three have now been completed and there are a further three left to be completed.
Do Members really want it on their conscience that they are changing the laws for people with knives or who threaten with knives? I think not. Labour has always talked tough on this matter, but now that it is in a position to do something about it, it fails. The hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) stated:
“Under a Labour Government, there will be tough consequences for carrying a knife. A Labour Government will end the empty words and apology letters for knife possession, and will guarantee sanctions and serious interventions for young people who carry knives.”—[Official Report, 21 May 2025; Vol. 750, c. 332WH.]
Those were the words of the Labour party, but sadly, Labour will not do that. Time and again, Labour is proving to be a party of empty words and broken promises, and this will be yet another example. There will be plenty of people ready and willing to remind Labour Members of this, especially an outraged public. There will be no words of comfort for the family of a needless victim of this type of crime.
Members should also think twice about the fact that those who assault emergency workers will be included in this prison avoidance Bill. I know that many Labour MPs very much supported the introduction of the offence of assaulting an emergency worker, with its increased sentence for those who are convicted, yet all of that will have been for nothing if the Bill is passed in its current form, because people who assault emergency workers and receive sentences of 12 months or less will be likely to avoid prison altogether. Having worked hard to increase the sentence to 12 months in prison for assaulting an emergency worker, Labour will now effectively be agreeing to zero months in prison in many cases. The hon. Member for Rhondda and Ogmore (Chris Bryant), who introduced the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018, did so to ensure that those assaulting emergency workers felt
“the full force of the law”.—[Official Report, 27 April 2018; Vol. 639, c. 1159.]
The right hon. Member for Lewisham West and East Dulwich (Ellie Reeves) supported the legislation and said that it was “long overdue”. The trade unions supported it. The GMB national officer said at the time:
“It’s welcome to see arrests taking place, but we also need to see an increase in prosecutions and tougher sentences handed down for these unacceptable assaults.”
My amendments 17 and 26 would exclude the offence from the Bill and show support for those who risk their lives to keep us all safe. What a kick in the teeth it will be for emergency workers to know that this Government do not have their backs at all. It seems the Government would rather be on the side of many of those who assault our emergency workers or to keep them from being sent to prison—as they should be. The amendments would also exclude assaults on those generally providing a public service.
Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)
I welcome the Minister, my former Home Affairs Committee colleague, to his place. I urge all Members to support the excellent amendments tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), particularly new clause 11 on the suspension of driving licences during bail on driving-related offences, which is a common-sense proposal. I echo her praise of our hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) for his excellent, passionate and successful campaign on tagging for domestic abuse crimes—a policy that the Government have adopted. I join my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester in urging the Government to go further than that by supporting new clause 8, which would make those aggravated crimes.
I tabled new clause 35, which has already received support from across the House, on behalf of the of the Saltern family from my North Cornwall constituency. Their campaign—known as Ryan’s law—was launched a few years ago by Helen and Mark Saltern after their son Ryan was tragically hit and killed by a car after leaving the village carnival in St Teath. The driver did not stop to check on Ryan, administer first aid or even phone the police or other emergency services. Instead, Ryan—a father of one—was left in the road to die. The driver drove into work the next day as if nothing had happened. What punishment was the offender given for that fatal hit and run? He avoided prison entirely and was handed just a four-month suspended sentence by the magistrates court.
The family of course acknowledge that accidents happen, but the driver left a young man dying in the road, did not even give it a second thought as he sped off—too cowardly to do the right thing—and did not spend a single day in prison for his crimes. I cannot imagine the pain that the family must feel. In response to that enormous injustice, they launched their “Ryan’s law” campaign and a petition that received overwhelming national support, reaching 167,000 signatures. Countless other families have been affected by similar cases right across this country.
Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)
I would like to draw attention to two cases in my constituency, one of which I have spoken about before in this place, in which a lady called Lorraine lost her life. It involved somebody who was driving, possibly while looking at their mobile phone, and again, that person did not go to prison. It is tragic that my hon. Friend’s new clause has to set out things that to most of us would seem absolutely natural. Someone should not have to be told to stop, to report, and to phone the police—to do all those things. I think this new clause is necessary, but it is a terrible shame that we live in a world where people do not think that is the right way to behave.
Ben Maguire
I completely agree with my hon. Friend. It is a horrible indictment on our society and our country that we have to table such a new clause. Sadly, however, because of the hundreds, if not thousands, of cases such as the one she rightly points out, unfortunately it is necessary.
Mark and Helen Saltern, and their daughter Leanne, have campaigned tirelessly for years on this issue. The family have set up RysHaven, a safe, dedicated space where grieving families of hit-and-run victims can escape to Cornwall to take a moment to breathe, process, and recover from their heartbreaking traumas. New clause 35, would introduce three new aggravating factors to the Bill. It would mean that offenders such as the man who hit and killed Ryan Saltern would have the failure to stop, the failure to administer first aid, and the failure to alert emergency services about the hit and run added as “aggravating factors”, specifically when it comes to sentencing those guilty of causing death or serious injury by dangerous driving.
I also support new clause 21, tabled by the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty). Death by dangerous driving should, of course, result in a lifetime driving ban—as my hon. Friend the Member for Wells and Mendip Hills (Tessa Munt) said earlier, that just seems common sense. I urge colleagues from across this House to support my new clause. This is not just for Ryan and his family; the new clause is for the hundreds of hit-and-run victims across this country. I urge Ministers to hear me, and the thousands of loved ones who are left to suffer such injustice. Please right this gross wrong. If the Government will not accept the new clause tonight, I sincerely hope that they will give it serious consideration.
Steve Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)
The Bill illustrates a wider theme that we see across a number of debates in the House, which is the gap between the Government’s words and how they vote. Indeed, that is illustrated by a number of the new clauses that colleagues on the Opposition Benches have already spoken to.
New clause 14, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford), highlights the inconsistency within the Labour manifesto that sets out a commitment to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote, but then says that even if they commit an offence so serious that it warrants a custodial sentence of four or more years, that person is too young to be named. I asked the House of Commons Library to clarify that. A custodial sentence of four or more years is not given out lightly by the courts, particularly not to those of that age, and it said that this would involve serious sexual offences, murder, or armed robbery. We see tweets from Members of Parliament when a boy or girl is stabbed to death, but Labour Members are not willing to vote to name those who commit such offences. It is wrong to deny victims transparency when such serious offences have taken place, but it is bizarre to do so when also saying that those same people are old enough to vote at that age.
Such inconsistency is not limited to new clause 14, so let me take a second example of new clause 18, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan). Many people now look at the Labour manifesto and say, “Well, what it said on energy bills isn’t what they have done; what it said on council tax isn’t what they have done; and what it said to farmers is certainly not what they have done.” With the Budget coming soon, I think that we will shortly see that what Labour said on tax is not what this Government are about to do. And yet the front page of that Labour manifesto had a single word on it: “Change.” I do not think that most voters realised that what Labour meant was change from the manifesto itself, as opposed to change in terms of policy—
Steve Barclay
Indeed, change for the worse.
It is bizarre that when serious offences take place, quite often it is the judiciary who get the blame. Perhaps I have an unfashionable view in that I think that we have a very high-quality judiciary, but it is easy for people to look at sentences and then quickly leap to criticise the judiciary, saying that it is their fault that sentencing is wrong. Indeed, there are such cases—the shadow Justice Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), has highlighted some concerning conflicts of interest of some within the judiciary—but it is far more common that issues arise because the judiciary are operating within the tramlines imposed by sentencing guidelines.
I remember a constituency case where someone was killed by dangerous driving. It highlighted the fact that while this House had increased the sentencing for such crimes, the sentencing guidelines set so many obstacles to getting a maximum sentence that, in practice, hardly anyone ever reached the tariff that the House had intended. Key decisions on issues of public policy should not be outsourced to quangos, meaning—as my constituency neighbour, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes), highlighted—the public often do not have any idea who is making the decisions.
I come back to the Labour manifesto. It promised change, but when it comes to the sentencing guidelines, it will be the same people, applying the same approach; that is anything but change. If the manifesto is to deliver change, it is right that democratic oversight is imposed and that this House and Ministers take more responsibility.
Steve Barclay
Indeed.
The new clauses under debate highlight a wider principle that is driving much of the public frustration with the democratic process: the sense of people voting and then seeing decisions that they do not feel were on the ballot paper. My right hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings was right that this is not just an issue with this Government; the Government in which I served were guilty of this. Too many decisions were outsourced to quangos. There are lessons to be learned from that, as today’s debate has highlighted well.
Let me turn to two new clauses on which the House will divide. New clause 19 applies to something that unites the House: the horror at the murder of a police officer or prison officer. This is particularly pertinent to me, as I have the privilege of representing a constituency that contains a maximum security prison, HMP Whitemoor, where the safety of prison officers is paramount. The new clause is also important because we all benefit from the safeguarding provided by the police—in my case, Cambridgeshire police. What message do Ministers think is being sent not just to police and prison officers, but to their families, if they decide to vote against new clause 19? It is not enough just to tweet after events to say how sorry they are. The Government have an opportunity to vote to do something, and we will see in the Lobby how they vote.
Finally, I turn new clause 20. I do not think that I was alone in being deeply moved by the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and Malling (Helen Grant). It is most effective when Members across the House, regardless of which party they are in, speak from their own deep professional expertise about issues that transcend party politics. Anyone hearing about Tony’s case cannot help but feel revulsion, horror and shame about the offence committed, and my hon. Friend spoke with such passion to highlight it.
As a former Minister who has sat where the Minister now sits, let me say that I hope he reflects on the case put forward in new clause 20. I do not believe that any Members want to see loopholes exploited—to see people move around the country to evade accountability and the tracking of any future offences. When someone speaks with the sort of professional expertise with which my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and Malling spoke, to raise very practical concerns, it is important that Ministers take those concerns on board.
The concern raised through new clause 20 is shared across the House. There is a defective element in this Bill, and Members have an opportunity to address it. The expectation is that there will be a vote on new clause 20. It is not about people’s words, but how they vote, that will determine the response. I hope that Members across the House will respond to new clause 20, bearing in mind the case of Tony, which was highlighted to the House, and that they will do the right thing.
Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) (LD)
I speak today to new clause 42, which is in my name. It would require the Secretary of State to undertake an assessment of the potential merits of removing the cap on sitting days in the Crown court and to lay a report before Parliament.
I am pleased to bring this issue before the House. Our criminal courts are crippled under the weight of their caseloads. A system once respected for its fairness and efficiency is now struggling to deliver timely justice. One major cause is the limit imposed on the number of sitting days available to judges. In effect, we are deliberately rationing justice.
Successive Governments have chosen to restrict Crown court sitting days. The previous Conservative Administration cut them drastically up to 2020, and then reintroduced a cap in 2021. The current Labour Government, disappointingly, have continued that practice, fixing the number of sitting days for 2024-25 at 108,500. That figure, announced only in December, was thousands below what the courts had planned for, and nearly 5,000 days short of the 113,000 days that His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service advised were needed to meet basic operational capacity. Even 113,000 sitting days would not open every courtroom; as Sir Brian Leveson’s review made clear, we would need at least 130,000 sitting days to bring all courtrooms fully into use. Anything less is a conscious choice to leave some courtrooms dark, some judges idle and thousands of victims waiting.
Meanwhile, the backlog grows. The Crown court caseload has reached historic highs, with more than 73,000 outstanding cases, and it is only growing. In the first quarter of 2025, 2,000 more cases were received than were disposed of. One in four open cases has been waiting for over a year, and in some instances trials are not being listed until 2029.
I saw the impact at first hand when I visited my local Kingston upon Thames Crown court. It is one of many courts across the London region that suffer as the region sees its backlog increase by 25%. Staff spoke of the frustration of empty courtrooms, which could be hearing trials but are instead shuttered by bureaucracy. For my constituents in Esher and Walton, that means longer waits for justice for victims of assault, of burglary and of sexual violence, who are left to relive their trauma every time that their trial is postponed. Witnesses lose faith, memories fade, and confidence in justice evaporates.
Caps on Crown court sitting days are not a matter of efficiency, but a false economy. We are paying for court buildings, for security, for staff and for judges, yet we prevent them from working to full capacity, and the consequences are severe. Victims and witnesses wait months or even years for closure, and defendants on bail remain in limbo, their futures in the balance. Some guilty defendants plead not guilty in the hope that delay will work in their favour.
In the process, public faith in the criminal justice system and politics deteriorates. Justice delayed is justice denied. Each time a case is adjourned or pushed back, a victim’s faith in justice dies a little more. Communities lose confidence that the system will protect them, and that loss of trust is corrosive—it undermines everything from police co-operation to jury participation. It is deeply disappointing that the Government have not attached a money motion to this Bill, meaning that Parliament cannot directly remove the cap today. However, new clause 42 offers a constructive step forward. It would require the Government to confront the evidence and to assess, transparently and publicly, whether the cap serves justice or undermines it.
We cannot continue to ignore a crisis that every practitioner, every victim and every judge can see unfolding before their eyes. Removing the cap would not solve every problem in our courts, but it would allow them to function at their full capacity; it would mean fewer empty rooms, more trials heard, and faster justice for those who need it most. New clause 42 is a vital amendment that shines a light on the cost of capping justice and would begin the work of restoring confidence in our criminal courts. Justice delayed is justice denied, and it is time to stop denying justice to the people we serve.
Jim Allister (North Antrim) (TUV)
Much of this Bill does not apply to my constituents, because in the main it does not apply to Northern Ireland. However, there is a key component of the Bill that is supposed to apply to Northern Ireland, because the extent clause says that part 4 applies—that is the part of the Bill that deals with the very important issue of deporting foreign criminals. My question to this House tonight is whether it will, in fact, apply to Northern Ireland.
Yes, this is said to be the sovereign Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is therefore said that when this Parliament decides something, it is decided; when it applies a law to citizens of the United Kingdom, that is the end of the story. Sadly, though, I know—and this House needs to know, and needs to act upon that knowledge—that three times, this House has passed Bills that it said applied to the whole United Kingdom, and three times, the courts in this land overruled Parliament and disapplied parts of those Bills from applying to my constituents and my part of the United Kingdom. Those were the Rwanda Act, the Illegal Migration Act 2023, and the soon-to-be-defunct legacy Act.
How can it be that this sovereign Parliament decides that it is legislating on issues affecting constituents across this United Kingdom and passing laws that it says applies to them all, but it turns out that they do not? The answer, sadly, is article 2 of the Windsor framework, because article 2 purports to trump this sovereign Parliament. In respect of Northern Ireland, it says that where there are EU laws—laws not made by this House, but in a foreign jurisdiction; laws that we do not make and cannot change—that bestow on citizens or those in Northern Ireland rights that are different from those in the rest of the United Kingdom, those rights will trump this sovereign Parliament. That is a frightening reality that this House has been running away from ever since it agreed to the withdrawal agreement and the protocol that is now called the Windsor framework. It comprises a fundamental assault upon not just the sovereignty of this House, but the legitimate expectations of my constituents that they will be subject to the equal citizenship that is supposed to come from being a part of this United Kingdom. Paragraph 1 of article 2 of the Windsor framework states that protections
“enshrined in the provisions of Union law”—
that is European Union law—are “listed in Annex 1”. Many of those provisions are about rights.
Jake Richards
I thank all Members who have contributed to the debate. This Bill is a landmark piece of legislation that gives us the chance to put an end to the prison capacity crisis and build a better justice system. Let me be clear at the outset: this Government believe that prison can work, which is why we are undertaking the largest prison building programme since the Victorian era. Many offenders must be sent to prison, some for a very long time and some for the rest of their lives. The Government have already opened 2,500 places since coming to office, and we have made a commitment to build 14,000 more. Despite what has been said by Opposition Members, by the end of this Parliament, under a Labour Government, there will be more criminals in our prisons than ever before.
However, we cannot only build our way out of this crisis; we must reform sentencing to ensure that our criminal justice system is sustainable. The changes in this Bill will ensure that we never face the situation that the Conservatives left behind: the very real prospect that the most serious offenders would not face prison at all. In a competitive field, the state that the last Government left our prisons in was perhaps the most appalling aspect of the Tory legacy. It was so appalling that, when the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), became aware of the scale of the crisis, he gave up and called an election. It was the last shameful act of a vandalising, incompetent Government. This Bill represents the work of a Government pulling up their sleeves and getting on with the job, however difficult that may be.
Lizzi Collinge (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)
I really welcome this Sentencing Bill, because I think my constituents want not only criminals being punished for their crimes, but the prevention of future crime. It should be about not just punishment—which is rightly owed to a lot of people—but making sure that our communities are safe in the future. Could the Minister lay out how the intensive supervision courts in the Bill will help to do that?
Jake Richards
My hon. Friend is absolutely right; this Bill will not only stabilise the prison system, but go further and tackle reoffending. She mentioned the intensive supervision courts, but there are also our reforms to short-term sentences, which will cut reoffending. We know it will do that because of evidence that the last Conservative Government commissioned. That was why the exact provision on short-term sentencing, which the Tories are all howling with outrage at now, was in the legislation that the last Government put forward—completely hypocritical. My hon. Friend is completely right; this Bill represents a Government who step up to the challenge, rather than putting their head in the sand.
I want to turn to some of the amendments and the specific points of debate that we have heard today, starting with new clause 20, which stands in the name of the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan). However, I will begin by paying tribute to the hon. Member for Maidstone and Malling (Helen Grant), who has put her name to that amendment and with whom I have had the pleasure of speaking on numerous occasions this week in the build-up to the debate. The hon. Lady spoke incredibly powerfully about her own experience in the family courts, and I share that experience. Before coming to this place, I was a barrister who spent a lot of time on legal aid cases, representing local authorities, family members or guardians in exactly the types of cases that she mentioned. I share her concerns.
I also want to pay tribute to the hon. Lady’s constituent, Paula Hudgell, who has been campaigning for a child abuse register with such eloquence and passion for some time. Paula’s work, life and dedication to Tony and others deserves enormous gratitude from across the House. On the Government’s behalf, I thank her for all that she and her family have done and continue to do. I welcome the constructive comments from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle, on this issue. I can be clear that Paula has identified a problem in the system, and we are determined to fix it.
Liz Twist (Blaydon and Consett) (Lab)
I welcome the Minister’s comments on new clause 20 and a possible child protection register. My constituents Gemma Chappell and Rachael Walls have been campaigning for stronger child protection measures after their great-niece, Maya, was murdered by her mother’s abusive partner. Does the Minister agree that measures such as a child protection register and Maya’s law can only help to protect our children—children like Maya, Tony and others? And what steps will he be taking to follow this up?
Jake Richards
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. The answer is yes. A problem in the system has been identified, and we are determined to fix it. It simply cannot be right that some horrific child abusers can have access to children—to live with children or work with children—at the end of their sentences without any system of monitoring or notification after those sentences. The Government cannot support the change today because work needs to be done to understand the demand that different options would place upon different public services. It would be wrong to legislate now without a fuller—or even basic—understanding of whether we have the capacity to safely deliver the register proposed in new clause 20. There are numerous options before us, and it is right that any new system is tailored, in terms of who holds that information and the duties placed upon them, to ensure that particular risks are adequately and proportionately managed.
James Cartlidge
The position that the Minister seems to be articulating is literally bizarre. He has said that he fully agrees about the problem and with the remedy set out by my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan). The Government have had 14 years in Opposition and more than a year in Government, and have introduced the Bill at this time. But the Minister is saying that, notwithstanding the fact they have brought forward this Bill after more than a year in office and agree on the problem and the diagnosis, he is still going to vote tonight—and ask his Back Benchers to vote tonight—against fixing the issue.
Jake Richards
We have identified a problem, but it would be wholly irresponsible to legislate when we have not had the opportunity to ensure that public services can complete the task. The hon. Member criticises us for not taking action on this issue now, but what about the last 14 years? What about the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which reported in November 2022? The last Government did absolutely nothing on those recommendations.
Helen Grant
I hear what the Minister has to say. Will he bring forward a Government amendment to introduce a child cruelty register when the Bill moves to the House of Lords?
Jake Richards
We will speak to Home Office colleagues and others to look at the possibility of doing that, absolutely. The hon. Lady has my word—as does her constituent, who is no doubt watching this debate carefully—that I will work at speed on this issue, but I do not want to make promises that the Government cannot keep, so it is vital that we do the work. We understand the burden that it will place on the services that will need to do the work to make sure that this is done, but I want to be clear that this is a problem. We accept that it is a problem, and we are going to take action to solve it. I will continue to have conversations with the hon. Lady as part of that process, and I welcome the offer of cross-party talks. I am speaking to colleagues in the Department for Education and the Home Office, and I would be eager, if it is appropriate and possible, to speak to Paula herself to ensure that we get this right. But as I said, we want to do that quickly.
I have asked officials in my Department to look at what can be done within the criminal justice system, which sits within the Ministry of Justice, to track child abuse offenders and offences involving child cruelty. I again thank the hon. Member for Maidstone and Malling for her work on this issue. I look forward to working with her, and with other hon. Members who have shown an interest in this issue, to achieve an important change in safeguarding that is absolutely necessary.
I turn to new clause 12, tabled by the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), which seeks to allow prisoners held on remand to access rehabilitative programmes, education, therapy and other support before the start of their sentence. She and I had a brief discussion outside the Chamber about this, and it is important to note that remand prisoners can already access such programmes where prisons run them. The Government accept that there is a lack of such provision in our prisons—something that we absolutely have to improve and work on—but we must remember that remand prisoners have not been convicted of an offence. They cannot be required to undertake any of these services, but it is an issue that I am very much aware of. I will continue to have conversations with her and other colleagues about that over the coming weeks and months as we look to improve those services within prisons.
Andy Slaughter
I congratulate the Minister on his Bill, which can undo the damage done to the prison system over the past 14 years of neglect and mismanagement, but while he is clearly in listening mode, let me say that it is capable of improvement. I tabled a number of amendments that were designed to improve the Bill in Committee last week. I will write to him to remind him what they are, but will he look at those proposals, which were made in good faith, to see whether changes can be made in the other place?
Jake Richards
As always, I welcome the contributions of the Chair of the Justice Committee. I am very aware of the array of amendments that he and I discussed before Committee stage last week. I have not returned to them in the last seven days, but we will no doubt do so in the coming weeks as the Bill progresses.
I will briefly touch on the issue of probation. A number of amendments have been tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) and spoken to by other hon. Members. The Government accept that the Bill places an extra responsibility on the Probation Service. That is why we are investing £750 million in probation—a 45% increase, and the biggest upgrade to investment in probation for a generation. We are investing £8 million to improve technology, so that probation officers can undertake probation work rather than be stifled by the burden of paperwork. We recruited 1,000 probation officers in our first year and 1,300 this year. However, there is undoubtedly more work to be done, and we will undertake that work in the coming weeks and months.
This Government have been very clear that work must be at the heart of our prisons. Ensuring that offenders work will mean that they can be rehabilitated and, when they leave prison, can enter society with the prospect of employment. Clearly, some of the details of how that work provision is provided and the role of the private sector have to be worked out carefully. I am very happy to meet the justice unions parliamentary group to discuss that, but I will never apologise for ensuring that there is work provision in our prisons, because it is absolutely vital. Labour is the party of work. We believe in the inherent value of work, and work in our prisons plays a vital role in rehabilitation.
Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his response on work in prison. I completely agree that it makes a huge difference in enabling prisoners to stop their reoffending behaviour. When 80% of offending is reoffending, costing over £18 billion a year, it is clear that we need to enable people to turn their lives around. Does he agree that our communities will be safer when we are able to tackle reoffending rates?
Jake Richards
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. She raised this important issue in a recent Adjournment debate. We are taking steps to provide further work provision in our prisons, working with the private sector, the third sector and others, but we certainly accept that there is more to do.
I will briefly respond to the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) on new clause 24. He asked me a direct question, and simply put, we do not agree. The Government do not think that this new clause is necessary. Our view is very clear on the legal analysis of the proposed change. The deportation of foreign national offenders will not be prohibited by the provisions of the Windsor framework. If he disagrees with that analysis, I am very happy to meet him to discuss it and look into it. He is absolutely right that it would be wrong if, in the scenario he painted towards the end of his speech, different parts of the country had different provisions for the deportation of foreign national offenders. I want to give him that reassurance at the Dispatch Box.
Jim Allister
Will the Minister give us an assurance that, if there turns out to be a distinction in that foreign nationals cannot be deported from Northern Ireland because of article 2 of the Windsor framework, he will undertake to override that legislatively so that we do have equality right across the United Kingdom?
Jake Richards
As I have said, we do not accept that there is a problem, but if there is, we will look to fix it, because that would not be right. The scenario the hon. and learned Member painted, which we do not accept will happen as a result of this legislation, is not right.
Amendments 15 and 39 on short sentences are among several tabled by the right hon. Member for Tatton (Esther McVey). They aim to widen the scope of the exemption or to eat away at the 12-month definition of short sentences. That is the wrong direction, and I will set out why. First, we need to clear up some myths that have been shared by the Opposition on this issue. Either they are being wilfully ignorant or they simply do not understand the Bill. We are not abolishing short sentences, as the shadow Justice Secretary, the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), wrongly stated in the House on Monday. He was briefly a corporate solicitor, and I would hope he knows better and that he had read the Bill before commenting on it.
Judges will always have discretion to send offenders to prison, and short sentences have an important function, especially in certain cases of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls. The Bill makes it clear that the presumption does not apply where the offender poses a significant risk of physical and psychological harm to a particular individual, where they breach a court order or in exceptional circumstances. In Committee, the Government went further by strengthening this provision to ensure that breaches of all civil court orders, such as the domestic violence protection order, were covered.
Catherine Atkinson
Domestic abuse remains the deepest scar on our society, and it demands our collective action to eradicate it. Please can the Minister outline the measures in the Bill that will help tackle this invidious form of violence and enable improved support for victims during the process?
Jake Richards
In that regard, the most important part of the Bill is the domestic abuse identifier. It has been worked on, on a cross-party basis, with outside organisations that are campaigning for it. It is an innovative and important step to ensure that these cases—it is a broadbrush so that different offences can all be covered by the one term—can be tracked through the criminal justice system and out to safeguarding agencies to ensure that women are kept safe from their abusers.
Dr Mullan
I note the interest of the hon. Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) in domestic abuse and other offences. Will the Minister confirm for her that the vast majority of offenders convicted of offences related to domestic abuse will get out of prison much earlier as a result of this Bill?
Jake Richards
Again, as the shadow Minister knows, for each offence the judge will have full discretion over the sentence. When I have spoken to victims of domestic abuse—I have worked with and represented victims of domestic abuse in court—what they feared most was that, when the prison system was on the verge of collapse, some of the most serious offenders would never face prison at all.
Jake Richards
I will finish this point before I give way, because I am dealing with the right hon. Member’s amendments.
More broadly, we know that suspended sentences and community sentences can be more effective at reducing reoffending. The level of reoffending among those who serve short sentences is staggeringly high. As I have said already, research commissioned by the last Conservative Government—shadow Justice Ministers continue to cite it—shows that short sentences lead to more reoffending, meaning that tens of thousands more criminal offences are committed each year.
If the Opposition vote to drop this provision from the legislation—legislation that the last Conservative Government put forward—they will be voting for more crimes blighting our communities. They know that the measure is common sense because, as I have said, they proposed it; it was a Conservative proposal towards the end of the last Parliament, and they are now opposing it for opposition’s sake. This provision on short-term sentences will begin to break the cycle of reoffending that does such damage to communities across the country, so we reject the amendments tabled by the right hon. Member for Tatton.
Esther McVey
I thank the Minister for allowing me to speak now. Members on both sides of the House were concerned about attacks on emergency workers, and such offenders who are sentenced to 12 months or less will now get suspended sentences. Can he state on the record that that will not be the case—that those offenders will still go to prison, as Members on both sides of the House want? Will he protect emergency workers or will he let them down?
Jake Richards
The judge on any given case, where there has been an awful offence such as that, will have the power under this legislation to send that person to prison. That is absolutely right and that has not changed at all.
I will turn to new clause 19, with which I have huge sympathy. The hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle gave me the opportunity to meet Lenny Scott’s mother, and I will take him up on that. I am happy to do so and I look forward to it. As he knows, the Law Commission is undertaking a review of homicide law, and it would be wrong to pre-empt that, although I am sympathetic to the motivation behind the new clause. As he noted, that awful offender was convicted to life imprisonment with a minimum of 45 years. I understand the mischief that the hon. Member is trying to tackle with the new clause, but we will await the Law Commission’s review of homicide law.
Jake Richards
As I say, I am not going to pre-empt the Law Commission’s review of homicide law, but I am sympathetic to the new clause. I look forward to meeting the victim’s family and we will be taking steps in due course.
I will turn to the earned progression model and new clause 36, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Linsey Farnsworth) and spoken to passionately by my hon. Friend the Member for Hyndburn (Sarah Smith). I met my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley and understand the motivation behind the new clause. There is appetite within Government to go further and to offer positive functionality to the earned progression model, but primary legislation is probably not the appropriate mechanism for delivering a stronger system of incentivising rehabilitation in prisons.
I will briefly explain the current framework as set out in legislation. Bad behaviour, such as acts of violence or possession of a mobile phone, can mean more time in custody. We are making that tougher. To ensure that there is more bite and discipline within our prisons, we are doubling the maximum punishment from 42 days to 84 days per incident by secondary legislation. There will be no automatic release for badly behaved offenders. I accept that I and Lord Timpson should look at the current incentives policy framework to see how we can further incentivise engagement with self-improvement services, whether in work or education.
We expect prisoners to work in prison and, where they have educational needs, to engage in classes that support reading, literacy, maths and vocational skills. That is why we are building partnerships with employers and looking to increase the amount of time that prisoners work in industry to increase employment skills. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley in our meeting, I look forward to working with her and others to look at how we can expand and improve that framework to ensure that the earned progression model is as effective as possible.
Dr Mullan
Does the Minister accept that he is legislating to let those people out automatically? He expects Labour Members to accept the promise that later, at some point, he might introduce legislation so that some of those people—a small proportion—do not get out, but whatever he says at the Dispatch Box, he is legislating to let them out automatically. That is the consequence of this legislation.
Jake Richards
I am getting increasingly confused by these interventions, Madam Deputy Speaker. As I outlined before, the Government are setting out very clear measures to improve discipline in our prisons. That is part of the progression model, learned from the Texas model, which has seen crime reduce by 33%, with 16 prisons closed at the same time. I think we should learn from good examples abroad. The Opposition have no idea what their position is any more.
I will turn to new clause 14, tabled by the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford). The most serious offences are already dealt with in the Crown court, even those involving offenders aged under 18, and whether an offender’s identity is reported on is at the discretion of the judge. There is always a balancing act in the judge’s consideration between the principles of open justice and the welfare of the child, and it is right that discretion remains with the judge. I also gently say to the hon. Member that the scope of the Bill was the adult estate. There is work to be done in the youth justice system; we will be taking steps to look at it in due course, and we may come back to this as part of that provision. However, the focus in this Bill is much more on the adult estate.
The same point also applies to new clause 1, again tabled by the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire. I want to go into some detail on this new clause because it is an important issue. On parenting orders, it is right that those responsible for a child’s care will be involved in their rehabilitation where possible. To that end, courts have the power to issue a parenting order where a child has been convicted of an offence. Parenting orders require the parents or guardian to comply with certain requirements for up to 12 months, and non-compliance can lead to breach proceedings in court.
While parenting orders can be a good option for some children, youth offending teams that I have spoken to often decide that it is more effective to engage and build relationships with parents on a voluntary basis wherever possible, without resorting to a parenting order. Many parents will engage readily and take part in specific parenting support activities and programmes.
On financial orders, children are naturally limited in their access to the funds necessary to meet the conditions of a financial order. To that end, where the child is under 16, any financial order must be met by the parent or guardian. For children aged 16 or 17, the fine may be imposed on either the parent or child. Whether they are used in each particular case is best determined by the court with professional advice from the youth offending team. It is right that the court, which has access to information on a child’s individual circumstances, retains the discretion to determine whether such interventions are well placed to support their rehabilitation.
I undertake to the House today that I will look at this matter as part of our continued review of the youth justice system. We do not think that primary legislation is necessary for a dedicated assessment, which is vague in the form of the new clause. We therefore urge the House to reject this new clause, too.
I turn now to driving. There are an array of measures before the House that relate to driving offences, and there is an understandable sense from the House about the need to go further and to strengthen or tighten our use of driving bans for criminal offences. New clauses have been put down by the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Chichester. I also pay tribute to the work of my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes), among others, and the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Ben Maguire), who has raised this issue in the House.
It should be noted that this legislation offers new provisions to order a driving ban for offenders who receive a suspended or community sentence even if their offence did not relate to driving. However, I have been persuaded in the course of the debates in this House, and in my relatively short period in this role, of the need to look again at driving bans and to do so properly and rigorously. I have organised a meeting with ministerial colleagues in the Department for Transport to discuss this issue and to ensure that the points and individual cases raised in this and last week’s debates are considered in the Government’s road safety strategy, which is being developed. It is right that we undertake proper and further analysis of the current situation and how we can encourage greater use of driving bans.
I promise that I will ensure that this House is updated on the development of that work. I have reached out to road safety charities to ensure that they are consulted and kept informed, too. It is right that we investigate this issue carefully, but it is also important to say that the courts already have the discretion to implement these driving bans in precisely the way that various new clauses seek to do.
I will turn now to new clause 31 on exclusions from recall measures, which was spoken to by the Liberal Democrat spokesperson. A number of offences listed in the new clause are already excluded from the fixed-term recall provisions, while many others carry sentences that would be beyond the scope of the provisions. However, we understand the concerns raised by the hon. Member for Chichester. There is a balance to be struck between recognising the risks posed and ensuring a sustainable system. Before any recalled offender is released, the Probation Service will undertake a thorough review of release plans and licence conditions, ensuring that needs and risks are managed, with a focus on mitigating risks against known victims. This will take account of any patterns of behaviour. Recall remains an important public protection tool where risk escalates. There are still challenges, looking at the 56 days and the provision of education for those who are returned on recall. We have had discussions outside the Chamber and we will continue to do so. It is an issue that Lord Timpson and I are aware of, and we will make progress on it in due course.
I turn very briefly to new clause 42, tabled by the hon. Member for Esher and Walton (Monica Harding), regarding the awful Crown court delays we experience in this country—another element of the rotten legacy we received from the Conservative party. Brian Leveson has reported on this, and the Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services will bring forward the Government’s response in due course.
It is an urgent issue, because all these problems—prison capacity, justice, rehabilitation, reoffending—can be solved only if we have a functioning courts system. Sorting out and stabilising our prisons, reforming sentencing and dealing with the Crown court backlog will be at the heart of the Government’s approach through this Parliament.
Ben Maguire
There was one small omission there. Can the Minister confirm that legal aid provision, which has been brought up by several Members today, will be addressed by the Government?
Jake Richards
Yes. Legal aid is vital, and the right to legal aid is important. The Government understand that right and will continue to look at it. There are financial constraints, which we are all aware of, but legal aid is very important. We have made certain commitments with regard to employment tribunals, and we will continue to look at that over the coming months.
Amendment 7 would remove clause 20 regarding changes to be made to the release of certain offenders. Let us start with the most basic promise of our justice system. When offenders are caught who pose a risk to the public, we ensure that there is capacity in our prisons for them to serve a custodial sentence. It sounds straightforward and a fundamental tenet of the social contract, but that is what was damaged and broken by the Tory Government. In July last year our prisons were essentially full, and the Government disgracefully could not fulfil that most basic promise to the British people. The Conservatives should be ashamed of themselves for the lawless disorder they caused.
The changes that the Bill makes are necessary to stabilise our prison system. There is no alternative. What have heard from Opposition Members, carping from the sidelines, are wholly unserious proposals. Reform UK say that we should build paperweight temporary prisons. Portacabins holding hardened criminals in our backyards? No thank you.
Let me clear: that would place the public at serious risk of harm. We cannot simply rustle up a secure setting to incarcerate dangerous offenders. This Government are building more prison places than we have seen for over 100 years. Following the changes to be brought in by this Bill, there will still be more criminals in prison than ever before—2,000 more by 2029 than there are now. On the other hand, Reform has no serious plans to keep our communities safe.
The Tory position is even more absurd, if that is possible. Last week the shadow Minister began to apologise for the legacy that the Conservatives left behind in our prisons. He said that if he had been Prime Minister or Chancellor it would not have happened. We had five Tory Prime Ministers and seven Chancellors in 14 years. I am not sure that giving another one a go would have made the difference. Meanwhile the shadow Justice Secretary, the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), says, “Deport more foreign offenders. That will solve it all.” Completely unserious.
Under this Government, deportation of foreign national offenders is up by 14%. We have accelerated decision making on deportation, which can now happen when 30% of the sentence has been served. That is something that the Tories never did. Because of this legislation, we can go even further and deport a foreign offender immediately upon sentencing. These are practical measures from a Labour Government who are cleaning up the Tory mess.
Kirith Entwistle (Bolton North East) (Lab)
My father is a retired senior prison officer, and I know at first hand the devastation that 14 years of the Tories brought on our prison system. Does the Minister agree that it is incumbent on us as a Government to clean up the mess they left and fix the system urgently through reforms?
Jake Richards
I thank my hon. Friend’s father for his service. Prison officers across the country do a brilliant and important job. My hon. Friend is absolutely right; I have sat through hours of this debate over the last few weeks, and while it has been important, the crowing from the Tories is galling considering the legacy that they left behind.
This Labour Government faced a crisis when we came into power last summer. The Tories had left our prison system on the brink of collapse, and lawless chaos was on the verge of breaking out. We took action, with plans to build 14,000 prison places—the biggest prison-building programme since the Victorian era—and 2,500 places in our first year, compared to just 500 places that were built during 14 years of the Conservative Government.
Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)
Does the Minister recognise, from his written response to me, that every single one of those 2,405 prison places was authorised by the previous Conservative Government and that the 14,000 prison places he planned to build will not be delivered because the firm that was due to build them has gone into administration?
Jake Richards
The hon. Member always makes that point, and he thinks it a good point. Towards the end of 14 years of Conservative government, the Conservatives suddenly realised they had not done anything to our prisons—it was an absolute shambles—and they started to take action. We have actually delivered those places, with 2,500 in one year compared with just 500 in 14 years. It is shocking. That is not a good point, and he should not keep raising it.
The Government began an independent sentencing review, led by a former Conservative Justice Secretary, to ensure that our system was sustainable. The Bill is that vital step to ensure that we can keep that most basic promise to the British people. We will ensure that there is capacity in our prisons to keep law and order on the streets. We will ensure that our justice system clamps down on reoffending and delivers punishment that works. We will ensure that we will never again face the chaos of Tory misrule. I commend the Bill to the House.
Question put, That the clause be read a Second time.
Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I want to put it on the record that there has unfortunately been a blip on today’s version of the Sentencing Bill’s amendment paper. While I did put my name to several new clauses, I did not put my name to amendments 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33, 34 or 35.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I thank the hon. Member for giving me notice of her point of order. I know that House staff would wish to apologise for the error. She has put the facts on the record, so it will now be clear which measures she actually supported, and those to which her name was added in error.
Third Reading
Jake Richards
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
It is a pleasure to speak at the Third Reading of this landmark legislation. I begin by expressing my gratitude to all those who have worked tirelessly to deliver this important change to our criminal justice system.
It is difficult to exaggerate the scale of the crisis that landed on the desk of the previous Lord Chancellor—now the Home Secretary—and my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Sir Nicholas Dakin), when they entered Government on 5 July 2024. Prisons were at breaking point, with a very real risk that the most dangerous offenders would not face custody at all and that our communities would be left vulnerable. They took urgent, necessary and decisive action to stabilise the system and keep our prisons afloat, and then they went further.
I pay tribute to David Gauke, the former Conservative Justice Secretary, for his work in leading the independent sentencing review. It is a rigorous and serious piece of work, and while the Government did not accept all the recommendations, it is the basis of many of the provisions before the House today. We thank David Gauke for his work, and perhaps look somewhat regretfully back at what a serious Conservative Justice spokesperson looked like.
I thank right hon. and hon. Members for their careful scrutiny of the Bill, and particularly my hon. Friends the Members for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes), for South Shields (Emma Lewell), for Amber Valley (Linsey Farnsworth) and for Forest of Dean (Matt Bishop), and the hon. Members for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty), for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) and for Maidstone and Malling (Helen Grant)—and a particular shout-out for my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin), for her tireless campaigning on tool theft. Through their personal experience, or the experience of their constituents, hon. Members have powerfully raised issues that the Government will continue to look at and address as this legislation progresses.
The debates we have had on this legislation neatly sum up the dividing lines in British politics. The Conservative party is in complete denial, with not a single word of apology. It is their mess that this legislation begins to clean up. The Bill goes further than simply stabilising the system; it confronts reoffending—the cycle of crime that blights so many of our communities—and learns from the Texan earned-progression model to encourage rehabilitation. Confronting reoffending and improving rehabilitation used to be policies that the Conservatives supported, but today they have provided nothing but opposition.
Meanwhile, Reform’s Justice spokesperson, the hon. Member for Runcorn and Helsby (Sarah Pochin), has not bothered to attend this debate at all, and inexplicably said over the weekend that she gets angry when she sees Asian and black people on her TV. She should concentrate on coming up with workable policies; we cannot build portacabin prisons for hardened criminals and keep our communities safe. Reform UK is simply not credible.
This Government, on the other hand, are getting on with the job and making difficult decisions to ensure that we can keep our promise to the British people: we will never let our prison system collapse like the last Government did, when even the most serious offenders might have avoided prison altogether. This Bill will ensure that our prison system is sustainable, while reducing reoffending and crime, and it will keep our communities safe. I commend this Bill to the House.
Dr Mullan
With the leave of the House, I will finish by explaining again that whatever good this Bill may do, the consequences for victims and their families’ sense of justice in this country are grave—the very same victims who want to see prosecution rates improve, who want to see court waiting times reduced, and who want to have a criminal justice system that works better for them in so many ways, but who never agreed to a swap. Victims of crime will welcome the changes and improvements that the Labour party says it can deliver, but they should not have to accept that something is taken away just because something else is given.
I say to Back Benchers that the Government can agree spending settlements and come up with plans, but they cannot create the changes in legislation that are needed for this Bill; Back Benchers do that. When the Government need MPs to change legislation, they can say no, such as the Labour Back Benchers who recently said no to welfare reform.
I remind Members what this Bill will do. This Bill will mean that more than 80% of paedophiles who are sent to prison will get out earlier. This Bill will mean that more than 60% of rapists who are sent to prison will get out earlier. It will mean that, in total, more than 6,000 serious violent and sexual offenders will get out of prison earlier.
I ask Labour Members to imagine that, in a couple of years from now, they have secured all the achievements that they want in relation to the criminal justice system. Perhaps a victim of sexual assault comes to see them—perhaps somebody who feels that their experience was improved as a result of the changes that the Government say they are going to make and who, like many victims of sexual assault, has seen their perpetrator sent to prison for three years. That victim will come and see Labour Members, and say that the perpetrator is getting out of prison after just one year—a third of their sentence.
That will be the reality for two thirds of the people sentenced to prison for sexual assault in this country, because the Bill’s measures will mean that they get out of prison after a year. What will Members say to victims? Will they say what they say to me: “It was the Tories,” “I didn’t know,” or “We had no choice”? How hollow will those words sound to victims and their families? Whatever this Bill might do, the price that victims will pay is simply too high—much too high. The Government have no right to tell victims and their families that they must accept a trade-off: if they want things to improve in one direction, they must accept a betrayal in another.
I ask Labour Members to reflect again on the figures I have given them. They are the correct figures and they are the facts, no matter what those on the Government Front Bench have muttered as I have been speaking. I ask Labour Members to force this Government to make different choices. Do not support this betrayal of victims. [Interruption.] Hon. Members can mutter. It will come back to haunt every single one of you when victims ask you, “Why did you vote for something that lets thousands of serious violent and sexual offenders out of prison earlier?”
Question put, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
Privileges
(1 day, 14 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir Alan Campbell)
I beg to move,
That this House—
agrees with the Committee of Privileges in its First Report of Session 2024–26, Matter referred on 14 July 2025: Omagh Bombing Inquiry;
welcomes the acknowledgement in the Petition from the Secretary of the Inquiry that the Inquiry has taken advice on the application of Article 9 of the Bill of Rights to its proceedings and will be mindful of the privileges of the House;
notes the assurance given by the Inquiry that it will handle material provided to it by the House in accordance with its disclosure protocol;
and accordingly orders that the unpublished transcript of unreported evidence taken by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on 11 November 2009 be provided to the Omagh Bombing Inquiry and that the Inquiry shall have power to disclose or publish it if it thinks fit to do so, after taking relevant advice.
I welcome the consideration by the Committee of Privileges of this matter and its report. If approved, the motion will enable the unpublished transcript of unreported evidence, taken by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in November 2009, to be provided to the Omagh bombing inquiry, and enable the inquiry to publish that evidence if it thinks fit to do so, subject to relevant advice.
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi) and the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) for raising this issue in the House in July. I also thank the Chair of the Privileges Committee, the hon. Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa), for his Committee’s swift work in considering the matter. I commend in particular his Committee’s sensitivity in handling this subject, as well as its commitment to facilitating the important work of the Omagh bombing inquiry.
In relation to parliamentary privilege, the report highlights important points on the matter of exclusive cognisance and the privileges of this House. Be in no doubt, Madam Deputy Speaker, that the Government support the rights of this House and will act to defend them. I hope that the House will support this motion today, and I commend it to the House.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I call the Chair of the Privileges Committee.
Alberto Costa (South Leicestershire) (Con)
I support the motion proposed by the Leader of the House and thank him for his kind words about me and other Members involved in this matter. The motion is, of course, about the report drafted by the Committee of Privileges. The task the House gave the Committee was, in essence, a simple one: to consider whether to release a document to the Omagh bombing inquiry.
Throughout our work, the Committee has had in mind that the Omagh bombing was one of the greatest atrocities committed in Northern Ireland during the period known as the troubles and afterwards. In Omagh, on 15 August 1998—a summer Saturday in the centre of a busy town where people were going about their everyday business—a 500 lb car bomb exploded, taking the lives of 29 people and two unborn children and injuring hundreds more people, with repercussions for thousands of relatives, friends and people across Northern Ireland. In short, we felt from the beginning that there was an overwhelming public interest in our helping the Omagh bombing inquiry in any way we could.
The inquiry is charged with considering an allegation made by a former senior police officer that police investigators did not have access to intelligence materials that might reasonably have enabled them to disrupt the activities of dissident republican terrorists before the Omagh bombing. That allegation was made to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on 11 November 2009.
I thank the hon. Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), who chairs that Committee today, and commend the words she has said previously about this matter and the work she has done. I also put on the record my thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare), who moved the original motion on behalf of the hon. Member for Gower, as the former Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.
Part of the evidence taken by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee was not reported to the House, and so has never been published. We were asked to make a recommendation on the desirability of releasing that evidence to the inquiry. There were procedural and, perhaps, constitutional difficulties in that.
The terms of reference drawn up by the then Government enabled the inquiry to consider the allegation made by the now retired police officer. The unreported transcript of his evidence was not, however, the property of that or any Government; it belongs to the House of Commons. As it is unreported, it has not been seen by current Members of the House, other than those who sit on the Committee of Privileges; nor will this motion make it available to the House of Commons. In short, in proposing that we provide the transcript to the inquiry, we are giving control of the transcript to that inquiry. This, so far as we are aware, is an unprecedented procedural step. However, I praise the inquiry for its careful, helpful and co-operative approach to the matters of parliamentary privilege raised by this step.
I also thank the inquiry for the assurances it has given my Committee about how it will handle the material, and in particular what steps it will take to ensure that any national security concerns have been fully discussed with the security services before it shares the document or relies on it for its own conclusions. Those assurances may be found in the appendix to our report. Thus, given the assurances received from the inquiry and in the light of the overwhelming public interest in providing aid to an inquiry into the murder of so many people, I trust that the House will feel confident that my Committee has recommended an appropriate course of action.
We have added to our report a recommendation that the Government remind Ministers and officials, when drawing up terms of reference for future similar inquiries or for public bodies, that more care might be taken when it comes to intruding on matters that fall within the exclusive cognisance of Parliament. That is not in any way intended to be a partisan point; the terms of reference for this inquiry were drawn up by the previous Government. We would wish all Governments to take more care in future to recognise the rights of the House of Commons. I hope that the Minister can provide some reassurance on that point.
I also place on record my thanks not only to fellow members of the Privileges Committee—I see one or two in their place this evening—but to the Clerks of the Committee and the advisers who helped us to navigate what is a challenging constitutional point. To conclude, the Committee believes that the House should do all it can to help the Omagh bombing inquiry in its work. We wish the inquiry well as it continues to seek the truth behind the terrible events of 15 August 1998. We should always remember that truly dreadful human tragedies lie behind what we are doing this evening. I commend the motion to the House.
Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)
I thank the Leader of the House for bringing this motion to the House, and I thank the hon. Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa), Chair of the Privileges Committee, and the Committee’s members for the work they have done on this matter.
On 9 July, I presented a petition from Tim Suter, the secretary of the Omagh bombing inquiry, asking the House to allow the inquiry to access unreported evidence from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. As current Chair of the Committee, I know how important it is that the inquiry should be able to do its work. I was happy to present the petition as the first step in getting the inquiry the information it needed.
It is an important principle that the House has control of parliamentary papers. Committees can choose to report those papers to the House, but if they do not do so, those papers are only accessible if the House so orders. It is also important that people who give evidence to a Committee know that if their evidence is not reported, it will not be released without proper consideration of the issues. As it was unreported evidence, my Committee —the current Committee—did not have access to the evidence. There was no way for the House to assess whether the information could be published in whole or redacted, or what the inquiry might need.
The Privileges Committee was asked to look at this matter and the papers were referred to it. I am grateful to the Committee for its work. As the Committee makes clear, it is possible that some of the information in the transcript may need to be restricted. It invites the House to take the unusual step of handing over material that it has not seen. I think that is entirely appropriate. The inquiry knows what information is useful to it. The Committee has received written confirmation that the evidence released to it will be treated according to its disclosure protocol to check material relevant to national security and that there will be a security check. In these circumstances, I support the motion, since I am confident that careful consideration has been given to the issues involved.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank everyone involved in producing the report and the Leader of the House for bringing it to the House for us to consider. I recall very well where I was on that fateful day when the news came through. It has always been very important to me, and indeed to everyone in this House, to ensure that justice is done. I was born in Omagh—I remember little about it, because I was only there as a wee baby—so I always want to see justice done for all those who lost loved ones.
I therefore warmly welcome the report, which is a positive step forward. My party leader—my right hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson)—my party and I have encouraged full co-operation, which is what we want to see. I thank the Chair of the Committee for all the swift conclusions brought forward. It would have been untenable for the House of Commons to withhold information that might aid the inquiry’s understanding and assist the families in their quest for truth and justice.
Sir Alan Campbell
I am grateful to all hon. Members for their contributions to this short debate. In particular, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), who is an excellent Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, and the hon. Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa), the Chair of the Committee of Privileges, who spoke with the typical sensitivity and thoughtfulness that we have come to expect from him. I also thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for welcoming the action that we are about to take. As ever, he brings personal reflection and experience to our debates, and I thank him for it.
I will of course draw Departments’ attention to the words of the Chair of the Committee of Privileges, and indeed those of the Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. As they both will have seen, my right hon. Friend the Northern Ireland Secretary is with us on the Front Bench and will have heard those words directly.
Question put and agreed to.
Business without Debate
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
With the leave of the House, we will take motions 5 and 6 together.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)),
Private International Law
That the draft Private International Law (Implementation of Agreements) Act 2020 (Extension of Operative Period) Regulations 2025, which were laid before this House on 2 September, be approved.
Sports Grounds and Sporting Events
That the draft Football Governance Act 2025 (Specified Competitions) Regulations 2025, which were laid before this House on 13 October, be approved.—(Gen Kitchen.)
Question agreed to.
Offshore Wind Supply Chain: Tyneside
(1 day, 14 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mary Glindon (Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend) (Lab)
I thank Mr Speaker for granting the debate. I do not underestimate the challenges that the Minister and her colleagues face, because the transition is a monumental task. Tonight I will set out the case for further Government support being needed for the offshore wind sector in places such as Tyneside.
Smulders Projects UK, which I have worked with for many years, is a critical employer in the sector and in my constituency. Smulders is not only a key global player but the UK’s leading provider of offshore wind substations and foundation structures, including monopiles, transitional pieces and jackets. Those form the essential building blocks of the critical infrastructure required for UK renewable energy security.
Smulders, based in Wallsend, is one of many businesses along the Tyne that are markers of the Tyne’s proud and enduring legacy. Throughout history, the Tyne has stepped up when the country has needed it most. [Interruption.] Today it stands ready to aid the transition to renewables. Do excuse me, Madam Deputy Speaker; I am very proud of the Tyne.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I call Jim Shannon on the offshore wind supply chain in Tyneside.
Jim Shannon
I spoke to the hon. Lady before the debate and explained the connection between her constituency and mine, and why it is so important. I also want to encourage the hon. Lady, who has been a great friend of mine in the House in all the time I have been here. We share many things, including an interest in this subject matter, but we also share our faith. It is important that we have that relationship across the Chamber. Does she not agree that while Tyneside is a major hub for offshore wind supply, we must continue to invest in new and better methodology in renewable energy, such as harnessing tidal energy through Strangford lough and Newcastle University’s wave energy device, which contributes to the area’s role in marine energy innovation? These are things that we can do better together.
Mary Glindon
The hon. Gentleman has long been a friend of mine, and he not only speaks well of his own constituency and Northern Ireland, but is very supportive of all of us across the Irish sea. He is right in what he says, and I think we are both justly proud of what is being achieved by the universities and industries in our areas. That is why we are standing here tonight and making our plea to the Government.
This week, the Government set the budget for allocation round 7 to support new offshore wind projects. RenewableUK, along with other industry voices, has expressed concern that the amount allocated is likely to procure only a quarter of the 20 GW capacity available in this year’s tender. This is a very recent announcement, so I would be grateful if the Minister could set out how the budget aligns with the Government’s plans to maximise the number of green jobs in Britain.
Against the backdrop of AR7, there is real concern regarding the alarming drift towards UK offshore wind turbine foundation structures being procured from lower-cost regions such as the middle east, the Asia-Pacific region—APAC—and China. Recent examples of this include EDF’s Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm, Ocean Winds’ Moray West OWF and the Inch Cape OWF. For these UK projects, all the foundation structures were imported from lower-cost fabrication yards located in the middle east, Indonesia and China. I understand the approach taken by the previous Government and developers to drive down and minimise capital expenditure, but that approach adversely impacts the operations of our own UK companies, which are unable to compete on cost alone.
Recent mechanisms and initiatives such as the clean industry bonus included in AR7 are of course welcome, but there is a fear that these alone will not prevent the further drift of foundation fabrication away from the UK to these lower-cost regions. With reference to the AR7 clean industry bonus allocation framework, there are two CIB criteria that developers could meet. Criterion 1 refers to “investment in shorter supply chains”, where an investment may be made in a deprived area in the UK. Given the socioeconomic challenges that Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend face, option 1 is a welcome incentive, and I look forward to the outcome of the AR7 projects, when announced. Criterion 2 refers to “investment in more sustainable means of production”, where investments may be made in one or more manufacturing facilities or installation firms that have either committed to, or set their science-based targets by, the application date anywhere in the world.
There is real concern that this approach opens the door to unfair competition from lower-cost regions such as China, APAC and the middle east, specifically for the supply of critical offshore wind infrastructure such as wind turbine generator foundations, jackets, transition pieces and monopiles. Therefore, outside the AR7 framework, and given the criticality of this infrastructure to our energy security, will the Minister set out what additional measures or guarantees can be put in place to ensure that a significant portion of offshore wind infrastructure is secured and fabricated by UK companies such as Smulders? It is essential that businesses in the UK continue to invest, innovate and introduce new technologies and processes to optimise efficiency as well as competitiveness, as my hon. Friend the Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) said. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for UK companies to compete equally with overseas yards on such an uneven playing field.
On the Tyne, not only are supply chains held back by unfair competition; they are also constrained by physical barriers. The power cables over the Tyne are an obstacle to businesses securing work for large renewable energy structures, which risks possible net gross value added benefits of up to £1.2 billion. The height restriction in place is 87 metres. However, wind turbine jackets for AR7 and future rounds will be in excess of 100 to 120 metres high. It means that Smulders cannot bid for certain contracts despite having world-class facilities and the sharpest minds ready to go. It has been proposed that the removal of the cables will be completed in 2032. I have campaigned since 2017 for a solution to this issue—2032 is too late. The jobs of the future have become the jobs of today, and this is an international race. Yards in the middle east will not wait for 2032, APAC will not wait, and neither will China.
In July, I welcomed the Secretary of State’s commitment to engage with me and Ofgem to try to accelerate the work. I look forward to meeting the Energy Minister next month to discuss it further. I would be grateful if the Minister reaffirmed the Department’s support for bringing forward this work and reaffirm that the Government will press the National Grid for an earlier completion date.
I turn to the issue of ensuring a more consistent revenue stream for our domestic fabricators. We have seen disruption, delay and postponement in the promised pipeline of offshore wind projects because of failures during earlier leasing and allocation rounds. Projects from AR5 and AR6 are all now complete, or very near to completion. Unfortunately, however, insufficient projects were approved and insufficient contracts were awarded to the UK to ensure a continuous pipeline of work for companies such as Smulders. The result of that failure is a very real two-year chasm in UK offshore wind manufacturing. From the start of 2026, effectively, zero UK offshore wind projects will be in fabrication.
The next tranche of projects will be dependent on the successful outcome of AR7 and the clean industry bonus incentives offered to developers. The results from AR7, however, will not be known until quarter 1 in 2026, thus creating a two-year gap. This is the effective period from project approval and contract award, to finalising engineering and procuring materials before industry can start cutting steel. Optimistically, that could begin in quarter 3 or quarter 4 of 2027, with offshore infrastructure in place again two years after that in the final quarter of 2029. However, the first power generation from AR7 projects before August 2029 is a stretched target.
Smulders has already invested over £100 million at its Wallsend facilities based on previous Government assurances of continued UK offshore wind fabrication projects. What level of operational or other support is the Government willing to provide to established tier-1 fabricators such as Smulders to secure the jobs of over 600 well-paid workers during this two-year gap in fabrication?
I was delighted to hear the Secretary of State’s commitment during party conference to a clean energy jobs plan, which will see the sector grow from 430,000 jobs today to 830,000 by 2030. That will include tens of thousands of new roles for engineers, welders, electricians and construction workers. I support the Government’s ambition for further growth. The skills for these jobs are being developed and nurtured by companies in Tyneside, as well as by the Energy Academy in my constituency, which is set to expand following the combined authority’s commitment to invest £8.5 million in the college. Well-paid, secure jobs can be created through the awarding of contracts to existing UK tier-1 fabricators.
For UK companies, the outcome and results from allocation round 7 are critical to their continued operations in this country. More crucially, the outcome of the foundation contract awards will ultimately determine the long-term success or failure of our businesses—and, I believe, the future of the UK offshore wind fabrication sector. Only foundation contracts awarded domestically can provide the necessary volume of serial, repeat fabrication needed to achieve the Government’s clean jobs target, and secure the necessary skills required for a high-paid clean energy sector. I repeat my call on the Government to take further steps to ensure that a substantial allocation of AR7 foundation fabrication is awarded here in the UK.
As I said, at its peak, Smulders supports over 600 high-skilled and well-paid local jobs in Tyneside and across the region, and its primary concern is to secure those jobs in the long term. It is in the national interest for UK businesses to succeed with those projects, as they are creating highly skilled and dependable jobs that will not only strengthen the offshore wind industry but support training in skills required for associated industries such as defence, nuclear and the wider engineering sector, as well as supporting other major British infrastructure initiatives. The drifting overseas of such work threatens domestic jobs, future economic investment and the UK’s long-term security.
This is a critical juncture for the UK offshore wind sector, so will the Minister meet me, representatives from Smulders and the wider Tyneside supply chain to discuss urgently the concerns that I have set out about the areas in which industry needs further support, and so that we can present our aspirations for the clean energy future? Although the transition presents challenges from all angles, it presents even more opportunities. The Tyne is open for business, and it stands ready to play a defining role.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I call the Minister. I believe that this is her first time at the Dispatch Box for an Adjournment debate.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Katie White)
It certainly is!
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (Mary Glindon) on securing a debate on this important issue, and on her passion, authenticity and representation of her area. I do not think that any of us are in doubt of those qualities tonight.
I know that this matter is close to the hearts of many Members and their constituents, particularly in our industrial heartlands. This Government are on a mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero. Offshore wind is the beating heart of that mission. The sector is already providing secure clean energy, as well as thousands of skilled jobs, bringing growth and opportunities to communities such as those in Tyneside.
The sector is also an international success story. At the end of June, the UK was generating 16.7 GW from offshore wind. That is the highest amount in Europe, and worldwide we are second only to China—a country with a population roughly 20 times the size of ours. We have consented 4.2 GW since we came into office, and we have 75 GW of capacity in the pipeline, which equates to a 450% increase on our current, world-leading amount. We also have the second most installed floating offshore wind capacity—after Norway—and, at over 25 GW, the largest pipeline of floating offshore wind projects in the world. And yet we are confident that the best is yet to come.
From north-east England to Scotland and the Celtic sea, incredible things are happening across the country in this industry. The Government are determined to do everything we can to help our offshore wind sector to thrive and to deliver for the British people. The contract for difference scheme is vital to our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower. Allocation rounds 7 to 9 are crucial for the delivery of our goal of clean power by 2030 and for protecting households from volatile fossil fuel prices.
On Monday, we confirmed that a total budget of £900 million is available for fixed-bottom offshore wind in allocation round 7—an increase on the previous allocation round’s initial budget when comparing on a like-for-like basis. That is the initial budget for fixed-bottom offshore wind, but we have the ability to view unsuccessful bids and adjust the budget later if we deem that doing so is good value for consumers. We have fundamentally reformed the offshore wind system to get better value for money. Under the old system, the Government set a budget and had no further control over quantity and price.
We recognise the importance of robust domestic supply chains both in supporting the continued growth of this industry and in ensuring that British workers and communities benefit from the jobs that are created. The Government have therefore set out a package of support, worth up to £1 billion, for offshore wind supply chains. This includes £300 million from Great British Energy to provide upfront public investment, £400 million from the Crown Estate to support new infrastructure, including ports, manufacturing, and research and testing facilities, and £300 million from the offshore wind industry to deliver new investment into supply chains such as advanced turbine technologies and foundations.
Jim Shannon
I welcome the Minister to her place and wish her every success and happiness in her role. I will try not to be too hard with my questions. She referred for the contracts for difference scheme. I know it is something that Northern Ireland has to do itself, but at this early stage will she please engage with the relevant Minister in the Assembly, and perhaps help us to move our scheme forward?
Katie White
I will ensure that the Minister for Energy is aware of his issues and feeds them in. I am sure he will—I believe he is a friend of the hon. Gentleman.
This is a genuinely transformative package of investment, and by providing that support, as well as clarity in our plans, we are giving investors and developers the confidence to invest in the future. It is expected that the £1 billion package of investment will directly and indirectly mobilise billions more, as well as supporting thousands of jobs in our industrial heartlands. We have also introduced a clean industry bonus to reward projects that invest in coastal communities, industrial heartlands and cleaner supply chains.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend said, criteria 2 of the clean industry bonus rewards investments in cleaner supply chains, measured by sign-up to the science-based target initiative for decarbonisation. It so happens that the overwhelming majority of qualifying suppliers are in the UK or the European Union—very few suppliers outside the region qualify under criteria 2. It was great to see the clean industry bonus auction smash bid expectations earlier this year, and we look forward to seeing the investments come in after auction round 7, showing that when the Government lead with ambition, industry is ready to match it.
We also know that we will need even more skilled workers to achieve our mission in the years ahead, and with our analysis suggesting that the offshore wind sector alone could support up to 100,000 jobs by 2030, we are determined to ensure that our industrial communities benefit. That is why we have set up the Office for Clean Energy Jobs, which will provide training and support to the workforce in the clean energy and net zero sectors. Our priority is creating good jobs in Britain’s industrial heartlands, including a just transition for the industries based in the North sea. On 19 October, we published our clean energy jobs plan, which sets out how the Government will work in partnership with industry and trade unions to help workers in all parts of the country to benefit from these opportunities, supporting our existing workforce to find new opportunities, training up the next generation, and supporting our young people to get good, unionised jobs.
Let me turn to our support for the north-east. Tyneside is ideally placed to service the offshore energy sector, including one of the world’s largest offshore wind markets. The Tyne has the capacity to become a major hub for the installation and maintenance of offshore wind farms, and to service the supply chain that will grow from it. In 2023, the UK Infrastructure Bank invested £50 million in the Port of Tyne as part of a debt refinancing package of up to £100 million. That finance was provided to regenerate and redevelop land, building a base for a growing number of clean energy industries in the area, including offshore wind, advanced manufacturing and other renewable activities.
In September, the Port of Tyne announced that it is investing £150 million to transform 23 acres into the Tyne clean energy park, adding 400 metres of deep-water quayside to support offshore renewables, clean energy and advanced manufacturing. According to the Port of Tyne, the redevelopment could create up to 12,000 jobs and deliver £5.6 billion to the economy. I look forward to working with my hon. Friend to help us realise that potential. On the transmission cable over the River Tyne, I confirm that the Government are open to discussing the progress of the proposals to underground the cable with National Grid. The decision for approving the project lies with Ofgem as the independent regulator, which must demonstrate that there are benefits to consumers when approving network projects.
To sum up, our offshore wind sector is a British success story of which we should all be proud. Thanks to the perfect conditions provided by the North sea, as well as our legendary offshore workforce and supply chains, we are perfectly placed to keep leading the way. But this Government are not content with simply winning the race for clean power; we want to build the industries of the future here in Britain and, in so doing, we want to create a new generation of good, skilled jobs for the communities we depend on and to ensure that the economic benefits of the clean power transition are felt in Tyneside and in every corner of our country.
I know that the Minister for Energy had a fantastic visit to the Smulders UK yard in Wallsend in the summer, and he will be happy to meet my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend.
Question put and agreed to.