Integration and Community Cohesion

Lord Rook Excerpts

Thursday 13th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rook (Lab) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, it is an honour to address this House today. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, for this debate and her inspiring introduction and personal story. In this, my maiden speech, I wish to thank those who have supported me over many years: my family, friends and colleagues. Thanks also go to my supporters: the noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley, with whom I have enjoyed considerable collaboration on the subject of this debate; and the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock. I began volunteering for the noble Baroness over 12 years ago. The thought then that we might sit together on these Benches was implausible at best. Her friendship and guidance have been invaluable to me.

Working at the Good Faith Partnership, I have spent much of the last decade addressing issues of community cohesion. These early weeks of induction into your Lordships’ House have served as a timely reminder of five critical lessons on social integration. The first lesson is that integration does not happen by accident; it requires a welcoming community. At the Good Faith Partnership, we work with the ChurchWorks Commission, chaired by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester, to host the Warm Welcome campaign. Working with faith and community groups, charities, businesses and local authorities, Warm Welcome provides over 5,000 warm spaces for isolated and disadvantaged individuals throughout the UK.

Although the House of Lords is not yet registered as a Warm Welcome centre—possibly a good thing, given the problems with the heating—Members and staff have provided the warmest of welcomes to me and other new Members in recent weeks. I am particularly grateful to my noble friends Lady Smith of Basildon and Lord Kennedy of Southwark and to noble friends and noble Lords across this House for their warm welcome. I also thank Black Rod, the House of Lords staff, the police and security teams, the hospitality team and, of course, the doorkeepers. When a community works this hard to welcome newcomers, integration becomes so much easier.

I come to our second lesson: integration is always a two-way street. It requires real effort from both newcomers and welcomers. As an Anglican priest, I know what it is to need regular mercy and instruction. I am thankful for grace when I have erred, and for kind and gentle correction where necessary. As a newcomer and “Rookie” Member, if noble Lords will pardon the pun, I will no doubt require both of those for some time to come.

On my second day in your Lordships’ House, one of the doorkeepers asked me, “Lord Rook, what musical instrument do you play?”. At first, I wondered whether this was a question asked of every Member. However, I soon realised that the doorkeeper had read my introduction papers and noticed that my alma mater is the Royal College of Music. It turns out that both the doorkeeper and I play the trombone—a noble instrument indeed—but your Lordships have nothing to fear; I retired many years ago due to letters from music lovers everywhere. The doorkeeper’s initiative, however, serves to illustrate the third lesson. Integration happens when communities take initiative and get to know their newest members.

I have twice been seconded to and served the office of the Labour leader as a faith and civil society adviser, most recently under Sir Keir Starmer and previously, during the 2015 general election campaign, under Ed Miliband. This is where I first had the pleasure to work with my noble friend Lord Raval. I thank him for his kind words earlier, and I am certainly forward to working with him in this House in the future.

Following the election in 2015, Europe faced the devastating fallout of the escalating conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. We were facing the largest refugee crisis since World War II. Here at Westminster, we were overwhelmed by the public response. Institutions and individuals from every corner of this country crowded in, offering help and demanding action. This leads us to the fourth lesson of integration. Integration requires the investment of many different groups and stakeholders. From 2015, the Good Faith Partnership worked with government and civil society to support the co-creation of the community sponsorship scheme for refugees. I am for ever grateful to my noble friend Lord Dubs and the noble Lord, Lord Harrington, for the vital role they played in securing and establishing this initiative. As a result, local communities invested considerable time and resource, welcoming and integrating hundreds of vulnerable families. A few years later, again amid tragic circumstances, that model enabled UK citizens to welcome over 200,000 Ukrainians through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

I grew up in Portsmouth, where my family were part of the Southsea Salvation Army. A Salvation Army upbringing brought certain obligations. I have already made mention of the trombone playing. Then there is the marching: parading up and down the seafront, to and from open-air church services. With the marching comes the praying—in particular, in teenage years, praying that your schoolmates do not spot you marching up and down the seafront to open-air church services. Above all, with the Salvation Army comes the relentless commitment to serving the last, the lost and the least. My fifth and final lesson on integration is the lesson I learned first of all. Communities become more cohesive when we include and integrate our most vulnerable neighbours.

I have chosen to be Lord Rook of Wimbledon. In 1993, the now Lady Rook and I moved into the area to volunteer at a Salvation Army youth project working with disadvantaged teenagers in Raynes Park. The youth club grew into a community centre, that community centre became a church and, decades later, among other notable achievements, that church was privileged to welcome one of the first families of Syrian refugees through the community sponsorship scheme. On my way to your Lordships’ House, I pass the home where that family lives to this very day. I thank God for the many who worked to welcome and integrate them and, what is more, for the different ways that this one family has contributed to our community.

Following violent disturbances in many towns and cities last summer, there has been much discussion about the importance of integration and cohesion. So how do we build cohesive communities and a welcoming country? In response, we would do well to heed the welcoming example of this House and relearn the lessons that lead to faster and fuller integration. We must remember that integration does not happen by accident. It is a two-way street. It requires the initiative and investment of many and relies upon our commitment to include those who are too often forgotten and ignored.

I again thank the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, for raising this discussion and look forward to using my seat, place and voice to contribute to this and other vital conversations in days to come.