Train Services: Extreme Weather

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is, as always, a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I thank the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for securing the debate, which is another example of how he continues to deliver assiduously for his constituents—well done to him.

The events of the past year have given us a brutal wake-up call. We have seen record-breaking heatwaves causing rails to buckle, severe storms bringing down overhead lines and torrential downpours flooding key transport arteries right across the United Kingdom. This is no longer a temporary seasonal inconvenience; it is a permanent disruption to the daily lives of our constituents, and it requires an urgent and systematic response.

I want to give a perspective from Northern Ireland, which the Minister will be glad to hear he has no responsibility for. However, I wish him well; he always gives us helpful responses to the questions that we ask. Northern Ireland MPs fly over here, get the Heathrow Express—or, depending where the flight lands, the Gatwick Express or the docklands light railway—and then take the tube the rest of the way. There are occasions when there are delays on the railway due to obstructions. Sometimes there are people on the Heathrow Express line, and last summer a bus hit a bridge and the Gatwick Express was unable to progress any further until the obstacle had been cleared. There are always problems. That is one of the reasons why travelling is one of those things that I endure—because there is always hassle and there are always delays.

While much of the national debate naturally focuses on major inter-city networks, I want to draw attention to the harsh realities facing my people in Northern Ireland, particularly in my own constituency of Strangford. I want to talk about the delays that happen and how they affect people’s daily lives, social engagements and their ability to have normality. We must look at how infrastructure failures are directly impacting two crucial groups: our children trying to access education, and our hard-working citizens trying to travel to work.

Let us look first at our young people and children who are simply trying to better themselves through education. We have students from across the Ards peninsula and the wider Strangford area who travel every single day to universities and colleges in Belfast and right across the Province to Londonderry. Their only way of getting there, if they do not have a car because that would be too expensive, is the railway. On many occasions now, when the rain comes, it is a biblical downpour, and the impact right away on roads and gullies is incredible.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the issue now is not just confined to the south and south-east of the United Kingdom, as it may have been 20 or 30 years ago, and that given the increasing warming of our climate, it is imperative that all our devolved institutions, both north and south, need to ensure that they take steps to try to mitigate the problem that we see everyone encountering?

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend for those wise words. He underlines the very issue. When extreme weather hits Northern Ireland, as we have seen with increasingly violent storms and localised flooding, our transport network instantly buckles.

For a student heading from our area to the Magee campus in Coleraine or Londonderry, a single weather-related rail restriction, a flooded track or a missed connection means missing vital lectures, labs and exams. They are fighting against a system where a simple weather warning can completely derail their academic work. We cannot expect our young people to fulfil their educational potential when the physical infrastructure to get them to the lecture hall is entirely unreliable or continually breaks down.

The situation is even more acute for further education college students in my constituency who are travelling south to campuses in Downpatrick. Many of these young people depend entirely on the Strangford lough ferry service to bridge the gap between Portaferry and Strangford village. That ferry is supposed to be a lifeline—a one-mile crossing that replaces what would otherwise be a gruelling 46-mile journey by road. Yet we have repeatedly seen sudden suspensions of the ferry service due to severe storm conditions, high tides and subsequent mechanical strains caused by vessels operating in extreme weather. When the ferry stops, the education of these teenagers stops. Bus substitutions are hastily put in place, but they cannot make up for the hours that are lost. These students arrive at college exhausted and late, or—even worse—they are unable to get there at all. They face attendance penalties through absolutely no fault of their own.

The Minister will probably look at a map and say to me, “Well, Strangford does not have a railway line.” No, it does not, but our workers and our commuters are resourceful. Thousands of my constituents utilise the Belfast to Bangor rail line, which the hon. Member for North Down (Alex Easton) referred to. It is located just 10 minutes away from the edge of my constituency, so it is a good way to get a mainline train into Belfast; it is not too far away and its location means that people do not have to park their car in Belfast. Our workers, jobseekers and commuters drive, get lifts or catch connecting buses to Bangor station every morning to access a wider employment market in Greater Belfast, where the jobs are.

What happens when extreme weather strikes? On the Bangor line, as the hon. Member for North Down said, trees fall and there are leaves on the line; there are always problems. The Bangor line suffers immediate cancellations, or trains terminate early or skip vital stops, such as the City hospital stop or the Grand Central stop.

When the Bangor line fails due to weather-stressed infrastructure, the knock-on effect on Strangford’s workforce is immediate and devastating. It is the low-wage shift workers, the apprentices and the people who do not have the luxury of working from home who suffer the most. They are left stranded on cold platforms, they lose vital wages and on occasion they face disciplinary action from their employers for being late. Someone cannot say every time, “The train is late again today”, and expect it to be a normal excuse. It is the real reason, but repeatedly using it as excuse does not always work out.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

It is interesting listening to the hon. Gentleman’s speech and realising the commonalities that we have, even though our constituencies are so far apart, with mine being located on the south coast of England.

A lot of my constituents travel outside the city of Chichester for work; similarly, a lot of people living in Bognor Regis and Portsmouth come into Chichester for work. All these people are encouraged to use public transport, but since extreme weather is rapidly becoming just weather, does he agree that it is incredibly frustrating for people who are constantly being told, “We are sorry for the disruptions, but we are experiencing extreme weather”? On 40 days this year temperatures have reached over 30 degrees. Similarly, leaves on the line can stop trains from running; indeed, the other day swans on the line stopped the trains from running on our arterial railway route. We need to get a grip and ensure that trains can run, so that people can continue to work.

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[Jim Shannon]

The hon. Lady has given an incredibly accurate explanation of what happens in her constituency. When we look across the world, we see that Canada has extreme weather—snow in the winter and real warmth in the summer—but they seem to be able to cope with it all right. We must ask ourselves why we cannot adjust or perhaps learn from what Canada does.

I suggest that the social contract is being broken. We are asking people to slog their guts out and go to work every day, yet the state—as the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) suggested—is failing to provide basic, resilient infrastructure to allow them to do so safely and reliably.

I say this respectfully: the national funding allocated for weather resilience must not be hoarded by the Treasury or spent exclusively on major English inter-city routes. We need that investment deployed with absolute urgency into regional infrastructure. We need it to be spent on securing the resilience of the Translink services, on stabilising the vessels on the Strangford ferry service, and on ensuring that vital regional feeder lines, such as the Bangor rail track, are fully weatherproofed against extreme temperatures and flooding.

The Minister probably does this already, but just to have it on the record, I will ask him to engage with the relevant Minister in the Northern Irish Assembly. Will he hold discussions and exchange thoughts and ideas about how we can better learn to deal with the extreme weather—whether the warm summers of 35° to 40° or the bad weather in the wintertime—that means that we are not able to travel in the same way? While exchanging those ideas with the Northern Ireland Assembly Minister, will he commit to resilience funding being released? Let us fix these lines, protect our commuters and ensure that extreme weather stops putting the lives, education and careers of our people on hold.

Community Transport Services: Minibus Drivers

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Freddie van Mierlo (Henley and Thame) (LD)]

I would like to start by talking about FISH, although not the aquatic kind, you will be pleased to know, Madam Deputy Speaker, given the topic of this debate.

FISH stands for Friends in Sickness and Health. It is a wonderful charity in the village of Sonning Common in my constituency. Among other things, its volunteers run a minibus service for older residents and residents with disabilities to enable them to more easily get around the villages in my area. Their minibuses are perfect for providing people who would otherwise really struggle to leave the house with a trip out to the shops or to the market. Morrisons, I am told, remains ever popular, and the extra space on the bus is vital for bringing back all the shopping.

FISH are not alone either in my constituency. Henley HandyBus, supported by Henley town council, operates daily, and the Woodcote Volunteers host events, providing transport to their monthly tea parties. But it was Sonning Common’s FISH group that brought to my attention the issue of D1 licences when we met in October here in Westminster. The Minister is likely to be familiar with the issue, but I will briefly describe it in the words used to explain it to me.

A category D1 licence gives a driver permission to drive a minibus with up to 16 passengers and weighing up to 7.5 tonnes. Prior to 1997, all new licences were issued with this category as standard. In 1997, that changed, and now D1 minibus driving licences require an additional test. This happened for a very understandable reason—to enhance safety—and it brought us in line with other similar countries, but it also created a problem.

Community transport services have become dependent on an ever-decreasing pool of drivers who qualified prior to 1997. Madam Deputy Speaker, I am confident that means that neither you, the Minister or I have D1 licences. The reality is that more than half of community transport operators report having insufficient D1 drivers to meet demand. According to the Community Transport Association, 81% of community transport operators are not confident that they will have enough D1 drivers to sustain their services in as little as three years’ time.

What is even worse is that once a driver gets to the age of 70, they automatically lose their D1 category licence unless they apply to retain it, and they must do that every three years. Again, that is for very understandable and sensible safety reasons, but the upshot is that 99% of all D1 licences in Great Britain are held by drivers in a narrow age band of 47 to 69.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing forward this incredibly important issue. It is the same in my constituency of Strangford; local independent bus companies provide a lifeline for the vulnerable, elderly and schoolchildren, yet the operators are facing incredible pressures, from rising fuel costs to regulatory burdens and an acute shortage of qualified D1 licensed drivers. If we are to prevent rural communities from being cut off, does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Government must step in with targeted support to assist our local operators with driver recruitment, training and operational funding across the UK?

[Freddie van Mierlo]

The hon. Gentleman mentions D1 licences and a wider range of issues that face community transport organisations, and I am sure that the Minister will have heard his points.

Budget Resolutions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bowie]

It will not surprise the hon. Gentleman to learn that I do not agree with him. In fact, what we have seen are billions of pounds generated for this country since the 1960s, driven by the private sector investing in jobs, investing in this country, creating wealth and making the North sea one of the cleanest and safest basins in the world in which to invest. I am very proud of the companies, and the men and women, who have driven that oil and gas industry to be the best in the world. Unlike the hon. Gentleman, and unlike the Government, we want to see that go further—we want to see further investment in our North sea oil and gas industry.

As I was saying, consensus is welcome, because we are in an energy crisis and there is no escaping that. The people and businesses of this country face some of the highest energy bills, domestic and industrial, in the developed world, and it is getting worse. Under Labour, our energy system is becoming increasingly unreliable and intermittent, and more reliant on imported energy. The burden of expensive energy is bearing down on Britain in households, businesses and industry, and having severe consequences. While the Chancellor acknowledged that, which was as welcome as it was surprising, it was entirely underwhelming.

Some of the announcements in the Budget may have seemed impressive, but they will not even touch the sides. There may be £100 for certain households, but when people’s bills are set to increase by over £500 in January, many will ask what was the point—will people even notice it? It is clear, however, that the Chancellor had at least noticed the Conservatives’ cheap power plan. Cutting VAT and scrapping levies on energy bills—I wonder where he might have got that idea?

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

With respect to the Labour Government, one of the things that was missing in the Budget was the working middle class, who are caught in a devastating pincer movement between frozen thresholds and rising surcharges. They have worked extra shifts, been responsible in the way they have lived and managed to put some savings aside. In the Budget, the working middle class find themselves penalised for their aspiration, forced to pay out more of their hard-earned money, while watching inflation erode their savings. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that what is missing is any consideration for the working middle class?

[Andrew Bowie]

The hon. Member is absolutely right, but, as usual, the Labour party gives no regard to those with aspiration or who want to succeed and get on. All it cares about is handouts and subsidies for “Benefits Street”. The Conservatives are the party that will support those who are working hard to do the right thing and move forward.

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[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

The Budget was great news for Derby—particularly the £2.5 billion investment with Rolls-Royce to develop the next generation of aircraft engine and keep us at the forefront of this country’s reindustrialisation—but I rise to speak about justice. Whether it is growth in every postcode, high streets being brought back to life or getting everyone in and off the streets for Christmas, none can be achieved without investment in and reform of our justice system.

The Prime Minister’s first instruction on entering Downing Street was to end rough sleeping, an objective that is inspiring, ambitious and right. The near doubling of the £442 million to £874 million for those measures in the Budget showed intent, but here is where our justice system comes in: every month, 1,000 people go straight from prison to homelessness, with many rough sleeping. That figure has gone up and outpaced the increase in the number leaving prison. Being homeless doubles the risk of reoffending and makes the goal of ending rough sleeping unobtainable. That is why we need a duty for rehabilitation services to ensure that, on leaving prison, people do not go on to the streets and into worklessness.

[Jim Shannon]

I commend the hon. Lady for the point she is making and the Government for what they are doing on homelessness in particular. Does she agree that there should be priority for veterans in the homelessness scheme? They come out of prison, get lost in the system and nobody catches them where they are. I see that happening regularly in my constituency. Should they be given priority to address that?

[Catherine Atkinson]

I thank the hon. Member for his contribution. I acknowledge that there are many categories of people who we want to ensure have real priority. The Government already have the ambition to halve the number of prisoners who are released into homelessness, but, if we are to end rough sleeping and break cycles of offending, that ambition is not ambitious enough.

Just as it is morally offensive to us when we see someone sleeping rough in the doorway of a really high-end hotel, it should also offend us when we see the global elite and blue chip companies coming to Britain for our world-class justice while our own citizens are often left outside that justice system, getting rough justice. We should be rightly proud—and the Treasury mindful—of the huge contribution that international cases make to our country’s economy. In 2024 alone, the UK legal sector contributed £42.6 billion to the economy, and the UK is the largest legal services market in Europe and second only to the US globally, but we should be using some of that revenue to improve access to early legal advice and to legal aid, and to address the dire shortage in duty solicitors for our own people.

Lastly, there was positive news for our high streets, with the Budget taking many of our cafés, pubs and beauty salons completely out of business rates. The Home Secretary is putting police back on the frontline, and we have reversed the effective decriminalisation of shoplifting under the previous Government, but the justice system needs to work much faster for all of us, including on our high streets and in our town and city centres, where people need to feel safe if they are to want to be there and spend money.

But as well as fast, justice needs to be fair. It is not right for people on the minimum wage to face custodial sentences—potentially going up to two years’ custody—and not qualify for legal aid, leaving them unrepresented in court.

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[Aphra Brandreth (Chester South and Eddisbury) (Con)]

The Budget was a missed opportunity for our rural economy, which yet again this Government have failed to back. My message to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor is simple: stop saying that every postcode matters, and start showing it. In Chester South and Eddisbury, around our farms sit the contractors, vets, farm shops, pubs and family businesses that keep our villages alive.

[Jim Shannon]

I commend the hon. Lady for bringing agriculture and the farming life to this debate. That is important, and I congratulate her on being the first person today to mention it. The family farm inheritance tax will have a destructive impact on farming in Northern Ireland. The Ulster Farmers’ Union—I declare an interest as a member—says that people will be forced into a tax bracket not because a family is wealthy, but because the value of the land and buildings has risen on paper. Hard-working families are asset rich but cash poor, and the family farms that I live among and represent in Northern Ireland will be those that feel the pain caused by this Government.

[Aphra Brandreth]

The hon. Gentleman is a champion for farmers in his community, and he is right—the Chancellor had the chance to repeal the vindictive family farms tax and family business tax, but he chose not to.

Nearly nine in 10 rural businesses have paused investment, and when investment stops, the consequences ripple through the whole rural economy. Conservatives would scrap those damaging taxes. The Government also had the chance to give small businesses some much-needed breathing space. They did not. Our rural businesses, particularly in hospitality and tourism, are being squeezed by rising costs, higher taxes and more regulation.

When businesses are struggling they stop investing, they stop expanding and, crucially, they stop taking on staff. These are the businesses that give so many young people their first step into work, and we should be making that easier, not harder. That is the difference between this Government and the Conservatives: we would halve the jobs tax for under-25s and create 100,000 new apprenticeships, because the best way to get young people into work is to back the businesses willing to employ them. This Budget did neither.

Then there is the cost of fuel. The fuel duty freeze is welcome, but the Conservatives kept it frozen for 14 years because we understand how much rural communities rely on their cars. This is not just about fuel for transport. On Saturday, I was out chatting to residents in Audlem, and so many of the people I spoke to are living off-grid. The price of heating oil has nearly doubled this year, and families are wondering whether they can afford to fill their tanks before winter.

Rural communities are being left out in the cold, quite literally, and the Budget offered them nothing. That is the real cost of this Budget in the countryside: investment on pause, young people not taken on, homes going cold, and family farms wondering whether they will survive. The contrast could not be clearer. The Conservatives would back our family farms, cut taxes on jobs, bring down energy bills through our cheap power plan, and get our rural economy growing again.

The president of the National Farmers’ Union described this Budget as

“tinkering while Rome is burning”,

and he was right. Our farmers, rural businesses and families do not need more promises, more consultations or more plans for the future. Rural Britain needs action now, and this Budget has failed to deliver it.

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[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate; thank you for calling me, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wish to welcome some of the good things in the Budget, because it is not all bad news, by the way—[Interruption.] Members should not put their thumbs up just yet—I am coming to the parts about which I have important Northern Ireland-based concerns.

I am concerned for the squeezed families of Strangford, who look at the Budget and have little cause for celebration. Look at the uncertainty facing the local business community in Northern Ireland. Standard small business rates relief is being permanently expanded in England, yet there is zero certainty that our small and medium-sized enterprises back home will see an equivalent benefit. Our highly capable SMEs, which form the bedrock of the Northern Irish economy, need iron-clad guarantees, not vague hopes.

The working middle class go to work and pay their taxes. They try to build something for their children, yet they are treated like a bottomless well of revenue by the Treasury. Take, for example, a hard-working family in my constituency of Strangford—a schoolteacher and a mid-level nurse. They have managed to put away a modest amount of savings to help fund their children’s university education. They will get no help for their children’s education and future, yet they will be forced to work on past retirement to ensure that their child has a chance at a future.

Nowhere is that clearer than in the cruel and punitive approach to family inheritance tax. Our agricultural sector in Northern Ireland is in a state of absolute panic. I have spoken with the Ulster Farmers’ Union, which tells me that generations of family farms—the very lifeblood of our rural communities—are now halting investment decisions because of inheritance tax fears. Passing a family business or a family farm down to the next generation is not a luxury; it is a way of life, and the Budget threatens to dismantle that.

On the Barnett formula, let us be realistic: the Barnett consequentials are totally inadequate. Why is that the case? Throwing a general lump sum at the Northern Ireland Executive and hoping that it covers police, health and education is a failure of governance. We need an allocation method equivalent to that for Wales, not a funding system that is not fit for purpose. That must be sorted out. Funding must be based on genuine local need, not a rigid, detached mathematical formula. We must protect our middle class, safeguard our family farms, and give Northern Ireland the specific, targeted support that it desperately needs.

Our hard-working middle class see no benefit for themselves, and even less for their children. When a parent works 50 hours a week, pays their taxes—big taxes—plays by the rules and still cannot see a path to a better future or a stable inheritance for the next generation, the social contract is broken. If the Government continue to bleed the middle class dry to paper over the cracks of their own fiscal failures, they will destroy the very aspiration that keeps this nation, this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, moving forward. The Budget offers no security on defence, and no reason to build a business and to work hard. It relies on the ethic of some to make up for the lack of ethic in too many. The Government must look closely at the people it punishes, because they need to breathe, and I do not believe the Budget provides that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Jim McMahon]

My hon. Friend is a fantastic champion for her constituency, and she shows the difference a local MP can make when they have a real vision for their constituency and support local communities to realise their potential. The Government are committed to making sure that communities across the UK have the tools needed to get things done in their areas. In addition to the Pride in Place funding programme, we have announced a further £210 million package to support high streets and community assets. Although that relates to England, the Welsh Government also receive corresponding funding through the Barnett formula that they can allocate on their own priorities.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

8. What discussions her Department has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on improving access to suitable accommodation for vulnerable households.

[The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)]

Responsibility for supported accommodation in Northern Ireland is devolved, as the hon. Gentleman knows. In England we are implementing the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 to strengthen local oversight, improve quality and ensure that councils assess local needs, and we will continue to work with our devolved Governments.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the Minister for her answer; she probably knows what my question is going to be. Veterans across this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland suffering trauma find it very difficult to find accommodation. As mental health is so complex, no two people have the same needs, making a case-by-case assessment essential. What discussions has the Minister had with the relevant Department and the Northern Ireland Assembly to ascertain what help can be given to veterans? I understand that the Barnett consequential has set aside moneys for homelessness, so there might be a methodology for providing help.

[Florence Eshalomi]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that people have complex mental health needs and that our veterans face various issues. Each case has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. I come back to my original response: as the hon. Gentleman knows, this is a devolved issue in Northern Ireland. However, I am always open to looking at the learning and at options that we can share across England to ensure that we end rough sleeping and homelessness for good.

Council Housing

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy, and I say a big thank you to the hon. Member for North East Hertfordshire (Chris Hinchliff) for securing this debate on an extremely pressing issue. The fact that so many hon. Members are present is an indication of that.

In England alone, over 1.3 million households are on the waiting list for social housing and it has been estimated that if the speed of delivering new social homes continues at the current rate, it will take more than a century to clear the waiting list. For every social home delivered this year, about 110 households were still waiting for one. Despite those shocking figures, in 20% of council areas across England not a single social home has been built in the last two years, and in 30% of council areas fewer than 10 social homes have been built. This is a massive issue.

We see the effects of a lack of social housing on private rental properties. In 2025, rents reached the highest level on record, amounting to a staggering 36.1% of average earnings. Rental accommodation is out of the pockets of many and buying a house is just a dream. That perpetuates a devastating cycle, as wages fail to keep pace with rising living costs, including energy bills and food prices, pushing more people into poverty and increasing demand for our already limited social housing.

I will quickly add a Northern Ireland perspective to the debate. In Northern Ireland, social housing is supplied by the Housing Executive, which face issues similar to councils in England. As of June this year, 50,000 households in Northern Ireland with no existing Housing Executive tenancy were on the social housing waiting list. For those who are already in Housing Executive properties, the wait for a transfer can be long and needs can evolve. In August 2026, it was estimated that almost 800 households had spent over a decade on the waiting list for transfer. It would be great to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but unfortunately we do not.

In rural constituencies, such as my constituency of Strangford, allocations of social homes have not kept pace with rising demand. The situation is particularly acute because rural areas have hidden housing need, older homes and increased exposure to fuel poverty. Investment in social housing is urgently needed to end the distress so many people are in, and we must recognise that such investment will indeed deliver long-term benefits. It is needed to end the distress and the uncertainty faced by families who have been left in limbo as they wait for a home.

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[Jim McMahon]

Leeds city council is ambitious for its city and is a key member of the West Yorkshire combined authority. It is doing a lot of work, not just on housing but on bringing forward brownfield sites through growth and infrastructure funding to make sure that, as many Members have said, housing goes alongside that wider community infrastructure.

In addition to the funding that I have just mentioned, over £21 billion is still to allocate, which will be prioritised for social homes, particularly council homes. That reflects our commitment to increasing council house delivery. To further improve financial capacity, deliver new supply and invest in existing homes, we have committed to a 10-year social housing rent policy with a convergence mechanism. That gives councils much needed certainty on their income to enable them to increase and manage their housing portfolios efficiently and effectively.

[Jim Shannon]

We also need to remember that the Government are committed to building a million-plus social homes over the next period of time. Over the last 12 months, house prices in Northern Ireland have consistently risen by a greater rate than anywhere else in the United Kingdom. Housing rents are also going up. Will the Minister share the Government’s strategy to address the social housing need with the relevant Minister in Northern Ireland to ensure that we can learn something from the process that the Government are putting forward?

[Jim McMahon]

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point about the different approaches across the UK and how we can all learn from each other on what works, as well as learn from the areas where it perhaps did not go quite as planned. I will make sure that I pass his comments on to the Housing Minister to have conversations across Governments. 

We have also provided greater certainty on future costs associated with the decent homes standard and the minimum energy efficiency standards. We have allocated more than £1 billion through the warm homes social housing fund to improve the energy efficiency of social homes. Quality matters, as rightly outlined by my hon. Friends the Members for Norwich North (Alice Macdonald) and for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury).

In addition to revenue, we know how important borrowing and the capacity to borrow are for councils’ delivery plans. Since 2023, a preferential borrowing rate has been available from the Public Works Loan Board for council house building. This rate will be extended and we will be announcing more details in due course.

We continue to work closely with councils and the wider sector to understand the remaining barriers to council house building and investment, including the impact of the housing revenue account debt and borrowing rates. We have also increased the threshold at which councils must open a housing revenue account from 200 homes to 1,000 homes. That is enabling small councils to deliver more homes without incurring additional operating costs.

We have also heard from councils that workforce shortages, skills gaps and capacity pressures will constrain their abilities to build. That is why we are investing a further £46 million over the next three years through capacity to build funding, on top of the £17 million already invested since 2025. That will help councils develop an ambitious pipeline, strengthen specialist housing capacity and make the most of the Government’s wider investment in council house building. These gaps have been identified by Members in the debate today, including the hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon) and my hon. Friends the Members for Hexham (Joe Morris), for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) and for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham).

Finally, we are taking decisive action to reform the right-to-buy scheme, which has acted as a break on council confidence to invest in new social housing for too long. We are reforming the scheme to ensure that more homes are built than lost, while maintaining an important route for social housing tenants to own their own homes, which was mentioned earlier by my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Linsey Farnsworth).

My right hon. Friend the Housing Minister is at this very moment in the Bill Committee, debating the detail of our reforms. The Social Housing Bill builds on the reforms to cash discounts that we implemented in 2024 to ensure that more social homes are protected, while removing powerful disincentives to build. Notably, we are tightening the eligibility requirements and exempting newly built social housing from the scheme for 35 years to ensure that homes are not sold before councils have recovered their investment.

Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Florence Eshalomi]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that vital point. It is really sad to see that increase of 22%, and it is a shame that no SNP Members are here as we try to hold their Government to account. We will continue to press the devolved Administrations, and work to closely with them, to ensure that no child is left behind.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Minister very much for her statement. It is good to hear that her voice has recuperated after Thursday’s debate on Black Lives Matter.

When it comes to the £432 million that has been allocated, churches across this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland do lots of work for homeless people, including in Northern Ireland. The Salvation Army that operates in my constituency of Strangford operates across this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as do veterans charities. In other words, the charities that work in Northern Ireland and here do the same work. What can be done to ensure that charities working in Northern Ireland can also receive some of this help, and will the Minister give an undertaking to work with the Minister for Communities in the Northern Ireland Assembly to ensure that delivery can happen across this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

[Florence Eshalomi]

It is always a pleasure to take a question from the hon. Gentleman, and I thank him for raising the vital work in his constituency and across Northern Ireland. This funding is new money, and an additional part of it will be agreed in the Budget process with the Treasury. He will be aware that, as part of the normal Barnett consequentials, this will apply to all the devolved Administrations, so they will also receive the additional funding.

Black History Month

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith (Florence Eshalomi)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Black History Month.

It is a great pleasure and honour to open this debate on Black History Month at such an important and timely moment. This is the third such debate in Government time, and follows the persistence of Members in applying for and securing Adjournment and Westminster Hall debates to ensure that black British stories are appropriately recognised in this House.

In particular, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Ms Oppong-Asare), who led no less than three such debates in the last Parliament. I was delighted that, as a Minister, she delivered the first ever Government-led Black History Month debate in 2024. I praise her persistence in ensuring that this debate is today given the time in the Chamber that it deserves—and not just because she now leads the Committee that scrutinises my ministerial brief. I recommend that Members read her excellent speech from two years ago. It would be remiss of me not to correct the record by saying that Nigerian jollof is the best jollof, but I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to her fellow Ghanaian, Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, who was the special projects co-ordinator at the Greater London Council, and who first recognised Black History Month back in 1987.

Back then, just 39 years ago, there were only three black Members of Parliament on these Benches: the late Bernie Grant, Lord Paul Boateng and, of course, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott). Although black Members still face challenges today, I honour and recognise the courage it would have taken to enter this House just a generation ago. I am sure that many of us will see that it is sometimes difficult for me and other black Members to imagine ourselves here without the trailblazing work that they did to make our path to the Commons possible.

In particular, I express my gratitude to my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington. I was just six years old when she was elected. I remember the quiet hope I felt in watching TV and seeing her in Parliament—to see that, yes, a black woman can have that voice, and that we do not have to stand by when decisions are made to us and not by us. That gave me the confidence to stand for public office as a local councillor in the borough where I grew up and later for the London Assembly, and to be the first black MP to represent Vauxhall, and now Vauxhall and Camberwell Green. I am delighted to sit on these Benches and see her represent her constituents as the Mother of the House.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady for all that she does. I have no doubt that she will speak about her faith, which has been the strength of her character and personality. That is something I recognised when I came to this House and got to know her. I commend her for her leadership in taking on those challenges, as I commend all the other MPs.

In our communities back home in my Strangford constituency, a number of people are from different countries across the world. They add to the culture and character of our constituency, and they work and do their bit. This debate gives us all a chance to say thank you, so I say thank you to the hon. Lady and to all my constituents in Strangford, who welcome people with ability and talent to come and work, live and thrive in this country.

[Florence Eshalomi]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention—I am going to need some divine intervention from the good Lord so I do not lose my voice for the rest of this debate, so I appreciate it. He is right to commend the talent and diversity right across the UK, and the difference that those communities make by enriching UK life. Many of them share that special area of faith.

Heathrow Airport Expansion

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank the hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) for setting the scene. She and I are good friends. I spoke to her before the debate; we have a difference of opinion on this issue, and I will outline the reasons why. I respect everybody else’s point of view, and I hope that others will respect mine.

The proposed expansion of Heathrow airport is expected to support some 108,000 jobs across the United Kingdom, making it a significant source of economic growth. The third runway would increase capacity, provide for more affordable travel and increase the reliability of flights. Across the UK, airports are recognising the need to plan ahead. I want to give some figures, ever mindful of how much I respect the opinion of the hon. Lady and other Members. Heathrow is the UK’s gateway to growth: it connects people and businesses from all parts of the country, including Belfast, to global opportunities, and it serves as the UK’s only hub airport.

The challenge is that Heathrow is operating at 99% capacity and has been for decades, which is why the third runway is imperative for the growth of this country. Indeed, it is bursting to grow. Heathrow continues to perform strongly, but passenger growth is now trailing the European average. Passenger growth at Heathrow is 1.9%, whereas the European average is 4.6%. Heathrow’s expansion is expected to add some £17 billion annually to the UK economy, and 60% of the economic benefits will occur outside London and the south-east. That is the reason why I am speaking in this debate as an MP for Northern Ireland: I want to put forward the case for how the third runway will benefit us in Northern Ireland. Whenever it comes to the Government here doing something centrally, it has to be for everybody’s advantage across this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The £33 billion of private investment into Britain supports jobs, exports, manufacturing and economic growth at no cost to the taxpayer, so it is advantageous. The benefits begin well before the first flight, and the wider economic prize goes beyond conventional transport modelling. Heathrow’s expansion builds on an existing 1,100-business UK supply chain, creating opportunities for companies in every region of the country. By way of example, I mention Zaun in Wolverhampton, but there are many other companies across the United Kingdom that rely on Heathrow’s connectivity, including Durham-based Coltraco Ultrasonics.

For us in Northern Ireland, it is really important that we have the connectivity. Heathrow has stated:

“this is not a choice between the economy and the environment; it will deliver for both.”

If it can show that expansion can do that, that is something that must be considered. Heathrow has also said there was a 7.5% carbon reduction in air emissions last year compared with 2019. That is factual evidence. There has also been a 60% reduction to the noise footprint since the early 1990s. Again, I would say that that shows that there has been a commitment in relation to that.

[Dr Huq]

The hon. Member has come out with some statistics, and I just want to give him one. We have the largest clean air zone on Earth in London. Nitrous oxide emissions have been cut by 54%. Would that not be put at risk by Heathrow expansion?

[Jim Shannon]

As always, the hon. Lady makes a very helpful intervention. I would suggest that those who are looking at the expansion of the third runway at Heathrow have indicated that those are issues that they can address. We must give them the chance to do just that.

In Northern Ireland, plans have been proposed to increase the capacity of Belfast City airport, because we want to see growth in Belfast. It is the airport I normally use; others may use Belfast International airport. There is an opportunity. In discussions, an indication has been made to my right hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) and I know that growth in Belfast is helped by, connected with and part of the third runway at Heathrow.

The Minister is betwixt a rock and a hard place on this one, I suspect, but does he agree that we have to have a forward-thinking approach and support the infrastructure needed for future air travel? We are trying to increase connectivity, such as between Heathrow and Belfast. I see the hon. Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher) is present, and he has ambitions for Doncaster airport as well.

[Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)]

Yesterday we had the amazing news that agreement had been reached to bring Doncaster Sheffield airport back into local public ownership. That will create jobs and growth and will be amazing for our area, in particular for NEETs—those not in education, employment or training—and their challenges. It will give opportunities for cabin crew, ground staff and, potentially, pilots in the future. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that when we talk about expansion of Heathrow, we must also consider the importance of the regional hubs and regional airports as we go forward and as part of a strategy?

[Jim Shannon]

The hon. Gentleman deserves some of the credit for his hard work in the time that he has been in this House on a way forward for Doncaster airport. He can take some credit, because it has been one of his primary objectives.

We must build for the future. We must support economic growth in the UK as a whole, as the hon. Gentleman just said, and no time is better to invest in such projects than right now. Heathrow airport expansion is not just a London issue; it is a vital national infrastructure project that is critical to strengthening our entire Union, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I want to promote that, concentrate on it and help it to happen.

The London-to-Belfast corridor is among the busiest domestic routes in the United Kingdom, yet our businesses and families face constant, crippling flight cancellations and slot constraints that isolate Northern Ireland from global markets. Our hope is that the third runway at Heathrow happens, along with the expansion of Belfast City airport, so that the two can grow together and provide for our businesses and families. Without any doubt, a third runway is urgently required to guarantee and protect vital regional slots for Northern Ireland, for Scotland, for Wales and for Doncaster, to ensure that every single corner of the United Kingdom benefits from global connectivity.

I will finish with this: the third runway will ensure connectivity throughout the UK, and it is essential that that is a material consideration. Often Heathrow expansion is talked about in terms of more holiday routes, but it is not just holiday routes; there are domestic connections as well, such as from Belfast City to London. Those who want to go further can take the holiday routes, and they are important, but for businesses based in Northern Ireland, reliable connections from London to Belfast are their lifeblood. We cannot afford to be cut off. For that reason, I say respectfully to right hon. and hon. Members in the Chamber that I support the Heathrow extension. It will be beneficial for Northern Ireland. I see advantages—coming through jobs and opportunities for connection—to build this United Kingdom where there is the ability to grow it. I support this and I put the needs of Northern Ireland very much before all hon. Members present for their consideration.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Holden]

I will come on to those figures because I think we can all agree that there is questioning of them. It surprises me that the former Chancellor of Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Leeds West and Pudsey (Rachel Reeves), and the current Chancellor of Exchequer are so vociferously supportive of the airport expansion if those figures are true.

[Jim Shannon]

In my contribution, I intimated that there is uncertainty about the growth of Belfast City airport: it has its plans to grow, but the growth of Heathrow will be part of how Belfast City airport will grow—the two of them can grow together. Does the right hon. Gentleman recognise that when it comes to regional connectivity, the opportunity for us to grow in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, depends greatly on how Heathrow grows?

[Mr Holden]

The hon. Gentleman makes an incredibly important point. I remember, as a Transport Minister, visiting Belfast City airport, Belfast International airport and City of Derry airport. They are so important, and they reinforced to me how important that plug-in from Heathrow, as our international hub, is for not just Northern Ireland but Scotland, Wales and the north of England. None of our other airports have that hub status. That is why Heathrow is under different regulations and a different model. The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about how that connectivity drives growth right across the UK.

Chetwynd Bridge

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 14th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the potential merits of Government support for Chetwynd Bridge.

It is a pleasure, as always, to see you in Westminster Hall this morning, Ms McVey.

Unfortunately, I have to start with a bit of an admission and some bad news. Unfortunately, “Chetwynd bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down; Chetwynd bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down”. I will not punish hon. Members in the Chamber with a full rendition of a rewritten nursery rhyme, nor will I be singing. Unlike London bridge or indeed another bridge in our capital, further down the river, Chetwynd bridge is not especially famous, and it is unlikely ever to be the subject of a song or a nursery rhyme.

But that is why today’s debate is so important: for me and, I am sure, some colleagues sitting behind me, to take the opportunity to impress on the Minister the vital significance of this bridge to communities in Staffordshire and South Derbyshire, and to remind him that, just like in that song:

“Wood and clay will wash away…Bricks and mortar will not stay”

and iron and steel have been bent and bowed. I promise that will be the last bit of nursery rhyme that I bring in today.

What we know is that Chetwynd bridge needs a replacement, and I will cover more of that shortly. For a number of months, colleagues and I have been arguing for the Government’s structures fund to be used to fund that replacement. As I said to the Minister last night, it is good to see him for one last dance on Chetwynd bridge.

A little background for those who are unsure about where Chetwynd bridge is: it crosses the River Tame in Staffordshire, very close to the Derbyshire border. One end of it sits in my constituency and the other in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards). It is also very close by the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Samantha Niblett). It is the oldest cast-iron bridge in the country. It is older than Hammersmith bridge, and also longer—not that it is a competition, but we are older and longer. It was completed over 200 years ago in 1824, so this year we will see its 202nd birthday. It is grade II* listed for many of those reasons. Since 2019, it has been closed to heavy traffic.

Options for patching up the structure have been exhausted over decades and decades. Without a weight limit, the bridge would be at risk of further damage, which could lead to its complete closure, with all the real economic problems that that would cause for my part of Staffordshire.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Dave Robertson]

How could I say no to the hon. Member?

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate. He is right to raise the issue of historical infrastructure such as the grade II*-listed Chetwynd bridge he refers to, which is suffering under heavy traffic and weight restrictions that isolate communities and hurt local trade. Does he agree that, when local authorities or county councils step up with significant multimillion-pound funding bids to protect our heritage and build modern bypasses, the Government must also ensure that the structures fund delivers for those vital arterial routes, so that small businesses and local commuters do not fall through the cracks?

[Dave Robertson]

I had not even primed the hon. Member to say that, but I very much appreciate his intervention. Later, I will talk about some of the businesses and the real importance of this crossing as an arterial route in Staffordshire. If I can beg his indulgence to hang fire, I will get there shortly.

The current partial closure of the bridge means that it is open to small vehicles. However, because of the protections that Staffordshire county council has had to put in place to prevent heavy goods vehicles from using it, it is currently signalised and one way. That leads to delays even for small goods vehicles; for heavy goods vehicles it is even worse, because the nearest detour is an 18-mile journey through the already congested centre of Burton, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Burton and Uttoxeter (Jacob Collier).

Wildfires: UK-Welsh Government Co-operation

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Nick Thomas-Symonds (Torfaen) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered UK-Welsh Government co-operation on tackling wildfires.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Mr Turner. This debate follows what has been an incredibly difficult summer for many people in my constituency. The wildfire began on the evening of 19 July, and it reignited on 10 August when it jumped a firebreak and travelled into a forestry, which put houses at risk. On 11 August, the South Wales fire and rescue service declared a major incident due to significant pressure on resources. On 13 August, a military aid to the civil authorities request was submitted by the South Wales fire and rescue service, and I commend the Secretary of State for Wales for agreeing to that request very swiftly. From 18 August, the fire was contained with tactical burns, firebreaks and the use of a helicopter, but the ground continued to smoulder until there was significant rainfall at the end of August.

Frankly, the impact has been devastating. Data from the Copernicus fire emissions watch analysed by Save the Children revealed that Torfaen had the fourth highest intensity of carbon emissions per square kilometre in the world in July 2026. The smoke travelled as far as Cardiff in one direction and Gloucestershire in the other. It affected between 220 and 270 hectares of common land. Pasture, vegetation and peat were burned, with some areas likely to be damaged for years to come.

I spoke to farmers who had livestock losses, disrupted water supplies, fencing damage, grazing management issues and loss of earnings. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water said that damage to apparently remote land can affect drinking water, wildlife and communities beyond the immediate fire area. Twenty-one locations have been identified as needing immediate drainage improvements, and that needs to be done before ground stability work can be completed.

On 14 August, South Wales fire and rescue service said that selected appliances recorded 296 mobilisations and well over 10,000 cumulative incident hours, and officers recorded 99 mobilisations and over 500 incident hours. At its height, the South Wales fire and rescue service was responding to 14 concurrent wildfires. Between 11 August and 1 September, it publicly reported 961 grass fires, including 115 wildfires and 26 category 3 wildfires, which shows the pressure on the fire service.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

We have had similar wildfires in my constituency and on the Mournes. There has been co-operation between all, but does the right hon. Gentleman agree that we need a UK-wide framework to ensure that resources, joint strategies and best practices are shared fluidly between the UK Government and all the regional Administrations, so that we can do it better together and learn from each other?

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about learning from best practice across the United Kingdom.

I pay tribute to the firefighters of the South Wales fire and rescue service and the 22 other fire services around the country who came to Blaenavon’s aid in the summer. I also thank Torfaen county borough council, Natural Resources Wales, Gwent police and the 110 military personnel who helped to combat the wildfires. I also recognise those from the Blorenge Commoners Association, local farmers, businesses and constituents who rallied together over the summer to tackle this devastating event. I also thank the Wales Office Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin), for visiting Torfaen recently and listening to the concerns of local people. I say first and foremost, as I thank all those on the frontline, that we have to learn the lessons of this summer. I am afraid such fires will become more frequent, and putting in place a proper, structured response for next summer will be crucial. “Fire and Rescue National Framework for Wales 2026” identifies climate change as likely to increase the incidence and severity of weather-related events, and it highlights the possibility of wildfire risk shifting or extending.