Oral Answers to Questions

Julia Buckley Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman, but I am a massive football fan so he will forgive me for being a nerd about this: the England team have won 22 out of 29 matches since I have been Prime Minister, and we have got to get that to 24 out of 31 matches, which means we will win on Sunday. I wish the team well. Of course, it is only under Labour Governments that we win the world cup, and in that spirit, I am sure that the whole House will get behind the team.

[Julia Buckley (Shrewsbury) (Lab)]

Q12. Watching the Prime Minister secure his legacy this week, with the NATO summit and the Hillsborough law, I wondered if he wanted to make it a hat-trick, and support Shrewsbury college’s bid for a new construction skills centre? As the main post-16 provider in the county, our outstanding college trains over 10,000 young people and adults, providing both A-levels and vocational qualifications, but this year’s applications are up by 15% and our buildings are full to capacity. In a rural area like Shrewsbury, with limited alternatives, hundreds of people could end up becoming not in employment, education, or training. Will the Prime Minister support the college’s third attempt to secure capital funds and meet the growing need, so that we can open the construction skills centre in September?

[Mr Speaker]

We have all got the point!

Storm Darragh

Julia Buckley Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ms Oppong-Asare]

The Government have been working closely with devolved Administrations, and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster organised a call on Friday to see what work could be done with them collaboratively. A meeting was held to establish which areas were directly affected and where there were threats to life, and an alert was issued as quickly as possible to those areas in particular. However, we recognise that there was some delay in the conveying of information, so we are working with operators to see how they can get the message out as speedily as possible in the event of another storm of this kind.

[Julia Buckley (Shrewsbury) (Lab)]

Will the Minister please give us an update om the extent of the floods that resulted from the storm? Rural constituencies such as mine experienced a double whammy: we were battered by the storm, and then we were deluged once again by flooding. That double problem is also much more sustained.

[Ms Oppong-Asare]

A lot of work has been done in this regard, but if my hon. Friend writes to me I shall be able to respond to her directly and adequately.