Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman in the terms in which he puts the question, because this is a policy that is evolving and is relatively new, and we expect that services and accountability will improve as we go further. As I pointed out in my opening remarks, eight out of 10 journeys will be taken on railways owned by the Government, and that is the right thing. He also has the Railways Bill and other opportunities to raise those concerns if he is able to do so.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Last week I was pleased to meet with a number of hospitality businesses from across Lincolnshire, including some in my constituency: Riverhead Coffee, Cleethorpes Lettings and the famous Steels fish and chip restaurant. They raised with me the challenging conditions they are facing, including a very burdensome tax regime. Will the Leader of the House indicate the next opportunities for us to discuss the impacts on hospitality businesses and the current overburden of tax?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

My hon. Friend is right to raise her concerns, and the Government are absolutely clear about the challenges that face hospitality in her constituency and elsewhere. We are taking action on those matters, but I understand that there is a great deal more to do. If she wishes to meet with a Treasury Minister to explore some of the options, I will help her to arrange that meeting.

Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

As the Prime Minister acknowledged in real time yesterday, he misspoke about the trade deal, but he was absolutely clear about our relationship with Europe. There will not be a return to the customs union, the single market or freedom of movement, and the Government came into office on that basis. However, we are clear that it is in the national interest to be closer to Europe. That is good for us and good for Europe, and it is good for our security and economy.

As the hon. Lady said, an EU reset Bill will be coming through. I am sure that she will be able to put the points that she raises not just to debate, but to the test of a vote.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Sunflowers Children’s Action Group, a children’s charity in Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, on winning by popular poll on my Facebook page a £2,000 donation from Bacta, the amusement and arcades representative body? Sunflowers provides activities, respite and trips for children with life-limiting illnesses and does amazing work to support families in my local area, and this donation will help it to continue to do just that.

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Sunflowers Children’s Action Group on its brilliant work supporting children and their families and on winning vital funding. We are taking action in this area with our best start in life strategy by pledging to invest £1.5 billion over the next three years to support early years.

Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

The issue the hon. Lady raises and has raised before is precisely why there is an investigation and an inquiry. There are various facets to that, but when the investigation is complete, I am sure the House will be given adequate time to discuss the outcome. It is precisely at that point that the principles she refers to will be central to the discussion.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House please advise me on the best way to get the concerns of Grimsby businesses on Cleethorpe Road considered in detail and perhaps reflected in the Government’s planned high streets strategy? They are facing a severe economic impact from the council’s plans to remove parking for a bus lane that will save only 15 seconds on a journey. Is there an opportunity for a debate on council responsibilities to local businesses?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for highlighting the actions the Government are taking to support small businesses and high streets, because they are a very important part of local communities. Local authorities have a crucial role in shaping the trading environment for small businesses, and I hope her local authority has heard her concerns about the parking issues and everything else. We want local authorities to work in partnership with businesses, not in tension with them. I am grateful to her for raising this example, which I hope her local authority has heard, and I will raise these matters with the relevant Minister.

Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 24th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

Order. We have around 15 to 20 minutes left for these questions, so please help each other out.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Labour’s brill and totally committed Greater Lincolnshire mayoral candidate, Jason Stockwood? He is truly putting Lincolnshire first, having just completed his countywide cycle tour, raising over £16,000 for charities across the area—and he is the only candidate to brave Lycra in public.

[Lucy Powell]

I will absolutely join her in wishing Jason Stockwood, whom I know well, all the very best in standing to be the first Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire. He will make a fantastic Mayor for Lincolnshire, and I hope people will vote for him next week.

Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Grimsby’s Green Futures on its very successful wassail last Saturday? When will we have time in the House to celebrate great English traditions such as Morris dancing, folk music and indeed wassailing?

[Lucy Powell]

I thought for a moment that my hon. Friend was going to ask me to do some wassailing; I would need to look it up and get some training. I will absolutely support her in promoting these great English traditions, and all the great work that is happening in Grimsby to keep them alive. I am sure that it would make a very good topic for a debate.

Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Each year, 300,000 people come to Cleethorpes for our Armed Forces Day. Can the Leader of the House advise me how I can best communicate to the Ministry of Defence how much we would appreciate it if National Armed Forces Day in 2026 could be held in Cleethorpes? It will be the 10-year anniversary of the last time it was held there; perhaps we could extend Armed Forces Day to start at the wonderful but somewhat overlooked north prom.

[Lucy Powell]

I did not know that so many people come to Cleethorpes for Armed Forces Day—it sounds like a real occasion. I will certainly make sure that the Ministry of Defence hears my hon. Friend’s plea. Cleethorpes sounds like a very good place for National Armed Forces Day in 2026.

Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the hon. Member for that question; he and I both know, after sitting through these sessions in the last Parliament, that the infected blood scandal is probably the single biggest issue raised in business questions. It is absolutely important that we take action and follow through on the commitments that have been given. I assure him that there will be an update to the House at the earliest possible opportunity on the Government’s progress in dealing with the compensation scheme.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

I welcome the Leader of the House to her place. Will she join me in congratulating the business-led 2025 Group, which is celebrating the many positives of working in Grimsby and Cleethorpes? Could we have time to debate the importance of our town centres and the ongoing need for high street regeneration, and to recognise the dire impact on local economies of delayed repairs to infrastructure such as Corporation bridge in my constituency?

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question and welcome her back to her rightful place in this House as the new Member for Grimsby. I know that she will do a fantastic job for the town. As she knows, one of our big areas of focus during the election campaign was town centre regeneration, and our planning and infrastructure Bill and other measures announced yesterday will focus on just that. I look forward to working with her on the issue over the coming months.

Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I am surprised at the hon. Gentleman’s reluctance to face his voters. Surely the most important thing for all of us is to report back to our voters to show them what we have done and what we are proud of this Parliament having achieved, or to show them what we have failed to do and ask for a new mandate. Going back to the voters is the right thing to do.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)]

I feel I cannot be alone in being completely and utterly confused, so perhaps the Leader of the House could just explain this to me. Did the Government pass the Second Reading of the withdrawal agreement Bill or not? Did the Government succeed in winning on their Queen’s Speech? I cannot understand why, after just two weeks, this Government seem to be throwing in the towel, rather than getting this really important legislation through—having the discussions, having the battle and sorting it out here in Parliament where it ought to be done.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I am very grateful to the hon. Lady for her question, and also for her courage in supporting the Second Reading of the withdrawal agreement Bill. The problem is that the Government’s programme in relation to Brexit was stuck. We had a near theological discussion last week about where the Bill was, and matters concerning purgatory, limbo and the variations according to that and how this could be done. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) is wagging his finger at me in a schoolmasterly fashion. No doubt if he seeks to catch your eye, Mr Speaker, he will be successful. We had that discussion, and we came to the conclusion that the Bill was not likely to proceed in this House.

Bear in mind that this is not just about what has gone on in the two weeks since the Queen’s Speech; this has to be taken in the context of a House that has consistently said what it is opposed to and has never been willing to say what it is going to accept. As soon as it said it would accept something, it voted down the means of getting it through. This continues the succession of governmental defeats and inability to proceed with their programme. Under those circumstances, it must be right to go back to the voters so that they can select a new Parliament.

Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The Foreign Secretary is making all the representations he can. He is gravely concerned about this. It is really troubling that a NATO ally is behaving in this way. Every possible pressure is being brought to bear, but it is unquestionably complicated by the fact that Turkey is a NATO ally.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)]

In the light of the growth in food banks, discretionary housing payments and reliance on high-rate payday lenders, does the Leader of the House agree that this House should debate the importance of continuing council tax support payments for those with disabilities or on low incomes with children under five?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The hon. Lady raises a very important point. Everyone in this House wants the welfare system to work and to support people in the correct way. Everyone in this House also recognises that no human system is perfect. Therefore, having debates that raise problems and help to perfect what is fundamentally a good system is something that I, as Leader of the House, would encourage. What form that debate would take, I cannot promise her—whether it would be in Government time, which is probably unlikely considering the pressure of business. However, I think we are all keen to make the system work, and I therefore hope that the points she raises will be taken on board by the relevant Department.

Business of the House

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 4th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

I will not use the same language as the hon. Gentleman, but having served in the Treasury until quite recently and been fairly intimately involved in two Budget cycles, the idea that Scotland has somehow been short-changed by our stewardship of the economy is grossly unfair. If he wishes to debate the Barnett formula, perhaps I should direct him towards an Adjournment debate, at which he can interrogate an individual Minister on that subject.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)]

Last week, the northern powerhouse Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Jake Berry), aborted a visit to Great Grimsby. I had hoped that that visit would involve an announcement, after nine months of waiting, that would start the OnSide Youth project in my constituency. Will the Leader of the House please explain why this much-needed initiative requires a ministerial cavalcade and long-range cameras, when surely a written statement, preferably before 22 July, would suffice?

[Mel Stride]

If the hon. Lady would like to avail herself of my time after questions, I would be happy to discuss the specifics of that issue, which sounds slightly complicated in terms of visits, not visits, dates and so on.