Easter Adjournment

Navendu Mishra Excerpts

Tuesday 8th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

May I join other Members in paying tribute to Sir David Amess? He was a monumental figure in British politics and internationally.

Banks continue to do well, despite the challenges that ordinary households continue to face. We have had the disappointing news that NatWest is planning to close 53 bank branches this year. Nine of those are in Greater Manchester, and one of them is in my constituency. These branch closures will undoubtedly cause uncertainty for staff, and they will have an adverse and disproportionate impact on people with low incomes, older people, disabled people and people with a lower level of literacy, who rely on bank branches. After NatWest Group was rescued in 2008 by a £45 billion Government bail-out, I believe that it has a duty of care to British taxpayers and should continue to provide vital community services.

I have recently visited several excellent secondary schools in my constituency, including Reddish Vale high school, Priestnall school in the Heatons, and Reddish Hall school. It was great to see that the staff, students and teachers are so ambitious about the future, but the funding that our local authority receives could go further. Stockport has one of the lowest-funded school systems in England, and it has a higher proportion of children with education, health and care plans than the national average. My local authority is part of the f40 group of local authorities, some of which are the lowest funded. On average, the lowest-funded authority for SEND receives approximately £950 per pupil, with the highest funded receiving £3,250 per pupil. In Stockport, the figure is approximately £1,100 per pupil. I want to see a reallocation of funding for Stockport, and obviously I want to see more funding allocated to children in Stockport.

Sky made a major announcement a few days ago, and I have been doing some work with my hon. Friends the Members for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) and for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel). Sky announced that it was planning to close three contact centres in Sheffield, Leeds and Stockport, putting 2,000 jobs at risk, including 545 in Stockport. I have been contacted by a large number of Sky employees who are distressed by the news, and families are worried about their future. Several employees have told me that before they found out from their employer that the plan was in place, several media outlets, including Sky News, ran the story. That is simply not acceptable. My hon. Friends and I have had a meeting with Sky, and we are looking forward to engaging with staff. The loss of these jobs in Leeds, Sheffield and Stockport is a hammer blow to our towns.

Sadly, on new year’s day, we had some flooding in my constituency. The Meadow Mill was affected, and I recently had a very productive meeting with the Environment Agency. I pay tribute to the emergency service workers and council staff who helped residents on the day of the flood, but I want to see the Government invest more in flood defences, particularly in my constituency, to support residents and businesses. A number of residents have contacted me about the flooding, and it has had a negative impact on quite a new development.

I finish by wishing you a happy Easter, Madam Deputy Speaker. I also take this opportunity to wish the cleaners who clean our offices on the parliamentary estate, our police officers, our catering staff, everyone who works here and, of course, Members’ staff a very happy Easter.