Horse and Rider Road Safety

Sarah Russell Excerpts

Wednesday 14th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Mr Dillon]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. The Forestry Commission looks after our forests. They should be open for us to be able to enjoy, and the Forestry Commission should work with all relevant groups to make open access as easy as possible.

The road safety strategy also announces the establishment of a new road safety board. Given that horses and riders are among the most vulnerable of road users, will the Minister commit to ensuring that an equestrian representative organisation, such as the British Horse Society, is included on that board? I know that horse-related bodies have been on previous safety advisory boards.

[Sarah Russell (Congleton) (Lab)]

I support the hon. Gentleman’s point about the importance of equestrian representation in these structures. In my constituency, there is a major equestrian centre at Somerford. We also have many horse riders throughout the area, and there have been multiple accidents. We really need to take action on this issue, and I know that the Minister will be listening carefully.

[Mr Dillon]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention, which shows that this is not a party political issue; rather, it is about the safety of riders. I am sure that the Minister, too, will take the hon. Lady’s views onboard.

I welcome the commitment to publish the national guidance on road safety education training and publicity, but I urge the Government to align that work with the measures in my Bill and in particular the need for stronger education in the driving test for new drivers.

Road Safety Strategy

Sarah Russell Excerpts

Thursday 8th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lilian Greenwood]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and am very sorry to hear about that road traffic collision in his constituency. One of the things we are doing as part of this strategy is reissuing the manual for streets. That manual supports local authorities to introduce road safety measures, particularly in urban areas, extending things like pedestrianisation. We will ensure that pedestrians are put at the heart of our road safety strategy.

[Sarah Russell (Congleton) (Lab)]

In my constituency, 19 people died on the roads between 2018 and 2024. It is usually assumed that that is because we have some motorway in the constituency, but in fact people are six times more likely to die on a rural road. I thank the Minister very much for the measures within the strategy. I know there will be those who push back against changes to drink-driving limits, so does she agree that when people talk about personal responsibility in respect of driving, they fail to understand the depth of damage that is caused—both to families and to the wider community—when there are so many deaths of young people in my constituency?

[Lilian Greenwood]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Deaths and serious injuries resulting from road traffic collisions tear apart families and communities, and they come at great cost to our national health service and our country. Those are just some of the reasons why we are acting to reduce them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Russell Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Russell (Congleton) (Lab)]

3. What steps she is taking to help increase economic growth in Congleton constituency.

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rachel Reeves)]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. She is a proud supporter of everything in the Congleton constituency. This Government are committed to regional growth, with growth in all parts of the United Kingdom. That is why the Treasury has reformed the Green Book, looking at the value for money of different projects. It is also why, in Cheshire East, where my hon. Friend’s constituency is, we have put £47 million into local transport grant funding.

[Sarah Russell]

I thank the Chancellor for her answer. In my constituency, Dane Valley Community Energy, a marvellous group of volunteers, has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for solar panels on schools and other local buildings, including Daneside theatre and Havannah primary school. Unfortunately, recent Government guidance has suspended applications in respect of solar panels for schools. Will the Chancellor look at that guidance and work with Ministers in other Departments to review that outcome?

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank my hon. Friend for drawing this issue to my attention. I agree that community projects such as solar panels are a fantastic opportunity to get down bills for schools so that they have more money to spend on teachers and on books. On my hon. Friend’s specific question about solar installations, there was a temporary pause in applications, but I am happy to confirm that the Department for Education has resumed approvals for solar panels on school sites. I would urge my hon. Friend to encourage the schools in her constituency to apply for the new projects in the normal way.

Debt Advice Services

Sarah Russell Excerpts

Thursday 9th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Sarah Russell (Congleton) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy), who spoke incredibly passionately about the difficulties of debt. There is a lot of debt in my community, which appears, on the face of it, to be relatively affluent, but one of the problems is that people feel a huge compulsion to maintain that appearance. I have spoken to a lot of people on the doorstep, and in the course of the submission that we made as a constituency to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, about the fact that people are really struggling and finding it incredibly difficult.

In areas such as mine, where there is not a perception of poverty, there are simply no services to assist people who need help. My constituency has no citizens advice bureau anywhere, no law centre—nothing. When people have difficulties, they therefore do not know where to turn. We need to do the best we can to improve civil legal aid. Citizens advice bureaux were partly funded by local government, which was cut, and partly through the legal advice work they did that was charged at legal aid rates. Unfortunately, since those are now so difficult to work under, all those advice services have been decimated.

My local citizens advice bureau spoke to me—I say local; it is not in the constituency, though it can occasionally do some in-person transitory work—about how important it is to see people face to face. It said vulnerable people, older people and others might in theory have online access, but actually cannot go through a complex system to resolve their debt without that consistent face-to-face assistance. We need to aspire not just to improve telephone and online services, but to ensure that in-person advice is provided.

My hon. Friend briefly touched on the quality of advice that people are receiving and the fact that although the Financial Conduct Authority regulates the products that people are being sold around debt reduction—they are products—there is a real problem of mis-selling them, despite the theoretical regulation. Unfortunately, regulation is only as good as the enforcement. It is important that we keep discussing the matter and that we bring real change to the advice landscape because our residents need us to.