Budget Resolutions

Tom Collins Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Tom Collins (Worcester) (Lab)]

I know that people in Worcester will be looking for two things: some let-up in the endless pressure on bills and the public services that keep letting us down, and a genuine sense that there is a plan for things to improve— that there is hope. Let me start by recognising that those two aims have been front and centre as the Chancellor and the Prime Minister have developed this Budget. I believe in politics that is focused on people, and I believe that the Budget aims to focus on people. However, the challenges that we face require a deeper shift—not just adjustments to budgets, but something far more fundamental: an approach that recognises people’s real lived experiences, and puts them at the heart of our decisions and systems.

Digital technology is reshaping our world, and we need a fresh approach to digital safety. The Chancellor is right to say that we should build the data centres and artificial intelligence models that keep us secure, but we should also be insisting on safety by design for AI and online social platforms, and should be holding providers responsible.

We need an answer that matches the desperate urgency of the climate crisis. The Budget starts to recognise gaps in our energy policy, but it also risks creating new ones. It is right to recognise the importance of gas, but by casting hydrogen projects into further delay and insecurity, we risk our energy future altogether. The Government have accepted new gas extraction in the North sea at Jackdaw, but it is concerning to see that they are hesitating on providing support for the most powerful technology in decarbonising gas at the same time. I was watching David Attenborough before it was cool—

[Josh Fenton-Glynn]

My hon. Friend has always been cool.

[Tom Collins]

Thank you!

My career has been spent developing green technology systems. I urge the Secretary of State to work rapidly to resource, accelerate and provide certainty for the core hydrogen projects that the UK needs for reindustrialisation and for a viable energy future. We are competing with other countries for investment, and we are at risk of losing. If we get it right, though, the UK can not only be more energy-resilient; we can even become energy-rich, and bring about a true renewal that would see the UK selling to Europe and the world.

There are other challenges across our system, and the crisis in Worcester’s A&E is stark evidence of that. I recently hosted a rough sleeping summit, bringing 30 organisations together to end rough sleeping in Worcester, and that will create new forms of joint working. However, we need this approach across the board, in health, social care, education, skills and justice, alongside the ambitious funding and goal-setting announced by the Chancellor. I welcome the Government’s provision of £163 million in the Budget to write off 90% of the debt that Worcestershire county council accumulated in making provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities—it creates the breathing room that we need to recover delivery in Worcester—but I am determined to work for deep reform of the system in our county, reform that puts families at the centre.

I urge the Chancellor to work with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, and members of industry, to address the shortfall in funding for hydrogen projects as a matter of urgency. However, with those corrections secured, and with ambitious action taken, I believe that we will have the opportunity to not only create room to breathe, but begin a journey that will give every single person real cause to hope again.