UK-EU Common Understanding Negotiations

Uma Kumaran Excerpts

Wednesday 17th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. We have less than 45 minutes for this statement, so questions must be short.

[Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his announcement on Erasmus+, which is hugely welcome news for students and for my youngest constituents in Stratford and Bow. Before I came to this place I worked with the Mayor of London in calling for an Erasmus scheme, and the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, of which I am a member, has called for it constantly, alongside our European partners. We want students to have the same chances of opportunity that we had, so that they do not suffer the consequences of a Brexit that they had no say in. Can the Minister outline the next steps in the UK’s participation?

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

I thank my hon. Friend for the work that she does in the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, and I am grateful for the work that is done by that group more broadly. Clearly, there now needs to be the appointment of a national agency. I am sure the House will appreciate that it is a commercially sensitive matter, but I certainly hope to be doing that very soon in order to make sure that we have all that we need in place to support those who would like to participate from 2027. There will be great opportunities available, and I look forward to doing all I can as a Minister to support people into them.

G20 and Ukraine

Uma Kumaran Excerpts

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the right hon. Member for raising this. That is why it is really important that we make the case for, and ensure that it is, a just and lasting peace—because we have seen this before. We have seen agreements brokered before without security guarantees, with the inevitable result that Putin will go again. That is why, in relation to all the principles I have been operating on, in setting up the coalition of the willing and in all my discussions, it has got to be a just and lasting peace. It has got to be one that actually deters Putin from doing this again, because we know that without that deterrence and those consequences, he has the ambition to go again, and he will go again, and we must guard against that.

[Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)]

I thank the Prime Minister for his steadfast leadership on Ukraine. My constituent Roksolana is one of tens of thousands of Ukrainian people with a loved one “missing under special circumstances”. These families do not know whether their loved ones are detained, a prisoner of war or even alive. It is likely that Russia has not notified the International Committee of the Red Cross on the status of thousands more prisoners of war. On behalf of Roksolana and all the Ukrainian families I met this weekend at St Mary’s Ukrainian school who are seeking answers about their loved ones, can the Prime Minister assure this House that the UK will support every effort to ensure that Russia complies with international humanitarian law regarding the treatment and identification of prisoners of war?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this and for her work bearing down on this, in particular the meeting she had at the weekend. This is a really serious issue. We are raising it with our allies. It is further evidence of the total disregard that Russia has for any of the principles of war, even in an unjust war, and we will continue to bear down on it.

EU Trading Relationship

Uma Kumaran Excerpts

Thursday 24th April 2025 Westminster Hall

[Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)]

I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Andrew Lewin) for securing this important debate. I proudly stood on a Labour manifesto that placed growth at the heart of the Government’s mission. That goal has never been more necessary, as Labour inherited a stagnating economy from the Conservatives. In the turbulent economic and diplomatic climate in which we find ourselves, it would be inexplicable not to recognise our geographically and economically closest trading partner, the European Union, as a key partner for growth.

I am pleased that the Government are set to seek a reset with our European partners. The next step is the upcoming EU-UK summit. I, too, was part of the UK- EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly; I and many other colleagues here travelled to Brussels, where we were welcomed as friends and allies. They were pleased that Britain was back as a partner.

I have only a short time to speak, so I will touch on just one point. The SPS agreement is focused on ensuring food safety and protecting animal and plant health. Earlier this month, as vice-chair of the all-party group on international conservation, I was fortunate enough to visit the Zoological Society of London and meet its pygmy hippo, Amara. Hon. Members may wonder why I am talking about a pygmy hippo, but there are more parliamentary passholders on this estate than there are pygmy hippos in the wild. While at the ZSL, I learned more about its work to bring species back from extinction. By working across borders to ensure that genetically diverse and healthy populations exist, organisations such as ZSL and its partners around the world are actively bringing back from the brink species ranging from the scimitar-horned oryx to the partula snail, which just a few weeks ago was down-listed from “extinct in the wild” to “critically endangered”.

However, ZSL’s work has been put at risk. Transfers that would have once been completed in just weeks now take months or even years because of the new misalignment between ourselves and the EU. That could be solved as part of an ambitious SPS agreement, but the Government need to make sure that that is included in the discussions. Is that something that the Minister has considered? If so, does he plan to raise it with his EU counterparts? This may sound like a small change, but it could have species-defining consequences for us and our planet.

Oral Answers to Questions

Uma Kumaran Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, but the Opposition did leave a bit of a mess that we are clearing up, having hollowed out our armed forces and having not made the investment that we needed in our defence. We have announced the largest sustained increase since the cold war to 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next Parliament, subject to economic circumstances. We are getting on with the job and clearing up the mess that they left.

[Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)]

Q13. My constituency has the greatest number of high-rise buildings with dangerous cladding in the country. On Friday, I visited Stratford fire station. Our brilliant local firefighters told me that 77 high-rise buildings in Newham and 165 in Tower Hamlets are covered in hazardous materials, with many of them deemed unsafe. Thousands of my constituents have been calling for justice for years. What are the Government doing to ensure that private developers are held to account for the dangerous cladding on high-rise buildings that they have built?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right that remediation has been far too slow, and everybody deserves a safe and secure home. We have signed a contract with 54 major developers who will pay for or fix over 1,700 buildings, and we are accelerating that progress. We will take tough action against those who evade their responsibilities. We will recover taxpayers’ funds and make sure that those responsible pay up and fix unsafe buildings quickly.