Business of the House

Debate between Wera Hobhouse and Lucy Powell

Thursday 12th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

I thank the Leader of the House for announcing the forthcoming business, and echo her in wishing the Princess of Wales all the best in her further recovery. May I also say how proud it makes me that the first Opposition day debate in the name of the Liberal Democrats has been announced?

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Jane Austen festival in Bath. It is the largest festival of its kind, and a wonderful occasion to celebrate one of the city’s most famous residents. Everybody here is invited to come and celebrate Jane Austen in Bath’s regency glory. Austen is one of the UK’s best known female authors, and her writing is still known hundreds of years after she wrote her famous novels. She was a strong advocate for education and broke down barriers for women in education and literature, which makes it all the more disappointing that even today many students will not study a female author at GCSE. A shameful 2% of students did, according to End Sexism in Schools. It is not just when it comes to the authorship of novels that women lack representation; over 70% of the set texts offered by the most popular awarding body have both a male author and a male protagonist.

Diverse literature enriches children’s education. There is a wealth of inspiring novels written by women that children unfortunately do not get to read in school. If the next generation is to grow up challenging male dominance in society, boys and girls need to be exposed to empowering representations of women. We need more pride and less prejudice in the curriculum. In the light of the Government’s upcoming curriculum and assessment review, can we have a statement from a Minister on how to address the gender bias in English literature?

[Lucy Powell]

What a wonderful issue to raise in business questions. I wish the residents of Bath, and everybody across this country, good wishes in celebrating the fabulous work of Jane Austen. I have not had time to think of a better pun than the one that the hon. Lady weaved into her tribute, but she is right that women, young girls, and young boys really should study female authors, and understand the contribution that women have made to the progress of society across not just culture, the arts and literature but science, engineering and technology. They are too often forgotten in our history and curriculum. I am sure that this matter figures in our curriculum review, and I will ensure that the Secretary of State for Education has heard her very good question.

Business of the House

Debate between Wera Hobhouse and Lucy Powell

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

I am pleased to see that the Leader of the House has survived the first rebellion of the new Parliament. Her Government should take advice from one of my Bath constituency’s most famous residents, Mary Shelley, and her creation, Frankenstein’s monster:

“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.”

I expect the Prime Minister hopes that the new group of independent MPs he has created will not become such a monster.

Scrapping the two-child benefit cap would lift around 250,000 children out of poverty. As child poverty is one of the main drivers of mental illness, it is no surprise that young people’s mental health services are now at breaking point. More than a quarter of a million young people are still waiting for support after being referred to child and adolescent mental health services in 2022-23. One of my constituents, who struggles with an eating disorder, has experienced two relapses, which they attribute to severely limited CAMHS resources in their time of need. The Liberal Democrats want to ensure that when budgets are tight, support for children and young people’s mental health is not pushed aside. Before it is too late, may we have a debate in Government time on the inadequacy of child and adolescent mental health services?

I also wish the wonderful John Tamlyn all the best in his retirement.

[Lucy Powell]

Let me be absolutely clear: we on the Labour Benches are incredibly proud of the programme laid out by His Majesty in the King’s Speech last week. By any measure, it is one of the most bold and ambitious programmes of any incoming Government—tackling the challenges that the country faces, delivering on our manifesto commitments, ensuring that our mission-led Government bring about the change that the country wants, and bringing back a Government of service. It is absolutely right that Members elected on a manifesto to bring in that King’s Speech should vote for it in overwhelming numbers, as they did in Parliament this week. I am incredibly proud of the huge numbers of people who supported that King’s Speech programme.

The issue of child poverty has been raised a number of times in recent weeks. This Labour Government, like any Labour Government, are absolutely committed to tackling child poverty—not just its symptoms, but its root causes—whether through early education, housing support, or the Sure Start programme and other such measures. That is why we have established a cross-cutting Government taskforce to look at all of those issues, and we will come back regularly to this House to report on its progress.

Business of the House

Debate between Wera Hobhouse and Lucy Powell

Thursday 18th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

May I also say what a pleasure it is to see you back in your place, Mr Speaker? I welcome the Leader of the House to her position, and congratulate her on the election results: securing such a large majority is no easy task, and her party at all levels deserves credit. The same can be said for our party, the Liberal Democrats: we are now the largest third party in over a century, with our most MPs ever. I thank all of the Liberal Democrats’ campaigners across the country who have fought tirelessly for a fair deal.

Our No. 1 priority is fixing the health and care crisis, so that no matter where in the country a person is, they can see a doctor or a dentist when they need to do so. Also central to our campaign was a fair deal for social care staff. The Government have promised to introduce a fair pay agreement for adult social care staff; while we Liberal Democrats welcome that announcement, there has been no detail of how it will be funded. The Liberal Democrats would fund a fair pay deal for social care staff by reversing the tax cuts handed by the Conservative party to the big banks. How will the Government fund that commitment?

Another issue that must be urgently addressed is our commitment to reach net zero. The report published today by the Climate Change Committee makes clear that the days of U-turning on climate commitments and diluting environmental targets must come to an end. Only a third of the emissions reductions required to achieve our 2030 target are currently covered by credible plans. The Liberal Democrats are committed to the bold, urgent action needed to tackle climate change, cut energy bills and create hundreds of thousands of secure, well-paid jobs. The Conservatives’ lack of ambition relinquished our place as a global environmental leader. With COP29 nearing, the UK has a golden opportunity to turbocharge global climate change policies.

Of course, the worst scandal of the past few years has been the sewage scandal. Can we have a debate in Government time on how we can fix this scandal, which has blighted our communities up and down the country?

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comments, and I welcome her to her place. I congratulate the Liberal Democrats on their success and their results in the election. They have an historic number of new Members of Parliament, although I am surprised that she did not bungee jump her way in this morning or rollerblade her way along from Members Lobby. She and I have worked together in the past, and I look forward to our working together in the future.

I know that part of the Liberal Democrat mandate at the election was about cleaning up our politics and turning the page, and this election certainly demanded action on that, so I hope we can realise some of that together. I worked closely with the hon. Lady’s colleague the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) on risk-based exclusions in the last Parliament, and I look forward to having a constructive relationship with her on those issues as well.

The hon. Lady raised a few issues. We absolutely share the Liberal Democrats’ concerns about the social care crisis in this country, and we are determined to get a grip on that. We know that care is not always available or of the quality that people deserve, and we are determined that everybody should have access to dignified, independent support in life. In the King’s Speech, we announced action in the employment Bill on establishing a fair pay agreement in the adult social care sector, and we look forward to working together on some of those issues.

On net zero, there will be the opportunity to question the Energy Secretary later. We have a really ambitious plan to get to net zero and be a clean energy superpower by 2030, and we have already started that programme. We have lifted the moratorium on onshore wind, we have agreed to planning applications for more solar in the past week than—taken together—has ever happened in our country’s history before and we have begun the process to establish Great British Energy.

I share the hon. Lady’s frustrations about the quality of water in this country, and it falls to this Government—how can I put it?—to clean up some of the mess of the previous Government in this area. [Interruption.] I know Conservative Members do not like to hear about all their mess floating around in the rivers, but I am afraid it does float around. We have announced a number of measures on that already, and we will continue to work together as we see our water special measures Bill that was announced in the King’s Speech yesterday progress through Parliament.