Rewiring the State
01 Sep 2026 · Commons Chamber · 97 speeches · Official record
Commons debate API. Not a paper. A named member links to their Institrace record when we hold that seat.
We are incredibly conscious of the historical underfunding of fire services across the country. That is why the previous Administration committed an additional £100 million to local fire and rescue services. Future funding decisions will be for the Budget. Full speech
My summer tour took me to such wonderful villages as Forest Hill, Little Milton, Stanton St John and Warborough, and no one I met wants to be part of the new proposed Greater Oxford authority. These parishes have been pressganged into a new authority they do not want to be part of. Will the Government review the decision to split Oxfordshire into three-a messy solution-and support other solutions, such as the two-and-one local authority proposals? Full speech
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for the work that she has done on this issue-I know that she is extremely expert in this area. Work is ongoing, with mobilised action across Government and industry, asking Cabinet Ministers to work directly with regulators and supply chains and writing to UK businesses with clear steps to strengthen their cyber-defences. The National Cyber Security Centre has engaged with more than a thousand stakeholders in the wake of Mythos’s release to galvanise action ... Full speech
My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and my constituency shares that exact same problem: in the east, there are fewer sixth-form options than in the wealthier west of the constituency. That is huge issue for educational inequality for our constituents, and I will take it away and look at it with the Education Secretary. My hon. Friend will also note that we have committed to devolution of 16-to-19 funding as well. Full speech
Apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker; I chose to address issues that I was directly responsible for. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that fire and rescue services are well and truly devolved in Scotland. As we have repeatedly said, we will be hosting a meeting of the National Economic Council with the First Minister. The Prime Minister has already met him and is committed to devolving power outside of Holyrood, which is as equally centralised a Government as the one that we are transferring power ou... Full speech
I want to be constructive because I welcome the creation of a stronger centre, with a proper political centre in No. 10 and a corporate HQ for the non-political functions. My question to the Minister is: what is the residual point of the Cabinet Office in this new structure? Some 12,000 people are currently employed in the Cabinet Office and all its quangos. Some of them will be redistributed, but what is the point of that office in future? Likewise, what is the point of the Cabinet Secretary’s ... Full speech
Diolch yn fawr, Madam Dirprwy Lefarydd. It is great to see the powers being devolved to England to drive economic growth, yet the most minimal powers are not being considered for Wales. The promise made by the UK Government in February to jointly consult with the Welsh Government on the devolution of the vacant land tax has stalled. Will the First Secretary of State say what conversations she has had with the Treasury on that matter, and tell us when the consultation will be published? Full speech
I welcome the First Secretary of State to her place and support her determination to rewire the state. In her statement, she spoke about an underpowered centre of Government and how Ministers often lack agency. In my view, Members of this House-MPs-also often lack agency and are underpowered. In the light of the welcome devolution of greater powers to unitary authorities and metro mayors, does she agree that it is important that we discuss and debate, in this place and elsewhere, the role of MPs... Full speech
I welcome the First Secretary to her new role and wish her well. The hon. Lady’s appointment comes at a critical time for the United Kingdom. She will know that the fundamental pillar of our Union is fairness, and right now the funding model for Northern Ireland is anything but fair. The current Barnett consequential framework is fundamentally broken. It fails to account for the unique, severe and acute objective needs of our public services, health sector and infrastructure in Northern Ireland.... Full speech
It is fantastic to hear my hon. Friend’s enthusiasm. We have set ourselves such a tight deadline exactly to ensure that we fill in the map of the whole of England and do not lose the momentum of this moment. I would be delighted to meet him and his colleagues from the Thames valley to sign on the dotted line. Full speech
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson. Full speech
Can I remind the First Secretary that during this summer my constituency experienced the extensive Cairngorms wildfire? It was a major incident in difficult terrain that destroyed around 20 square miles of iconic hillside and forestry, threatened homes and businesses, and required the efforts of over 500 firefighters and volunteers. There are actions required of the UK Government, the devolved Governments and numerous public agencies and landowners, and I am pressing all of them on these issues.... Full speech
The First Secretary mentioned the heroics of firefighters during the summer. Gloucestershire fire and rescue service was involved in fighting the wildfires, even though we did not have any within our county boundaries, but the funding pressures on the fire service in Gloucestershire are now so acute that Cheltenham West fire station will be closed overnight if the consultation proposals are accepted. That cannot be right when we know we are going to be having more wildfires, perhaps even in Glou... Full speech
The hon. Lady is absolutely right and raises incredibly important points. I can assure her that these issues will be considered by the wildfire summit, which I agree will need a bigger room at this rate. Full speech
I thank the First Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement, and warmly welcome her to her place. The Liberal Democrats strongly agree that the political system is overly centralised. We believe that the best decisions are taken closest to the people they affect, but renewing communities must also mean giving councils the powers and resources that they need to revitalise our high streets, support independent businesses and improve local public services. After years of severe financia... Full speech
My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. I have seen it for myself in places as small as Dijon in France, which have incredibly well-functioning integrated transport systems that include tram networks. That is in large part because they are able to raise and keep revenue themselves and continue to invest it in their transport networks. We are removing the veto on decision making for transport infrastructure and devolving a number of powers under the Transport and Works Act 1992, which... Full speech
I welcome the steps taken by the First Secretary to ensure that strategic authorities such as Cornwall have the capacity to deliver on our growth agenda, but I want to ask specifically what steps she has taken to ensure that both national and local government have the financial analytical capability to identify those most promising investment cases and help shepherd them towards success. Full speech
May I congratulate the First Secretary of State on her appointment and welcome the creation of No. 10 North as part of the Government’s commitment to drive good growth in every postcode? In that vein, is she aware of the series of funding decisions that have been taken by the Science and Technology Facilities Council that, taken together, will shift publicly funded research and development activity from north to south? The Prime Minister has already committed to intervening over Jodrell Bank, bu... Full speech
I, too, welcome the First Secretary of State to her place, particularly as she has smashed another glass ceiling by being the first woman to hold the role. In her statement, she talked about wildfires. There was not one in Monmouthshire per se, but they were all around the edge of Monmouthshire, and there was a lot of smoke in houses in Abergavenny. I therefore really look forward to the summit she will hold on wildfires. One thing that the First Secretary of State did not mention and which I wo... Full speech
With your permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the work of the newly formed Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the change it will bring. On the steps of Downing Street six weeks ago, the Prime Minister set out the priorities that will guide this Government. He was clear that 40 years of overly centralised decision making and over-privatisation have stripped power and resources away from communities in every nation and region of this country; that public control o... Full speech
I am extremely grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his characteristically constructive and thoughtful contribution. I will, of course, raise that with DEFRA and look into the specific issue on his behalf. Full speech
The staffing of No. 10 North has been done on an interim basis to get it set up and running. We will recruit permanently and, of course, those roles will be based in Manchester. Full speech
Will the First Secretary of State’s exercise in delivering democracy and local accountability and empowering local people include a look at large organisations that cannot be described as governmental or as quangos but that nevertheless exist firmly within the public domain, are established by statute, serve the public and are big employers, and in which the public have a direct interest, such as the National Trust? That is ripe for review-it is meant to be reviewed periodically-and it would cer... Full speech
The transition to clean energy could be an opportunity to build a different model that would, to use the First Secretary of State’s own words, end “overly centralised decision making and over-privatisation”. Development thus far has simply concentrated power in the hands of the big corporates and left communities feeling left behind and disempowered. In Shetland, we host one of the largest onshore wind farms in the country, but we have the highest levels of fuel poverty, and last year the develo... Full speech
I am incredibly sorry to hear about the impact on the 60 families in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and about their displacement. Off the back of the summer and the preparations we are making for wildfires, we are now preparing for flooding, and we are making extensive preparations for a wide range of scenarios ahead of winter. I will ensure that the relevant Minister meets him to consider what response we can make to his community. Full speech
I congratulate the First Secretary of State on her appointment. Will she confirm to me and to the House that the intergovernmental relations responsibilities in her Department will be given the weight they require? Indeed, part of that is about making the case for the continuance of the United Kingdom. We have three First Ministers across the United Kingdom whose position is that they want to break up the United Kingdom. The Scottish Government have already brought forward a time-wasting and unn... Full speech
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for allowing me to be clear about this issue. The Prime Minister made clear his intention around business rates very early in his premiership, including on cutting business rates for pubs and hospitality and businesses that really benefit our high streets. Where we are proposing devolution is for business rates retention, encouraging areas to grow their economy and then enjoy a share of that. They will not have any difference in altering the level of business rates... Full speech
The Prime Minister set out how he plans to cut tax on the very first day of his premiership. I thank the shadow Secretary for his kind words. My title is First Secretary of State; he may wish to be the shadow deputy Prime Minister, but that would not be shadowing me. I am glad that we can find common ground. I will start with the cost of No. 10 North, which I imagine the hon. Gentleman knows already, given the sheer quantity of parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests that hav... Full speech
As the hon. Lady knows, the Prime Minister said yesterday that we will be hosting a National Economic Council with the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in order to discuss devolution at length, and the decisions around devolution that she has described will be made from there. Full speech
Over recess, a number of disturbing cases of artificial intelligence agents escaping control of their owners and undertaking unauthorised activity became public. In one case, 1,200 agents collaborated on an unsanctioned message board before 700 of them engaged in an attack on the company Hugging Face. Can the First Secretary confirm that following the governmental rewiring that she has described, her Department will be responsible for dealing with risks from so-called AI misalignment, and given ... Full speech
I welcome my right hon. Friend to her place and thank her for her earlier comments about the wildfires this summer. Staffordshire fire and rescue service saw more than 600 outdoor fires in July alone. That does not include any of those that happened in August. It is important that, in this place, we recognise the bravery of those firefighters who were out there day in, day out. Every human instinct, on looking at the wall of flame they were faced with, tells us to run the other way, but those me... Full speech
I welcome the First Secretary to her place, and I thank her for making her first constituency visit to Portsmouth North and the fantastic Griffon Marine. As Portsmouth is a coastal city, residents are rightly furious that Southern Water continues to pump sewage into our seas. We have had hardly any rain this summer, yet sewage pollution and rising bills continue while private companies make profits. It is abundantly clear that privatisation under the Tories has failed the British public again an... Full speech
I welcome the First Secretary to her place. One area of the state that needs rewiring is support for neurodiverse people, because lots of decision makers do not get it. Will the First Secretary appoint a Minister for neurodiversity to the Cabinet Office to help ensure decision makers across the country get it and solve the challenges related to neurodivergence that they may face? Full speech
Normally when functions and roles are devolved from London to another area, we see a diminution in the capital and an increase in the area concerned. There is an obvious danger of duplication by having a No. 10 North and a No. 10 South, so will the First Secretary, whom I congratulate on her appointment, be transparent about this and agree that the public should be able to see how many people are working permanently in No. 10 North, how many are working permanently in No. 10 South, and how many ... Full speech
I offer two congratulations: first, to my right hon. Friend and constituency neighbour, the First Secretary, on her well-deserved promotion-I am sure she will do an excellent job. Secondly, I congratulate her and the Prime Minister for their real commitment to devolution, which I have wanted to see for an awfully long time. I hope it is devolution to local councils, as first-tier authorities, as well as to strategic authorities. One area that has not been covered so far is education. The First S... Full speech
Health is absolutely part of the devolution agenda. We are already pursuing a number of reforms, including the abolition of NHS England, to ensure that decisions can be made democratically at the centre of Government and then pushed locally, and to ensure that they are resourced where possible. I will take away the hon. Gentleman’s specific issue and raise it with the Health Secretary. Full speech
I am grateful to the hon. Member. He is right that we have to learn to live with the new normal we have experienced over the summer. Cobra is the right team within the Department to co-ordinate activity across Government. We have worked closely with the Environment Agency, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Met Office and others in response to the extreme heat we have seen and to prepare for future summers. Full speech
I absolutely agree with the right hon. Gentleman. The Prime Minister has been clear repeatedly that we stand against Scottish independence and against an independence referendum. We will continue to make the case for the Union. That responsibility will be held very highly, importantly and closely by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Intergovernmental Relations and European Relations. Full speech
I, too, warmly welcome the First Secretary of State to her place. Last month, my constituents experienced wildfires, including the major incident in the parish of Salford Priors where Warwickshire fire and rescue service worked through extremely challenging conditions to protect homes and save lives. I pay tribute to all the firefighters, ambulance crew and those from the local community who assisted. Given the increasing frequency of heatwaves and drought and the severity of wildfires, particul... Full speech
The right hon. Gentleman raises a number of really important and interesting issues that will be considered as we look to greater public control of our energy system. Local and community control is central to the Prime Minister’s vision for public control, and that “madness”, as the right hon. Gentleman described it, is something that will drive our energy reforms. Full speech
I call the shadow First Secretary of State. Full speech
The hon. Gentleman raises an extremely interesting point, and I appreciate its importance. I will take away the wider point and establish what work needs to be done to ensure that properly dealing with neurodiversity is embedded across the whole of Government. Full speech
I, too, welcome the First Secretary of State to her place-it is great to see her back on the Treasury Bench. I also welcome the creation of the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The right hon. Lady is absolutely right that in a centralised system it was the most underpowered organisation imaginable, and it needed some turbocharging. I hope that the First Secretary will agree that rewiring has to be a process, not an event. The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee wi... Full speech
A significant programme of civil service reform is under way, led by the Cabinet Secretary. That programme has already begun reforming the civil service recruitment system to ensure that it hires and promotes truly brilliant people. It is reviewing the talent strategy to develop and grow talent right across the civil service and the whole UK, and is launching capability reviews to assess departmental delivery. It is identifying areas for improvement and building on the successful transformation ... Full speech
I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s support for the fire service. The £100 million has already been allocated, so that will have been done under the existing funding formula. Future allocations will be determined at the Budget. Full speech
When the British public voted to take back control, they did not vote for Westminster to later duplicate the cost of politics and the civil service. Will the First Secretary of State confirm whether civil servants now working outside London will still receive the London-weighted salary, and will Ministers now working outside London still be able to claim for London-based housing? Full speech
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing this role; I have no doubt that she will do a wonderful job. I was particularly interested in what she said about her Department strengthening national resilience, which will remain central. We have just had the hottest summer on record. This country was built for a climate that no longer exists, as we were told on the Environmental Audit Committee, and 2,500 people are estimated to have died this summer as a result. Diabetics, asthmatics, the very... Full speech
For my Torbay constituents, and indeed all constituents in Devon and Cornwall, No. 10 North is actually two hours further away than No. 10 Downing Street. Although we Liberal Democrats genuinely welcome devolution that brings power closer to people, I represent a constituency that has high levels of deprivation. Can the First Secretary of State advise me on how the Government’s reforms will support areas such as mine in particular? Full speech
We will reduce the size of the central civil service, shift power and resources out of Whitehall and speed up decision making. Full speech
May I be absolutely clear that the service levels for the civil service pension scheme following the move to Capita have been completely unacceptable? Our immediate priority is to stabilise the service and give current and former civil servants the service they deserve. We are using all our commercial levers, including withholding payments, to hold Capita to account for its failure, and we will continue to do so until service levels are fully restored. The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office... Full speech
The Mayor of London has been involved in continued talks through No. 10 North on the devolution settlement. We will continue to consider what further powers and resources London deserves. Full speech
This summer, we have seen extreme heat and prolonged drought, with far too many people losing their lives in heatwaves, huge pressures on farming and many wildfires. We are unlikely to have another cooler summer than this year, and we need to be prepared for an ever-warming world. That requires a cross-Government approach. While there has been lots of talk of a No. 10 for the north-and devolution is welcome-does the First Secretary of State recognise that we could have a No. 10 for the future in... Full speech
Bearing in mind your family connection to the fire services in Harlow, Madam Deputy Speaker, I pay tribute to fire officers across my constituency. I also welcome the First Secretary to her place; I know that she is a friend of Harlow. I thank the Government for their investment in our town, not just through the UK Health Security Agency, but through funding for rough sleeping and the 48 businesses that will benefit from the defence investment plan. On rewiring the state, I think previous Govern... Full speech
I begin by welcoming my right hon. Friend to her place and wish her every success in her new role. I thank her for this statement and for this Government’s renewed focus on reindustrialisation in the UK, bringing opportunity and economic growth to every corner of the UK. With everything pushing towards increased manufacturing and construction, personal protective equipment is more important than ever as the last line of defence between workers and hazardous materials and incidents. The state has... Full speech
I, too, welcome the First Secretary of State to her place and welcome today’s statement as well as the one in July. The first English devolution settlement was, of course, for London, and despite some incremental improvements since 1999, our capital’s mayor, the Greater London Authority and the 32 London boroughs are not currently set up to deliver on the capital’s full potential, whether on productivity and growth or in dealing with our housing crisis and the massive increase in temporary accom... Full speech
It is an excellent question and something that my hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Dan Tomlinson), who sits in the Treasury as well as the Cabinet Office, has been working on through No. 10 North. We are planning a brand of civil service reform that will move civil servants from the centre to regional and local government in order to share expertise, and we will provide them with the AI and data expertise that we have at the centre in order to do exactly that. Full speech
It was a great pleasure to visit my hon. Friend and announce our procurement reforms at Griffon Marine in her constituency. The Prime Minister has been repeatedly clear that more public control of our water industry is not just desired but absolutely necessary. The current system, with the poor infrastructure, investment, higher water bills and the kind of sewage, leakage and poor quality that she described, can continue no longer. We will set out our plans for reform shortly. Full speech
The Prime Minister has been clear that we do not want to impose anything centrally on areas that do not want to combine areas. I am sure that we can facilitate a meeting or discussion in No. 10 North to ensure that we get the right authority, powers and resources for the hon. Gentleman’s area. Full speech
A 15-minute statement on rewiring the state, yet Scotland does not merit a single mention-not even the Cairngorm wildfire. It is becoming increasingly clear that this Prime Minister is almost exclusively focused on pursuing an English domestic agenda. Having lost five parliamentary elections in a row and slumped to 17% of the vote last May, I can understand why the Labour party has given up in Scotland, but does the Minister think it is wise to make it so obvious? Full speech
My hon. Friend is right to champion that important development. I would be delighted to facilitate a meeting for him in No. 10 North. Full speech
As the Government work at pace to move power out of Westminster and into our communities, I am keen for Bracknell to get a share of that. That is why I support devolution for the Thames valley. The First Secretary of State will know that leaders across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Swindon have written to her setting out their ambition for a mayoral strategic authority. That is excellent progress, but we have been here before and I do not want to see us lose the momentum. Will she set up a meeting ... Full speech
My hon. Friend has put it incredibly poetically-better than I ever could. He is absolutely right that the machinery of government and the culture across Whitehall need to be challenged. The Prime Minister has been clear that this Government will bring about an end to local and regional government coming to Whitehall with a begging bowl. Whitehall and the Government as a whole have been told in no uncertain terms that they will now be required to justify why policies are not devolved, rather than... Full speech
The right hon. Gentleman is right that traditionally the model of moving people or roles out of London has meant duplication in the centre. That is exactly what we are attempting to fix. We want new senior roles across the country. I pay tribute to the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), who created the Darlington campus. That campus is a proper model of delivery, with senior policy making and civil servants in Darlington, based around the T... Full speech
Mr Speaker, I am loving all the common ground that we are finding with Opposition Members today. I completely agree that we need to look at outsourcing across Government. The previous Administration already took significant steps to reduce spend on consultancy and began the work on the largest wave of insourcing in a generation, as promised in our manifesto. I have worked with the hon. Gentleman in the past, and he has witnessed my energy up close. He can be assured of my continued commitment to... Full speech
I am grateful to the hon. Lady, and I can confirm that my motto of moving fast and fixing things is still firmly in place. She is absolutely right that in order to deliver devolution effectively and deliver the growth and improved public services that we need, resource and revenue are needed. We have committed to allowing strategic authorities to take a share of income tax and business rates, so that they are incentivised to grow their economies, and can take their fair share to reinvest in thos... Full speech
The First Secretary has said that the purpose of rewiring the state is to get power and resource to communities and deliver for people in every postcode. In Blackburn, patients are being treated in corridors because our hospital simply does not have the capacity it needs. So I ask: how will these reforms ensure that communities like mine, where the need is greatest, actually receive the investment we need? Full speech
My hon. Friend raises an incredibly important point, which goes exactly to the issue that I raised about ensuring that non-elected bodies that are not accountable to politicians are not given free rein to make decisions. I will, of course, take away that issue. Full speech
My hon. Friend makes an important point. I encourage him to raise it with the Leader of the House so that we have proper time in the Chamber to debate the issue. Full speech
I very much welcome what the First Secretary of State had to say about using No. 10 North to drive a pro-business culture, empower communities and deliver growth in every postcode. In Mid Derbyshire, we have one of the best projects to help her and the Government meet that aspiration in the regeneration of the Belper mills. That will bring 130 new homes to the Derwent valley and a visitor centre, where we have a UNESCO world heritage site. We are so close to securing investment from the East Mid... Full speech
Lancashire has missed out on Government investment for decades, and my constituents in South Ribble have been treated to nothing but the scraps of investment left in the pot at the end of the year. We now have an opportunity like no other in generations. Lancashire needs devolution and an elected mayor. Will the First Secretary of State facilitate an urgent meeting for me and Lancashire colleagues with No. 10 North to unlock this desperately needed opportunity for real investment and prosperity ... Full speech
The First Secretary of State talks about a broken political model that will cost jobs and opportunities, and I am afraid the decision that the predecessor Government made on local government reorganisation in Devon is exactly that: it will create a two-tier Devon, leaving one area behind. It has carved out three urban growth areas and dumped together all the bits that are left behind in a vast rural local authority of 100 miles from north to south with a road network equivalent to that of Luxemb... Full speech
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The reforms that have been proposed through the devolution blueprint and Cabinet statement are designed to address exactly that issue. For too long, devolution has been two-tier, allowing certain areas of the country to steam ahead while others have not been given the powers and resources that they deserve. Devon and Cornwall will be incentivised with potential powers and resources, including the overnight visitor levy. The hon. Gentleman will have heard t... Full speech
I again send my thoughts and sympathies to those affected by the wildfire in the hon. Lady’s constituency. The Prime Minister set out funding over the summer specifically for farmers in relation to resilience. We have awarded £100 million to the fire service and will co-ordinate a wildfire summit on where we need to go further, more details of which will be announced in the near future. Full speech
I will take that point away. We have already made significant progress in our review on closing or merging arm’s length bodies, including NHS England and the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. We know that we need to go further, and we will close or merge those where that is justified as part of our plans to rewire Whitehall. I will write to the right hon. Gentleman on the issue he raises. Full speech
I am extremely grateful for my hon. Friend’s enthusiasm for that settlement for Lancashire. He is absolutely right that it is the way to deliver power and resources for his community and unlock its potential. I am sure that you agree, Mr Speaker. No. 10 North will be extremely busy, given the number of requests that are pouring in, but I will make sure that my hon. Friend is top of the queue. Full speech
I will ensure that the hon. Lady’s concerns are heard by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and I can confirm that the Communities Secretary will determine next steps on local government reform by the end of October 2026. Full speech
It is a pleasure to welcome my right hon. Friend to her place. The greatest shift of power in rewiring this country we have seen started in Rochdale in 1844, when the Rochdale pioneers came together and created and inspired a worldwide movement. We now have our first ever Labour and Co-operative Prime Minister and an historic commitment to double the size of the co-operative and mutual economy, highlighting the vital role of double devolution, which is not just about giving power to institutions... Full speech
I congratulate the First Secretary of State and welcome her to a very important role in government. I agree with a number of things that she said, particularly about strengthening the role of No. 10. However, there is a large gap in this statement on rewiring the state, and that is to do with civil service reform. There are many excellent civil servants, but I am afraid that it remains a classic 80:20 model; 20% of exceptionally good civil servants do about 80% of the work. If we are really to r... Full speech
I am incredibly grateful to the hon. Member, who I have worked with over many years on a number of campaigns. As ever, she raises an incredibly important point. I cannot imagine there are many people in this House who have not been touched by suicide in one way or another. I certainly have, in my close family. It is an incredibly important point that she raises and one that should and could be easily fixed in terms of the specific problems that can lead to state failings. Of course I would be de... Full speech
I align myself with the comments about firefighters and suggest that the right hon. Lady might need a bigger room for the summit, as there is so much interest in it. I seek some clarity on business rates. She mentioned that devolution might lead to business rates retention, but it is the structure of business rates that is causing the decline of our high streets and the decimation of our hospitality sector. Giving local authorities such as Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council and Dorset c... Full speech
I congratulate the First Secretary on her post and appreciate the work the Government are doing on extreme weather. In my constituency last week, more than 60 families were left devastated by rainfall and flooding. I appreciate the £65 million that is being offered to farmers and the £100 million for emergency services, but will the First Secretary meet me and Birmingham city council to see what package could be offered to support those 60 families and to prevent a repeat of what took place last... Full speech
My hon. Friend is right. Working with the charity and voluntary sector at local and regional level can be far better if we ensure they are properly funded and empowered to make decisions, procure and work in partnership. Through double devolution closest to the ground, we will ensure that the CVS is properly utilised and funded. Full speech
I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend for his words and praise. My grandfather was a firefighter in Chesterfield, so I join my hon. Friend in sending our thanks and gratitude to the heroes who kept us safe over the summer. He is right to draw attention to the fact that so many fires, which did not even make the news, were being quietly fought by them on our behalf. We will ensure that their voice is central to the work we do as we prepare for future summers. Full speech
I thank the deputy Prime Minister for advance sight of her statement. I congratulate her on her appointment-it is a major achievement-and I look forward to working with her. I also congratulate the right hon. Lady on the wording of her statement. The phrase “rewiring the state” was first coined by the Leader of the Opposition in her leadership contest in the summer of 2024, and for a very good reason. The state does need rewiring; we agree on that. It is in urgent need of rewiring. It needs rewi... Full speech
I want to ask about devolution and transport. Since we introduced Transport and Works Act orders in the 1990s, we have dramatically decreased the number of new tramlines, which we know are a big driver of local growth, being built in the UK. France has a mass rapid transit system in every town and city with a population of over 150,000 people, yet Leeds is the biggest place in western Europe without any mass rapid transit system at all. Will the First Secretary please tell us what powers she wil... Full speech
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. My thoughts and sympathies are with all those affected in his constituency by the wildfire. Some £100 million has already been invested in fire and rescue services, and we will continue to look at the issues that he raises to do with equipment in future Budgets. We are engaging with our European neighbours on exactly this issue, and we are well aware of the opportunities that arise from it. Full speech
I congratulate the First Secretary on her appointment. I am sure that the reforms planned to rewire the state are well-intentioned, but it seems that we are going from No. 10 plus the Cabinet Office to No. 10, No. 10 North, the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Cabinet Office and a new OneGov Delivery Agency. We are going from two to five. Does she understand our concerns that she is increasing the size of the state, increasing the cost and slowing down decision making? Full speech
We are incredibly conscious of the burdens that small businesses are facing, particularly ones like the Fat Badger in Harrogate. That is why the Prime Minister set as his priority reducing burdens and cutting taxes for businesses-hospitality businesses in particular-in the first days of his premiership. High street regeneration and breathing life into our villages, towns and cities is absolutely a priority of this regime. Full speech
The Cabinet Office supports the wider civil service and still fulfils a number of incredibly important functions, including cross co-ordination of governmental priorities. The Cabinet Secretary’s role is to run the civil service as a whole, and that role will always be required. Full speech
Following on from that point about firefighters, one of the wildfires among the major incidents the First Secretary of State referred to in her statement was in Cambridgeshire at Holme Fen nature reserve, to which up to 20 fire engines responded, along with 150 firefighters from as far afield as Merseyside, Durham and Devon and Somerset. My thanks go to all those firefighters who assisted Cambridgeshire fire and rescue in tackling that dangerous peat fire. Will the First Secretary of State expla... Full speech
On the subject of wildfires, the Prime Minister has said that he does not believe our fire service have the right equipment, and I could not agree with him more. West Sussex fire and rescue service currently does not have access to wildfire personal protective equipment, and its newest off-road vehicle is 26 years old. Will the First Secretary of State or the relevant Minister please meet me and the chief fire officer of West Sussex fire and rescue to talk about how we can ensure that we keep th... Full speech
I welcome the right hon. Lady to her place, and I am sure that she will be very effective at this job. On the issue of wildfires, may I urge her to talk to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is putting further constraints on moorland owners? Moorland owners have traditionally undertaken controlled burning, and they are really worried at the moment that this change in DEFRA policy will make moorland areas such as the one I represent more vulnerable to wildfires in the f... Full speech
I warmly welcome the First Secretary to her post. I also welcome her good judgment in taking one of the esteemed former members of our Health and Social Care Committee, the hon. Member for Worthing West (Dr Cooper), to be her Parliamentary Private Secretary. I know the First Secretary has probably already had some of this in her ear already, but I cannot lose this opportunity. This morning, the Health and Social Care Committee, with the Education Committee, heard moving evidence about why death ... Full speech
I welcome the First Secretary of State to her place. Two weeks ago I held a hospitality business roundtable, and its participants will be pleased to hear her mention a pro-business culture and cutting the barriers that businesses face. At that event at North Bar, one thing that businesses such as the Fat Badger, Westmorland Coffee and other lovely hospitality businesses in Harrogate and Knaresborough brought up was the high VAT rates that our businesses face. They are some of the highest in Euro... Full speech
I congratulate my hon. Friend on her sustained campaign in this area. I know that she has done an extraordinary amount of work in continuing to raise issues around PPE when they have fallen out of the public spotlight post covid. The Minister responsible for procurement will be delighted to meet her to discuss this issue. Full speech
As the Prime Minister said in Prime Minister’s questions earlier, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has opened a negotiation process with Stormont to look at funding and the funding pressures that have emerged. Fundamental to that negotiation will be reform of the decisions that Stormont makes and the way that the Executive have made decisions historically, which has repeatedly led to funding pressures. We need to ensure that these negotiations result in true reform, so we do not end u... Full speech
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his continued work in this important area and on the environment. Tackling the threats posed by climate change requires consistent and co-ordinated action across every Department. From £710 million to fund upgrades to our school estate to the construction of nine new reservoirs across the country, this Government are taking the necessary steps to ensure that our country is more resilient and our communities are kept safe. He will have heard the Prime Minister ... Full speech