Chris Ward MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Oct 2025 · Official Secrets Act Case: Witness Statements · Hansard source

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  As I say, parliamentary scrutiny and transparency is something that, despite the allegation, we are trying to provide with statements and by publishing evidence. I am sure, going forward, that that is something that will carry on. I will come back to my hon. Friend on the precise mechanism for how we will do that, but I am sure people will be made available to his Committee.

• 16 Sept 2025 · Ambassador to the United States · Hansard source

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  indicated dissent .

• 4 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T7. In the last few days, I have had a huge number of emails from constituents about continued sewage discharge into our otherwise beautiful seas and the shocking record of Southern Water on this issue. I noted earlier that the Secretary of State said he had been to Bournemouth a couple of times, but can he come a little further down the coast, visit my constituency, and set out what this Government are doing to clean up our waters and hold Southern Water to account?

• 15 Jul 2025 · SEND Provision: South-east England · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) for securing the debate. I agree with much of what he and so many others have said. The fact that we all have similar stories from our constituencies underlines the scale of the challenge. In my constituency, one in five children receives some form of SEND support, and one in 12 has an EHCP. That is far above both the Sussex and national averages. However, I suspect that is just the tip of the iceberg. At my surgery just last week, I met a couple whose son finally has an EHCP after years of fighting—but there is no place in the local authority to provide it. He will almost certainly remain out of school, joining countless others who, as we have heard, are being let down by a system that too often frustrates and limits, rather than supports and fulfils potential. I do think in this Parliament—and this may be the optimism of a newcomer—we have a real chance, perhaps a final one, to sort this mess out. I welcome the fact that the Government are not ducking the issue, and the cross-party approach that has been taken; the longer we can sustain that, the better. I also recognise the scale of the challenge ahead of us and the need to listen to those most directly affected. That is why, a few months ago, I held a SEND summit in Saltdean, in my constituency, bringing together local parents, councillors, advocates and experts to hear their experiences. In the time I have, I want to outline three of the main takeaways from that summit. First is the need to dramatically improve SEND training in schools—in particular, to introduce mandatory and expert SEND training for all new teachers as part of initial teacher training, and then as part of continuous teaching development. Of course, that must go alongside wider reforms to schools and the curriculum to ensure that more children stay in and flourish. Mandatory SEND training would support early identification, allowing proper plans to be put in place sooner. It would boost professional standards and end the postcode lottery in how neighbouring schools approach SEND so differently. There is a Bill before the House, which I have co-sponsored with my hon. Friend the Member for Barking (Nesil Caliskan), that would achieve this. Will the Minister support it? The second major recommendation was to enhance the parental voice. That is really important and too often ignored. SEND families include not only those receiving support, but those who know how the system works and how it fails. Our summit discussed the idea of regional champions—SEND advocates, perhaps across new devolved areas—who could bring this together on a larger scale. Can the Minister say more about how she will listen to parental voices as these reforms come forward and how she will work with the sector? Thirdly, underpinning all the other points, is the need for a cultural change on how Government, Parliament and local authorities approach SEND. We need to focus less on proving exceptionalism and the limitations of SEND children, and more on how we fulfil the potential of every child; end the adversarial culture and lack of accountability that pervades in too many cases, and instead work with parents to navigate it; and, crucially, shift SEND services away from emergency, when there is already proof of trauma, to early intervention. There is a lot to unpack in those points, but they are the three main solutions that we have, and I hope the Minister will respond to them.

• 9 Jul 2025 · LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for giving way. I also thank the Minister, who I know is personally invested in and has been a champion on this issue. He has the respect of the House and, more importantly, of the veterans concerned. I am concerned about the pace of the scheme. One of my constituents, who is a veteran, wrote to me to say that he is 77 and has prostate cancer, two brain tumours, heart disease and other complications. We have taken this up with the MOD, yet he still has no certainty about when he might get payments and the justice that the hon. Lady talked about. Does she agree that it is now incumbent on the MOD to demonstrate that it is doing everything possible to get the payments out as quickly as possible and finally deliver justice?

• 26 Jun 2025 · Road Network: Condition · Hansard source

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  Peacehaven in my constituency is a growing town, but it remains a one-road-in, one-road-out town. The daily gridlock and frequent roadworks on the A259 is the single biggest frustration and barrier to opportunity for my constituents. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can unlock that and provide a real boost to Peacehaven and neighbouring towns?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Freedom of Speech: Universities · Hansard source

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  The Minister will know that the University of Sussex, one of my local universities, has recently been fined over £500,000—a record amount—following a three-and-half-year investigation by the Office for Students into freedom of speech. I know that the OfS is independent, but does the Minister share my concern that it reached this conclusion without ever speaking to the university or its current staff and students? Does she recognise the very wide implications of this ruling, and will she meet me and the University to discuss this?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Freedom of Speech: Universities · Hansard source

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  12. What steps she is taking to protect freedom of speech at universities.

• 23 Apr 2025 · Hospitals · Hansard source

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  The Royal Sussex in my constituency is in desperate need of a new cancer centre, and I am delighted that the centre is being added to wave one. I would be even happier if the Minister also added a new accident and emergency department, but we will come back to that another day. Is the reality not that we all want to build these new hospitals, but we all have to be honest with the public about how we will pay for them? The Liberal Democrats never are, and the motion is not. Bringing forward construction dates is a multibillion-pound commitment, but all the motion talks about is creating a taskforce. Is that not fundamentally unserious? This is an incredibly serious issue, and we should put forward proper proposals.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Court Backlogs · Hansard source

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  I recently met, in my constituency, two people whose son and daughter-in-law had been brutally killed in June 2023. Nearly two years on, the case has yet to come to court. It has been delayed five times, and a date in October has now been set. On each occasion, the delays have caused huge anguish to the family. Will the Minister agree to meet me to discuss this matter, and can she tell me what steps the Government are taking to ensure that trials are conducted promptly so that justice can be received by such families?

• 22 Apr 2025 · “For Women Scotland” Supreme Court Ruling · Hansard source

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  The Minister is absolutely right that we need to conduct this debate with respect and compassion, because ultimately this is about people’s lives and their rights. That is why there is such concern in the trans community at the moment, including in my Brighton Kemptown constituency, which has the largest trans community in the country. Can she confirm two things for me? First, how will she ensure that trans people have faith that their existing legal protections will be upheld and not rowed back on? Secondly, how will the Government ensure that trans voices are heard as public bodies roll out their response to the ruling?

• 6 Mar 2025 · English Football: Financial Sustainability and Governance · Hansard source

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  I want to briefly tell the story of my local club, Brighton and Hove Albion, which is very much the story of the recent highs and lows of English football. In summary, I have been a Brighton fan for 30 years. The first 15 of those were pretty terrible, but the second 15 have been fantastic. In that time we have played in all four leagues. We were one game away from going out of the football league; now we have spent nearly a decade in the premier league, and we have enjoyed European nights against teams such as Marseille and Ajax. In the dark days we experienced the very worst of ownership: our ground was sold and we ended up playing in Gillingham or in a rented athletics stadium. Despite the gloom, we always had two things on our side. First, we had the strength of our fans who stuck together through thick and thin, raised money, went on marches and did everything we could to keep the club going. Secondly, we found a saviour in new ownership—a Brighton fan and a genius; everything you would want in an owner—in the shape of Tony Bloom. Because of those two things, we have gone through the lottery from the worst to the best of ownership. We heard in the opening speech about the test of the Football Governance Bill being the Reading test, but I want to impose a Brighton test. Could the Bill have stopped the first 15 years of my life, where we experienced the worst of ownership? A second test: will it encourage more owners to come forward who, in the shape of Tony Bloom, are rooted in the community, serve the community and deliver a fantastic football team? I hope very much that the Bill can do both.

• 6 Mar 2025 · English Football: Financial Sustainability and Governance · Hansard source

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  I never thought I would say this, but I have a lot of sympathy with Reading fans at the moment. When I was a kid growing up, my team, Brighton and Hove Albion, experienced a lot of what my hon. Friend’s team is experiencing now. When Reading was well run by the Madejski family, Brighton were at the bottom of the league in very much the opposite scenario, and Brighton are now enjoying the other side of the pendulum. We have probably the best type of ownership. It is a fantastic model that everyone should try to emulate. Does my hon. Friend not agree that the lottery of ownership—the pendulum that went from, when I was young, Brighton having to sell their ground and play in Gillingham, to Reading now experiencing the problems that they are experiencing—is what we need to change with the regulator?

• 6 Feb 2025 · UK-EU Relations · Hansard source

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  I warmly welcome the Minister’s statement. Isn’t it nice to finally have a Government who want to work with, rather than alienate, our European partners? In that spirit, does he agree that there is a chasm between the thin, last-minute deal that the previous Government negotiated—which the Leader of the Opposition now derides as a deal “without a plan”—and the red lines that he and his Government have set out? That is the landing zone that I hope the Government will get to as soon as possible.

• 6 Feb 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Last week I visited a local sixth-form college in Brighton, and one of the first questions I was asked was when the House will vote on introducing votes at 16. I did my best, telling the students that we had a manifesto commitment and that I hoped the vote would be later this year. Will the Leader of the House do one better and confirm when we will have a vote in this House?

• 14 Jan 2025 · Sudan: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  14. What steps he is taking to help improve the humanitarian situation in Sudan.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Sudan: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for her reply and for the focus she has given this important issue. The suffering, famine and displacement in Sudan are only intensifying, so will she outline the practical steps the Government are taking to protect human rights, promote peace and bring an end to this appalling conflict?

• 14 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T7. It is now over a year since Imran Khan was imprisoned in Pakistan. Since then, there have been reports of widespread intimidation and human rights abuses. Can the Minister set out what steps the UK Government are taking to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Pakistan?

• 12 Dec 2024 · LGBT Veterans: Etherton Review · Hansard source

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  I warmly welcome today’s debate, and I thank the Defence Secretary and the Veterans Minister for the way that they have gone about this, working with LGBT veterans and charities such as Fighting With Pride, and building on the work of the previous Government. I know that the Defence Secretary and the Veterans Minister care deeply about this issue. The Defence Secretary rightly said that this was unfinished business for Labour, and the Veterans Minister assured me when I first raised this matter with him many months ago that the scheme would be up and running by the end of the year. We can put that under the “promises kept” part of the Government’s record, and I am grateful for that. This is a profound injustice and a moral stain on the nation, as the Defence Secretary rightly said a few moments ago. Thousands of servicemen and women over many decades were interrogated, persecuted and punished for their sexuality—people who only wanted to serve our nation, but were let down in the most profound way. A constituent of mine in Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven told me that he felt “washed in shame” at the way he was discharged, imprisoned and discarded by the RAF, despite his exemplary service record. Thousands more veterans fall into that bracket, some of whom we have already heard about this afternoon and, hopefully, we will hear more about. Those people lost their career, their pay, their pension and often their family and friends, but also, as the hon. Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge) said, their sense of self, value and belonging. The emotional, psychological and physical impact is still being understood. That is the central point of this debate and the injustice we face—how do we ever go about rectifying something on such a scale? Harder still, how do we put a value on it and a process around it? I thank Lord Etherton for his work on this issue over many years, and recognise that the Defence Secretary and Veterans Minister have worked incredibly hard to build on the work of the previous Government to deliver this hugely welcome financial recognition scheme, which will be set up tomorrow. I know it will be welcomed by veterans in my constituency and others across the country. I will do everything I can to encourage the many LGBT veterans in my constituency to apply for it, as I hope other Members will, and as I know the Defence Secretary will. I welcome the increase in funding that has been allocated—a 50% increase is not insignificant. This is a significant commitment from this Government, and it is welcome. I also welcome the creation of two clear funding schemes: first, for those with formal discharge and dismissal; secondly, importantly, for the many who never suffered that discharge and dismissal, but who suffered much wider loss—emotional, financial and physical —as many Members have spoken about. As the Defence Secretary has said, it is also incredibly important that the option of restoring rank and removing the record of discharge has been brought forward—a point raised by many LGBT veterans I have met in my constituency surgeries and around Brighton Kemptown. It is, in some senses, as important as the financial measures announced, so I welcome that, too. However, if I may be so bold, I would also welcome clarity on a couple of points. First, what estimate has the Ministry of Defence made of the number of people likely to apply for each of the two tranches under the scheme? Secondly, what estimate has been made of what the average payment is likely to be? No two cases are the same, as the Defence Secretary said earlier. Of course, the headline figure of £70,000 is very welcome, but how many people does the Secretary of State believe will ever receive that? How many are likely to fall into those two tranches? I would welcome some clarity on that. Thirdly, how does the Secretary of State respond to the concern that by keeping a hard cap on compensation—albeit a significantly increased one—many applicants will ultimately receive quite low sums, particularly given the level of injustice that we have all stated? Fourthly, will he explain why there is a two-year cap on applications, and what the Government will be doing to ensure that all who are eligible will come forward and will be able to apply? As we know, and as we have all heard from looking at this over many months, many people are only just willing to come forward on this issue. It might take much more time to reach the many people who have suffered this injustice. I am slightly concerned about that cap, and I would welcome some clarity on it. I am conscious of time, Madam Deputy Speaker. I know there is a lot of work to do to get these schemes up and running and to get the compensation out as quickly as possible. Today is an incredibly welcome step on that journey. As we have heard, it has been a very long journey for many people—decades in the making—and time is running out to deliver justice. Above all, I thank those who have made that journey possible, especially the extraordinary LGBT veterans whom I have had the pleasure of meeting in the past five months, and Fighting With Pride, which has done so much for so many to achieve the progress we are discussing today.

• 25 Nov 2024 · Retail Crime · Hansard source

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  My constituency team and I recently visited shops on one of the busiest high streets in my constituency. Of the first 10 we visited, nine said that their staff had suffered attacks at work, and all 10 said that shoplifting was now pretty much a daily occurrence. Does the Minister agree that extra resources and extra policing are part of the answer, but that we should also be looking at programmes such as offender to rehab schemes—one of which has been rolled out in the west midlands—to make sure we are also tackling the causes of retail crime?

• 25 Nov 2024 · Retail Crime · Hansard source

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  22. What steps she is taking to help tackle retail crime.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The current national guidelines on school transport mean that children who live less than 3 miles from school do not get any support in Government funding. In my constituency, that means that some of the most deprived kids either have to walk an hour and a half a day to and from school, or their already struggling families have to find the money for their transport. Will the Minister meet me to talk about this and see whether the 3-mile limit can be changed?

• 31 Oct 2024 · LGBT Veterans Independent Review · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Oliver Ryan) for securing this very welcome debate, and the Minister for Veterans and People, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns) for the collegiate and sympathetic way he has engaged with me and other colleagues across the House over recent weeks. I represent a constituency with a significant number of LGBT veterans, some of whom I have had the huge honour of meeting in recent weeks. I have also been fortunate enough to work with Fighting With Pride, the same organisation my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley referred to earlier, and I am pleased to say that they join us in the Public Gallery today. Let me be clear about the injustice that has been suffered here. As the Etherton review sets out, for over four decades, considerable time, resource and effort was put into hunting down people who were suspected of being gay in the armed forces. That led, among other things, to arrest, interrogation, demeaning physical inspections and medical treatments, court martial, imprisonment and being dismissed in disgrace. As we have heard, this left many LGBT veterans, often at a young age, with criminal records, and no jobs, income or family support. In the short time I have, I just want to highlight one case, a constituent of mine who I met last week. Steve joined the RAF in 1971 at the age of 16. He worked on Vulcan Bombers at RAF Waddington, served three tours of the Falklands, and was stationed in West Germany. He had an impeccable service record. In 1985, he was investigated by the RAF over a relationship with a male officer. He made the fatal mistake of telling the truth and was sentenced to six months in jail. He lost his rank, all his financial benefits, his family and the career he loved. When he was released he was 28 years old, homeless and had nowhere to turn. As I said, I met Steve. He is a man of huge honour and courage, but these are the words he said to me: “I felt washed in shame. My career was shattered. I had a criminal record. I had no pension and had to live hand to mouth for the rest of life surviving on benefits.” I raise Steve’s case not because it is unique. In fact, as we have heard today, it is not even an outlier. It is sadly typical of the story of too many LGBT veterans: loss of earnings, loss of dignity and loss of purpose not over the short term, but over a lifetime. That is why I gently ask the Minister, who has been incredibly sympathetic—and while I recognise the financial situation under which the Government operate—whether capping payments at an average of around £12,500 per person can really be appropriate for the level of injustice suffered by Steve and so many other LGBT veterans? Finally, the Defence Secretary, for whom I have enormous respect, said when the Etherton report was published: “This is unfinished business for Labour.” —[ Official Report , 13 December 2023; Vol. 742, c. 899.] I agree, and I know that the Veterans Minister will want to complete that work and finally deliver the justice for which LGBT veterans have been waiting far too long.

• 17 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T8. Historic England recently announced a £750,000 commitment to rebuilding the beautiful Victorian arches of Madeira Terrace in my constituency, which the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism visited with me during the election campaign. That commitment is welcome, but such projects are expensive and take time, so what can the Secretary of State do to support heritage projects around the country, and will she come to Brighton with me to see the work in progress?

• 15 Oct 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  Will my right hon. Friend give way?