Elsie Blundell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 27 Nov 2025 · Women’s and Girls’ Sport: Greater Manchester · Hansard source

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  I am delighted to see sport for women and girls growing in prominence and recognition across the country. To ensure that we meet the ambition of women and girls in these spaces, we need the facilities and infrastructure to support them, hone their talent, and pave the way for the next generation. What steps are being taken by this Government to provide women and girls with access to high-quality sports facilities, including in my area of Greater Manchester?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The Employment Rights Bill is a landmark piece of legislation that will safeguard the hard-won protections of workers up and down the country. Prior to its implementation, however, some companies are racing to undercut workers’ rights. I am appalled on behalf of workers at Tetrosyl in my constituency, which is engaging in shameful fire-and-rehire practices. What more can we in this House do to give voice to workers who are now facing deep financial uncertainty before Christmas?

• 25 Nov 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill · Hansard source

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  I truly support and welcome the Government’s commitment to national minimum standards, but I believe that they must be complemented by a restriction on out-of-area operations so that they can be enforced locally where necessary. At a recent meeting of the Transport Committee, which is currently holding an inquiry on the private hire vehicle sector, we heard from a licensing officer from Blackpool council. When I asked whether his authority was able to keep track of the drivers operating within it, he stated: “We are now at a stage where provisions on where an operator can operate vehicles do not seem to matter. We are not even in a position where an operator has to have a licence everywhere it operates; it does not.” He went on to say: “I know the limitations of my operational enforcement resource…chasing vehicles all over the country is not something we could deal or cope with.” I know from conversations with Rochdale borough council’s licensing department that those sentiments are shared there, too. Standards are one thing, but without proper means of enforcement, they will not have the maximum impact on public safety. I will now move to the substance of my new clause 83. Under the new clause, strategic authorities would have the power to require that journeys that start and end there are fulfilled by locally licensed operators. It would give local leaders power and the choice to adopt that as a solution. Considered together, new clause 83 and the Government amendments would encourage drivers to license locally and would ensure that if things go wrong, both drivers and passengers have the confidence that enforcement measures will be swift, considered and legitimate in the eyes of local authorities and local people. If reinforced by implementing national minimum standards, these two changes could revitalise the sector, and give both drivers and passengers the confidence and certainty they deserve. I believe that there are no Members present today, no corner of society and, indeed, no drivers out there in the sector who believe the system as it stands is working well. It is oversaturated, with a lack of local accountability and an erosion of the ties between drivers and the communities they serve. The private hire and taxi sector is critical to our economy and for filling gaps in the local transport network, but for too long the safety of passengers and the ability of licensing authorities to do their job have been undermined for the sake of a model that is unfit for purpose. We must bring an end to out-of-area licensing and offer the sector the change for which it has been calling out for decades. The Bill is about granting power to local people to make their own decisions that will change their communities for the better. This is one such a decision—one that we can no longer afford to avoid.

• 25 Nov 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill · Hansard source

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  I rise to speak to new clause 83, which stands in my name. I thank colleagues for their support for the new clause. I also sincerely thank the Minister and her team for their consistent engagement with me on this landmark piece of legislation—a Bill that will be game-changing for my constituents. Before I speak to my new clause, which would forge a fairer, safer and better regulated private hire vehicle sector, I want to express my full support for the steps that the Government are taking by introducing national minimum standards. We need to rebuild confidence in a system that so many view as broken. This is about giving local leaders power to decide which drivers operate in their areas, and, most crucially, it is about the safety and wellbeing of passengers and drivers. Let me deal first with the problem we face. Many Members will have heard from constituents who have raised legitimate concerns that the taxis or private hire vehicles that they see operating in their local areas are actually licensed hundreds of miles away. That is because since 2015 operators have been permitted to contract bookings to another vehicle that could be licensed in a different area. It has coincided with the meteoric rise of national operators such as Uber and Bolt, which are permitted to be licensed in multiple areas. The stark absence of any regulation has led to certain local authorities becoming, as the GMB union has put it, “a licence factory…creaking at the seams”. No example underscores that more vividly than the activities of City of Wolverhampton Council. In the first five months of last year alone, the council granted more than 8,500 new taxi licences, which is 30 times more than any other licensing authority in the midlands. This has a real and tangible impact across the whole country. Indeed, in Greater Manchester nearly half of all private hire vehicles are now licensed by local authorities outside its 10 councils, and the city region’s “out of area” figure of more than 12,000 has risen sharply from just under 7,000 in 2023. In my own borough of Rochdale, about 40% of private hire vehicles and taxis are licensed out of area. This is not just an issue of public perception; it is also about safety and enforcement. For as long as the status quo persists and scores of vehicles are operating out of area, far from the authority that licensed them in the first instance, there will remain a deficit in terms of accountability when incidents take place. Let me add a caveat by saying, unequivocally, that the vast majority of drivers are law-abiding people. They are integral to our economy and to our society as a whole, and I have been delighted to engage with a great number of them since being elected to this place. However, situations arise in which enforcement becomes necessary, and at present licensing authorities such as my own are unable to take action because of the proliferation of out-of-area operation.

• 13 Nov 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Women and girls living with endometriosis are waiting on average nine years for a full diagnosis. That is almost a decade of pain, uncertainty and endurance before they receive the targeted support that they need. Would the Leader of the House agree that the soon-to-be-renewed women’s health strategy must get a grip of these appalling wait times and ensure that all women affected are heard and finally prioritised?

• 11 Nov 2025 · Technology-assisted Child Sexual Abuse · Hansard source

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  10. What steps his Department is taking through the criminal justice system to help to support victims of technology-assisted child sexual abuse.

• 11 Nov 2025 · Technology-assisted Child Sexual Abuse · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for her answer. We all know of the increasing and sinister use of technology in the appalling sexual abuse of children and young people. To address that, will the Minister consider extending the unduly lenient sentence scheme to include all TACSA offences and commit to a ban on the technologies that generate deepfake and sexually abusive images of children?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

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  It is unusual that I find myself agreeing with the shadow Business Secretary, the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith), but it is high time that we discuss our local high streets in this place. I would gently say, however, that doing so requires us to look back at the record of the Conservatives during their time in government, and frankly, when it comes to our high streets, it is a record they should be ashamed of. Coming to the House feigning indignation and refusing to accept any responsibility for the damage they have done will really get under the skin of my constituents. Fourteen years of hollow funding commitments, with antisocial behaviour out of control and the scars of neglect visible across our high streets, but the Conservatives instead choose to come here to talk down the Employment Rights Bill, which is a critical piece of legislation that will protect the very workers who have a stake in our high streets. If they are satisfied with workers remaining in deeply insecure employment—like those at Tetrosyl in Greater Manchester, who are facing the prospect of fire and rehire as we speak—they should just come out and say so. The people of Heywood and Middleton North are resilient. They are grafters and they care deeply about their local community. They know that the challenges facing our high streets will not be overcome overnight, and that for us to rebuild that image of a bustling local centre—an image that invokes a sense of real pride—there must first come investment not just of capital, but of responsibility and confidence. This is where we need to meet people halfway. Too many people look at their high streets and see a landscape they no longer recognise. Where we once saw the trading of local produce, in recent years we have seen the proliferation of illicit goods that not only perpetuate antisocial behaviour on our streets, but run down public health and corrode our towns from the inside. My constituents refuse to buy into the defeatism that Opposition parties feed off. We recognise the strengths and assets that underpin our diverse communities, and I am proud to stand alongside this Labour Government, who are finally providing the means for local people to take back their high streets. I am delighted that my borough is a beneficiary of pride in place impact funding and I thank Ministers for their engagement with me in recent weeks. I was proud to host a community meeting at Burnside community centre in Middleton, where I heard decisive calls from local people on the changes they want to see for their local amenities and their high streets. Unlike the previous Government, which deliberately moved money away from areas of most acute need, this Labour Government are working in tandem with local councils and local people to revive the assets that our towns are built on. This investment, which should be allocated to Middleton, coupled with the community right to buy and compulsory purchase powers, will allow communities to seize untapped assets and turn around shops, pubs and buildings in disrepair. We are empowering local councils to block unwanted shops, from vape shops to dodgy barbers. This Government understand the challenge before us—the shattered trust we need to rebuild. Rather than capitulate to the declinist narratives that suit the Opposition parties all too well, we are cracking on and delivering change, and coming at this from all sides. Through tangible and lasting investment from national Government to the cutting of local red tape, and through the talent, grit and innovation of the people and businesses I represent, I know that the best days of our high streets lie ahead.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 23 Oct 2025 · Public Sector Reform · Hansard source

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  2. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to reform public services.

• 23 Oct 2025 · Public Sector Reform · Hansard source

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  The last Government left the public services on which our constituents rely on their knees, with many just about keeping their head above water, and the Probation Service is no different. Since being elected, I have come to understand the dire ramifications of what can go wrong when local probation services are not performing to the standard that local people should expect, especially when it comes to the suitable placement and proper monitoring of serious offenders post release. What engagement is taking place between the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Justice to ensure that when errors are made by local probation delivery units, there is proper accountability and corrective measures are taken to protect our constituents from those who could still cause them harm?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Pride in Place · Hansard source

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  The pride in place funding will be transformative for my constituency. I thank the Minister for working with me and for giving advice to urban areas such as Middleton—urban areas that a former Conservative Prime Minister bragged about diverting funds away from. I was delighted to convene a meeting at Burnside community centre recently where calls for improvements to Middleton were decisive. What steps are being taken to ensure that places with the most acute need, such as Middleton, are given priority within local authority areas?

• 16 Sept 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q I have a question for Ms Riddell about housing. In recent years, there has been an erosion of accountability on local housing association boards, with local authority representation diminished. Should local authority members have a more pronounced, or even statutory, role on those boards to bolster democratic accountability, which might enable them to act as a conduit between the board and local people on the topic of local housing stock? Catriona Riddell: Yes. I am all for democratic accountability, but we have to make sure that it does not hinder the job that has to be done. There are different ways of working with local councils, rather than necessarily having them sitting on boards. More proactive engagement and co-operation will work better. Local government, generally, is good at that and the strategic authorities are going to have to get really good at that as well. They will have to learn how to engage with local communities, and how to use their democratic representation with the likes of housing associations, and in lots of other activities around housing. One element of the Bill worries me. The Greater London Authority has been around for 25 years, and it is a massive organisation. It is struggling with its housing role, and a lot of the measures in the Bill around housing will replicate what the GLA has. I worry that even the established strategic authorities are fairly small and they will have to take on a very big role for housing delivery, and specifically for affordable housing. I am concerned that they might be biting off more than they can chew. Some of the housing delivery roles that are expected by the Bill might be a step too far, at least initially.

• 16 Sept 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  My husband is a sitting councillor on Rochdale borough council.

• 16 Sept 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Thank you, Minister, for appearing before us today. In Rochdale borough, where I am an MP, we will never forget the appalling case of Awaab Ishak, who of course was the two-year-old toddler who lost his life as a result of the local housing association’s failures. This came after Rochdale Boroughwide Housing removed elected representatives from its board. They were the people who could voice the concerns of local people on the representative body. Do you agree that local councillors or the local authority should be represented on housing boards, and that their statutory role on those boards would only serve to strengthen the voices and protect the rights of tenants? Miatta Fahnbulleh: We are clear that councillors have an absolutely fundamental role to play in the democratic system that we are trying to create. They are not only elected, but champions and conduits for their community. As we drive through these reforms, there is a question about how we build on the power of councillors and the role that they play, whether within our neighbourhood governance structures or, indeed, in how they interact with the mayor, and the accountability and scrutiny of the mayor. You can have our assurance that councillors have a fundamental role in the landscape and are part of the infrastructure that we need to build on. There are huge opportunities for that as we take the process forward.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Leader of the House to his place. I applaud the Government for the bold action that they are taking to reform the criminal justice system, but more must be done to safeguard communities from violent reoffenders. In Middleton, I have been in touch with the courageous family of Michael Hoolickin. Michael was tragically killed in 2016 by a prolific offender who, despite supposedly being under the supervision of the local probation service, was not prevented from committing that appalling act, which has devastated the lives of Michael’s family and friends. Will the Leader of the House allow a debate in Government time so that Members may consider how to mitigate reoffending by violent perpetrators, and to give voice to the countless bereaved families out there, who deserve our compassion and focus?

• 11 Sept 2025 · Regional Transport Inequality · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) for securing this crucial debate. High-quality, reliable and integrated public transport is often the difference between communities getting ahead or being left behind. Whether that is young people being able to realise their aspirations, older people receiving the healthcare they need, or working people getting home safely after a night shift, those issues not only have practical consequences if left unaddressed but erode trust between our constituents and the Governments they elect. Lack of transport connectivity impedes the progress that people need and deserve to see in their communities. If we do not fix that, we make it easier for those who turn to pessimistic narratives to talk our country down. Our constituents deserve so much more. The disparity in transport investment between north and south is the result of a model that is built from the top down and the centre out, a model that has at its heart an orthodoxy that is ill-suited to the needs of passengers today, and a model I am proud to say this Government, in partnership with our regional mayors, are beginning to dismantle. From a much-needed review of the Green Book to increased capital spending in Greater Manchester and other city regions, from the introduction of integrated settlements for combined authorities and a modern industrial strategy to the transformative English devolution Bill, those are all reasons I am proud to be a Greater Manchester Labour parliamentarian. We have a pioneering transport network, where powers devolved nationally are seen and felt on the ground.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Regional Transport Inequality · Hansard source

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  I am sure that is something the Transport Minister has listened to and is looking at. Greater Manchester has set the agenda when it comes to the promise and opportunity that devolution can galvanise. Through the development and expansion of the Bee Network—an integrated transport system through low fares and simplified ticketing, and an enhanced bus and Metrolink network with plans to integrate heavy rail lines in the future—the Bee Network’s utility goes far beyond getting people from A to B; it is a conduit for employment opportunities, house building and a thriving regional economy. Indeed, Greater Manchester’s productivity growth measured by gross value added in the past decade has outstripped that of every other region, including London. Transport has been central to making that happen. Despite real success, however, we cannot take future progress for granted. Greater Manchester and other city regions remain just as deserving of our backing today, to ensure that we do not scupper economic growth in the region. We must ensure that the significant projects are moving forward swiftly and efficiently to give people hope for a more connected future, and that includes the trans-Pennine route upgrade and the Manchester-to-Liverpool rail enhancement. Getting that right is integral to transforming public transport and creating networks predicated finally on the needs of local people, rather than on the paternalism of the centre. My constituents can speak with some experience on this. For decades, passengers living in Heywood and Middleton have been a mere afterthought, with no rail connectivity into Manchester city centre, despite being just a few miles away; bus services that do not align with the lives and aspirations of local people; and an incredibly congested road network. In the one year that I have been the proud Member of Parliament for Heywood and Middleton North, with central Government working in lockstep with our combined authority, we have secured funding to ensure that the tram will now connect Heywood to Manchester city centre. That is thanks to the £2.5 billion of funding allocated to Greater Manchester by our Labour Chancellor in the form of transport for city regions funding, enabling the mayor and his team to plan for the longer term. It also means that local leaders, in concert with the combined authority, are working to deliver a mayoral development corporation in Middleton, with the strong possibility of a new Metrolink service there too. This is the difference that devolution can make, and in Greater Manchester we have shown what we are capable of. But we cannot be complacent. Expertise in town and transport planning must be further developed in our regions, and our bank of knowledge must deepen. Funding cycles should become yet more assured across the country, enabling our local and regional leaders to have the confidence to innovate. Fundamentally, we must formalise and codify engagement between the Department and mayoralties, and not just ahead of a fiscal event but consistently, so that we can build robust transport networks that support the needs of local people. Regional transport inequalities do not have to spell out a foregone conclusion; we just need to find the political conviction to confront them. Each town, city and village has within it people who are capable of reaching the sum of their ambitions. We just need to be unrelenting in building the transport system to get them there.

• 16 Jul 2025 · Cross-border Rail Connectivity · Hansard source

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  4. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve rail connectivity between north Wales and the north of England.

• 16 Jul 2025 · Cross-border Rail Connectivity · Hansard source

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  The Chancellor’s announcement of at least £445 million for Welsh rail will be transformative for Welsh passengers and Better Connect workers with jobs across north Wales and Manchester, but only if we are pulling in the same direction. What steps will be taken by the Wales Office to ensure that national Governments, devolved Governments and our combined authority in Greater Manchester are working together to improve connectivity and bring the people of the north-west and north Wales closer together?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Household Energy Bills · Hansard source

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  My Heywood and Middleton North constituents live in a state of profound uncertainty as to how the unpredictability of global energy markets will affect their families. Does the Minister agree that if we want to protect those families from volatility, we must end our reliance on global fossil fuel markets, and introduce targeted interventions to bring bills down, particularly for those on the lowest incomes?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Household Energy Bills · Hansard source

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  22. What steps he is taking to help support low income families in the context of trends in the level of energy prices.

• 10 Jul 2025 · Educational Attainment of Boys · Hansard source

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  I start by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) for securing this crucial debate. The attainment and engagement of boys, especially working-class boys, in their education will determine how society will look in the years and decades to come. Despite the importance of this topic, however, it has languished at the bottom of the list of national priorities for far too long. In my constituency of Heywood and Middleton North, I am proud of the contributions made by teachers who work hard to leave no child behind, but until there are worthy interventions at a national level to address the scale of the current crisis in the system over boys’ attainment, they will be doing so with one hand tied behind their back. This issue and its drivers have been misunderstood and misrepresented for far too long, and I am pleased to see MPs today grapple with the topic in a way that some have not, but that is only half the battle. Historically, only piecemeal policy proposals have been half-heartedly explored—proposals unfit even to nip at the heels of this challenge, let alone address it in its entirety. Who must live with the consequences of that inertia? It is the boys who have gone to school this morning, in my constituency and across the country. They are less likely than girls in their class, if current trends persist, to seize the opportunities that school offers them. Boys and young men in communities like mine are just as deserving of a chance to get on in life and to fulfil their potential as their counterparts in more affluent areas, but they have been badly let down. In the postcode lottery that has affected our society, it is disadvantaged boys who are being held back. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland pointed out earlier, “class” is not a dirty word, and we must not shy away from it when talking about this issue. In Rochdale borough, where my constituency sits, there is a 17% gap between boys eligible for free school meals and those who are not when it comes to who is meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at key stage 2. That gap reverberates throughout boys’ entire academic careers, and it widens when they come to sit their GCSEs. There is a 22% gap in the borough between boys who receive free school meals and those who do not when it comes to the percentage of pupils getting grade 4 or above in English and maths at the end of high school. In both instances, boys on free school meals, which is a welcome and wholly necessary intervention, are underperforming by comparison with those who are not. It is not by a slight amount; it is significant. There is crossover when it comes to the issues at play here—not just around gender, but around socioeconomic circumstances. One way of assessing this more closely is by comparing the rate of exclusion among boys from deprived areas with the rate among girls and their male counterparts from more affluent backgrounds. Poorer boys are twice as likely as their female peers to be permanently excluded, and five times more likely than their more affluent male peers to be removed from school. According to the Centre for Social Justice, the gap is widening. In some instances, economic hardship can be a contributing factor to exclusion and isolation, which can obviously lead to multiple negative outcomes. School exclusions and low attendance are intimately linked to crime, with the Prison Reform Trust recently highlighting that 59% of the prison population was regularly truant from school. This is not a party political issue, because no party has a monopoly on good ideas. In order to get this right across the whole country, we must speak to those who, even in the most trying of circumstances, are making inroads in supporting boys to succeed and thrive, and we must enable institutions to inform national policy, rather than thinking that we know best. I welcome the steps that the Department for Education has taken recently, but we must go even further. Although class is currently not a protected characteristic, it should be given a similar level of parity. I believe that the Government should be mandated to consider class when policy proposals relating to children’s education are being considered. Arbitrary and outdated measures of class lead to arbitrary and outdated policy outcomes, and we need to codify a modern definition of class in order to hold Governments to account through this lens. The clock is ticking for the boys who went to school hungry this morning, for those struggling to keep pace with their peers in their schoolwork, for those crying out for a teacher to recognise their individual needs and to act, and for those who stand on the brink of exclusion. Their futures hang in the balance, and we can no longer neglect to ask the questions that we may not like the answers to. The challenges facing boys in schools are complex, and the solutions will take grit to implement, but it is time to finally heed the warnings that have been sounding for decades and to find the courage that eluded us in facing up to these challenges in the past. I truly fear the consequences if we do not.

• 25 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Digital black spots—areas without good mobile broadband connectivity—are holding communities back. In Middleton, an area that my right hon. Friend knows well as a fellow Greater Manchester MP, many local businesses and people remain cut off from the economic growth of the wider city region due to the lack of a mobile signal. How can we ensure that this Government’s mission to capitalise on the promise of technology is felt in all parts of the country, including Middleton?