Esther McVey MP: speeches

Speeches

• 11 Jun 2025 · Spending Review 2025 · Hansard source

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  I know the Chancellor considers herself to be a world-leading economist, so can she tell me how it is that everyone in the country knew that hiking taxes on employers’ national insurance contributions—making it more expensive to employ people—would destroy jobs, destroy businesses and destroy the economy, and the only people who did not know that were her and her socialist boss?

• 9 Jun 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I appreciate that this has been a humiliation for the Chancellor and that her credibility is in tatters—no wonder she is not here today to announce her own U-turn—but now that she and the Government have got a taste for climbdowns, may I urge them through the Minister, who unfortunately drew the short straw today, to reverse the equally ridiculous national insurance contribution rises, which are destroying jobs, and the inheritance tax changes, which are destroying farms and family businesses?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Relocating Civil Service Roles · Hansard source

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  When the Minister is moving civil service jobs outside London, may I remind him that there is much more to the north than just Manchester and Leeds? Why are the Government moving the Information Commissioner’s Office away from Wilmslow to Manchester, and what assessment has been done of the impact of that move on the economy of Wilmslow?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Bank Closures and Banking Hubs · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) for his persistence, for securing this debate and for the work he has done and is doing to get banks back on the high street. Perhaps we should be grateful to the bankers, because, by their actions, they are the only group of people less popular than politicians. Unfortunately, in their endeavour to become the most unpopular people in the country, they are doing huge damage to our local communities. To put that in context, since 2010 more than 10,000 banks have closed across the country, and there are now only 3,000 bank branches left open in this country. In fact, we have more chance of finding a Labour voter on a farm than we have of seeing a bank in a rural community. The hon. Member for Blyth and Ashington rightly pointed out that the loss of banking facilities has left vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and the disabled, particularly affected and financially excluded. So too are residents in rural areas, where internet access is poor and unreliable. People struggle to get on to the internet to do transactions or for any customer assistance, yet banks continue to withdraw physical services from their customers. When we walk down most high streets, we see that banks have become cafés, bars and pubs. I will focus my attention on Tatton and my local high streets, because the scale of the closures there is stark. In Knutsford, we have lost Santander, Barclays, NatWest, Lloyds and HSBC since 2018, and only Nationwide building society remains. Knutsford is a prosperous town with more than 1,000 businesses operating locally; there is high demand for banking services, yet they have closed their doors. In Wilmslow, the Royal Bank of Scotland and TSB have closed, with only Halifax and NatWest remaining, which are also going to close. That means that only Santander and Nationwide will remain. In Alderley Edge and Handforth, there are no branches at all, forcing residents to travel long distances.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Bank Closures and Banking Hubs · Hansard source

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  I agree—the lack of banks is a disgrace. Where do people go for their banking needs? The reality is that the banks that are closing have entered into an agreement with businesses and individuals; when they opened their bank account, they opened it with the bank on the high street. The business was there because it expected a certain amount of customer service—that is why they went there in the first place. Face-to-face banking offers confidence, security and efficiency, especially for businesses handing over cash and making significant financial decisions. Without those services, it just will not work. In 2022, the Federation of Small Businesses found that four in 10 small businesses still relied on cash as a primary payment, and six in 10 needed to make regular cash deposits. I regularly hear from businesses in Tatton that they simply cannot deposit cash or access the basic services needed. Why? Well, that is because 64% of bank branches have closed in the last decade and 65% of cashpoints have gone. That is reducing the ability of businesses to deposit cash in the local area. The shift to online poses risks from technical failures and cyber-attacks. We have heard that through this monopoly and lack of access, there is a squeeze, and commission is being charged for the transactions of these businesses. Our high streets are at the heart of our communities, but without access to banking services, our high streets, which are already under pressure, have become even harder places to trade, grow and thrive. If we are serious about supporting small businesses and seeing investment on our local high streets and in our town centres, we must stop the decline in banking infrastructure. Some may argue that closures would be reasonable if banks were losing money and needed to take cost-cutting measures, but that is simply not the case. Banks are not struggling institutions. Last year, HSBC reported nearly $25 billion in post-tax profits. Barclays made $6.4 billion. Lloyds made $4.5 billion. NatWest made $4.8 billion. Those are all eye-watering profits—

• 3 Jun 2025 · Violent Offenders: Early Release · Hansard source

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  The Prisoners (Disclosure of Information about Victims) Act 2020, otherwise known as Helen’s law, should prevent the early release of murderers who do not disclose the location of their victims’ remains. However, there are loopholes in the law in cases where the murderer makes a disclosure but no remains are found, as happened in the case of Jean Taylor’s daughter, Chantel. Will the Minister meet me and Jean Taylor, who founded the charity Families Fighting for Justice, to close those loopholes?

• 3 Jun 2025 · Violent Offenders: Early Release · Hansard source

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  14. What discussions she has had with victims groups on the early release of violent offenders.

• 2 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Regarding non-crime hate incidents and the amount of police time taken to investigate them, does the Minister agree that the clue is in the name? They are “non-crime”. Does she also agree that already stretched police should focus their efforts on tackling real crime, rather than being the virtue-signalling thought police?

• 22 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I will enter the great parliamentary ice cream competition and say that Cheshire, of course, does the best ice cream. Given the huge riches in the Premier League, should there not be a greater expectation that more money flows down into grassroots football and non-league clubs such as Knutsford FC and Witton Albion in my constituency, which work unbelievably hard just to stay afloat? I say that especially as so many Premier League footballers live just up the road from the two clubs.

• 22 May 2025 · EU-UK Summit · Hansard source

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  I remind Members that they should bob if they want to be called to speak, and that I will call the Front-Bench spokespeople just before 4 pm to allow Stella Creasy time to make a wind-up speech.

• 22 May 2025 · EU-UK Summit · Hansard source

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  I did not put a time limit on speeches at the start of the debate, but we have had so many interventions and feisty exchanges that have eaten into the time available. I suggest that speeches should take a maximum of eight minutes.

• 22 May 2025 · EU-UK Summit · Hansard source

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  That is for you to say.

• 22 May 2025 · EU-UK Summit · Hansard source

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  Order. I remind Members that an intervention is an intervention and not a small speech. Others have put in to speak, so can we get to the question please?

• 22 May 2025 · EU-UK Summit · Hansard source

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  Order. We must have just one person speaking at a time.

• 20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am sure that the Chancellor subscribes to the basic principle that if the cost of something is put up, we will see less of it. That is why Governments have, over many years, put taxes on things like smoking. Does she accept that the principle also applies to employing people—that the more expensive the Government make employing people, with their jobs tax increasing NICs for employers, the less we will see of that?

• 20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source

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  With youth unemployment higher in Europe—in countries such as France, Spain, Portugal and Sweden—I can see why the EU pushed for a youth mobility scheme: to help get its youth unemployment figures down. Can the Prime Minister tell the House what impact assessment he has done of his youth scheme? What effect will it have on youth unemployment among young Brits, particularly white working-class boys, who suffer the most? Can he also tell the House today what cap he has put on the number of people coming to the UK? If he cannot, this is a bitter betrayal of British youth.

• 12 May 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill · Hansard source

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  I rise to speak in support of new clause 14. This Government came into power on the promise to “smash the gangs” and cut immigration numbers—what an empty, cynical slogan that turned out to be. The exact opposite happened: the gangs were emboldened and the Government lost control of illegal immigration, which is up 31% since the election and 35% in this year. After the failure to smash the gangs and the poor showing at the recent elections, the Government’s response is another gimmick: the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. It is hollow, its five core principles are a word salad of empty phrases and it is a rehash of old ideas and contradictions. It lacks a deterrent. In fact, the biggest mistake that this Prime Minister has made, in a strong field of contenders, was cancelling the Rwanda scheme. Even the National Crime Agency described that as a deterrent, and it was already starting to work; we saw those coming in by dinghy from France starting to head to Ireland and other countries. Without Rwanda or another third country, there is no way to remove any illegal immigrants who destroy their documents as they come to this country. As a result of cancelling that deterrent, we have seen illegal migration soar. Some of the levels of illegal immigration will come down, but that will be as a result of what the former Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), did with his restrictions to stop dependants entering the country and the bilateral deals he made, such as the one with Albania to deport criminals. This Government say that they will now create a new legal framework for immigration judges to prevent illegal migrants and foreign criminals avoiding deportation by exploiting article 8 of the ECHR. That will never happen under the human rights lawyer who leads the Labour party, or a Labour party that champions the ECHR and the Human Rights Act. The reality is that until this Government get ahead of the curve, get a spine, take the UK out of the ECHR, repeal the Human Rights Act—a law that Labour introduced to cement the ECHR in British law—reinstate the Rwanda scheme and radically clamp down on housing and benefits, I am afraid that immigrants will continue to come to the UK. The British people expect security and prosperity, not platitudes and broken promises. We in this House must act accordingly and vote in favour of new clause 14, which would disapply the Human Rights Act.

• 12 May 2025 · Immigration System · Hansard source

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  Without a third country such as Rwanda, can the Home Secretary tell the House where illegal immigrants whose country of origin cannot be established, because they have destroyed their documentation, will be deported to? Is it the case that they cannot be deported, and anyone who exploits that loophole can stay here with impunity?

• 12 May 2025 · Protection of Prison Staff · Hansard source

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  Surely as a minimum, any prisoner who assaults a prison officer should automatically forfeit any right to early release and all privileges. Does the Minister agree? If so, when will he introduce that change? If not, why not?

• 8 May 2025 · St George’s Day and English Affairs · Hansard source

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  I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) on bringing this debate to the House. I am delighted to join Members from across the House in celebrating St George’s day and English affairs, for it is only right that we take the time to celebrate our history, our heritage and our national character, to reflect on what it means to be English, and to come together in unity and pride. I fondly recall marking St George’s day last year as a Minister in Downing Street, where we hosted an event that brought together business leaders, charities, veterans, community leaders and voluntary organisations—outstanding members of the community who all play a vital role in our country. It reminded me just how proud we should be of our country. We must take pride in our history in order to instil the richness of our culture and our values in the next generation, and to reclaim what Britishness means to us all. For a small country, we have well and truly punched above our weight. We have defended the world not once, but twice, in two world wars—something that must never be forgotten. Before this debate, we rightly marked the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day over in Westminster Abbey. The great-great-grandson of Sir Winston Churchill lit the candle of peace 80 years on from Sir Winston’s famous speech, in which he told the nation that the war had ended. Like so many other Members, we will leave the House straight after this debate to go back to our constituencies. I will be going to Comberbach in Tatton to share in the VE Day celebrations this evening. As we reflect and commemorate VE Day, we must ask ourselves one crucial question: have we lived up to the example set by those great patriotic individuals who fought and died to protect our freedoms and give us peace? For peace and freedoms do not just happen; they are fought for. In pondering that question—and we may have different answers—we need to rethink what our duty is to one another and to our country, to make sure that we do stand up for those same freedoms today, and to protect the legacy of those who stood before us and made the ultimate sacrifice, for we cannot and must not cower to those who deny our great past, or be traduced by those who are embarrassed or who denounce it. The voice of the right-minded majority must remind those detractors of what we stand for and what we have given the world. Our great country was the cradle of the industrial revolution, and the birthplace of the computer and the internet. We gave the world football, rugby and cricket. We discovered gravity and evolution, and we eradicated smallpox. We have produced literary geniuses such as Shakespeare, Dickens and the Brontës, great composers from Elgar to Britten and, from my home town, the Beatles—those four lads who took music to the world. We have produced artists such as Constable, Turner and, yes, even Banksy. Innovation and entrepreneurialism are in our country’s DNA, and that must be remembered and continued. I know that our English character is to be stoical—to find a queue and wait patiently in it—and not to brag. In fact, we would rather hide our light under a bushel than extol our virtues, but now is not the time for that. In an era of speed and fast communications, when facts can be lost and fake becomes real, we need to remember who we are and what we have given to the world. We are a positive voice in an ever-more complicated and dangerous world, and we need to take heed of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which rightly celebrate their national days. We must do the same, too. Let us be clear: it is time for the majority of law-abiding, hard-working and patriotic people of England to have their say, to stand up for our values—the values of honour, courage, faith and freedom, which have stood the test of time—and to sing with one voice that we are proud of England, proud of Great Britain and proud to be British. We need to take on the mantle of St George, the warrior saint who is the patron saint of England, as a symbol of strength, conviction and righteous purpose, who reminds us that our nation has never been afraid to stand up for what is right. In the Chamber where I am delivering this speech, and where we have all spoken so positively today, let me say that I am very proud, as I know we all are, to serve in this Parliament. It is the mother of Parliaments, and the heart of a thriving democracy that has been the model for so many other countries around the world. Let us speak with one voice, with pride and unity, and say clearly and unapologetically that we are proud to be English, we are proud of our past, and we believe in our future. Today we stand together to celebrate what makes us all English, to celebrate that we are all British and to remember, today of all days, victory in Europe.

• 6 May 2025 · Neighbourhood Health Centres · Hansard source

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  Knutsford desperately needs a modern medical centre. The local GPs and the community are united in feeling that current provision is no longer fit for purpose. With the population growing, it cannot meet everybody’s needs. In the light of the Government’s announcement of £102 million to modernise GP surgeries, so that it is easier for them to see more patients, will the Minister meet me to discuss a new modern medical centre for Knutsford?

• 29 Apr 2025 · Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill · Hansard source

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  I wish to speak in support of new clause 11, entitled “Publication of results of pilot schemes”. Make no mistake: this Bill allows for a massive expansion of state powers. It will permit mass financial surveillance of the public. It is a massive overreach by the state, so of course it requires close scrutiny. It requires the publication of those results, and then they must be analysed. Let me put this in context. Before the covid years, fraud and error across the tax and benefit system were at an all-time low. Then, in 2020, after a state-imposed lockdown—another massive state intervention—unprecedented financial support was set up for millions of people, in a rush of panic, with the full support of Members on both sides of the House. I exclude myself from that, but very few Members opposed the arrangement, and it opened up all sorts of new vulnerabilities in the system. This support was set up only because of a blanket stay-at-home mandate from the state. It was the state that opened up those fraud vulnerabilities, and it was the state that saw, as a result of those impositions, many millions more people claiming universal credit. Let me give the House the figures. In March 2020, 3 million people were receiving universal credit. By November that year 5.8 million were receiving it, and in January 2025 the number was 7.5 million. Just as the heavy-handed state intervention of lockdown left the public paying a very high price, I am concerned that the Bill, another heavy-handed state intervention, will also leave the public paying a very high price. As Big Brother Watch states, the Bill will introduce “an unprecedented system of mass financial surveillance; create a second-tier justice system for people on the poverty line; undermine the presumption of innocence; result in serious mistakes risking the freedoms and funds of our country’s elderly, disabled and poor; and turn Britain’s once-fair welfare system into a digital surveillance system.” I have said it before and I will say it again, lockdown was an experiment inflicted on the British people without their consent and that experiment failed. The Bill will be another such experiment on the British public.

• 29 Apr 2025 · Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill · Hansard source

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  Have all the details and all the information from the only pilot schemes that the Government are prepared to run been published in their entirety?

• 23 Apr 2025 · Intellectual Property: Artificial Intelligence · Hansard source

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  To fit in the last couple of speakers, we will go down to two minutes per speech, but I will get everybody in.

• 23 Apr 2025 · Intellectual Property: Artificial Intelligence · Hansard source

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  I thank Members for keeping so keenly to the time limit, which has allowed us to get everybody in.