Lauren Edwards MP: speeches

Speeches

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I am sorry; I will not. Those people include Christie Arntsen, who has lived for more than a decade with incurable metastatic breast cancer, which has sadly returned for the fifth time. She is undergoing what may be her final treatment of chemotherapy. Christie speaks eloquently about how her fear of a difficult death has weighed on her mind since her diagnosis and affected her life: “For me the scariest part of having the diagnosis was that I had no control over the last few weeks of my life…If I had known that assisted dying was an option, a weight would have been lifted from my mind for the last 10 years.”

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I disagree with the position that any time we amend a Bill in this place, it is ultimately deficient and unworkable. That is not how it works. All I am asking the Chamber to do today is to send the Bill back to the House of Lords so it can continue its work, which was interrupted, of scrutinising the Bill.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  Absolutely—it would set a dangerous precedent. Those Members who want to come in on the specifics of the Parliament Acts will have ample opportunity to do so later in my speech, and I will be willing to take interventions on that matter. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley for the courage, courtesy and openness she showed during the passage of her Bill. Her engagement with those from all sides of the debate, particularly in Committee, delivered a stronger Bill that this House voted for on Report and Third Reading. One strengthening factor was the introduction of a requirement for the Health Secretary to report regularly on the availability, quality and distribution of palliative care. In asking parliamentarians to consider assisted dying, my hon. Friend also prompted a national conversation about how we improve and fund palliative care. We saw more funding for hospices, as well as Government action to develop a new framework to improve palliative care and end-of-life care.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I will make some progress. Members took the best part of a year to grapple with this issue: spoke to constituents; engaged with the organisations that would be affected; read the materials; thought deeply; consulted their conscience. They arrived at a decision—whatever that decision was and however they voted or, indeed, did not vote at all—but it was a difficult process. It is not acceptable that the outcome of those deliberations has not been respected. We owe it to the people we represent to find a resolution on this issue one way or another within this Parliament.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  It is not quite the exact same Bill; it incorporates two amendments that were agreed without a vote in the House of Lords last time. We have had our conversation in this Chamber about this Bill in 2025, and we have had an interrupted conversation as a nation. I am asking Members of this House to send the Bill back to the House of Lords so that they can continue their important work of amending and scrutinising legislation.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I would start by saying that the Bill is explicit that it does not apply to people with a disability.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I would be happy to address that point. There is not a uniform view among disabled people on assisted dying. Like with anything, within organisations there are people who arrive at different views. It is important that we are giving disabled people the same rights as other people. It is very clear in the Bill that it is for adults aged over 18 who have a terminal illness and who only have six months to live. It specifically makes clear that it does not apply to people who have a disability.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I will make a little more progress. This is the cost of accepting the status quo: the fear and worry for those who know that palliative care may not be enough to avoid a difficult and painful death. It snatches away their final moments, which, as I know from speaking to friends and family in Australia, can be much better spent when there is a safe voluntary assisted dying system in place.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  No, I will make some progress. We heard difficult stories about patients with bile duct cancer facing the prospect of faecal vomiting as their illness progressed. We listened as Members recounted memories of watching patients bleed to death while conscious, cancer having eaten away at their carotid artery. We felt their frustration when the maximum dose of sedatives could not alleviate the choking and suffocation of someone with peritoneal cancer. Those people deserved choice and a dignified end, too.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  No, I will not give way. I will make some progress— [ Interruption. ]

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I point out that if this Bill received Royal Assent, the four-year implementation period provided for at the end of the Bill would give us the opportunity to work together to improve palliative care and assisted dying, creating the holistic end-of-life care system to which I have referred.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I will make some progress. As important as a democratic point of principle is to the argument I am making, we must not lose sight of the people who are relying on us most: the terminally ill and their families. The Gallery today is filled with inspirational people campaigning for this much-needed change in the law—people who are themselves terminally ill and who, due to the passage of time, may never get the opportunity to choose a dignified death surrounded by their loved ones, but who nevertheless spend the time that they have left campaigning so that others in future may have that choice.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Waste Crime Action Plan · Hansard source

  More

  10. What progress she has made on implementing the waste crime action plan.

• 9 Jul 2026 · Waste Crime Action Plan · Hansard source

  More

  I really welcome the three-pronged strategy in the Government’s waste crime action plan—focused on prevention, enforcement and remediation—and I welcome the small number of recent and really significant illegal waste sites, which the Minister mentioned, that will be assessed for clearance. Will the Minister, however, outline how older but equally significant sites such as Brambletree wharf, which has blighted my local community for nearly a decade, can be tackled under the plan?

• 15 Jun 2026 · Acoustic Design Planning Requirements: Workplaces · Hansard source

  More

  7. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of acoustic design requirements for workplaces in the planning system.

• 15 Jun 2026 · Acoustic Design Planning Requirements: Workplaces · Hansard source

  More

  Sownd Certification is the UK’s first accreditation for spaces that are audio-inclusive and comfortable for neurodivergent people, spaces such as Oscar Acoustics innovation centre in my constituency. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the benefits of incorporating measurable acoustic performance and audio-inclusivity standards into building regulations or guidance to support more inclusive spaces?

• 15 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

• 15 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Minister for his comments about Grenfell. I welcome the legislation that the Government have introduced to lower the voting age to 16, and to make it easier for people to register to vote, but has he considered the benefits for increased participation in elections of adding a “none of the above” option on all ballot papers? This change could be made without primary legislation.

• 10 Jun 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q3. Flexible and co-working spaces play an important role in regenerating town centres such as mine in Rochester and Strood. They bring more people to our high streets to spend money in our local shops and support our local economies. But recent case law has put that under threat, with Valuation Office Agency assessments now treating many as single, larger businesses. Because of that, many small businesses face not only losing their small business rate relief but potentially receiving backdated bills of up to three years, in some cases costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. Will the Prime Minister please ensure that an urgent political solution is found to this problem?

• 27 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  Can the Minister provide an update on the action plan to ensure that lessons are learned from the way that changes to the state pension age were communicated to women born in the 1950s?

• 15 Apr 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 15 April.

• 15 Apr 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  The Prime Minister was right to resist us being drawn into an ill-conceived war in the middle east with apparently no clear plan for how it may end. Despite the welcome cost of living support that he referenced in his statement on Monday, we are all rightly angry that our constituents will feel the impact of this war in their pockets and in their daily lives. Will he outline what steps he is taking both to support our armed forces and plan for all future contingencies? We all hope for a swift resolution and progress at the summit later this week, but we must be prepared for all potential scenarios.

• 14 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  The James Williams healthy living centre recently opened in Chatham town centre in my constituency. It means that more of my constituents can receive care closer to home, rather than travelling to the other end of Medway to visit the hospital. May I invite the Secretary of State to attend its official opening in the summer, so he can see at first hand the fantastic new facilities?

• 13 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T3. I welcome the action that the Government are taking to improve the reporting and transparency of political donations from unincorporated associations in the Representation of the People Bill. Since 2010, 97% of donations from such bodies have come from unknown sources under the existing rules. Will Ministers consider going further and require information to be published on who runs unincorporated associations that make political donations and what their purpose is, to ensure that we have maximum transparency?

• 26 Mar 2026 · Gurkha Veterans · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the hon. and gallant Member for Tewkesbury (Cameron Thomas) and the Backbench Business Committee for facilitating this really important debate. My constituency of Rochester and Strood has a long and proud history and association with the Gurkha community and Nepal. There are over 100 Gurkhas living in the Medway towns, representing a sizeable community of former military personnel who have served this country, along with a significant wider community of Nepalese heritage. Along with many Members here today, I have written to the Minister for Veterans and People, particularly on behalf of the Gurkha Nepalese community in Medway and Kent, and I thank her for her responses and engagement. Given the time constraints, I will not repeat the points about the case that Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997 have for justice in their pension arrangements, which I think are generally well known in this House. I understand the Government’s position, shared by previous Governments, that they are unable to make retrospective changes to such pension arrangements for this cohort of veterans. While the legal position is clear, the reality is that it was not anticipated that so many who are in receipt of pre-1997 pension arrangements would be living in this country. It is widely understood that the pensions of those whose service ended before 1 July 1997 are not adequate to sustain a decent standard of living in the UK. Many veterans living in this country receive about one third of the pension paid to a British soldier of equivalent rank. As my constituent Sumendra Rai has told me: “This division is profoundly unjust. It institutionalises inequality among soldiers who wore the same uniform, followed the same orders, and risked their lives in the same conflicts”. If it is not possible to provide an uplift for their pensions, I strongly urge the Minister to work with Treasury Ministers to consider the introduction of a fund from which this relatively small cohort of veterans experiencing hardship can access additional financial support. The cost to the Government would likely not be significant, given the numbers, but the impact of such a fund on the quality of life of these veterans would be huge. This would also be very beneficial to bilateral relations between the UK and Nepal. Although I appreciate the steps being taken to work with the Government of Nepal to increase support for the veterans living there, it is right for the Government to look to alleviate the poverty and hardship of those who have served this country and now live here in the UK. I would of course appreciate an opportunity to meet the Minister to discuss this further, as I am sure other Members would. To conclude, supporting our Gurkha veterans who are currently experiencing hardship is about preserving a partnership that has been built over centuries. It is a relationship founded on trust, mutual respect and shared sacrifice, and it is important that we acknowledge the loyalty that the Gurkhas have shown to this country, and do our best to ensure that they do not experience poverty and hardship in their well-earned retirement.