Matt Rodda MP: speeches

Speeches

• 30 Jun 2025 · Road Safety Powers: Parish and Town Councils · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for raising this important matter. On a more serious note, I offer my deepest condolences to two people who lost their lives in a road accident in Reading recently, although I do not want to comment on that because it is under police investigation. I commend my hon. Friend for the work that he is doing. Many smaller unitary local authorities, such as the borough council in my town, have a great deal of local knowledge, yet they are often held back because they are unable to enforce traffic offences, such as speeding, even when 20 mile per hour zones or other zones have been introduced. As my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) said, it would be wonderful if that power could be delegated to them rather than to the police, who are very busy?

• 25 Jun 2025 · Access to Banking Hubs: Hertfordshire · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent point about the need for in-person banking services. In my constituency, we have experienced exactly what he has described in the south-east of England. My experience is that many who are vulnerable, or overwhelmed by getting into the town centre or have mobility problems are particularly affected, and so are many small businesses that deal in cash. Would the hon. Gentleman like to comment further on the need for those groups to be better served?

• 25 Jun 2025 · Access to Banking Hubs: Hertfordshire · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent point about this issue. My experience is that the criteria appear to be drawn too tightly, and that there is perhaps a lack of appreciation of the scale of need in some areas. In my own area, although there is frequent public transport from the Reading suburb of Caversham to the town centre, Caversham falls 1 minute outside the minimum criterion for travel time, yet it has thousands and thousands of residents, as well as a significant older and disabled population. Surely it would be wise for Link to consider the broader context, not just travel time.

• 25 Jun 2025 · Department for Transport · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. My community, like hers, also depends on rail services running from London to south Wales. I want to underline the benefits she is outlining based on my own experience. Reading has benefited hugely from the Elizabeth line and the rebuilding of the station, and that is linked to new homes and businesses clustering around the station. Does she agree that the Government’s strategy, as outlined earlier, brings forward real benefits to many constituencies across the country, and that there are already such examples where Labour councils and the Government are working well together?

• 18 Jun 2025 · HS2 Reset · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for the honesty with which she has addressed these very difficult issues. May I ask her to say a little more about the lessons that can be learned from the success of the Elizabeth line—both the far superior leadership and management of the programme, and the economic benefits generated? The £18 billion invested in capital yielded £42 billion in benefits in just the first three years of this amazing piece of infrastructure.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Asbestos Removal: Non-domestic Buildings · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech and I commend her for the honesty and sincerity with which she deals with these very difficult issues. She is right that, across the country, a large amount of building stock and commercial properties have this terrible material, and that a large number of illnesses and deaths may well still to be come. Does she agree that it is important for the Government to look at the matter, investigate it further, and see what more can be done to try to prevent the worst?

• 17 Jun 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent speech. This is, indeed, a serious problem across the country. In my constituency, many residents are concerned about speeding e-bikes of various types. I am pleased that our local force, Thames Valley Police, is taking more action, and I would urge it to go further. I am glad to hear that Police Scotland is also taking action on this terrible menace.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Clean Energy: Wales · Hansard source

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  13. What recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for clean energy projects in Wales.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Clean Energy: Wales · Hansard source

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  Wales has an enormous role to play in the roll-out of green and clean energy, which will benefit all the residents of Wales and the UK. What steps is the Minister taking to roll out this important work in Wales?

• 9 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, and he is clearly speaking on the basis of a great deal of experience as a former senior councillor in Oxford. I wonder if he would like to dwell on some other aspects of this, because in many ways, play also benefits children’s social development and their ability to work and concentrate on learning at school. Does he agree that there are many other benefits to play, and will he praise local authorities such as Reading that are actively promoting play areas?

• 9 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way on that point?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Street Parking on Estates: Bracknell Forest · Hansard source

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  Again, my hon. Friend is making an excellent point. May I remind him that there is a great deal of underused brownfield land that can sometimes be made available for parking? In my constituency, I worked previously as a councillor on a scheme to tarmac an unadopted road, which my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Alice Macdonald) mentioned, and unadopted roads and other areas of hardstanding that are not formally used for parking can be converted without any loss of green space.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Street Parking on Estates: Bracknell Forest · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, and I think he is about to describe the incredible pressure that many residents feel because of parking problems, whether that is difficulty parking near their home, difficulty walking along a pavement because of pavement parking, or one of many other problems. It drives people absolutely crazy. There is real pressure on communities up and down the country, in my experience. Does he agree that, to help ease some of this, the Government should have a new look at existing regulations, at further refining residents’ parking schemes, and at the more tricky issues, such as cases where one person or a group of people parking again and again on an unrestricted road? In my constituency, I have had issues when people commuting to work have parked on the same road time and again, which can be frustrating for residents. As my hon. Friend says, the basic problem is that there are many more vehicles nowadays, and it is difficult to accommodate parking needs, but we must try.

• 3 Jun 2025 · Dementia Care · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. In particular, I commend him for the way in which he has talked about the support that relatives often give as caregivers. Will he elaborate a little further on the points he made about the need for more resources to be focused on less advantaged communities? My own experience in representing a community that has some disadvantages is that people in those communities, particularly families from ethnic minority backgrounds, need far more support.

• 21 May 2025 · Business and the Economy · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 21 May 2025 · Business and the Economy · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for giving way on that point. He is making an excellent speech, contrasting the 14 years of utter failure by the Conservatives with the quick start by Labour. He has been quoting statistics for the period since Labour was elected, but will he say more about the potential benefits of the three trade deals for growth and investment?

• 20 May 2025 · Victims and Courts Bill · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend is making an excellent and compelling speech. I warmly welcome what she is saying, which closely resonates with the feelings of many of my constituents in Reading town centre and elsewhere who have unfortunately suffered from antisocial behaviour in many different forms. I am sure that colleagues from around the country have experienced the same. I commend her approach and thank her for her work.

• 13 May 2025 · Flooding: Planning and Developer Responsibilities · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) for his excellent work in securing this debate. I want to speak about the experience of constituents in my Reading constituency and outline the nature of local flooding, as well as some possible solutions. I endorse the work that the hon. Gentleman is doing to bring local landowners and others together and support the work that the Minister is doing on the matter. We have two issues, or possibly three, with flooding in our area. The two major rivers, the Thames and the Kennet, have smaller streams and brooks running into them. We also have a problem with surface water flooding; I have a great deal of sympathy with my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Tulip Siddiq), who mentioned that issue. Residents face the most appalling disruption to their lives when their homes are wrecked and muddy water, often polluted by sewage, gets in. It can take months, or even more than a year, to dry out the home and clean it properly. It is the most awful situation for any family. I have heard stories of water coming in at odd times of day or night, of people being woken in the middle of the night by flood alarms, and of water coming up through the floorboards under Victorian houses, where there is a void. All of this is truly awful. At a recent public meeting in Southcote, serious concerns were raised about the lack of joined-up communication between major landowners, particularly private landowners in the Kennet Meadows area and the neighbouring Southcote community in Reading. Some owners are not active in clearing ditches and other watercourses or in removing branches that have fallen into the Holy Brook, which is a channel that comes back into the Kennet. It needs much more attention, and I would like to see more joined-up working. Finally, I thank neighbouring MPs, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Reading West and Mid Berkshire (Olivia Bailey), for their work on the matter.

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

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  I am very grateful to the Minister for giving way; he is making an excellent speech. Like me, I am sure he is concerned about small businesses that could particularly benefit from an agrifood deal. Would he like to say a little bit more about the benefits for our small businesses?

• 13 May 2025 · Mansion House Accord · Hansard source

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  I warmly welcome the Mansion House accord and the Minister’s statement. During the last Parliament, I had the pleasure of taking part in a cross-party visit with the then hon. Member for Hexham to see a solar farm that was funded by pension investment. It is a wonderful scheme close to the M4 and my constituency. Could the Minister say a little more about how this announcement will support much broader investment in the green transition, both in the south of England and across the country?

• 7 May 2025 · Educational Opportunities in Semi-rural Areas · Hansard source

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  It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. Thank you for fitting me into this important debate. I want to take a few moments to elaborate briefly on the concerns I raised earlier about recruitment and retention in the Reading area and Berkshire for school teachers and other school staff, but also staff in other parts of the public sector and our public services more generally. The basic problem in our area is that house prices are very high, but sadly national pay scales do not always reflect those additional pressures. That is a particular issue for a small number of areas; I am certainly aware that parts of Oxfordshire have similar problems to Berkshire, and there may well be other scattered issues across certain parts of England. Now that I have raised the issue, I hope the Minister might be able to look into it for me. I know that the Government are working extremely hard to raise standards in education and invest in the education system. I wanted to give the example of a local comprehensive school whose former headteacher told me recently that it had had issues with recruitment and retention with certain subjects. That issue occurs across the country with certain shortage subjects, possibly in the case of science, technology, engineering and mathematics or English teaching, and maybe one or two other disciplines within large secondary schools. However, because of the increase in house prices and the cost of living pressures more generally, the situation has changed over the last few years and got progressively worse while the last Government was in office. Last year, things reached a point where it was extremely difficult to recruit any teachers. Often, there was only one applicant for any advertised vacancy. That is a challenge for any leader in any organisation, and particularly for teachers and heads under extreme pressure. I appreciate the work that the Government are doing; I thank Reading borough council for its work on council house building, which I mentioned earlier, and the University of Reading for its excellent teacher recruitment work, but it would be wonderful if the Minister could look into this issue.

• 7 May 2025 · Educational Opportunities in Semi-rural Areas · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. I share his concern about the lack of affordable housing for many school staff and other public sector professionals in southern England. It is a serious issue in my Reading constituency, despite the council working at pace to try to provide more council houses, so I hope we get to discuss this further.

• 6 May 2025 · Trade Negotiations · Hansard source

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  I warmly welcome today’s important announcement, and in particular the benefits it will bring to the UK economy, with the billions of pounds of extra growth it will generate in both the food and drink and advanced manufacturing sectors, as well as in many other parts of our economy. Will the Minister elaborate a little on the benefits to the UK tech sector, and in particular to start-ups, such as the many in my constituency, and to the young entrepreneurs setting up their own small businesses?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Football Governance Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow). I speak in favour of the Bill, which I hope will prevent what happened to our club, Reading FC, from ever happening to any other English club. I realise that time is short, but I want to put some of the key facts across in my brief remarks. Reading is one of the oldest clubs in the EFL. It has a proud history, with two spells in the premiership and glorious cup runs. Reading holds the record for the most points ever scored in the championship: 106 points in one season. It is also a family club, with a strong track record in women’s football. Sadly, all that has been put at risk by really, really irresponsible ownership. This has led to points deductions and relegation, threatening the very future of the club. Reading fans have had to suffer an impossible emotional rollercoaster for more than three years. We hope there is now some light at the end of the tunnel. To explain our story, I should say that Reading, like many other English clubs, was owned by a responsible local owner who had the best interests of the club at heart. I pay tribute to Sir John Madejski and all those who worked with him, and to other Reading players and managers. Dai Yongge bought the club in 2017, and while things started out well, with investment in the new training ground, that quickly changed and Mr Dai appeared to be losing interest in the club. He was subject to winding-up petitions and fines after a series of financial issues, which led to severe points deductions and the club being relegated to league one. Things went from bad to worse in the 2023-24 season, and it seemed that the future of club was in doubt. Thankfully, Mr Dai finally announced that he was going to sell, but the process was drawn out for more than a year and a half. As I know from dealing with the EFL, the current rules mean that there is little the league can do—one sale even fell at the final hurdle last summer, to the agony of fans. Despite that, our young team has performed brilliantly, and there are hopes of us reaching the play-offs, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell said. It has been an emotional rollercoaster, and I again praise fans, but I would not want to wish this on any other club in England, or indeed anywhere in the world. I urge Members from across the House to rethink their position and consider how an effective regulator would have prevented this awful situation, which we have had to suffer for far too long.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Ukraine War: London Talks · Hansard source

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  I associate myself with the Minister’s comments about the appalling attacks on Ukraine last night, and I thank him for his statement today. Will he update the House on the support the Government are offering to Ukrainian communities across the UK at this very difficult time, such as the large Ukrainian community in Reading?