Oliver Ryan MP: speeches

Speeches

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

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention and am grateful for his experience. It comes as a bit of a reality check that, especially as gay men, we stand on the shoulders of giants in this space. The people who have come before us have lived much more difficult lives and faced much more discrimination than we do, so the duty is on us to raise these points. The report pointed out several aspects of the situation, pointing out in particular the mental health difficulties faced by LGBT veterans against the special nature of the experiences and traumas they were exposed to. They reported higher rates of suicide, homelessness and mental health issues that included, but were not limited to, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. That is why a focus on targeted services is important to adjust to their needs. Access to healthcare and support services was an additional concern raised by the review. Many LGBT veterans report difficulties in navigating the support system, and too often felt that their identities and experiences are not understood or respected, even in the present day. For these veterans, the lack of sensitivity and awareness in the system was a significant obstacle to receiving the care and support they deserve. It is essential that our systems cultivate an environment of understanding and respect going forward—one that acknowledges the distinct experience of LGBT veterans within the wider veteran support network. The creation of dedicated support schemes tailored to the needs of LGBT veterans is another critical recommendation. These programmes should include peer-to-peer support, mental health resources and other services that acknowledge and validate the unique experiences of LGBT veterans. Peer support in particular can be an invaluable resource, offering veterans a safe space to share their experiences, build connections and receive encouragement from others who understand their journey. Increased outreach efforts are also essential to ensure that LGBT veterans are aware of the services available to them. For too long, many of those veterans have felt marginalised and disconnected from the resources intended to support them. We have to link those people up. Targeted communication strategies are needed to engage this community effectively, ensuring that they know their rights and the resources at their disposal. By proactively reaching out to LGBT veterans, we can foster a sense of belonging to ensure that they receive the support that they need. Financial redress stands out as a key recommendation in Lord Etherton’s review, underscoring the need to compensate those affected by these historic wrongs. Although the previous Government offered a formal apology and took meaningful steps to implement many of the review’s recommendations, the allocated £50 million compensation scheme fund falls short, inadequately compensating the estimated 4,000 LGBT veterans and those affected by discriminatory practices. This amount is insufficient to address the depth of the harm inflicted or the number of people whose lives have been trashed in many cases. We must advocate for a more substantial commitment to financial redress—one that reflects the true scale of injustice endured by these individuals, and that seeks to make amends in a meaningful way. I know the Minister is genuinely alive to this; he is listening, and he and the Defence Secretary understand the plight of this community. I thank him for his continuing work in this area to support our veterans, especially as a man of service himself. The independent LGBT veterans review provides a comprehensive road map to address the inequalities faced by LGBT veterans. By recognising the ongoing challenges, we can take decisive steps to implement the report’s recommendations. We can work towards creating a military and veteran support system that truly honours the service of all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This commitment to inclusivity and justice is not only a moral imperative, but a testament to the values we strive to uphold as a nation—values that I know the Minister and the Government agree with. Let us take this opportunity to ensure that the sacrifices of all our veterans are acknowledged and respected. Let us all work together to build a future in which every service member is afforded the dignity and support they deserve, free from the shadow of discrimination. This is our chance to demonstrate our commitment to justice, to extend a hand to those we have wronged—including the review of financial redress—and to create a legacy of equality and respect within our armed forces today and for the future.

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

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  I am not sure whether it is common procedure for someone intervene in their own debate, but I appreciate the Minister’s time, and I thank him for his comments about the compensation scheme. I know that he is doing the work, and that he sincerely understands the scenario for these people. It would be remiss of me not to mention that although “Steven”, my constituent, felt that yesterday’s Budget was great in lots of ways, particularly the provisions around infected blood and the Post Office scandal, he wanted a compensation scheme to deal with this issue in the same way. I hope that the Minister will look at that, make sure that we do not wait another year, for the next Budget, to talk about what we can do financially and sustainably, and recognise the context that “Steven” references.

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

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  I greatly appreciate this opportunity to engage in a significant debate about the implementation of the LGBT veterans independent review. The review not only acknowledges the historical injustices faced by our LGBT veterans, but also brings to light the ongoing barriers, insecurities and inequalities they experience, underscoring the urgent need for reform, support and compensation. There has been plenty of interest in the debate and I am pleased to see the Lord Commissioner of His Majesty’s Treasury, my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Anna Turley), and my hon. Friends the Members for West Ham and Beckton (James Asser), for Slough (Mr Dhesi), for Macclesfield (Tim Roca), for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven (Chris Ward) and for Wellingborough and Rushden (Gen Kitchen), and others in their places. I start by congratulating the Minister for Veterans and People, my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns) on his appointment to ministerial office. We are indeed fortunate to have someone of his experience and dedication leading the way in advocating for all veterans and their families. His role is pivotal, and his leadership will undoubtedly influence the lives of countless veterans for the better. I thank him. At this time of year, we come together to honour the profound sacrifices made in times of conflict and to remember those who gave their lives so we could live ours in peace. It is right to have this debate about those veterans that Governments have let down in the past, not because, as some would assert, talking about diversity, inclusivity and lived experience makes our armed forces weaker, but because it makes them stronger. The gay ban, which was active from 1967 to 2000, was an abhorrent period of our history. For over three decades, discriminatory practices and policies excluded LGBT individuals. Those policies created a culture of fear and discrimination, in which people were compelled to hide and deny who they were or risk losing everything. The treatment in that way of people who were actively serving our country, often putting themselves in harm’s way, is a shameful chapter in our history. It undermines the values that we hold so close of respect, honour, duty, freedom and inclusion. Especially as a gay man, to whom this period feels somewhat alien considering the freedoms we enjoy today, I find it sickening to reflect on that legacy. We must ensure that it never happens again.

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Chancellor on a tremendous Budget despite a remarkably difficult inheritance. We have kept our promises: change is here, and it cannot come soon enough. Today’s Budget set out firmly the foundations of sustainable economic growth that will benefit towns, cities and villages across our nation. The Chancellor’s proposals laid down the central groundwork for addressing inequality, investing in our areas and the NHS, and tackling the housing crisis, full-throatedly supporting growth. These are critical steps towards a prosperous Britain, including Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield—a goal that we can all get behind. Investment in our education system is critical for our future. Indeed, I am hugely proud that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor is prioritising education in this Budget. There is more money for teachers, support staff and breakfast clubs, £300 million for further education, and a further £1 billion for special educational needs—a critical injection of cash, and an investment in our future. I am glad to see that this Budget is centred on real priorities: supporting working people, fixing the NHS and rebuilding our country. We are paying down the overdraft that the Conservatives built up. I still find it the height of irresponsibility that they spent the country’s emergency reserves three times over on what was essentially electioneering, and now they have the brass neck to lecture us about financial responsibility—when they turn up, that is. They did not fund the bus cap or the new hospital programme, and they did not disclose their shenanigans to the OBR. They did not fund our prisons and, disgracefully, they did not fund the compensation schemes for infected-blood victims and the sub-postmasters. They did not even fund day-to-day spending; they left us with a £126 billion in-year debt interest payment, just to stand still. It was short-termist and unsustainable. I am glad to hear that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will not only cut the deficit, but bring us into surplus in just a few years’ time. During the election, the Conservatives made promises that they had no intention of keeping. By making promises and failing to fund them, they were playing politics with people’s lives and services, which could only end with the grotesque chaos of a Prime Minister stood in Downing Street in the rain and calling an election that he hoped he would not win. Otherwise, people would have asked him to deliver on what he said he was going to do. He ran around signing cheques, knowing they would bounce. For too long, working people have borne the weight of failed policies, from Liz Truss’s rising mortgage rates to billions of pounds lost to inefficient projects. Labour’s plan provides a clear choice: continued stagnation, or real change with Labour. I congratulate the Chancellor on the massive £22.6 billion increase for NHS day-to-day spending—the largest increase in capital spending that we have seen since 2010. Labour is back, and the NHS and my residents are happier for it. Labour understands that revitalising Britain requires sustained investment in schools, hospitals, industries and infrastructure. Burnley exemplifies the transformative power of such investments. As part of the north-west industrial cluster, companies such as Safran Nacelles, AMS Neave and BCW Manufacturing contribute billions of pounds to the UK economy, provide thousands of jobs and export to over 100 countries worldwide. Supporting these local industries is essential for building a strong, resilient Britain. It is clear that this Budget is about the future, not the past, but I want to put on record my disdain for the levelling-up, “Hunger Games” agenda of the last Administration. The last Labour Government rebuilt Burnley town centre, built St Peter’s Centre, built Burnley college, rebuilt every school in Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield, brought the University of Central Lancashire to Burnley in order to make us a university town, and invested in our town centres, particularly in the public realm. Contrast that with 14 years of being ignored since 2010, apart from the large, game show-style levelling-up cheques that contributed only to a roundabout and a cinema. I am glad to hear of all the commitments that the Chancellor has made today, particularly on levelling up, and I am glad that we will now get a long-term plan for the towns fund. Ordered, That the debate be now adjourned.—( Vicky Foxcroft .) Debate to be resumed tomorrow.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for everything that she is doing to tackle Islamo-phobia. This anti-Muslim discourse is a scourge on our communities in Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield. Will she join me in celebrating the work of local volunteers, churches, mosques, Lancashire police and others who organised Burnley’s “Diversity Picnic—Bubbles in the Park”, and who worked so successfully in averting potential disturbances over the summer?

• 24 Oct 2024 · Black History Month · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for letting me intervene on him during this brilliant speech. Does he agree that our diversity is often our strength and that, as in Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield, the diversity of our communities has provided people with a great sense of culture, community and togetherness, and brought a great amount of economic growth?

• 21 Oct 2024 · St Helena: UK Immigration · Hansard source

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  I am interested to hear how offshoring is being rebranded; the Rwanda scheme was a huge failure. Does the Minister agree that any comparison between this plan and the Rwanda scheme is rubbish? The latter cost £700 million and resulted in four volunteers being sent to Rwanda. This is a far better scheme.

• 17 Oct 2024 · Government’s Childcare Expansion · Hansard source

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  I hugely welcome the news about funding for schools, children and parents, and for school-based nurseries in particular. I hope the Minister will look fondly on applications from Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield in due course. I wonder whether he thinks that the capital allocation in the statement is sufficient for his ambition. Does the Minister agree that this Government are delivering on their promises within their first 100 days?

• 17 Oct 2024 · Criminal Justice System: Capacity · Hansard source

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  I thank the Lord Chancellor and her Department for their important work in tackling the backlog. Given that the previous Government agreed the funding allocation, who does she feel is responsible for the number of Crown court sitting days being cut? Has she explored the further use of artificial intelligence in small judgments to speed up the backlog?

• 8 Oct 2024 · VAT: Independent Schools · Hansard source

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  SEND services are really important to people in my constituency as well. Does my hon. Friend agree that we are not anti independent schools or private schools or the work that they do? He is right when he talks about the whole state sector. Does he agree that this is important?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The warm homes plan is excellent and much needed in towns such as mine, but on warm homes grants for insulation, during recess I met a large number of constituents who had been victims of failed insulation and cowboy workmanship under such Government schemes. Some are living in horrific conditions with useless warranties. Is the Minister aware of their plight? Will she ensure that regulation is strong enough, and will she meet me and victims to make sure that this never happens again?

• 7 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My constituents want a fair and robust welfare system, but they have no truck with fraud. Can the Secretary of State assure my constituents that she is doing everything she can to crack down on fraud, and to make sure that those who genuinely need help get it?

• 7 Oct 2024 · British Indian Ocean Territory: Negotiations · Hansard source

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  Does the Foreign Secretary agree that this Government’s commitment to our populated British overseas territories is fundamental, unshakeable and unbreakable. I am glad to hear him make his statement, and I think this is a good thing for Britain.

• 11 Sept 2024 · Building Safety and Resilience · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Please allow me to start by congratulating the hon. Members for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) and for Guildford (Zöe Franklin), and my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Josh Fenton-Glynn) on their quite fabulous maiden speeches. I am sorry to have to correct all of them, but my constituency is in fact the most beautiful and the most brilliant in the country.

• 11 Sept 2024 · Building Safety and Resilience · Hansard source

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  The Minister is being very generous with his time. I wonder whether he will meet me and representatives from Burnley council, which has a very good retrofit scheme that actually makes profit for the council and seems to retrofit street after street of terraced houses in Burnley. I note with interest the comments made by the shadow Minister about arm’s length companies used under the previous Labour Government to precipitate retrofit programmes. In areas such as Burnley, including Burnley Wood and Trinity, that approach worked and actually brought a great deal of investment into streets that are, quite frankly, still in need of repair and retrofit. Is the Minister interested in coming to Burnley to meet me on that front, and may I praise him for his kind words about Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield earlier?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Building Safety and Resilience · Hansard source

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  Slanderous! I stand here, honoured beyond belief, to represent the great towns of Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield—towns that are part of the story of our nation. This is the land of dramatic sandstone avenues, of hills and skies, of romantic scenery in the shadows of Pendle Hill. This is the land of regimented urban landscapes, of terrace tops and towers nestled among chimneys and waterways, cushioned by villages, farms, country pubs and proper pints. We are England and Lancastrian, and we are proud. Burnley, the “meadow by the Brun”, first recorded in the 12th century, has long been a hub of culture and commerce. We have a 13th-century market, the 14th-century Towneley Hall plays, and the 15th-century St Peter’s church. Indeed, coming over the moors from the wrong side of the Pennines, Charlotte Brontë visited Gawthorpe Hall in Padiham, Wordsworth wrote of the site of Pendle Hill, and Burnley’s most prolific poet, Henry Houlding, led a literary renaissance for northern towns in the 19th century. Once the epicentre of the global cotton trade, the workers of our towns built this country. It was said at its height that Burnley’s cotton industry had clothed Britain by breakfast and the rest of the world by dinner. We are a birthplace of movements, too—suffragettes such as Margaret Aldersley, and fighters, leaders and thinkers. Non-conformists are we—radicals and reformers—and once the seat of a Labour leader no less in Arthur Henderson. I say all this because I want to stress that our story did not start or end with the mills. Looms for a long time were our tools. In our hands was the industrial world made, but now we are so much more. We do not buy the standard story of decline. We are a place determined, with eyes focused on the future, hungry to play our part. By the way, we have no greater example of Burnley endurance and enterprise than Burnley football club. Yes, sometimes in the face of emotional trauma—at times extreme—they are twice champions of England and one-time winners of the FA cup. Let me say, I believe for the first time ever in this House, “Up the Clarets!” As towns, we are now a thriving, dynamic, multicultural symbol of renewal and creativity. To be made in east Lancashire is to be a benchmark of quality, particularly in our manufacturing, aerospace sciences and cultural industries, with world-beating, amazing, innovative companies putting us on the map. We are also unusual politically, in that the constituency has been represented by all three major parties in the past 10 years alone, although I hope to bring a very lengthy period of stability in that regard. Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield are so often painted as towns with problems and extensive poverty, which is true, but to end our description there is to misunderstand our mindset, our mission, our sense of history and community. Our fight is not in trading narratives as to how we got here. We have problems, yes, but we do not simply retreat to the warm nostalgia of our history. We know that that way lies only stagnation. Our fight is in creating solutions for tomorrow. Less interested in rhetoric, storytelling and ideology, towns such as mine want outcomes. For us, one’s ability to deliver solutions means a lot more than the colour of a rosette. Outcomes are what matters. What is good is what works. In our public services, that means dependable quality, transparency, choice, the interests of users coming first and an approach that challenges every vested interest in the public interest. Reflecting on this mantra and the debate today, I want to talk a little about our housing stock. First raised by my predecessor, Peter Pike, in his maiden speech of 1983, the once proud regimented sandstone avenues that I spoke of earlier—once a step up for families—are now in a poor and worsening state. Too many of my constituents live in substandard, under-insulated, cold and mouldy homes. Low land values lock out investment, but, more critically, lock out families from the decent accommodation that they deserve and write off whole communities as just not worth the investment. If we are to continue to thrive, we need more housing, newer housing, more social housing and a decent retrofit programme not seen on a scale since the last Labour Government. It is only through that growth that we can achieve the sort of improvements in our public services that we need. That is the only way that we will attract the secure jobs and dynamic workforce of the future. Too many of our young people are stuck in a generational cycle of worklessness, which holds back entire families, because of a lack of opportunities, skills, connectivity and, actually, confidence. We will only truly grow as a country when people in places like ours feel that growth touches them; when prosperity reaches the doorsteps of our terraces; when we break the cycle and say, “If you have the will, we will give you the way. No one left behind.” In my time here, I hope to represent to the best of my ability those values and ambitions. At this juncture, as is tradition, I pay tribute to my predecessors: in Burnley and Padiham, Antony Higginbotham; and in Brierfield and Nelson East, Andrew Stephenson. Both very decent and hard-working men, they campaigned on many local issues in their years in this House, and had many friends across the House, which was testament to their character. I genuinely wish them both well for the future. I am the great-grandson of Irish immigrants, from Dublin and across Ireland, who made their life in Manchester. I was aged two, and one of two kids to a single mum, when Labour took office in 1997. It is because of that Government that my mother was supported through illness to raise us, by an NHS with the time and resources to care. Schemes such as Building Schools for the Future, first praised by my predecessor Kitty Ussher in her maiden speech in 2005, gave me this future, and I am one of many. We stand on the shoulders of giants in this place, but I was able to climb on to those shoulders only because of a supportive family, who are watching from the Gallery, and the ladder that that Labour Government provided for kids like me and families like mine, from towns like mine. I know that this new Labour Government will strive to do the same, and I for one am enormously proud to be a part of it.

• 3 Sept 2024 · Ofsted · Hansard source

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  When the previous Conservative Government left office, education standards were declining, schools were crumbling, and they claimed to have maxed out on their support for children. Does the Minister agree that schools, parents and pupils deserve better, and that with this Government, they will get it? [ Interruption. ]

• 3 Sept 2024 · Contracts for Difference · Hansard source

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  I welcome this phenomenal, record-breaking achievement from the Secretary of State, which represents a significant milestone towards clean power by 2030. Let us see more projects in Burnley. Does he agree that the best way to protect my constituents’ energy bills from price shocks, and the patriotic thing to do, is to ensure our nation’s energy security through home-grown clean power? That will lower energy bills and give tyrants like Putin a bloody nose at the same time.

• 29 Jul 2024 · Public Spending: Inheritance · Hansard source

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  The brass neck of Opposition Members is astonishing after what we have heard from the Chancellor today. My residents in Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield will be so disappointed to hear of the mismanagement over the last 14 years that she has uncovered in the Treasury—it was to be expected, anyway. Does she agree that the now shadow Chancellor should apologise and that, if he will not, he should resign?

• 22 Jul 2024 · Border Security and Asylum · Hansard source

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  I thank the Home Secretary for her statement. The people of Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield want to see these crossings stopped and these gangs smashed, and they will welcome her tough action today. Because of the previous Government’s complete failure to control our borders, they spent millions of pounds a week on asylum hotels. What will she do to speed up the processing of people in these hotels and end their use?

• 22 Jul 2024 · NATO and European Political Community Meetings · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for the leadership that he has shown in his discussions at Blenheim, especially those on NATO. I am proud to hear him recommit us to a two-state solution in the middle east, and to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Does he agree that this conflict is dire, but urgently needs sober and considerate solutions rather than extreme rhetoric from those who might seek to sow further divisions?