Sarah Russell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Dec 2024 · Victims of Sexual Violence: Court Delays · Hansard source

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  I understand that there is a specific problem with the criminal injuries compensation scheme as it stands, whereby a claim has to be brought within two years of the original allegation, even though in many cases there has not even been a prosecution by that point. Is that something that the Department is looking at?

• 16 Dec 2024 · Victims of Sexual Violence: Court Delays · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that we keep the blame for the backlogs exactly where it belongs? Defence barristers are doubtless doing the best they possibly can for their clients in some extremely difficult circumstances, and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss) says, they are paid poorly relative to other members of their profession. The most significant problems in the court system have been caused by 14 years of chronic Tory underfunding of the court system itself, the Crown Prosecution Service and the prison system, which means that: far too few people are held on remand; people are being bailed when they should not be; people are being dealt with very swiftly to try to deal with custody time limits; and there are so many problems baked into the system as it stands that victims are being wholly failed. We need to ensure the system is invested in and reformed in such a way that those problems do not continue to be exacerbated, one of the most enormous ones being—

• 12 Dec 2024 · SEND Provision: Autism and ADHD · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for allowing me to intervene again; I appreciate it. Cheshire has some of the lowest per-pupil funding in the country. There is a direct link between schools that receive relatively low levels of funding and councils that have relatively high levels of SEND diagnoses, because there is not the same support in mainstream classrooms as when there are higher staffing ratios, which we find in areas that have better funding. We need to look at equalising that funding as best we can in the current environment to improve support at an earlier stage, as the hon. Lady was mentioning.

• 12 Dec 2024 · SEND Provision: Autism and ADHD · Hansard source

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  In respect of early diagnosis and onward support, in my constituency of Congleton we have two specific problems. First, although some children receive a diagnosis under the right to choose pathway on the NHS, others, often from more deprived backgrounds, face considerably longer waits than they would under that pathway. The impact of that on those children concerns me very much. Secondly, Cheshire East council sometimes goes for periods of time when it closes the education, health and care plan application pathway to new entrants because it is so overwhelmed by the number of applications it already has. Both those are serious issues for children in my constituency, and I thank the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire for securing this debate and giving me the opportunity to air them. Does she agree that it is a huge improvement to have a Government who are integrating SEND support and that there is so much more that we are all looking to do?

• 18 Nov 2024 · Independent Armed Forces Commissioner · Hansard source

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  The Listening Out Loud Foundation in my constituency is run by Jill and Andy Dolman and works with those who have recently left the forces, often with complex problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder. They can provide an excellent insight into how we can better support current and future armed forces personnel. How does the Minister foresee the Armed Forces Commissioner working with small charities such as the Listening Out Loud Foundation, and will he join me in visiting the organisation in the near future?

• 18 Nov 2024 · Independent Armed Forces Commissioner · Hansard source

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  11. What progress he has made on establishing an independent armed forces commissioner.

• 18 Nov 2024 · Indefinite Leave to Remain: Healthcare Workers · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) for securing this debate. There is a significant and ageing population in my constituency. There has been a 25% increase in the number over-65s since 2011 and, accordingly, a huge increase in the need for care. Prior to coming here, I was a solicitor specialising in employment rights. I worked in a law centre and saw at first hand how the issue plays out when it goes wrong—and it does go wrong. Typically, we would be approached by a care worker who was very concerned that they were being treated horrifically at work, in ways that were clearly unlawful. Unfortunately, once we gave them advice, they would not go forward with any form of complaint. They were too frightened that they would lose their visa status and their employer would create untrue allegations about them in order to have them thrown out of the country, rather than dealing with the underlying problems in the care sector. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority reports that 61% of all reports made to it in the first quarter of 2024 concerned labour abuse in the care sector. Many, many people work in the care sector in my constituency and many, many more spend their life savings on care. They would all be rightly horrified to experience or receive care from people who work in the circumstances that I saw at first hand in practice. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority website lists common signs that indicate the exploitation of care workers. It asks that if someone is visiting a loved one or a loved one is receiving care at home and they spot the signs, they contact the authority. The common signs listed are scavenging for food or eating leftovers, working excessively long hours, not being dressed adequately for the role—having insufficiently warm clothing or not having personal protective equipment—being in fear of the authorities, showing signs that their movements are being controlled, or having injuries. That is the reality of working in care in this country. That is what we all accept day to day in order to have our older people or people with disabilities looked after. Any of us would find that idea completely abhorrent. While we continue to do nothing, that is what we perpetuate in our society and all around us. There are two things that we could do. Irrespective of the subject of today’s petition—even if there was a two-year wait for rights—we need to look at the relationship between employment rights and visa status in the intervening period, because people in those first two years would still be subject to widespread abuse. The other thing that we could look at is the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority licensing scheme, which does not currently extend to the care sector. That is a significant omission that we could review. I thank Members for listening to me today. Finally, I want to pick up on the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Test (Satvir Kaur) about hate crime against NHS workers. When I visited Congleton War Memorial hospital recently, the chief executive made the point to me that his staff are habitually and regularly subjected to racial hatred. In raising that issue again with the House, I echo my hon. Friend, and I thank all NHS workers and all our care staff—it is appalling and we need to do something about it.

• 13 Nov 2024 · Infant Formula Regulations · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising this horrendous issue. A related issue is the broader regulation of baby foods. Many baby foods contain more sugar per 100g than Haribo sweeties, and there is no compulsory regulation of their content. Large numbers of children eat those baby foods but are still malnourished and do not get a balanced diet. Does he agree that we should consider wider regulation of, and mandatory standards for, the content of baby food, while still being mindful of the need for baby foods to be affordable so that everyone can access proper nutrition for their children? Children in the UK are becoming shorter on average than their international peers, and that is a disgrace.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Furniture Poverty · Hansard source

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  I want to raise a point about washer-dryers, as opposed to washing machines. As a mother of three, I spend a lot of time doing the washing. It sounds like a trivial point, but in north-west England it is incredibly difficult to get washing to dry—it starts raining in October and keeps going all year. It is all well and good if the household support fund provides washing machines, which are great and a good start, but that will not solve the whole problem. I implore the Minister to raise the point about dryers. Of course, there are other problems about affording the electricity to run them, but we will create damp in homes if people cannot dry clothes in them.

• 5 Nov 2024 · NHS Dentistry: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  In my constituency, there has been an 11% decline in the number of adults who have seen an NHS dentist in just the last few years—it has been precipitous. There is a specific problem, however, with adults in care homes. I spoke to a local dentist, and she explained that the standard insurance for dentists no longer covers them visiting and performing services in care homes in the community. Can the Minister look into that, and does he agree that it is a huge problem that when vulnerable people cannot come to a dental practice, dentists cannot go to them?

• 31 Oct 2024 · Income tax (charge) · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) for his comments about kinship allowance, which I will address in due course, because it is helpful when we have constructive opposition. However, he talks about the difficulty of obtaining NHS treatment, and I remind him of the five years that the Liberal Democrats spent working alongside the Conservatives to bring about cuts to our NHS, the police and many other vital services. I will leave it at that. I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Chancellor on the Budget, which is clearly the start of a new chapter towards making Britain better off. I can see clearly how it links into our Labour target of securing the highest sustained growth in the G7, as well as into our other missions of having an NHS fit for the future and breaking down barriers to opportunity. It is clear that there is a strategy for achieving aspiration and providing people with support. Those two things can truly combine to make our country greater. One measure that will affect my Congleton constituency is the work that will now continue at pace for hospitals affected by the RAAC—reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete—crisis, including Leighton hospital in Crewe, which serves many of my constituents. The hospital still has paper notes; it does not have an electronic records system. The major reason for that is that it has spent over £100 million in the past few years just on propping up its walls. That kind of failure spend to sustain the hospital’s most basic physical infrastructure means that the investment to make the NHS fit for the future cannot be made. I look forward to being part of a Government who enable us do the sort of forward-thinking work in which we stop making short-term decisions that simply prevent people from having access to the care that they need—we must work in a rational manner. People in the NHS, including doctors and nurses in my constituency, will be grateful that we are moving in that direction. The NHS has been broken, but the Budget will begin to fix it. Our social care system has also faced significant challenges in recent years. Again, this Budget begins to fix that. Alongside the £600 million in grant support for local authorities, I am so pleased to hear about the £86 million increase in the disability facilities grant, which will enable us to support 7,800 more home adaptations. As I think we all know, people want to stay in their homes for as long as possible, and it is our duty as a Government to facilitate that. Similarly, I am pleased to see the 4.1% uplift in the state pension through the triple lock, which will enable more than £475 per year to be given to many pensioners across the country. We are also going to see the biggest ever cash increase in the earnings threshold for carer’s allowance, meaning that many more thousands of carers in my constituency can increase their income—which is so important for people’s dignity—and many more people will be able to access carer’s allowance for the first time. I also want to say an enormous thank you to the kinship carers in my constituency: those grandparents, older siblings, aunts and uncles, extended family members and family friends who are looking after children. They will welcome the announcement of £44 million to support kinship and foster carers, including through the new kinship allowance trial. Speaking of children, I turn now to schools. Schools across the country are crumbling. RAAC schools specifically have hit the headlines, but there are many other fundamental structural problems in many of our schools—schools that were decimated overnight by the previous Government’s scrapping of the Building Schools for the Future programme. This Budget will begin to fix those problems, with £1.4 billion allocated to delivering classrooms that children can learn and thrive in, and a £2.3 billion increase in the core schools budget to support the recruitment of 6,500 new teachers. It will also enable us to properly fund pay rises for the public sector, which are so important for retaining the experienced teachers on whom we rely. I am delighted that £1 billion of that £2.3 billion increase will go towards fixing our special educational needs system and systems for disabled children within education. It is so important that we get that right: parents in my constituency and their children are desperately reliant on us for it. Our childcare system has also been struggling, which has had huge implications for parents’ ability to go to work. This Budget will begin to fix that by allocating £1.8 billion to continue the expansion of Government-funded childcare, which will help people to stay in, and return to, work. More than a quarter of children in my constituency of Congleton live in relative poverty after housing costs. The roll-out of free breakfast clubs in primary schools is a very welcome measure to help struggling families. Moreover, the increases in the national minimum wage will have an enormous impact on families and on child poverty. Some 70% of children in this country who are growing up in poverty live in a family with at least one working parent. It is low wages that are causing those problems, and I am very pleased that we are addressing them. Our roads have also been broken by 14 years of austerity, and again, this Budget will begin to fix them. The investment of £500 million to fix an additional 1 million potholes per year is a good start. Drivers in my constituency will welcome that investment, as well as the continued fuel duty freeze. Of course, businesses will welcome many of the steps in the Budget as well. While we are increasing the national living wage to support workers, we are also supporting small businesses through an increase in the employment allowance, fairer business rates, start-up loans, growth hubs and the new national wealth fund. Small businesses in my constituency will also welcome the funding the Chancellor has committed to tackling shoplifting, which affects all of our shopping bills and is worth billions of pounds to the economy every year. Shopkeepers in my constituency recently told me and the Cheshire police and crime commissioner, Dan Price, that they have given up on trying to report shoplifting in many instances because it is simply not a good use of their time. I am so pleased that we will begin to address this issue. We are beginning to get the fundamentals right. Under the last Government, there were so many counter- productive cuts that undermined our national productivity. This Budget does not stand alone as a one-off event. Rather, it is part of a coherent set of plans to ensure that our public services are reformed and that we are able to develop cross-departmental working in government and deliver what working people need to have a good quality of life, an NHS that is there when they need it and work that pays. I look forward to working with businesspeople and families in my constituency to ensure that we get the delivery of those plans right over time, but right now, this Budget looks like a solution that will begin to fix the NHS and social care; rebuild hospitals and schools; fix the SEND system; and rebuild confidence in our public services, in the economy and in our future as a country.

• 31 Oct 2024 · Income tax (charge) · Hansard source

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  Does the right hon. Member accept that the Conservative Government’s decisions to reduce gas storage and to fail to invest in the NHS over long periods made dealing with those crises considerably worse?

• 24 Oct 2024 · Temporary Accommodation · Hansard source

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  The Minister listed a wide variety of Departments, but the Department for Education was not among them. Will she assure me that that is one of the Departments that she intends to co-ordinate with? I am sure that it is.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Temporary Accommodation · Hansard source

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  I want to mention the plight of children missing from school. There is a massive problem with children going into temporary accommodation and simultaneously losing their school place because they have moved out of the area, or alternatively trying to retain their school place in the hope of being able to move back to the area, and then missing school for a sustained period. I wanted to draw attention to that particular difficulty. As far as I am aware, at the moment we do not measure educational outcomes for children who have been in temporary accommodation. Would the hon. Member encourage us to start doing that?

• 23 Oct 2024 · Paternity Leave and Pay · Hansard source

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  I have spent the last 13 years advising women, in particular, in employment tribunals, and I have advised a lot of women who have suffered maternity discrimination. That was an absolute mainstay of my practice. My comments will be completely heteronormative; that is not to disparage any other family structures. During the pandemic, for the first time large numbers of women and men were able to work from home. I say that because prior to the pandemic I spent a lot of time advising women on flexible working requests. If they asked to work from home for one or perhaps two days a week, that was habitually turned down. They were told that it was completely impossible; employers would not hear of it. Once men did it, it became absolutely acceptable, and it is now absolutely fine in most organisations for parents of either gender to work from home for one or two days a week. If women continue to take the overwhelming majority of parental leave, they will continue to take the entire career burden and will be systematically discriminated against for it. This is a widespread issue: 54,000 women a year lose their jobs when they are pregnant or on maternity leave.

• 23 Oct 2024 · Paternity Leave and Pay · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that the idea that “part-timer” is a term of abuse is a shocking concept, and that what we are discussing today could help with that?

• 23 Oct 2024 · Paternity Leave and Pay · Hansard source

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  I completely recognise what my hon. Friend says. The risk zone for women’s careers starts when they are approximately 25 and carries on until they are at least 45. I have been advised not to wear my wedding ring to interviews because I was likely to be viewed as a pregnancy risk. Until we deal with that—until men take significant amounts of leave and are paid properly to do it—we will continue to face this issue, and women will be systematically discriminated against, as she says, whether they have children or not. Approximately 12% of employers disclosed in a YouGov poll that they were reluctant to hire a woman simply because she might become pregnant. This is a widespread issue, whether women have children or not. We need non-transferable, “use it or lose it” parental leave for the second parent and we must ensure that that is paid at a rate such that people are actually able to take the leave. Once we have that and it becomes the default minimum—some fathers will choose to take significantly longer—everyone will be a risk, and everyone will be able to have career development. That will change the entire attitude towards maternity leave in our society. As I said, 54,000 women a year lose their jobs when pregnant or on maternity leave. All the women I advised thought they were just individually unlucky but given the volume of them I can say that they were not unlucky—it was systematic.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Whistleblowing Protections · Hansard source

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  I thank all those who have spoken before me in such an informative manner and to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) for securing the debate. I have advised numerous whistleblowers throughout my career. Some themes emerge from the experience that speak directly to the points raised by a couple of previous speakers about the impact on whistleblowers when they realise there is something seriously wrong in their organisation and they speak up about it. I have found, particularly in the NHS, that there is an institutional reluctance—and I think I can understand it. I think it is psychologically extremely difficult for people to accept that their department might be systematically failing or sometimes actively damaging patients, and the result is that they tend to turn on the person blowing the whistle and to ostracise them. What follows is an investigation into that person’s behaviour or conduct as relationships deteriorate, and often then a dismissal under the term “some other substantial reason”. There are five potentially lawful reasons for dismissal, including misconduct, incapability and so forth. One is “some other substantial reason” for dismissal. That phrase is really a catchall for, “There is some sort of decent reason for sacking this person”, but the case law has developed in such a way that “some other substantial reason” for dismissal can just be an absolute breakdown of relationships between people who work together—and that is almost always the case where there is a whistleblower. The result is that we have a massive gap in our law, whereby people who have blown the whistle are systematically being dismissed for “some other substantial reason”. One of the most effective things we could do within the scope of the current system would be to outlaw the use of “some other substantial reason” dismissals in a whistleblowing framework, so that if someone has blown the whistle, there cannot be a “some other substantial reason” dismissal. There would still be the ability to dismiss for misconduct if there has genuinely been misconduct, but in the situations I have seen, that has usually not been the case; it is just that people have fallen out. I think there is scope to improve whistleblowing protections in the current system. We could do it through amendments to the Employment Rights Bill, which is making its way through the House. In the longer term—I appreciate that this is not currently fiscally viable—but we could look at extending legal aid to whistleblowers. We could extend to whistleblowers the legal aid protection available to people on low incomes for discrimination claims; that would be in the public interest and would nicely back up the duty of candour that we have been talking about introducing. We could also look at whether the suggestions being made by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central could be linked to the fair work agency, and whether we could in due course extend the powers of that agency to examine this issue. It is a terrible thing to advise whistleblowers, because they are so distressed—certainly one of the most distressed client groups I have ever come across. Whistleblowing is typically completely career-ending for them, and the results for many are terrible. We should look at whether our unfair dismissal legislation is well placed to handle such matters. I again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central for raising this topic for debate.

• 21 Oct 2024 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and my membership of the Employment Lawyers Association, the Industrial Law Society, Unite the Union, Community and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers. The treatment of women in Harvey Weinstein’s companies, UKFast, and plenty of other organisations across the UK is notoriously horrific. A significant number of women work in workplaces that are basically run like medieval fiefdoms. Corporate governance in the UK appears to largely serve to cover up sexual harassment, and to do very little to prevent it. As someone who has negotiated settlement agreements for a lot of women who have suffered sexual harassment or maternity discrimination, I do not recognise the descriptions of UK employees that I hear from Conservative Members. They appear to regard employees as desperate to bring employment tribunals at any possible opportunity, but my experience of representing women in those situations is that they are desperate to avoid bringing employment tribunal claims. They think that if they talk about what has happened to them, it will cause them significant reputational damage—that they will be blamed for their experiences, and that they will never work again. As such, they sign settlement agreements meaning that they cannot talk about what has happened to them. They do so knowingly, and often for really quite small sums of money, because they are terrified of the amount it will cost them in legal fees if they try to pursue a claim to tribunal. That is one of the reasons why I am proud to be a member of trade unions and to have given advice to trade union members, because that enables those women to get the support they need to assert their basic workplace rights. A 2016 TUC report talked about the fact that young women in particular, as well as women on zero-hours contracts, seem to be reporting higher levels of sexual harassment at work than other, older women. In short, those of us who get to a certain age like to hope that things have got better because we stop personally experiencing sexual harassment at work. Unfortunately, the reality is that younger workers, who have less access to advice and support and are more economically vulnerable, continue to receive that harassment year after year. Things are not getting better. Employment rights are fantastic, and it is great that we are improving access to them through this Bill, but when Conservative Members oppose our moves to restrict the use of zero-hours contracts, they do not understand—so far as I can tell—that those contracts, which keep women in precarious employment, are one of the mechanisms by which sexual harassment occurs. As such, I commend the Bill to the House.

• 17 Oct 2024 · Creative Industries: Artificial Intelligence · Hansard source

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  AI-generated creations that mimic real people—deepfakes—can lead to financial and reputational damage for musicians and other creatives. However, as the domestic violence charity Refuge pointed out last year, the most common AI-generated deepfakes are non-consensual sexual depictions of women. How do the Government plan to ensure that creatives, as well as women and girls, are adequately protected from the misappropriation of their voice, image, name and likeness?

• 17 Oct 2024 · Creative Industries: Artificial Intelligence · Hansard source

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  6. What recent discussions she has had with representatives of the creative industries on AI.

• 17 Oct 2024 · International Investment Summit · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to make my maiden speech. When I drive around my Congleton constituency, I thank my lucky stars that I have the privilege of both living in and representing somewhere so very beautiful. It is made up of gorgeous rolling countryside, farmland, hedgerows and oak trees. The farmers work all hours to produce the food that we need. It has views of the giant radio telescope at Jodrell Bank and the natural beauty spot Bosley Cloud. It is Arcadia within commuting distance of Manchester, Crewe and Stoke, and I cannot tell the House how much I truly love it. The constituency is a growing place, with around 5,000 extra houses in the last few years. The population is divided between the Cheshire market towns of Alsager, Sandbach and Congleton, alongside the larger village of Holmes Chapel, and many beautiful smaller villages, such as Rode Heath, Church Lawton and Goostrey. There can be few more idyllic spots in the country than sitting outside the Swettenham Arms next to the Lovell arboretum, overlooking St Peter’s, the archetypal village church. Though each town and village has its own unique character and history, the joys and challenges experienced by the families who live there are often remarkably similar. They include families whose children have special educational needs and disabilities, who often face extensive challenges getting the diagnoses and support that they need. Those families need our help, and I will do everything that I can to assist them. I have been pleased to hear the Prime Minister referring repeatedly in this Chamber to those difficulties, and I am confident that he will help us too. Families will also benefit from Labour’s review of shared parental leave. Some 54,000 women a year lose their job when they are pregnant or on maternity leave. Women actually out-earn men in their 20s. The gender pay gap is in many respects actually a motherhood penalty. Men taking longer periods of paternity leave is a way that we could normalise parental leave and potentially reduce those problems. I thank the Government for starting the consultation on this matter imminently. I pay tribute to campaign groups such as Pregnant Then Screwed, Rights of Women, the Dad Shift, Parenting Out Loud, and the TUC and trade unions, which are all doing incredible things in this field. Many homeowners in my constituency have been affected by leasehold and fleecehold problems, and will welcome our planned reforms on these issues, to which I intend to contribute. They include older people, often the backbone of our communities, who provide childcare for grandchildren, and often volunteer as well. Sometimes, however, they do so in avoidable pain while on NHS waiting lists that are too long. Those are just a few of the issues that I intend to apply myself to as MP for Congleton. Let me take the House back to Congleton’s history. Congleton is known as Beartown, owing to a local story that in the 1600s the town saved up to buy a new Bible. Shortly before the summer fête, the village bear died, so the townsfolk agreed that rather than buy their Bible they would postpone the purchase and get a new bear with the money instead. Congleton is very entrepreneurial across the whole constituency, and many of our small businesses feature references to the bear. It is also in our local iconography everywhere. We have the Beartown Tap and Beartown beer. The bear features pretty much everywhere, as does our fantastic statue of Elizabeth Wolstenholme-Elmy, which was lobbied and fundraised for by local feminists. Elizabeth, who based herself in Congleton from 1874 until her death in 1918, played a significant role in the women’s suffrage movement, founding the Women’s Social and Political Union and campaigning for women’s education and voting rights. I hope that I shall think of her often in this place. Another of our most famous local figures, although quite different, is Harry Styles, whose hometown of Holmes Chapel is now a point of pilgrimage for his fans. I am sure that everyone is sorry to hear today of the death of his former bandmate Liam Payne—we all extend our condolences to his friends and family. Local people have set up a walking trail associated with Harry Styles. If anyone fancies it, I would strongly recommend following it, with a stop in any of our local independent businesses on Holmes Chapel high street. I would probably include a drink at the George and Dragon or the Bottle Bank, or both. I know that both publicans do a lot of voluntary work within our community. People volunteering is common in my constituency, as I know it is in the constituencies of many other Members. Whether they are coaching football at Vale Juniors or any of the other community sports clubs—there are too many for me to list—planting trees and conserving and maintaining our woodland and footpaths, as the Sandbach Woodland and Wildlife Group does, and as a similar group does in Congleton; helping young people through uniformed groups such as scouts, guides and the various air cadets, some of which I have visited; running schemes to support men’s mental health, such as the Goostrey Community Shed, Holmes Chapel Men in Sheds, or the new Sandbach men walking and talking group; or even running a community energy power plant in Congleton Hydro, we have the most amazing set of citizens. I am so grateful for the fantastic contribution that they make to help others, support those who need it, and truly make my constituency the fantastic place that it is. On the topic of contribution, I pay tribute to my predecessor, Fiona Bruce. Congleton has had three MPs in its history, all of them women: Ann Winterton, Fiona Bruce and now me. I know that many Christians in the constituency and beyond appreciated Fiona Bruce’s advocacy on behalf of the religious community, both in the UK and internationally, in her role as envoy for religious freedom. We have many active local church groups in our community, and they contribute a great deal of very varied support. Churches and secular volunteers and organisations, including food banks, food pantries and the Old Saw Mill, are all quietly providing much-needed food support within the community. They do this for a far larger number of adults and children than the apparent affluence of the area would superficially lead one to expect. As a discrimination lawyer, and someone who went into politics because of the value that I place on equality and inclusion, I will continue to advocate for the rights and freedoms of all my constituents, and celebrate the diversity within our community. I recently attended the One World festival in Alsager, which was first established by Margaret Keeling 30 years ago. It celebrates the diversity of nationalities living within the Alsager community, with food, activities and lots of performances from local schoolchildren. It really is a delight—thank you, Margaret. Another of the many achievements of the fantastic volunteers in my constituency is that we have regular Pride events. Congleton held its first Pride about five years ago. I pay tribute to Richard Walton, Ronan Clayton and all those who were involved in setting it up. It is now ably chaired by Malcolm Pope, who is taking it from strength to strength. The excellent curator Anna Maluk put on a Pride exhibition in Congleton Museum, hosting photos from those early events and featuring art from the local LGBTQIA+ community. Since then, more Pride events have grown in Sandbach, Alsager and, for the first time this summer, Holmes Chapel. At one of these events, it was suggested to me that these are really just a family fun day—a village fête, if you will. It is true that the events are fun, fabulous and family-friendly, but beyond the live music and bright clothing there remains a serious message. The hard-working volunteers who make these Pride events happen do so in the face of repeated homophobic hate crimes. Similarly, there is still a backdrop of fear attendant in many women’s daily lives. Women in my constituency have written or spoken to me about their experiences of sexual violence. I say to the young women who have talked to me—you know who you are—that I will fight for you, and all young people, in this place every day. That will include ensuring that, when embracing new technology and innovation, as we have done this week at the international investment summit, we find ways of protecting people from new threats—whether that be people looking at tractors on their smartphones in this workplace, or artificial intelligence baking in discriminatory decision making. Unfortunately, new technologies also bring the potential for harassment, discrimination and abuse, and we must not be caught off guard—we must get on the front foot on that. My constituency has a long history of developing new technologies. The constituency boundary bisects the site of Jodrell Bank, the amazing radio telescope. Sandbach was the proud home of ERF and Foden trucks. The first Foden traction engine was built in Sandbach in 1881, and that was followed by the production of heavy goods vehicles for 150 years. The history and heritage of Foden still runs through the blood of the town, with the annual transport festival and its incredible parade of vintage trucks, wagons, classic cars and even the odd plane on the common. My constituency is also home to one of the world’s leading brass bands, Foden’s Band, which was born out of the works in 1902 and has twice won, and twice been runner-up, in the national brass band championships of Great Britain. I will work across this House to stand up for the incredible, entrepreneurial and community-minded people and businesses of the beautiful place that is the Congleton constituency. Lastly, I want to say some thank yous. I thank the volunteers who helped me to get here and continue to support me, to whom I am very grateful. That includes those from the Labour party, and I make special mention of the Fabian Women’s Network mentoring scheme. I thank my adored family, who are in the Public Gallery today. When I am in Westminster, I miss you so much. I hope I do all of you proud.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  May I associate myself with the comments that have been made about freedom of religion? I am here today to raise the matter of accessibility at Sandbach station. Unfortunately, the Manchester platform cannot be accessed by those with luggage, those with disabilities, those with buggies or those with bikes. I join the calls made earlier for a debate about station accessibility.