March 2026

The previous Conservative Member who intervened asked me about 1997, so there is some looking back going on. I would welcome the Conservatives reflecting on their time in power, but unfortunately that is not what I have seen today and it is not the tone of the conversation that I hear coming from the party. The Tories are calling on the Government to change the plan 2 repayment system, when they designed plan 2 student loans; to end repayment thresholds, when they froze them; and to create more

1. What steps she is taking to help ensure reliable broadband services in hard-to-reach areas of rural constituencies.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I want to put on the record my thanks to the posties across the Hexham constituency. They traverse extremely rural areas to deliver post in some pretty challenging circumstances. It is a pleasure to represent them and their families. Unfortunately, like some of the post in my experience, most of my speech will go undelivered, but I do want to speak a little bit about the impact of Royal Mail’s management, particularly its neglect of rural

In a pithy sentence, will the hon. Gentleman describe the mission of the Conservative party?

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for St Helens South and Whiston (Ms Rimmer) for securing the debate. This is not the first time that either of us have spoken on this topic in this place. I also pay tribute to the Father of the House for his speech. I hope that Pope Leo heeds his call and follows the example of his predecessor, John Paul II, in standing up to communism around the world. I am delighted to see present the right hon. M

There are many levers that this Government can pull to make life better for graduates. I understand that, given the economic situation, some of those levers are easier to pull than others. I am glad that measures such as the Renters’ Rights Act 2026 are coming forward and making a difference for my generation every single day. I have voiced my view that the system is not fair and that I would like my Government to look at it, and I think that that has been heard. Let me return to what I was sayi

I will happily look at that. It is another example of a service that is simply not good enough. As was mentioned, I recently met Royal Mail’s chief executive to press these issues directly. He was left in no doubt about the level of anger and concern across the House, and he was clear that the service is not where he wants it to be. He gave me a firm commitment that he will work towards restoring confidence in the service. Where service has fallen short locally, whether due to staffing pressures

Seriously, though, it is galling that Royal Mail is increasing the price of its services but is not meeting delivery targets. Our constituents rightly expect that, if they are paying more, they should get the service and deliveries on time. It is simply not good enough.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed) for securing today’s important debate. He spoke about falling confidence in Royal Mail. I think the debate has shown that there is growing anger about failures of service. My hon. Friends the Members for Worcester (Tom Collins), for Hartlepool (Mr Brash) and for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) and others spoke about how, when raising those concerns on behalf of consti

Q8. Over the course of the last year, our North sea neighbours, Norway, have opened 49 drill sites for gas and oil. On our side of the North sea, the number is zero. Given that our critical reserve of natural gas is down to two days and how vulnerable we are, and with talk of potential energy rationing coming later this year, is it not time that we changed course, got rid of excessive taxation on the exploration companies, opened up the licences and became self-sufficient in natural gas? With th

My hon. Friend makes an important point. We are having a wider conversation at the moment about how enterprise education in general should go through people’s experience in school, and the co-operative and social interest models should be part of that. The co-operative development unit in MHCLG is helping to develop guidance and partnering with local authorities to see how we can improve access and advice. On community ownership, we are committed to communities and we are going further than ever

I certainly will, Sir John. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. It is also a privilege to respond to a debate with so many passionate and proud speeches on behalf of local community enterprises and charities. I am glad to have the opportunity to congratulate Leigh Spinners on all of its success so far, to thank the Rebuild Site in Carlisle, to raise a glass to the Black Bull in Gartmore, the Fleece Inn in the Cotswolds and the Brewers Arms in Worcestershire, to tell Cosham Communi

I have been here for 17 months. We could rehash things from 14 or 17 years ago. I believe that in 2009 the Labour Government sought to take a 30% stake out of the Royal Mail, but I am not interested in going back through that because we are where we are. Let me try to finish my speech, and I will talk about where I think we should be heading now. The Government and Ofcom need to urgently make it clear to Royal Mail executives that they must get a grip on the situation. Although letter numbers ha

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg, and I thank the hon. Member for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed) for securing this important debate. I also thank my hon. Friends the Members for Sutton and Cheam (Luke Taylor), for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) and for Yeovil (Adam Dance) for highlighting all the impacts on their constituents, in the form of missed medical appointments, financial appointments or legal appointments. Exactly the same is true in my Witney constituency. Ob

Parliamentary appearance by Gordon McKee

Parliamentary appearance by Margaret Mullane

Parliamentary appearance by Tom Morrison

Parliamentary appearance by Tom Morrison

Parliamentary appearance by Blake Stephenson

Parliamentary appearance by Ms Marie Rimmer