Emma Lewell
MP for South Shields · Labour · United Kingdom
“I remind hon. Members that they may make a speech only with the prior permission of the Member in charge of the debate and the Minister. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates. I call Sarah Gibson to move the motion.”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is now over three years since Professor Alexis Jay’s recommendations for a fully independent safeguarding system in the Church. I understand that the legislation to enact that is not due until 2028. Can my right hon.”
House of Commons22 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will call Andrew George to move the motion, and the Minister to respond. I remind other Members that they may make a speech only with prior permission from the Member in charge of the debate and from the Minister. As is the convention in 30-minute debates, the Member in charge will not have an opportunity to wind up.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The north-east has the highest rate of NEETs—those not in education, employment or training—and remains the region with the lowest level of Government defence investment.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“South Shields tourism is largely made up of families from neighbouring regions who have saved hard all year round to spend a few days at the seaside, and even if the increase from this measure is marginal, they will not come.”
House of Commons15 September 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I echo Mr Speaker’s comments at the start of business questions and hope that everyone has a lovely summer. Reform-led South Tyneside council is planning to close down our publicly run, high-quality STANLEY’s—South Tyneside Accredited Network for Learning in the Early Years—nurseries and daycare, which will affect hundreds of children, th…”
House of Commons16 July 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“Following is the full text of the petition: [ The petition of residents of South Shields , Declares that the development of 156 residential properties on GA2 land is inappropriate and unwanted by the community; further that the development lies west of Sunniside Farm in South Shields, a site within the green belt which has had a food producing arable field for over thirty five consecutive years; further that, if allowed, the development would disrupt the heavily used 7th century Bede’s Way footpath which links the two ancient monasteries of St Paul’s and St Peter’s which are dedicated to The Venerable Bede; and further that all communities should have a clause or exception of a right of refusal of development on green belt land which is used to produce arable food or where local communities do not want development that would destroy the openness and permanence of the land .”
House of Commons7 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I rise to present this petition organised by Jane Mills on behalf of 878 South Shields residents who oppose the development of 156 residential properties on land west of Sunniside farm, a site within the green belt with a food-producing arable field and a heavily used historical footpath linking two ancient monasteries. The petition states: The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to change the National Planning Policy Framework to include a clause of a right of refusal of development on green belt land, thus giving local people the right to say what is to happen in their community.”
House of Commons7 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“(3B) A completion notice may include requirements concerning the removal of any buildings or works authorised by the permission, or the discontinuance of any use of land so authorised, at the end of the completion period, and the carrying out of any works required for the reinstatement of land at the end of that period.” This amendment would enable the issuance of completion notices withdrawing planning permission with a deadline of less than 12 months when certain conditions are met, and enable completion notices to require that building works be removed from a site or a site be reinstated to its previous condition . Thank you, Sir Ian—Mr Paisley.”
House of Commons6 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move amendment 170, in clause 100, page 118, line 31, at end insert— “(3A) But notwithstanding subsection (3) the completion notice deadline may be less than 12 months after the completion notice was served if the local planning authority are of the opinion that— (a) development has not taken place on the site for prolonged period, (b) there is no reasonable prospect of development being completed within a reasonable period, and (c) it is in the public interest to issue an urgent completion notice.”
House of Commons6 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is not acceptable for Ministers simply to state that it is for local authorities and developers to work closely together to solve the issues, when there is no legislation to support them to do so. In fact, the legislation that there is does the exact opposite. My amendment would ensure that the relevant measures were in place to support local authorities and local communities. I do not intend to divide the Committee on the amendment, but I would like the Minister to address my points.”
House of Commons6 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“However, South Tyneside Council has stated: “It is a privately owned site and a Planning Consent has been implemented, so the options open to the Council are extremely limited”. It added that it “cannot use these formal planning enforcement powers in this instance as the construction work has planning permission and the site is still considered in law to be a live construction site.” In short, my constituents must put up with this and are at the mercy of a faceless private developer. That building is just one example. I am sure the Minister will agree that it simply cannot be right that there are no powers that can be used by local authorities or the Government in such situations.”
House of Commons6 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Earlier this year, the then Minister for Housing advised that “The Government are absolutely clear that new developments should be built out as soon as possible, once planning permission is granted. Where sites are stalled or there are delays to delivery, it is for local authorities and developers to work closely together on these issues.” He added that local authorities have the power to deal with the problem of uncompleted development under sections 94 to 96 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which gives local planning authorities the power to serve a completion notice on the owner or occupier of land, if the local planning authority considers that a development will not be complete within a reasonable time.”
House of Commons6 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Okay, let’s go with that. Welcome back, everyone. I hope everyone had a lovely summer and all that. South Shields is a beautiful place, but at the corner of Lawe Road and Ocean Road, leading to our gorgeous coastline, there is a derelict building that has been left to rot, to the extent that only the frontage remains; behind it, there is nothing. The only thing holding it up is unsightly scaffolding. It has become a rubbish dump and a home for rats, and it is causing a hazard to neighbouring properties and the public. The building has been like that for five years. The property was once a guest house. In February 2017, planning permission to convert it into a 43-bedroom hotel was approved. Soon after, the developer decided to stop all work on the site.”
House of Commons6 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Minister for giving way again. What does he envisage would happen if somebody kept renewing their planning application? How is the Minister proposing to stop situations such as the one that I outlined in proposing this amendment?”
House of Commons6 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do not seek to divide the Committee at this stage on this matter. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.”
House of Commons6 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I have repeatedly raised the issue of sewage dumping on the beach in my constituency in this Chamber. The Government continually use the excuse that it would cost up to £660 billion to upgrade our sewers, but the actual cost, over 10 years, would be £21.7 billion. Since privatisation, £72 billion has been paid out in dividends, so why are the Government not making the water companies meet these costs?”
House of Commons6 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I heard the Minister’s response to my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Withington (Jeff Smith), but the reality is that the changes to licensing criteria have reduced transparency and accountability. Can the Minister explain the rationale for changing Government guidance on granting licences from refusing a licence if there is a clear risk that items may be used in violation of international humanitarian law to if the Government determine there is a clear risk?”
House of Commons21 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Prime Minister and various Ministers have made hollow promises to me and my constituents regarding many serious and time-sensitive matters, including the case of Mr Singh, who was subject to identity theft, causing him to be falsely held by Border Force, his family to be in danger, and his health records to be in chaos. In addition, the families of Chloe Rutherford and Liam Curry, after losing their precious children in the Manchester terror attack, are campaigning to change death registration laws. Will the Leader of the House please use his good offices to ask those Ministers to start doing their jobs?”
House of Commons21 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister mentions a consultation that will end on 21 September. If it recommends putting what is being asked for into the Bill, will he come back and do that?”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Despite stark warnings from successive Chiefs of the Defence Staff and others about the vulnerability of our undersea cables in the light of increased Russian submarine activity, it took until 2021 for the Government to announce that they would acquire a multi-role ocean surveillance ship to protect that critical infrastructure. It was recently reported that the Government still have not decided on the capability required, a procurement strategy, or an in-service date. Why is that?”
House of Commons18 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Under this Government, deaths among homeless people are becoming commonplace in extreme winter and summer weather. This week they will have no access to shade, or to water or sunscreen. Local authority emergency weather protocols that help those living on our streets are currently discretionary. Why will the Minister not resource local authorities properly, and do as The Big Issue asks and remove this discretion?”
House of Commons18 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In relation to consultation, the Minister just said that it depends on what the Secretary of State thinks is appropriate. Is there anywhere else in our legislation where things are left to the whim of a particular Secretary of State in that way? I cannot believe that the Minister thinks that is an acceptable way to conduct planning.”
House of Commons14 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Minister for giving way again. Surely the prospectus should come first, before we consider implementing this legislation. It seems like things are being done in a completely back-to-front way, and I do not understand why. This is not a good way to make legislation.”
House of Commons14 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Back in 2019, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights visited the UK and found that the driving force of that Government was not an economic goal but rather a commitment to achieving radical social re-engineering and sending messages about lifestyles. His well-evidenced and thorough assessment was rejected outright and his recommendations were ignored. When it comes to free school meals, what support the Government have put in place has been hard-fought for by charities, faith groups, Opposition MPs and celebrities.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Hungry children suffer developmental impairment, language delays and delayed motor skills, not to mention the psychological and emotional impacts that can range from withdrawn and depressive behaviours to irritable and aggressive ones. Pre-pandemic, we even saw rising numbers of hospital admissions for children through malnutrition and a resurgence of Victorian diseases such as scurvy and rickets. If it was not for the nearly 2,000 food banks in the UK—those are the ones we know of—as well as kind neighbours, faith groups and charities, many more children would simply have gone without. When I was a child protection social worker, it was the children suffering from severe neglect who would be going without on such a scale, but now we have a generation of children for whom hunger and grinding poverty have become the norm.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In South Shields, that rises to over 42%. It is clear that levelling up, just like the northern powerhouse before it, is a vacuous, empty phrase that was never intended to, and never will, do anything to improve the life chances of children in my area. Hungry children, no matter how talented they are or how dedicated their teachers are, simply do not learn. When children spend their day worrying about where their next meal will come from, or about when their mams, dads and siblings will be able to eat again, their learning will inevitably be hindered. The impacts of child hunger are well documented. Numerous studies have shown the links between nutrition and cognitive development.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move, That this House has considered eligibility criteria for free school meals. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Robertson. There is nothing more grotesque than a Government who not only preside over thousands of children going hungry but who actively pursue policies that plunge them into hunger and poverty. As we debate the issue, nearly 4 million children in Britain are living in poverty, more than 800,000 are missing out on free school meals and hundreds of thousands are missing out on school breakfasts. In my part of the world—the north-east—such figures are not decreasing but rising rapidly. Just this morning, the North East Child Poverty Commission revealed that our region now has the highest rate of child poverty in the UK, with 38% of our children now living in poverty.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister knows as well as I do that that is small in terms of Government spending. Just look at the billions wasted on faulty personal protective equipment and gifted to Tory friends and donors for inadequate contracts throughout the pandemic, as well as the billions written off in covid fraud. Furthermore, alongside that reform, the Government could introduce an automatic registration scheme for free school meals. At present, more than 200,000 children miss out because of the overly bureaucratic nature of the registration process. Those measures should then be followed by a move to universal free school meals for all children, as in Labour-led Wales, because no child should ever feel stigmatised or singled out.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Hungry children never have been and never will be a priority for the Government. If the political will was there, they would listen to the myriad voices from charities, organisations, faith groups, Opposition MPs, a few Members on their own side and Henry Dimbleby, who they appointed to lead the national food strategy. They are all pleading with the Government to at least expand free school meal eligibility to all families receiving universal credit or equivalent benefits. That would mean that a further 1.3 million children living in poverty would at least get a free school meal, and would also be eligible for the holiday food programmes. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, that expansion would cost the Government an additional £550 million a year.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The holiday activities and food programme was again hard fought for from 2017 onwards, but it was not until 2021 that the Government decided to roll the programme out. Even now, the overriding focus of the programme is on activities, with a vast amount of money being spent on admin, bureaucracy and communications. If it had not been for the crowdfunding of my big-hearted constituents in South Shields, alongside Feeding Britain, KEY2Life, NECA and Hospitality & Hope coming together over those summers, children in South Shields would have gone without. My fully costed school breakfast Bill would have seen nearly 2 million children start the day with full stomachs. Instead, the Government introduced a scheme that provides support to only 2,500 out of the 8,700 schools they have identified as eligible.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It should come as no surprise to anyone that I agree with my hon. Friend completely; indeed, I will echo some of his comments later in my speech. Let us just consider the Government’s abysmal record throughout covid. First, we had the ridiculously chaotic voucher scheme being contracted out to a private company; then the Government tried to withdraw support in the half-term and Easter holidays; and then when it came to the summer holidays, Tory MPs voted to withdraw support for free school meals, only to have their votes overturned when footballer Marcus Rashford shamed the Prime Minster into a U-turn. That was followed by meagre food parcels containing—for 10 days—a loaf of bread, half a cucumber, one pepper, a few potatoes, a block of cheese, four pieces of fruit and some salty snacks.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It should be to the utter shame of every MP in this Government that in a country as rich as ours, children are going to bed hungry and waking up hungry. I look forward to the Minister letting us know in his response what he intends to do to remedy that, because our children need and deserve better.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Member for Bassetlaw (Brendan Clarke-Smith), along with his colleagues, voted during the pandemic to deny children free school meals in the holidays, and has said he believes that free school meals amount to “nationalising children”? He also went on to add that it was simply not true that people cannot afford to buy food on a regular basis, saying “If you keep saying to people that you’re going to give stuff away, then you’re going to have an increase I’m afraid”. I have a feeling that in his response the Minister will regale us with details of the cost of living support packages that the Government have put in place through previous support grants. The reality is that they are all one-offs; they are piecemeal, they are sticking plasters and they do little to address the root causes of child poverty.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my hon. Friend for the work he is doing on his Right to Food campaign, and all the work he does in his patch raising money for local food banks. He is right that there is another factor: means testing costs more. Universality is cheaper, and that is where the Government should be heading. The hungry children are the children of key workers. Those key workers are working for their poverty. They are the key workers who kept us going and cared for our loved ones throughout the pandemic—they risked their lives for us. What chance do those children have when the newly appointed Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon.”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister will be aware that lots of school food providers have said that, because of the cost of living crisis, nutritional standards are going to go down and they will have to substitute food for something else. What will he do about that?”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister is being generous in giving way. Does he not accept that eligibility has had to be extended repeatedly because there are more and more children in poverty? When are this Government going to get to grips with the root causes of the endemic poverty that children in this country are suffering from?”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister is doing as I expected and listing some of the things the Government have done, but what about the 800,000 children who are missing out? There will be more of them as the year continues. What support is there for them? Clearly, the support at the moment is not enough because they are still going to foodbanks, so what will he do for those children?”
House of Commons12 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Minister for that response, but he just does not get it, does he? Thanks to this Government’s cruel policies, food banks are now embedded in our welfare state. As the cost of living crisis intensifies, we are running out of food donations and people are going hungry. It is an abdication of the Government’s duty to leave charities to fill gaps left by the state, so when will whoever is left in the Government start doing their job?”
House of Commons7 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Away from this place, our constituents are waiting for answers from this Government. My constituents Lisa and Mark Rutherford and Caroline Curry had their precious children taken from them in the Manchester Arena terror attack. Due to archaic legislation, they cannot register their deaths. The Ministry of Justice advised that an answer on a possible change to that legislation was imminent. Given that the Government have collapsed, who will give them an answer and when?”
House of Commons7 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“A total of 800,000 children, more than 35,000 of whom live in the north-east, are in poverty and are being denied free school meals owing to punitive, Government-imposed eligibility criteria. Despite cross-party calls for eligibility to be extended to all families on universal credit, the Government have refused. Why?”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The NATO summit rightly identified that Russia and China challenge our security. China continues to make clear the territories that it disputes in the Indo-Pacific. As war rages in Ukraine, concerns for the west’s ammunition stockpiles are growing, and the Prime Minister continues with plans that will see capability gaps in our Navy with fewer planes, tanks and troops. Without a drastic rethink of those cuts, how realistic is the UK’s desire in the integrated review to have a presence in both the north Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific?”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“With respect to the hon. Member for Keighley, clauses 42, 44 and 45 do not relate to consultation at the initial stage of CCAs, but that is what we debating now, is it not?”
House of Commons30 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am a little confused. My understanding was that the amendment does not say it has to be the same everywhere. It simply says that if an area requests a power that people have elsewhere, the Secretary of State should grant that request. I think the Minister misunderstands what the amendment is about.”
House of Commons30 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move amendment 29, in clause 1, page 1, line 14, at end insert— “(c) details of how Her Majesty’s Government will ensure that the levelling-up missions are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.””
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As Anna Taylor, chief executive of the Food Foundation, has said: “If the Government wants to really get to grips with the issue, a comprehensive approach to levelling-up must tackle food insecurity head on.” Accepting this simple and cost-neutral amendment would signal that this Government accept, at long last, that people are going hungry on their watch and that they are prepared to do something about it. I sincerely hope the Minister has carefully considered my amendments, and I look forward to his response.”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government-commissioned national food strategy found that diet is the leading cause of avoidable harm to our health, but the Government have ignored Henry Dimbleby’s recommendation to increase eligibility for free school meals. Adult and child obesity levels are one of the metrics used to assess the success of the mission to improve life expectancy, yet today, on the anniversary of the Government’s child obesity plan, it has been reported that 70% of commitments have been delayed or have disappeared. If the Government are serious about levelling up, tackling food insecurity is vital to achieving the levelling-up White Paper’s missions on education, skills, wellbeing, living standards, health and life expectancy.”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The regional disparities that the Bill supposedly aims to level out are most stark when we consider the fact that life expectancy in my part of the world, the north-east, is six years less for men and seven years less for women than it is in the south-east. The pandemic has revealed the serious underlying health inequalities in this country. Increasing healthy life expectancy is a huge challenge, and public health funding was a crucial part of achieving that mission. However, the most recent allocation saw councils receive a real-terms cut—another example of the Government’s actions not matching their levelling-up rhetoric. The cross-party Environmental Audit Committee reported in 2019 that, when it came to sustainable development goal 2, “the UK is not performing well enough or performance is deteriorating”.”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Or are the Prime Minister’s comments just more of the empty rhetoric that we have become so accustomed to from this Government? So far, the Government’s performance has been inadequate to combat hunger and food insecurity. The SDG tracker figures for 2020 to 2021 show that over 4 million people are regularly going hungry or do not have access to nutritious food on a regular basis. The Food Foundation has found that the number of food-insecure households is rising, with figures for 2022 so far show prevalence in nearly 5 million households, with 2 million children suffering. If it were not for the estimated 2,300 food banks in this country, those adults and children would be completely without food. That should be a source of great shame for those on the Government Benches.”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“By making a clear commitment in the Bill to tackle growing levels of hunger, the Government are signalling that they understand and are willing to act, and to be held to account for that action. They signed up to sustainable development goal 2 in 2015, with the aim to end hunger. The Minister for South Asia, North Africa, the United Nations and the Commonwealth—in the other place—recently reconfirmed the UK’s commitment to achieving the goals by 2030, stressing that the SDGs remain a globally recognised framework for building back better from coronavirus, in line with the Prime Minister’s levelling-up priorities. That makes it even more surprising that hunger is missing from the Bill. If not in this Bill, how will the Government measure the prevalence of hunger in line with their levelling-up commitments?”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Overall, the physical, emotional and mental health links to hunger are well documented. The Government’s own reporting in the family resources survey, which was only made possible after years of campaigning to implement my Food Insecurity Bill, shows that households in the north-east are more likely struggle to afford food than those anywhere else in the country. It would be completely misguided to think that we can level up the country without addressing this issue. Due to the pandemic, soaring inflation and limited Government support to mitigate the impact of rising living costs, those figures will be far worse in the coming years, without concerted and committed Government action.”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There are 14.5 million people living in poverty across our country. Poverty among children and pensioners was rising for the six years prior to covid, along with a resurgence of Victorian diseases associated with malnutrition, such as scurvy and rickets. Surely the Government must have grasped that in order for at least five of their own missions to succeed, people need to have access to food. Living standards, education, skills, health and wellbeing are all deeply impacted upon if people live in a household marked by hunger. Pre-pandemic, over 2 million children started their school day with a gnawing hunger in their stomach. No matter how impressive a teacher is, if a child is worrying about where their next meal may come from, they simply do not learn.”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Mark. The amendments simply ask that the Government align the levelling-up missions with the United Nations sustainable development goal to end hunger and ensure access by all people—the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants—to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round. The amendments also ask that that be measured by tracking the prevalence of undernourishment and moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the food insecurity experience scale. It is astonishing that in a Bill that attempts to level up all parts of the UK, not once is hunger or food insecurity mentioned, despite the Prime Minister acknowledging that it is not possible to level up the country without reducing the number of children living in poverty.”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will keep my comments brief as I do not wish to detain the Committee too long. The Minister listed ways in which the Government are helping, but I politely remind him that people on universal credit have a five-week wait with no money at all. Pensions, benefits and wages are nowhere near keeping pace with inflation. The fact that the Government have had to put in emergency support funds to help families is indicative of their failure to help the hardest hit for such a long time. I will not press the amendments to a vote on this occasion, but this is not the last time I will talk about this topic in Committee. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn .”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Bearing in mind that the Government have had 12 years to come up with this policy, although they are able to say what will they do, they cannot say how they will do it. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is easy to conclude that the Government might not be really committed to delivering any of it?”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“On a point of clarification, the Minister has been talking about changing the missions, but subsections (4) and (5), as I read them, are about scrapping the missions. Surely some rewording is needed here.”
House of Commons28 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗