James Murray
MP for Ealing North · Labour (Co-op) · United Kingdom
“Travellers will not need to do anything differently when using the allowances, but the revised categories change the combinations of products that can be brought into the UK duty-free. The changes were announced at the 2025 Budget and follow a review of travellers’ allowances after our exit from the European Union.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The overall volume of alcohol that individual travellers are allowed to bring back remains the same; it is the categories that different alcohol products fall into that is changing. Where people have previously maximised allowances across separate categories, they may be able to bring back less of those products in total.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Secondly, the existing still wine category is replaced by a single wine category covering both still and sparkling wine. Sparkling wine now forms part of the 18-litre wine allowance rather than the separate nine-litre category for drinks of up 22% alcohol by volume.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank hon. Members for their contributions. I welcome the support of the official Opposition for this measure, and acknowledge the long-standing conversations that the hon. Member for Grantham and Bourne and I have had on different sides of the aisle along Committee corridor.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Although individual travellers will not need to do anything differently when using the allowance, the revised categories will have changed the combinations that can be brought into the UK duty-free. The existing 42-litre beer allowance remains unchanged, but cider is now included in that allowance.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Some travellers are now able to bring back more of certain products duty-free, while those who previously maximised allowances across separate categories may be able to bring back less of those products in total. However, the overall duty-free allowance remains the same.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“As the hon. Gentleman will appreciate, we are going through that process with the workforces at NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care. Crucially, however, by 2028, across the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and ICBs, we will see a 50% reduction in headcount. That means that the money that would otherwise be spent on those members of staff will now go towards healthcare on the frontline, which is what patients want to see. As hon. Members will know, NHS England was established by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. That Act established more than 300 new NHS organisations, and has led to too much time, money and effort being wasted on overlapping processes, as good people try to navigate a labyrinthine system that holds them back from delivering for patients.”
House of Commons1 June 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The right hon. Lady raises an important point, but local services are already commissioned locally in many cases. The changes that we are making by abolishing NHS England will mean that more power and resources go to ICBs and local areas to allow them to make the right choices for their local area. That is a way of bringing the services that we deliver closer to the people who need them. Let me be absolutely clear that abolishing NHS England is in no way a reflection on the committed public servants who work at NHS England and in my Department. The truth is that unnecessary structures are getting in the way of them doing their crucial work and it is time for us to change that. The Bill will mean that more time, money and effort will be spent on improving the care that patients receive, rather than navigating the system around them.”
House of Commons1 June 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The core goal of the 2012 Act, brought in by the Conservatives and Lib Dems, was to take politics out of the day-to-day running of the NHS. However, that is a fundamental misunderstanding of the NHS and its place in the democratic life of the nation. The public pay for the NHS; they own it, use it, care deeply about its future, and so they should always have a say in how it is run. People voted Labour because they trust us to build on our party’s legacy by transforming the NHS for the future, and they will rightly hold us responsible for the decisions we take as we do so. It is not about politics getting in the way; it is about accountability driving change. That accountability has been lost in the confusion of having two separate centres for the NHS, and the Bill will end that.”
House of Commons1 June 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am happy to look into the case to which the hon. Gentleman refers. The abolition of NHS England and the transfer of its responsibilities either to the Department of Health and Social Care or to local ICBs is being managed carefully, to ensure that we can continue making progress while the structural change happens. To return to my earlier point, the money saved as a result of these changes can go directly to frontline patient care. We expect about £1 billion to be saved, which is the equivalent of 15,000 nurses. I do not see how anyone can disagree with our decision to ensure that resources are spent on the frontline. As I have explained, abolishing NHS England as a separate organisation will strip out bureaucracy and ensure that we focus on delivery. The decision also has an important democratic role.”
House of Commons1 June 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“ICBs, as the hon. Gentleman will know, have a board structure that oversees how they operate. The removal of local healthwatch organisations will mean that the voice of patients and their experiences go directly into the bodies that are commissioning and overseeing services. One of the changes the Bill makes is to ensure that strategic mayoral authorities will have a place on the board of ICBs, which helps them ensure that wider objectives in an area of health are aligned.”
House of Commons1 June 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We promised 8,500 more mental health staff by 2029—we have delivered them three years early. We promised 700,000 more NHS dentistry appointments—we have delivered an extra 1.8 million already. We promised to transform the NHS for the future, and that is what this Bill will do. We are already boosting investment in the NHS where it needs more. We have begun stripping out bureaucracy from the NHS where it needs less. And now we will build a truly modern NHS that will be there for generations to come. The Bill is the next crucial step in our mission, and I commend it to the House.”
House of Commons1 June 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The NHS gave me a second chance at life, and so as Health Secretary I will fight for the NHS every day with the strength it has given me back. The Tories ran down the NHS through 14 years of neglect, and the Lib Dems enabled them. Reform wants to abolish the NHS altogether and replace it with an insurance-based system. The Greens seem intent on ignoring clinical advice and have no practical solutions for the health service. Only Labour has a plan to get the NHS back on its feet. Only Labour is determined to both invest in and fundamentally transform the NHS for the future. Only Labour is showing that change is possible. We promised to cut waiting lists—we delivered the biggest annual fall in 16 years. We promised an extra 1,000 GPs in our first year—we delivered twice that number.”
House of Commons1 June 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am going to make more progress. Alongside the removal of confusion and duplication at a national level, the Bill also gives those with local expertise the power, resources and flexibility they need to design and deliver health and care services for their area. The Bill will empower them to innovate, drive progress and do what is in the best interests of the patients they serve. Under the Bill, ICBs will have more direct responsibility for their services than ever before. They will be at the heart of integrating health and social care, and they will include those people responsible for housing, transport and jobs, so that we can tackle the root causes of ill health, which is better both for patients and for the NHS.”
House of Commons1 June 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Chancellor and the Defence Secretary meet regularly to discuss defence, including the defence industrial strategy. As part of those discussions, they recently met leaders from the UK financial sector to discuss how private investment can also be leveraged to accelerate defence readiness, building on the commitments made in the defence industrial strategy.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Investment in defence under this Government is under way—just look at the contracts. Over a thousand have been signed since the general election: I point the hon. Gentleman, and anyone else in the Chamber, to the billion-pound contract for medium helicopters in Yeovil, the half-a-billion pounds invested in state-of-the-art radar systems and the £100 million boost to support submarine-hunting aircraft. This Government are raising investment in defence to the highest sustained level since the cold war and it is at the core of ensuring that we are protecting our nation’s security.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The UK has already signed up, with Finland and the Netherlands, to the multilateral defence budget, with this Chancellor taking a lead. I know the importance to this Government of security, which is not just something that we can achieve on our own but by working with allies to ensure that we are safer in future. I will add that we on the Government Benches are committed to remaining a core part of NATO, unlike some of the Opposition parties.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Those on the Opposition Front Bench have some cheek. The hon. Gentleman is sat next to the hon. Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride), who oversaw the biggest increase in welfare spending on record, with a £33 billion increase in welfare spending in the last year of the Conservative Government. This Government are serious about getting people back into work, while increasing defence investment at the same time to 2.6% of GDP by next April—something the previous Government never managed.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government are investing in Wales’s industrial future and unlocking economic growth, including by providing £2.5 billion for the UK’s first small modular reactor in Anglesey to support up to 3,000 jobs and power 3 million homes. We have also recently agreed a new £50 million defence growth deal for Wales. We are backing Welsh freeports and investment zones, and we are connecting people and businesses with at least £445 million-worth of rail infrastructure investment right across Wales.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I completely agree with my hon. Friend that the UK and Welsh Labour Governments’ generational commitment to the future of rail in Wales is fantastic for her constituents right across Monmouthshire. It is frankly outrageous to hear Reform’s leader in Wales trying to tell people what they want, and even more shocking that Reform has promised to rip up our plan. New railway stations are indeed critical for economic growth, and only Labour will build the rail network that people in Wales need and deserve.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government are acting to ease the cost of living for commuters, including by extending the £3 national bus fare cap to March 2027. We have also frozen regulated rail fares for the first time in 30 years, which will save the average commuter travelling from Worthing to London using an annual season ticket £360 a year.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is right to make it clear that improving services for passengers is our absolute priority as rail operations come into public ownership. When Southern rail is brought into public ownership, it will be expected to focus relentlessly on improving passenger experience, reliability and punctuality, and it will be held to account for doing so.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary has already set out many times today on fuel duty, we inherited plans from the previous Government that would have seen fuel costs go up for people across the country. We have extended the 5p cut on fuel duty and extended the freeze, which is an important way of helping people with the cost of living right now.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Whatever the purpose, spending funded from bonds issued by the Government adds to the national debt and so must be considered within the fiscal rules. But the hon. Gentleman is right to point to the importance of research and development within the defence industry to support economic growth. I am proud that last year we allocated £400 million for UK defence innovation to foster a world-leading UK defence tech sector.”
House of Commons28 April 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, the Government are introducing a strong, new community right to buy. That will empower communities to take ownership of and protect local assets. Alongside those new powers, the Pride in Place programme will provide up to £5.8 billion over 10 years to support 284 neighbourhoods, enabling local people to choose to fund a range of activities, including developing or restoring important community assets.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Pride in Place funding can be used for communities to take ownership of and support local assets, from youth centres to libraries and cultural venues. I am very glad to hear that the funding will make such a positive difference to her constituents in Woodgate and Bartley Green, and I am proud that this Government are putting people in control of what happens in their local area.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, this scheme is operated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, so I am happy to ask colleagues in that Department to come back to him.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“At the spring forecast last week, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor showed that we have the right economic plan. Our plan has lowered inflation, borrowing, debt and debt interest payments. Our approach means that investment is up, helping to create the conditions for growth across the UK. Our firm approach to public spending is helping to keep public finances on a sustainable path.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If the right hon. Gentleman looks at the plans that we set out through our spending review, he will be clear that we are increasing spending by £50 billion a year by 2028-29 compared with the previous Government’s plans. At the same time, we are ensuring that taxpayers get value for money. We are making £3.9 billion of efficiency savings by 2029-30, rising to £5 billion by 2030-31.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will give the hon. Gentleman an “if”. If he were honest and remembered his time in Liz Truss’s Government, he might not have the gall to make comments like that across the Dispatch Box—”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I apologise unreservedly for the implication about the hon. Gentleman: I know that he is a very decent and honourable man, and I withdraw that comment. He may have unintentionally misled the House by failing to declare his part in the Liz Truss Government and the impact that that had on public spending. As he will know, we have stuck to the fiscal rules that this Chancellor introduced at the beginning of this Government in every fiscal event that we have had. Those fiscal rules are ironclad. We have sustainable plans for public spending, and we are ensuring that we are managing the economy in a way that the hon. Gentleman’s party could only dream of.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Businesses in the hon. Lady’s constituency, and indeed across the country, can know that, whatever instability we face in the world in the months and weeks ahead, the Government have done the right thing for the economy by bringing down inflation, interest rates, borrowing, debt and debt costs. All that puts us in the strongest possible position to be resilient going into the future.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As my hon. Friend makes clear, we need to ensure that our extra funding for local roads maintenance is spent effectively, and that local residents can hold councils like Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole to account. The Liberal Democrats have typically not been shy about mentioning potholes in their leaflets; now is their time to deliver.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is right to point to the crisis and resilience fund as an important lifeline for families across this country. We work with local authorities to make sure that the funding gets to the frontline, because local councils best understand where the most acute pressures are in their areas. I am, however, happy to discuss this with him later.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is right that we need councils across the country to use the extra funding that the Government have made available for local road maintenance to fill those potholes. Councils will have to publish their data online, so that local people can monitor, through a traffic light system available on gov.uk, how their council is performing.”
House of Commons10 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Investment in our railways is a crucial part of our plan to unlock economic growth in every nation and region of the UK. Earlier this month, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced our plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail. That transformational programme is backed by up to £45 billion of investment in the long term, which will be key in unlocking economic potential across the north.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the value of the midlands rail hub, which we invested in at the spending review. We are determined to invest more in transport in the midlands. Indeed, at the spending review the Government committed to investing £4.4 billion there through transport for city regions funding. My hon. Friend is a great advocate for services that will benefit his constituents, and I will ask the Rail Minister to respond about the specifics of the line that he raises.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“East West Rail is a transformational project that will unlock economic growth and housing. Just yesterday, I was glad to host a representative from East West Rail at an infrastructure roundtable at the Treasury with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. My hon. Friend is another powerful advocate for her local area, and I will happily discuss this matter with the Rail Minister and get back to her.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising the concerns of the services used by his constituents. I can assure him that I will look into those and get back to him.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: we are all about job growth. I fear I will be quite busy after this set of questions with taking up projects in different constituencies, but that is absolutely right, because we all want to make sure that we have better investment—particularly in transport and infrastructure—for our constituents. I assure him that I will look into the matter and get back in touch with him.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As my hon. Friend sets out, there are significant challenges in adult social care, and we have already made available an extra £4.6 billion, including funding to start to implement the fair pay agreement. As she will probably be aware, Baroness Louise Casey is leading an independent commission to build consensus on reform. Its first phase will report this year, with a focus on how to make the most of existing resources.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Let me start by thanking the emergency services in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency for all their work to ensure that people are kept safe, and to respond to the challenges that people face as a result of flooding. We are determined to support public services across the board, and the decisions taken by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor in past Budgets and in the spending review mean that we have sustainable funding for our public services in all parts of the country.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) is warmly welcoming people who spent 14 years undermining public services, who wrecked the economy, who botched Brexit, and who were booted out by the British people in 2024—and Reform’s latest recruit was so bad that she managed to get sacked by Liz Truss.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This Government are backing investment in Teesside to create the good jobs that my hon. Friend’s constituents deserve. I know that Teesside is very well placed to lead for our country across a range of sectors. For example, £4 billion is going into the UK’s first carbon capture, usage and storage cluster in Teesside, including the world’s first at-scale gas power station with CCUS.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the hon. Lady for raising the situation in her constituency. All Departments across Government have had their budgets set, and they include a contingency for covering known pressures. One of the ways that we have managed spending settlements differently from the previous Government is that all Departments must recognise that unexpected pressures will come along. They need to prepare for that, and should have robust plans for responding when such things occur.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There will also undoubtably be wider lessons to draw from the design of support schemes and the impact those schemes had on various groups across the economy. As a Government, we will continue to enhance our resilience to future shocks. We have set to work on that since the election, and our efforts will intensify after the official covid-19 inquiry publishes its final report. We will do whatever is necessary to build a safer and more secure country for the future. I will end by again thanking all hon. Members for sharing the experiences of their local businesses and individual constituents in the debate.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We have conducted, through Exercise Pegasus, the largest cross-Government pandemic simulation in British history, helping to make sure we are better prepared than before, that our plans are battle-tested, and that we are ready to adapt. As the official covid-19 inquiry draws to a close, we stand ready to study any recommendations and to take action where needed. The economic implications of the covid-19 pandemic for this country were profound. In response to this unprecedented crisis, it was of course necessary to act quickly for our economy and for our communities. But we know that mistakes were made, and the British people were defrauded to the tune of over £10 billion. That is money that should have been spent on schools and hospitals but which has instead gone into the pockets of fraudsters and criminals.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Much has been learned already from the covid-19 pandemic, but the scale of the economic emergency facing the country nearly six years ago underlines the need to continue embedding these learnings into the Government’s systems and processes. As I have already set out, we have taken tough action to track down the fraudsters who profited on the previous Government’s watch. We are improving and enhancing the Government’s analytical and modelling capabilities, to ensure that we can better target support schemes in future. We have launched the National Situation Centre, enabling us to identify and plan for a range of risks and improve our crisis response.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That is why the Government introduced tougher sanction powers in the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 to help recover stolen funds, and why we have rolled out specialist fraud recovery teams to track down suspected fraudsters and recover taxpayer cash. Since coming to office, the Government have recouped almost £400 million paid in error or that was obtained illegally through covid fraud. As the Chancellor has made clear, this fraud is a fraud against the British people, and we will leave no stone unturned, leave no question unasked, and leave no fraudster unchallenged until we have cleared up the mess we inherited. While we work to fix those problems, we are also turning towards the future, making sure our country is well prepared to face future crises.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Last year, an arrest was made following an HMRC investigation into a company, Luxe Lifestyle, which was awarded a £25 million PPE contract, having been referred to the procurement VIP lane by a Conservative Minister and a party chairman. The company won that contract despite having no employees, no assets, no turnover and £9,000 of debt. While Luxe Lifestyle did end up supplying some items, they were all inadequate and unusable. That is just one example. It does not begin to scratch the surface of covid fraud, but we have heard no apology today from the Conservatives for their actions—no apology to this House, and no apology to the British people who have been left to pick up the bill. We cannot allow this ever to happen again.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That was a failure of monumental proportions, and we are all continuing to pay the price. That is why, on taking office, we took action to recoup the money owed, including by appointing Tom Hayhoe as the covid counter-fraud commissioner. In December he published his report, and the findings are shocking. According to the commissioner, covid fraud cost the taxpayer a staggering £10.9 billion—that is enough to fund daily free school meals for the UK’s 2.7 million eligible children for eight years. Of course, we recognise that our predecessors in government were responding to a crisis, the nature of which demanded acting at speed, but the cynical exploitation of pandemic support was foreseeable.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Members know, the official covid-19 public inquiry is considering how future emergency schemes could be better tailored to the modern labour market. The inquiry recently held public hearings focused on economic support for people and businesses during the pandemic, and it will publish its final report in due course. The Government, including the Treasury, fully participated in those hearings and provided a substantial amount of evidence. We will carefully study and consider any recommendations, mindful of our responsibility to vulnerable groups and our commitment to value for money. As hon. Members have also made clear, no assessment of the previous Government’s record during the pandemic can ignore the fact that billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was lost to fraud.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Members for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler) and for Dewsbury and Batley (Iqbal Mohamed), and my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank), who spoke about the impact of the pandemic on young people, which has had a lasting effect, as we are all keenly aware. The hon. Members for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) and for Mid Dunbartonshire (Susan Murray) also spoke about their affected businesses and constituents. One of the themes of those contributions was about what we as a country are doing to prepare for the future, to ensure that if a similar crisis happened again, we would be better prepared. As a Government, we are considering how we might better target and reach excluded groups in future, including through better real-time data collection. As hon.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Members, a number of people experienced genuine hardship and distress because they were excluded from the available schemes. Many of those experiences have been described powerfully in today’s debate, including by the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon in her opening speech and by my hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden). We also heard a number of other stories about individuals and businesses across the country from my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham), the hon. Member for Ely and East Cambridgeshire (Charlotte Cane), and my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Cheshire (Andrew Cooper), who also spoke about the significance of economic resilience and preparedness for the future—an important topic that I will return to in a moment. We also heard from the hon.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As well as having a huge impact on the lives of people and their families across the country, as we have heard today, the pandemic was a huge economic shock. GDP fell by a record 19.4% and thousands of businesses faced closure, so it was necessary to support businesses and individuals affected. We supported putting in place the measures mentioned by the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for North West Norfolk (James Wild), including the coronavirus job retention scheme, the self-employment income support scheme, and various business grants and Government-backed loan guarantees. It is right, however, that we as a country now reflect on how those schemes were implemented by the Government of the day. As we have heard from many hon.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The pandemic cost over 227,000 lives in our country, and I know that loss and grief are still felt by families whose loved ones were lost during that difficult period. As the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney) said, reflecting on the pandemic is also a moment to express our gratitude, once again, to all those who worked throughout the pandemic to provide vital and, in many cases, lifesaving services to all of us across the country. It is also a moment to recommit to learning the lessons of what happened during that time, so that we are better prepared for future crises. The Government are committed to learning those lessons and doing all we can to protect businesses and individuals across Britain in future.”
House of Commons15 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗