Helen Morgan
MP for North Shropshire · Liberal Democrat · United Kingdom
“In 2022, we welcomed the first women’s health strategy, which promised to “listen more carefully to women, close gaps in care, improve research and tackle inequalities.” Those were all vital goals, but three years on, the problems remain stubbornly in place: long waits for gynaecology treatment, patchy access to services, women reporting…”
“I thank the Minister for outlining the existing statutory framework. I agree that it ought to be sufficient, but there are high-profile instances where it has not been, so I look forward to hearing more from her on Report about how the cultural change will be implemented so that further legislation is not necessary.”
“There is significant vaccine hesitancy across some ethnic minority communities and in hard-to-reach places across the country. We must do more to support doctors, nurses and the NHS to fight fiction with facts, or the long-term health of the country will suffer. That is what new clause 77 seeks to do.”
“May I associate myself with the Minister’s comments and thanks to everybody who has been involved in working on the Bill? I have also enjoyed my time on the Committee, despite the heat.”
“Some pockets of the population have been left unable to get an NHS dental appointment. The action taken so far by the Labour Government has not been good enough, but the fault for this dire situation lies solely at the door of the Conservatives. Their years of neglect have left our dentistry in a shocking condition.”
“New clause 36 would introduce a mandatory individual duty for members of NHS trust and NHS foundation trust boards to escalate evidence of systemic medical malpractice to the Care Quality Commission, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Health Services Safety Investigations Body.”
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Every one of 607 lines we hold for Helen Morgan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 9 of 13.
“The word I would use to describe Project Gigabit is “shambles”, as my adjectives of choice are unsuitable for the Chamber. We are still waiting for details of when the rest of the properties will be delivered, but meanwhile we continue to pay exorbitant prices for mediocre broadband because Openreach and other companies neglect to invest in our area. Across the House, Members are calling for a change in direction for rural digital infrastructure. I am conscious of time so I will speed up slightly. Essentially, gaps in mobile and broadband coverage threaten to undermine national ambitions. My report from the APPG on digital communities highlights how co-ordinated action to address the challenges and unlock the full potential of the UK’s digital infrastructure is crucial for rural areas and for growth in the rest of the UK as well.”
“The right hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I will mention Project Gigabit and its shortcomings, but we could have a three-hour debate on the subject. I wholly agree that we cannot consider mobile coverage and broadband separately. They are two parts of the same thing: the areas with the worst broadband signal tend to have the worst mobile signal. It is a very difficult problem to resolve. As I was saying, modern farming requires modern technology, but if the signal is inadequate it does not work. Being able to rely on broadband would also help those who work in an office, but just 50% of rural commercial buildings in North Shropshire have access to full fibre. The announcement of Project Gigabit gave us real hope, but after two years, the contract was handed back having connected just 3,500 of the planned 12,000 properties.”
“The issue is probably due to the quality and capacity of the signal, rather than the coverage. We are using coverage as a shorthand, but we need a high- quality, high-capacity signal in all those places, too. The hon. Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) made some good points about spectrum and licensing. I fear that an opportunity has been missed given that 5G licences have already been issued without those quality parameters. The hon. Member for Caerfyrddin (Ann Davies) mentioned the importance of satellite solutions in filling in some of those gaps, which might overcome some of the planning issues, so I hope the Minister will look at that too. I thank everyone once more. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House calls on the Government and service providers to help improve mobile connectivity in rural areas.”
“I thank all hon. and right hon. Members who have contributed to the debate. I am conscious that it is the final Thursday afternoon before a recess, so it shows just how important this matter is to our constituents that so many Members have come along and made good points. Bearing that in mind, I will be brief. I have done a lot of work on this issue over the last year because of the activities of the all-party group, and it is testament to the value of a Backbench Business debate that I have learned quite a lot this afternoon as well. I want to pick up on the point made by the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) on deteriorating signal. In many areas, this problem is getting worse not better, and we need to focus on that.”
“Shropshire council is about to see a 10% cut in its core funding from central Government, having been terribly badly run by the Conservatives for the previous 16 years before the Lib Dem administration took over in May. The Government have given the council permission to put up its council tax by 9% without a referendum, but that does not even touch the sides of the cut in funding from central Government. How is Shropshire, which needs to receive exceptional financial support in this year, ever going to fill the ever-growing black hole unless the funding from Government reflects the costs of delivering services in rural areas?”
“The police officers and police community support officers in North Shropshire work hard, but PCSOs’ hours have been cut because of budget constraints, and there are no front desk services at all in my constituency, despite it having five market towns. Can the Minister outline how we will ensure better and more visible community policing in North Shropshire?”
“Villagers in Trefonen in my constituency were devastated when their post office shut, while across North Shropshire outreach services have been withdrawn in Cockshutt, Clive, Weston Rhyn, Knockin, West Felton and Ruyton-XI-Towns.”
“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stringer. I congratulate the hon. Member for South Shropshire (Stuart Anderson) on his excellent speech. He described many circumstances similar to those in my constituency, so I will try to keep my comments brief. Rural services—whether that is transport links, mobile phone coverage or access to banking—are not good enough across the piece, and postal services are now going in the same direction. Last year’s Post Office Green Paper consultation caused particular concern for rural areas. There was a suggestion that the statutory minimum network size of 11,500 branches, which protects communities, could be removed. That would compound an already acute access problem.”
“In my latest meeting with Royal Mail, representatives explained the challenges they are facing with recruitment and retention. Addressing those issues requires investment in rural services across the board. Given the reliance of so many people on the post for vital services, I am sure everyone here appreciates the need to protect and support our rural services. I would be grateful if the Minister would outline what the Government are doing to hold the Post Office to account for meeting its universal service obligation, and what steps the Government are taking to protect not only postal services but banking and public transport in rural areas, as people are desperately badly isolated.”
“My post comes in two bulk deliveries each week. Constituents have reported going three weeks with no delivery. Meanwhile, post box collection times have been changed without notice. It is very frustrating at the best of times. As we have heard, for those relying on Royal Mail for their NHS correspondence or time-sensitive post, such as legal documents or parking fines, it can be extremely costly to their health, time and finances. Several constituents have told me that they missed NHS appointments because letters took a week to reach them. Last month, a constituent who is diabetic missed correspondence about an appointment for 22 January and now needs to wait until March. I have received reports of people being charged with contempt of court for not returning papers in time, even though the papers did not arrive until after the due date.”
“That is crucial, given that 73% of North Shropshire bank branches have closed since 2015, with Oswestry the only remaining market town in the constituency with a functioning bank branch. Many constituents, particularly older people and small businesses, depend on post offices to access cash and banking. It is no good pointing to online banking as a solution for those living in Welshampton where there is no mobile signal and no full fibre. We need to save our local post offices to prevent financial exclusion and to support the small businesses that will deliver the growth our economy needs. Not only is access to the vital services provided by the Post Office limited, but the delivery of post, as we have heard, has become extremely unreliable. First and second-class post are meaningless categories in my area.”
“I could not agree more. If someone living in Cockshutt takes the bus to the post office in Ellesmere, they would have to wait three hours to get the next bus home. We can imagine how difficult it is for people in nearby villages who have no bus service at all. Jean, who lives in Weston Rhyn, said: “I now live in a village where there is nowhere to buy stamps and no access to an ATM. I am 88 and can no longer drive. I am completely isolated.” These cuts have a grave impact on people’s lives and wellbeing. How can we justify leaving vulnerable people isolated in that way in 2026? Post offices and outreach services act as more than a postal service. Communities rely on them for access to cash and banking, Government services and parcel collection.”
“I think we all agree that our posties work really hard, but one of the problems that has been described to me in Shropshire is recruitment and retention of posties, because their conditions are poor. Royal Mail promised me that it would put in extra rounds in North Shropshire to alleviate the problem. As far as I know, that only happened last week. Why is it acting so slowly, and what pressure can the Minister bring to bear on it to improve the conditions for our posties?”
“In my constituency of North Shropshire, residents have to travel to Shrewsbury to have their case heard. As of last September, there was a backlog of more than 730 open cases at Shrewsbury Crown court, a 7% increase on 2024. The wider West Mercia area ranks 43rd out of 44 areas for the time that it takes cases to get through the Crown court; they often take more than two years to be heard. Does the Secretary of State agree with Shrewsbury Crown court’s resident judge, Anthony Lowe, who said that this is not a “proper justice system”, and what steps will he take to improve the situation in West Mercia and Shropshire?”
“T5. In my constituency, complaints about water supply to single living accommodation doubled from 116 in 2018 to 232 in 2024, with 16 separate losses of water for more than 24 hours last year. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can bring single living accommodation up to the standard that our servicemen and women deserve?”
“Gentleman agree that the Project Gigabit roll-out has been a shambles in some areas, and that the Government need to prioritise those areas that were promised an improvement but have been let down yet again, to make sure that they get their connections sooner rather than later?”
“The hon. Gentleman is being so generous with his time. In North Shropshire we were really excited because we were included in Project Gigabit, which was going to roll out fibre broadband for 12,000 properties—mostly easier to reach ones, but it would have been a significant improvement none the less. Freedom Fibre, which had that contract, has handed it back, having connected only around 3,000 properties, and we now have to wait for Openreach to get around to it, despite the fact that, in the meantime, everybody has to pay BT for pretty poor broadband, come what may. Does the hon.”
“I declare an interest in that my husband works for an independent wine merchant. Today’s news will be very welcome for the many pubs in North Shropshire that have been pushed to the brink over recent years by national insurance contributions increases, high energy bills and now business rates. However, this will not help shops or hotels such as the lovely Pen-y-Dyffryn in my constituency, the rateable value of which has nearly quadrupled. Will the Minister outline the timeline for his review of hotels in particular, and what other help can be given to retail and hospitality businesses?”
“While we support this Bill, we will push to ensure that its implementation strengthens our health service as much as possible.”
“In my North Shropshire constituency, several GP practices have told me that they cannot take on additional doctors because they are constrained by the outdated physical space in which they operate. The Liberal Democrats would fund 8,000 more GPs, ensuring that every patient could see a GP within seven days, or 24 hours if the need was urgent, because we cannot fix the NHS without fixing the front door. NHS staff are the backbone of our health service, and they deserve better working conditions and a fair career path. We will continue fighting for an independent pay review body, for safe and modern buildings, for flexible working from day one, and for practical support, such as reduced parking charges, so that staff are not penalised for simply turning up to care for us. We will always stand up for our NHS and the people who make it work.”
“That is why the Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment requiring a specialty by specialty workforce assessment. Shortages are acute in general practice, radiology, cancer care, mental health and more, and transparency is essential if training places are to be directed at where the need is greatest. It is neither right nor remotely sustainable that, at a time when patients struggle to see a GP, qualified GPs are unemployed, yet that is happening now, with vacancy freezes and financial pressure creating an NHS in which shortages sit alongside unemployment. The Government’s decision to raise national insurance has only exacerbated the problem, forcing some practices into lay-offs or closure.”
“In the year to September 2023, 10.7% of NHS staff—about 154,000 people—left their role. Burnout is rife, morale is low and too many staff are working in buildings that are crumbling around them. We have been contacted by GP trainers who are worried that the doctors they are training plan to leave for Australia or Canada as soon as they qualify. The promised workforce plan must address this problem. International comparisons lay bare the scale of the problem. England has just 3.2 doctors per 1,000 people, which is well below the OECD and EU average of 3.9. We would need 40,000 more doctors to meet that benchmark. Prioritising UK graduates is sensible, but it will not on its own deliver the workforce that patients urgently need.”
“Will she give my constituents in North Shropshire reassurance that patient safety and patient outcomes will not be impacted? The Liberal Democrats would prefer implementation to begin in 2027, at the interview stage; that would protect both fairness and patient safety. Would the Minister elaborate on the impact of the Bill on universities that offer medical degrees elsewhere in the world? I think we have all been contacted by Queen Mary, University of London; the implications for the university may be serious if graduates, who have always been considered UK graduates, undertaking NHS training, and a UK medical qualification registered by the General Medical Council, suddenly have their expectations changed. As I have mentioned, retention is just as critical as recruitment, but unfortunately it is outside the scope of this limited Bill.”
“The Bill allows for prioritisation at the offer stage for medical specialty training places in 2026. I would like the Minister to clarify in her closing remarks whether this means that international doctors already working in our NHS—who have paid for exams, secured visas and maybe uprooted their life and their family—will suddenly be pushed to the back of the queue, mid-cycle. These doctors keep our hospitals running today. They entered the system in good faith, and it seems unfair to change the rules midway through the process. I would also be grateful if, in the Minister’s closing remarks, she outlined the expected impact on NHS service provision if people who are deprioritised during the application process decide to leave en masse.”
“I turn to the details of the Bill. We have concerns about clause 7(1), which allows Ministers to change eligibility for prioritisation through the negative procedure. That will enable sweeping changes, without proper parliamentary scrutiny, to who can access training places. Given the scale and sensitivity of the NHS workforce pressures, such decisions must not be made behind closed doors, or at the whim of a future Health Secretary with less desirable motives than the current one. That is why the Liberal Democrats have tabled amendments that would require Parliament to approve any future changes through the positive procedure. We are also troubled by the Government’s decision to apply the new rules part of the way through the 2026 specialty recruitment cycle.”
“Shortly before Christmas, the Government committed to 4,000 additional specialty training places in their negotiations with the British Medical Association, including 1,000 that were brought forward, but following the collapse of those negotiations, it remains unclear whether those places will materialise. Patients cannot wait for certainty, and neither can exhausted staff. Will the Minister confirm those places, and go further by addressing other issues that have prevented doctors from working in the NHS, such as restrictive rotas, workplace violence and inflexible working? Dealing with such issues might prevent doctors who have secured specialty training places from moving abroad once their training is completed, ensuring that taxpayers’ money is not wasted, and that doctors with local, relevant experience remain in the NHS.”
“It is hardly surprising that so many doctors decide to leave the country altogether and seek opportunities elsewhere, where their training and wellbeing are valued. This is a tragedy for them and a tragedy for patients, so prioritisation is right, fair and long overdue. However, reorganising a queue does not shorten it or make it move any faster. The reality is clear: the NHS has a deep workforce shortage, with crises in some specialties, and this Bill alone cannot solve it. A detailed long-term workforce plan, which ensures that training provides the skill mix that the NHS needs for the future, is required as soon as possible. I look forward to the Minister confirming when that will be delivered.”
“I am pleased to welcome this Bill, broadly. It seeks to prioritise graduates from UK and Irish medical schools for foundation and specialty training places. On this point, the Liberal Democrats support the Government, but we have some concerns about how that will be delivered, and about the real-world consequences for our NHS, patients and the doctors who keep our health service going. Taxpayers invest around £4 billion every year in training young doctors, yet far too many are left competing for too few posts. In 2025, around 12,000 UK-trained doctors competed with 21,000 international doctors for just 9,500 specialty training positions. Many highly skilled young doctors, who were ready to serve in the NHS, were left without a pathway into specialist practice. That is clearly unfair and unsustainable.”
“We have also tabled amendments to improve the transparency and long-term impact of the Bill. Across the NHS, we face severe shortages, not just in general practice but in radiology, oncology, mental health services and many other specialities.”
“To change the rules halfway through the process would not only be potentially destabilising for services, but very unfair to those individuals, many of whom are plugging urgent staffing gaps right now. We already face real workforce pressures, so the last thing our NHS needs is a wave of dedicated doctors forced out by uncertainty, or pushed to leave the country because the Government moved the goalposts after applications had already begun. For this reason, we believe that the Bill should come into force from 2027. We must protect frontline services and protect the integrity of the applications process. To address the problem directly, we have tabled amendments 6 and 7 to safeguard those already in the 2026 application cycle, ensuring that they are not deprioritised, because that is a simple matter of fairness.”
“While I do not doubt the intentions of the Secretary of State and the Front Bench team, it opens the door to the risk of political whim or prejudice influencing who gets access to career-defining opportunities in the future. That is why the Liberal Democrats have tabled amendments 2 to 5 to reverse this, and to ensure that any changes must be subject to full parliamentary consent. On the timing of the Bill’s implementation, the Government intend to apply the new prioritisation rules midway through the 2026 specialty recruitment cycle. Let us reflect on what that means in practice. Doctors already working in the NHS have entered this cycle under one set of rules. They have paid for exams, secured visas, arranged travel, uprooted their families and committed themselves to the NHS.”
“The amendments in my name raise concerns about the Bill’s impact on fairness, transparency and the smooth functioning of the NHS, notwithstanding the Liberal Democrats’ overall support for the Bill. Clause 7(1) would allow Ministers to change who is eligible for prioritisation through the negative procedure, meaning that such changes could be made unilaterally, without meaningful scrutiny. In practice, that hands the Secretary of State the power to redraw the boundaries of opportunity, and to decide who gets prioritised for medical training places, without Parliament ever having a say. That is unacceptable for a decision that affects people’s lives and careers, as well as the future capability of our health service.”
“We support the principle of prioritising those who have trained in the UK, but that principle must be implemented fairly, transparently and with proper oversight.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for her point, which I agree with fully. That is why we have tabled new clause 1. It will require the Government to publish a report on the Bill’s impact on the number of applicants to foundation and speciality training programmes and, crucially, to break that down by speciality. If applications fall as a result of these changes, the Government would be required to assess the impact on the total number of fully qualified doctors entering the NHS. This report would be produced annually after three years, allowing time for a full training cycle to complete. It is a sensible safeguard, one that ensures that we do not inadvertently exacerbate the very workforce shortages that we are trying to address. To return to the core principle that is at stake, we are not opposed to the Bill’s objective.”
“I know that Members across the House supported Liberal Democrat plans to introduce a decent homes standard for service family accommodation, and I am very grateful to the Government for bringing that in through recent legislation from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. However, single living accommodation is still really poor. Constituents in North Shropshire report rat infestations and being unable to sleep at night. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that single living accommodation also needs to be looked at as a priority?”
“Powys health board has been categorising the needs of its patients based on cost rather than clinical need, and that is causing a real problem for the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt orthopaedic hospital in my constituency and the associated Headley Court veterans’ centre, because they need to prioritise patients based on clinical need, not whether Powys health board will pay for them this year. What is the Secretary of State doing about Powys health board to ensure that patients are treated according to clinical need and in a way that my hospital trust can manage?”
“As the Secretary of State has pointed out, in rural areas, we tend to have older housing stock and lots of people off-grid. They are very keen to see upgrades made to their home, and we welcome this announcement. In my constituency, a number of people engaged with the energy company obligation 4 scheme. Unfortunately, they have been let down badly by rogue installers, who have left their bills higher and their homes damaged, and who have taken money from the taxpayer. What is the Secretary of State doing to ensure that does not happen this time, and what remedy might be available for those who have been let down by rogue actors in ECO4?”
“The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent speech and a really good point, which applies equally to urban and rural areas. Mobile network operators do not have minimum standards of coverage and quality of signal. At some places where there was good coverage before, that now no longer appears to be the case because the signal quality is so poor. Does he agree that we need to look at a way to ensure mobile network operators provide a good quality signal to everyone?”
“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I just highlight that I did not declare my interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on digital communities, which I should have done?”
“The Secretary of State has rightly outlined the importance of co-operation with our allies over this serious issue, but as we have seen, there is not a consistent approach on retaliatory tariffs. Can she describe to the House the discussions that the UK Government had with our European allies before ruling out retaliatory tariffs?”
“I always am, Mr Speaker; thank you very much. Recently, I have heard from Candice, who was interrupted while changing her stoma bag behind a curtain on the emergency ward; Lynne, who waited 17 hours for an ambulance after breaking several ribs; and Sandra, who has bladder cancer and spent 31 hours on a plastic chair in the “fit to sit” area. They all want to share their stories so others do not have to suffer like they did, in pain for hours and hours. Will the Secretary of State commit to ending the waits and back the Liberal Democrat call, welcomed by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine this morning, for a guarantee that no patient will have to wait for more than 12 hours in A&E?”
“The social care crisis is piling pressure on hospitals, with beds taken up by patients who are fit enough to be discharged. It is also piling pressure on local councils such as Shropshire, where 80% of the budget goes to social care, yet the Government are shifting funding from counties to cities and dragging their heels on the social care crisis. Will the Secretary of State take action by reinstating the cross-party talks on social care as a priority, because we need to fix social care if we are going to fix councils, care and the NHS?”
“Shropshire council had its funding cut in the local government finance settlement, despite needing exceptional financial support this year and a surge in demand for social care in the years to come that cannot be managed down by the council. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how to put Shropshire on a stable financial footing?”
“Because they have borrowed to finance their assets and capital expenditure, these farms are in a position where they are worrying about servicing their debts, maintaining production and remaining viable, yet the value of their land and machinery is in excess of the cap. There is already no money left for future capital expenditure, and now they have to plan to be able to pay off IHT in the future as well, which will not be achievable for them without selling parts of the farm to big players whose methods will be far less sustainable and worse for the environment than their current low-input model. Ending capital investment not only affects family farms and their growth, but puts our nation’s agricultural equipment producers and suppliers out of business, damaging growth and reducing our food security.”
“The reality is that the industry is becoming increasingly unprofitable, and many smaller dairy farms have already sold up in North Shropshire. To make matters worse, milk prices have recently fallen below the cost of production, while the price of feed and energy and labour costs remain historically high. Last week, two North Shropshire dairy farmers outlined the crisis that their sector has been put in. As partners in their farm, they told me that even with December’s increase in the threshold, the family farm tax incentivises them to keep their business small—they describe the tax as putting the dairy industry in a straitjacket.”
“December’s U-turn, which increased the farm inheritance tax threshold from £1 million to £2.5 million, has been hard won, and we are grateful to all the farmers who have fought tirelessly to achieve it. It is a step in the right direction, and it would be churlish not to acknowledge that, but having spoken to farmers in my constituency, I can say that the change just does not go far enough. I will focus on the dairy industry, because North Shropshire has a lot of dairy farmers. Dairy farming in the modern era is capital-intensive. You need expensive assets, like automated milking systems, cooling units, feed systems, housing and slurry storage. They are all essential for operating the modern dairy farm, but incomes are low and volatile.”
“It is utterly inexcusable that family farms have been put through over a year of uncertainty and anguish since the Government first announced changes to APR. I have had the pleasure of visiting many farms and attending roundtables with farmers in my constituency. The uncertainty, anxiety and fear caused to them and their families because of the changes has been appalling for Shropshire, not only because those farmers are part of the economic backbone of the economy, but because they are part of the community. As we have disputed with the official Opposition, the Liberal Democrats were the first to call out and oppose the unfair family farm tax in last year’s Budget. We have been proud to stand alongside our farming communities in campaigning against it ever since.”
“I am speaking in favour of the amendments and new clauses tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper), and against the changes to APR in general, and its less conspicuous but equally ugly twin sister, the changes to BPR, because they are downright destructive to the economy in rural places like North Shropshire. The Conservatives showed that they took farming communities for granted, presiding over botched trade deals and an unfair transition from the old basic payment system to the environment management scheme, and leaving the farming budget with an underspend of hundreds of millions of pounds, but the new Labour Government have shown that they do not understand rural communities whatsoever.”
“The local government finance settlement is a huge problem for rural local authorities. In Shropshire, we have had 16 years of Conservative mismanagement, we have a surging social care demand and our allocation has been cut in cash terms over the next three years. The black hole is unfillable and a section 114 notice looks very likely for us. Will the Minister speak to her colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government so that we can sort out that desperate problem for rural authorities?”
“The psychological impact of the past 14 months has been profound in rural places like North Shropshire. At every primary school visit that I have made in the past 14 months, I have been asked by children as young as seven or eight to confirm that I oppose the family farm tax, because it is having a devastating impact on their families at home. The uncertainty has also had a devastating impact on related businesses, such as agricultural machinery suppliers. It will continue to have an impact by making business owners deliberately keep their businesses small so that they do not have to pay inheritance tax, because they cannot sell off part of their farms as they will no longer be viable. Why are the Government continuing with this daft policy of restricting growth in rural areas?”