Alistair Strathern
MP for Hitchin · Labour · United Kingdom
“I think the Conservatives are being slightly cheeky in skirting the fact that the plans we inherited from them would have seen a huge cliff-edge increase in business rates. The many financial pressures that we have had to juggle since coming into government have meant that it has been challenging to balance things.”
“I am grateful for the protestations from the Front Bench. Those jobs were also crucial in starting to form my politics. In both settings, I was incredibly lucky to work with some fantastic colleagues.”
“I am very proud to have supported the Government’s jobs guarantee, and of the wider work that we are doing to ensure that employers in my community and right across the country are practically and financially incentivised to bring young people into the world of work and supported to train them up, so that those young people can benefit fr…”
“That is why, many years down the line, I am proud to be part of a Labour Government who are delivering a record expansion of workplace rights through the Employment Rights Act 2025, and why the fundamental vision of protecting workers and ensuring a minimum social contract for those working hard for their families and doing right by their…”
“Maybe it is because, much as they like to complain about the implications of our policies, they begrudgingly recognise that in the incredibly difficult circumstances that we inherited, both those choices may well have been right. I look forward to a Conservative Member proving me wrong.”
“It reflected how they felt in their communities, and how they felt they were treated at school. Putting that right requires a continued focus on curriculum reform and place-based investment, but I would like the Government to go further in embracing the recommendations of the recent review on white working-class underachievement at school…”
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“I know the shadow Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for East Surrey, thinks that that insurance policy was not valid, which I think is a particularly challenging position to take at a time when we are seeing the cost of inaction shooting up under oil and gas. [Interruption.] I would welcome further challenges from the right hon. Lady about how we could innovate further. I know that the last Government’s record did not do a very good job of bringing out the best value when it came to auction design, but this is exactly the type of area in which cross-party challenge should be welcomed to ensure we can continue to do better. Instead, we are focusing on distractions that will do nothing for our constituents and that, sadly, do not prompt the very important questions, such as those posed by my hon.”
“As we look to drive forward the green transition, it is right that, over time, we remove the role of gas in setting the price of power, and there are regulatory reforms that we could be making now to try and improve the position. There is some interesting analysis from Stonehaven showing how bringing gas power plants into the regulated asset base could do a far better job of stabilising prices, and would produce a better result for consumers and, crucially, businesses and industrial users. There is also more work to be done to continue the Secretary of State’s leadership on auction innovation. In the last auction, innovations that we introduced after years of lack of reform meant that we were able to lean in at an opportune moment to expand the amount of power that we were able to purchase when prices were lower than market expectations.”
“It is disappointing that we have not had a more sincere debate on this issue today, because I think there are important questions, which are worthy of challenge, about how we can deliver this transition in a way that truly delivers on our climate and energy communities and for all those who paying bills at the moment. The Fingleton review points to some important principles showing how we can do far better when it comes to big energy projects. I would welcome further scrutiny from the Opposition on that, and on how we can deliver it at pace to make really impactful changes in a nuclear landscape that was left stalled and in stasis under their policies.”
“Whether we are talking about a failure to crack on with new nuclear at speed and remove those regulatory barriers, about a failure to consider the levy reforms that we have already introduced to deliver tangible reductions in people’s bills this April, or about a failure to think about creative ways in which we can drive down energy demand for households across the UK through a proper warm homes plan rather than exploitative rip-offs delivered by con merchants under their eco-schemes, I think we have far better answers of which we can be proud.”
“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his confirmation that his party used to believe in the future once, but when it comes to clean energy, I think the fact that we have been able to make so much further progress so quickly shows that there clearly were things that the last Government could have done but did not.”
“I understand that the wind farm that the hon. Gentleman is talking about would generate about a quarter of a million houses’ worth of energy every year. Given that his party is currently saying that the failure to approve an oil site, which would deliver power for 1.5 million homes throughout the entirety of its lifespan, is an existential risk for this country’s energy security, can he not see the slight inconsistency in the argument he is advancing?”
“The hon. Gentleman will be aware that his party is also proposing a big tax cut for oil and gas companies in the removal of the EPL. He will have seen research from Oxford University suggesting that even if every new licence were taxed and that revenue was invested straight into energy subsidies, it could reduce bills by as little as £16 a year for households. Is that really the Tories’ ambition at the moment?”
“The events in the middle east have shown how exposed we remain to polluting and volatile oil and gas markets. Moving on to clean, domestically secure power is the long-term solution, but in the short term we should not allow gas producers to profiteer while they still far too often set the market price. Analysis by Greenpeace and Stonehaven suggests that we could save millions for households and businesses across the UK by moving gas-powered stations into a regulated asset base. May we have a statement from the Energy Secretary on how we can drive through such important market reforms, so that consumers and businesses across the UK can get much-needed money off their energy bills?”
“As always, my hon. Friend is making a powerful case about the breadth of issues that underline why it is so important that we act on climate change. It is often seen as a future issue, but my farmers are feeling the effects of volatile weather right now, just as some of my households felt the effects of rare flooding just last year. Does my hon. Friend agree that the land use framework published yesterday will be a really important document for ensuring we get adaptation and mitigation strategies right when it comes to protecting nature, as well as delivering the carbon reduction goals that are vital to ensuring we get our climate change action back on track?”
“My hon. Friend is making a powerful argument. Doubters of the net zero agenda often suggest that, because it is an international problem, we should go slower. Does he find it utterly bizarre that some suggest we can get other countries to go faster by going slower and engaging less ourselves? Actually, we need to be leading the way in the best traditions of Britain.”
“I will not claim that the apprenticeship system that the previous Government inherited was perfect, but he is right that at its best it was about getting hard-to-reach young people into skilled jobs that they would not otherwise be able to reach. Countless young people and employers in my constituency, as well as the fantastic charity Amazing Apprenticeships, constantly cite standards as a barrier, not an enabler.”
“The welcome funding, alongside the contract, to hire 16,000 more GPs will be really encouraging news for my community. However, in high-growth areas such as mine, all too often it is physical space rather than funding for GPs that constrains practices. I am really glad that, after getting involved, we have been able to help move forward crucial expansion projects at Shefford health centre and Lower Stondon GP surgery in my constituency, but we should not need the MP to get involved in such situations to help our GPs. Will the Minister meet me to decide how we can work with our ICBs better to ensure that, where we have areas of significant housing growth, we will automatically see growth in the number of GP surgeries in the future?”
“Having grown up in a household that relied on heating oil, I know how overlooked off-grid rural communities can feel. They were overlooked by the previous Government, who did not include them in energy price support for 200 days, and they have been overlooked by a regulatory framework that does not give them the same protections offered to other homeowners. I welcome this announcement of support, in which the Government have acknowledged that those households deserve far better. However, I have seen quite exploitative practices from oil companies in my constituency recently, so can we ensure that we are not shying away from the regulatory reforms that are needed for the longer term?”
“I am really proud to represent so many service families, but many of those I have been working with are at the sharp end of failures in the SEND system. Regular moves between postings can exacerbate long waits for assessments and leave them particularly exposed to the postcode lottery in SEND provision. As we drive forward long-overdue reforms in this space, how can we make sure that we are centring the experiences of service families so that we can finally do right by those who do so much for all of us?”
“I thank my hon. Friend not just for securing this debate, but for speaking powerfully as a parent about why this is so important. We must be honest: guidance is great, but it can often miss the mark when it comes to answering the questions that parents are actually asking. I am holding a forum later in February to speak to local parents about exactly what they are looking for from the guidance. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that the guidance, when we deliver it, is not only evidence-based, but grounded in the questions and experiences of parents right across Britain today?”
“It was fantastic to see GB Energy invest in new, clean, bill-saving technology for the Bedford Road health centre in my constituency last week. That comes on top of the investments already seen at Lister hospital and Bedford hospital, which serve my constituency. Solar is good for the NHS and for the planet, so how can we get it on to more public sector rooftops right across the country? Crucially, I have some fantastic examples in Hitchin where we would love to see further action.”
“The statistics could not be more stark: the Centre for Social Justice highlighted that across early years settings, when we look at the Government’s target of readiness for school, boys constitute the entirety of the gap to where we would like to be based on their progress. At GCSE level, men achieve on average half a grade lower than their female counterparts, while at A-level, across their best three grades, men will again often achieve a grade and a half lower on average.”
“It not only does a deep disservice to the men and boys across Britain who are held back by some of those barriers, but leaves the field open to far more toxic voices that seek to pit women’s equality and male advancement in opposition to each other, rather than recognising that they are two sides of the same coin and are deeply progressive causes that, together, any progressive should be comfortable championing. Within all that, the topic for today’s debate, the achievement of young men—and particularly disadvantaged young men—in education settings across the country, is an important cause.”
“The Labour party is rightly proud of its deep traditions in championing equalities causes, and has made great progress in everything from the barriers women have faced in the workplace to accessing the right and appropriate healthcare—and there is far more to do on both of those. However, at times, that agenda has led to a shyness on our part about being equally confident in speaking up about some of the challenges that men and boys—and particularly disadvantaged men and boys—can face throughout this country. That is simply wrong-headed.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered educational outcomes for disadvantaged boys and young men. It is a pleasure as always to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I am pleased to have secured a debate on this important topic today. Last week, I had the pleasure of joining some truly inspiring parliamentary colleagues to launch the Labour group for men and boys. The group is based on one simple premise: for too long, the Labour party—and progressives more widely—have not been confident enough to speak directly about some of the specific challenges faced by men and boys growing up in Britain today, and it is time to put that right.”
“The hon. Member is right to draw attention to the particular challenge faced by disadvantaged young men. While there has rightly been a lot of focus on challenges holding back all boys and men across education—the Education Committee was due to hold an inquiry into that during the previous Parliament—the compounding impacts of socioeconomic inequality and gender are often less explored.”
“The hon. Member is spot on in drawing attention to the fact that a lot of these problems have early roots, and that our interventions must be as focused as the challenges that we are seeking to address. Boys’ Impact found that when looking at early years settings, only 30% of boys on average seem to be making a good level of progress, compared with 88% of girls who are not eligible for free school meals. When it came to GCSEs and getting grades 5 to 9 in English and maths, Boys’ Impact found that men, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds and eligible for free school meals, were achieving half the level of those who were not eligible for free school meals.”
“Given the wealth of evidence that we have been talking about today and that other Members have thought to highlight, it is important that the Government set out their own plan and strategy to treat this priority with the urgency that it deserves.”
“I completely agree. I know that my hon. Friend is a big champion of some of these issues, for the benefit of Redditch and well beyond. Some of the important steps that he has highlighted are fundamental to tackling some of the challenges that we are looking to address here today. It is clear that there is a case for action, but what should we be doing? It is regrettable that although the Education Committee intended to set up an inquiry into this issue in the last Parliament, that has yet to be picked back up in this Parliament. I think a renewed focus by the Select Committee on this topic would be especially welcome, particularly if it explored where the compounding impact of socioeconomic factors, along with gender, is further holding back young men and boys across education. But we should not need to wait for any such inquiry to act.”
“When I look back to my own time in teaching, which I assure you, Sir John, was not a catalogue of universal great practice to be learned from, and think about some of the young men where I was able to have the impact I wanted, it came down fundamentally to one thing—the quality of the relationship I was able to build with them. That observation might seem so simple as to be banal, but in Westminster discourse and in policy making, we can often overlook this simple fact. When dealing with vulnerable and isolated young men, who often feel quite alienated, relationships are everything.”
“The hon. Member is spot on in highlighting the fact that, particularly when we are talking about boys’ lack of achievement, ensuring that we identify the full suite of needs they have early and put in place appropriate interventions is vital. It is an often overlooked fact that 70% of young people with education, health and care plans across the country are boys. The gendered aspect to some of the special educational needs and disabilities challenges faced right across the education system will be fundamental to ensuring that we get our reform agenda right. The heartening thing for the Government should be that there is lots of good practice to build on.”
“Absolutely. My hon. Friend makes a really important point. It was a real pleasure to meet Chris, his constituent, at an event as part of the Lost Boys Taskforce work earlier in the year. They are doing really inspiring things. I hope that together we can better showcase those and build on some of the successes we have already seen in relation to the Government’s youth strategy, which recognises the importance of trusted adults at its heart.”
“I hope I have left the Chamber today in no doubt about the urgency of the issue and the need to address it, but also no doubt about the fact that it is a deeply progressive cause that Labour colleagues should feel a real strength in championing. It is central to our mission to break down barriers for disadvantaged young people who would otherwise be set up to succeed, which is the underlying reason why I am a Labour politician. We have a great chance to put things right. Inspiring colleagues from across the House are looking to support us, and I look forward to working with the Minister to make sure we succeed.”
“Greater use of outdoor active learning and daily miles have been shown in primary and earlier settings to help improve boys’ sense of belonging, behaviour and engagement. As we think further about how we can forensically break down these barriers for young boys’ achievement, I would like to make sure we consider those tools, too, as part of our work in early years and primary settings to make sure we really are setting up every young man to succeed. I could go on for far longer than I have time for today, talking about examples of great practice. It has been inspiring to hear so many examples from colleagues in the room. There is a wealth of evidence out there. It is deeply compelling about the need to act, so we have simply no excuse not to.”
“We also need to recognise that there are a wider range of factors that can sometimes hold back boys’ success. As Richard Reeves put it, sometimes when dealing with young people, particularly at an early age, rather than seeking to address their needs we can simply see them as “malfunctioning girls”. The Institute for the Science of Early Years rightly points out that when young people, particularly very young people, lack access to the exercise and activities they sometimes need to burn off steam as young men, it can lead to their misbehaving in ways that are too often construed as misbehaviour, rather than actually just simple failures to self-regulate. Again, there are lots of interventions in early years and primary settings that are leading the way in showing how we can address this.”
“At a time when we know that reading for pleasure is far less common among young men than it is among women, and literacy is so important for underpinning so much of success in early years and beyond, those types of interventions have shown that it can be a powerful tool in driving up literacy and engagement with reading among young men, and also improving young men’s own sense of self and belonging by providing them with that important male role model as an effective peer mentor. The Government’s wider work to encourage more male role models in early years settings and primary settings is to be encouraged. We know the gender disparity in workforces has been allowed to fly under the radar for far too long, so I am glad to see it achieving a central role in the new workforce strategy, but we need to build on that.”
“It is important to recognise that not every young person will have a father figure available to them, but the encouraging thing is that it should not matter when it comes to establishing positive male role models. Lads Need Dads is already doing inspiring mentoring work in schools across the country to show the value of bringing in volunteers to work as peer mentors for young men, particularly with a focus on literacy.”
“When working with disaffected young men, we know that family figures, father figures and community figures can have powerful impacts in transforming their life chances for the better. That is why we should look to learn from models like Australia’s powerful dads’ clubs, which convened dads across 250 schools in Australia to provide greater support, greater engagement in their child’s learning and activities such as read-along clubs and after-school sessions, which help support fathers to take a more active role in their child’s development, with all the powerful impacts based on the Fatherhood Institute’s work that we would expect for that young person’s attainment, achievement and sense of self.”
“Boys’ Impact has shown through its 16 hubs across the country, working with hundreds of educational leaders and organisations, that by rolling out strength-based relational approaches to working with disaffected and disadvantaged young boys, we can have really powerful impacts, improving attainment, attendance and a sense of belonging. We should consider and learn from that as part of our wider approach to curriculum reform and the schools White Paper. It should not just be the mindset that we need to change. We also need to learn from specific interventions that can have a meaningful impact. Other Members have rightly highlighted the importance of role models.”
“It has been a real privilege to work with groups such as Football Beyond Borders and Beyond Equality to see at first hand the inspiring work they are already doing in schools across the country to demonstrate the impact that relational practice can have, giving young men space to define and talk through on their own terms what it is to be a man in Britain today, and what their aspirations for a good, progressive life could look like. It is little wonder, seeing the incredibly moving and powerful impact that these interventions can have, that they have been held by so many school leaders, but the really important thing to note is that these interventions are scalable.”
“Indeed, research by Boys’ Impact found that those narratives can be incredibly pervasive in media commentary about young men’s achievements and, worse still, are believed by a significant minority of teaching staff, too, with all the impact we would then expect in terms of how comfortable young people feel in those classrooms, and their sense of belonging and willingness to engage. We have to put this right. We need to put a strength-based relational model connecting with young men across the education system back at the heart of our work. There have been some really good examples of delivering that already, not just those already mentioned by hon. Members.”
“The hon. Member puts the point incredibly well, and I hope to be able to touch later on some of the powerful schemes available to already deliver some of these role models. They do not always have to be parents; that is not always going to be available for every child we seek to support. When we consider these vulnerable young men, it is sometimes little wonder that they feel mistrustful and alienated from the system. They have reasons for that. All too often, media and social discourse can paint them sometimes as problems or, even worse, as abusers in waiting rather than recognising the real strength and assets they could be and often are to our communities.”
“T7. When visiting UK service personnel overseas at a NATO airbase, I was appalled to learn that many had been penalised by their home insurers by virtue of being posted abroad, despite the fact that these companies have signed up to the armed forces covenant. That goes against the very principle of the covenant, so I was glad that, after writing to many home insurance companies, a few, including Aviva and Hastings, have changed that policy. Does the Minister agree that, if insurers are going to sign up to the covenant, they need to make sure that they are living up to every single part of its important principles?”
“I have been working with one woman who, having escaped domestic abuse and relocated to my constituency, now finds herself unable to reject a simple planning application because, in doing so, the local authority requires her to be comfortable publishing her full name and address online. This important democratic right cannot be denied to women fleeing domestic abuse, of all people. I welcome the chance to talk further with the Minister, after this debate, about what wider work we can do across Government to put this right and to ensure that none of our services, online or offline, are enabling women to be anything other than safe in their homes and thriving in their lives.”
“Thanks to the brave testimony of many women, many of whom knew that in speaking up they would be making themselves targets for abuse, we were able to drive robust action from Ofcom and get X to back down. Thirdly, if we are to continue to keep pace with developing risk factors, we need to find quicker ways to legislate. The Online Safety Act 2023, for all its strengths, took far too long. We have to get comfortable with more principles-based legislation or secondary legislation options to ensure finally that we can do far better to keep women and children safe online. Across Government, we need to make sure that our own services cannot be used to enable people to perpetuate abuse.”
“The recent horrific stories about Grok and other AI-enabled abuse have highlighted a trend with which far too many women are very familiar. The online world, for all its benefits, has also brought new opportunities for them to experience exactly the same degrading abuse that they are all too familiar with in day-to-day life. There are three really important lessons for us all to take from the Grok case. First, given the platform's consistent inability to act on its own before being pushed, we need to continue to be proactive in taking on tech firms. Secondly, the fact that we were able to deliver such fantastic action so quickly teaches us that when tools can be delivered robustly and with confidence, change is possible.”
“This is an historic day for leaseholders, many of whom were let down by a lack of action from the previous Government, which left them on the hook for exploitative levels of ground rent. One 90-year-old constituent of mine was hit with a 9,000% increase in his ground rent—that cannot be right. I am really glad that the Minister has shown such leadership to ensure that we put that right today. I know he agree that we need to go further on unadopted estates, too, so will he meet me to ensure that we bring those protections forward as swiftly and effectively as possible?”
“I wonder if the Secretary of State shares my residents’ utter disbelief that the last Government created a system where thousands of UK medical graduates, educated at the cost of billions to the UK taxpayer, were suddenly forced to compete with overseas students, pushing many abroad for their careers and losing a big talent pool that should be powering our NHS and getting it back on its feet.”
“I thank the Energy Secretary for the leadership he has shown with this record-breaking step forward for renewable power, which underlines our commitment to delivering the clean, secure energy our country is crying out for. It is important to note that the scale of energy secured—at a 40% lower cost than new gas—was only possible because of reforms to the auction market design. We did not tolerate the mechanisms that failed under the previous Government; we innovated to deliver better value. Will the Energy Secretary ensure that we do not rest on our laurels, but continue to innovate in auction design to ensure that we get the best possible value for money and the biggest possible capacity outcomes from future auctions, too?”
“Together, we can start to turn the tide on the managed decline and broken political settlement that we have tolerated for far too long in this country.”
“Although I cannot promise that I agree with the petitioners on that urgent ask, I can promise them that, along with all my colleagues, I will work to tackle not only those individual issues but the wider cause of disillusionment that caused them to sign this petition every day that I am lucky enough to serve here. I will not get everything right, and I am sure that I alone will make plenty more mistakes, however many years I have left in this place, but I will always look to deliver on the intent of restoring faith in politics and the public services that my constituents rely on, and show them that this Labour Government will deliver the change that they voted for and take decisions every day that will make a tangible difference to their lives over the years to come.”
“I do not want to pretend for one second that any of those choices or individual changes have touched the lives of everyone in my constituency yet. They will not have completely delivered the scale of change that we need to show by the next general election, but they are down payments on the promise we made at the last election and on the causes that I, on behalf of my constituents, will continue to campaign on every day that I am lucky enough to serve in this place. I do not know when the next general election might be, but I am pretty confident that it is unlikely to be this year.”
“In my area, I know that we are making a real difference to the people who have already been seen. We are investing in extra nursery provision and free breakfast provision, and making sure that we invest in the expanded SEND places that my community needs. Families’ lives have already been touched for the better by the changes that this Government have introduced, from the record investment that we are putting into fixing some of our broken roads, to the greater devolved transport powers over buses that we have given to Hertfordshire county council. Too many constituents have had issues with transport, public transport and driving for too long now. We are starting to invest in things that will show them over time that politics can be a force for good for their priorities again.”
“We needed to invest in the things that were starting to show people right across my constituency that the state was not working, whether that meant putting more money into special educational needs and disabilities provision, investing to fix crumbling schools or offering a record settlement for repairing roads. We have started to fix, thread by thread, the fabric of the broken Britain that we inherited. Hopefully, between now and the next general election, we can start to demonstrate to people that politics can be a force for good yet again. I am incredibly proud of many individual things that we have delivered over the last year. We invested in my local hospital to create new and expanded GP surgery places, meaning that we can deliver more appointments and deliver some of the fastest falls in waiting lists across the country.”
“Faced with all of that, we have had to start doing things that go beyond what we originally intended in our last manifesto. That is not an easy thing to have to do as a politician, but it is the right and brave thing to do when the circumstances dictate big and difficult choices to step up and meet the needs of those moments. We could not shy away from the fact that, if we were not going to find ways to invest billions more into the NHS, a situation that was already too difficult for too many of my constituents was only going to get worse.”