Gen Kitchen
MP for Wellingborough and Rushden · Labour · United Kingdom
“These unpaid carers, often family members or spouses, do vital and essential work that helps people to manage their long-term conditions and also helps the health service.”
“Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton), the Minister for public health and prevention, who is passionate about improving care and support for people with long-term conditions, and had really looked forward to responding to this debate.”
“I assure him that further work on the national neighbourhood health implementation programme will come after the 10-year health plan. I see that issue all the time in Wellingborough and Rushden, as he does in his constituency.”
“The spending review puts the NHS on a sustainable footing by cutting the waiting lists so that by the end of the Parliament 92% of patients will start consultant-led treatment for non-urgent health conditions within 18 weeks of referral, delivering on the Prime Minister’s plan for change and commitment to prioritising people’s health.”
“I acknowledge that those with long-term health conditions such as arthritis will rightly be very worried about what is happening, considering that only a Green Paper, rather than a Bill, has been published. I assure my hon.”
“I agree, and I will come to comorbidities and some of the strategies in the 10-year plan later in my speech. My hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) spoke about endometriosis. I was very sorry and dismayed to hear about her constituent Angela Tiernan, who has endometriosis in her chest cavity. I assure my hon.”
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“Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket is concerned about economic inactivity, hospital-to-community care, the digital transition for patients, and research and development. I have, in my pack, full answers for my hon. Friend. The hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) spoke passionately about sight loss and his time as an optometrist, as well as about macular degeneration and Charles Bonnet syndrome.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. It is my first time speaking from the Front Bench, so please bear with me if I get my papers mixed up. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley) for securing this debate, and for speaking so passionately on the subject, using his decades of experience of caring for patients in the NHS. I also thank all the other Members for their insightful contributions, and the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate, especially because it is taking place during Diabetes Week. We have had more than 10 meaningful contributions, and I wish to respond to them individually. I have noted them all down, and if I do not get to them all, I will ask the relevant Minister to respond. My hon.”
“Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket suggested, to ensure that those working in health and care are better able to support patients in planned and emergency care, and that patients feel confident that the clinicians who are treating them know about their conditions. There have been many mentions in the debate of the changes to welfare and economic activity. We recognise that people with long-term conditions face multiple challenges in trying to remain in work. Long-term sickness continues to be the most common reason for economic inactivity among the working-age population.”
“We will see better joint working in neighbourhoods between primary care, pharmacies, community healthcare, such as district nurses, and social care to help people to manage multiple long- term conditions at home. That will help them access the right self-care professional support so that they are not passed from service to service, and will reduce the need for emergency hospital admissions. Again, that is brilliant for Wellingborough and Rushden, as I am sure it is for all hon. Members’ constituencies. We will see better access to technology that helps people to manage their health conditions in their own home, such as apps and wearable technologies, to reduce the need to go to hospital or other healthcare settings. We will have better, joined-up access to healthcare records, as my hon.”
“We will ensure that their voices are heard in the 10-year plan. The plan will deliver three big shifts to ensure the NHS is fit for the future: from hospital to community, which we have spoken about a lot this afternoon; from analogue to digital, which was also mentioned a couple of times; and from sickness to prevention. All three are relevant to improving the diagnosis, care and management of long-term conditions in all parts of the country. We will see more tests and scans in the community, in high street settings, to reduce the need for people to take multiple trips to hospital to get diagnosed—a particular issue in Wellingborough and Rushden, because we do not have a hospital or a bus service.”
“The spending review puts the NHS on a sustainable footing by cutting the waiting lists so that by the end of the Parliament 92% of patients will start consultant-led treatment for non-urgent health conditions within 18 weeks of referral, delivering on the Prime Minister’s plan for change and commitment to prioritising people’s health. The settlement also supports the shift from analogue to digital, with a total investment of up to £10 billion in NHS technology and transformation between 2026-27 and 2028-29—an almost 50% increase from 2025-26. Colleagues will know that we have undertaken the biggest ever conversation about the NHS since its creation. We have received more than 270,000 contributions and had almost 2 million visits to our online portal, a significant number of which were from people with long-term conditions.”
“It is a wonderful and amazing thing to happen, but it is critical that we have the health architecture in place to manage those changes. That is why building a health service and care system fit for the future is central to this Government’s mission. Yesterday, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the multi-year spending review, which prioritises health, with a record investment in the health and social care system that will improve treatment, support and outcomes, and help those living with long-term conditions. The Government are providing £29 billion more in day-to-day funding in real terms than in 2023-24, and the largest-ever health capital budget, with a £2.3 billion real-terms increase in spending over the spending review period.”
“I am pleased to be here to respond on their behalf to such an important debate, and I hope that my remarks demonstrate that improving support for those with long-term conditions is a priority for this Government. Over 15 million people in England have long-term health conditions, and many people live with two or more. Every one of us has a constituent living with a long-term condition; even some of my colleagues in this place who have shared their stories today have long- term conditions. Given that the prevalence of long-term conditions generally increases with age, the number of people with such conditions in our society will only get bigger, as new treatments and technologies keep us alive for longer. Let me be clear: that is to be celebrated.”
“Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton), the Minister for public health and prevention, who is passionate about improving care and support for people with long-term conditions, and had really looked forward to responding to this debate. Unfortunately, due to the medical emergency of a family member with a long-term condition, she is unable to be in Westminster this week, but she hopes to return to Westminster as soon as possible to write the letters that I have promised on her behalf. This is a busy afternoon in the House for the Health Department, with my hon. Friend the Minister for Secondary Care currently representing the Government in a general debate on the fifth anniversary of the covid pandemic in the main Chamber, and my hon. Friend the Minister for Care currently serving on the Mental Health Bill Committee.”
“I was particularly dismayed to hear that Terry had no one named person in his multidisciplinary team. That should not be happening. The hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson) asked many questions, which I have noted down. If she does not get the answers in my speech, I will press the relevant Minister to write to her. She asked about training and apprenticeships. To reassure her, a new workforce plan will be coming after the 10-year plan, and the 10-year plan will be coming in the summer. I would love a community diagnostic centre as well; in a semi-rural constituency, it is very hard to get care. I will press a Minister to write to her, following the spending review. I pass on apologies from my hon.”
“She will know that the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions are committed to supporting disabled people and people with long-term health conditions. A range of support is available already, including some that joins up the health and employment support systems. I agree that we need to get it right first time, because a system that has an over 90% appeal approval rating is not getting it right first time. The hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) and I spent a lot of time together on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill Committee; I am glad to be able to finally respond to him on things. I was very sorry to hear about his friend Emma and his constituents Terry and Jess, who have a range of health conditions.”
“Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Tom Gordon), who is also the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for diabetes. I thank him for his work on diabetes awareness. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones) for her many years of service as a physiotherapist, and I thank her daughter for her many years of service as a doctor. My hon. Friend rightly raised arthritis and all the great work that she did as a physiotherapist. I am sure that she is aware of the great work that the National Institute for Health and Care Research is doing with Versus Arthritis in funding dedicated UK MSK translational research. She will also be aware that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published expert guidance on early diagnosis to speed up that process.”
“Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for his speech. As he said, health in Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly, but I assure him that the Secretary of State is regularly engaging with his counterpart across the sea on all the issues that the hon. Member outlined, which were many. He told his personal story of diabetes, and spoke about COPD, cancer, cystic fibrosis and many other conditions. I share the sentiment that it is marvellous that so many people will now survive cancer. As he may know, my father is currently undergoing treatment for his terminal diagnosis. I reassure the hon. Member—and it gives me some hope—that the national cancer plan is coming. We had a lovely intervention from the hon.”
“I assure him that further work on the national neighbourhood health implementation programme will come after the 10-year health plan. I see that issue all the time in Wellingborough and Rushden, as he does in his constituency. As a semi-rural community, we have very little in the way of community healthcare, so I am also pushing that forward. I will ask the relevant Minister to respond directly to him about Andy’s case. My hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy) gave an impassioned and personal speech about his father’s stroke. I am grateful to him for highlighting and raising awareness of the F-A-S-T action that people can take if they think that someone is having a stroke. I reassure him that the NHS is actively working to provide access to 24/7 thrombectomy services across England and Wales. I thank the hon.”
“I agree, and I will come to comorbidities and some of the strategies in the 10-year plan later in my speech. My hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) spoke about endometriosis. I was very sorry and dismayed to hear about her constituent Angela Tiernan, who has endometriosis in her chest cavity. I assure my hon. Friend that urgent action to tackle gynaecological care is taking place through the elective reform plan, and we are having significant successes in that area. I thank the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde). I was also dismayed to hear about his constituent Andy’s benign brain tumour. I was particularly dismayed to hear about his treatment, and the transfer of services to the community. The hon. Member rightly asked about the administration from care to community.”
“That will get people back to work if they can, and keep working people in work. We have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals. Things currently online include WorkWell, and Connect to Work is coming online as we speak. We are also mobilising eight place-based trailblazers to reduce economic inactivity in places where we can see that it is really key. On elective care, our plan for change is clear that our immediate priority on health is to reduce elective waiting lists to meet the NHS constitutional standard that 92% should wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment. We have hit that pledge already—more than 2 million more elective care appointments have happened early—and we have now exceeded it by delivering over 3.5 million more appointments.”
“I acknowledge that those with long-term health conditions such as arthritis will rightly be very worried about what is happening, considering that only a Green Paper, rather than a Bill, has been published. I assure my hon. Friend that the Department of Health and Social Care and the DWP are committed to supporting disabled people and those with long-term health conditions. There is already a range of support that is online and working, but we want those who are in work and can stay there to do so, and we want people to get back to work. Those measures include joining up the health and employment support around the individual through employment advisers, NHS talking therapies, individual placements, support in primary care and WorkWell, as well as work coaches and disability employment advisers at the jobcentre.”
“Thank you. In fact, the waiting list has been cut by over 200,000 since we came into office. Another topic touched on a lot was social care, its effective use and access to it. Effective and accessible social care is crucial for people with long-term conditions.”
“The debate has been extremely wide ranging and covered conditions from across the spectrum, many of which I cannot pronounce. I hope that Ministers will be able to write back to hon. Members and reassure them on some of the questions they have raised today. It is understandable that we have covered so many topics, given the sheer number and breadth of long-term conditions and the multitude of challenges they pose for individuals, their families, their communities and the healthcare system. For that reason, as I said, I have not been able to cover in full the well-informed points that were made throughout the course of the debate. However, my hon. Friend the Minister for public health and prevention has committed to writing to all hon. Members who have raised specific concerns today.”
“Living with one or more long-term conditions can put significant stress on an individual’s mental wellbeing and can lead to stress, worry and depression—all of which come to our constituency doors a lot. Two thirds of people with a common mental health problem also have a long-term physical condition. That is why the NHS is prioritising the development of NHS talking therapies to include a focus on people with long-term conditions. These services bring together mental and physical health providers to work in a co-ordinated way to achieve the best outcomes for all. I feel that I have been speaking a rather long time, so, to conclude, I once again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, for securing the debate, and all those who have spoken.”
“These unpaid carers, often family members or spouses, do vital and essential work that helps people to manage their long-term conditions and also helps the health service. Lord Darzi’s independent review of the national health service highlighted the need for a fresh approach to supporting and involving unpaid carers, to improve outcomes across the board for carers and those they care for. Those findings are being carefully considered as part of our 10-year plan to reform and modernise the NHS. We continue to shape our plans to reform adult social care, including through the national care service. We cannot underestimate the toll of living with one or more long-term health conditions. The hon. Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel Gilmour) made an intervention about the mental health support that is needed for long-term conditions.”
“I was coming on to Baroness Louise Casey’s report to the Prime Minister. I will try to get an answer from the Departments she is working with. Hon. Members will be aware that we have launched the independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps to delivering a national care service. It is chaired by Baroness Louise Casey and reporting to the Prime Minister. The commission will make clear recommendations for how to rebuild social care systems to meet the current and future needs of the population, but I will make sure that Ministers write to the hon. Lady on her specific question. We also had a small discussion on unpaid carers and how crucial they are for individuals with long-term conditions.”
“Further to that point of order, Dr Huq. Opposition Members are very interested in their amendments, but I am keenly and acutely interested in Government amendment 48 and schedule 3. Government amendment 48 is on page 10 of the amendment paper. We have been going through the groupings of amendments on the selection list, and in previous sittings, when we have voted on amendments, we have voted on the groupings, rather than following the amendment paper. I am concerned that if we are now following the amendment paper, we should have voted today on amendments 5, 21, 22, 76, 122, 4 and 72.”
“Have an enjoyable bank holiday weekend and—to those who celebrate—an egg-cellent Easter, and lots of chocolate for everyone else.”
“A great Labour leader said: “There is nothing in life which is inevitable. It’s about the change you choose.” Last year, the country chose to reject the narrative of inevitable decline and put its faith in Labour. There is still much more to be done, but we are delivering that change. I express my gratitude to House staff, including the doorkeepers, cleaners, Clerks, catering, security, police, broadcasting, Hansard , visitor experience, our staff and constituency teams, and civil servants, who all come together to make this place function. Of course, my thanks go to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and to Mr Speaker and the other Deputy Speakers. As we rise for Easter recess, I offer my best wishes to all here today and those listening at home.”
“Member for Guildford (Zöe Franklin) that I will definitely chase the Secretary of State on her behalf. As the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood) knows, given that he is a fellow Whip, this is the first time I have spoken in the Chamber since last May, when I asked the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak) about dentistry, an issue consistently raised in Wellingborough and Rushden. I had been elected only three months prior, and then I found myself out door-knocking again. A lot has changed since then, including the Members on this side of the Chamber, and the country has changed in the nine months that this Labour Government have been in power. Due to brevity, I will skip a lot of mentions of Wellingborough and Rushden, but I will try to get one or two more in.”
“I also pay tribute to his friend Tomas Shackson. Friends like Dan and Joe are role models for young men everywhere, and I congratulate Joe on his achievement of becoming a consultant hand surgeon. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) about growing the skills agenda, particularly for Fife College, and about the SNP’s abject failure on this issue. My hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) represents the city that I was born in. It is impressive to hear how she has helped over 2,000 people in Portsmouth. I have touched on water previously, but I am sure that she welcomes the Water (Special Measures) Bill. I will give a special mention to Archie Whitfield for his fundraising efforts for the Brain Charity. I say to the hon.”
“Member spoke of—like my own, the NNBN—do wonders for independent businesses and small businesses, and I hope that his sister Becky has a bright future and a safe recovery. I agree wholeheartedly with the impassioned speech by my hon. Friend the Member for High Peak (Jon Pearce) about local government. Wellingborough and Rushden shares many of the woes he described under a Tory unitary authority. I agree with the hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers) that steel is critical to secure the economy, and to a secure economy. We have committed £2.5 billion in our plan for steel, and the relevant Minister was at the Dispatch Box yesterday. My hon. Friend the Member for Erewash (Adam Thompson) spoke about Owen, Roy and Harrison’s male friendship, and I pay tribute to them for their recent viral sensation.”
“Friend the Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher)—I hope I have said that correctly—spoke so fast that I was not able to write down all the clubs he mentioned, but I congratulate the 100-year-old rugby club and Vera Owen, who is definitely a community champion. I am sure that his support for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will help those in housing crisis. I was shocked to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (Alex Mayer) that one in five hens are still in cages, but I welcome the £22 million from DEFRA to improve hen welfare. The hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) mentioned the Joze School of Dance, which I congratulate on its 20th anniversary. I also congratulate Maisie Swann and Blythe Dale. The business awards that the hon.”
“We have a clear clean power mission, and national infrastructure projects will be covered by the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which I hope she will scrutinise keenly. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury), I welcome the £1.5 billion and 32% increase for the mineworkers’ pension scheme. I also pay tribute to those in the British Coal staff superannuation scheme who have passed away. I can say to the hon. Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) and the hon. Member for Taunton and Wellington (Gideon Amos)—who is my brother’s MP—that I too live in a dental desert, and I understand that rural communities are at a particular disadvantage. I will chase the Minister for Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Aberafan Maesteg (Stephen Kinnock) for a response. My hon.”
“Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) is as delighted as I was to hear that the Water (Special Measures) Bill has received Royal Assent and is now an Act. As bills go up, Labour has legislated to ringfence investment in infrastructure, and when money is not spent we will force companies to give it back to customers. As for my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns), “yarn bombing” is not a term that I expected to hear in the Chamber today, but, like Carlisle, a town in my constituency called Irthlingborough has some of the best scenes and little models. My hon. Friend is welcome to visit it at any time so that we can compare them, but I am sad to say that I cannot crochet myself. The hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Llinos Medi) is right to champion clean power and nuclear power.”
“Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Vikki Slade) paid tribute to the fire crews who have worked tirelessly to tackle the blazes in her constituency. I was heartened to hear about the wildlife recovery organisations. I am glad to say that responsibility for the fire service has moved from the Home Office to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and I am sure that the hon. Lady will be doing a great deal more to question the Ministry about that. I was sad to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport (Navendu Mishra) that people will be denied access to cash as a result of the NatWest closure. I know that, as a local champion, he will be campaigning actively. However, I was delighted to hear about the schools that he has visited. I am sure that the hon.”
“His local community village hall is clearly something to which we should all aspire. I also congratulate the Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway on their bicentennial anniversary. I was sorry to hear from the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) about the antisocial behaviour in Redhill. She and the Surrey police force are clearly doing a cracking job in cracking down on such behaviour, and she is also a champion for Safer Redhill and for the partnership work that she highlighted. My hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) spoke about gambling and its effects on families. Representatives of the organisation Gambling with Lives came to see me in my constituency of Wellingborough and Rushden to talk about the suicide of one of my constituents, so I know how hard families and others can take this. The hon.”
“I thank all 20 of the Members who have spoken this afternoon about a range of subjects close to their hearts. I will do my best not to butcher the names of their constituencies, and to summarise their arguments. I thank the hon. Member for Harrow East for his good-natured Easter puns, his busy parliamentary and constituency work, and his campaign for step-free access for Stanmore, his local underground station. Let me also say that we strongly support a sustained ceasefire and a two-state solution. I wish the hon. Gentleman well personally for Passover. I wish my hon. Friend the Member for Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor (Alan Strickland) a happy birthday. I thank him for telling us all about Spennymoor Town football club, and congratulate the team on its win and on being a top team for community work.”
“It is a pleasure to close the debate. I will try to do so very swiftly, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I wish you and all those listening a very happy Easter. Let me begin by paying tribute to the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), and thanking him and all the members of the Backbench Business Committee for the work that they do in bringing so many important issues to the notice of the House. Let me also pay tribute to the late Sir David Amess, whose plaque on the wall behind me is a reminder of his years of service to his Southend constituency, the House, and the traditions of this debate. While my time in the House did not coincide with his, my esteemed colleagues often share stories of his campaigns, and I have great admiration for the work that he did on animal welfare.”
“13. In Wellingborough and Rushden, organisations such as Serve and the Teamwork Trust offer digital support for the excluded, but for low-income households, access to the internet through libraries and schools is a key tool for employment and betterment. In rural towns such as mine, what is the Department doing to ensure that low-income households have access to digital services?”
“I, too, welcome the hon. Member for South Thanet (Craig Mackinlay) back to the House and wish him well in his duties. I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks. The Association of Dental Groups, in its May 2022 report, identified my Wellingborough constituency as one of England’s dental deserts. I welcomed the Prime Minister’s grand scheme to send dental vans to constituencies like mine but, months on, he is having to U-turn because there are not enough vans. Why can he not address this issue seriously?”
“Unlike with trading standards, many cash-strapped families and young people fall for online scams, because they are on the hunt for bargains on Facebook Marketplace and, to a lesser extent, on eBay and Vinted. They are often at the mercy of being ripped off with very little protection and little to no help from local trading standards because of that confusion over whether it is where the buyer is or where the seller is. In particular, that is because they are for more casual and lower-value transactions. Can the Minister confirm whether that will be in the review as well?”
“Why have the Government refused to implement a tonnage-based approach, as the EU does, which would support small and medium-sized importers, particularly in Wellingborough? Not doing so risks putting them out of business. To avoid that, will the Minister adopt measures such as ensuring that all small and medium-sized importers can join the trusted trader scheme?”
“Coming from a naval family, it is important to me that Labour is also wanting to reach 2.5%. Our ambition is no less than that of the Government. The Defence Secretary has said that this defence spending increase will be funded in part by big cuts in the number of civil servants. How much of this cut will be in the MOD civilian workforce, and will the Royal Fleet Auxiliary be exempt?”
“As a former hospice fundraiser—it is what I did before I came here —I am grateful to the hon. Members for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart) and for Darlington (Peter Gibson) for securing the debate. Part of the problem that I faced at first hand was that when I was going out to private companies, trusts and foundations in order to raise funds to increase pay with inflation, that was often the hardest thing to fundraise for. The ICB was never very forthcoming, particularly when we would enter into conversations with it in the year prior to the year being funded.”
“While on the campaign trail, I met the Daylight Centre and SERVE Rushden. Both have seen their service users increase in number, even with the extension of the household support fund, which they both welcome. What can the Secretary of State do to expand the eligibility of the fund, improve uptake and increase the value of the healthy start payment?”
“Higham Ferrers’ town charter is from 1251, and the town has a charming farmers’ market on Saturday and Sunday in the historic town square, opposite the English Heritage site of Chichele College. The natural landscape of the constituency is breathtaking. Based within the Nene valley—pronounced differently if you’re from from Cambridgeshire—the constituency hosts the internationally renowned Waendel Walk, which Members can participate in this May; I hope to see many of you with walking boots on. As a bonus attraction, my pugs will do a small section of it too. Thank you again, Mr Speaker, for allowing me to make my maiden speech in a debate on this vital topic, and basically to launch the “Visit Wellingborough” campaign. I am honoured by the opportunity, and will now give way to the estimates debate.”
“For a great Saturday, you could visit Irvin’s speciality tea shop, whose tea I serve in my office, or have wine from the Wine Chateau, which is the only bricks and mortar specialist shop that sells Moldovan wine—again, in my office. You could visit Rushden & Diamonds football club to support community football; it is a great Saturday out—me and my dad have watched them score in the 97th minute. You could end your night at the award-winning Ember restaurant in Wellingborough or the new restaurant in Rushden, La Estrella. If history is more your thing, the constituency is steeped in it, with buildings from the Jacobean, Elizabethan and Caroline eras. In fact, the Hind Hotel was the resting point for Oliver Cromwell and his army before the battle of Naseby in 1645.”
“The Victoria Centre and Daylight Centre provide housing, food banks and a sense of community to Wellingborough town centre. SERVE in Rushden has stepped in to ensure that the elderly and disabled can get to doctors’ and hospital appointments now that the bus service is lacking and urgent care is challenging. Coming from the charity sector, I am honoured to be in a position to further their causes in this House. As part of my commitment and economic pledge to the constituents of Wellingborough, Mr Speaker, in the coming months you can expect me to bang the drum for our town centres and high streets, and encourage more tourists and Members to visit the area.”
“As many will know, both sides of my family have served in the armed forces for three generations, and their commitment to public service and duty to our country was instilled in me from a young age. I endeavour to make them proud, and have dedicated my professional career to the charity sector, fundraising for projects to help those in need. On that point, I would like to highlight a couple of charities that have done incredible work to help the community and the constituency. The “Off the Streets” knife crime campaign has trained the public on how to use bleed kits, and has designed knife amnesty bins that have been installed in Queensway. I urge Members to look at the work of that charity and encourage similar charities in their constituencies.”
“The result of the campaign saw the largest swing this century, and the cleanliness of high streets, highways, policing, access to education for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and access to healthcare were crucial issues when knocking on doors from Bozeat to Wilby and the Harrowdens. It was striking how the communities of Chelveston, Newton Bromswold and Grendon had all stepped up where the public sector had been cut. One village in particular, Great Doddington, holds a special place in my family history. The quaint village is where my great-grandfather, the Reverend Henry Hacking, served from 1935 to 1938 as the parish vicar of St Nicholas after serving as an Army chaplain in the first world war.”
“I pledge to honour, protect and champion this rich tapestry with every ounce of my being. Many on this side of the House will have visited the beautiful constituency of Wellingborough during the campaign, but for those who did not make it on to the campaign trail, the constituency consists of the towns of Wellingborough, Rushden, Higham Ferrers and Finedon, and the picturesque villages that surround them. We are 50 minutes from London by train, and close to the M1 and the A14, so there is no reason for Members not to visit for a cheeky weekend away to help boost our local economy and high streets. As Wellingborough is a bellwether seat, the people of Orlingbury, Wollaston and Irchester often know the problems that the Government of the day will face before they do.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, for calling me to make my maiden speech on this vital topic, which came up a lot during the campaign. It is a great honour to stand here as the new Labour MP for Wellingborough. I was two years old when the last Labour MP for Wellingborough made their maiden speech in 1997, but since then, we have had a highly visible Member of the Chamber. Although Peter Bone and I disagree on many things, he was an experienced campaigner and a lead voice in the Grassroots Out campaign. Wellingborough is not just a constituency, but a tapestry of diverse voices, experiences and aspirations. From the streets of our market towns to the tranquil countryside that surrounds them, each corner of the constituency tells a story of resilience, ingenuity and community spirit.”