Chris Webb

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

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274 held · 272 searchable for Chris Webb. The searchable lines are below in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 6.

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1. “Last week, Plan International UK launched a report that revealed that Blackpool is the second toughest place for girls in the UK. The report detailed that the place-based inequalities facing girls aged 16 to 24 include sexual assault, child poverty, health and academic attainment. Going forward, I will champion tackling these issues, as they are at the heart of gender inequality and deprivation. Will the Leader of the House allow a debate in Government time to discuss how we can support girls and young women in Blackpool and across our country?”

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2. “That was tangible in March 2019 when I joined thousands of fans returning to Bloomfield Road after the successful boycott campaign to remove the corrupt owners of Blackpool FC. Huge credit goes to Blackpool Supporters Trust, whose campaign restored integrity, pride and professionalism to the club. The football governance Bill is a step in the right direction towards returning the game to the fans who make it what it is. I cannot talk about football fans without acknowledging the 97 who will finally get justice under this Government’s Hillsborough law. In conclusion, there will be many measures of success for this Government, but one important symbolic one will be the success of Blackpool. As a Member of Parliament, I will be fighting to ensure that the people of Blackpool South are no longer at the back of the queue.”

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3. “I am pleased that legislation will be brought forward to strengthen community policing and give the police greater powers to deal with antisocial behaviour, as well as strengthen support for victims. Reclaim Blackpool Map is a grassroots project run by women in the town, highlighting the prevalence of public sexual harassment. As a white ribbon ambassador for over five years, I have been working to educate men, young people and boys in my community. I know that the new Minister for safeguarding will work tirelessly to tackle violence against women and girls, and she has my full support. Blackpool is a place of great resilience, where people muster to fight against the odds.”

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4. “The water special measures Bill will strengthen the powers of the regulator, so that Blackpool residents can hope to once again reap the benefits of our greatest natural asset. Though the town has served the working classes with entertainment, work in Blackpool is precarious, and often poorly paid, insecure and seasonal. The employment rights Bill, which will ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights, will transform the lives of working people in Blackpool, just as the former Labour Government did for my family. As a fellow working-class northerner, the Deputy Prime Minister knows that she has my full support for her pioneering new deal for working people. Thousands of my constituents are set to receive a pay rise that will help lift them out of poverty.”

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5. “Like our Greater Manchester, Merseyside and West Yorkshire neighbours, Lancashire would benefit greatly from a devolution deal, and an elected metro mayor who has powers over transport, roads, urban regeneration, skills and housing. I will work alongside my fellow Lancashire Members in this House and council leaders to secure the best devolution possible for our county. This morning, the Environment Agency issued a pollution warning across my constituency’s coastline and advised against entering our waters. This is the fifth day since my re-election that such a warning has been issued. That is unacceptable. It not only threatens tourism but my constituents’ health, wellbeing and sense of local pride. Local campaign group Fylde Coast Against Sewage deserves recognition for its hard work testing the waters of our shores.”

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6. “They have been deprived of opportunities, decent healthcare, quality housing and safety. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak about some of those issues on their behalf today. Many colleagues in this House will have visited my constituency at some point in their life, perhaps for a party conference, a childhood holiday or a cheeky weekend away. Blackpool is not a place people pass through, and the chaos of the railways under the last Government has left us abandoned at the end of the line. I am relieved that this Government plan to bring our railways back into public ownership. A reliable and affordable service will allow my constituents to access better opportunities. The King’s Speech gives the rest of the House the opportunity to recognise Lancashire’s potential for growth.”

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7. “I speak for the whole House when I say to the hon. Member for North Down (Alex Easton) that I know his father would definitely be proud of him today, and of the work that he will go on to do in the House. He should take that with him in every step in this place. His parents would be, and are, proud of him. I congratulate him on his maiden speech. I thank my constituents in Blackpool South for re-electing me as their Member of Parliament for the second time in as many months. It feels a lot nicer speaking from the Government Benches than from the Opposition Benches. Hopefully I will do my constituents proud. The legislation announced last week is important to my constituents, who, after 14 years of Tory rule, live in the second most deprived constituency in the UK.”

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8. “If it’s not about making people’s lives better, don’t be a politician.” I am sad that he is not here to see me take my seat, but I will honour Tony’s memory by serving my constituents in the same way that he served his, with people at the heart of my politics.”

   House of Commons24 May 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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9. “For their dedication to the town, I would like to thank Counselling in the Community and its inspirational founder Stuart Hutton-Brown; Blackpool Food Bank; Fylde Coast Women’s Aid; Reclaim Blackpool; Skool of Street; Blackpool Street Angels; Boathouse Youth; the Friends of Stanley Park; the St Peter’s Church soup kitchen; and many others too numerous to mention. In closing, I would not be standing here today without the support of our good friend and my mentor, Tony Lloyd. Tony was an incredible northern Labour parliamentarian who we sadly lost at the start of this year. “For me, politics is all about people,” Tony once told me. “It’s that sense of human solidarity that matters.”

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10. “Anyone from Blackpool will tell you to look behind the headlines, and beyond the bright lights of the illuminations, to find the real story of our town. It is alive with grassroots creativity and culture, has a thriving LGBTQ+ community, and a wealth of fascinating lives that could only have been lived in Blackpool. It is a story of community resilience, and of people who, with very little themselves, are always willing to give to someone else who has less. We have a wealth of community organisations and charities working hard to improve lives in Blackpool South.”

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11. “Under what I hope is an imminent Labour Government, I will fight to make sure that progress is possible for everyone in Blackpool, inspiring the next generation. With economic stability, families in Blackpool South, where a third of children live in poverty, will not have to choose between heating and eating. Cuts to NHS waiting times will mean that those in Blackpool South, where people are twice as likely to die from heart disease by the age of 75 as people in wealthy areas, will be able to see a doctor when they need to. Hundreds more police on the streets will mean that in Blackpool, where weapon and knife offences have increased by more than 400% since 2015, safety will be restored to our communities. But those painful statistics tell only half the story.”

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12. “After years of austerity, and now during the cost of living crisis, all too often, the town that I am proud to call home is recognised as being at the sharp end of statistics for poverty, crime, mental ill health, low life expectancy and more. I will work tirelessly for those communities—hopefully in the next Parliament, too—and I hope to prove that politics has the power to change people’s lives. My heartfelt thanks go out to the people of Blackpool South, who put their trust in me on 2 May and elected me as their Blackpool born and bred Member of Parliament. My hometown’s motto is “Progress”. The town that pioneered municipal street lighting, electric tramways and modern tourism for the working classes has continued to forge ahead, even with deep spending cuts. Blackpool South now has a Labour MP.”

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13. “Through grit, determination and the welfare reforms of a progressive Labour Government, my nan and granddad were able to move into one of the first council houses built in Blackpool in the ’50s, in Grange Park. She went on to run a small business in Blackpool’s famous Abingdon Street market. Having grown up without proper healthcare, she knew the value of our NHS and how vital it is that we protect it. I will make it my mission in this place to do so in her memory. Since the pandemic, Blackpool has seen record numbers of visitors rightly returning to our beloved seaside town, which has so much to offer, but while tourism recovery is central to our town’s future, it is time to focus on the recovery of our communities beyond the prom.”

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14. “While I was tracing my paternal grandmother’s history, I was amazed to find out how deep my family’s public service roots go. I discovered that my 14th great-grandfather, Edmund Moody, saved the life of Henry VIII. The King, out hunting with his hawk, tried to reach over a ditch with a pole, which broke. Edmund, a footman of the King’s, leapt into the water and saved him from drowning. Sadly, the £6 a year pension and the land that he received as a reward did not stretch far enough to help his descendant, my nan Margaret Webb, who had a tough life growing up in Liverpool. I was raised not on stories of brave footmen who saved kings, but on the stories of my nan and her sisters, who wore newspapers for shoes and battled TB during wartime without an NHS.”

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15. “My dad was a Blackpool postie who wanted to help and support fellow workers in Royal Mail, and then those in BT and others throughout the Communication Workers Union. Thanks to the last Labour Government, my mum was able to retrain for free and became an early years teaching assistant at my primary school—her dream job. Before them, there was my paternal nan, Val Harman, a scout leader who dedicated her life to inspiring young people; my paternal grandfather, Brian Harman, who was a local independent councillor and who, at 83 years old, is still heavily involved in his local community centre in Burntwood; and my paternal grandfather, Dougie Webb, who served in world war two, fighting fascism in Europe and Africa, and who once guarded Winston Churchill at Chequers—all of them public servants.”

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16. “Stephen Conway and Ken Winstanley, I thank you. I would also like to pay special tribute to Anne Hoyer, a Labour giant on the Fylde coast who we sadly lost last week. The first Blackpool constituency was created in 1885, a decade after the opening of the railway began to bring an influx of visitors to our town. In 1945, a separate Blackpool South constituency was created; it became clear that it had an identity of its own. It is home to the famous pleasure beach, Blackpool tower and three piers. It has beaches with golden sands and, locals would argue, the best ice cream to be found anywhere at Notarianni’s, which has served tourists and locals since 1928. I am a child of tourism, my mum having moved to Blackpool to become a redcoat in the 80s, but I am also a child of public service.”

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17. “It was the last opportunity to do so before a general election; had I not taken it, I risked a lifetime of being an answer to an obscure pub quiz question. I relish getting back on the doorsteps and speaking with fellow residents. I thank my predecessor Scott Benton and his staff for all their work and support of local residents. I also thank Gordon Marsden for his personal support and tireless work in Blackpool South during his 22 years of service. Gordon is still fondly remembered and recognised for his huge contribution to my constituency and his pursuit of everyone having access to lifelong learning. I would not be here today without two teachers who inspired and supported me as a young student with undiagnosed dyslexia. They helped me get to Hull University and on the road to this Chamber.”

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18. “Thank you, Mr Speaker. When it was announced that I was the winner of the Blackpool South by-election at 5.15 am on 3 May, I called on the Prime Minister to hold a general election and give the rest of the country the same chance that my constituents had to vote for change and elect a new Labour Government. I thank the Prime Minister for taking me up on that, although I had not expected to be back out on the campaign trail quite so soon. I ask the whole House to join me in showing solidarity with my amazing—and now long-suffering—wife Portia, who has been at my side throughout with our amazing three-month-old son Cillian, who has brought so much joy and laughter to our lives. Mr Speaker, I am grateful for this opportunity to stand before you, at short notice.”

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19. “In the first few weeks that I have been the Member for Blackpool South, many of my constituents have contacted me about the lack of NHS dentistry in the town. No NHS dentist is taking on adult patients, and children with tooth decay are forced to go to our local A&E. This is a huge issue in our town, which has so many other troubling issues. Will the Secretary State finally admit that this Government have let my constituents down, and that only under a Labour Government will we get access to the dentistry we desperately need?”

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20. “Shocking figures announced yesterday showed a 416% increase in weapon and knife crime in Blackpool—the fourth-largest increase in the country. Violent crime has doubled, and public order offences are up by nearly 500%, with neighbourhood policing cut by a drastic 33% in my area. What will the Government do to rebuild community neighbourhood policing in Blackpool and tackle the huge knife crime issue that we have?”

    House of Commons23 May 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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21. “T4. Blackpool is experiencing the scourge of unlicensed taxis in our treasured seaside resort. Uber and similar companies, which have no operating licence in Blackpool, are allowing passengers to use their unlicensed taxis uninsured, creating a real public safety risk. These unlicensed taxis are parking in local ranks illegally, taking fares from our hard-working, rule-abiding Blackpool taxi drivers. What is the Minister doing to tackle these unlicensed drivers, and will he meet me to discuss this issue in my constituency?”

    House of Commons16 May 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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22. “Blackpool Rock is under threat from cheap imitation imports from China in particular, and I have joined Stanton & Novelty, a third-generation traditional confectionery manufacturer in my constituency, in leading the charge in safeguarding the status of British-made confectionery. Our seven remaining rock factories are at risk of closure and are experiencing a 40% drop in sales, which is jeopardising the livelihoods of local employees and the viability of historic businesses. Just 50 people in the UK have the skills required to properly “letter” sticks of rock, most of them in Blackpool. These traditional skills will soon be lost without intervention, so may we have a debate in Government time to discuss securing our historic British confectionery, and save Blackpool rock?”

    House of Commons16 May 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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