Pam Cox
MP for Colchester · Labour · United Kingdom
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) for securing this debate. I declare an interest as a member of the University and College Union and the all-party parliamentary university group. Everybody in this debate wants to see young people and lifelong learners succeed in their chosen path in life.”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Other south Essex MPs and I have spoken in this Chamber and elsewhere about the very significant challenges that my former colleagues at the University of Essex have faced over the past year. The university closed its Southend campus and made large numbers of staff redundant there and at its main Colchester campus.”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This new era of campus closures, redundancies, mergers and buy-outs comes at a time when many in the sector face huge financial challenges. The Education Committee has already been referenced.”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Other institutions are merging: the University of Kent with the University of Greenwich; City, University of London with St George’s; and King’s College London with Cranfield University. These new arrangements are the start of a new era in higher education.”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There is cross-party concern about an extremely concerning situation in Tanzania—the trial of Mr Tundu Lissu, the chair of the party for democracy and progress, Chadema. Mr Lissu has been charged with treason after calling for electoral reform at a public rally during an election campaign. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to death.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Q9. Endometriosis affects about 1 in 10 women in the UK, and I have heard from many women in Colchester and north-east Essex who are living in chronic pain with the condition—a pain that is prolonged by unnecessarily long waits for treatment and diagnosis. What steps are the Government taking to speed up access to treatment?”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“The Committees are not comparable, are they? The American system of Select Committees is so different from ours that we are talking about apples and pears.”
House of Commons12 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Down the road from Norwich is the University of Essex, which is based in Colchester and already offers degrees in oral science. I think a collaboration between the two universities is really important, and I would be very happy to facilitate it. The University of Essex degree is not a dentistry degree, but an oral health degree. The university also has a community dentistry clinic that is already operating in Colchester, which could provide some very interesting examples of good practice. I invite the Minister and his team to come and visit both the university and the clinic.”
House of Commons11 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am delighted that this Labour Government are introducing the Armed Forces Commissioner post. I have written about commissioner roles elsewhere and compared their powers; I hope that this role will be as strong as the strongest of the rest. If so, that commissioner will be a strong independent voice for our forces in Colchester and across the country, committed to improving service life. I support this Bill wholeheartedly.”
House of Commons18 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In Colchester we are supported by many great organisations such as the Army Benevolent Fund, SSAFA and regimental charities such as Support Our Paras. I thank them for the work they do, and I would like to see the new commissioner working hard and closely with them. I am also pleased that this Bill supports other wider changes that the Government are already making to support our veterans—a point made earlier by Opposition Members. We have already delivered on our manifesto commitment to make the veterans ID card an accepted form of voter ID. We have acted to improve veterans’ access to secure, healthy homes and we have invested £3.5 million of additional funding for veterans’ homelessness support programmes. This Government are absolutely committed to the welfare of veterans.”
House of Commons18 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The last Government hollowed out and underfunded our armed forces, but the extra £2.9 billion announced in the Budget puts us back on the path of investment in our defences and our defence workforce. I am very pleased that the Armed Forces Commissioner will be a direct point of contact for serving personnel and their families. The commissioner will be able to raise issues that impact service life, including access to good quality housing and childcare. I know that, while Army families in Colchester provide so much support for each other, they often do not feel that they get the support they deserve, and that needs to change. The last Labour Government introduced the armed forces covenant, and I welcome this Government’s commitment to incorporating that covenant fully into law.”
House of Commons18 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My constituency is the proud home to the 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, and the garrison and wider community are home to many serving personnel and their families. We know that the men and women in our armed services serve our nation proudly and put their lives at risk to defend the freedoms we all hold dear. I pay a personal tribute to my father-in-law, my nephew and other members of my extended family who have served and serve today. I was proud to stand on a manifesto that committed to establishing an independent Armed Forces Commissioner to improve service life for our forces and the families who support them—and here I pay tribute to my mother-in-law for all that she did on that score. This Bill delivers on that promise.”
House of Commons18 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is also working with our integrated care board to improve existing community and preventive services—something which my mother would have cheered to the rafters. She was rather old-school on that. She believed that we needed the high-tech stuff, but we also needed the low-tech stuff—basic things—to support people to live healthier lives through access to good food, green spaces, good housing and early years support. A Labour Government will bring all those things, and I am proud to support that and this Budget.”
House of Commons5 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That includes workers at Colchester hospital in my constituency who are fighting plans to outsource their jobs to the lowest bidder. On that matter, I am backing those staff who, like our wider workforce, deserve fair pay and conditions. As the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care said in his opening speech, new investment for the NHS must be combined with innovation and take full advantage of the potential of life sciences and new technology. Colchester is home to the Institute of Public Health and Wellbeing at the University of Essex, which is leading the charge. Together with local and global partners, it is developing new digital health, health informatics and health analytics that will help us to meet the challenges of the future.”
House of Commons5 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Budget recognises that. It walks towards those difficulties, rather than kicking the can yet further down the road. The Chancellor faced a stark choice and she rightly chose the hard road. As a Government, we could have continued with the failed policies of the past 14 years, with the low growth and austerity that have left our public services on their knees. Instead, we opted for change and to invest in those services, in the workforce who make them possible, and in the technologies that must transform them. I particularly welcome the extra £25 billion for the NHS across resource and capital budgets to cut waiting lists and invest in new equipment. That, combined with increases in the minimum wage, will help the frontline workers who struggle to make ends meet.”
House of Commons5 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am proud to speak in this debate on a Budget that marks a turning point for our country and my constituency of Colchester. It is a Budget that fixes the country’s foundations and a Budget that works to repair and reform our NHS. Our health service means a huge amount to those we represent and their families. Our health and social care staff do an amazing job, day in, day out. They and those for whom they care have long deserved better. Members of my own family have spent decades working in the NHS: my mother as a midwife, health visitor and then public health champion; and my sisters as nurses, one now a diabetes specialist, one supporting a parish nursing community programme. I have heard from them at first hand about the challenges they face. Those challenges are immense and will take a long time to address.”
House of Commons5 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If our country is to flourish, everyone must have the opportunity to thrive. We need decent public services that give everyone the best start in life and support us through to life’s end. That is a collective endeavour. Colchester has been a wonderful home to me and my family. I stood for election first as a city councillor and then as an MP because I wanted to give back to that community that has given us so much. I thank my fantastic family and all the local campaigners who have been a brilliant support to me over the past few months and more. Old habits die hard: Members will be relieved to hear that I have resisted the temptation to circulate a reading list to go with this lecture, or speech, or to speak for my customary 50 minutes—Madam Deputy Speaker is looking at me.”
House of Commons9 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am not a career politician. I have spent most of my life researching, teaching and leading in higher education, much of it at the outstanding University of Essex. I worked in social history and social sciences. It is my firm belief that only by understanding what has worked and what has mattered in the past can we hope to build a better future. I have written about the history of work, criminal justice, social care and education. I have used that knowledge to help to lead present-day policy change in youth services, family courts, women’s employment and victims’ rights. There is a red thread running through my work, which has traced how modes of governing have changed over time and how we have come to govern in the name of freedom with the aim of enabling people to truly flourish.”
House of Commons9 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Charles Smith, later Lord Delacourt-Smith, was part of that great reforming Government of 1945 that gave us the national health service, national parks, new towns and so much more. Now that was a Government of service. They took office after years of destruction, with the country in mourning, debt and crisis, yet they still generated hope, took action and laid the foundations for a brighter future for us all. We have a lot to learn from them. I am very proud to speak in this debate on a bold Bill, which is in that spirit. It will bring much-needed change to our housing sector and uphold the rights of thousands of tenants to live in the decent homes that they deserve. The case for the Bill has been eloquently set out by the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, and other speakers.”
House of Commons9 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Please come to see it, and while there you can take in the country’s oldest and longest Roman walls, its only Roman circus and one of the most impressive Norman castles, not to mention award-winning arts venues such as the Mercury theatre, Firstsite gallery and Colchester Arts Centre. On that matter, forget the hype around Oasis—Colchester Arts Centre and Stanway school together honed the rare talent of Blur. I am sure that sentiment is shared by the right hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel), my constituency neighbour. I would also like to recall one other predecessor, Charles Smith, who is the only other Labour MP in Colchester’s history. He was elected 79 years before me, almost to the day.”
House of Commons9 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The connection between Colchester and the Army began with the Roman legions, and it continues today in the form of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, which is the British Army’s global response force and is able to respond to crises around the world at a few hours’ notice. I pay tribute to its service and bravery. Will’s predecessor, Sir Bob Russell, was Colchester’s MP for 18 years, and he continues to serve it today as High Steward and as chief letter writer to the Colchester Gazette . No one is more passionate than Sir Bob about celebrating our city’s history, and I was proud to be at an unveiling of his most recent project, a statue celebrating the Colchester origins of the world’s most famous nursery rhyme, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.”
House of Commons9 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am also very proud to be a member of a party whose leader has pledged to lead a Government of service. Those words mean a great deal to me—they are one of the reasons why I stood to be an MP. We are here only at the pleasure of those who put us here, and our job is to serve them. I wish to pay tribute to my predecessors. Will Quince served as Colchester’s MP for nine years. He worked very hard for his constituents and was dedicated to their wellbeing. In particular, I highlight the work he did on baby loss, a cause that still means a great deal to him. I know that he is continuing to serve in his life after Parliament, in particular as an Army specialist reserve officer.”
House of Commons9 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“] On my way into this place, I often walk past the imposing statue of that first Norfolk woman, Boudica, standing proud in her chariot on the embankment, and I feel like she is spurring me on to step up to the plate as Colchester’s first woman MP. I am an historian by training and profession, and each day that I enter this House I remember that I am only here because of the commitment and effort of the generations who came before me—women and men who valued democracy and served their communities. I come from a family dedicated to service. My mother worked in public health and my father worked as a church minister. They taught my sisters and I the values of public service, and I have promised the residents of Colchester that, as their MP, I will put those into practice.”
House of Commons9 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I congratulate all those who have made their first speeches today. I look forward to continuing to work with them in the coming months. I am here in this place at the pleasure of the voters of Colchester. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] I’ll take that. Colchester was the very first capital of Britain. In the year 49 AD, it was the first place in the country to be given the status of Roman colonia. Unfortunately, we held that title for only a decade, before a woman from Norfolk laid waste to the city. The Romans decided that a muddy river crossing in a little place called Londinium would be a safer bet. That was almost 2,000 years before another woman from Norfolk, more precisely South West Norfolk, entered Londinium and laid waste to the British economy. We Essex folk could have warned you of the dangers. [ Laughter.”
House of Commons9 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Home Secretary for her statement. I share her astonishment at the scale of the mismanagement of the asylum system by the previous Government. My constituency of Colchester has hosted many asylum seekers and refugees over the years. We are a city of sanctuary. Our local authorities have played a full part in supporting that work. Will she confirm that those local authorities will be fully engaged in the work going forward to ensure that we have more effective support systems?”
House of Commons22 July 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement, and I welcome his announcement of a review of national resilience. Does he agree that the many legacies of the pandemic are still very much with us, from the awful personal impacts of bereavement and long covid to the terrible public service impacts on everything from school readiness to social care systems and more? Does he agree that those impacts were worse than they need have been, as set out by Baroness Hallett yesterday? In that spirit, does he agree that this Government’s work of renewal must necessarily also be a work of repair?”
House of Commons19 July 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗