Paul Waugh
MP for Rochdale · Labour (Co-op) · United Kingdom
“Fireworks play a spectacular and important role in many of our public and private celebrations, but all too often the antisocial and year-round use of loud fireworks causes deep distress to pets, veterans and elderly people in Rochdale, as well as posing a severe wildfire risk on our moorlands.”
“First, I thank the Home Secretary for listening to me and my hon. Friends the Members for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton (Jim McMahon), and for Heywood and Middleton North (Mrs Blundell), as well as all our constituents; she acted super quickly and seized this issue, to make sure that we could change the law to allow for the deportati…”
“The Government are also trialling the use of chemical castration for convicts in jails, which I personally would welcome being made compulsory for sex offenders like Ahmed. Ever since my election, I have pressed Ministers to pursue the deportation of every grooming gang member who can legally be removed from the UK.”
“Shabir Ahmed’s release from prison this month was, for many, another painful reminder of the wicked crimes he committed. Ahmed, who lived in Oldham, was the ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang.”
“This means that judges are asked to strike a balance between those rights and the public interest. That is precisely why the Rochdale grooming gang members lost their appeals under human rights law.”
“More than a thousand British Jews and British Israelis have written to the Minister for the Middle East, my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer), to urge a ban on settlement goods and services by the United Kingdom.”
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“My constituents, Barrie and Gill Fulton, live in a rural part of Littleborough, and therefore rely on LPG. Both Barrie and Gill have cancer, and they are worried sick about the price spike that they are seeing at the moment. Can my hon. Friend reassure me that the scheme will be flexible enough to take into account the needs of families like the Fultons? Does he also think there is a certain irony in Opposition Members complaining about the pain felt by their constituents as a result of a war that they directly support?”
“Rochdale’s BASA football club recently returned from its tour of Bangladesh, where members met street children, blind children and autistic children who were helped by the amazing £20,000 that the club had raised for charity. Will the Leader join me in congratulating Doliz Miah, Saj Miah and all the lads at BASA, as well as their sponsors: the Pavilion, Pandora, Panchi, and Amor restaurants?”
“My constituent in Rochdale, Louise Marshall, wrote to me this weekend because she is worried sick about the massive price rise she is facing for heating oil. Can the Chancellor assure me, notwithstanding the meeting we are all going to have with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, that we can be absolutely crystal clear that under this Government, we will not tolerate price gouging or war profiteering from oil companies that try to rip off their customers?”
“I shed no tears for the demise of an Iranian regime that murdered and repressed tens of thousands of its own citizens, particularly women, but I am proud that this Government have not joined the US and Israel in this reckless war, which lacks a clear plan and which is hitting my constituents in the pocket and threatening the global economy. Given that this Government have our own independent foreign policy, we are not the handmaiden of Washington, as the Tories would like, nor the poodle of Putin, as Reform is. Can the Defence Secretary say how important it is that the Chancellor is providing new funds for our armed forces who are defending British interests and British citizens in the region?”
“I recently attended an anti-hate crime seminar organised by the Rochdale Council of Mosques. It struck me that it was clear that innocent Muslim men, women and children are subjected to vile Islamophobia in the street and blamed for terrorist outrages, just as Jews are subjected to vile antisemitism and blamed for the actions of Israel. I welcome today’s new definition of anti-Muslim hostility, which is needed every bit as much as that existing definition of antisemitism. I note that the definition of antisemitism has not had a chilling effect on free speech either.”
“Today is World Book Day. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating the winner of my World Book Day competition, Matilda Mann of Littleborough Community primary school, for her brilliant review of “A Box Full of Murders” by Janice Hallett, and congratulate all the local businesses that helped to sponsor hundreds of pounds-worth of books for our local schools?”
“Q14. From this April, Springside special school in Rochdale will open its first ever free breakfast club. That is a big change enabled by this Labour Government, and one that the headteacher, Mrs Fierro, said will make a big change to all the parents and children at her school. However, Rochdale’s growing popularity and growing population mean it desperately needs a new secondary school. Will the Prime Minister arrange for me to have a meeting with the Department for Education to get our secondary school over the line to help all children in mainstream and in SEND get more provision?”
“My hon. Friend rightly makes a passionate case for why we should be doing more to help the healthcare system in Gaza. It is quite clear that the 50 severely ill children from Gaza who were evacuated by the Government and treated in NHS hospitals were well cared for. Indeed, the Prince of Wales visited some of them in hospital and afterwards said explicitly that they had faced “experiences no child should ever face.” Does my hon. Friend agree that the next step the Government should take is to treat children in the region? Plenty of British medics are willing to go out there and help; the Government should be encouraging them to use their NHS expertise to treat children in the region and to train medics in the specialisms that are desperately needed.”
“In Rochdale, we need more midwives to provide the safe staffing levels that our mums-to-be rightly expect, but newly qualified student midwives often find it difficult to find jobs when they qualify. Can the Minister explain exactly when the NHS workforce plan is due so that they can give reassurance to those newly qualified midwives that they will have a career in the NHS?”
“Far too many homeowners in Rochdale are subject to fleecehold, whereby they are fleeced for estate management company fees in return for little or no service or accountability. The Government are taking action to prevent future homeowners from falling into that trap, but will the Secretary of State set out how he plans to help current homeowners to avoid this rip-off charge?”
“Last week, I was honoured to attend the annual apprenticeships awards held by Rochdale’s Hopwood Hall college, which highlight all our brilliant local businesses and talent. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating 19-year-old Lily Chandler, who was named apprentice of the year 2026, and 24-year-old Kieran Riseborough, who won the social mobility award? Both are engineering apprentices and are a great credit to our town and borough.”
“Rochdale is the birthplace of the co-operative movement, so we know what happens when local people come together to take back control when there has been a clear market failure. That is one of the many reasons I am proud to be the Labour and Co-operative party MP for Rochdale. The Secretary of State rightly talked about the shift from community benefit, which is crumbs from the table for the big energy companies, to community ownership, and how this shift can sustainably lower bills for community groups and community buildings. Does he agree that the local power plan is all about power to the people—not just in the sense of clean energy, but communities having the power to determine their own bills and future?”
“Only yesterday, five more children were killed in another drone strike by the paramilitary RSF on a health centre in the city of Kadugli. UNICEF has been clear: “Children in Sudan are not statistics. They are frightened, displaced and hungry, but they are also determined, resourceful and resilient. Every day, they”— like the children of Gaza— “strive to learn, to play, to hope”. Ending the child suffering in both countries, through all the powers that we have in diplomacy, aid and trade, is a moral necessity. Those responsible for that suffering should be held accountable under international law. The reckoning will come. It may not come this year, but it will come one day.”
“I was proud that within days of the Gaza ceasefire, the Government, working with Labour MPs, brought over 50 children to the NHS to be treated for their complex injuries. But there is much, much more we can do to rebuild the healthcare, schools and social services that children desperately need in Palestine. The other often forgotten conflict that involves children is of course in Sudan, where a civil war, now in its third year, rages between Sudan’s army and the RSF rebels. The scale of the suffering is enormous: in 2026, a staggering 17 million children are expected to need urgent aid. More than 5 million children have been forced from their homes—the equivalent of 5,000 children displaced every single day—many of them repeatedly, with attacks and sexual violence often following them as they move.”
“The UN’s child protection agency UNICEF cited Gaza’s Health Ministry statistics from last September, recording that 2,596 Palestinian children had lost both parents and a further 53,000 had lost at least one parent, of whom 47,000 will grow up with no father and 5,920 will grow up with no mother. Those are not just ordinary statistics. Gaza has the highest rate of child amputations of any modern conflict. Those are all individual human beings whose stories need to be shared. The powerful new film “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, which was screened for MPs in Parliament last month, bears witness to one of those stories as it follows the Red Crescent response during the killing of a six-year-old Palestinian girl by the IDF. Those of us who saw that film will never forget it.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer, not least as a neighbouring colleague. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hyndburn (Sarah Smith) for securing this valuable debate. In Gaza, aid workers and medical teams have become used to using the world’s most heartbreaking acronym: WCNSF—wounded child, no surviving family. The phrase was born in Gaza’s hospitals as overworked trauma surgeons had to deal with so many injured, unaccompanied children that they simply scrawled WCNSF on their files. As Kieran King, head of humanitarian at UK charity War Child, told us at a briefing in Parliament last month, Gaza is the first conflict where such a term has been needed because of the sheer number of wounded children.”
“Tetrosyl is a Rochdale-based company that has recently used fire and rehire tactics to, in effect, dismiss staff, rehire them with £7,000 a year less in their pay packets and remove their right to paid leave, all despite its shareholders receiving £2 million last year. Does the Leader of the House agree that the company should even now get around the table with the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers? Does he also agree that this Government’s new Employment Rights Act 2025 will finally outlaw fire and rehire, give day one rights to sick pay and parental leave, and give basic rights to every worker who deserves them—rights that Reform Members voted against in this House?”
“Speaking of Bosnia, it was a truly humbling experience to visit the Srebrenica memorial centre and cemetery in Bosnia last year. In July 1995, more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered by Serb paramilitaries driven by religious, nationalist and ethnic hatred to commit the worst genocide on European soil since the Holocaust. I went to pay my respects and meet the incredible Mothers of Srebrenica campaign group, and to see the very moving testimony in the memorial centre itself.”
“Meanwhile, we have had regular debate on xAI’s Grok in this House in recent weeks. The AI tool has not only denigrated and degraded women, but generated multiple antisemitic comments, including praise for Hitler, denying the scope of the Holocaust and using so-called Jewish-sounding surnames in the context of hate speech. I hope that Ministers will engage with the Antisemitism Policy Trust to see how the Online Safety Act 2023 can actually crack down on such memes on Reddit and other online platforms. As others have said, Holocaust Memorial Day is also a time to remember all the Roma and Sinti people, gay men, disabled people, political opponents and others murdered by the Nazi killing machine. We also remember all those affected by the subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur and Bosnia.”
“Teaching about not just the Nazi Holocaust but genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur has been part of the national curriculum for 35 years. Hatred based on race or religion, with victims scapegoated for sins they never committed, demonised, blamed, and punished for things that had nothing to do with them, becomes a narrative that curdles into deadly extremism. Our school children are taught of that danger. But with young people online more than ever, it is not what happens in the classroom that really worries many of us, but what happens outside it. The potential for them to come across antisemitic content and Holocaust denial and distortion—conspiracy theories that the Holocaust never happened or antisemitic theories that it was orchestrated and faked by Jewish people or Israel—is greater than ever.”
“They were deeply affected by that incident and the loss of their friends. Alan recently recalled how Adrian Daulby leapt up from his seat and ran the length of the synagogue to help them hold shut the front doors from the terror attack, before he was shot and killed. It is truly disgusting that within hours of that attack, a local councillor in Rochdale shared on his Facebook page an article called, “False flag…could the Manchester synagogue attack be orchestrated?” which is an antisemitic dog whistle, as clear as day. But there are glimmers of light amid the darkness. Marc Levy told me that his children marked their B’nai Mitzvah at Heaton Park recently—a very powerful moment of resilience and remembering.”
“Just look at other people in the world and accept that we each have our own way of living and habits…just be respectful of that, and live peacefully side by side.” This year has shown that antisemitism is not just the world’s oldest hatred, but very much a current one, fed by extremists that blame Jews across the globe for the actions of Israel’s Government. The Bondi Beach attack was truly appalling, but in the north-west, we will never forget the Heaton Park synagogue attack on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. We remember Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, who were killed in that attack on that dark day. Marc Levy, who many of us in this place know, is Manchester’s Jewish Representative Council leader, and his father Alan, is a chairman of the synagogue.”
“Its youth champions are year 9 pupils who design and lead the extracurricular lunch time and afterschool sessions on the Holocaust for younger children in the school—beautifully bridging generations even within their school, which is the theme of this year’s memorial. Last week, Greater Manchester’s commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day featured a video of Falinge Park high school pupils Abiha Imran, Willow Greenwood and Dylan Ogden, as they joined Andy Burnham to interview Tomi Komoly, another Holocaust survivor. Tomi revealed he had spoken to 27,000 students in his 10 years of work with the Holocaust Educational Trust—27,000 students who will remember his story. His advice to the next generation was simple. He said, “the one word that immediately pops into my mind is tolerance.”
“At Birkenau, Ike’s job was to take bodies from gas chambers to the crematoriums. He said, “At Birkenau they had four chimneys and they were glowing 24 hours a day, day and night.” That is invaluable testimony to the children of Rochdale from someone who was there. Someone whose story cannot be denied, and someone who we still remember with great fondness. Despite his passing, Ike’s testimony lives on because his talk to the students was captured on video and is shown by the school every year, thanks to the great efforts of the excellent teachers, such as the Holocaust education lead at Falinge Park, Adele Turner. Falinge Park has legacy beacon status as one of the schools under the umbrella of the University College London Centre for Holocaust Education, and has developed a special Holocaust ambassadors and youth champions programme.”
“I mention Ike because his story is well known by the children of Rochdale, particularly in Falinge Park high school, which he visited three years ago to share his experiences. Ike recalled picking sprouts in the bitter Polish winter for the SS officers’ Christmas dinner. He and the other Jews had no proper clothing and no shoes—Ike strapped straw to his feet to walk in the snow. The SS officer said that if he and fellow children sang “Silent Night” they would get a bonus: a ladle of warm water to put sprout skins in. Ike said: “To this day I've never touched sprouts again.” Ike was just 13 when his family were lined up in the town square alongside other Jews. He saw his mother, sister, and brother led away by men with rifles. Later he found out they were likely sent to Treblinka, an extermination camp.”
“On that note, it was a real honour last week to meet 95-year-old Mala Tribich MBE in Parliament, and to hear her very moving testimony of how she and her brother were the only members of her family to survive the Nazi Holocaust, following her imprisonment in Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen camps. Many Members will agree how heartbreaking it was to hear of her pleading with the SS guard not to put her on a train. Mala told me afterwards how proud she was of her brother Ben, who went on to represent Britain at the Olympics as a weightlifter. Ben, who passed away in 2023, was one of the 700 Jewish youngsters taken to Cumbria from the death camps. Ike Alterman, who passed away at age 97 in December last year, was the last surviving Greater Manchester member of that group of so-called Windermere children.”
“I pay tribute to my hon. Friends the Members for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley) and for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols) for their powerful and moving testimony. They are a credit to their community and their constituents. Holocaust Memorial Day is a time when we remember the 6 million Jewish men, women and children murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust. The theme of this year’s memorial day is “Bridging Generations”. It is the solemn duty of all of us, in this place and beyond it, who have had the privilege of meeting Holocaust survivors, to pass on their testimony to younger people so that we all may bear witness, collectively, to their suffering and their memory.”
“I signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s book of commitment in Parliament, which is part of the trust’s ongoing effort to educate children about past and present atrocities across the globe. It is only through education that we can tackle the ignorance that fuels hatred. The responsibility of remembrance does not end with the survivors; it lives on through their children and grandchildren and, of course, through all of us. I will finish with a poem sent to me by Zeeshan Shafqat, a 17-year-old student at Rochdale’s Hopwood Hall college: “In ashes of pain, where names were erased, We stand together now, face to face. Muslim and Jew, hand in hand, Guarding the truth that history demands. Never again, our shared vow remains— To honour the lost, and break hatred’s chains.””
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I encourage all Members of the House to take a trip to Srebrenica to see for themselves the mass graves, the cemetery and the museum. It is incredibly moving. The centre director, Emir, and the head of oral history, Hasan, were encouraged to hear that Rochdale schoolchildren are taught about the Srebrenica genocide as part of their Holocaust education. As the MP for Rochdale, it is my duty to remind everyone in my constituency of the horrors of 7 October, the worst pogrom of Jews since the second world war. It is also my duty to call out the deaths of the men, women and children in Gaza that followed. The need for testimony, evidence and accountability is as important as ever.”
“I bow to my hon. Friend’s preference when it comes to Hartlepool, not least because Rochdale were recently subjected to an awful defeat at the hands of the Pools, and I was there to witness it. Hopefully that will not prevent us from winning the national league. He makes a powerful case for the community links of non-league clubs. Will he join me in praising the Dale Trust—the supporters trust—and Dale 1907, which do so much for our local community? Will he also join me at the end of the season, when we put the up into “Up the Dale”?”
“Speaking of clubs that are at the top of their league, Rochdale are at the top of the national league right now. Despite that, we do strongly support the 3UP—and three down—campaign, because although we may well benefit this year from going straight up, we know all too often that clubs can sometimes rack up lots of points but still not go up, as York City did last season even though they were 20 points ahead of Oldham. As a season ticket holder, like my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Brash), it is really important that we reward the loyalty of fans and footballers who play for clubs such Rochdale, Hearts and Hartlepool. I also want to pay tribute to Ian Henderson, who marked his 41st birthday last weekend with a goal and an assist and who plays for Rochdale as our record goal scorer.”
“My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. Mellor, a bus manufacturer in Rochdale, does a superb job of producing the buses that Greater Manchester needs. Andy Burnham was the first in more than 40 years to retake control of our bus network in Greater Manchester, showing that with a publicly controlled local bus network, we cannot only improve facilities for passengers but secure contracts for local workers and British-built buses. Does my hon. Friend agree that is the way forward, particularly when we are considering Chinese-built buses?”
“My hon. Friend the Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato) have both referred to the excellent research by the University of Manchester. One of the most shocking findings of that research, which I discussed with the researchers last year, was that 19% of women runners had been followed and 7% had been flashed at. Does the Minister agree that, while women are often taking measures to mitigate the threat, whether through smartphones, special safety apps, or even changing their routes, the real answer ultimately lies in more visible policing, more CCTV, better lighting—crucial for local communities—and in tackling at source, as the violence against women and girls strategy does, the misogyny in our schools and workplaces?”
“From the Flying Horse to the Baum, from Vicolo del Vino to the Oxford, from the Spring Inn to the Moorcock, we are really lucky in Rochdale and Littleborough to have some fantastic pubs and bars, but many of them are worried about business rates. Will the Leader of the House give me some assurance that we will urgently get a Government package of support for our pubs and the pub industry, so that we can once again start saying in Rochdale, “Up the Dale and down the ale!”?”
“Other retailers should take note of that and take action, before any change in the law. Fireworks at important recognised events throughout the calendar year, such as bonfire night, Diwali, Eid al-Fitr, new year’s eve and Chinese new year, could all still be celebrated, as lots of people have said today, with lower noise levels, with low-noise and no-bang fireworks. Knowing that those specific events are coming up gives pet owners time to prepare for the possibility of noise disruption. Fireworks are often a way to bring people together but, sadly, they are currently tearing people apart. With tighter restrictions in place, we can do something: we can protect pets, wildlife, and human beings too.”
“It says of the current law: “it is our members who are put into dangerous situations trying to deal with the consequences.” I have full sympathy for local law enforcement officers, who are already short of resources, trying to enforce the curfews under the current law. The problem is that loud fireworks can effectively be bought by anyone, wherever they like, and set off anywhere. This, ultimately, is also a matter of respect: respect for our neighbours. Most people who hold firework displays for weddings and birthdays, for example, probably are not even aware of the distress that they are causing—but they need to be made aware of it. I am a Labour and Co-operative party MP, and it is worth pointing out that, years ago, the Co-Operative Group decided to impose a total ban on the sale of fireworks after work with animal charities.”
“Some people may feel on edge and overwhelmed, others may be reminded of moments in combat and can be troubled by past traumatic events.” Those former servicemen and women are not snowflakes; they are people who did their duty for this country and they deserve to be treated with respect. Almost a quarter of military veterans say that fireworks have triggered a negative experience for them. Children suffer too: some 343 children needed specialist burns care between 2019 and 2023—that is specialist burns care in a hospital with a specialist consultant, separate from the thousands who are injured every year. We should also not forget the impact on our firefighters. The Fire Brigades Union says that, every year, the consequences of fireworks—fires, injuries and the spread of fear—have a direct impact on its members.”
“Many in my constituency have written to say that they heard fireworks every night throughout the autumn months, and often far past the curfew. Such late-night use affects not just pet owners, but shift workers, families with young children, families with children with special needs or autism, and the elderly. Charities supporting veterans have repeatedly raised awareness of the effect that fireworks can have on those with PTSD, as has been said in this debate. Research by Combat Stress and Help for Heroes found that 74% of veterans want tighter restrictions on the days and times when fireworks can be used. Theresa Mitchell, head of the “Hidden Wounds” therapy service for veterans, said: “Sudden, loud noises, unpredictable flashes of light and the smell of bonfires and fireworks can trigger anxiety.”
“Janet Gough from Littleborough wrote to me to say “they started in the middle of October, every night…They are so loud my dog is now a nervous drooling wreck, I’m scared she will have a heart attack or something—it’s getting out of control now.” Janet is absolutely right: it is out of control now. I love a fireworks display as much as anyone else. They can be beautiful and spectacular. In Rochdale, we have many displays that we are proud of: the bonfire night celebrations with fireworks on Cronkeyshaw common, at Littleborough cricket club, and at Milnrow cricket club. Everyone enjoys them and no one wants to be a killjoy, but for so many people fireworks are not a matter of joy; they are a matter of fear. The use of fireworks has gone far beyond being enjoyed a couple of days a year.”
“I used to be able to handle that, because the use of fireworks was a rare event, but now it is not a one-off every now and then; it is a regular event, all year round. Constituents such as Marina Berry from Wardle in my constituency have been in touch with their stories, including of panicking dogs at risk of heart attacks and horses running into barbed wire and causing themselves injury. The data shows that 41% of UK dog owners say that their dog is afraid of fireworks—that is 4 million dogs—while 35% more dogs go missing on bonfire night than on any other night of the year, as do 22% more cats.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I thank the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for opening this debate. Rochdale has the second highest number of signatures of all constituencies in the country on the petition to limit the sale of fireworks to approved events only—813 people. If we add the 222 who also signed the petition calling for a lower maximum noise level, there are more than 1,000 people in my constituency who take this issue very seriously. As many hon. Members have said, fireworks are meant to be a cause of celebration but for far too many animals, pet owners and other humans they are a cause of distress and terror. My dog Oscar, like so many others, is absolutely terrified of fireworks.”
“Young people in my constituency have long wanted some form of digital ID that allows them to prove their age in a club, pub or shop; it will make their life a lot easier. They are used to using smartphones. I am delighted that the Government have made it clear that the scheme will be voluntary, not mandatory. However, many older people in my constituency do not have a smartphone, and a significant number of them will need to know the Government’s plans, so that they can make sure that they do not lose out.”
“The British Bangladeshi community in Rochdale, across the whole north-west, and stretching as far as Scotland and the midlands rely on Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ direct flight from Manchester to Sylhet. However, Biman has suddenly announced the suspension of that route, cutting off a lifeline for families and businesses who travel and trade between our two countries, and leaving many facing the huge cost of travelling directly through London instead. Will the Leader of the House join me and every other MP across the north in urging the airline to think again, listen to our constituents, and restore that flight as soon as possible?”
“The new maternal care bundle, to which the Secretary of State refers, is rightly aimed at reversing the recent worrying rise in maternal death and ill health. In particular, the increase in obstetric haemorrhage concerns so many midwives and doctors and the families affected. Given that the Government want to help women to make informed choices about how they give birth safely, can the NHS do more to highlight the well documented risks of severe bleeding and placenta accreta caused by caesarean sections?”
“Every year since 2021, the residents of Wrenbury Drive in Rochdale have turned their street into a spectacular display of Christmas lights—a real winter wonderland—all in aid of our brilliant local hospice, Springhill hospice. This year, they have raised more than £6,000, as families of all backgrounds came to marvel at what is really Rochdale’s own Blackpool illuminations. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Maria Brierley and all other Rochdalians who make this such a fantastic event in our Christmas calendar?”
“Every 17 minutes, someone is killed or seriously injured on our roads. That is a national scandal, which this Labour Government are tackling through this road safety strategy. Will the Minister join me in paying tribute to Rochdale trading standards, which, together with local police, led the country in exposing how ghost number plates are used by criminals, groomers, drug dealers and others to avoid detection? Will she thank all those bereaved families who campaigned with me and fellow MPs to ensure that we have mandatory eye tests for over-70s and much tighter drug-driving laws?”
“The people of Rochdale are extremely proud of our long-standing Ukrainian community, which is made up of both those who fled Soviet terror in the 20th century and those who sought refuge from Putin’s crimes in the 21st century. Does the Secretary of State agree that what Putin fears most is western unity, and cross-party consensus and unity in Houses like this one in democracies across the west? Does the Secretary of State agree, therefore, that if Reform MPs vote against deployment of our brave British troops in Ukraine, it would be the biggest gift to Putin since Nathan Gill took that bribe from the Russians?”
“From state-sponsored assassination attempts to illegal invasions, in recent years we have seen an alarming rise in the number of countries that are behaving like rogue states, including countries that are permanent members of the Security Council—I name Russia, given what happened on British soil, in Salisbury. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that international rules-based order and international law should be a fundamental principle and practice of the UK, and that we expect other countries to uphold that in all circumstances?”
“Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) says, urgently consider the question of sanctions against the Israeli Ministers responsible for it?”
“I welcome the fact that, as the Minister said, the UK is spending £116 million this financial year on vital aid to the Palestinians, providing healthcare, food, clean water and sanitation. However, that aid is often stuck at the border because of the continued closure of the Rafah crossing. More importantly, at a time of desperately urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the decision by the Israeli Government to withdraw support or accreditation for NGOs such as ActionAid, CARE International, the International Rescue Committee and the Norwegian Refugee Council is an act of calculated and unconscionable cruelty, is it not? Will the Minister join me in condemning that act and, as my hon.”