Joe Morris
MP for Hexham · Labour · United Kingdom
“As always, my hon. Friend is making a well-informed, passionate speech on behalf of his constituents. Is it not the case that dualling is necessary not just for the safety of his and my constituents, and those of all the north-east MPs in the Chamber, but for the economy of the north-east region as a whole?”
“Just to pick up on the comments around Treasury engagement, what is the Minister’s opinion of recent changes to the Green Book and the approach that Members of Parliament should take to engaging with his Department possibly now that the king of the north-west midlands is due to take up office?”
“I thank my hon. Friend for giving way; he is making a very powerful and informed speech, as did my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed). I just want to press him on that point. Is not the important thing now for the Government to commit in principle to a ban on settlement trade?”
“There are amazing developments in community energy, particularly across my constituency with the Northumberland solar-powered community buildings project, which is purchasing and installing both solar panels and battery storage for community buildings, including village halls, in our most remote communities.”
“I welcome these measures, which are a fantastic step forward. These actions are about not just tackling foreign donations and dirty money, but putting faith back into our politics and ensuring that people can feel that their vote matters locally.”
“The effects on farmers and food standards are some of the most visible and felt impacts of trade policy, and obviously domestic agriculture is one of our sectors that are most sensitive to import shocks. Does the Minister agree that transition periods are vital when the Government are negotiating international trade agreements?”
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“As always, my hon. Friend is making a well-informed, passionate speech on behalf of his constituents. Is it not the case that dualling is necessary not just for the safety of his and my constituents, and those of all the north-east MPs in the Chamber, but for the economy of the north-east region as a whole? Does he agree that dualling would not just make people safe, but make the region better off? It would benefit the entire east coast of the country, enhance connectivity between Scotland and England, and save lives.”
“Just to pick up on the comments around Treasury engagement, what is the Minister’s opinion of recent changes to the Green Book and the approach that Members of Parliament should take to engaging with his Department possibly now that the king of the north-west midlands is due to take up office? What should we be doing to drive that investment forward now that the rules have been changed and Ministers are considering perhaps a different context?”
“I thank my hon. Friend for giving way; he is making a very powerful and informed speech, as did my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed). I just want to press him on that point. Is not the important thing now for the Government to commit in principle to a ban on settlement trade? We can agree with our international partners that we should work out the technicalities when possible, but such a commitment would give the public the moral clarity that we are prepared to act in line with our values.”
“There are amazing developments in community energy, particularly across my constituency with the Northumberland solar-powered community buildings project, which is purchasing and installing both solar panels and battery storage for community buildings, including village halls, in our most remote communities. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the community energy specific need for a smart export guarantee, and greater support for community energy power-purchasing agreements?”
“I welcome these measures, which are a fantastic step forward. These actions are about not just tackling foreign donations and dirty money, but putting faith back into our politics and ensuring that people can feel that their vote matters locally. Can the Minister assure me that the enforcement agencies will have teeth to ensure that these sanctions are applied appropriately and that people can have confidence in the integrity of our whole political system?”
“The effects on farmers and food standards are some of the most visible and felt impacts of trade policy, and obviously domestic agriculture is one of our sectors that are most sensitive to import shocks. Does the Minister agree that transition periods are vital when the Government are negotiating international trade agreements? Will he commit to making sure that the farming sector is properly consulted on implementation and transition periods for any agreement that is made, and particularly the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement, and will he work across Government on that?”
“Last week, Sarah, the head of pastoral services at Hexham Priory school, and the Friends of Hexham Priory school began their 24-hour challenge. They raised more than £28,000 by running and walking laps of Wentworth leisure centre in Hexham for a continuous 24-hour period—in one of the hottest weeks on record, no less. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating them on their actions? Will he support a debate in Government time on support for respite services for the families of children with special educational needs and disabilities in rural areas?”
“I echo the concerns of colleagues from all parts of the House on the E1 settlements. If they go ahead, they will clearly destroy the viability of a Palestinian state. That is not a commentary; as has been said, it is a stated aim. To build on the comments of my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford East (Anneliese Dodds), may I encourage the Minister to do whatever he can to emphasise to the business community not just in this country, but across the world, that involvement with these settlements is morally bankrupt? The public will not tolerate it, and we need to do everything we can to stop British business being involved in this morally repugnant trade.”
“The Secretary of State will be aware that terrestrial television is not just an entertainment platform but a resilient form of communication that reaches into communities where digital, broadband or mobile signal quite simply do not have the reach or the reliability. Does she share my concern that the switch-off of terrestrial TV in either 2034 or 2044 could cut off communities in my constituency from that resilient communication platform, and will she meet me to discuss my concerns?”
“I urge the Minister to think about how she can encourage councils to make their tips more accessible to address those concerns. One of the priorities for the new Reform councillors in Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn is to make sure that residents are able to access that tip and that the Mill Vale estate no longer has to deal with either the constant fumes and sheer noise from traffic idling just outside it or the fly-tipping we are seeing around it.”
“Unfortunately, I think there is a structural issue within Northumberland in particular, where the Conservative administration neglects the west of the county. It directs resources away from the area I represent to areas that it prefers. There is a slight sense, certainly in my constituency, that we are getting short-changed—that the Conservatives are putting up our council tax for very little in return in the west of the county. I want to touch briefly on the Walbottle Road tip in Newburn, which is a major driver of fly-tipping and of unease and unrest over fly-tipping in my constituency, simply because it is impossible to turn into. It has been a running sore for residents over many years, including when my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) represented this part of Newcastle.”
“It sets an excellent foundation for taking action to tackle fly-tipping, which blights communities across the span of my constituency. However, I am slightly concerned that on the more rural side of my seat, there is a growing problem of individual areas becoming magnets for mega fly-tipping. While those areas are not hyper-residential, like the areas that many of my wise and well-informed colleagues have spoken about, mega fly-tipping is nevertheless a blight on the communities that live around them, use those green spaces, and enjoy the countryside and their surroundings. I have been really heartened to see statistics coming out of Northumberland and Newcastle that show the hard work of council workers in addressing fly-tipping.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. Fly-tipping in residential and rural areas is a blight across the communities that I represent, whether it is the most rural communities, such as Belsay and Kirkley Hall, or areas such as Throckley, Newburn and Walbottle on the more urban side of my seat. I pay particular tribute to community organisations, such as the Ponteland Anti-Litter Squad and the Hexham Wombles, that take action to clear up local litter and against fly-tipping, most of which do excellent jobs. There are other groups in the 200 towns and villages throughout my constituency, but I would detain everyone for quite a long time if I named them all. I welcome the waste crime action plan.”
“A constituent of mine, Daniel, passed away while he was part of the BRAIN-MATRIX study. Daniel’s tumour progressed from stage 2 to stage 4 before the pathway could properly inform his care. Does my hon. Friend agree that much more needs to be done, not only to improve primary care recognition and referral pathways for brain tumours, but to maximise access to clinical trials?”
“Rural housing availability is in crisis, and all the tenants of an estate near Haltwhistle in my constituency, many of whom are elderly tenants in their 70s and 80s, received section 21 notices a week before the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 came into effect. In a rural community like that, there simply is not similar housing nearby. It is the dismantling of a rural community. Will the Minister therefore meet me to discuss the support he can offer for constituents and the further steps we can take to stop rural communities being victimised by these practices?”
“I add my voice to others across the House in urging for stronger actions on Israeli war crimes. Fertiliser is a key issue, not just in my constituency but across the world. I have spoken to a lot of local farmers who are deeply concerned that not only do they feel the pinch already, but that that will shortly pass on to UK consumers and drive up the already spiking cost of living. Will the Foreign Secretary outline some steps that she is taking to make sure that more fertiliser is available in our part of the world and, indeed, across the world to combat global hunger?”
“I would like to see the Government doing far more to push local authorities to address what are often ticking time bombs. Those cases are often acted on only after there has been a tragedy. We need far more proactive action from local authorities.”
“Visit Northumberland, the tourism body, spends most of its time—as does the Conservative-run county council—promoting the coastal regions of the county, rather than promoting west Northumberland. I want to comment briefly on a subject that my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen touched on: road safety. There can be no good connectivity without road safety. On a summer tour last year, I held 80 surgeries in four weeks across my constituency; I will do it again this year. The No. 1 concern that comes up in almost every village is “Can we get a speed limit? Can we get a speed camera? Can we do something about road crossings?” It particularly affects those small villages where people have to cross the road to get the village hall or the shop. These are often communities where there is no available road crossing.”
“They have been challenging outdated assumptions, securing reports showing clear evidence of the credible economic and social case for reopening the station, and submitting multiple bids to multiple Government pots of money. Almost 60 years after closure, there is still no operating station, despite the fact that locals have to see trains passing the station on the Newcastle-Carlisle line every day. That is a living example of a rural community being left behind. I am passionate about getting the station reopened. It would be fantastic not just for the economy of Gilsland, but for the economy of the whole of Northumberland. It would add to the county’s already magnificent tourism offer and would make it easier for people to come into my region and spend their money.”
“Gilsland sits on the Northumberland-Cumbria border, at the heart of the Hadrian’s wall world heritage site. The village is a central point for visitors to the incredible features of historical interest in the border country. There was a train station at Gilsland from 1836 to 1967, when it closed because of the Beeching report, along with thousands of other stations across the country. There has been passionate community campaigning, spanning decades, by the Campaign to Open Gilsland Station and the Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership, which are dedicated to the cause of reconnecting local people to their rail network.”
“As always, Sir Roger, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairship. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) on securing such an important and timely debate. As the MP for the largest constituency in England, I spend a lot of time speaking about local transport, whether that is rail, road, walking or cycling. Over the recess, I was lucky to cycle a part of the proposed Haydon Bridge to Hexham cycle way. I look forward to working with the community group that is trying to get funding for that. I will spend a lot of my time focusing on a particular case: the ongoing campaign to bring rail back to the village of Gilsland, which sits half in my constituency and half in that of my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns).”
“I echo the comments about the need for Hezbollah to cease their attacks on civilians, but it is clear that the tactics being used by the IDF deliberately echo and mirror the tactics being used in Gaza and in the west bank: forced displacement, deliberate targeting of hospitals and other healthcare facilities, and intentional targeting of journalists to try to blind the world to the crimes that are taking place. Does the Minister agree that there is a clear need for further and deeper sanctions against the individuals and organisations responsible in the Israeli Government?”
“I welcome the recently announced funding package for community pharmacies in England, but we need to address the further challenges to close the gap between the rising costs facing the sector and their increased delivery of services, which leaves community pharmacies vulnerable and, often, in a turbulent operating environment. Nearly 64,000 community pharmacy weekly opening hours were lost between September 2022 and June 2024. We cannot afford to lose any more, especially in rural constituencies. We need rural funding models that reflect reality and a continued commitment to innovation in community pharmacy. I urge the Minister to take forward those points.”
“If we are serious about delivering on those ambitions in rural areas, we have to be equally serious about supporting the infrastructure that makes that possible. The reality on the ground is that community pharmacies, particularly those in rural areas, are under real strain. In England, around 90% of the population live within walking distance of a community pharmacy, but that falls to just 20% in rural areas. We have seen closures and reductions in opening hours, and in places like my constituency, the loss of a single pharmacy is not easily absorbed—it is not simply numbers on a spreadsheet. There is not always another one down the road; the next nearest pharmacy could be several miles away, beyond the reach of those without a car or effective public transport links.”
“Whether they are managing the specific symptoms of a condition, collecting a prescription or accessing emergency contraception, or are a parent needing reassurance about their child’s symptoms, those in rural communities rely on proximity to their local pharmacy, given that the journey to a GP surgery or hospital is often unworkable, inaccessible or costly. In providing a wide range of health services, pharmacies play a crucial role in the broader mechanics of care, easing pressure on GP practices and helping patients to get the care they need more quickly. That is exactly the direction of travel proposed in the Health Bill. We want care closer to home, a shift towards prevention and better use of the wider healthcare workforce.”
“More than 30% of the population of my constituency is over the age of 65, and about 20% of the people in the communities I represent live with a disability. There are considerable accessibility challenges, which require assurance and support from a friendly and locally minded in-person service that community pharmacies are uniquely positioned to deliver. I want to touch more broadly on the challenges of delivering healthcare rurally. When we speak about modernising the NHS—from the conversations that I have had with the Minister privately, I know he is aware of this—we need to ensure that making the NHS more digital does not leave behind rural areas, where the access challenge continues. I hope the broader challenges posed by the Health Bill are taken up by other Departments in addressing connectivity issues.”
“As always, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I want to speak about rural community pharmacies. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel Gilmour) for securing this important and timely debate. In my constituency, from Haltwhistle and Haydon Bridge to Bellingham, Ponteland and the villages across Tynedale, the local pharmacy is not simply a convenient service on the high street; it is the frontline of the NHS and a core and trusted custodian of community health and wellbeing. As has been said, rural healthcare works differently. People face geographical access challenges. Longer travel distances and limited public transport are both huge determinants of health outcomes. They face digital access challenges, with more frequent broadband and mobile connection issues.”
“My hon. Friend is making an informed and well-made speech. Does she agree that we need to look at not only how we can expand international aid to deliver for the world’s poorest, but how we can regain moral leadership? A crucial part of that, as she and my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) have said, is the BBC World Service. Those frequencies have been taken over by Russia and other anti-democratic nations. The World Service must be a key part of supporting that goal, not just in the future, but right now.”
“I apologise for my tardiness, Dr Murrison. I just want to pick up on the point about agriculture. As we are talking about national accident prevention, it is important to recognise that accidents in rural areas require a different level of promotion and public engagement. Will the Minister therefore join me in urging everyone involved in accident prevention to recognise the unique challenges that rural areas face and to take appropriate steps where possible, whether that is in road safety or in workplace safety?”
“Hidden credit line practices and the profit motivations of banks have destroyed the lives and livelihoods of not only Catherine and Nigel but thousands of families and businesses across the country. I strongly support the calls for an investigation into the specific issue of hidden credit liabilities. Without that, and without a proper inquiry into the FCA’s own conduct on the matter, Catherine and Nigel, along with thousands of others, will continue to live without remedy for the financial destruction they have endured.”
“In making the interest rate swap a condition of the loan it offered, it hid the credit risk from the couple and made applications for those credit facilities in their personal names without their knowledge or agreement. The hidden credit line made the agreement toxic from the start. A key factor in the lack of justice for Catherine and Nigel has been the FCA’s handling of hidden credit lines as a specific factor. At the initial IRHP review scheme, the FCA told reviewers to treat the hidden credit line as an internal bank risk and ignore it in considering almost everything that Catherine and Nigel suffered—directly derailing their claim to redress. The decision was made that the Jarvises’ losses were not foreseeable to the bank. In reality, their losses were not only foreseeable but expected, due to that hidden credit line.”
“The then FSA’s conduct of business rules, which applied in 2007, stated that, before granting any credit or loan in connection with an investment business, such as the interest rate swap, the bank was required to make and record an assessment of the couple’s financial standing based on the information disclosed; take reasonable steps to ensure that arrangements for the loan or credit, and the amount concerned, were suitable for them; and obtain Catherine and Nigel’s prior written consent to the maximum amount of the loan or credit and to the amount or basis of any interest fees to be levied in connection with it. The bank did none of those things.”
“Since 2007, they have poured everything they could into trying to untangle themselves from an agreement they never would have signed had its true scope been disclosed to them. That has cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds, with an untold cost to their mental and emotional wellbeing and physical health.”
“The reality was that, on the very first day of the agreement, the product they were sold created hidden profit for the bank and an undisclosed credit line for the couple, acting effectively as a second, secret mortgage on their home. They began their SME journey with extra secured debt and a risk they knew nothing about. When rates crashed in early 2009, the undisclosed “out of the money” position covered by the hidden credit line exploded that risk, damaging Catherine and Nigel’s internal credit grade and making the loan look far riskier to the bank. Eventually, they were threatened with foreclosure unless they agreed to move into the bank’s restructuring unit, even though Catherine and Nigel never missed a payment and had no knowledge of the additional risk now being used against them.”
“Instead of a residential mortgage, the couple were explicitly told that they had to agree to a commercial loan with a derivative product—in this case, an interest rate swap—as a condition, without which the Jarvises could not have bought their home. As every member of the public should be able to, they trusted the institution implicitly and proceeded. Even when the suggestion of a derivative product came as a surprise, they believed the bank had their best interests at heart. They were sold the swap on the understanding that it was insurance, protecting them from the risks of increasing interest rates with no up-front cost.”
“As more than 40% of the house was always intended to be used as Catherine and Nigel’s main dwelling, under FCA rules their loan request to HSBC represented a standard home on which a normal residential mortgage should have been offered. An offer should have come from the regulated mortgage side of the bank, where all consumer protections under the mortgage conduct of business rules would apply. What happened instead trapped them in a relationship with HSBC for almost 20 years that has ruined their finances, their credit ratings, their health and their relationships. It has ruined their plans for the future and their dreams as small business owners and has had an irreversible impact on the lives of their two children, who have grown up in the shadow of this trauma.”
“I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) on securing such an important and timely debate. Catherine and Nigel Jarvis are of the type of local business owners who become the lifeblood of their communities and local economies. Creative, hard-working and passionate about the Northumberland countryside, in 2007 they looked to buy a property deep in the heart of Hadrian’s Wall country. Their dream was to raise their young family there, while renting out some of the rooms as a bed and breakfast. They approached HSBC for a loan of £175,000 to put towards the family home and business proposition. It should have been straightforward.”
“All Royal Mail could say was that the documents are now considered lost. I am sure we all want to hear assurances that Royal Mail will take action to improve its service and make full use of the Government’s commitment to support that. I urge the Government to press Royal Mail to ensure that future plans explicitly consider the needs of our most rural and sparsely populated communities.”
“My constituents and I find that there is a serious lack of accountability at Royal Mail, and that includes a failure to recognise the scale of the problem in my constituency and the scale of the issues affecting the rural constituencies who rely on the postal service as a lifeline. There is much I would like to go into, but I want to focus particularly on the case of a constituent who I have been supporting. They requested for legal documents to be sent between two solicitors’ offices via recorded delivery, with proof of postage, at the beginning of December 2025. The documents never made it to the intended recipient. My constituent contacted Royal Mail customer service on numerous occasions, and spent 60 minutes on hold—they also got in contact via email, online and in person at the sorting office.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I want to put on the record my thanks to the posties across the Hexham constituency. They traverse extremely rural areas to deliver post in some pretty challenging circumstances. It is a pleasure to represent them and their families. Unfortunately, like some of the post in my experience, most of my speech will go undelivered, but I do want to speak a little bit about the impact of Royal Mail’s management, particularly its neglect of rural communities. A constituent recently arrived at the local sorting office to collect 15 items of important undelivered mail, including a cancer test result with a postmark dated two months earlier.”
“Yesterday I spoke to my constituent Luca, who has spent months campaigning for the investment that is needed to secure a reliable internet and phone connection for his community in the village of Lambley. He has been pushed from pillar to post between private companies, national agencies and local government, and meanwhile the residents of Lambley continue to live without effective internet connection. The solutions depend on funding and co-operation, which are challenging owing to the location and the lack of accountability. Will the Minister meet representatives of Coanwood parish council, Luca and me to try to find a way forward for Lambley and other rural communities?”
“I represent about 13,500 households that are off the grid. I welcome the recognition of the scale of the problem in these communities and getting them proper support. I urge the Minister to ensure that regulation for the heating oil sector is brought forward as quickly and effectively as possible, so that constituents are not ripped off far into the future, and to continue to monitor the situation as it progresses so that further action may be taken if required.”
“Last summer, I did a tour across my constituency, holding 80 surgeries in four weeks, and the No. 1 issue in west Northumberland was potholes on rural roads. We are unfortunately lumbered with Conservative-run Northumberland county council, which manages to be both incompetent and neglectful of the west of the county to an almost historic degree. I wonder if the Leader of the House will join me on a visit to one of the potholes in my constituency.”
“Does my hon. Friend hope, as I do, that the Minister will work with expert organisations such as Northumberland national park to determine how we can best protect ground-nesting birds such as the curlew, which is mainly resident in my constituency of Hexham?”
“I thank the Minister for being exceptionally generous with her time. I want to emphasise the point on banking hubs. I have been particularly frustrated about the town of Haltwhistle in my constituency. It is a smaller town but has a huge area that looks to it, going from Slaggyford and Gilsland up to communities nearer the Scottish border. On the current criteria, it is too small to attract a banking hub by itself, but the businesses that look to it are now forced to look to Hexham or, further afield, to Newcastle, or indeed to the west of Carlisle. That risks strangling the growth of economic enterprise in the west of Northumberland, which is already, I must say, very poorly supported by Northumberland county council.”
“I thank the Secretary of State for his announcement. Community energy is incredibly powerful in rural Britain, particularly in the village of Humshaugh, where Humshaugh Net Zero set up the community-owned solar farm. I restate my invitation to the Secretary of State to join me on a visit to Humshaugh community solar farm, and thank him once again for the statement.”
“He turned to AI nudification apps to continue to produce non-consensual imagery of the victim and cover his digital tracks in the process. Investigation resources, appropriate technologies and the boundaries of the evidential threshold have all conspired against this innocent woman whose life has been devastated by digital and domestic abuse. I urge the Minister to look proactively at a cross-departmental approach to ensuring that our commitment to tackling digital exploitation is effective and addresses the systemic gaps.”
“He was arrested, but while he was in custody he refused to share the PIN to access his device. The investigating force did not have the technology required to effectively review the device, which was key to the perpetrator’s activity. It had no way to prove where the non-consensual images came from or prove their existence with any electronic footprint on the suspect’s devices. With only circumstantial evidence based on who had access to the images, and with the suspect denying the accusations against him, the police could not meet the evidential threshold required for the CPS to charge. After being released, he was free to go straight back into the community, holding the very device that could be used to further perpetrate abuse, which he did.”
“I thank the Minister for the time she took to meet us last week, when we discussed the next steps for the campaign and addressed potential routes to reform. Technology is being weaponised against women and girls at a speed that far outpaces our systems to safeguard and support victims, prosecute perpetrators and intervene in cases before warning signs escalate into fatalities. I want to touch briefly on a case that my office has been working on with another constituent for well over a year. Not only has she suffered the most appalling digital violation, but she has been a victim of systemic flaws when it comes to this form of abuse. She discovered that her partner had spent several years taking non-consensual intimate photographic images of her and had posted them to websites and forums online.”
“Devastatingly for her family, this abhorrent act of violence against Holly and the abuse that preceded it are not recognised as domestic violence, as Holly was under the age of 16. Micala, Holly’s mother, experienced a horrifyingly similar lack of support or acknowledgment of her own experience of domestic abuse as a teenager. Without recognition for domestic abuse victims under the age of 16, the system will continue to fail children across the country. I support the family and the campaign for Holly’s law, which would change the age of recognition and the development of relationship education for all young people. It is a critical flaw that we are not legally recognising victims when we know that they exist and that perpetrators in the realm of digital exploitation and abuse are themselves increasingly under the age of 16 or 18.”