Markus Campbell-Savours
MP for Penrith and Solway · Labour · United Kingdom
“I welcome the publication of the road map, and note from the section on environmental land management schemes that in 2027 there will be a need to support farms with legacy countryside stewardship and higher-level stewardship agreements in the transition to new schemes.”
“Section 10 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 amended the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 so that, in addition to already needing to be on the electoral register, a donor would need to be domiciled in the UK for tax purposes.”
“I appreciate the speed at which the Government are working, and understand that local authorities will have a role in how the money is distributed. However, in the absence of detail, many people are doing a back-of-a-fag-packet calculation.”
“I welcome these reforms. However, on the issue of accountability, despite years of failure documented in multiple inspection reports by the coroner and the Care Quality Commission, the integrated care board has not yet removed the contract from Cockermouth’s Castlegate and Derwent partnership.”
“I will take the hon. Member’s word for it that those Humble Addresses did not contain those words, but if you take, for example, the Humble Address on Lebedev’s appointment to the House of Lords in 2022, it did not have to contain those words for the Conservative Government to use national security grounds not to provide swathes of docume…”
“While this amendment falls short of the full U-turn I would have preferred, today I will vote with the many rural Labour MPs who lobbied Ministers for many months to see this change.”
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“I welcome the publication of the road map, and note from the section on environmental land management schemes that in 2027 there will be a need to support farms with legacy countryside stewardship and higher-level stewardship agreements in the transition to new schemes. However, many in this House, the EFRA Committee, the National Audit Office and farmers have questioned whether Natural England is sufficiently resourced to support that. Will the Minister reassure me that behind the words in this important report there will be the trained staff to support my farmers with the challenging transition?”
“Section 10 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 amended the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 so that, in addition to already needing to be on the electoral register, a donor would need to be domiciled in the UK for tax purposes. However, section 10 required a statutory instrument to activate it, but no such statutory instrument was ever laid before this House. Will the Secretary of State look at belatedly activating this measure to ensure that only those that live and pay tax in the UK can influence our democracy with their money?”
“I welcome these reforms. However, on the issue of accountability, despite years of failure documented in multiple inspection reports by the coroner and the Care Quality Commission, the integrated care board has not yet removed the contract from Cockermouth’s Castlegate and Derwent partnership. What else do Ministers believe I can do to ensure that a failing partnership is held to account, other than calling for the resignation of the senior partner, Dr Desert?”
“I appreciate the speed at which the Government are working, and understand that local authorities will have a role in how the money is distributed. However, in the absence of detail, many people are doing a back-of-a-fag-packet calculation. Can the Minister reassure them that we are committing enough money to make a real difference, and will he commit to meeting me to discuss how we support the 14,715 households in Penwith and Solway who do not benefit from being on the mains gas grid?”
“I will take the hon. Member’s word for it that those Humble Addresses did not contain those words, but if you take, for example, the Humble Address on Lebedev’s appointment to the House of Lords in 2022, it did not have to contain those words for the Conservative Government to use national security grounds not to provide swathes of documents—they did so without those words even being included. Their response almost mirrored the Freedom of Information Act 2000, in respect of the types of exemptions that should apply. Are you really going to deny that that was the approach—”
“To see colleagues whipped to vote for the measure days before the Government proposed amendments that some colleagues had called for over a year ago caused unnecessary pain. On that, I hope lessons are learned. Now, Whip or no Whip, I look forward to supporting this Government in their important task of helping all working people thrive.”
“While this amendment falls short of the full U-turn I would have preferred, today I will vote with the many rural Labour MPs who lobbied Ministers for many months to see this change. They may not have joined me in the No Lobby to vote against Budget resolution 50, but I have no doubt that we would not have seen a change of course without what I believe the Government have called their “constructive engagement”. I know what many of them did, and I hope in time that their constituents and their farmers know what they did, too. I regret being placed in a position where I voted against the Government, but not to do so would have broken a promise. However, I believe the Government had more than ample time to reconsider this policy.”
“I rise to speak in favour of Government amendment 24 and the associated amendments that will increase the 100% allowance cap for agricultural property relief from £1 million to £2.5 million. In December, I believe I closed my last speech on this issue with a plea for the Government to listen to my more reasonable rural colleagues and to change course. I said that it was not too late. It was a plea, but for many of my constituents it was a prayer, and much to the relief of many farmers, it was a prayer answered on 23 December. It would be churlish of me not to thank the Government for seeing sense, as it would be not to thank the Members from across the House who have raised this issue consistently over the last year.”
“Has the Secretary of State reflected on the well-documented difficulties that arise when the US assumes administrative control of occupied territory—difficulties we saw all too clearly during the Iraq conflict? Given these lessons, will the Government press our American allies to ensure we see an early, credible election, one that enfranchises the estimated 7 million Venezuelans who emigrated during Maduro’s time in office? Would that not offer the most legitimate route back to democracy and spare the US the burden and risk inherent in attempting to administer another state? Does not this whole situation, to displace autocracy, demonstrate a need to establish a new consensus that updates the principles that govern intervention in failed states?”
“They have been increasingly vocal on this issue, and it does not look like they are going to stop soon. Ministers must look at the anti-foreclosure clause in the Bill, recognise the deep discomfort it is causing across rural Britain, and change course. It really is not too late.”
“I do not find it credible that the Conservatives, who were last in government, failed to tackle backlogs in the NHS, cut back on early intervention and family support, and failed to fix the housing crisis, yet they complain about the benefits bill, like those things are not all linked. Today I will support the Bill to progress to the next stage—the Government need to set a Budget, and there are many measures in the Bill that will benefit Cumbria—but let me be clear: Whip or no Whip, as the Bill progresses I will not be supporting the agricultural inheritance tax proposals. I want a full U-turn. I have previously set out why I cannot and will not be moved to a position where I break my word to farmers in my community. My advice to Ministers is to take note of my more reasonable colleagues on the Government Benches.”
“I struggle to be brief, so excuse me if I compensate with bluntness, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am a lifelong Labour supporter, a Labour activist of 20 years, a former councillor and chief whip on a Labour group, and although I currently have the Labour Whip suspended, people should be under no illusion about where my loyalties lie. I knew before the election in July ’24 that this Government would not have an easy job. I believe that there is too much to do: many broken services and not enough money to fix them. I also know that the choice at the ballot box was between a party that subjected this country to politically motivated austerity or a Labour Government who would invest in the future. I believe that still means tough decisions on spending and tax—tough decisions that our Treasury team have not ducked.”
“It is not just about money. In my constituency of Penrith and Solway, we have seen the unrestricted change of use of properties from homes to holiday lets, which has led to the depopulation of villages and has undermined local schools. I understand that the Minister for Housing and Planning is currently deliberating on the regulation of the self-catering sector. Will the Minister raise this issue as part of those deliberations?”
“I end with the often repeated words of Martin Niemöller, a German Lutheran pastor who first supported Hitler and then became a critic and was imprisoned. His warning against apathy remains as sharp today as when it was first spoken: “First they came for the socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me.””
“At home, we must protect rights and strengthen democratic practice. Abroad, we must keep rights central to our engagement, even when that complicates other objectives. That is not work for Government alone. Parliamentarians, civil society and individuals each have a role. Authoritarianism grows when people look away. Rights decay when silence becomes the norm. The antidote is collective effort and moral clarity. Again, on this day, let us recommit to the principles forged out of the worst of human history—principles that protect the best of human possibility. Let us stand with the persecuted, defend the defenders, and act in ways that match our words. I urge the Minister to reaffirm the UK’s leadership in defending universal rights, and I look forward to contributions from hon. Members across the House.”
“Ministers and officials need clearer guidance and better cross-departmental knowledge sharing, so our message does not drift. Trade envoys should be briefed on political and human rights risks so they can promote responsible businesses. Courts should be empowered to exercise universal jurisdiction over the gravest crimes. Businesses should have certainty about their obligations to prevent and remedy human rights and environmental harms across supply chains. International leadership is often uncomfortable: it means saying hard things to countries with whom we also want to trade and co-operate and holding firm when headlines move on, but it is necessary. On this International Human Rights Day we should celebrate what has been achieved—the institutions built and the freedoms defended—and speak plainly about what remains to be done.”
“If we are serious about ending impunity, we must back the institutions that exist to hold abusers to account, such as the International Criminal Court, a court of last resort for victims. ICC officials have been placed under US sanctions in a worrying attempt to intimidate the very people who pursue accountability. Now, more than ever, such institutions need our practical support, not token words. We have tools at home to help us promote, protect and advance rights abroad. The overseas security and justice assistance guidance, arms export licensing criteria, targeted sanctions and assessments of business and human rights compliance are useful, but they must be used consistently and transparently and be properly overseen.”
“We must build on that legacy and be mindful that our conduct matters abroad. When Britain falls short, others point and follow. Why should we care about abuses overseas? Because they affect us. Russia’s aggression threatens European security. Conflict in the middle east reverberates across the region. Human rights collapse abroad can undermine our national security, invite foreign interference, corrode our democratic institutions, damage trade relationships and—yes—drive refugee flows. But there is also the moral case to stand with those persecuted for exercising fundamental rights, and to support human rights defenders who risk everything to hold power to account.”
“Populism is dressed up as dynamic quick fixes, decisive leaders and fewer constraints, but rights and democratic norms are the price of that apparent speed. Populism feeds on disillusion and polarisation. It treats rights as optional. The global trend is clear, as highlighted by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest democracy index. In 2024, fewer people lived in full democracies than in previous years—only 6.6% of people globally. Where democratic space shrinks, the vulnerable suffer first. People should be careful what they wish for. The early gains of a charismatic leader can lead to the long-term cost of fear and division. We in Britain have a proud tradition of defending rights. That tradition is not abstract. It was built by people who risked and sometimes gave their lives for freedom.”
“There are other urgent cases that rarely dominate headlines: Belarus, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, Venezuela and the too-often-forgotten Azerbaijan, Burma, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and Turkmenistan. They have different histories and different politics but the pattern repeats: rights are sidelined to preserve power, justified by appeals to stability, law and order, counter-terrorism or tradition. The techniques are often familiar: they divide communities, distort information, silence independent voices, and pass laws that look reasonable but are designed to intimidate. This is not only a distant problem. Even established democracies feel the pull of strongman politics.”
“When those protections are removed, the consequences are immediate and brutal: arbitrary detention for peaceful critics, presumption of guilt, scapegoating of minorities, and the machinery of cruelty—torture, disappearances and killings. That is the flipside of abandoning rights. We see the consequences in many places. Russia’s repression at home accompanies aggression abroad. The situation in Gaza and the west bank has produced devastating civilian suffering and wider regional instability. Sudan’s civil war has brought reports of ethnic annihilation. In China, Uyghurs and Tibetans face systemic repression and Hong Kong’s freedoms have been considerably narrowed.”
“Human rights are under attack. They are dismissed as a “criminal’s charter”, treated as obstacles to power, or caricatured as a wish list and then ridiculed. But they were not invented for convenience; they were forged in the aftermath of the second world war after mass killing, torture and the attempted annihilation of a people. We made a promise then that every life has value, every person deserves protection from persecution and discrimination. Those principles are not museum pieces; they are the foundations of our daily freedoms to meet, to protest, to worship, to speak, to be tried fairly and to be treated equally.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered International Human Rights Day 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Ms Butler. I am grateful to hon. Members for attending this debate on International Human Rights Day, a day marked each year on 10 December. The debate follows last week’s parliamentary reception, organised by the all-party parliamentary human rights group and Amnesty International, which was a reminder that across the parties there remains a deep commitment to defending rights and exposing abuses. I declare an interest as an officer on that APPG, which was founded in 1976 by the late Lord Avebury. For decades the group has raised the profile of international human rights issues in Parliament and publicised abuses wherever they occur. I am proud to support its work.”
“I thank our Opposition spokespeople for reminding me of how many values we share on this issue, and I thank the Minister for reaffirming our responsibilities on this important matter and for taking head-on some of the important points raised during the debate. I kindly ask that the officers of the APPG on human rights meet the Minister in the new year to discuss those issues in more detail, including the resourcing of the Government’s international human rights work.”
“Member for North Herefordshire (Dr Chowns) shared some shocking stories, outlining cases of the mistreatment of environmental and indigenous human-rights defenders. Those stories should never be forgotten when we are talking about these important issues. The hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams) spoke passionately about Parliamentarians for Peace, which sets out what our responsibilities should be as parliamentarians and how much additional work we must do. I also mention the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake), who sadly was not able to contribute due to a Division during the debate. I know she would have been a staunch defender of the European convention on human rights, and I am pretty sure that is something her constituents would want to know.”
“I thank all colleagues who participated in the debate, including the persistent hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who raised the important issue of freedom of religion and belief, and the hon. Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), the Government’s special envoy for FORB, who spoke passionately about the international agreements that underpin our work on freedom of religion and belief. I thank my friend the hon. Member for Leeds North East (Fabian Hamilton), who talked about the importance of the international human rights framework, the ongoing work to improve the framework and our important partners across the globe who work within the human rights network. The hon.”
“When the good people of Penrith and Solway decide my time here is up, I intend to walk around my community knowing that I did all I could for them, but I cannot do that knowing that my constituency’s 1,665 farms, the farm workers and the supply chains that depend on them were let down knowing that I broke my word. Madam Deputy Speaker, I am not yet clear on the Budget resolution grouping, but I would be grateful to be given the opportunity to vote specifically on resolution 50. I gave my word and I intend to keep it.”
“They are changes that leave many, not least elderly farmers yet to make arrangements to transfer assets, devastated at the impact on their family farms. Before the election, many farmers feared that the changes were coming. Some transferred in advance and others contacted Labour candidates who reassured them, based on public commitments from the then shadow Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, that APR would not be touched. I was one of those Labour candidates, and it is for that reason that I will be voting against the Budget resolution enabling these changes. Colleagues will agree that it is the privilege of a lifetime to be elected to this place, perhaps more so for those of us who represent the communities that we are from.”
“I welcome the positive steps taken in this Budget to support our NHS, including commitments to cut waiting lists, investment in technology and the delivery of up to 250 new neighbourhood health centres across the country. Measures like that matter, especially in rural areas like Cumbria, where our health services have struggled for years. Yet while many of the measures in the Budget are of benefit to my constituents, there remain deep concerns about the proposed changes to agricultural property relief. In last year’s Opposition day debate on farming and inheritance tax, I set out my concerns. Over the course of a debate that has raged for more than a year, Members from across the House have made the case against these changes.”
“T3. The Information Commissioner’s Office faces constant criticism for weak freedom of information enforcement and sluggish decisions. Why must Britain lag behind countries like Sweden and Norway, where citizens routinely access information in under a week, and how can MPs meaningfully hold the commissioner to account?”
“I would like to give the Minister the opportunity to be as robust as possible on the issue of arms exports. Do the Government consider the reports that UK military equipment exported to the UAE has been found on the battlefield to be credible? Has the UAE been challenged on that? Are the relevant export licences under review and, if needed, will we cancel them?”
“Many UK manufacturers are part of international groups and have the opportunity to transfer UK-generated profits to overseas entities via internal pricing mechanisms and management fees. Can the Minister confirm whether those profit-shifting mechanisms are assessed and dissuaded as part of UK defence procurement practices?”
“T5. After years of watching dentists in Cumbria turn their backs on the NHS contract and move those patients who can afford it to private plans, my constituency is now an NHS dental desert. Can the Minister confirm when the Government will publish their response to the consultation on quality and payment reforms, and tell us what we can expect to see in it?”
“The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to work with the National Trust to keep Wordsworth House fully operational and open to visitors. And the petitioners remain, etc. ] [P003120]”
“The petitioners “therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to work with the National Trust to keep Wordsworth House fully operational and open to visitors. And the petitioners remain, etc.” Following is the full text of the petition: [ The petition of residents of the constituency of Penrith and Solway, Declares that Wordsworth House and Garden, a Grade 1 listed national treasure, birthplace of poet William Wordsworth, is vital to our national heritage, education and local economy and its potential closure would be an incalculable loss, robbing future generations of a direct link to a pivotal era of English literature and a key contributor to Cumbrian tourism.”
“Many years ago, the community in Cockermouth saved Wordsworth House from demolition when plans were proposed to build a bus station, and the birthplace of William Wordsworth now stands as a historic gem on Cockermouth’s main street. Over the summer, following concerns about its future, I launched a similarly worded petition, which attracted more than 1,200 signatures. That campaign secured a commitment from the National Trust that the facility would not close. However, the trust has admitted that its long-term sustainability remains uncertain. I urge the National Trust to honour its promise to me to work with local businesses and the community to secure its future.”
“I thank the Minister for this fantastic funding announcement. I know that my constituents in Maryport and Broughton Moor will make good use of this £20 million investment. Thinking back to the last Government’s approach to levelling up, I recall that the Public Accounts Committee criticised the lack of transparency in how levelling-up money was allocated. As pork barrel politics and levelling up are two very different things, will the Minister reassure us that lessons have been learned and this Government will be transparent?”
“T5. Penrith and the surrounding villages have endured a summer of gridlock, with junction 40 on the M6 repeatedly grinding to a halt, particularly when peak holiday traffic is heading to Cumbria and the lakes. While we await the vital A66 trans-Pennine upgrade, for which we are all grateful, will the Minister agree to meet me to discuss urgent short-term interventions that National Highways can implement to ease the pressure for my constituents?”
“As I understand, convictions simply for displaying the name of a proscribed group have been extremely rare unless there has been clear evidence of intent to promote a group’s more extreme actions. If that is the case, and as it is clear that the acts of protest and civil disobedience seen in recent days are not acts that would ordinarily form part of a case for proscription, why do the police not simply stop the arrests?”
“When the public get angry, they reach out for forces that feed on that anger and have always fed on that anger. Between the emails from those telling me I am complicit in the murder of Palestinian children or the enabler of Pakistani rape gangs, I receive emails pleading with me not to try and be more like Reform and not to try to outdo right-wing populist rhetoric. While I appreciate the frustrations of those who send me those emails, they rarely suggest an alternative approach. Well, here is mine. We accept that we live in a country that is broken. We acknowledge that there are people living in dire need of— [Interruption.] Am I out of time? No way! I recently met a Minister who was keen to stress to me that so soon after 14 years of Conservative Government, we must not forget that on these Benches we are still the disruptors.”
“I am sorry if some constituents feel like they do not see enough of me, but I assure them that I am at home in the constituency every week and I am grateful to those living there who reach out and invite me to their events. Meeting Cumbria Young Farmers and attending Maryport carnival have been two of the highlights of my year. These are strange times politically. One would think that after securing such a huge majority at the last election, MPs like me would be feeling quite upbeat. I am not. Although I see a Government grasping the nettle on a range of issues that appeared to be beyond the political palate of the last Government and a desire to secure economic growth and rebalance how limited public money is spent for the better, and although I know that change takes time, I also see a public who are struggling and angry.”
“However, I should politely advise the man who regularly sends me an email that consists of little more than a Daily Express headline and a link, “I am sorry, but we are unlikely to respond to all your emails.” My constituency is an unusual one. It is one of the largest seats in the country, and it takes in the Solway coast, parts of the Lake District national park, two national landscapes, and villages on the outskirts of Carlisle, Penrith—one of the largest towns at about 15,000—and seven or eight smaller towns, all very Cumbrian, each very different and all pointing to different service centres. If I am honest, it is hard work making sure I visit all my towns and villages. My surgeries and visits take me all over the constituency, but at times it can feel like I am spreading myself very thin.”
“It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, which comes at a good time to take stock of my first year serving my constituents in this place. I am extremely grateful to the old hands for their sage advice; however, there is one piece of advice I was given that I am happy to call out as the worst I have ever taken. “Don’t rush into recruiting staff,” they said. “Take some time to work out what you need.” By last autumn, I was buried under so many emails that I thought I would never have time to sit in this Chamber ever again. I therefore appeal to colleagues never to give that advice to new MPs ever again. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] Once my excellent staff were in place, they worked double hard to keep on top of the new inquiries and to clear the backlog, and I thank them.”
“The press regularly runs stories where economic migrants are quoted describing what they believe are the benefits available to them in the UK and the work opportunities that our relatively under-regulated labour markets offer. Does the Minister agree it is time that we considered Labour’s ID cards plan, scrapped by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, and its ability to reduce the UK’s pull factors for new migrants?”
“As I understand it, Hamas want Egypt, Qatar and the United States empowered as legal guarantors not only for a 60-day truce, but up to the signatory date of any final agreement with Israel. Can America not be prevailed upon to act as a guarantor beyond the final settlement? Hamas could be forced to reconsider their objectives under pressure from a population desperately looking for long-term security.”
“Although that fell short of what today we would call full religious liberty, it was extraordinarily liberal for its time, and it avoided a bloody civil war between pagan and Christian factions. Thorgeir’s story offers a sobering lesson: that belief is ultimately personal, that law cannot mandate conviction, and that practical compromise can safeguard peace. These are precisely the kinds of lesson that our foreign policy ought to embrace. Religious freedom is advanced when our diplomats, Ministers and civil servants understand the profound role that religion, religious practices and faith communities play in the societies we engage with abroad. In a UK political landscape that is largely secular, we must take care not to overlook the power of religion to drive development, mediate conflict and shape political identity.”
“I am half-Icelandic on my mother’s side and was raised with an acute awareness of my Viking roots. Iceland is a small nation of under 400,000 people. Some families, mine included, can trace their lineage back for more than a millennium. One notable ancestor is Thorgeir of Lightwater, a pagan chieftain and lawspeaker who in the year 1000 was tasked with an impossibly difficult decision: which religion Iceland would adopt. He spent a day and a night under a fur blanket in silent reflection—something that I have found myself tempted to do after reading social media commentary—and when his deliberation ended he declared that Iceland would adopt Christianity. Remarkably, he also decreed that individuals could continue to worship privately however they chose.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith) for securing this debate and for his work on this important issue. I would like to share two personal reflections that shape the way I view religious freedom and its place in our foreign policy. The first reflection is on my lifelong faith. Between my mother’s deep Christian belief and spiritualism and my Church of England education, it seems I never stood much chance of avoiding belief altogether. Truth be told, I have never wanted to. I do not attend church nearly as often as I should, a failing I feel guilty about often, but I know without hesitation that when I need comfort or clarity, my faith—God, Jesus—is always there to support me. The second reflection is on my heritage.”
“Let us name the suffering: the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Bahaʼi in Iran, Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Ahmadis and Hazara in Pakistan, Muslims in India, Yazidis in Syria, Christians in China, faith groups across North Korea, the Palestinians. These are not isolated incidents; they are affronts to our shared humanity. If the UK is serious about advancing freedom of religious belief, we must integrate religious literacy into our diplomatic toolbox. We must build partnerships that respect faith identities, amplify marginalised voices and place human dignity at the core of our development, humanitarian and peacebuilding strategies. Let us reaffirm our role as global advocates for religious freedom, not just in principle, but in policy and practice. I add that I shall, of course, inform Hansard how to spell “Thorgeir”.”
“Those organisations are motivated by faith and supported by global communities who believe in their mission. Faith leaders have also played critical roles in human rights advocacy: from the South African Council of Churches opposing apartheid to Catholic resistance against dictatorship in Latin America and eastern Europe, their moral leadership has often been decisive in confronting injustice. While we advocate for religious freedom, we must also confront the painful realities of religious persecution across the world. Minorities are facing forced conversion, violence, economic marginalisation and, in extreme cases, genocide. We cannot afford to ignore that.”