Dave Robertson
MP for Lichfield · Labour · United Kingdom
“The hon. Member is making a really important speech about many of the ways in which Ofcom’s regulation touches everybody’s lives, especially through Royal Mail—I am sure she will be aware that I am doing some work in this space.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Advantage Retirement Homes runs two care homes in my constituency: St Thomas’ Priory near Armitage and Chasewater Mews in Burntwood. Between those two properties, the company is currently owed almost £600,000—a staggering sum—by the local integrated care board.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My constituents rely on the Cross-City line to get them in and out of Birmingham, but the last train back from Birmingham in the evening does not run as far as Lichfield, meaning that we cannot make the most of the nightlife there.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Q6. Hon. and right hon. Members will all know that Royal Mail has a serious problem. Part of it is that the parcel companies that Royal Mail competes against use bogus self-employed models for their employees, and too many pay a pittance for an unmanageable workload, where drivers cannot provide a quality service as they race to complete…”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Before I start, I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in relation to the Communication Workers Union.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am proud that Labour MPs up and down the country are leading on this, and I could thank countless Members for their hard work, I am especially grateful to my hon.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“The hon. Member is making a really important speech about many of the ways in which Ofcom’s regulation touches everybody’s lives, especially through Royal Mail—I am sure she will be aware that I am doing some work in this space. A number of other Labour MPs and I spoke to Ofcom at a meeting just last week where we asked what other powers it needs. Fines are clearly not working: the fines that Ofcom is levying on Royal Mail are not leading to any improvement. I was really disappointed at the response, which was that Ofcom has not really thought about what other powers it needs. Does the hon. Member agree with me, and with the Business Committee, that Ofcom really needs to think about what other powers it needs to regulate the market more effectively? It is failing to, currently.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My constituents rely on the Cross-City line to get them in and out of Birmingham, but the last train back from Birmingham in the evening does not run as far as Lichfield, meaning that we cannot make the most of the nightlife there. As Christmas approaches, does the Secretary of State agree that it is time to change that and boost the evening service from New Street to Lichfield City, so that my constituents can make the best of Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas market?”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Advantage Retirement Homes runs two care homes in my constituency: St Thomas’ Priory near Armitage and Chasewater Mews in Burntwood. Between those two properties, the company is currently owed almost £600,000—a staggering sum—by the local integrated care board. The board is failing to pay out funded nursing care payments, a weekly sum that the NHS should pay to cover the cost of registered nurses in care homes. This has been going on since 2003. Does the Leader of the House agree that this is utterly unacceptable, and will he ask the relevant Minister to meet me to discuss the penalties available for ICBs that fail to make payments that are owed to hard-working companies in our constituencies?”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Q6. Hon. and right hon. Members will all know that Royal Mail has a serious problem. Part of it is that the parcel companies that Royal Mail competes against use bogus self-employed models for their employees, and too many pay a pittance for an unmanageable workload, where drivers cannot provide a quality service as they race to complete routes. The public purse loses too: Royal Mail pays £650 million in national insurance, while many of its competitor firms pay next to nothing. The Government’s consultation on employment status is a great start. Will the Prime Minister commit to using that review to truly level the playing field and secure the long-term future of Royal Mail, ensuring that my constituents in Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages get the service they deserve?”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Just today, I have had an email from Royal Mail assuring me that everything will be fine in time for Christmas, despite the fact that it has not met its delivery obligations at the Lichfield office at any point in the last five months. It beggars belief.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am proud that Labour MPs up and down the country are leading on this, and I could thank countless Members for their hard work, I am especially grateful to my hon. Friends the Members for Redditch (Chris Bloore) and for Corby and East Northamptonshire (Lee Barron), with whom I have been working closely to co-ordinate a campaign in Parliament. I am sure that I speak for all Labour Members when I say that we understand the serious and complex challenges facing Royal Mail, but too often the response we get from the company when we raise concerns, and by extension its response to our constituents, is nothing short of dismissive. When we tell Royal Mail that yet another resident has missed cancer treatment or received a threatening message from a debt collector for an undelivered bill, we are too often told that there simply is no problem.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Before I start, I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in relation to the Communication Workers Union. It is over a decade since the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats oversaw the privatisation of Royal Mail, and it is clear to residents in Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages and—if this busy Chamber is anything to go by—to people across the country that the transition was grossly mishandled. Those parties failed to plan for Royal Mail’s long-term future in a market that was already showing signs of dramatic change. Now we see the results: late delivery after late delivery, leading to countless missed hospital appointments, GP appointments, court hearings, credit card bills—the list is almost endless. The post remains an essential public service, and we need to secure its future.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I have experienced that at first hand as well. I went to one of the arranged visits to my local distribution office, with various people from the Royal Mail comms department there. By the time I got back to my office, I had had three emails from posties at that delivery office saying that every single postal worker went out that day with two routes on their back, just to ensure that the mail was out of the way and I did not see it. It is a real problem that Royal Mail does not want to grasp this.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about the value that posties have in our communities not just in delivering post, but more widely. We saw it over covid where the only person a lot of vulnerable residents would see in a week would be their postie. She makes an important point about their importance to our communities. Returning to Royal Mail’s inability to grasp the nettle and to the fact that it sends us emails saying, “Everything’s fine,” “Don’t worry,” and “Nothing to see here,” that is tantamount to telling every single MP it has sent that communication to that our constituents are lying. Royal Mail needs to change its approach radically and rapidly.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We need to heed the recommendation of the Business and Trade Committee to look at giving Ofcom stronger powers to regulate Royal Mail. It concerns me that the regulator has no solution beyond more fines for Royal Mail, which are clearly not working. We need to build on the Government’s “golden share” in Royal Mail and think about an ownership model for the future, with the voices of customers and workers right at its heart.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We need true parity between Royal Mail and its competitors, a level playing field where every company pays a fair price if it chooses to use the Royal Mail network. We need Royal Mail to take a long-term view of its workforce. New entrants get far worse terms, and that is fuelling a retention crisis with a staggering 400 posties leaving the company every week. It may help pinch a few pennies now, but if Royal Mail cannot keep its hard-working staff, the business is destined to fail. I am sorry to say that we need to look again at the delivery model. Royal Mail is currently rolling out DM26, as it calls it, but our posties tell us the process is already chaotic, the workload is unmanageable and it is not a long-term solution.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That means Royal Mail is competing in a market where it has a fundamental disadvantage, and we should not want to encourage the model that these parcel companies are using—it is bad for workers, consumers and the taxpayer. Too many parcel companies pay a pittance for an unmanageable workload, exhausting drivers who cannot provide a quality service to customers as they race to complete rounds that are frankly impossible, and the public purse is ripped off in the process. While Royal Mail pays £650 million a year in national insurance contributions, many of these companies do not pay a penny. The Government are now consulting on upgrading the rights of these parcel delivery drivers, and it is a start, but we need to go further.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will make some progress. Royal Mail needs to own the true scale of the problem and the genuinely felt anger—that is essential. I look forward to discussing this with the Royal Mail CEO when he meets Labour MPs in Parliament next month. Labour Members do not want to stand up in this Chamber and attack Royal Mail, and we are certainly not attacking postal workers. We recognise the scale of the challenge facing the industry. The number of letters sent in the UK has halved since the company was privatised, while the number of parcels has risen dramatically, fuelled in many cases by the growth in online shopping. Virtually all the parcel companies competing with Royal Mail, and oftentimes using its network, use a bogus self-employment model for their workers.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Royal Mail was founded over 500 years ago. It is a great British icon and an essential public service. We cannot and must not be the generation of politicians who allow it to fail.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Just like with those water companies, we cannot see bosses’ pay balloon while workers struggle and customers are let down. I am not arrogant enough to stand here and say that I have all the answers. These ideas are all born out of consultation with organisations across the sector, and that is why it is so important that we get all the parties around the table to share those ideas so we can turn them into action. Two weeks ago, the Communication Workers Union wrote to the Secretary of State calling on him to hold an emergency summit to discuss Royal Mail’s future. I am glad to hear that the meeting will go ahead, and I ask the Minister that my hon. Friends the Members for Redditch and for Corby and East Northamptonshire and I are included in those discussions. Back-Bench MPs and our constituents must have a voice in them.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Member makes an important point. As we have heard from many Members today, it is not the posties; it is the system that they are being asked to work in. We need to do a number of things; there is no single answer that will solve this. We need a suite of different responses that lead to a proper outcome. We need to think about bringing Royal Mail and the Post Office back together and look creatively at opportunities for profit, such as Post Office banking hubs. We need to look at the pay and bonuses of Royal Mail’s senior leadership. We are already doing that with the water companies; I do not see why it would be inappropriate in this case. When a private company delivers a public service, it must be held to the highest standards.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am not quite a constituency neighbour, but it is always great to see a fellow Staffordshire MP in this place. Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking organisations such as AKG, which operates in my constituency? It is a private company, but it provides services to those who have been out of work for a long time through the restart scheme and the connect to work scheme, both funded by the Government, which are very much designed to provide people with the employment support they need so they can get back into work—doing the real work, not just trying to solve this problem by soundbite. Will he join me in thanking AKG for helping people find those opportunities?”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister is right to raise the importance of ceramics to our industries. In my part of the world, it is sanitaryware and Armitage Shanks, and we know the Stokies are all about flatware—it is a huge part of the economy. Will the Minister urge colleagues in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade to get the funding for the ceramics rescue package out of the door faster than currently planned? We need that rescue package in the hands of companies, not sitting in a bank account in Whitehall.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Following a meeting that I held with other Labour MPs and the head of Ofcom this week, the CEO of Royal Mail has invited a number of us to meet him off-site at 9.30 am on a random Wednesday in a couple of weeks’ time. Does the hon. Lady agree that it would be much better for him to recognise that MPs from across the House and representing every single type of constituency have major concerns about Royal Mail, and that he needs to get himself into Parliament to listen to our questions directly, rather than suggesting that we traipse halfway across London to go into a room that he is in charge of on the basis of an agenda that is entirely his, rather than the one that our constituents want to discuss?”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There is more to say, but I am aware of the time, so let me close by saying that the Bill has been a community effort, and it exists to help ensure that no other community goes through what families at Arthur Terry Learning Partnership schools did. Its provisions would build on the Government’s work in strengthening multi-academy accountability. We know the problems, we can see the solutions, and now we need to grasp them. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Dave Robertson, Sarah Edwards, Paulette Hamilton, Rachel Taylor, Taiwo Owatemi, Jacob Collier, Jonathan Davies, Josh Fenton-Glynn, Leigh Ingham Jon Pearce, and Mark Sewards present the Bill. Dave Robertson accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 15 January 2027, and to be printed (Bill 164).”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We need stronger oversight, too. Our experience with iPads at ATLP has shown that one big mistake can cost pupils. The Bill would make such purchases subject to additional sign-off. If trusts cannot justify the cost on an education basis, it should not be able to happen. We also need better scrutiny at board level; governors should have better skills to ask those questions. The Bill would compel the Secretary of State to draft statutory guidance to make local governing boards mandatory for trusts and set out the competency that trust boards should have, with specific guidance for chairs of finance committees.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Together, we have crafted a Bill that makes practical proposals that would put the proper safeguards in place. The Bill starts with a financial transparency section. Parents need to know if trusts are skimming off sums that could be spent in classrooms, or if their reserves are running low—and they should not have to pore over accounts like a forensic accountant to find out. The Bill would mandate that trusts publish details of the money they are taking from school budgets, and, if they pool and redistribute that, how they are doing so. They would need to include how they plan to spend reserves on their website and the website of every school they run. They would also have to publish details of the reserves they hold in the same place. If trusts cannot explain their decisions to parents, it is a warning sign.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Since the break-up of ATLP was announced, I have been consulting experts across the education sector, including: teachers’ unions, such as the NEU, NASUWT and Community; unions representing school staff, including Unite and GMB; the Association of School and College Leaders; the National Association of Headteachers; the Local Government Association; the National Governance Association; the Confederation of School Trusts; and Parentkind. My hon. Friends and I have written to multi-academy trusts to seek their views, and, crucially, I have been working with parents, carers and teachers across my constituency who have first-hand experience, as well as running a survey and holding a townhall meeting earlier this month. I thank everybody who has given their time to this.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“What they failed to recognise is that when school leadership fails, pupils suffer, and the Conservative Government failed to put in the adequate safeguards. It is shocking that it took until this Labour Government in 2026—more than 15 years after the Academies Act—for inspections of trusts to be introduced. For almost a decade and a half, the Conservatives presided over a system where Ofsted had no powers to inspect the trusts that ran the schools. In my area, we have seen the problems that that failure of oversight has led to. We must now go further.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Half of all schools in England are now part of a multi-academy trusts like Arthur Terry, yet research by Parentkind—the national charity for parents—shows that fewer than one in five parents feel that their trust listens to them. I think many parents are shocked by the lack of oversight of trusts; many families in my area certainly asked me at public meetings why the local council could not step in and take the schools back on, particularly when things had gone so wrong at ATLP. The National Governance Association says that that is replicated up and down the country; parents understandably assume that councils still play a significant role in school oversight, when in reality, for academy trust schools, they simply do not. When the Conservatives aggressively expanded academisation, they said it would drive up standards.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The boss of St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, based up the road in Derby, quit in June, after the trust accrued an even bigger deficit: over £9 million. Those are just some examples. There are further example of other trusts that go beyond finances. Analysis by Schools Week found that most trusts put in special financial measures by the Department for Education end up sliding further into the red. Make no mistake, this is a national issue. I have been campaigning for a change in the law to ensure that there are stronger rules on multi-academy trust governance, so that no area has to go through what mine did.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the amazing staff and school leaders at Arthur Terry schools, and I am pleased that we now have a clear plan for those schools to move to other local trusts, where they can thrive and get the support they deserve. What unfolded at Arthur Terry was unacceptable, and it cannot be allowed to happen at trusts in other parts of the country, but, unfortunately, that is precisely the risk we face. There are not enough financial safeguards in the Academies Act 2010—there are not enough guardrails to stop this happening again. Earlier this year, the Department for Education found “serious” financial issues at SAND Academies Trust in Gloucestershire. The trust’s explanation, blaming “accounting errors”, will be eerily familiar to far too many of my constituents.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Following that, there were no compulsory redundancies at Arthur Terry Learning Partnership at the end of last year, bringing the figure down to zero. The scale of Arthur Terry Learning Partnership’s failings finally became clear: the trust had spent its reserves on iPads—one of a number of financial missteps that had bankrupted it. In May, after many discussions with me and my colleagues, the Department for Education announced the break-up of Arthur Terry Learning Partnershiop—one of the biggest trust closures our country has seen. Throughout the process, the stress for pupils, parents, teachers and the community across my area has been serious. Families have feared for the future of ATLP schools, worried that great teachers would leave during this time of uncertainty and upheaval.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is often called a top slice—in some schools, there is a slightly different system known as general annual grant pooling. ATLP was asking its schools to fork out eye-watering sums—as much as 25% of their budgets—for these services. At the same time, it was preserving well-paid roles in head office while teachers and teaching assistants were at risk of losing their jobs. By February, things had unravelled. After those nine days of strike action, ATLP’s chief financial officer and chief executive had both resigned. An interim leader, with experience helping failing trusts, was brought in, swiftly changing tack on teaching cuts and instead slashing the iPad policy and cutting down the head office.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As many as 100 jobs were put at risk of redundancy across the 24 schools. As much as I know that teachers hate going on strike, in that case, ATLP staff at the National Education Union felt that they had no choice, and the risk of redundancy led to nine days of strike action in a number of the trust’s schools. Nobody across any part of the constituency or the communities affected wanted to see iPads prioritised over teachers, teaching assistants and school support staff. Families were right behind the teachers standing up. Closer scrutiny of ATLP’s accounts at that time showed that the iPads were a symptom of a deeper problem. Most comparable trusts asked schools to pay about 5% of their budget into a pot for centrally procured services.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Friends the Members for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton), for Coventry North West (Taiwo Owatemi), for North Warwickshire and Bedworth (Rachel Taylor) and for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards). We never got a straight answer, and the way that ATLP displayed its financial data—particularly graphs that it was using—really seemed to be designed to hide and obfuscate, rather than explain where the trust’s finances were. Believe me, as a former physics teacher, I am more than comfortable with a graph, and it was clear that these were not quite right. Last autumn, things got much worse. After taking yet another Government loan, the trust needed to cut costs to get its finances on track. Its leadership decided that teachers and support staff would be the people who paid the price.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In 2024, the Department for Education was forced to give the trust an emergency loan to help it bail out a £4 million deficit, but ATLP insisted it was fixing its finances. Scarcely a year later, its deficit had ballooned to £8 million. The trust leadership blamed an accounting error. The idea that £8 million had gone missing because of a mistake was hardly reassuring to me or any of my constituents, and many of us were somewhat sceptical. In 2022, ATLP announced that it would acquire 11,000 iPads—one for every pupil across its 24 schools. Exactly how had it paid for 11,000 iPads? I put those questions to ATLP’s leadership over and over again in meetings, alongside my hon.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Before I was elected to Parliament, I taught for almost a decade across the west midlands before working for the NASUWT, one of our teaching unions, but I really did not expect this Bill to be the first that I presented to the House—until that is, at the start of this year, when I became aware of just how bad things were at Arthur Terry Learning Partnership. ATLP is a multi-academy trust running 24 schools across the west midlands, including six in my constituency. It was established in 2011, shortly after the Conservative-led Government passed legislation to significantly increase the rate at which council-run schools could be turned into academies. In recent years, the trust grew rapidly, almost doubling in size since 2010. Then things started to go very, very badly wrong.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about financial transparency, expenditure approval limits and governance of multi-academy trusts; and for connected purposes. When parents up and down the country think about their children’s education, and their worries and hopes for school, “multi-academy trust governance” will probably not be the phrase foremost in many of their minds, but families across Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages know that when governance goes wrong, it is pupils and teachers who pay the price. That is what this Bill seeks to address.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I know that my hon. Friend just said there are too many people to mention by name and how sad it is that we have lost so many of the campaigners, but would he like to join me in celebrating the work of Tommy Christopher, who did so much to lead the campaign, and his brother John—I have the pleasure of calling him a constituent—who is now chairing the campaign? Without them, we would not have got as far as we have. Will he join me in thanking them?”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“However, that funding is no good if it is sitting in a bank account in Whitehall waiting to be delivered; we need to get it out of the door faster to ensure that both sides of the equation of manufacturing skills—the manufacturers and the skills—are working hand in hand. Will the Minister have a conversation with her colleagues in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade to ensure that we are leaving no stone unturned to push that funding out the door? We need to get it into the ceramics industry so that it can provide jobs, and so that the skills we are trying to build can be pushed forward into companies and help drive economic growth in every postcode in the country, but especially in WS15.”
House of Commons20 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We have already seen changes to the functional skills requirement for apprenticeships, which I wholeheartedly support, and that has led to an increase in the number of young people taking up that opportunity. It is a great step in the right direction, as is talking about vocational GCSEs. As important as it is to see skills coming through, we also need to make sure that businesses provide the jobs in which those skills can be used, which is why I am so pleased that the Government were able to provide a £120 million rescue package for the ceramics industry—funding that is desperately needed to help the industry regenerate itself, look forward to the 21st century, decarbonise and continue to drive economic growth.”
House of Commons20 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That is really important to those communities, but it is also really important for what the Government are seeking to achieve. The Government rightly talk about ending the housing crisis, and about the need to make sure that there is enough housing stock available for every single person in this country. I would wager that every one of us would expect to see at least one toilet in every single one of those new houses. The last volume producer of sanitaryware anywhere in the country is in a little village called Armitage, which is not far from Lichfield. The Government have already done much to talk about the importance of industry, the importance of manufacturers like Armitage Shanks, and the importance of the skills that such companies need.”
House of Commons20 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Central to manufacturing in my part of the world—Staffordshire—is ceramics. I am proud to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner), who talked about ceramics in north Staffordshire, but in my part of the world we talk about a different type of ceramics: toilets. Every single Member of this House will have spent a penny with Armitage Shanks at some point, because it has been operating for over 200 years in the village of Armitage, in my constituency. The ceramics industry as a whole supports 20,000 skilled jobs and produces toilets and plates, but also bricks, pipes and the technical ceramics spoken about earlier. Those jobs are essential to economic growth and the economic wellbeing of the entire country, but especially to communities in the north midlands, where so much of the ceramics industry is based.”
House of Commons20 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a pleasure to take part in a debate with you in the Chair, Sir Christopher, and in one led by my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight West (Richard Quigley)—the UK’s spokesperson for ferries. The Government are rightly talking about reindustrialisation at the moment. We can see how well supported that is by Labour Members, given the number of us who want to contribute to the debate, but too often talk of reindustrialisation can lead people to think that we are trying to go back to the past. That is not true anywhere in the country, but especially in the west midlands, where we have a proud manufacturing tradition. Yes, that has been depleted, and many communities across the region are still scarred by that, but communities are also really looking forward to a brighter future in which industrialisation can come back.”
House of Commons20 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Without a weight limit, the bridge would be at risk of further damage, which could lead to its complete closure, with all the real economic problems that that would cause for my part of Staffordshire.”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“A little background for those who are unsure about where Chetwynd bridge is: it crosses the River Tame in Staffordshire, very close to the Derbyshire border. One end of it sits in my constituency and the other in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards). It is also very close by the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Samantha Niblett). It is the oldest cast-iron bridge in the country. It is older than Hammersmith bridge, and also longer—not that it is a competition, but we are older and longer. It was completed over 200 years ago in 1824, so this year we will see its 202nd birthday. It is grade II* listed for many of those reasons. Since 2019, it has been closed to heavy traffic. Options for patching up the structure have been exhausted over decades and decades.”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“But that is why today’s debate is so important: for me and, I am sure, some colleagues sitting behind me, to take the opportunity to impress on the Minister the vital significance of this bridge to communities in Staffordshire and South Derbyshire, and to remind him that, just like in that song: “Wood and clay will wash away…Bricks and mortar will not stay” and iron and steel have been bent and bowed. I promise that will be the last bit of nursery rhyme that I bring in today. What we know is that Chetwynd bridge needs a replacement, and I will cover more of that shortly. For a number of months, colleagues and I have been arguing for the Government’s structures fund to be used to fund that replacement. As I said to the Minister last night, it is good to see him for one last dance on Chetwynd bridge.”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move, That this House has considered the potential merits of Government support for Chetwynd Bridge. It is a pleasure, as always, to see you in Westminster Hall this morning, Ms McVey. Unfortunately, I have to start with a bit of an admission and some bad news. Unfortunately, “Chetwynd bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down; Chetwynd bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down”. I will not punish hon. Members in the Chamber with a full rendition of a rewritten nursery rhyme, nor will I be singing. Unlike London bridge or indeed another bridge in our capital, further down the river, Chetwynd bridge is not especially famous, and it is unlikely ever to be the subject of a song or a nursery rhyme.”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I had not even primed the hon. Member to say that, but I very much appreciate his intervention. Later, I will talk about some of the businesses and the real importance of this crossing as an arterial route in Staffordshire. If I can beg his indulgence to hang fire, I will get there shortly. The current partial closure of the bridge means that it is open to small vehicles. However, because of the protections that Staffordshire county council has had to put in place to prevent heavy goods vehicles from using it, it is currently signalised and one way. That leads to delays even for small goods vehicles; for heavy goods vehicles it is even worse, because the nearest detour is an 18-mile journey through the already congested centre of Burton, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Burton and Uttoxeter (Jacob Collier).”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I appreciate the intervention from my hon. Friend and neighbour. The issue is really important. It is economic, social and cultural. When I say that the detour goes through the middle of Burton, it really does go through the middle of Burton. It is not just going close to the town; it goes through the middle of one of the biggest towns in, I think, Britain’s fourth biggest county. That 18-mile diversion is really significant. It is not just a bit of an inconvenience. It is significant for anybody just trying to get around Burton, because there is a huge amount more traffic on those local roads.”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Minister, in his previous portfolio, for his engagement on the construction of the structures fund, specifically looking into whether replacements would be considered. I think my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth and I last wrote to him about that in May. Beyond that, I have already stressed the knock-on impact on haulage, which is felt acutely at Catton estate, which is just up from the bridge on the Tamworth side in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire. Catton estate hosts numerous festivals, including Bearded Theory, which has a capacity of 15,000, and Bloodstock, the UK’s largest metal festival, which has a capacity of 20,000—I assume you have been at least once, Ms McVey.”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Those retail and wholesale sectors, which are heavily dependent on road haulage, are our largest employers. This is not just a “nice to have”; it is essential to the local economies that are the beating heart of the entire national economy. Chetwynd bridge is just a few miles from Fradley Park, an important logistics hub spread over 173 acres. As a result of the partial closure, HGVs incur additional time and cost to their journeys, not to mention increased polluting impact—18 miles for an HGV is a lot of carbon footprint. I am pleased that the terms of the structures fund placed special emphasis on road haulage, recognising the significance of the sector. The impact on businesses at Fradley Park is serious and ongoing.”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Fire engines not being able to get around that part of England is probably the most extreme example of the disruption, but for businesses in our region—to come back to the intervention by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon)—its impact is daily and serious. In the last couple of decades, Lichfield has experienced significant growth, because we are part of the golden triangle of freight and logistics in the midlands. I think Lichfield and the A38 corridor are within a three-hour drive of 90% of the population of the UK. In the Lichfield constituency, more than one in 10 jobs depend directly on road haulage. Next door in Tamworth, the figure is 7.3%. Significant numbers of jobs rely on road haulage being able to get things around the country quickly.”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Those vehicles are not allowed to cross Chetwynd bridge, which results in an 18-mile detour to go north via Burton, or south all the way down to Elford, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire. This year we saw the devastating impact that wildfires can have, including the terrible situation in Stourbridge over the summer. Every single pump that Staffordshire fire service could activate was out fighting wildfires. The service dealt with well in excess of 1,000 outdoor fires just this summer. Getting those pumps to where they need to be is vital. The 18-mile detour means minutes lost, time wasted, property damaged and potentially lost and, really worryingly, lives at greater risk.”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗