Josh Dean
MP for Hertford and Stortford · Labour · United Kingdom
“On Armed Forces Day a few weeks ago, our community came out not just to celebrate our armed forces personnel, but to support Ben Hardy. Ben, who is 11 years old, has had 10 operations on his eyes and is severely visually impaired, but that did not stop him putting on an outstanding sensory exhibition, bringing Dunkirk spirit to life for l…”
“They talked about the impact that the presence, or absence, of a trusted adult had had on them. I am living proof that trusted adults can succeed where traditional provision falls short.”
“A growing evidence base suggests that trusted adult relationships, whether with youth workers, coaches, mentors or others can act as the connective tissue to the wider support that will help to address the barriers locking young people out of education, employment and training.”
“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair this afternoon, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this debate.”
“Young Futures hubs can act as centres of excellence for relational practice, offering open access and co-ordinated support for young people across employment, mental health and crime prevention in every community.”
“In this afternoon’s debate, I want to examine the barriers to financial inclusion that young adults face, and consider where Ministers could build on the financial inclusion strategy to prioritise practical interventions to support young people.”
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“We know that crashes are more likely to happen when young drivers are carrying friends in the car at night-time, and when driving conditions are difficult, but it does not need to be that way. Any death on the road is one too many. I am therefore confident that the Minister appreciates the seriousness of this issue and the need for action. I would be grateful if the Minister could look into the best practices on young driver safety used in other countries and seek to incorporate them into her road safety strategy. I would also be grateful if she could detail in her response how the Government are supporting local leaders and communities to make our roads safer, particularly in semi-rural constituencies such as mine.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury (Julia Buckley) for securing this important debate. I want to put on record the story of Sonny Crane, whose family live in my constituency, Hertford and Stortford, and whose mother, Naomi, is here in Westminster Hall today. Just over three years ago, Sonny was tragically killed in a road traffic accident, and the impact on Sonny’s family since his loss has been simply devastating. I was struck by his mother’s words when we first met: “he went out that day, a young 19 year old boy going to enjoy Topgolf with his friends, never to return.” Across the country, there are far too many cases like Sonny’s.”
“I am very pleased to hear my hon. Friend’s statement, and to have this discussion about the important role that post offices play in the operation of banking hubs. Our banking hub in Ware is incredibly important to our community, and I thank him for visiting its temporary site earlier this year. Will he commit to returning there with me when it finds its permanent site, hopefully in the very near future?”
“T2. On my recent visit to Hertford and Ware food bank, hard-working volunteers raised with me the damaging impact of rules introduced under the previous Conservative Government, which prevent jobcentres from referring benefits claimants to food banks. Does my right hon. Friend agree that those changes prevent some of the most vulnerable people in our communities from accessing support in an emergency, and will she set out the steps that the Department will take to reverse them?”
“Under this Government, I want Hertford and Stortford to be an even better place to live, work and learn. The investment promises to open new doors for our residents to new opportunities to gain skills for life and find meaningful work. It is also a clear signal that under this Government, Britain is once again open for business, and I hugely welcome it.”
“On that point, I welcome the recent Department for Transport announcement that contactless payments will be rolled out on the Stansted airport line in 2025. That will allow residents at Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth stations to make use of tap in, tap out payments for the first time. That is an important step in improving rail travel for the many who rely on it in our constituency. The House may already know that Stansted airport is the only major airport in this country with a purpose-built, on-site technical skills college, but I will tell the House more. Stansted airport college offers vocational training opportunities to young people in our community, and it is delivering record numbers of apprentice students into employment in aviation, helping to fill urgent skills gaps in the sector with our local talent.”
“That investment in the east of England’s largest single-site employer will not only provide an even better passenger experience, but help to connect our region’s innovative sectors and creative industries with their international partners. In Bishop’s Stortford, Stansted airport is right on our doorstep, providing employment for around 1,500 residents in our town and surrounding areas. That contributes roughly £140 million in gross value added to our constituency. The terminal extension alone represents up to 5,000 additional on-site jobs, offering further employment opportunities for our residents and strong rail and bus links to our constituency, meaning that even more commuters will be able to take public transport to work.”
“I congratulate all my hon. Friends on their deeply eloquent and moving maiden speeches this afternoon. It is a real pleasure to be in the Chamber to hear them. I take this opportunity to commend those on the Government Front Bench for a successful, record-breaking investment summit earlier this week. The investment of £63 billion represents a real vote of confidence in this Government’s mission to grow our economy. I welcome in particular the announcement this week of a five-year programme of investment at Stansted airport, which is a major employer in our constituency of Hertford and Stortford. That programme totals £1.1 billion, including a £600 million investment in an extension to the airport’s existing terminal.”
“I look forward to working with those groups in my constituency to ensure that their voices are heard. We will all have received correspondence from constituents sharing their personal experiences of the social care system. Many of us will have relatives or friends who have struggled to access care themselves, and others will have caring responsibilities too. Now is our opportunity to fix unpaid care, and the social care system more widely, and deliver lasting change for the future. I warmly welcome today’s announcement and the Government’s programme for reform.”
“I am heartened by our commitment to introduce flexible working as a right, to provide time away from work for caring responsibilities, and to join up services so that my constituents do not have to battle to get the care for their loved ones that they need. It is also important that we turn to the task of delivering much-needed reform in adult social care. The Government’s commitment to reform of the sector, with an ambition to build a world-class national care service, is something that I am sure we all support. It is right that the project will be undertaken in collaboration with care users and their families, sector partners and care organisations, to ensure that their lived experiences are at the heart of the social care system that we build.”
“I know that local benefits advice has been invaluable to those residents, and I pay tribute to the work of Citizens Advice East Herts and other groups that offer a lifeline to those in need of support. I welcome today’s announcement from the Minister that the Government will launch a review into carer’s allowance overpayments. I am pleased that the review will look at not only what went wrong previously but, importantly, how we can prevent such problems in the future. I know that it will be welcomed by carers and unpaid family carers in my community. I am proud that the Government recognise the challenges faced by unpaid carers, and it is essential that we consider how we can provide them with the support that they deserve.”
“I thank hon. Members for their constructive contributions to this debate, on a topic that I know is important to all our constituents. The enormous contributions made to our communities by unpaid or family carers have rightly been recognised across the House. We know that our country would grind to a halt without them, but many today are pushed to breaking point caring for those they love, and that cannot be right. The treatment of unpaid carers, unknowingly overpaid their carer’s allowance under the previous Administration, was unacceptable. Having spoken to unpaid carers in Hertford and Stortford, I know that those failures have caused many of them stress, and shockingly even left some in fear of claiming the carer’s allowance to which they are rightly entitled.”
“I have grown up watching her give so much to her profession in often challenging circumstances. Hers is the story of teachers and support staff across our schools across the country, and she continues to be an inspiration to me—as is my dad, who now lives just outside Bishop’s Stortford and, like so many of our residents, commutes into London every day. My parents moved to Hertford in the late 1990s because they wanted the best start for me. I cannot think of a better moment than now to thank them for everything they have given me over the last 24 years. My parents are examples of hard work and dedication, principles that they have instilled in me, and those are principles that I will carry with me every day as I go to work in this place.”
“We know that young people are at the sharp end of so many of the crises we face today, whether it is the climate crisis or the crisis in housing and mental health, but too often they feel powerless to make a difference and that politics is not a place for them. I am proud to be a young person representing his community, joining this place among a cohort of younger parliamentarians. But it is incumbent on all of us to show our young people that they have a place not only in politics, but in this Parliament too, and I look forward to working with colleagues across the House to make that happen. Finally, I would like to reflect on two people without whom I would not be here: my mum and dad. My mum taught in local schools before becoming a special educational needs co-ordinator.”
“I look forward to working with them and many others as our Member of Parliament, to ensure that every young person in our community is supported to find the path that is right for them, just as I was supported to find mine. I hope I can also show our young people that, if they wish, the path they choose can lead them here. During the election, I had the chance to visit some of our local schools, taking part in a hustings at Herts and Essex high school in Bishop’s Stortford and answering the questions of sixth-formers at Leventhorpe school in Sawbridgeworth and Richard Hale school in Hertford. I was struck by their insightful questions and genuine passion for politics.”
“I would not have found the path that was right for me had it not been for the inspirational work of our youth clubs in Hertford and Stortford, and it is to them that I wish to pay tribute now. I have experienced at first hand the difference that their work makes to the lives of our young people, and I can say with confidence that, had it not been for the support and guidance of a youth worker named Russell Cairns, I would not be in this Chamber today. I have since had the privilege of visiting the Thirst youth café in Bishop’s Stortford and volunteering at FUTUREhope youth café, in the very building where I once sought advice from Russell.”
“We know that publicly owned, passenger-focused rail can deliver the efficient, high-quality and reliable service that our Hertford and Stortford residents need, and make our railways something to be proud of once again. I have not followed a traditional path through life, as my sometimes frustrated parents would agree. I left school at 17 and went straight into work, first in my town centre, then commuting into London, before working in recruitment in a local business park. I returned to education during lockdown, enrolling at the University of Westminster to study—perhaps unsurprisingly—politics, blissfully unaware that in a few years’ time, I would be desperately trying to navigate the corridors of this place.”
“Today, many of our Hertford and Stortford residents will travel to and from work using our local railways, whether they are going from one town to the next, from our constituency into London or even further. However, when I speak to residents in our community, too often I hear stories of a broken rail network that is not working for local people. Indeed, just today one of my residents contacted me to say that yet more services had been cancelled to Hertford North this evening due to a lack of staff. Our railways were once the pride of Britain, connecting people and places with new opportunities, but the current model of privatisation is failing passengers and staff across the country. I am heartened by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s promise to “move fast and fix things”.”
“There I was inspired by David and Suzy Harvey, self-styled “custodians of the countryside”, whose creativity and passion have transformed a 100-year-old family farm into a thriving business community, making use of the green technologies of the future and with a mission to protect our environment. Our natural environment is as diverse as it is beautiful, with some of Britain’s rare chalk streams, of which our residents are rightly fiercely protective, running right through our constituency. I therefore warmly welcome this Government’s commitment to cleaning up our precious waters. I will work tirelessly, within this House and in my community, to ensure that they are protected.”
“Bishop’s Stortford is suspected to be a Roman new town, and may once have sat at an ancient transport interchange. Sawbridgeworth boasts architecture from the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian periods, and Ware was home to a malt-making industry that lasted from the civil war to the 20th century. Our constituency represents so much of what is great about our country: hard-working communities, historic towns, and hubs of innovation, creativity and commerce. I had the chance to visit one such hub of innovation on a recent visit to Wickham Hall in Bishop’s Stortford.”
“I know that the whole House will want to join me in wishing Julie and her family the very best for the future. It is the honour of my life to represent the community where I grew up and that I call home, as the first Labour MP in Hertford and Stortford’s 41-year history. Our town centre in Hertford gave me my first job, our railways carried me to the university education I thought I had missed out on and, although I am not sure that at age 24 I count as an old boy of the school, I am a proud former student of Richard Hale. I am deeply humbled by the trust that our residents have placed in me, and I will work every day to ensure that it is repaid. Hertford and Stortford is a historic community. When plague overran London in the 1500s, this Parliament moved to Hertford castle, where the gatehouse is now home to Hertford town council.”
“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am grateful for the opportunity to make my first contribution in this House and welcome you to your place following your election. I congratulate all hon. Members and hon. Friends who have given their maiden speeches over previous days. They have been a reminder of the immense talent of those joining this House, and what a privilege it is for me to be among them. I look forward to hearing their many contributions to debates over the coming months and years. I begin by paying tribute to my predecessor, Julie Marson, who served our residents for four and a half years. I thank Julie for her hard work in helping to secure banking hubs to protect our residents’ access to in-person banking services in parts of our community—work that I look forward to continuing.”