Alex Ballinger

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

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467 held · 464 searchable for Alex Ballinger. The searchable lines are below in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 10.

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1. “The right hon. Member is delivering an excellent speech. As the Defence Committee did in 2016, the Foreign Affairs Committee is now conducting an inquiry into disinformation, which covers many of the same areas that he discusses. Does he agree that the increasing spread of disinformation, increasingly in countries that are non-English-speaking but have a real geopolitical significance for the UK, makes the BBC Monitoring service even more important today than it was in 2016?”

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2. “In a previous life, I worked on the Turkey-Greece returns deal, which returned refugees who had crossed in small boats from Turkey to the Greek islands in return for properly registered asylum seekers in Turkey. As we all know, that deal drastically reduced the number of small boats that crossed into Turkey. Does the Home Secretary think that the UK’s deal with France, negotiated just last month, is already having a deterrent effect? Might that be connected to our having seen the smallest number of crossings in August since 2019?”

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3. “Does my hon. Friend agree with me that the three trade deals that our Prime Minister secured earlier this year with India, the EU and America will benefit our region greatly and can really help to turbocharge manufacturing in the Black Country?”

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4. “We cannot talk about pride in our past if we are not prepared to fight for our future. When I was in the Royal Marines, I saw how working in defence can be an excellent career. With defence spending now set to rise to 2.6% of GDP by 2030—more than £75 billion a year—young people in the Black Country have a real opportunity. The UK defence industry already supports more than 260,000 jobs and contributes £10 billion to our economy, but the benefits are not being felt equally across our country. That has to change. With targeted investment in defence manufacturing, we can bring jobs, apprenticeships and advanced engineering back to our region.”

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5. “They secured one of Britain’s first minimum wages, lifting not just themselves but a generation of working people out of poverty. They did not just make chains; they broke them. Their courage and clarity of purpose still echo through our region today. Once again, our people are being held back not by a lack of determination but by a lack of investment and political will. Since the 1980s, successive Conservative Governments have allowed the foundations of our industrial economy to be chipped away, factory by factory and job by job. Apprenticeships have vanished, and young people have been told to aim lower. Today, youth unemployment in Dudley borough is 8.6%—nearly double the national average. That is not just a statistic; it is thousands of young lives stuck in limbo in our towns.”

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6. “I speak today with pride in the Black Country, in my constituency of Halesowen and in the generations of working people who built this country with their bare hands. The Black Country once powered the world. Its furnaces lit the skies; its tools forged the British Empire. In Halesowen, we forged the anchor for the Titanic—shaped by skill, forged in fire, and a symbol of what the region could achieve when it was backed, believed in and properly invested in. However, our greatest legacy is not iron or steel but our people. It is people such as the women chainmakers of Cradley Heath—working-class women from my constituency who, over a century ago, toiled for long hours in blistering heat for poverty pay. In 1910, they stood together, went on strike, and won.”

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7. “It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for organising this debate. It is a pleasure to see so many Black Country MPs together to discuss our great region with such passion. It is also nice to hear Members from outside our region talking about the Black Country. We heard about the anchor for the Titanic, which was built between my constituency and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Cat Eccles). Then, of course, it went to Belfast to be constructed. In the past few weeks, I have been talking to businesses in my constituency that continue to export to Harland and Wolff, and it is great to hear that British shipbuilding is coming back to Northern Ireland.”

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8. “If they could look at us now, they would want to know that their fight still means something and that their spirit lives on, not in museums but in jobs, hope and communities that are building again. Does the Minister agree that our industrial strategy should reflect the history and expertise in the Black Country? Will he join me in working to build up investment in defence, automotive and advanced manufacturing, so that we can get back to doing what we do best—building for Britain?”

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9. “It is fantastic to see the Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, promoting growth across our region. I am also delighted to see that the defence sector, which will be vital for jobs not just in our region but across the West Midlands combined authority, is front and centre among all the sectors that are being supported. With targeted investment in defence manufacturing, we can bring jobs, apprenticeships and advanced engineering back to the Black Country. We can retool our factories, rebuild our pride and give our young people the skills, wages and future they deserve. This is how we honour the chainmakers of Cradley Heath—not with warm words, but with action. They fought for better pay and a better life.”

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10. “We have seen again images of children dying of starvation and malnutrition, and this comes after months of warnings from the UN system about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s announcement of more aid, but we know that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will not allow in more UK aid. He said to me 10 days ago at the Foreign Affairs Committee that if there was not a ceasefire, he would consider further action against Israel. As we have seen, the Israelis responded to the calls for a ceasefire by launching a new offensive in Deir al-Balah. What further actions will we take to try to end this catastrophic situation?”

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11. “Many of my constituents in Halesowen work in energy-intensive industries such as forges and heavy manufacturing. The Government are rightly supporting those industries to become more energy-efficient, but workers need new skills, as well as skills in the many new jobs in the renewable energy sector. As they make this transition, how is the Department supporting workers in the west midlands to get the right skills for these new industries?”

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12. “I served twice in Afghanistan alongside some of the bravest soldiers, judges and women’s rights defenders I have met. After the fall of Kabul, I was based in Pakistan with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where I was involved in the evacuation from Afghanistan. At that time, despite the excellent work of people who served in Op Pitting, we saw many mistakes made by the last Government, including dogs being prioritised ahead of people. This data breach, which was held secret for years, is just the latest embarrassment from that evacuation. Will the Secretary of State consider a Select Committee inquiry into not just the breaches in this case, but the entire Afghan relocation system, which has failed so many times?”

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13. “Those who have committed crimes—the terrorists—are given the same immunities as those who bravely served in our armed forces. As well as failing the test of victims, the legacy Act has failed the legal test. The Belfast High Court found the legacy Act unlawful. After a challenge from Martina Dillon, whose husband was killed in 1997, the Court found the immunity offered to members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force to be in breach of her human rights. Of course it was in breach of her human rights. She deserves to get the justice and the answers that she pursues. The Conservatives’ legacy Act has allowed blanket amnesty to terrorists and the perpetrators of offences including murder and torture. The terrorists responsible for 90% of troubles-related deaths have been given a free pass. This is a travesty of justice.”

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14. “This is what she said about the Conservatives’ legacy Act: “This bill is, quite simply, disgraceful. The Government say they take sexual violence seriously. Yet they are prepared to grant amnesty to those accused of conflict related sexual offences…in NI or England. It is an affront to victims, to justice and is gross hypocrisy.” Of course, she is completely right. The legacy Act has given immunity to those who targeted servicemen and women. Families of the Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings, where 11 British soldiers were killed by the IRA, were unhappy. One family member said: “People deserve justice, and their hurt will never heal until that happens.” The challenge is that the legacy Act has created a moral equivalence, on which I agree with the right hon. Member for Goole and Pocklington (David Davis).”

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15. “I do not believe it is acceptable that people who have committed crimes and been involved in the killing of thousands of civilians and veterans on our side of the table should be given such immunity. It is unacceptable, and we cannot let such an unlawful and unacceptable Act stand. My granddad is from Belfast, and when I was in the city earlier this year, I was honoured to meet survivors of the troubles at the Wave trauma centre. We met people who had been targeted or caught up as collateral damage in republican terror attacks—victims whose only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They deserve the right to seek justice and the opportunity to receive answers. One of them was Máiría Cahill, who was the target of years of sexual abuse at the hands of the IRA.”

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16. “I know that the people we were fighting against in Afghanistan—the Taliban—had no qualms about the rules of engagement or the law of armed conflict. Back in the generation before me, my colleagues were fighting an enemy—the IRA and others—that had no qualms about the rules of engagement or the law of armed conflict. It must have been terrifying to go into that situation. But I am proud to say that, as with my generation, there were many hundreds and thousands of people who served on Op Banner with distinction, bravery and real integrity. Under the legacy Act introduced by the last Government, groups such as the IRA, the UVF and the other terrorist paramilitaries we have heard about have been given immunity.”

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17. “It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. Like many other Members present, I was proud to have served my country. In my case, it was with the Royal Marines in 2006, when I deployed to Afghanistan shortly after basic training. I was a very young and green marine, and it was quite unexpected to go into a hostile and unknown environment. I see many colleagues in the Gallery who may have done something similar several years earlier. In preparation, we did all that we would normally expect to do as a young marine or soldier: we practised troop attacks, battle casualty evacuations, mine clearances and everything else we might do on the battlefield. But we also spent a long time studying the law of armed conflict and the rules of engagement.”

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18. “We will hear later from the Secretary of State about some of the protections afforded to veterans, but it is also important to note that in the last 13 years only one veteran has been prosecuted and, as we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for North East Derbyshire (Louise Jones), he received a suspended sentence. So the chance of any veterans who served in Northern Ireland being pulled over the coals again and being sent to prison is vanishingly small, and we need to be realistic about that. We need to be honest with those who signed the petition.”

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19. “I would like to hear more from the Secretary of State about the protections that veterans will be given, one of which, I understand, is that no veteran will be asked to travel to Northern Ireland; rather, they can give evidence remotely, which is important. There does need to be more on protections, but— [ Interruption. ] Let me finish. It is not acceptable that we have an Act that has been rejected by victims and the families of veterans and found to be unlawful, as well as being unacceptable to many members of the parties in Northern Ireland.”

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20. “The right hon. Gentleman is right. The nub of the matter is that we must ensure that veterans have the right protections and that they are not taken through additional tests, but we have to change the legislation, because it was unlawful. We have no choice. It has let down victims. The new legislation that we are putting in place will involve deep co-operation with the Ministry of Defence—I note that the Minister for Veterans and People is here—to ensure that every protection that is available, within the law, will be provided to veterans. I am sure some of that will be outlined in the Secretary of State’s response.”

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21. “I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his service. I agree that that is a gross injustice. Would he support a new investigation into his friend’s death, if new evidence were to emerge, and does he appreciate that the existing legacy Act would prevent that, which is one of the reasons it needs to be repealed?”

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22. “The right hon. Member talks about recruitment. Does he recognise that 14 years of Conservative government wrecked our armed forces, and that what the Labour Government are doing to invest in our armed forces and in their housing has led to an increase in recruitment, because new people recognise how important that is?”

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23. “One of the 22 settlements that was legalised only a couple of months ago was the illegal outpost that we saw overlooking the village that we visited. The one settler based there was the man who had been stealing livestock from villages. His clearly illegal actions incurred no consequences from the Israeli security forces; indeed, they have now been rewarded by Israel through the legalisation of that settlement.”

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24. “It was a deliberate attempt to intimidate and force people from their land. Shortly before we arrived, we heard, as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North mentioned, about the situation in Jenin, where Israeli used tanks for the first time in the west bank to forcibly displace the population there. Thousands are still yet to return to their homes. I heard stories of a two-year-old girl and a 73-year-old man who were killed by the Israel Defence Forces in Jenin; just as in Gaza, the most vulnerable are the victims of these attempts. Other hon. Members have mentioned Defence Minister Israel Katz’s statement that the legalisation of settlements is a deliberate policy to prevent the formation of a Palestinian state.”

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25. “It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) for organising this important debate. The catastrophic situation in Gaza has meant that much of the media’s attention has been on the death and destruction there, but the situation in the west bank continues to deteriorate. I was there with the Foreign Affairs Committee a couple of months ago, and we visited Bedouin communities and families in the Jordan valley, not far away from the Dead sea. The situation was dire. We saw with our own eyes a mosque that had recently been burned and videos of their schools being attacked by extremist Israeli settlers, and we heard stories of their livestock being stolen and taken away by people from settler outposts.”

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26. “That is an excellent opportunity for our two countries to get together. I know the King has been to Bethlehem, and he has spoken about his sympathy for the Palestinian people. Maybe that visit is an opportunity, given Macron’s aspirations, to discuss the issue and see how we can work together to ensure a two-state solution.”

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27. “Yes—there are a number of things we should be doing. Others have spoken about the issues I meant to cover, so I will come straight to the point: I think is appropriate to have a response from the Government to the ICJ ruling. We have been waiting more than a year for that. It would be great to hear from the Minister when that will be coming. We should absolutely ban trade with the settlements. It is great that we have marking and labelling of goods, but it does not go far enough. We have heard directly from the Israeli Government that the settlements are being used as a tool to ensure that there is no Palestinian state in the future. A two-state solution is the UK Government’s goal, so we need to respond to that. Finally, President Macron will visit the UK next week on a state visit.”

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28. “I welcome my right hon. Friend’s focus on building up our armed forces in this more uncertain world, but is it not also vital for our national security that we focus on preventing conflict? Bringing sides together to negotiate and mediate can stop conflict spilling over and allow our armed forces to focus on the serious threats he has identified in the national security strategy. It is for that reason that former military chiefs, heads of the Security Service and Select Committee Chairs last week wrote a letter to the PM calling for investment in peacebuilding and conflict prevention. Will the Minister commit to using all the tools in our kitbag, including peacebuilding and conflict prevention, to keep our citizens safe?”

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29. “Too often, the question of whether local authorities, combined authorities or police forces are responsible for funding speed cameras comes up. That has led to horrible delays in places like Thorns Road and Manor Way in my constituency, where, despite fatalities and decades of concern, we are still no closer to getting average speed cameras on those hot spots. Does the hon. Member agree that we need faster mechanisms to agree who pays for speed cameras, so that we can move quickly so that the people of Halesowen and Quarry Bank can feel safe?”

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30. “One issue that we have across Dudley is street racing. We often have groups of young men coming from Birmingham, racing up and down the A456 and through the back streets of Halesowen, terrifying some of my residents. Unfortunately, despite the excellent work of Operation Hercules and the police, we have not really been able to crack down on that. Does the Minister agree that street racing hotspots are areas where we should consider putting average speed cameras?”

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31. “I thank the Foreign Secretary for his measured approach to this crisis. In past rounds of violence, Iran has often leaned on its proxies to conduct retaliation. They include the Houthis of Yemen, who until recently had been attacking UK and international shipping in the Red sea. What steps is the Foreign Secretary taking to protect UK shipping in that area and to keep safe the trade routes that are so vital for our country?”

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32. “The Black Country forged the steel that built Britain. Places such as Cradley Heath in Halesowen still have that pride and passion in their towns. Does my hon. Friend agree that the industrial strategy should focus on aerospace, defence and manufacturing so that places like ours can be revitalised because of this Labour Government?”

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33. “Will he co-ordinate with his international partners to apply pressure, and to challenge this illegal and cruel mechanism, and what steps will he take next week to ensure that the UK recognises the Palestinian state?”

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34. “I welcome the sanctions against extremist Ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, whose dehumanising rhetoric has contributed to the land grabbing on the west bank and the destructive situation we see in Gaza. I thank the Minister and the Foreign Secretary for co-ordinating internationally on this, because together our actions are more powerful. Will he also co-ordinate on the devastating humanitarian situation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and private military contractors? We see civilians walking miles to get food; indeed, some of them are being killed by the Israel Defence Forces while simply queuing to get a meal, despite the state they are in.”

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35. “The hon. Gentleman has talked a lot about European young people wanting to come to the UK, but what about the many British young people who want to go to Europe—to Berlin, Paris or Milan? What does he say to people from Boston and Skegness who would like to study overseas?”

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36. “The hon. Gentleman has not mentioned the many businesses and confederations of businesses that have welcomed the deal. He is talking about energy. One energy company, Octopus Energy, has said that it will bring down people’s energy bills, rather than increasing them. What would he say to consumers who would prefer their energy bills to be lower?”

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37. “This deal, on top of the deals Labour has secured with the US and India, will get our economy turbocharged once again. It is about supporting British steel, protecting jobs, and our future as a manufacturing powerhouse. Labour has cut £25 million a year from tariffs, which will help our steel industry to compete on the world stage and will save steelmaking jobs. It is about bringing down energy costs because we know how critical that is for households and businesses alike. This deal dodges a £7 billion carbon tax, and Octopus Energy tells us that it will bring down household bills and provide relief to normal consumers.”

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38. “For years, Britain was held back: 21% fewer exports, rising food prices and businesses drowning in red tape. But this week, that changed. The deal marks a new chapter, ensuring that Britain is stronger, fairer and more competitive on the world stage. It is a game changer for the west midlands, and for my constituents in Halesowen. Nowhere will the benefits be felt more than in the Black Country, an area built on industry. The deal cuts red tape on over 1,500 products, slashes costs, and secures greater certainty for local businesses. Manufacturing makes up 14% of jobs in my area. It is a massive employer, but in the last 30 years the Black Country has lost over 30,000 jobs in the sector. We were once the engine room of the British economy, but while promises piled up, investments passed us by.”

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39. “It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice) and my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy) for arranging this debate. Maybe it will be the start of cross-party working on the EU. The people of Halesowen voted to leave at the Brexit referendum of 2016 because they believed the promises that were made by the Brexit campaign, but what they got from the last Conservative Government was a botched Brexit deal, half-baked and deeply damaging. I am proud to come to the debate as we welcome a landmark trade deal with the European Union, one that delivers real benefits for British businesses, workers and families. Labour promised to fix the damage left by the Tories’ failed Brexit deal, and this week that is exactly what we are doing.”

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40. “We have been talking in this debate about some of the advantages to British agriculture and the British fishing industry of access to the European market. Of course, it will be fantastic for the people who have been welcoming this deal, and the deal will also be very much welcomed by the many consumers in Halesowen who will see prices on their supermarket shop fall as a result of it.”

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41. “For those asking whether the deal undermines our independence, let me be clear: we remain in control. We are outside the single market and the customs union, and Britain makes its own laws. This is about making Brexit work—not revisiting old fights but delivering for today. While Labour delivers, the Tories and Reform continue to stand on the sidelines offering no answers and only more chaos and division. This deal does not bring us backwards; it pushes places like Halesowen forward. We are fixing what was broken by the last Government, and we are making Britain stronger, fairer and ready for the future.”

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42. “If the hon. Member wants to intervene, he may do so. As a former military man myself, I should also talk about the benefits to defence, including access to £150 billion of defence contracts. Many defence contractors in Halesowen have been cut out from European contracts since Brexit. They are very keen to be involved in this deal. We should also be talking about the benefits to families. The deal means lower food prices on supermarket shelves in Halesowen, which will put money back in people’s pockets. For young people who deserve more than a future limited by bad decisions of the past, the deal gives them back the right to work, study and live across 27 countries. For too long, we have closed the door for young people. This deal opens it up once again.”

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43. “The Conservatives started negotiations on handing over the Chagos islands because they understood the national security implications of not doing a deal. Indeed, they did 11 rounds of negotiations on this deal. Now, with our closest security partners—the Americans, the Canadians, the Australians and the New Zealanders—all welcoming this deal, why are the Conservatives playing politics with our national security?”

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44. “I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement and for these essential actions: the sanctions on extremist settlers and the suspension of our trade negotiations with Israel. It is important that Israel sees that its allies will not stand by while it continues to forcibly displace Palestinians and block aid. Can the Foreign Secretary tell us what further discussions he has had with the EU on suspending the EU-Israel association agreement, so that we can put further pressure on Israel to stop the brutalisation of Palestinians in Gaza?”

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45. “Before being elected, I was proud to serve alongside our European allies, including French, Dutch and Estonian forces, in Afghanistan and elsewhere. In the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine, it is more important than ever that we build on those alliances to strengthen European security. Can the Secretary of State tell us how we can do more to strengthen European mechanisms for security, such as the joint expeditionary force, to build our collective security?”

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46. “The National Youth Agency has found that youth workers play a critical role in preventing crime, improving mental health and keeping young people in education, training or work. When that support is taken away, the risks grow. We see higher rates of youth unemployment, increased mental health issues and a rise in antisocial behaviour. The young people I spoke to are not asking for favours; they are asking for fairness and a Government who have not given up on them. They want to be seen, heard and supported. They want to know that their future matters. We owe them better, and it is time that we delivered.”

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47. “They told me that there is nowhere safe to go after school, that mental health services take months to access, and that they are sending out CV after CV but getting nothing back. One young woman said: “It feels like we’re expected to survive, not succeed.” In many ways, she is right. In Halesowen there is no council-run youth centre. That is not a coincidence; it is the result of political choices. Under Conservative-run Dudley council, over £42 million has been cut from local services. In 2023 the borough’s youth service was shut down entirely, with youth workers redeployed, outreach teams cut and community assets sold off. Council documents show 157 service reductions, and youth provision was the first to go. We know that such cuts have real-world consequences.”

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48. “For many of our communities, youth services are a lifeline. They provide essential support to young people, helping them to navigate the complexities of adolescence and the transition into adulthood, but unfortunately those services have disappeared across the country. The decline of youth services in towns such as Halesowen has not made headlines, but it is being felt every single day. I recently sat down with young people aged between 16 and 25—school leavers and graduates, some with master’s degrees, all full of ambition but struggling to find support. These are young people who have worked hard, who have dreams and aspirations and are eager to contribute to society, yet they find themselves facing barriers at every turn.”

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49. “My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does he welcome the news announced today that 12,000 civil servants will move out of London and into the regions to work on exactly these issues? Would he recommend that some of the civil servants moving to the west midlands should come from the Department for Business and Trade, so they can focus on the automotive sectors, the defence sectors and the advanced manufacturing that really make our region great?”

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50. “Given that the last Government reduced our Army to a size not seen since the Napoleonic era, we should take no lectures on defence from Opposition Members. The people who will benefit from this are the defence contractors in my constituency who have been struggling to sell their components to the EU since Brexit and have had to cancel contracts, which has been affecting jobs all over the west midlands.”

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