Westminster Hall

Tuesday 30th June 2026

(began 2 months, 2 weeks ago)

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09:30
None Portrait Speaker 1
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It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, and it's a delight to see so many members here today to talk about a very important topic. So high streets, they matter. They are incredibly significant. And I think this is one of the most significant topics in society and in UK politics today, because our town centres are a barometer of the vitality of all of the areas that we represent, both economically and socially, for good or for ill, and town centres are changing. There's a perfect storm at the centre of what we're discussing today.

That change has been largely prompted by a change in retail habits as e-commerce set in the best part of two decades ago, and as a result, social habits have changed. We've seen in many areas a hollowing out of high streets and a different type of retail, and often a different type of problem move in to those areas, and that includes low grade retail. We've seen a decline in investment in the public realm, and all of these are significant factors in the vitality of the areas that we represent.

And the British public have some clear opinions on this. 65% believe that there are not enough shopping options, and 68% of people believe that there are too many vape shops, barber shops, charity shops and mini marts within their communities. And we've got to think about why footfall has declined in retail has declined. Well, 79% of Brits are concerned about the decline of high streets and town centres. 65% believe that there are not enough shopping options, and 68% of people believe that there are too many vape shops, barber shops, charity shops and mini marts within their communities.

And we've got to think about why footfall has declined in retail has declined. Well, we have got that effect of internet shopping. That is very much a normal part of life nowadays. We must give acknowledgement to increasing costs that businesses face. That includes business rates, utility bills, rising labour costs. Um, this is a perfect storm and I don't think any of us across the House would deny that. High streets are probably under the most acute pressure than they've been in living memory.

I will give way.
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09:40
None Portrait Speaker 1
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I thank her for her contribution. She is correct that the the tools at the disposal of the state are not used often enough. There aren't enough deterrents and there's not enough strong, invisible action to clamp down on this, but also to act as a deterrent to prevent such instances from recurring. I just make a tad bit of progress if I can. Um, in terms of this criminal activity, um, it's been reported by the office for National Statistics that in 2025, there were 530 000 shoplifting offences.

That's an increase of 20% on the previous year. And the highest figure on record. Yet this doesn't take into account those crimes that are not reported, because there is a general sort of malaise or, or suspicion that they, frankly won't get investigated. And I read a similar stat, again, from sort of public authorities that only 50% of shopkeepers report. Crime, but that a staggering 55% of cases that were reported were closed without a suspect ever having been identified. And this is despite retailers having spent £300 million on measures to try and mitigate the effects of a shoplifting, you know, security, CCTV, facial recognition.

And it is believed that up to half of vape shops and a large proportion of American candy stores have ties to organized crime. So the scale of this problem should be, you know, unquestionable. We all recognise it. And 3600 shops have had illegal goods goods seized over the last 12 months, and it's estimated by the National Crime Agency that £1 billion of criminal cash is laundered through high street retail. So the scale of the problem is undeniable. Now, that brings me to a few points around what we can do, and I will genuinely be interested to hear what fellow honourable members have got to say on this when they speak.

But before I continue, I'll give way to my honourable friend.
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None Portrait Speaker 3
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With, with the.
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None Portrait Speaker 1
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Well that's fantastic and I'm delighted to hear. And I know that so many areas do do it well, but we also have to get the the very basics at the bottom of this. Um question. Quite right. I mentioned design codes. I believe in these because they're about giving control over the aesthetic of our areas. We all know the kinds of places that we're attracted to when we've got a bit of leisure time where we may go to spend, spend money, have a day out with families, friends, etc.

we've got to view our own places through that same lens. How can we ensure that they are attractive enough as destinations for people who want to come and spend their money?And if our town centres are not attractive because we've allowed the basics to slip and we don't take care around the aesthetic and the cleanliness of areas, we should not be surprised when people stop coming and when businesses don't invest, and when low grade retail begins to occupy the space, the void that has been created. So I actively encourage the government at the heart of its planning approach to, uh, restore the principle of good quality design, being at the centre of planning decisions to enforce a greater degree of aesthetic standard across the areas that we represent.

And tied to that is has got to be an increase in the quality of signage. We will all be able to quote examples from across our constituencies of where, frankly, a low grade piece of retail is opened up. That is possibly quite questionable as to how many people it employs, what the purpose of its business is. And I can guarantee in so many cases it will come with a really garish, ugly or possibly neon sign that local people, uh, frankly, are staggered that the local authority is allowing to stay in place.

There has to be a much more concerted effort from the state, both nationally, in terms of devolving powers to local authorities and regulatory services to tackle this. And there has to be a much stronger will from local authorities to ensure greater quality of signage. Standards exist across society. I will give way.
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09:46
None Portrait Speaker 1
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She's absolutely right. And that's a perfect link to my next point around sort of enforcement and the state's awareness of this. So, um, members of all got examples of how these instances have occurred, frankly, because they fall through the cracks of different agencies that are meant to have responsibility for this. You know, let's just think about how the state needs to be rewired in order to tackle this. So we've got the Home Office, we've got local authorities, we've got police forces, we've got the Treasury in terms of the role that they've got to help clamp down on money laundering.

Um, we've got the the unquestionable effect of illegal migration and county lines that also sits at the centre of much of this. The state has to bring this together somehow. Far too much of this, these powers are weak or they're dispersed to authorities that don't have sort of the will or the ability to crack down on the problem. I'll just make some progress if I can. Um, so enforcement and the ability of the state has got to be at the centre of this.

Now in terms of this civic pride piece. And I talk about getting back to basics, there are some pretty obvious things to, I mean, my, my local authority, Bromsgrove, they do a pretty good job of keeping Bromsgrove town centre and Hagley and, and the shopping parade in Wythall and Rubery um in a clean and tidy fashion. But I would like to see public authorities invest just a little bit more in sort of, you know, the, the extra finishing touches if you like, you know, the flowers, the quality of the public realm, the softer things that make our areas pleasant destinations for people to go into to shop and ultimately for businesses to invest.

Let's bring back trees in the public realm, for goodness sake. Right?We've seen plenty of instances where, you know, the planning system prevents the prevention of street trees because people are concerned about liabilities. But we know that the public like them. And guess what?After the heat wave that we saw last week, they have very beneficial qualities in helping keep public spaces quite cool, as well as making them attractive. One of the other factors that I think has been quite key in this deterioration of quality of high streets across the country, and something that society must restore, is the visibility of institutions.

So again, coming back to the point I made earlier on that the big things slide when we don't get the basics right. I think we've seen a visible decline in most of our areas around key institutions that restore public trust in all of the things that bind us in society. I'm talking about places, uh, police stations, police and courts, particularly. So there's a you could argue there's a double edged side to this coin that if you have too many police visible people think it's a high crime area.

Well, guess what the counter applies if police are never visible, people feel that justice isn't being enforced. And equally, the the the, the deterioration or decline of numbers of courts being visible in our communities, I think has contributed considerably towards the problem that we're facing and has been a subtle factor in saying, guess what, you know, illegal and illicit retail will be able to thrive because the public authorities and the state are not interested in clamping down on it. I will give way.
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None Portrait Speaker 1
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She's absolutely correct. These are also factors that contribute towards a healthy and thriving and thriving community. And it's really important that all local authorities do what they can to help support investment in these facilities in their areas. But there are also other things that local authorities can do. And this isn't all down to solely what the state can do. There is a role here in empowering, getting the factors right that empower the private sector to invest in our areas.

So another policy that I would like to see is a greater push towards local economic investment plans. Previously, prior to being a Member of Parliament, I served as a district councillor in South Worcestershire when I was leader of Wychavon District Council, I pursued investment prospectuses for three main towns and these weren't planning documents. These were documents targeted at strategic investors to say, these are the reasons why our towns are attractive. Um, they've got a you know, you could say you've got a population of X within a hinterland of Y.

These are all of the social and economic indices that make our areas attractive. But guess what?We shouldn't be surprised if it's difficult to get that investment on the hook if we if we're not enforcing the basics and society and the state and councils aren't doing all that they can to ensure that our communities that we represent are ultimately very attractive destinations for those businesses to come and spend their money. And I'm conscious that many other members wish to speak. So I'm going to draw my comments to a close in a second, but I would again like to impart on, um, the government the importance of reducing costs to business that are unquestionably having an impact on our town centres and high streets at the minute.

So the government needs to abolish business rates for, um, thousands of. Shops, hospitality pubs and small retail across the country to give our high street traders a boost. Endorse that conservative policy that has been put forward. We need to get energy costs down. And the government can do that by endorsing the Conservatives Clean Power Plan. But I then very quickly, if I can, chair, reiterate the points I've made, restore pride in our civic areas, strengthen the teeth of the state and the ability of the state to come together collectively to tackle these problems, identify where there's a problem that needs to speak to the other agency that's got, you know, commonality in identifying and tackling the solution.

And we shouldn't be afraid to use the teeth of the state to clamp down on this, because the very best thing we can do is demonstrate that if illegal, illicit or low grade retail appears in our high street, we're serious about cracking down on it so that we can ensure the vitality of our high streets continue for the enjoyment of all of our communities.
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None Portrait Speaker 11
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Our local high streets are the beating heart of our towns in our country, but we all know that they face profound challenges. In recent years, we've had the rise of online retail. We've had changing consumer habits, years of underinvestment in our town centres and the tax system. The business rates have not kept pace either. Now, in my view, the answer to all of this isn't simply to recreate the high streets of 30 or 40 years ago. The successful town centre, the successful high street of the future is going to look different.

We need to work to combine retail with culture, hospitality, housing, leisure, health services and other aspects of community activity in. My constituency, we're trying to do just that. We're restoring our iconic seaside pier. We're investing in public services, supporting creative and cultural sectors, including the Warehouse Arts Centre that opened just last week. We're bringing vacant upper floors back into use above our retail units as homes, and we're improving the aesthetics of the town to. But as well as good intentions as my right hon.

Friend mentioned earlier about the, um, the the officer in Dudley. We also need confidence and determination to enforce our will. So across the country our constituents are increasingly raising concerns that premises appear to be operating outside the law. Legitimate businesses employ local people and they contribute positively to their communities. But they shouldn't have to compete with enterprises involving involved in illicit tobacco, counterfeit goods, money laundering or other criminal activity. To combat this, we're going to need stronger partnership working between our local authorities, our trading standards, HMRC, the police and every other enforcement agency alongside making sure that they've all got the resources they need to act swiftly.

Visible enforcement matters because it helps restore confidence amongst residents, visitors and responsible businesses alike. Alongside this enforcement, I also want to suggest a more ambitious approach to regeneration and renewal through what I have previously described as renovation zones. Be specifically designated areas typically focused on existing town centres in which government could use a package of fiscal incentives, planning flexibilities, public investment to encourage the refurbishment, repurposing and re-occupation of existing buildings with the aim of increasing population density, economic activity and civil life. Our traditional town centres contain beautiful historic buildings with vacant upper floors and underused premises.

Renovation zones would provide targeted incentives to encourage the refurbishing, refurbishment and repurposing of those buildings rather than endless outward expansion with out of town retail parks, we should be focusing on repairing, restoring and repopulating the places that we already have. If we combine robust enforcement against unlawful storefronts with a bold programme of renewal and reinvestment, our high streets can once again become thriving civic centres at the heart of community life. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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None Portrait Speaker 12
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Uh, perhaps. Should abandon the pre-prepared speech and just, uh, just just go for it. But, um, across the country, our high streets are facing huge pressure. I think all of us in Westminster Hall this morning understand that shopkeepers are doing everything they can to keep trading, but they do face the double hit of jobs tax, the bodge business rate reforms. And at a time when our retailers are disappearing, all too often what we're seeing is those those retail units being replaced by vape shops and bars, etc..

So it's time that our businesses, our real businesses had more support. So in my constituency, Brownhills High Street, as you know it very well, it's home to some fantastic independent retailers, very good cakes. One of my favourites, the Jack Taylor, the the, the pops and the butchers serving our local community. They face challenging environment. Also made more challenging at the minute by the emergence of a sinkhole in the High street. The reason I raise this is it highlights why when our high streets have to be closed for emergency work, it's so important that we support our local businesses that we all get out there on the high street.

Don't talk, seek action, go and put the pound in the tills of these of these local businesses that work so hard in Brownhills. We're fortunate. We've received some pride in place funding. So I really hope that the government will work with me and the community to deliver that, and really hoping we might be able to see it. Help with the redevelopment of Ravens court. Um, which is a gap in the high street, which we've been working on for years to seek some improvement and regeneration.

Um, so perhaps that's something that the minister can, can pick up for me as well. Um, but I hear day in, day out about the challenges that our businesses face. But the other issue that I wanted to raise, which hasn't been raised already, is about car parking. Very briefly, we need car parking that works in the interests of residents and businesses in Aldridge. Recently, some of my residents have received a £100 parking charge simply for dropping off family and friends and waiting for a short period of time.

So the signage refers to yellow lines, not red lines.
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None Portrait Speaker 13
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Yeah.
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None Portrait Speaker 14
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I certainly do, and I thank my honourable friend and colleague for for that intervention. Um, high Street should be the home to places that serve important functional services. It's important that regeneration should be community led and ensuring local voices are heard. And our high streets reflect genuine needs of our communities, fostering a sense of belonging in our town centres. That's the purpose to ensure regeneration is lasting, work must continue to be done by all councils across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to prevent unlawful shopfronts and forced planning permission breaches, and the number of enforcement actions carried out increased by nearly 25% and 25 compared against 2022.

However, significant disparities remained between local authorities, with evidence indicating that some councils are considerably more proactive than others in monitoring such activity. In Strangford, £1 million in funding was given for the supporting thriving High street programme to create safer and more attractive streetscapes, footfall and attract new business. These transformations do not happen overnight. A significant amount of planning and work has already been done to begin the project. All four UK nations record year on year declines in footfall shopfronts lie deserted.

A visual reminder of the economic pressures. Regular health checks should be carried out to reassess the effectiveness of these efforts. This will ensure that investment is not only delivered effectively but protected over time, creating resilient, responsive high streets. I conclude with this, Madam Chair. I look to the Minister to ensure that funding is available UK wide to support high streets, to ensure that banks have high street presence, and to re-engage people with the joy of shopping local and sewing into their local economy.

It can be achieved and together we must achieve it. Thank you so much.
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None Portrait Speaker 9
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Mr. Hassan.
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None Portrait Speaker 10
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Thank you chair, it's a pleasure to serve with you again. Before I was elected, I spent well over a decade of my career on the high street working as a pharmacist. I've stood behind that counter and watched the flow of the community come and go through a door. Challenge shoplifters still bearing the scars, literally. And what I've lived and what we now are here week after week at my surgeries and visits across North Somerset, is worried worry that our high streets are becoming a symbol of decline rather than a source of pride.

In Portishead, residents have watched yet another vape shop or barber shop open, where a much loved local business used to be. People noticed and residents ask why this matters because a high street isn't just bricks, footfall and business rates. It's where people feel proud of where they live. It's where community happens. And the opposite is true, too. Vacant storefronts and deserted high streets don't just look sad. They breed anti-social behaviour. That's the backdrop.

And on top of it, our high streets are now under fresh pressure. Just last week, as temperatures soared, footfall on the high street dropped by 19% on the hottest May day on record, and we saw the same pattern again in the most recent heat wave. Shoppers stayed home, commuters worked from home and the high street paid the price. Whether it's empty units or empty pavements, the message is the same our high streets are fragile and they need support for our challenges. That is why I welcome the government's action.

A £30 million enforcement package with raids, closures, cash seizures against the dodgy vape shops, barber shops and mini marts linked to organised crime, businesses laundering an estimated 1 billion of criminal cash every year. We can have the renaissance on our high streets like my right hon. Friend the member for Makerfield set out yesterday. But first we need to joust with those criminal businesses. This is significant recognition that our high streets are worth fighting for, but I admit we need even more.

We need a co-ordinated vision that our high streets will look like in 2030, 20, 35. We need to manage the future of our high streets, not watch their decline.
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None Portrait Speaker 13
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So I simply say to the honourable member, why on earth legislate then and bring out further regulation, imposing much more of a burden on our high street businesses, because, Mrs. Vaz, that's exactly what they're telling me, that these are pieces of legislation that are making it more costly to do business. And then, of course, that tourism tax is going to be taxing businesses in Ilkley and in Haworth, imposing much more of a burden on them for less money to be spent locally. And what does this do, Mrs.

Vaz?It gives our West Yorkshire mayor more power to use my area as a cash cow to be able to spend that money in other areas across West Yorkshire, rather than investing it in my constituency. And then locally, Mrs. Vaz Bradford Council have imposed car parking charges across the whole of my district, including on street parking, which is making it much more less attractive for people to come and spend money in Ilkley. And we had a petition that was submitted to Bradford Council. 4000 residents had signed it.

But despite this, Bradford Council went on regardless and the cost of installing these machines at 3000 to £10,000 for a parking machine in a village. Mrs. Vaz of Addingham, which only has 18 parking spaces. The cost in terms of that being paid back will go into decades before the council even starts making any money. So my simple request to the minister and indeed Bradford Council, who I hope are listening, is remove those parking charges, take away the cost to those visitors and residents that want to spend their money locally and back our businesses, because we're fed up of being utilized as a cash cow for the rest of Bradford to benefit at our expense.
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None Portrait Speaker 9
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Susan Murray.
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None Portrait Speaker 16
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Thank you very much to the honourable member. I absolutely agree with her. On business rates. I have heard repeatedly from businesses in Mid Dunbartonshire that they are unable to afford to hire young people and give them their first experience of work, or that they have been, or that they have had to cut the hours due to rising costs. At the same time as they are being hit by rising costs, static VAT thresholds they are competing with online giants who pay a fraction of the tax they do.

Amazon's five main UK companies paid just 7.1% corporation tax last year, while our main high street businesses are expected to pay 25%. But the government has the ability to put us on a different path by cutting VAT for hospitality and attractions. Our cafes and restaurants are the beating heart of the high street. They bring football footfall, create atmosphere. They give people a reason to go to town centres and create community. A great example of this is the book at Bearsden Cross, which celebrates its first birthday on July the 11th.

Aside from transforming the cross with a new fresh business idea, Caitlin, who owns the business, is a cancer survivor who raises a lot of money for Beatson Cancer Unit in Glasgow. And I hope this business can also survive. Apologies. The government should also close the loopholes that allow online giants to pay a fraction of the tax that our high street traders pay in full. We cannot ask local businesses to compete with not only the scales of economy that these conglomerates bring, but with a tax system rigged to punish those who play by the rules.

The sad truth is that the soul of our town centres is being slowly eroded. Businesses taxed into administration. Their customers moved online. Our favourite shops slowly replaced by neon signs of vape shops and barbers. But the government has a choice to back our local business.
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None Portrait Speaker 10
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Hear, hear.
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None Portrait Speaker 8
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Thank you. Serve under you and a pleasure to follow my honourable friend the debate and said much of what I would have said in his place. I have simply these points to make. First, a moment or two in context. We have to make a decision about the character of places. People's sense of place nurtures, nourishes their sense of worth. And when we see diminished places, people are diminished alongside that. So we have to understand that the decline of high streets is much more than about retail habits.

It's about how we comprise community and community matters, because it allows us to deal with the inevitable vicissitudes of human experience. The real issue there is about what government can do to nourish, to support those communities. And I have these requests to the minister. The first thing is to change planning law, to limit out-of-town and edge of town development. When you suck the life, the livelihoods out of the centre of places, you inevitably drive people to the to the extremities of settlements rather than draw them into their heart.

The heart of our communities is being ripped out. Secondly, the government needs to crack down on the illegal shops, which now pervade across much of our kingdom, including in my constituency of South Holland and the Deepings, reinforcing the powers of local councils to actually close the shops when they're trading illegally, which many certainly are. Thirdly, we can re dignify our town centres. In my time in representing my constituency, much of the footprint of government has been removed. Let's reopen closed magistrates courts.

Let's open again local tax offices. Let's see the footprint of government informing dignifying so much of our our country. So things like that where government can take proactive steps to change the character of areas, would make a huge difference to regenerating communities and giving health again to high streets.
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None Portrait Speaker 1
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Yeah.
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None Portrait Speaker 7
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To serve under your chairmanship. And I thank the honourable member for raising this debate today in my constituency of Stoke on Trent South High Street, such as Longton Town Centre and Weston Road in Meir, were hit by austerity, with many shops shutting down and left empty. Yet despite these odds, the local communities have done fantastic work to revitalise their high streets. Longton town centre, for example, has transformed into a busy retail district with new independent businesses such as Pearl and Grey Parsley and Stage, the Moroccan Cafe and Steve's Butcher shop, and I am campaigning for a banking hub, with a petition now receiving hundreds of signatures.

But this excellent work must not be undermined by proliferation of illegal shops. To be frank, there is no reason why there should be five vape shops or barber shops or mini marts on one street. Many of these we know are fronts for illegal activity. I welcome the government's plans to close illegal shops for up to 12 months, as well as the recent cash boost to the National Crime Agency to crack down on illicit shops. But if a business is found to be trading illegally and repeatedly, it should be permanently closed with strengthen police powers to prosecute unlawful activity.

We should also look at how the planning system can give local authorities greater powers to shape the high streets. Councils understand the needs of their communities better than anyone. They should have the ability to consider whether there is already an oversupply of a particular type of premises before another one opens, rather than being forced to accept repeated changes because the current planning rules offer little opportunity to intervene. Since the introduction of the Commercial, Business and Service Use class in 2020, many commercial uses are grouped within the same planning.

Use class E, a property can generally change from one class E use to another without planning permission, so councils cannot easily refuse a new vape shop, for example, because they are simply many other ones. Several nearby greater local control over the mix of businesses on our high street will deliver the variety that shoppers want, support independent retailers and ensure our town centres remain the beating heart of our communities for generations.
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None Portrait Speaker 20
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Is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today. Too many of our high streets are under immense pressure. Businesses are facing rising costs, declining confidence and falling footfall. This is a direct consequence of Labour's policies. Madam chair, I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that there is an existential threat to the future of the high street, and I want to share one example from my constituency in Tarporley the Little Tap, a small independent bar, recently announced that they would be closing alongside terrarium, a much loved popular restaurant across the road.

These were much loved local businesses owned and run by Miles, a local entrepreneur with real community support behind him. Following the closure, Miles said the past 18 months have been extremely difficult for small businesses, particularly in hospitality. Relentless increases in costs beyond my control, combined with current government policies that have placed even greater strain on independent businesses, have left me with no choice but to close. Despite pouring everything I had into keeping the business alive, the reality is that I can no longer make it work.

Even though we have been busy, he says, I am heartbroken. Little tap and terrarium has been my life for the past ten years, and I am incredibly proud of everything we have achieved together. I sincerely hope that the minister has heard the impact of Labour's policies. The reality is that businesses cannot be expected to thrive when they are being squeezed from every direction through rising business rates, increasing employment costs and growing regulatory burdens. This is not how you encourage growth and that is why we need an alternative approach and why the conservatives have committed to ending business rates for thousands of high street businesses.

We should be ambitious for our high streets. Thank you.
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None Portrait Speaker 2
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Hear, hear.
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None Portrait Speaker 21
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Stuart Anderson.
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None Portrait Speaker 14
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Thank you, Mr. Adams.
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None Portrait Speaker 11
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It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And I thank my honourable friend from Bromsgrove for bringing forward a very important debate. Uh, South Shropshire residents really value their high street, which is testament to the 4500 people that filled in my survey explaining what was important to them on the high street. Unanimously, the business said the taxes were too high and it was so hard to now make a profit. Established businesses that have been doing it for many years are struggling to make a profit under the current conditions.

They also spoke residents about parking, accessibility, how they get into the high street. That was a big issue, but also the state of the high street from cleanliness to pop up shops. When we're speaking about the pop up shops many have mentioned already today, it's the Turkish barbers that have the skill of Sweeney Todd and see about two people a day coming in to serve them, but they could be closed for months on end. Then they're open and the vape shops as well. They have these neon signs and displays that are not in keeping with any south Shropshire town from um Ludlow.

Over to Bridgnorth. We see these are changing the shape of the high street. Residents don't like it and it's not appropriate. But we need to call this out. So I'm working with the rural crime officer, where we've met with the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses recently in Ludlow, and with a dedicated, dedicated police officer in Bridgnorth, specifically to look at this problem. It is a complex issue, but we're asking for local residents to feed into the police.

To myself, any issues that they believe on the high street are operating illegal. We need to do everything to ensure that our local businesses, the genuine ones, can thrive, and we need to get rid of what is a blight on the high street of shops that do not belong there, and many of them are running fronts for organised crime and it needs to be closed down.
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None Portrait Speaker 21
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This fortune.
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None Portrait Speaker 23
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Thank you, Miss Martin. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And I congratulate my hon. Friend the member for Bromsgrove for securing this important debate. I want to start by paying tribute to the work of opportunity, Bromley and your Bromley in my constituency. The work they do to support local businesses, both big and small, is invaluable. I particularly want to single out your Bromley, who work tirelessly to make sure Bromley's High Street is an attractive and enjoyable place to visit and shop.

Just in the past week, they held their floral Fest, which transformed Bromley High Street with colourful planted displays. Inspired by this year's theme Growing together. I look forward to continuing to work with them to support their high street in the weeks and months ahead. Bromley and Biggin Hill is a constituency that needs to see its high streets thrive. 21.5% of my constituents are employed in the hospitality, retail and leisure industries, but our high streets, like many across the country, have been suffering under this government's constant attacks.

The business rate hike alone forced on local high streets by the Treasury, has seen some high streets faced average rateable value increases of up to 82%, meaning thousands of pounds in extra costs. On this side of the house, we have a real plan to back our high streets. That plan starts with the introduction of a permanent 100% business rates relief for the retail, leisure and hospitality sector in England, 250,000 businesses would benefit from the relief, including many in my Bromley and Biggin Hill constituency, delivering substantial savings that can then be reinvested in better premises, more staff and lower prices, as well as lifting thousands out of business rates altogether.

We need our high streets. They are the centres of our communities. But if the government does not see the pain they are inflicting upon businesses up and down the country, they will ensure the death of the high street. I will always stand up for the small businesses that are the backbone of our economy in Bromley and Biggin Hill.
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None Portrait Speaker 24
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Thank you. Mr.. It's a pleasure to serve the committee with you in the chair. And I congratulate the honourable member for Bromsgrove for introducing this important debate and the constructive spirit in which he introduced the issue and his generosity in taking interventions. Um. The and my hon. Friend also for Mid Dunbartonshire, who raised, rightly raised and highlighted the issue of of business rates. They do indeed need to be abolished and replaced with entirely different system, which I'll come back to.

High streets, of course, are at the heart of our communities and both in Taunton and Wellington we have a great range of independent traders, shopkeepers, hospitality businesses. Footfall in Taunton is up 4.6%, which is way above the national average, and that's in large part due to their efforts and the work they do to promote the independent quarter and other parts of our town. However, they're struggling against the backdrop of energy costs, a difficult financial environment and the dishonest traders who don't play by the same rules as the rest of us.

We cannot allow our high streets to become sites of decline in Taunton, with thanks to the team of councillors, trading standards officers and local police. We've seen a number of shops rightly shut down the kind of crackdown I called for and supported when it happened. And whilst I'm encouraged by measures the government have brought forward on closures, they must go further on this issue. Therefore, I reiterate the call I made in this chamber on behalf of Liberal Democrats a few weeks ago, that there needs to be greater powers for police officers to issue closure orders more swiftly to permanently close down repeat offenders and as other honourable members raised measures to be taken against dodgy landlords who knowingly and repeatedly let their premises to illegal traders.

All that must come alongside investment in proper community policing to curb not only this kind of activity, but also anti-social behaviour and shoplifting, which drive customers away. The Liberal Democrats would call on the National Crime Agency to establish a dedicated unit to tackle organised shoplifting gangs and give small businesses the tools they need to protect themselves. Um, the honourable member raised planning controls, as did a number of others, and they're quite right to do so, in my opinion. Walked down many of our high streets and you'll find units that are technically occupied.

Um, as and technically trading but have deliberately blacked out, uh, storefront windows with coverings of various kinds. It's a simple point, but the shop by definition would usually have a shop window and a display, not an opaque screen. Hiding the internal activities from view. The window onto the street provides a natural surveillance into the premises and out from the premises. It's the invitation to the customer. What makes the high street feel alive, and part of its aesthetic appeal.

And it's difficult to quantify. It's incredibly valuable to the vitality that makes our town centres, places people want to go. And so planning enforcement potentially could be used to enforce that principle. If a business converted its shopfront to a blank wall or entirely blacked out facade, it's no longer operating as a retail unit in a traditional sense of the word planning. Use classes in part A and part E define what a shop is, and shops are defined in both those classes, including the mention of display several times.

So with an amendment to guidance to clarify that one of the features of Shop is a display of some sort or a shop window, then enforcement action could potentially be taken and a stop notice could be issued under the Planning Act, requiring unauthorised use to end. And I urge the government to. So I urge the government to include that in their current review of powers. As I do, the issue of illuminated signs that have been raised by several honourable members on anti-social behaviour, we should all recognise it can be deeply traumatising.

As well as bringing back proper community policing. Liberal Democrats also want to see, therefore, more use of directly employed community safety wardens and mobile CCTV to enforce localised issues like fly tipping and harassment. But enforcement alone does not regenerate. Our high street in Taunton, Wellington. I often speak to local traders who offer brilliant products and services, but they are under massive pressures to make ends meet. Given the cost pressures and tax increases that have been levied, the government's increased employer National Insurance, our jobs tax, they hit businesses hardest, which is why the Liberal Democrats oppose them at every opportunity.

And I still call on the minister to lobby the Treasury, to reverse them and to take more costs off our small businesses, the backbone of our economy and the single biggest sector in the UK economy. And similarly, business rates in some cases now exceed rents and squeeze out our independent businesses that give high streets their character. Our long standing position is clear replace business rates with a system of commercial landowner levy based on the land value, rather than the capital value. Shifting the value shifting the burden from tenants to landowners, and prioritising high streets in the process, stimulating the investment we need.

And no matter how nice our high streets are, that's of no use if people can't visit them. So we've called for the bus fares to be cut to £1 for all a family of four making a trip into Taunton from a nearby village at £3 each is still a significant sum. Before they've spent a penny in a local shop, and homes above shops also have a transformative role to play, putting more people onto our high streets day and evening, weekday, weekday and weekend. The current policy framework allows for it, but shop owners have neither the time nor the expertise, nor the resources often to navigate the system, so we need more support for them to convert those spaces into residential use.

To conclude, Mrs. Vaz, Liberal Democrats are so clear swifter, stronger closure orders, penalties for landlords who turn a blind eye, planning enforcement against opaque storefronts, reversal of the employer National insurance rises, bus fares cut to £1 and more help to unlock homes above shops. Our great traders and small businesses deserve that support and they will repay in Bucketloads if we give it to them.
10:33
None Portrait Speaker 8
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Hear, hear.
10:33
None Portrait Speaker 21
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Paul Holmes.
10:33
None Portrait Speaker 5
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Thank you.
10:33
None Portrait Speaker 2
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Very much, Miss Vaz, and it's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And can I welcome the new minister to her place?I know she is a she has a background in these issues, and I look forward to working with her in the weeks, the months or the years ahead. And I'd also like to thank the Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove, my hon. Friend, for calling this debate. He's a great champion for his community, and I know that this is an issue that's close to his heart and one which he is very knowledgeable on, given his previous career in local government.

So I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate today. He's mentioned a range of topics which show how much he is involved in his constituency and his community, ranging from the issues in the floors, in the banking hub criteria to the aesthetics of our high streets. And I know that that comes from his time as leader of a local authority. I will also say, Miss Vaz, that I am his whip. And so therefore, after this morning, he can be guaranteed to have very good mention in despatches later on today.

We've also had some really entertaining but also knowledgeable speeches from my colleagues. The honourable gentleman for Biggin Hill, Um Bromley and Biggin Hill, the honourable gentleman for South Shropshire. My right hon. Friend the member for Aldridge-brownhills. My hon. Friend the member for Chester South and Eddisbury. My right hon. Friend the member for South Holland and the Deepings and my hon. Friend the member for Keighley and Ilkley of all mentioned speeches which show that they have an in-depth knowledge of the challenges that are going on in their constituencies.

Miss Vaz high streets have traditionally been seen as indicators of health of our economy, with the British Retail Consortium calculating that retail generates nearly half £1 billion for £500 billion in annual sales and nearly 3 million jobs. And according to the office for National Statistics, around 4.4 million people work in businesses located on British high streets, representing roughly 14% of all employment, and the contribution of this sector to the UK economy is vital to any government seeking economic growth, especially regionally driven growth, which I have a reason to believe.

The incoming Prime Minister is enthusiastic about. This growth will be better able to sustain the communities it thrives in and empower local people, business owners and decision makers to improve the areas they know and love much better than any centrally planned project ever could. But as I have said in previous debates, our high streets are more than a place where cash and services and goods change hands. They are at the heart of our community where people can come together, have a catch up over a coffee or a beer and natter in the nail bar, a quiet read in the local bookshop and the value of our high streets cannot be quantified by simple sums of money and simple sums of business rates or council tax.

They draw in for the Treasury and local government finances. They are so much more than that. But as has been outlined this morning, it is a sad story. There is a sad story of decline in our high streets, and there are many factors which explain this sad decline. And I know colleagues across the House have touched on many of these from the rise of online shopping, the cost of living pressures, economic stagnation, high taxes on businesses, planning issues, poor local transport links and stretched public services.

And while there are many causes of the problem, there are also many who lose out from dying high streets. Indeed, perhaps the greatest tragedy is the impact on young people. Retail has always been one of the UK's great entry level employers. It has given generations of young people their first job, taught customer services, teamwork and responsibility, and provided a pathway into management and business ownership. Yet today, as members will be aware, following the publishing of Alan Milburn's report into youth unemployment, which stands at a staggering 16.2%, an increase of almost two percentage points on last year.

At the same time, youth employment has fallen, leaving more than 3 million people economically active 16 to 24 year olds are unemployed. Cross the country. And we should ask ourselves a simple question how many of those young people have been pushed out of or denied work?As our high streets continue to decline, increases to the minimum wage with a surging cost of employer National Insurance contributions and council tax hikes, hikes are just a few of the burdens heaped onto businesses which have been pushed to the wire, and in 2024 alone, more than 13,000 high street stores closed.

And over the last two years, the retail sector has lost almost 250 thousand jobs. Every shop that closes represents not just another empty unit, but another lost opportunity for someone taking their first step into employment. And if we genuinely care about tackling economic activity, we cannot ignore what is happening in our town centres and our high streets. And the picture is no better for Britain's pubs. And at this point, Madam Chair, I better declare an interest as I like being in them quite a lot.

For the average pub employing eight people, changes to employer National Insurance contributions have added around seven £7,200 a year to the wage bill layer. On top of that, business rates reforms that were presented as a lifeline. But for many businesses have proved to be anything but, and it becomes far easier to understand why so many publicans are questioning whether they can continue. The consequences are stark across Britain, two pubs close every day. Miss Vaz at the 2024 autumn budget, the Chancellor promised to, and I quote, permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, telling Parliament that this would help level the playing field for our high streets.

It was a welcome ambition, but when the detail emerged, many businesses concluded that the reforms would do the opposite rather than providing certainty. The changes have raised serious concerns that any that many larger retailers and hospitality businesses, the so-called anchor tenants that attract shoppers to our town centres, could face significantly higher costs. These are businesses that generate footfall for everyone else, and when a department store, supermarket, major retailer or large hospitality venue closes, it's not just that business. It's not just businesses that suffer small independent retailers, cafes and local shops lose passing trade.

I will give way to my Right Honourable friend.
10:39
10:39
10:41
10:41
None Portrait Speaker 2
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He's absolutely right. And look, I as I'm going to come on to in the last page of my speech, we welcome the government's early actions on this to tackle those businesses. But we think that there's more that we that they can do, and we will offer our support in that. Um, as mentioned, Miss Vaz, the government introduced the economic crime levy, which we support, ensuring that those operating within the regulated financial sector contribute towards tackling money laundering and wider economic crime. It reflected the principle that protecting the integrity of our economy is a shared responsibility.

But there is clearly more to do without properly resourced investigations. Effective intelligence sharing and robust action by enforcement agencies. These powers risk existing only on paper trading standards. Local authorities, HMM Revenue and Customs, the police, Immigration Enforcement and the National Crime Agency all have a crucial role to play, but they need the resources and capacity to act. And we've seen from evidence, from trading standards professionals, it's particularly striking that 96% had encountered serious organised crime groups within the course of their work.

Um, miss, Miss Vaz, my time is fast approaching, but I hope that there is cross-party agreement on how we can tackle those businesses in our high streets. But there is more work to do. The Conservative Party has put forward a platform on which we would enable our high streets to thrive. This government has damaged them by the economic policies that they have brought in. Maybe that may change when we have our new Prime Minister, but I sincerely doubt it. Thank you very much.
10:42
10:42
None Portrait Speaker 18
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Thank you very much, Miss Vaz. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And can I thank the Shadow Minister for his warm words?Welcome me to my place. I'm very grateful to the honourable member for Bromsgrove for securing this important debate, and I thank all members who have contributed today in their passionate way, reflecting the commitment they have to their local high streets and the people that you all represent. High streets are integral to our communities. They are where people work, shop and spend time together and at their best they are vibrant and welcoming places, supporting local communities and building pride in place.

But we all know, as members of articulated, that too many high streets are facing real challenges, from changing consumer habits to vacant units and declining footfall. And in some areas, these challenges are compounded by the rise of businesses being able to be used as fronts for criminal activity. The government is determined to address both sides of the challenge to support regeneration and renewal, while also tackling unlawful activity that undermines all of our high streets. And we're clear that thriving high streets don't just happen by accident.

They require sustained investment over a long period of time planning and a clear vision for the future. Backed, crucially by local leaders with powers to protect their towns and their high streets. I understand this well, having served as a council leader and know just how passionate the high street debates can become. Later this year, the government will publish a cross-government high street strategy because saving our high streets needs a cross-government approach, the strategy will be backed by £300 million to support retail, leisure and hospitality sectors, and I was pleased to meet with the hospitality last week.

Hospitality sector last week and to help those sectors to reimagine the role of the high street in modern Britain. Happy to give way.
10:44
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10:46
10:47
None Portrait Speaker 18
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I'm very happy to work with the honourable member, and I was about to say I'm very happy to meet with her to talk, but I think it was Ravenscourt that she referenced. But any other part of her constituency who is that will benefit from the pride in place funding that the government has provided, and supporting high streets means backing a means government backing our high streets. But each place in turn, I'm just going to make a bit of progress, if that's all right. But each place, each town, each high street, each village has a different personality, a different identity.

And that's why the role of government should be to support them, but to enhance the place that they find themselves in. The government believes that people who live in those places know those places best, and that's why we're moving beyond a one size fits all approach. Equipping places with practical levers for change, shifting funding, decision making and accountability from Whitehall to the hands of mayors, council, local businesses and residents. The high streets rental auctions are a key example of this, giving councils the power to bring persistently vacant properties back into use.

And we've just announced £10 million to support the expansion and the rollout of that, helping councils identify opportunities, engaging landlords and to get properties back into use. This alongside the community. Right to Buy Now, backed by £61 million of funding, will give local people a greater say for the future of their area. In my experience, local people are not short of opinions or how they want to shape their area, but there are crucial things that must happen from government to be able to back that vision.

And can I just particularly thank the right hon. Member for Southport, who spoke about the need to renovate existing older buildings, and I think the government has taken some good steps in respect to that. I know that there are also calls to make changes to the blighting that we're seeing from betting shops and vape shops, which have so, um, important. Been put by members in this debate. The government has taken some action in terms of the gambling cumulative impact assessments. But but I recognise that many will be looking for further steps so that we can see a stop to the number of betting shops that are popping up all over our high streets.

It's not enough to simply respond to change. We have to empower, as I say, local communities and provide the resources to those local communities and councils to shape their high streets. Indeed, the points that honourable members have made about beautiful design and and. Just places looking nice are really, really quite important. There's no amount that you can do as a local authority, as a community, if you have to step over rubbish or quite frankly, if you don't feel safe in the local park in your town centre.

And so things like design codes are important. The Nppf does happy to give way.
10:50
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10:51
10:51
None Portrait Speaker 18
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I recognise that the call for this. I believe the NPF goes in some way in doing that. I understand there may be gaps and government will always be willing to to look at that and work with the LGA, for example, who provide some of that guidance, whether a statutory response is the appropriate response, I think, is really, um, yet to be debated, but I'm confident that the NPF provides what is currently necessary. But but but absolutely accept the point that public realm is a key part of being able to regenerate our high streets and town centres on the points made about organised crime and illegal activity.

I would just want to reassure members that the government recognises that without tackling that head on, we won't see high streets and regeneration and town centres thrive because regardless of how many functions we devolve our high streets, we regenerate. They simply will not thrive. When legal businesses are left to take hold. And I recognise the importance made by the shadow Minister and the points he made of the general concerns that too many high street premises are being used as fronts for organised crime. Um facilitating money laundering, tax evasion, illegal working and the sale of illicit goods.

Whilst there may be difference of opinion on what looks nice with denying codes, nobody wants to see illegal activity on our high streets and town centres. And so the government has announced a £30 million investment over three years to target those businesses and crack down on the corrupt networks operating on our high streets. £20 million to strengthen national coordination and local enforcement will make a difference. And indeed, we're seeing some of that difference already with hundreds of. Businesses, so-called businesses targeted with their illegal activity, visits to thousands of premises, making hundreds of arrests and seizing millions of criminal procedure proceeds.

But we're also strengthening the role of trading standards, who for too long have been left without the resources they require. £6 million boost to their capacity in priority areas. But I recognise that trading standards is still under pressure, and it is certainly one of the areas that local government representatives raise with me on a frequent basis, alongside um in enforcement. We're strengthening the powers available to act quickly and effectively. I hear too often local authorities want to take power, but they feel restricted.

And we're extending and reviewing closure powers, including consulting on increasing the maximum duration of closure orders to 12 months and to ensure. Happy to give way.
10:54
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10:56
None Portrait Speaker 21
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Two minutes to.
10:56
10:57
10:58
None Portrait Speaker 1
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Thank you, Miss Vaz, and I'm grateful to all members from across the House for their contributions and grateful to the Minister, too, for her remarks. Look, it's pretty clear that this is something that is widespread. We all recognise the profound importance of strengthening our high streets, but also tackling the challenges at the centre of their current trajectory of decay. To be quite frank, if I can call it that, um, I would stress to the minister once again, um, please go back and speak to her colleagues, speak to whoever the new Prime Minister may be around the importance of slashing business rates.

And please speak to colleagues within the department around the importance of strengthening that role of design and beauty at the core of the NPF. It cannot be overstated when society doesn't get the basics right and it doesn't look good. We should never be surprised if investment and footfall does not follow. I was very pleased to hear the minister talk about a review of closure powers. That's something that is much needed. Um across the country, as well as a focus on tackling organised high street crime and the effect that that has on our communities.

But at the core of this government has got to be pragmatic. It's got to take a long term view and not just short term sticking plasters. And I hope the minister will continue in the spirit with which I think she projected when she was talking about the importance of those two areas, and I thank all members for their contributions.
10:59
11:00
None Portrait Speaker 26
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You, Madam Chair, I beg to move that this House has considered the contribution of nationally significant energy infrastructure projects to communities. Thank you, Madam Chair. It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship. I am grateful to have secured this debate, and I welcome colleagues from across the House who I know will want to contribute as we move through the debate. This debate seeks to ask two simple questions. Firstly, what contribution should nationally significant energy infrastructure projects make to the communities that host them?And secondly, how should communities be supported when they are facing disruption from the significant energy projects?As the MP for Suffolk Coastal, a constituency shouldering more of this burden than perhaps any other part of the country, I am well placed to ask these questions on behalf of my constituents.

It is often said that up to 30% of Britain's future energy will be generated in, or transmitted through Suffolk coastal. If planning is approved, we will host multiple significant infrastructure projects within a ten mile radius, which includes line link at Walberswick Sea Link near Aldeburgh. Sizewell C, which is Europe's largest energy project in Leiston, and a converter stations at both Friston and Saxmundham. All of these projects sit in or cut through nationally important landscapes. Sis the Suffolk Heritage Coast RSPB reserves served by B Road and country lanes, all arriving at once without any coordination and some projects without any serious community benefit.

I have raised many times in this chamber, and the Minister has heard it in much detail, both in this chamber and 1 to 1. He'll be glad to know that I'm here, not here to repeat many of those points, but to set out new challenges and new alternatives. I will remind him, though, that my constituents are not opposed to clean energy. Many are proud that Suffolk will be driving the charge against climate change. In our drive towards green energy and away from fossil fuels, but my constituents are taking on enormous disruption.

Suffolk's coastal dashboard is now a flashing red and we are asking for more help. People, community and nature are all asking for more help. The community Investment programme should be the main opportunity to provide it, but we need better leadership. I am asking government to do what the previous government failed to do provide leadership which will sometimes mean challenging developers and to tell them that my community and this country deserve better. I want to set out what this government has done, and I won't, and I don't want today's case to be mistaken for opposition to its policy.

In March 2025, it published Community Funds guidance for transmission infrastructure, 200 zero zero £0 per kilometre of overhead line, £350,000 per substation or converter station. Bill discounts for up to £250 a year for ten years for nearby households. Happy.
11:03
11:04
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11:08
None Portrait Speaker 26
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Thank you chair. It won't surprise you that I agree with every point my honourable colleague has made. We've spoken about this at length, and I was just about to come on to say, um. Under the current plans, that Sea Link has set out for the 2.1 million rounding error of investment, my community is likely to have to bid for 200 £0 of funding pots. And you'll know, chair, you can barely get a spade in the ground for a playground for £20,000.

We want access to bigger sums that can deliver real ambition from these projects where we need it, and when we need it for the long term. It's also worth noting that under National Grid's plans, training opportunities sit inside a community fund itself, counted against the total. That's plainly wrong. Local jobs should be contractual commitment built into the design project, not a line inside a community fund. The guidance has already. States community funds are not. In addition to natural to benefits like local employment, so some developers, I might suggest very gently, have not read this guidance exactly.

Miss. Madam chair, I have raised many times that there is no legal duty on nationally significant infrastructure projects to coordinate, and the minister has heard me talk about this at length, even when building in the same area at the same time, impacting on the same community. My community is expected to host multiple billion pound schemes simultaneously without statutory tools to enforce coordination. Ofgem now chairs coordination meetings, which is welcome, but Ofgem can only convene and there is no obligation to attend and no powers to compel change.

Coordination by goodwill is not coordination, and there is not even a requirement for community funds to be coordinated. We will likely see in my constituency Sea Link and Lion Link running separate investment programmes. Why coordinate co-locating on adjacent land?My constituents are asking, therefore, three things better management of cumulative impacts for businesses and community to be properly compensated when disruption causes real harm in real time. And thirdly, for genuine nature. Sorry for genuine ambition in protecting and nurturing nature in how these projects are designed and then delivered.

Now this brings me to my second and most important question that I set out at the beginning. The Thebarton line. In Thebarton has lost around 3500 £0 in trade this year because of sizeable construction of the roads. The landlord, Tom, sees the benefit Sizewell C will bring eventually and his business needs help now. Road closures continue, roadworks outside his pubs and poor signage have all had a very real effect. The Community Investment Fund is generous. Sizewell C's investment fund is held up nationally as what good community investment should look like, but it isn't being used to support businesses struggling with a real impact of construction today.

Similarly, the refill shop in latent tells the same story. Amanda, who runs it, is not against Sizewell C, just like Tom, but her business is struggling today because of construction works, disruption and the support on offer does not reach her because the strategy hasn't been designed to help businesses manage the day to day impact.
11:11
None Portrait Speaker 23
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My friend.
11:11
11:12
None Portrait Speaker 26
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I feel for the honourable members pain and I share many of those frustrations myself in the arguments that I'm laying out today. We should feel the benefit if our communities are hosting this vital infrastructure. Now, as I was talking about Amanda, who runs the refill shop in Leiston, um, her business is struggling today. She needs support today. These businesses could flourish once construction is complete. Neither Amanda nor Tom are asking for extra money. They are asking that the £250 million, the generous amount already committed by Sizewell C for community investment, is made accessible to businesses who are genuinely feeling the impact.

Right now, millions of pounds from Sizewell C's fund has already reached Citizens Advice Home-start Suffolk local schools and sports clubs, and that's great. It's genuine, lasting community benefit. But businesses are also asking for support to survive and we need to hear that cry for help. So I ask the minister, does the government agree that National Grid's £2.1 million for C link meets the standards set by its own March 25th guidance, and if not, what action will follow?Will the government ask Ofgem to review the fund's adequacy before consent is granted?Will it back communities asking for community owned energy fund as the guidance own principle support?And will it look at the impact of Europe's largest energy construction project is having on businesses in my constituency, and what can be done to support those struggling because of it?Um, villages and market towns in my constituency are breaking under the strain of these projects.

They are flashing red on the dashboard. We are asking for help and we are asking for government to step in where unintended consequences risk affecting the legacy of projects like Sizewell C. My constituents want to be equal partners around the table, and they deserve to be treated as such. Can I urge the government finally to enforce the framework it has built and to make clear that communities like Suffolk Coastal should not accept less than they are owed, nor pay the price for UK's energy goals.
11:13
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11:14
None Portrait Speaker 29
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Thank you very much, miss. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today. And can I thank my hon. Friend from Suffolk Coastal for securing this debate, but also for all the conversations that we have had. And she should never fear about repeating the same message. It is important and she does a great job championing her community in this place and in all the meetings that I have had with her. She has always sought to do that.

But I might also just say has also sought to be constructive. And she reflected that in her opening remarks that her constituents are not against the move to clean power and how important it is, but recognise that there are impacts locally. And I think that is a really important place to be on this. Communities that host at nationally significant infrastructure obviously experienced disruption and change, and that comes with real consequences. And I understand the challenges that that faces on a local level for communities.

And it is right that we do take account of those concerns when they are raised, but also do everything we can to provide the community benefits for the fact that they are hosting infrastructure on behalf of the nation, and they should benefit from that. So this is a really important debate. It also comes to the heart of the broader question facing the country and why we have, as a government, decided to move even further and faster to deliver the infrastructure that not only delivers our economic growth and our energy security, but gets us off fossil fuels as quickly as possible.

And so this infrastructure does matter. I am not going to shirk away from making the argument that after a long period of not building the infrastructure this country needs, we have to be building it. But communities have to be at the heart of that decision as well. It's really great to see some young people have joined us in the debate today, because actually, at the heart of why we are building this infrastructure is the future of our planet as well as our energy security.

Right now. And for decades, we have not done enough to tackle the climate crisis, but we also have not done enough to safeguard us from the volatility of of fossil fuels. That has put all of our bills up year after year. That is what this is all about. And I know my hon. Friend. Absolutely supports that. It is also an economic opportunity. And just last week we we hit a huge milestone of £100 billion of investment in clean energy since this government came to office almost exactly two years ago.

So it's creating jobs and boosting our energy security. And as I've said before, every wind turbine, every solar panel, every nuclear power station, every bit of transmission line that we build helps create a more secure and resilient energy system now and in the future. But I do not say that lightly, as if building these projects do not come at any cost for people locally. New infrastructure does mean difficult decisions and there will always be local impacts. And I fully recognise that that will bring concerns for local residents just as much as it brings huge opportunity for us nationally.

My hon. Friend powerfully outlined a number of examples about the impact of Sizewell C, one of the most important energy projects we are building. The last time we built a nuclear power station in this country, I wasn't even born. And so it is really important that we push forward on these projects. But I recognise the scale of Sizewell C does have an impact on roads and local businesses, and I am happy to meet with her again to talk specifically about that.

And if I can have. A meeting with her and with the team at Sizewell C, I'm very happy to to set that up because I know they are also seized of how important it is that they get this right. I would also just say this is partly why we have a rigorous planning system and all nationally significant infrastructure projects have to address those cumulative impacts that my hon. Friend references. There are many opportunities for communities to have their say. I recognise communities do not always feel like that is taken into account, but I genuinely say it is taken into account and projects have to demonstrate that they have considered the cumulative impact of other nsps as part of their process through the system.

But I have also said that communities that are providing a service to the country by hosting this infrastructure have to benefit from it. We have already taken decisive steps to ensure that they have tangible and lasting benefits, and for the first time ever, we have announced community benefits from network Infrastructure Direct bill discounts for consumers so that those closest to transmission wires and upgrades to substations actually fuel the benefit in their energy bill, but also wider community benefits for the first time so that communities can benefit from funding to provide.

And my hon. Friend from Strangford and a number of other honourable members have raised this point long term, sustainable and really impactful benefits. I my constituency is close to some of the biggest onshore wind farms in Europe, and in truth, we have not seen the long lasting community benefits that we might have seen. This is about trying to shift that so that there are some real investments in communities. Of course I will.
11:18
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11:20
None Portrait Speaker 29
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Well, let me come to both of those points. First of all, we are potentially confusing two different things here. The community benefits for transmission infrastructure is mandatory. We have separately consulted on whether community benefits for wider energy projects should be mandatory, and we will respond to that consultation soon, because I recognise many of the points that have been made. What we do not want to do, though, is create one size fits all solutions in Whitehall that will work differently in different communities.

So I do not want to sit as a government minister and say, this is how your community benefit will work in your community. I want to empower communities to figure out how that works best in their local area. And I have seen models of this in all the visits I have done right across the country. But the minimum standards should be there to make sure. First of all, it is a transparent process that communities are in the driving seat of it, not developers themselves, and that there is that long term certainty.

So some of the things I don't think we should say play parks and cycle paths are bad things to invest in, actually, but there should also be some long term investments alongside that. And I've seen some good examples just in the last few weeks, for example, where that's been done well. So I think we separate out those two things on the cost point. If I just finish this point and I will absolutely give way on the cost point, I have wrestled with this as well, because in principle, I would like to see communities have even more community benefits, but we have to recognise the cost of those will be borne by bill payers right across the country, and therefore the balance we are trying to strike is a government that is determined to tackle.

The cost of living, is that we need to have communities benefiting as much as we possibly can, but without putting up bills significantly for all bill payers across the country, which would be a disproportionate impact on them at a time where the affordability crisis is our number one priority.
11:21
11:22
None Portrait Speaker 29
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Look, I totally accept the point. Although the points that have been rightly raised is that the impact of building these projects is often felt by a much wider community. And so that is why the community benefits are wider. I would also say that we do have to separate out questions of compensation with questions of community benefit. Compensation is paid as part of a process to those who have been significantly disrupted, or where their land has been changed in whatever way. That's a that's a contractual negotiation that takes place between landowner or resident and developer.

That's not for the government to intervene. And community benefits is about a much wider view of how these projects benefit the wider community. But I take the point on the on the design of the community. I think that is really important. It is hard sometimes, for example, taking something like Sea Link, which is an offshore cable, and looking at what that community around that would look like. We've wrestled with this to try and define it. Otherwise, we end up in the danger where we we have two broader definition.

And those community benefit funds aren't getting to the people who benefit from it most. There's probably more we can do on that. And I'm very open minded about contributions from members on that. Um. The second point I was going to raise was just around some of the level of benefits, and I know these points have been raised before. Um, the electricity bill discount will provide those people who are living closest to the infrastructure money off their bills. And of course, what we are also seeking to do is remind people that the more of this infrastructure we build, the less constraints we have on the grid, the more we can get cheap, clean power into homes and businesses and bring down bills for everyone.

So it does have an impact beyond just the projects themselves. Um. Of course.
11:24
11:24
11:25
11:26
11:26
None Portrait Speaker 24
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Minister.
11:26
None Portrait Speaker 22
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I don't think we're disagreeing. Energy generation projects are infrastructure projects. Whether the community owns them or not, you still have to build that infrastructure. I'd just like to see much more of communities owning those projects and being able to sell power locally. Something we have said in the local power plan we want to make possible, and actually actively bringing down bills as a result of that, but holding the wealth of it locally as well, the grid and the and the grid and the network infrastructure has to be built alongside that.

And that's something that hasn't been built in previous years as much as it should do. One of the biggest changes in my hon. Friend mentioned this around cumulative impact, but also just the sense that there hasn't been sufficient planning and strategic approach to this. We are going to shift that with the National Strategic Spatial Energy Plan, and from that, the centralized network plan. We should have been doing that years ago. It is something I would have said, and we've built lots of renewables projects, but not worked out how we're connecting them into the grid.

That's costing us in constraint payments, but it's also meaning we have not got a strategically aligned grid as we should have. Unfortunately, you have to start from where we are. And so we will more strategically plan it moving forward. But I recognise the points that she she makes. If I can just conclude this was the central point of this debate. I recognize communities should absolutely be at the forefront of this energy transition. We want to see much more community ownership, much more shared ownership, much more of a partnership with communities.

But we also unashamedly are building as a government the energy infrastructure this country needs to weather the uncertain world that we live in today and to protect us in the future, but also to unlock the huge economic benefits we have from electrification and from the industries of the future. That does mean building things and it has to be built somewhere. I recognize my hon. Friend frequently has made the point that she agrees, but thinks Suffolk Coastal has just faced a disproportionate number of those projects.

And I have some sympathy with her for that. And so we have to do everything we can to make sure that our communities and others like it. The honourable gentleman from Sky and Inverness. And a third bit of his constituency, I can't remember, makes the point about pumped storage hydro. Those are all examples of the infrastructure we need as a country, but we need to get it right, the community benefits that come with it. We've made huge progress in two years, but I am not going to stand here and say the job is done.

We need to continue to ensure communities benefit as much as possible, not least because in a fractured debate on the energy transition, we have a job to do to convince the public that this is a journey that benefits all of us, that it will bring down bills, it will protect us in an uncertain world. But fundamentally, if you're hosting it, you're doing a favor for the country. And we thank you for it. But you also should get some benefit from it. So I thank my hon.

Friend for the debate. I look forward to meeting with her again. She should never fear bringing up these issues again and again with me because they are hugely important. I take them very seriously. So does the government and I hope together we find a way through. Thank you.
11:30
14:38
None Portrait Speaker 1
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Make some progress in my speech, but I will address this point later on. Abuse and intimidation on our time. I'm going to come on to the recommendations for the government later on. I realize time is getting on a bit, and I want to emphasize is not just directed at Jewish students. Rabbi Deutch, the university's Jewish chaplain, was hounded, bullied and with his family forced into hiding after death threats. That was at lead university again. Beyond Leeds, Jewish academics and staff on campuses have been subject to appalling anti-Semitism.

Israeli professor Michael Bengard, for instance, was targeted by activists last year. He was threatened with beheading and mass protesters stormed his teaching and his classes. Professor David Hirsch, a world renowned expert on anti-Semitism, was forced to quit the University and College Union, of which he himself had been a founding member, because he found it intolerable to stay and quite rightly, quite rightly, we would never accept such behavior being directed at any other group of students or staff from any other minority background in Britain. In 2026, Jewish students and staff should not and must not be denied the safety, dignity and respect we expect all students and staff to be afforded now.

While it has obviously worsened considerably over the past three years, antisemitism on our campuses is not a new problem. 50 years ago, anti-Israel activists on British campuses responded to the passage of the UN's now infamous Zionism is Racism resolution by attempting to ban Jewish student groups who supported the idea of a Jewish state, in effect banning huge numbers of Jewish students from campus. Half a century on, technology has now exacerbated this challenge, as the Antisemitism Policy Trust has rightly warned, campus antisemitism is the direct physical consequence of the online ecosystem.

Social media platforms, AI chatbots, search engines, computer games they've all allowed extreme conspiratorial antisemitism to shift from the dark fringes of the web into the mainstream student experience. Now, two aspects of this are particularly noteworthy. First, the manner in which Well-networked extreme student groups operate anonymously, allowing them sometimes in coordination with hostile state actors. It has to be said to launch harassment campaigns against Jewish staff and students with little or no risk of ever facing exposure or discipline. Second, no 18 year old arrives at university without exposure to social media and what the apt terms algorithmic grooming.

This speaks to a wider point. Campuses are not hermetically sealed bubbles. We know that through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the nefarious IRGC, Tehran and its media mouthpieces are seeking to radicalize young people here, spread anti-Semitism, amplify, amplify anti-Israel activism and narratives. In recent years, IRGC commanders have addressed UK based student groups in online seminars, urging them to become, and I'm quoting here, Holy Warriors. In an apocalyptic war against the Jews. Universities, one of them suggested, have become the final battlefront, and they are calling them to arms.

We must not allow our seats of higher education and learning, which at their best should promote, cultivate and guard the enlightenment values of reason, tolerance, freedom of expression to become those incubators of extremism, fundamentalism and hatred. Too many universities have been too slow, too timid to ineffectual in tackling anti-Semitism. They have, in some instances, failed Jewish students and staff. The wider student body and the very purpose and principles underpinning academia and university life. Which brings me on to my actions and what I'd ask of the minister today.

In the face of this challenge, I do commend the action that the government has already taken, especially the Prime Minister's announcement that universities will be required to publish the scale of the problem on their campuses, as well as the specific steps that they are going to take to clamp down on it. I believe that the government should also consider the establishment of a statutory framework for the investigation and disciplinary handling of hate crime incidents in higher education and universities. To go back to what the honourable gentleman was saying earlier, the Charity Commission, the office for students, other regulatory bodies should all be empowered, all of them, to ensure proper conduct and strengthen students union accountability, implementing sanctions where unions fail to address anti-Semitism and higher education should be designated as a priority area for the extremely welcome government agenda.

Protecting what Matters, which was announced in March of this year and contains a lot of good material, but not necessarily the timelines in which to deliver it. Now, I note that Ujs has provided a vital early warning system about emerging extremist threats in the past. For instance, in the case of the neo-Nazi National Action Group, or the Islamist or the Islamist, his books, Tahir government has later then followed with prescription, recognising that a threat on campuses soon becomes a wider threat to the safety of everyone. I'd also very much appreciate if the minister, in responding to those comments, could clarify a few points in his remarks, and that is what is the timetable for implementing the measures set out in the Protecting what Matters strategy and will ensure that higher education is a priority area?Will the government consider US proposal for formalized task forces to better coordinate action by the police, universities and government to combat criminal criminality and extremist activity on our campuses?And that includes the provision of clear public order guidance for universities and the police to strengthen the enforcement of both new and existing powers.

Finally, will the government consider proposals developed by the Antisemitism Policy Trust to tackle the threat posed by social media?And that includes developing a dedicated strategy to address the role of algorithms, gaming platforms, encrypted online networks, and generative AI systems, and facilitating the spread of antisemitic conspiracy theories, extremist narratives and obviously online to offline radicalisation. Now, I do want to close today by acknowledging the work of Jewish societies, student unions, university administrators, some of them are doing tremendous work right now to deal with this problem. Three quick examples.

King's College London adopted Usgs's antisemitism awareness training, working with it to adapt this important resource, and many of their staff. Keele University's campus security team responded to the appalling attacks on the Jewish community in north London by inviting Jewish students to speak about their concerns and what they could do to address them, and in communications with all students. City Saint George's Student Union in London encouraged students not to engage with City Action for Palestine, which has repeatedly shared content supportive of terrorism and proscribed organisations. Finally, I end today with where it all began for me.

This year, I had the privilege of attending one of Leeds University Jsocs Friday night dinners, one of the first I had attended in 18 years. I was delighted to find that it was a rather less intimate event than the invitation, which described it as a small gathering. There were over 150 students there. Now there were 300 the week before. I don't think the lack of attendance was because of me. It was because we were in half term, but it was still a pleasure to be there, and it was still a pleasure to speak with as many students as possible, because around those tables, some students were discussing their studies.

Many spent the evening gossiping, making new friends. Everything that student life should be about for everyone, our fellow Jewish citizens are not asking for very much from us, simply the right for their children and grandchildren to expect and enjoy the same experiences at universities. With all of its new opportunities, discoveries, and challenges that so many of us cherished and enjoyed. Thank you.
14:46
14:47
None Portrait Speaker 3
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Serve under your guidance. In the chair this afternoon, and a genuine privilege to follow the honourable member for Leeds, South West and Morley, and I want to congratulate him on making an excellent speech and for putting this issue forward and giving it the prominence that it deserves, like him, I was a sabbatical union officer. Maybe some time before him, I suspect. And and but and also, um, late 80s, early 90s, I was on the member I was a member of the national executive, the National Union of Students when the marvellous, um, Baroness May Sherlock was the president of National Union of Students following on, uh, by a friend of many of us here, Stephen Twigg, who followed the year after.

And I remember, um, the role of the Unite the Union of Jewish Students, not just in my university in Newcastle University, the role of Jewish society there, but also the ujs nationally, um, a place where you felt safe as a non-Jewish person spending time alongside Jewish students who just wanted to talk about the things that student students mulled over at the time. In the late 80s, normally, the fate of Margaret Thatcher and other such things. But I was aware even then, uh, in a perhaps less fevered time of the threats to Jewish people, as somebody who comes from a Gentile background, from a relatively non-diverse part of the north west of England, just understanding, as I became friends with many in the J at Newcastle, um, what it what it means to live your life as a Jewish person and the persecution that is always around the corner.

anti-Semitism is perhaps the oldest and most insidious form of racism in all forms of racism are thoroughly evil, and I want to pay tribute to the Ujs again today for the work they're doing in even more fevered and dangerous times, supporting their members. Uh, reassuring Jewish families and challenging university establishments so that they do take care of Jewish students and that they actively, positively fight against anti-Semitism on campus. Um, I recall being in this place, um, in the week after, maybe a fortnight after the 7th of October pogrom.

And I was in portcullis House, probably about 8:00 in the evening, and the two guys, friends of mine, uh, Jewish people, um, having a cup of tea in the, in the atrium. Everything else had closed up. What?Why are you still here at this time?I asked them, and their answer was, I don't feel safe going out in this. And there were, of course, anti-Israel, pro-Palestine, um, protests taking place on the streets right around Westminster. Now, it is perfectly legitimate, as the honourable member says, to strongly criticise the Israeli government.

I do all the time. Netanyahu is an appalling man. Um, the current Israeli government, guilty of all sorts of terrible actions, which is the view, by the way, of probably a majority of citizens of Israel, for that matter. And we await an election with some eagerness. But nevertheless, let's just remind ourselves, what does it mean for two Jewish young people to feel they cannot leave this building when there are protests of that sort going on outside?Now give me all the what ifs you like, all the whataboutery you like.

It doesn't change the fact that two Jewish people feel unsafe walking out on our streets just here. Many of us, well, all of us here, have security at our surgeries these days. It's a thing we accept. It's a thing we regret that we have to have. And after the death of our dear friends Jo Cox and David Amos, uh, we. It is a thing that we accept. I was talking to the security guard at my surgery last week in Kendal, and and he spoke to me about how his work has increasingly been around Greater Manchester, supporting Jewish communities, being present at primary school gates, at synagogues.

And it made. It occurred to me that I could just walk into our local primary school. I could go to my church without any thought whatsoever of security. And yet, for some people in our communities, for Jewish people, these are not safe places to go. We've heard reports, accurate reports of Jewish children being told not to wear their uniform if they go to Jewish school, if they're on public transport, that should make us shudder. It should make us utterly and totally appalled.

I it's my privilege, as many people here also shared, to meet with the hostages families in the last couple of years. And we will post, you know, supportive, um, comments on social media and then see the bile that you get for having done that. A little tiny fraction of a sense of what it must be like to be Jewish yourself. Um, and, and in this utter toxic environment we find ourselves in, it was my privilege earlier this year to do something I've never done before.

And that was to take advantage of a four day visit to the West Bank and to Israel. And I am obviously not an expert at all from having spent that time there, but it gave me great insight. It gave me the opportunity to meet with victims of the of the Nova Festival massacre, uh, to visit one of the kibbutzes that Hamas murderers, racist, violent thugs, attacked and murdered people in front of their children, children in front of their parents. And I get a sense of why the people of Israel feel a sense of utter and complete collective trauma.

And unless we understand that, we're not going to make wise reactions to what is happening now, again, that doesn't change the fact that I am a complete and utter, um. Opponent of the current Israeli government. But you can separate that out from believing that the state of Israel has got a right to exist. And the people of Israel have a right to self-determination. And I saw there the illegal settlements on the West Bank, how appalling they are. I saw the fact that the Israeli government withhold tax money from the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority, which is costing schools and hospitals and doing active harm.

I saw many things and spoke to many Palestinian voices and saw many things to be deeply angry at the Israeli government for. But I also saw a country that is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, and which we should be careful to respect and also recognize how important Israel is in the hearts and minds of so many Jewish people around the world and in this country too. And if we conflate Israel as a state and indeed Jewish people together, and especially with the actions of the current Israeli government, then we have absolutely tiptoed, if not strode confidently, sadly, into anti-Semitism.

So I just want to say one thing about what we do about all this. And and the minister will be unsurprised to hear me raise this. And so what do we proactively do to tackle anti-Semitism in education?Again, the minister and many of you here, others here today, will know this. So my constituency may well not be the most diverse, but it is the place where half of the children who survived the Nazi death camps were rehabilitated in August 1945. Known collectively as the Windermere Children, we are deeply proud of their legacy.

Some are still with us. Most sadly passed on, but what their story is, is, yes, one of the horrors of the consequences of anti-Semitism in the 1930s and the 1940s in Europe. But there is a little extra something to the story the Windermere children have, and that is one not just of the horror of the death camps of anti-Semitism and where it can lead, but also the hope of what it meant for those young people when they began life on the banks of Windermere in my constituency, because what you saw was a group of young people who had gone from, as in their own words, from hell to heaven, from the horrors that experienced to a country that welcomed them and a country they therefore fell in love with and served, and began to be utterly committed citizens of.

And it is a reminder of what is true about Britain, certainly of my communities and everywhere else as well. True about Britain that we are in our hearts accepting and tolerant people, including. And of course, not only of our Jewish communities of whom we are deeply, deeply proud. And so as we seek to kind of honor the legacy of the Windermere children, and as the minister knows, we have a bid in to rebuild the Lake school, built on the site of the children were at.

And to create a lasting legacy, a place where Holocaust education and remembrance can take place, but also where hope can be built for a country that does not tolerate anti-Semitism. When we teach a hatred of hatred in the youngest in our society, there's a real opportunity there. And obviously I ask him to look favourably upon the bid that we have made for a school rebuild, and also a lasting memorial to the Windermere children. anti-Semitism is, I'm afraid, with us in every single generation. And that makes me angry, as there is racism of all kinds.

But it is our job to sow the seeds that tackles anti-Semitism from the youngest possible age and to declare it proudly that this is a country where we welcome our Jewish friends and family and friends, our brothers and sisters, and we support and stand alongside them against the scourge of anti-Semitism. Yeah, my.
14:55
None Portrait Speaker 4
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As always, it's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And thank you to my hon. Friend the member for Leeds South West, Morley, for bringing forward this very important debate. So, John, I've been very fortunate to have a very positive relationship with the small but perfectly formed Jewish community in Northamptonshire for many years, the Northampton Hebrew congregation is a welcoming, open and very hard working group and through the work of Michael and the trustees, Jewish students at the University of Northampton have a safe place to pray, to be part of our community and also to connect with others.

And whilst anti-Semitic hate and crime is very low in my county and at my university, I have reflected by the very. On the very different experiences of my nearest jssoc at the University of Warwick. The stories I hear bring home how challenging it can be to be Jewish and attend a UK University, and how we must continue to take every step possible to make sure our universities are safe for all students, no matter their religion. But also through these stories, I've heard how universities like Warwick and Northampton are working hard to create, create, create inclusive spaces for all students.

And so in my contribution to this very valuable debate, I want to actually focus on the role of universities themselves, as my hon. Friend picked up because what we're seeing on campuses is not just down to bad actors, but also about how universities, how those institutions respond. And at Warwick, there have been some very clear examples of best practice in the days after the 7th of October attacks, several individuals infiltrated the Warwick Jewish Society's freshers WhatsApp group. They sent a stream of abusive anti-Semitic messages at a time when members of the society were trying to get to know each other at a social gathering.

Watching this unfold on their phones in real time, it was frightening. And as Jacob Lederman, the society's treasurer, told the BBC and other media outlets, alongside the immediate impact on students, it has put long term pressure on society in terms of safety and security, something that other societies at the university just simply don't have to face. But the positive, of course, is that it hasn't slowed the society down. They're still running weekly events with security in attendance, and have praised the campus security team, saying they could not be more grateful for the support they were given.

And thankfully the police were able to find those individuals responsible. They were not students, they were arrested and they were rightly prosecuted. And that's an example of the kind of incident that universities have to deal with. But it shows the importance of a serious response working with the police, acting decisively and treating the issue with the gravity it deserves. For Warwick, that's not the only experience that people have had. In the summer of 2024, members of the University of Warwick Conservative Association were filmed singing and dancing to a Nazi propaganda song.

Now, this is completely unacceptable. The society was suspended and there was disciplinary action taken. And again, that's what a good response should look like. Clear action, visible consequences and a message that this behaviour has no place on campus, because that is the reality, that it's not just enough to say the right things to put policies and procedures in place. Universities have to act and those actions have to be applied consistently because when they don't act, the consequences can be quite serious.

Yes.
14:59
15:00
None Portrait Speaker 4
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Yeah. My hon. Friend picks up actually the next point I was going to make in that. Now, there have unfortunately been cases, including at Warwick, where complaints related to anti-Semitism have not been handled well and where those raising concerns have felt unsupported. And that creates this wider culture where people hesitate to speak up. And it may not even be about major incidents. It can be that drip, drip, drip of the cumulative effect of smaller things.

Lecturers crossing the line of their professional boundaries, protests that blur into hostility, or a sense that standards and processes aren't applied equally to Jewish students. All that feeds into whether a campus feels inclusive or not, and we should. Recognise, though, that what works and the. Warwick has developed a strong, outward facing Jewish student community, and it's not by accident, perhaps, that the newly elected president of the University of Jewish Students, Rafi Leon, came through Warwick himself. His focus on building connections across campus rather than retreating into isolation is exactly the kind of approach that universities should be supporting.

From experiences at Warwick and others what that good practice broadly looked like. It means regular engagement with students and staff. It means clear and accessible reporting systems. It means proper support for chaplaincy and campus groups. And crucially, it means acting consistently and quickly when things go wrong. It shouldn't be complicated and there is guidance out there, including the recent Good Practice Guide published by UGS and also the Good Practice Guide and report recommendations published by Lord Mann, with support from the all party taskforce and anti-Semitism, supported by the excellent anti-Semitism Antisemitism Policy Trust.

So the expectations are clear universities have a duty under equality law to provide a safe environment for all students and all staff. So the issue is not whether university can get this right once it's whether they get it right consistently. Because in the end, it comes down to leadership, where leadership is clear, where we see confidence and inclusion, when we don't have clear leadership, we see confusion and a loss of trust. And our universities of all places should not be environments where people feel like they have to hold back who they are.

Yeah. Thank you.
15:02
None Portrait Speaker 1
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Well said.
15:02
None Portrait Speaker 6
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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And, um, how did we end up here again in a in a Westminster Hall debate or in the chamber full of warm words calling for action, hearing from the Union of Jewish Students that they've reported a shocking 400% increase in antisemitism incidents on campuses following the 7th of October attacks. We hear the rise of antisemitism in our universities, on the streets that are Jewish. Our British Jewish students are experiencing on a daily basis, and we seem unable to tackle the issue.

And, um, half of the Jewish students have heard chants glorifying Hamas and Hezbollah protests. Disturbing learning for 65% of the students and the stories of Jewish students and staff members that they share are harrowing physical attacks, antisemitism normalised in lecture theatres, protests outside exam rooms. And although many would like to blame this on the current state of geopolitical affairs, it is very difficult to do so when one needs to only look back into history in the interwar period, and I. I don't want to drag in my educational background, but the interwar period plays a very vital role in why we need to clamp down on antisemitism today.

In the interwar period, there was no Israel, there was just the rise of anti-Semitism. We had the same kind of economic situation that we have today. We had, um, people looking for someone to blame. And we saw on university campuses week after week after week, the rise of, of many different movements. But the rise of protests on university campuses and. At this point in in Germany, there was a very large Jewish population that was fully integrated. They were they were German of the messianic faith.

They fought in World War Two. They received the German Cross for bravery. They did everything. They were German of the messianic faith. The protests began, the antisemitism rose on on university campuses. That was where it rose first. And. Jewish students assumed. They could argue. They could debate. They could find a logical way through this situation that would allow for common sense and reason and decency to prevail.

And they believed that they had been German in the modern era of, of, of modernity through the romantic period. They believed that they were now German and that they, through rational argument and debate, could quell the antisemitism on university campuses. Well, that was not the case, Mr. Chairman. As the protests grew for weeks and weeks and months and months, finally violence erupted in those protests. And, um, Jewish students were killed. And and then you saw the protests erupt throughout Germany.

You saw the night of the broken glass, you saw all of these things. And it was a ten year process that brought that that rise of antisemitism. The first ghettoization of German Jews. And it wasn't a quick process. It was a slow, incremental process that started on university campuses. And the reason I am so adamant that we stop the rise of anti-Semitism here is this is where universities are training future leaders. This is where the next generation of British men and women who will go on to lead in parliament, in business, in commerce for the United Kingdom, a country that has always exhibited fair play and decency to the rest of the world.

When, when, when the rest of the world has lost their minds, it is often the United Kingdom that has held decency and morality at the heart of their judgment. And I do not want to see our country go down the way of the rise of nationalism, much like they did in Germany, much like they did in even the U.S. in the interwar period. And stopping antisemitism at the university level is so vital to protect the next generation, to protect the next generation from making the mistakes that others have made in generations past.

And it isn't an issue of, oh, well, we should probably just be a little bit more fair minded. No, every student deserves equality of access to education. Every student deserves to go to university and feel safe in their exams and feel safe when they walk through and shouldn't be harassed or bullied or shouted at or or attacked because they have a Star of David, or they have any kind of religious symbol for any ethnic minority. I would be saying this. And Mr.

Chairman, the reason I know about the interwar period and the rise of anti-Semitism is because I worked in Kosovo with Muslim Albanians who were attacked, and I wanted to study the rise of of nationalism and how that affected other European countries, because it hasn't been in such recent times that we've had a similar thing happen in Europe, in the Balkans. And it was a ten year slow creep of people deciding that their neighbors that they'd lived with for centuries were perfectly fine with. And then all of a sudden, they developed hatred and division.

And what I do not want to see in our society, which I have come to as an immigrant and was welcomed. And I love this country, is for us to lose the fabric of of what makes our society great, which is tolerance and inclusivity, and to exclude and to treat British Jewish students with this level of hatred for a country that many of them have no connection to and have never been to, and don't most of them, by the way, before this ever came into the sort of, you know, forefront, most of the, the, the Jewish community that I spoke to in, in London had very few views about Israel, wasn't involved, didn't care.

And it didn't concern them in any way. But they are being dragged into this. They are being treated with racism and hatred for something that does not involve them. They are British citizens. They are part of British culture and they are being treated with hatred and disrespect simply because of a war that's happening in the Middle East. And I would ask that politicians. Look at the gravity of this situation and take. Take seriously the recommendations of of the the Jewish university students that have.

They've brought several very good proposals. And I think one of the clear recommendations. There were six recommendations that I think we should be accepting. And will the government insist that universities adopt the Union of Jewish Students Best Practice guidance, which sets out practical recommendations for universities to tackle anti-Semitism?I do hope that the government will strongly take into consideration these recommendations and actually use them, because they're coming from the students, by the students, and it's a very good solution. And if we fail to act now, we fail the thousands of British Jews.

We will set our country on a course to a future where antisemitism is not just normalized, it is the norm. We will make our universities seats of hatred, not seats of learning. I hope today we will come together in this debate and send a clear message to Jewish students and staff. We are with you and we see you, and we will take the action that is needed. Thank you.
15:10
None Portrait Speaker 5
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You, Sir John.
15:10
None Portrait Speaker 7
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Serve under your chairmanship. Right to freedom of religion is a fundamental human right and must be protected. I start by. Congratulating my neighbour, West Yorkshire colleague and on the honourable member for Leeds South and Morley for securing this debate and I speak to join him and others to try and help tackle anti-Semitism in UK universities. But anti-Semitism anywhere and everywhere in our wonderful country. I would also like to begin by placing on record my clear and unequivocal belief that anti-Semitism, like all other forms of religious discrimination, is a scourge that has no place in our society and that we should do all that we can to stamp it out.

Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to hate or freedom to incite hatred or violence against others, including against Jewish people. It deeply saddens me when I read news stories about how Jewish students feel increasingly unsafe on university campuses in recent years, or reports such as the Union of Jewish Students poll, which found that 1 in 5 students would be reluctant to or would never houseshare with a. Jewish students. I am not Jewish and I'm not going to try and deflect the attention away from the.

The subject of this debate, but I do share some of the experiences of the Jewish students. Maybe not, thankfully, as extreme or as intense. Um, but I do understand and have complete sympathy in some of what they are going through or may be going through, um, there. Are a number of similarly harrowing statistics I could further cite, but other members have already mentioned. So I will skip those for um, due to the lack of time. Um, however, the reality is unacceptable.

Plain and simple. No ifs, no buts and no maybes. No Jewish student should be made to feel intimidated or of less worth because of their beliefs. We must demand a far more proactive and coordinated response from government, from our higher education institutions, and from civil society organisations. Universities must not only have robust policies in place, they must actively enforce them. Reporting mechanisms need to be accessible and trusted. Support services must be properly resourced, and there must be a clear message from leadership at every level.

anti-Semitism has no place in our educational institutions or our society at the. Same time, it would be remiss of me not to say that it also also deeply troubles me when I look across the pond to the United States here and hear accusations of anti-Semitism, including at protests on campuses, um, thrown around without sufficient care. In response to criticisms of the Israeli state's actions in the Middle East just last week, the UN, the independent UN inquiry found that Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza.

However, Israel is a state. It's a government. It has its army. It does not represent or reflect the views or the actions of Jews around the world. However, around campuses and indeed across our country, many students are engaging in protests because of their principled opposition to these gross injustices. These, protests cannot and must not include, um, acts or words of anti-Semitism. It is therefore vital that we do not conflate legitimate and courageous defiance of this government's apathy in the face of inhumanity with the specific and pernicious form of racism that anti-Semitism constitutes, safeguarding free speech and the freedom to protest is not in tension with protecting Jewish students from discrimination.

Rather, the two must go hand in hand. If we dilute the definition of anti-Semitism to incorporate righteous criticism of Israel, we risk eroding trust among students and communities. It is also important to acknowledge that discrimination rarely exists in isolation. Alongside anti-Semitism, we are witnessing worrying, cascading levels of Islamophobia with hostility and suspicion towards entire Muslim communities intensifying and spreading in response to individual incidents and subsequent inflammatory comments by politicians and public figures. What is needed is a consistent, principled approach, one that protects students from harassment and hate while also upholding their rights to political expression and peaceful protest, one that brings communities together rather than pitting them against one another.

Ultimately, this is about the kind of society we want to be, one where Jewish students are safe and supported, one where Muslim students are free from prejudice and suspicion, and one where all students can engage critically with the world around them, around them, without fear of being mischaracterized or silenced. We must be able to hold two truths at once that antisemitism encompasses, is real and must be confronted, confronted decisively, and that legitimate political dissent from students and academics peaceful, principled and rooted in justice must be protected. If we can strike that balance, we will not only make our universities safer, but we will make them stronger and seehase.

I conclude by extending my support to the honourable member for Leeds South and members across the House to work together to tackle and address anti-Semitism in UK universities or wider societies. Thank you.
15:17
15:17
None Portrait Speaker 8
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Thank you, Sir John. A real pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairship. And a big thank you to the honourable gentleman for Leeds South West and Morley for introducing this debate today. And he did it so, so well. And I want to congratulate the honourable member for that. And indeed, I want to thank all the members who have spoken so far for their contributions. For highlighting the difficulties that are being faced by our British Jewish communities and the work that needs to be done to protect them.

The stand with us, UK Voice of Students report exposes a very terrifying, deep rooted national crisis across our higher education institutions and the traditional verbal hostility of recent years has escalated into raw intimidation, targeted harassment and physical violence against Jewish students. I should have said I welcome the minister to this place. Look forward very much to the minister's contribution and always be salient and will give us some reassurance. And I think that's what we all seek from today's debate in relation to this, so to that, I'm a friend of Israel, have been all my life.

I continue to be. So, uh, as people in this nation. And while I recognise and I've said it before and I say it again, Israel is not perfect because I'm not perfect and there's nobody in this room is perfect. So they do things that I would have concern over, but I do stand by them whenever the opportunity. And today I've got to highlight the issue of antisemitism on university campuses. When I visited Israel some two years ago, uh, we had an opportunity to visit De Novo musical Festival and also the Kibbutz's as well.

And if ever we needed to see man's inhumanity to man and the hatred that the Hamas terrorists had upon Israel, that was the day that we seen it. And that was why, uh, I am very much here to speak on behalf of them. As a unionist, I believe fundamentally in the rule of law, the right to personal safety and the preservation of free inquiry. Yet British universities are failing in their most basic legal and moral duties to protect a religious minority. And most damningly academic staff are increasingly implicated in fostering, legitimising and actively participating in this very marginalization.

The reason why we're here to speak today, the testimony is brought to light. This won't shock me, and I'm sure there will be shocking to every member of this House. Allow me, perhaps just a short time to highlight only a few and forgive the terminology. I'm going to quote exactly the words it was used in the in the number of universities, but these are direct quotes of the slurs being faced and whilst disturbing, they must be put on the record. And for that purpose, I'm going to quote them exactly at Royal Holloway, a student was subjected to jihadist threats to blow up, blow up the Jewish society, face vile text messages calling him and I quote a faggot Jew boy and was trailed by students taking photos to mark him out as a Zionist Royal.

Holloway at the University of Birmingham. A lecturer told the student to shorten her name because it sounded very Jewish. And while others performed Nazi salutes and created a group chat entitled No Jews Allowed, University of Birmingham at King's College in London, a student faced a Kafkaesque punishment by the university to write a 1000 word essay explaining why this, why displaying an Israeli flag was wrong. He wants to come to my office because I got one in my office. I'm proud to show that flag.

I'm proud to let people know that King's College London at City Saint George, a Jewish student, was ambushed from behind and nearly pushed down a staircase while campus protests featured Arabic chants calling him, calling for the literal killing of Jews at city Saint George. Most outrageously, Sir John. Yeah.
15:21
15:21
None Portrait Speaker 8
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Can I thank the honourable gentleman for that intervention?That's another university, uh, held to the, the, um, the campus. The words of shame for universities are some universities across the United Kingdom. I wanted to refer to can to Bangor University. Uh. An actual professor, actual professor, physically confronted a Jewish student while screaming medieval blood libel tropes and calling him a baby killer. Bangor University. Mr. Chairman, if this level of targeted, vicious harassment were directed to any other minority group or on campus, the institutions would be shut down.

Funding would be stripped away from them and the perpetrators would be expelled immediately. That's what would happen if it was anybody else. But because it's Jews, well, what happens?Well, what does happen?Yet when it comes to Jewish students, we see institutional paralysis and a culture of denial. And not far from from obviously as an MP for for Northern Ireland, I want to give some comments about Queen's University in Belfast and the Ulster University in Northern Ireland are by no means immune to this toxic atmosphere.

We've seen a deeply alarming trend where extreme political activism on these campuses has crossed the line from legitimate debate into outright intimidation and the exclusion of Jewish and Zionist voices. I have spoken to some of those Jewish students personally. They've told me their testimonies, have told me their their stories. Uh, and they've told me that they're scared and occasions to be active in their own campuses. So when Jewish students in Belfast or Londonderry feel compelled to hide their identity, skip lectures, avoid campus spaces out of fear for their safety, the leadership of those universities has failed fundamentally, higher education in Northern Ireland.

Must be a neutral, safe and meteoric environment for everyone. Vice chancellors in our province must not remain silent or indifferent. Must apply the act at the exact same zero tolerance approach to anti-Jewish racism as they do to any other form of sectarianism or discrimination, ensuring that our universities, indeed all universities, remain places of learning rather than hotbeds of radicalization and exclusion. The report rightly underscores that modern anti-Semitism has evolved into a toxic political framework, and it has, and I would challenge anybody to say that.

And otherwise it hides cowardly behind the shield of extreme anti-Zionism, denying Jewish self-determination and calling for the destruction of Israel. This is a cynical abuse of free speech designed to make campuses to use a Jewish word, which means Jew free. Wow. God forbid that that day should ever come to this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We must draw a firm line in the sand. And today, right now, in this chamber, I believe members have done that.

Firstly, the United Kingdom government. These are my two. Two asks of the minister, please, if you don't mind, the UK government must state unequivocally that anti-Zionism, including calling for the destruction of the Jewish state, will be treated with the exact same seriousness and the moral clarity as classical racial antisemitism. And secondly, we must follow the successful precedent set in the United States over there. And vice chancellors must be summoned before, must be summoned before, here, and what they're doing over there.

But what they should be doing here is similar. Must be some before a parliamentary select committee to look us in the eye and account for their catastrophic failures, those failures in all those universities I refer to, and probably many others, Nottingham, others. How many is there when we look across the way?I conclude with this, Mr. Chairman. Our universities cannot remain safe havens. From hate speech and terror sympathizers, I believe it's time. Time to restore law, time to restore order, time to restore a basic human decency to campuses.

And the first step, I believe, Sir John, must be the determination in this chamber, Westminster Hall today to send a message that why is the United Kingdom supports freedom of speech, and I believe in that with all my heart and with. Stick up for people to do that. We do not tolerate threats of violence. And these examples have shown that the line has been crossed and that action must be taken. And let it start today. Thank you so much.
15:26
15:27
15:28
15:29
None Portrait Speaker 9
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So I'm grateful that he raised that incident. He will not be surprised to hear that. I agree with him strongly that that is wholly unacceptable. It is entirely abhorrent, and it is a well trodden path that those who seek to divide us and seek to sow hatred in our community use graffiti a cowardly way of trying to convey a message of hatred and divisiveness using graffiti, I was, um, I felt honoured to be invited when I was in Bournemouth last year, Sir John, to visit the synagogue there and to visit with the Rabbi, who had been the subject of an anti-Semitic graffiti attack on his home and the impact that had on him and the whole community was profound.

And I was very grateful that he took the time to, to, to meet me and to explain that to me. And I can only imagine the fear and. The fear that must have been felt by those that that was targeted at. And he is entirely right. It is wholly unacceptable, wholly unacceptable. The report that I mentioned earlier showed that 1 in 5 students would be reluctant to, or would never houseshare with a Jewish student. That's.

Others have mentioned that earlier. Within the report, Jewish students described physical and verbal abuse, social exclusion and antisemitic attitudes that have become disturbingly ordinary on the very campuses that are meant to welcome them. Additionally, almost half of students have heard slogans or chants glorifying Hamas, Hezbollah or other proscribed groups. I was grateful to a number of colleagues in the debate who really brought the voices of students into Westminster Hall today, the member for Northampton South and Strangford spoke about the experience of Jewish students on campus and the member for Beaconsfield, I think, very powerfully reminded us why we should really care about what's going on on university campuses and why we've seen throughout history, we've seen this before and we've seen throughout history what this looks like.

And she talked about the experience on German university campuses. My own grandmother, who was Jewish, came here from Germany in the 1930s. She came here at the age of 18. So she was she wasn't a student. She came here as a domestic worker. But she came here because of the climate of fear and of hatred that was being sown over that period. And it often starts, as she rightly said, on university campuses, Liberal Democrats will always defend free speech.

The universities should be homes for rigorous, well informed debate, because the freedom to question and to explore difficult ideas sits at the heart of academic life, criticising the actions of any government, including the government of Israel, is legitimate and it must remain so. But there is a world of difference between vigorous debate and the harassment, intimidation and abuse that the report I mentioned documents. It is. I'll say it again, of course, possible to fairly and rightly criticise the actions of the government of Israel.

But let's be really clear the dangerous anti-Semitic trope that British Jewish people are somehow puppets for a foreign state, or that there is a secret conspiracy to exercise undue control over the government must be actively call out, and we should robustly and unequivocally reject any such antisemitic conspiracy theories. No one should use concerns, whether it's about foreign interference or otherwise, to stir hate or to smear and stigmatise the Jewish community on university campuses or elsewhere. And I was grateful to the honourable member for Dewsbury and Batley, who reminded us of our role in this as those in positions of political leadership, and some of our colleagues would do well to remember when making inflammatory statements, that those inflammatory statements have an impact.

Under the previous government, the Liberal Democrats did not support the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act 2023. We did not believe it was evidence based or proportionate. And many universities and student groups, including Jewish student groups themselves, warned that it risked compelling universities to platform speakers with known extremist views. From September, the office for students will operate a new complaint scheme which would allow university staff, external speakers and non-student members to make free speech complaints. The office will then investigate claims and has the power to issue fines.

This should not be a mechanism for back door legitimising legitimising of hate. More than that, we believe that the government should bring forward an urgent, comprehensive action plan to tackle anti-Semitism. At its root, alongside adequately ensuring high visibility police protection for synagogues, schools and Jewish community centres nationwide. The time for change report sets out a sensible path. Enforceable standards for how universities investigate and punish hate crime, with mandatory reporting to the office for students and real sanctions for those who fall short.

Proper coordination between universities, the police and government, and sector wide best practice on Jewish inclusion, including antisemitism awareness training. Other colleagues have mentioned the excellent work of the Antisemitism Policy Trust. I've been lucky enough to have. Benefited from some of their training and it was very, very strong. And also we should welcome initiatives that celebrate Jewish life, not merely defend it. The last contribution I'm going to welcome is from my honourable friend, the member for Westmorland and Lonsdale, who reminded us of the story of the Windermere children.

And he talked about how we could use education to build on our history and on our foundations as a country. And he also talked about how we should be pushing for a hatred of hatred. And I warmly welcome that universities exist so that students from every background can come together without fear. Right now, for too many Jewish students, that promise is being broken. The Liberal Democrats will keep using our voice in this House to speak out against anti-Semitism in every form it takes, and I ask the government and the minister today to match their words with action and a timeline to offer Jewish students not just warm assurances, but the safety, the protection and the respect they are owed.
15:34
15:35
None Portrait Speaker 11
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Thank you, Sir John. It's a privilege to serve under your chairmanship and it's a privilege to respond to this moving and sadly, often harrowing debate. I'd like to put on record that I'm actually the vice chair of the Appg on anti-Semitism, but I'd also like to pay tribute to the honourable member for Leeds South West and Morley for securing this incredibly important debate and for his dedication to this cause and his moving speech. I also recognise the contribution from my good friend, the hon.

Friend my hon. Friend for Beaconsfield, who passionately set out why this is such an important debate and why we're all here, even though we wish we didn't have to be. Jewish students are facing some of the worst anti-Semitic abuse in society and in our universities, according to the Community Security Trust, there are over 9000 Jewish students studying at universities across the UK. They have found a terrifying rise in anti-Semitism in the UK in 2023, there were 53 university related anti-Semitic incidents. This rose to 272 in 20 23 to 24, the highest total recorded for a single academic year.

The Union of Jewish Students have published a harrowing report highlighting the concerning fact that anti-Semitism is now effectively normalised on our campuses. It found that 1 in 4 students have seen behaviour that explicitly targets Jewish students for their religion. More broadly, it demonstrates that universities are failing to confront the open glorification of terrorism. Nearly half of students have heard chants glorifying proscribed terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and their research also shows student groups have explicitly called for violence against Jews, even justifying the sickening terrorist attack at Bondi Beach last year, as well as the terrible glorification of violence and the sense that anti-Semitism is normal because it never goes unpunished.

anti-Semitic protests also disrupt students learning, students learning, and universities, where students have witnessed Israel Palestinian protests. Those students feel it still goes unaddressed. 4 in 10 students have seen Jewish students harassed. Sir John Britain has a proud history of tolerance, but we cannot be complacent in our fight to protect our fundamental values of decency, tolerance and support for each other. And I think members across the House, and I thank them for this, spoke from all parties, spoke up in solidarity with those British Jewish students.

However, these freedoms which are fundamental to our democracy and proud traditions, are under ever increasing threat. Society is becoming more fractured, driven by divisive rhetoric online and offline, which drives populism and pushes more people to the extreme. For the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people in the UK are more divided. Society is having a real impact on their everyday lives. The Community Security Security Trust estimates that there were over 300 anti-Semitic incidents per month in 2025, double the number the year preceding the war in the Middle East.

Student testimony collected by organisations like the CST, the Union of Jewish Students and the Pinsker Centre have demonstrated the hostile environment faced by Jewish students on campus since October 23rd, and I want to share some of those comments, some of them. Some of those instances have already been shared. Um, one was from a focus group run by the Pinsker Centre. One student said some people suddenly radicalised after October the 7th. Now don't speak to me. They've blocked me on social media.

They ignore me. They've explicitly told me that I am complicit in genocide. In summer 2020, for a Jewish Society committee member in Bristol approached the pro-Palestinian encampment to have a civil conversation. That night. He was recognised, physically attacked and assaulted in a nightclub by individuals who had heard him earlier in the day. His shirt was ripped and his back was covered in scratches and cuts. And too often we hear about Jewish students being abused because they are wearing the carpet or the skull being, and for that reason, being chased and attacked.

A Royal Holloway student, as we heard earlier, who I spoke to today, received calls in which the caller read out his home address and warned that they were coming to get him, alongside an explicit threat to blow up the Jewish society. He told me he got these calls ten times a day, and at one point, because his address was publicised, a bloody, bloody period pads were put outside his door. A professor at Bangor University, as we heard earlier, physically attacked a student while calling him a baby killer.

A medieval anti-Semitic trope.
15:39
None Portrait Speaker 3
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Medieval anti-Semitic trope. I spoke to Evelyn today from UCL who told me about how she was just at an antisemitism stall. She was approached and called an effing white supremacist bitch. And I paraphrase because the abuse went on and on. She had the recording, and last week she found out that no was being taken. I hear repeatedly about how many members of the faculty in UCL are members of the BDS movement, which which clearly is is helping to exacerbate this situation.

I spoke to Ben from the LSE who told me about a book which said at the launch of a book, which was Hamas, titled Hamas and Why It Matters Hamas and Why it Matters understanding Hamas and why it matters. I just want to get that correct. Understanding Hamas and why it matters. And there was a protest outside the book launch, and there was a counter-protest to the protest. And he eloquently said to me, if you're protesting, if you're counter-protesting a protest against a proscribed terrorist organisation, what does that make you?A King's College student had a had to write, as we heard earlier, a 1000 word essay explaining why it had been wrong to display an Israeli flag on campus.

Imagine if that had been a Palestinian flag. Would the result have been the same?The list goes on and on. Sir John, something has gone horribly wrong. It is quite clear that a permissive culture of anti-Semitism and abuse has been allowed to fester. anti-Semitism is being covered up as activism and protest. Hate is being legitimised and British Jews are being felt. Being left isolated and living in fear. Our Jewish communities need us, and in this moment, we cannot falter.

I am pleased that the government have announced some new steps to ensure universities publish the scale of antisemitism on campuses. This is a welcome step forward, but we do need further clarity on what exactly the government will do, and I ask the minister to address this. If universities are still failing to tackle antisemitism, which I've already listed some examples of saying, of course, that we will set out next steps in due course. It's not enough. Our Jewish community need to know today what the government is intending to do to clamp down on this.

The Shadow Education Secretary has said that universities that fail to clamp down on antisemitism should have their funding stripped to ensure that there are real and serious consequences for failing to stamp out anti-Semitism. So I therefore ask the minister if they can identify the steps that they will take to punish universities that have allowed antisemitism to become normalised to. Many students tell me that there is not not a sufficient complaint system for them, and the office for the Independent Adjudicator, who would they who would be, who they'd have to go to, has no meaningful sanctions, and we need a complaint system that does work for students.

I encourage the minister to look at that, and I know my honourable friend for Windsor wrote to him about that. He's yet to receive a reply, so I hope the minister can address that, and I want to ask the minister if he is working with the office for students to better tackle anti-Semitism. I recognise that a independent investigation into antisemitism in schools, colleges and universities is due by the autumn. But can the minister, as has already been asked by other members, update the House on a specific timetabling as the evidence we have heard today shows just how important it is that we tackle anti-Semitism most urgently.

And lastly, the importance of this debate cannot be underestimated. It goes above party politics. So I do want to offer my sincere support to the Minister on helping the government tackle extremism of all kinds at our universities. But let me conclude by saying this to British Jews. His Majesty's opposition will never shy away from standing up for British Jews. And we on this side of the House will do so without fear, knowing we are standing up for what is right.

There are too many platitudes, too many. Never again. And yet nothing changes. Too often when I meet British Jews and I met some yesterday, I see fear and anxiety in their eyes. I hear too often that they aren't sure if this country, their country, is safe for them to hear about raging antisemitism on our university campuses, which should be a safe place for all, is a stain on our society. A future conservative government will ensure that universities will not allow anti-Semitism to fester.

Those that do, do not comply will face the toughest of sanctions. Where hate preachers come to this country to spread hate. Under the conservatives, they will be deported. Where the law is broken. We will empower the police to enforce the law to its fullest extent. So to British Jews, let me say this your fight is our fight. You are of us and we are of you. We will not fail you in this endeavour.
15:44
15:45
None Portrait Speaker 12
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Thank you, Sir John. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I'd like to start by congratulating my hon. Friend the member for Leeds South West and Morley for securing this very important and timely debate. I'd also like to, um, turn to a few of the remarks made by members in this debate, starting with the honourable member for Westmorland and Lonsdale. My constituency neighbour, um, who is right to highlight the um, the number of former student sabbatical officers in this place at present company included, um and also the important history of the Windermere children.

And I'm very keen to do what I can to support his, um, his case that he is making to find ways to both rebuild a school and um bring greater Holocaust education to the north of England. Um, and I share many of the same aspirations as he does in that respect. Um, my hon. Friend the member for Northampton South. Um, I'd like to thank for sharing um, praise on the leadership of the Ujs, um many of whom are with us here today and highlighting the leadership of Michael Nietzsche's to me as well, the member for Beaconsfield, um, who set out the historical context, um, reminds me of the excellent forward in the Ujs time for change report by Baron Finkelstein that warns of the moral collapse that anti-Semitism, uh, can easily be taken as a warning sign of.

Uh, the honourable member for Dewsbury and Batley, right, rightly states that we must not conflate action of the government of Israel with the Jewish community. I'd like to thank him for making that point so clearly. And the honourable member for Strangford powerfully brought the experiences of Jewish students to life, that the harrowing experience of Jewish students to life in this debate today, and I'd like to thank him for taking time in his speech to make sure that their voices have been heard here. Universities are places where ideas are tested, challenged and, where necessary, shown to be wanting through evidence, scrutiny and debate.

Exposure to different view points, including those with which we strongly disagree, is an essential part of higher education. Students should leave university having had their assumptions challenged and their perspectives broadened, freedom of speech and academic freedom are therefore central to the university experience. At the same time, universities have a duty to ensure that all students can participate fully in university life without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination. This is particularly important in light of the significant rise of anti-Semitism. To. Many Jewish students have been subject to abuse, exclusion and hostility because of their Jewish identity.

While robust debate, including on controversial political issues, is a vital part of academic life, freedom of expression is not cover for antisemitic harassment, discrimination or abuse. Universities must therefore both uphold freedom of speech and take effective action to ensure Jewish students can study, participate and thrive free from anti-Semitism. Our task is not to choose between these principles, but to uphold both. In a liberal democracy, we do not resolve disagreement by shutting down debate, but nor do we accept intimidation as the price of free expression.

We create the conditions in which robust debate can flourish, and everyone can participate with confidence. That must be our ambition for higher education. The rise in anti-Semitism, reported by Jewish students is not simply a challenge of one for one community. It is a test of whether our universities remain places of inclusion, academic freedom and respect for all. When Jewish students feel unable to speak openly, participate fully or express their identity without fear, something fundamental is at stake. Of the problem is clear and has been set out by many honourable members in this debate.

In 2025, CST recorded 3700 antisemitic incidents in the UK, the second highest annual total on record. anti-Semitism is not an historical issue. It remains a present and persistent threat and we must also challenge the ideas and narratives that give rise to these incidents. Too often, anti-Semitism is expressed through familiar tropes and conspiracy theories. Allegations of secret influence, dual loyalty, collective responsibility or hidden power. These claims can sometimes appear superficially innocuous, but they draw on centuries old racist myths used to marginalize, persecute and dehumanize Jewish people.

We should be clear that these ideas are antisemitic and have the confidence to speak out against them. Government must provide that leadership. It is never acceptable to hold Jewish people or Jewish communities responsible for the actions of a foreign state. Criticism of the government of Israel, like criticism of any government, is legitimate. Holding British Jews collectively responsible is not tackling. anti-Semitism cannot be left to Jewish communities alone. It requires a whole society response and. Education is among.

Amongst our most powerful tools. In doing so. That is why we are investing £7 million to tackle antisemitism across education, helping schools, colleges and universities prevent incidents respond effectively when they occur, and foster environments where Jewish students feel safe, welcome and valued. Government. Give way.
15:50
15:50
None Portrait Speaker 12
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The honourable member is absolutely right to make that point. And picking up on a thread of debate here today, a number of people have raised the, um, the power of algorithms that feed off people's fury and angry anger and the differences that exist between people. And many of the themes that are being highlighted here today in this debate, um, could apply equally to other groups in society where our attention is also is also needed. Government funded training. Um, sir John is already supporting university staff and leaders to recognise anti-Semitism, support Jewish students and respond appropriately when concerns arise.

And last week, we agreed to fund projects through our Innovation Fund to help students navigate misinformation, engage constructively with difficult issues and develop a deeper understanding of different faiths and communities. We are also developing a new community cohesion framework with students in partnership with the University of Salford and the National Union of Students. Alongside this work, we continue to support University Jewish Chaplaincy to provide pastoral wellbeing and practical support to Jewish students across the country. My hon. Friend the member for Leeds South Western Morley, in his opening speech, asked questions about the statutory framework and briefly in consideration of time, would like to update him that the office of the Independent Adjudicator is due to update its good practice framework for higher education providers in handling reports of harassment later this year.

In addition, we are working with the sector to improve transparency and accountability for tackling anti-Semitic abuse. We're working with UK universities UK to undertake a rapid assessment of institutional disciplinary and incident reporting processes, and will develop recommendations and priority actions in autumn this year. Gladly give way.
15:52
15:53
None Portrait Speaker 12
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Uh. Member is right to highlight the essential aspects of accountability in in all of this, and the Office of Students has been given additional powers in recent years. And it is also true to say that the scale of challenge we see with antisemitism on university campuses, and the challenge that many universities are facing in meeting their obligations to uphold freedom of speech, with also creating the climate and culture necessary for freedom from intimidation, and may lead a select committee, um, here to hold an inquiry on that.

And it would, of course, be a matter for Parliament and a select committee to do so. But if that were to happen, the Department for education would be very interested in the findings from it. And finally, um, Mr. Chairman, Sir John, um we know that many of the conspiracy theories and hateful tropes that underpin antisemitism are also features of extremist ideologies. Left unchallenged, they can create an environment in which radicalisation becomes more likely. At their most serious, they can form part of a pathway towards terrorism, prevent data shows that in year to March 2025, there were 8778 referrals, with 21% linked to extreme right wing concerns and 10% to Islamist extremism.

While prevent does not record antisemitism as a standalone category, these figures illustrate how antisemitism. Antisemitic narratives can and often do form part of extremist world viewpoints that carry a risk of terrorism or serious harm. Most anti-Semitic incidents will fall well below the threshold for prevent intervention. Nevertheless, the data demonstrates that in the most serious cases, ideas rooted in historic anti-Semitic prejudice can become part of a trajectory towards terrorism. That is why, through our wider Protecting What Matters programme, we are taking action to challenge antisemitism and extremism wherever it arises.

We are strengthening oversight of universities, prevent duties, updating guidance on external speakers and events and that's due to come very soon. Improving our ability to identify emerging extremist activity, enhancing whistleblowing protections and increasing transparency around incidents of anti-Semitism. Yes.
15:55
15:55
15:56
15:56
None Portrait Speaker 1
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You, Sir John. Um, it's been an excellent debate and I really value the contributions of everybody today. I do want to say pay tribute to member for Westmorland and Lonsdale, who talked about his experience compared with the experience of Jewish people and how wildly different that is and how insane that is that we tolerate that in today's day and age. I do want to compliment the member for Northampton South. My honourable friend, the member for Northampton South, for talking about the experiences of Warwick students, both good and bad.

The member for Beaconsfield gave an excellent history lesson and did talk about the fact that this did happen before, before Israel even existed. And the antisemitism does flare up on campuses, regardless of the circumstances, and it's something we must deal with. The member for Dewsbury and Batley. I couldn't find a fault in the first half of his speech. He did offer me, um, an invitation to work with him to deal with this problem when I gladly accept. I would just gently say, and I didn't intervene at the time, because I wanted to make sure other members could get in that.

Clearly there is a problem on campuses and that we have to intervene. Now, if 20% of all students say they don't want to live with Jewish students. And I would also say that when it comes to universities, having the the issue of free speech and is clamping down on that too much. Well, clearly there is still an issue today if Jewish students have to live in fear on campuses today. So I think it's worth having a discussion about that after the debate, the member for Strangford spoke brilliantly about experiences of Jewish students from across the country.

The member for Hazel Grove, I thought was excellent. In a summation, I have to say, the member for Hazel Grove, the opposition spokesperson and the minister almost spoke with one voice giving a new positive meaning to the word uniparty. And and with that, I will just I will just end by saying a huge thank you to you, Jess, who have provided many of the statistics and the evidence that we have used in our speeches today. I commend them for their work. I know that it will continue, and I want them to know, and I want everybody outside this place to know that they will always have a friend in us.

Thank you.
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None Portrait Speaker 17
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Thank you.
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None Portrait Speaker 17
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Please.
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None Portrait Speaker 17
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Yes.
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None Portrait Speaker 4
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Thanks. Easton.
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None Portrait Speaker 14
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I thank my honourable friend for that and yes, I do agree and that when you look at some of the advantages in one sense, edge of Town and out of town retailing has. And in another sense, the huge multinational online, retailers. The advantages of both those sectors have puts our high streets at a major disadvantage. I want to move on to some, and I've heard from some of the interventions, some of the positive, um, contributions that that have been made and our own in Northern Ireland, our own Department for communities have a shaping Sustainable Places programme under the.

My colleague Gordon Lyons, the communities minister, and that draws together a range of departments to try and revitalise town centres and look at coordinating more closely together how best that can be delivered in a way that's sustainable for the future. In the in the past 12 to 18 months here at Westminster, um I and. Some colleagues have been pressing the government to complete that future Towns fund, which they they now have, whereby, for example, in two locations in Northern Ireland, both of which one of which is entirely within my constituency, the other ones partially in it, that's in Londonderry and in Coleraine, there's £2 million per year over the next ten years.

That, again, is progress and it is something of a start. But unless that becomes part of a coordinated approach, just as the other departments and some of the local councils that we've heard alluded to, unless that can be coordinated to radically reassess where we take town centres to in the future. That's why, in bringing my remarks to a conclusion, uh, Sir John, I hope that the minister would agree with me when I would suggest that there needs to be discussions between devolved ministers and their departments to see if agreement could be reached on a pilot scheme in the English regions Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to see how we can transform town centres and city centres.

Skips over not just the next year or two, but over the next decade or two. Because if the decline continues, I may not be back here in ten years. Time probably won't be back here in ten years time, or anywhere else for that matter. But but but there will be someone here saying, when are we going to do something to transform and revitalize our town and city centres?That's why we need that radical overhaul. And hopefully the minister can respond positively in a way that can coordinate various government departments and various devolved institutions in a way to deliver tangible change that people want to see.

Thank you.
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None Portrait Speaker 19
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Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Sir John and I and I look around the room and some of the members that were here yesterday are here today, and I thought I might get away with much of what I said this morning. And then I saw you were chairing. So I will have to I will have to say some other things, but um, in the absolute same spirit in which I spoke this morning, um, because it is such an important topic and I thank the honourable member for bringing this debate this afternoon.

Um, because high streets are a topic that matter to every member of Parliament, indeed, because it matters to everybody around, um, up and down the country. And to devolved nations too, because they symbolize the place that people live, the communities that they are part of and the place that they identify with. And that is why it is such an important topic, because it is more than just the bricks and mortar that they, uh, they reference, but it is also, um, the spirit in which individuals live in the communities that they are part of.

And I, like every member here today, thought about the high street that's represented in my own constituency of barking. When thinking about the debate this afternoon and the brilliant businesses that I've had the pleasure of meeting since being elected their member of Parliament. Businesses like the beauty industry that I hosted here in Parliament last year, but other businesses too. And I thought about the fact that the high streets have so fundamentally changed in recent years. And the right hon. Member is absolutely right.

The challenges that we face are challenges that exist in every corner, but actually, every high street and town centre should be different because they are about the character of that place. And so we must help different businesses to thrive and give local communities the power to shape their high streets for the better. And the government is taking action on this, whether it's the £300 million funding to support, um, those efforts, the 10 million to expand the high streets, rental auctions that members have already referenced, which has become very successful, um, to tackle the issue of shops being empty, the £61 million, um, that is being launched as part of pride in place, the community Right to buy fund is also making a difference.

Very happy to give way.
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None Portrait Speaker 19
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I thank the honourable member on car parks in particular. I know there is a review currently underway, and I'm very happy to write to the honourable member to set out some timelines and when we might have the responses of those reviews and the point around rural communities is very, very important, which is exactly why the government is committing to making sure that we do what we can from central government, but really allow communities to be able to shape their own services locally. And the density point, I think, is an important point, particularly for rural communities.

I know that banking hubs, for example, has been a real lifeline for communities that have had no banks in their area. And as a government, we've committed to almost 300 and just over 230 have already opened up. I think it's important that we commit to more initiatives like that so we can we can see the support that high streets need. And as I say, there are good examples of public services being located. If you take Barnsley, for instance, who've opened up a community diagnostic centre in their glassworks shopping centre, it's led to more screening, fewer missed appointments, and it's bought a £3 million boost to the local economy.

I could list many, many examples across the country, but it's to really make the point that the relationship between the relocation of public services and our high streets can be a really, really powerful tool if you like, to be able to regenerate our high streets. And so Mhclg has been working closely with other government departments, including Department for Health and Social Care. So to encourage them to roll out like health centres in other locations. But we have to go further, and I recognise that.

And we have to think about with local community leaders, how we can be more strategic and purposeful in what we do as central government, but also how we support them to deliver things locally. And we have to work with local government, mayoral strategic authorities. So devolution and reorganisation can lead to tangible improvements on high streets. And local capacity is an issue for local authorities, which is why a Mhclg is committed to supporting local councils so that they can shape those high streets in a way that work for local residents.

We're bringing back vacant shops into use and tackling the perverse incentive that encourages empty shops. As I said, high street rental auctions have already proved very successful and indeed we've been oversubscribed, and that's why we're expanding the programme and we're supporting local authorities, upskilling local authority officers to use compulsory purchase powers so that they can bring landlords to the table, enabling, um, more of a transformational, transformational change for areas that have got a particular problem with empty shops and the national Planning policy Framework is playing a role in, in some of that work to finally, Sir John, I will address business rates.

And I know that many retail, hospitality and leisure businesses are grappling with rising costs. Um, we are committed to supporting high street businesses so that they can compete with online, out of town alternatives. Most of that, I believe is about appropriate place making, but we are also reducing the burden of business rates on independent high street businesses, introducing permanently lower business rate multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, giving greater certainty and long term support. Um. The new multipliers are worth a billion per year and benefit over 750 000 properties.

It will give long term certainty, as I said, and support high streets. Sir John, can I thank members for their contribution?I recognise that High Streets is a topic that people feel very passionate about. Rightly so. They are intrinsic to the constituents identity and local place, and I thank the honourable member for securing the debate.
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None Portrait Speaker 24
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You very much, chair. And it's a pleasure to serve with you in the chair this afternoon. I beg to move that this House has considered financial inclusion for young people. Today. Young people are one of the groups most at risk of financial exclusion. Analysis by Fair for All Finance has identified 2 million unsteady starters in financially vulnerable circumstances across the UK, and this includes 11% of financially vulnerable adults in Hertford and Stortford, predominantly under 35. These young people are facing a combination of pressures, low financial resilience, higher housing costs, insecure work, rising insurance costs and a growing exposure to online financial risks.

They experience poorer financial wellbeing as a result, closely linked to poor mental health, creating a vicious cycle that can undermine their educational attainment, employment prospects and economic participation. Simply about access to banking. Financial inclusion is about access to affordable credit insurance savings, trusted financial guidance, and opportunities to build a financial track record. And I'm pleased that the government has recognised the importance of tackling financial exclusion in the financial inclusion strategy. If we can break down the barriers to financial inclusion, we can improve the lives of millions of people and unlock growth across the country.

Chair, in this afternoon's debate, I would. I want to examine the barriers young adults face to financial inclusion and consider where ministers could build on the financial inclusion strategy to prioritise practical interventions to support young people. Now, while a young person may pay rent regularly, meet mobile phone payments or have built responsible financial habits, they often lack sufficient credit history to access mainstream financial products on fair terms. We know that young adults are overrepresented in the gig economy. Temporary employment roles, part time work and on zero hours contracts and the insecure and variable income they receive is compounded by the high cost of living.

It's harder for them to budget, effectively, qualify for mainstream financial products, and they're more reliant on costly forms of borrowing. As a result, and as the cost of living crisis continues to eat into disposable incomes, young people struggle to build emergency or long term savings, and they typically have fewer savings than older adults. This leaves them acutely vulnerable to financial shocks. Losing a job, an unexpected bill, increased rent or transport costs. In these circumstances, without emergency savings to draw from, many face a poverty premium, paying more in the long term through instalments because they cannot afford the cost of an upfront payment.

I will give way.
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None Portrait Speaker 17
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25 report highlighted a significant gap in financial education provision, while financial capability programs are concentrated in primary schools, the early years of secondary school and workplaces, there is comparatively little structured support for young people aged 16 to 24 as they transition to financial. This is one of the most financially vulnerable periods in a young person's life, where they have to navigate leaving school, entering work or going to university and living independently for the first time, particularly as students, young people are vulnerable to developing bad financial habits, experiencing a financial crisis or falling into debt.

They're often having to balance their education with work. And if a financial crisis does hit, they face the prospect of sacrificing more of their education to pay down debt with a potential impact on their future life chances. These significant moments in a young person's life are when small mistakes and unexpected costs can quickly escalate, and early support in this transition period is critical to preventing longer term financial problems. And all of this takes place in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Young adults are adopting AI tools faster than older generations, providing them with opportunities for more accessible guidance, but leaving them at risk of exposure to inaccurate information scams and poor or misleading financial recommendations.

Moneysupermarket latest money talks research with the Campaign Against Living Miserably found that 44% of 18 to 34 year olds are turning to generative AI as a private space to express their money worries. That's almost half of young people who are being exposed to unregulated financial advice. Not only does financial exclusion increase economic inequality between those who have savings, access to financial education and good support networks and those who do not. But it also has a significant impact on young people's mental health, financial anxiety is no longer just associated with moments of crisis.

It's become a daily occurrence for many. Research from Moneysupermarket Calm and Um showed that 1 in 2 young adults are in debt. 1 in 4 young people have used a food bank in the past year, and more than social media, body image or relationships, money is the topic causing young people the most worry right now?Young adults are 77% more likely to have experienced suicidal thoughts because of issues with money or money worries than the wider adult population. 1 in 10 young adults with debt will have had suicidal thoughts in the last 12 months because of worries about making repayments.

There's a profound link between financial difficulties and poor mental health. It's often cyclical, with financial stress leading to more mental health challenges and poorer mental health, making financial management harder. So we must recognise this relationship and how financial insecurity and exclusion is leaving young people lacking agency in our society and without hope. Indeed, beyond arguments about economic growth and inactivity. This alone should spur us on to do better. What might solutions to the barriers I've set out look like, and where might we be able to go further?Firstly, on credit visibility, small sum lending can support young people with thin or non-existent credit files to establish their financial identity and therefore access affordable financial products.

I know, for example, that fair for all finance is piloting small sum lending in partnership with Monzo, and I'd be keen to hear the minister's reflections on the role of small sum lending in this area and what further action the government can take alongside regulators to support young people to establish a financial track record. Secondly, on insurance affordability, the interim findings of the recent Milburn Review highlighted the stark challenge of a million young people not in education, employment or training, and I know the government is committed to tackling the high number of needs.

I'd be grateful if the minister could set out what work is being undertaken with regulators and industry to improve access to affordable motor insurance for young drivers to tackle the prohibitive costs, restricting the access to work and education and leaving them financially excluded. And I note that modelling from WPI economics has found that improvement in this area could increase the UK's GDP by £369 million annually through increased employment and participation in the labour market. So there is an economic opportunity here. Thirdly, could the Minister reflect on how the government can expand financial education and support in that critical period of transition for 16 to 24 year olds and share what considerations she has given to the growing influence of AI on financial decision making?And finally, on financial wellbeing and mental health.

Will the Minister commit to working across departments to ensure that financial resilience forms part of the government's wider approach to supporting young people's mental health and wellbeing?Chair, to conclude, if we want to grow the economy, tackle the Neet challenge and improve young people's mental health and wellbeing, then we must ensure they are not excluded from the financial system that underpins modern life. Real financial inclusion must mean that every young person can build a secure and sustainable financial future, because a young adult who can save, build a credit history, access affordable insurance and make informed decisions about their finances is more likely to succeed in work, education and life.

They will feel that they have agency in our society and they will have hope for the future. Thank you.
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None Portrait Speaker 4
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Thank you, Sir John.
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It's a.
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None Portrait Speaker 4
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Pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And can I commend the member for Hertford and Stortford for securing this important debate and congratulate him on his opening speech, which I thought he made some excellent points because many young people are entering adulthood without the knowledge, confidence and access to the financial services they need to build secure futures. 70% of adults believe better financial education in their younger years would have improved their ability to manage their finances, and two thirds of young people believe that the lack of financial education has played a role in them amassing the debts they hold.

I just want to use my time, Sir John, just to talk through a few issues that have been raised with me, particularly to do with access to apprenticeships and the challenges of those in our rural economy facing with increased costs. And I'll just pick up on a conversation that I had when I recently visited Keighley College in my constituency, where I met with the principal, Kevin O'Hare. Kevin highlighted to me a key issue that is seeing young people undertaking apprenticeships, but a financial disadvantage compared with those who decide to stay in full time education if they are from financially deprived backgrounds.

Currently, young people who remain in full time education after the age of 16 continue to be treated as dependent children for the purpose of a range of household benefits. In contrast, Sir John young people who enter an apprenticeship are generally treated as employees, which can lead to a loss of income related support linked to household benefits. For some low income families, the resulting loss of benefits can actually exceed the apprentice's initial earnings, meaning that a household may be financially worse off when a young person chooses an apprenticeship than had they remained in full time education.

And this is something that I would be keen to understand from the Minister what conversations she's having with the Department for Work and Pensions and Education on this issue, because, Sir John, it appears to run counter to the government's objective of promoting apprenticeships as an equal and prestigious pathway alongside academic study, and may disproportionately affect participation amongst young people from disadvantaged communities. And this is something that I have experienced through casework coming into my office. Secondly, I'd like to know what assessment the government has made of the impact of household benefit losses on participation in apprenticeships, amongst 16 to 18 year olds, and perhaps if the minister isn't able to give us an answer in her wind ups that she'd be grateful to, I'd be grateful if she could write to me on this issue.

The second issue that I want to raise. Sir John follows a meeting that I had with Silsden and Skipton Young Farmers just this weekend, where they were very keen to raise with me the cost of insurance for driving because young people in rural areas face a compounding crisis of skyrocketing insurance premiums. And it makes it very difficult for them to get around because limited public transport makes owning a car essential. But huge costs are put onto them as, of course, getting around, whether it's job opportunities or education, is simply not available.

If those costs are. If they are being costed out of the market. And I just want to further raise the point that the honourable member made about the implications on mental health. When our young people feel the strain too much of getting a debt associated with them, whether it's going through the education process or just simply the burden of costs on them when they're living in those rural areas. So, John, there is a key underlying point, though, this government's failure to grow new opportunities for young people.

When we have seen unemployment rise to 5% and youth unemployment rise to 16.2%, under the current government, there is still an additional 110,000 young people aged 16 to 24 who are unemployed from January to March 26th period, compared to the same period last year. And as I have outlined in the situation at Keighley College, young people wishing to pursue opportunities through apprenticeships face being worse off. This is further exacerbated, I have to say, by the rise in employer's National Insurance minimum wage. The Employment Rights Bill, which has also created these challenges.

Fiscal inclusion is, of course, about education, but crucially, it is about fostering an economy that rewards hard working and ambitious young people rather than punishing them. And I would be grateful for the minister's, um, thoughts on the points that I have raised.
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None Portrait Speaker 3
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To serve under your chairmanship, sir John, thank you for allowing me permission to speak. I thank the honourable member for Hertford and Stortford for giving us the opportunity to reflect on the importance of financial inclusion amongst young people. As a former co-chair of the Financial Education Appg, I'm really pleased to see the the work that's already been done by this government about expanding education to support young people. So I will be focusing on financial education and how that is a way of removing barriers that young people have with financial inclusion.

With the London Foundation for Banking and Finance finding that in their 2020 526 review, that 64% of young people surveyed felt anxious about money and only 19% could answer basic financial literacy questions. It's really vital that we ensure that our curriculum changes are rolled out as soon as possible, because 80% of those youngsters wanted to learn more about finance, and their willingness and readiness is there. Can the minister, in their response, set out how providing financial education for young people, and how we will ensure there will be enough teachers and they are supported to ensure that we're able to teach that vital skill.

It's crucial that we don't just focus on those still in school, and when we're talking about financial inclusion for young people, we need to look at those young people who are more than 16. I worked for a housing association before coming to this place, and I undertook a significant piece of work on financial and digital exclusion, and it was immediately clear that so many adults need support. So how can we ensure that financial inclusion will meet our post 16 year olds to. What was really clear is that financial vulnerability leads to high rates of loan interest, poverty premium, so to speak, and that burden falls heavy, particularly on young people as it was prevalent for young people in temporary accommodation.

They're quite often financially trapped by the circumstances that they're faced with. On that note as well, I want to also put on record my thanks to Young Enterprise, particularly Alice Clark, for their support. Not only is the Secretariat for the Appg, but for leaders in this place, and we're helping to prepare young people for the future. We are also going to be doing an investigation and some support about how we would look at financial inclusion post 16, because actually making sure that young people in college and in school at 16 to 18 is a really key stage in their lives about making financial decisions for the future.

There's an excellent example of engaging with schools to support teachers with lesson plans and resources. But I think what we need to make sure is making that is equivalent for 16 year olds upwards. So those young people can continue to be engaged. I'd like to hear from the minister about how we might make sure that the rollout of the youth hubs can keep together those elements of the 16 to 24 year olds, particularly on financial education, include. And how we can support our young people to to financially grow and learn.

Finally, I just wanted to raise a key point as a as a parent of a 19 year old, I know how clear these barriers for young people are, whether that is accessing insurance for a car like the member before we. I live in a rural constituency. You know, we have a rural constituency and actually access to a car is really important and access to transport is something that is holding people back. So if we could understand how we'll work with the insurance sector to make sure young people are not unfairly penalised for the financial cost of insurance.

Thank you.
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None Portrait Speaker 20
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Charters.
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None Portrait Speaker 26
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Thank you, Sir John.
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None Portrait Speaker 4
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And could I start by commending the honourable member for Hertford and Stortford and what was a terrific speech and for gathering us here today. And Sir John, may I take a moment to take you back to your first job, and I'm sure you'll remember that pride of bringing home the first payslip. But, Sir John, in today's society, we find that young people are turning to TikTok, perhaps for beauty advice, fashion trends, or the latest dance craze. That's where they're learning how to spend their hard earned cash.

But also it has become a place of toxic influencers. As I will get on to where so-called get rich quick opportunities have been targeted at young people, and all of a sudden, things on social media can start to seem slightly odd because for young people, it's often on familiar apps that they know in formats that they're recognised, delivered by people who seem relatable. It is an influencer they might like that's educating them about money, like perhaps a big brother or a sister would. But so often we find that these types of ads and reels can become exploitative.

And I think we are now, and I say this as a former FCA regulator entering a phase of a TikTok ification of financial advice and my old place of work, the FCA there must be commended for their work on financial promotions, and they unfortunately have found that in some cases, the majority of those TikTok ads actually breached their fin prom rules and really calling on social media giants and big tech to do more to take heed from the FCA's work, really on two fronts. Firstly, social media giants must ensure that influencers properly declare where they've got a conflict of interest.

And secondly, there must be greater education almost as a public good messaging in built into the algorithms where there is officially verified types of financial education, filtering through the algorithms in the first place, because Aviva found that 1 in 5 children under 16 are now getting financial information from social media platforms. But even though 1 in 5 children say that, only 1 in 8 say that they would get their financial advice from school or college. Sir John, the math really ain't math. In. And boys in particular have been brought in via the manosphere, I might say, and toxic influencers in the manosphere into Ponzi schemes get rich quick schemes linked to body dysmorphia and other and other dangerous influences in the manosphere.

So there is that important link to the the manosphere to. Moving on, I really think what is a good way to get young people into healthy financial habits is of course, through savings and. Gordon Brown well, he understood this, didn't he, through the Child Trust Fund. And of course it was scrapped in the year 2011. And a child born into a family with money today will likely have a junior Isa opened in their name. I've done the same for my children.

Sir John and compound interest. Of course, it works favourably over the years. So by the time these young people are adults, they've got a foundation, a springboard for life, and we need to have that nudge theory built into the system from the start. And we've got to think about how products delivered by fintechs in particular today can get young people saving. And I'll just briefly touch on fraud, if I may. Because I'm concerned that of these social media ads that I talk about, many of these are actually fraudulent ads.

And 47% of 18 to 34 year olds have lost money to scams in the past year. The average loss is actually three grand. That's over a month's wages. It could be the first home deposit wiped out in one. And that is what financial exclusion does. And I'm particularly thankful to the honourable members who have referenced the car insurance market. And there is a phenomenon, phenomenon, phenomenon called ghost broking, where fraudulent car insurance, which is insurance that doesn't really exist, is actually sold to young people.

They think they're a young driver. Premiums are high. They're sold a pup and they're sold insurance policy that doesn't exist. They get into an accident and things go wrong from there. So I really would like to see social media companies and government really prioritise ghost broking and listen to the Abi's work on that. And I'll just end by saying that for me, I want my two boys to grow up in a world where the first financial lessons they receive, they don't come from a stranger with a ring light and a referral code.

They come from good, hardworking northerners who know how to match that graft. When it comes to good financial advice. And I think that's the world all of us want to see when it comes to sound financial education for all. Thank you, Sir John.
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None Portrait Speaker 26
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I'm honored to serve under your chairmanship. And my first job was on the deli counter of my local supermarket. So, um, I'd like to congratulate the honourable member for Hertford and Stortford on securing this important debate in the middle of a cost of living crisis, whether a young person understands how to manage their money, afford to stay in education, can access affordable financial services advice they can trust, avoid problem debt and build a secure future has never mattered. More. Young people are facing challenges that previous generations did not.

Money has changed. For previous generations, it was coins in the pocket or cash in a wallet. Today it is numbers on a screen, online banking apps, digital wallets, buy now, pay later schemes, cryptocurrency, digital wallets and social media influencers offering financial advice that often benefits themselves rather than the young people who are following them. We assume that because young people are comfortable with technology, they are financially literate, but those are not the same thing. The Milburn Review laid laid out the importance of financial inclusion for young people.

Between January and March of this year, 1.1 million people between the ages of 16 and 24 were not in education, employment or training. The number of young adults regularly relying on borrowing has increased by 45% in just one year. Many are using unsecured loans and buy now, pay later products to cover everyday essentials, while 1 in 5 were employed in zero hour contracts, making it almost impossible to budget or save. This is not just about people on the lowest incomes, it's increasingly affecting younger people who are working hard but can't get ahead.

These challenges are even greater in rural constituencies such as West Dorset. Financial inclusion depends on being able to access financial services, yet facilities that make this possible bank branches, cash machines and post offices are disappearing fastest from rural communities because they are considered commercially unviable. Meanwhile, meanwhile, our communities are expected to embrace digital banking despite persistent mobile phone and broadband blackspots in villages such as Drymen and Burton Bradstock and Stoke Abbott. Across the country, 1 million people have cancelled internet packages because of the cost of living crisis.

Digital banking cannot be the answer if people cannot get online. True financial inclusion should be about giving people the confidence and knowledge to make informed decisions throughout their lives. Yet less than half of children receive meaningful financial education either at home or in school. Nearly one quarter of young adults have low financial capability. Most children say they would ask their parents financial advice. Yet only about half of parents feel confident having those conversations. Financial education should become a core life skill taught from primary schools onwards.

Every young person should leave school with an understanding of budgeting, saving, borrowing, mortgages, pensions, taxation, credit scores, fraud and long term consequences of debt. These are skills that will benefit them throughout their lives, and financial education should not stop when school day ends. Family hubs, community hubs and banking hubs could and should become centres of financial guidance, not just financial services. Parents and carers should receive greater support because they remain the single biggest influence on their children's financial behaviour. We must also recognise the growing risk facing financially excluded households.

An estimated 2 million people are now borrowing from illegal money lenders, an increase of about half a million since 2022. More people are turning to payday loans simply to pay their rent or mortgages. This is not sustainable and we must do better. We must ensure that everyone has access to appropriate and affordable financial service, regardless of where they live, and can access affordable credit and independent debt advice before they reach crisis point for constituencies like West Dorset, financial inclusion is also about opportunity. It determines whether a young person can take up an apprenticeship, manage their first wage, avoid exploitative lending and build financial independence.

Because when we fail to equip young people with these skills and services that they need to manage their money, we do not simply leave them financially excluded, but we rob them of opportunity itself.
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None Portrait Speaker 27
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Thank you. Sir John. Thank you. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And, uh, can I also thank the member for Hertford and Stortford for securing this important debate, an issue that matters greatly to my constituents in Ilford South. And I can declare my first job was as a paper boy, um, where I had. To. I wouldn't say lie, but certainly say that I was a little bit older than I really was.

Um, and it did secure the job in a debate about financial inclusion. It would be remiss of me not to mention student loans, which is one of the greatest barriers to young people achieving financial security in the financial inclusion strategy. The government has rightly recognised the importance of embedding financial literacy in the curriculum to empower young people to make informed financial decisions. But there does remain a glaring gap when it comes to student loans. Young people seeking to go to university do not have proper understanding of what they're signing up to.

They're either unaware of the scale of the student debt they may incur, or are misled into believing that student loans are not real loans. You don't even have to pay them back. Some are told. One constituent of mine in Ilford South told me that although she wanted to pursue an apprenticeship, she was instead encouraged to go to university, relayed all the virtues of university but none of the drawbacks. She was told that student loans would be the easiest loans she would ever take out.

Now she's been saddled with tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt and mounting anxiety on how she will ever pay it back. Financial literacy cannot simply mean learning about taxes, savings and budgeting. It must also mean understanding student loans. The first debt many young people will ever take on so they can make a genuinely informed decision about whether university is the right path for them. Additionally, whilst I welcome the government's ambition to encourage saving and prevent people being burdened by debt, unless we fully address the student loans crisis, millions of young people are saddled with loans of around 300 £0 and upwards, rightly the precipice right at the precipice of their adult lives.

Debts that continue to grow despite repayments imposing a seemingly insurmountable financial burden on young people for the majority of their working lives, this inevitably impacts their ability to save. A survey by Barclays revealed that savers with student loans put away £2,000 a year less than their peers without student debt. If we're serious about improving financial inclusion, helping young people save and building financial resilience, then we cannot ignore the single biggest financial commitment many of them make before they've even entered the workplace. One they can end up feeling for the majority of their working lives.

I welcome the government's financial inclusion strategy and the steps it's taking to ensure financial inclusion for young people, but we must tackle every barrier to financial security. That includes addressing a student loan system. That leaves the young people feeling weighed down by debt, before they even had the chance to get ahead. Thank you.
17:04
17:04
None Portrait Speaker 28
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Thank you very much, Sir John. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And can I start by congratulating the member for Hertford and Stortford for his work in securing this debate in his excellent opening remarks, the decline of high street services has been an ongoing issue in the UK, with banks and other essential services disappearing at an increasing rate. Local high streets provide a variety of vital services to their local communities, but the current landscape landscape is extremely challenging for many of these local enterprises.

I'd just like to join in by by volunteering my own first job, which was W H. Smith in Camberley High Street. And just to reflect of the of the small sample here, how many of those jobs took place were in a retail environment in a local high street. And how important that is for young people looking to get their first foot on a ladder of a future career. But I'm sure that colleagues from across the House have heard from countless local businesses in their constituencies, on their high streets and in the hearts of their communities about the challenges they face.

From the government's NICs rise to sky high energy bills and uncertainty over what the Employment Rights Act means for them. This is placing an unsustainable burden on many business and businesses and services. In the past three years, nearly 2000 bank branches have closed across the UK due to declining in-person transactions and the rise of online banking. Many villages and small towns now lack a single bank, forcing residents to travel long distances for financial services. These challenges are often compounded by limited broadband or access to the internet, leading to swathes of people in rural communities being excluded from online services and digital banking.

Alternative solutions such as banking hubs are emerging, but there are not enough of them, and the government should be facilitating more to ensure that people across the country can access vital services when they need them, and prevent digital exclusion. The Liberal Democrats are concerned about the inequality of provision as the 5G network is rolled out. I believe it's wrong that people should be disadvantaged simply because of where they live. So I urge the government to prioritise major investment in broadband for underserved communities. It's deeply concerning that around 2.4 million people are unable to complete a single basic task, such as opening an internet browser, and that over 5 million employed adults cannot complete essential digital work tasks.

The report stated that basic digital skills are to become the UK's largest skills gap by 2030, and beyond this, 1.7 million households have no mobile or broadband, broadband internet at home, and around a million people have cut back or cancelled internet packages in the past year, as cost of living challenges have forced people to find ways to cut and save. And as we live in an increasingly digital world, this lack of access to digital services is going to exacerbate the difficulties faced by young people and getting that first job.

The Liberal Democrats made a manifesto commitment to introduce a national financial inclusion strategy, requiring both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority to have regard to financial inclusion, such as protecting access to cash, especially in remote areas, supporting banking hubs and expanding access to bank accounts. We are also supportive of the introduction of a Fair Banking Act in the UK to help tackle financial exclusion compared to similar economies, the UK has some of the worst levels of financial exclusion, leaving millions without access to essential financial services. Even before the pandemic, over 10 million people in the UK were unable to access affordable credit, with over 3 million resorting to high cost lenders such as payday loan providers, who often charge extortionate interest rates.

Small businesses also struggle to secure fair financing, receiving only a small fraction of bank lending. This has created a multibillion pound financing gap that stifles economic growth, particularly in underserved regions outside London and the South East, as well as within marginalised communities. We must do more to bring an end to the affordable credit crisis and help millions of people who are struggling with unsustainable debt. Regarding broader financial inclusion in education, a lack of financial engagement is an issue which permeates much of the UK beyond just the younger generation, report research from the city UK shows that the UK has relatively low levels of retail investment compared to international peers, which has implications both for long term household outcomes and for how effectively domestic savings are channelled into the real economy.

Britain's investment gap undermines our economic future. The Financial Conduct Authority estimates around 22 million adults with £10,000 or more in cash savings, who may be missing out on the benefits of investing. And there are many, many small businesses that are missing out on the benefits of receiving that investment to help them grow. The UK continues to have a relatively narrow base of retail participation, with a significant proportion of households not engaging in market based investment products at all. This limits both wealth creation at the individual level and the breadth of capital available to UK markets.

1 in 4 UK adults invest outside their pension, which is the lowest rate in the G7. It's a structural break on household wealth, economic growth and social mobility. This is a systemic challenge. Low levels of retail investment reinforce economic inequalities, weaken the link between savers and UK businesses, and reduce the overall effectiveness of the UK's saving and investment ecosystem. Mobilising long term savings into productive investment is central to unlocking future growth, strengthening UK capital markets and ensuring the UK remains internationally competitive.

The investment gap reinforces financial inequality. Those who invest pull further ahead. Millions remain outside the wealth creation system. Proactive individual investment can help bridge this gap, offering the potential for higher returns and greater financial security in later life. However, this requires proper financial education and the gains are so much greater when young people can start investing earlier and see the value of investing. The recent review into youth unemployment warns that 1 in 6 young people will be will not be in education, employment or training in five years unless action is taken, with already more than 1 million young people not in education, employment or training.

This is a really alarming figure. The Liberal Democrats have repeatedly warned that Labour's job tax would hamper job opportunities for young people, and that their business rates hikes would kill off high street job opportunities, to which give so many young people their first job. The government must urgently take action to unlock the skills and opportunities that young people need to build a future they can actually believe in, and that includes critically ensuring there is access to financial education, financial services and access to employment. Thank you, Sir John.
17:10
17:11
None Portrait Speaker 29
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Thank you very much indeed, sir John, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, but you have launched an unfortunate trend. Where people have to fess up on their first jobs. However, Sir John, it does give me the opportunity to make a point about the context within which today we're debating a financial inclusion of young people. My first job probably illegally at about the age of ten, was a Saturday job, helping out a milkman on the milk ground. I then had a Christmas holiday job helping out the Royal Mail, deliver Christmas letters, and then I had a summer job packing electric parts, all of which I did in Bedford.

The key point here about financial inclusion is I have to say to the minister a lot of what this government is doing is turning away employers from being able to offer those job opportunities to young people, and I really hope they will rethink that. As we've heard already, the numbers of young people out of work and employment is going up quite considerably. Uh, but I also want to start by thanking the honourable member for Hertford and Stortford who launched this debate, congratulate him on securing it, and launched this debate in a tone and with the insights which all subsequent members who spoke reinforced.

I would like, therefore, to refer to some of the points made in this debate. The first was from the honourable member for Hertford and Stortford, who made a recommendation to the Minister that there should be more action to support small sum lending and the beneficial effects that that can have on the credit credit track records, and I will be reinforcing that myself a little later in some questions to the Minister. My hon. Friend for Keighley raised a point which, from a different angle, the honourable member from Ilford South also spoke, which is for young people there is quite an important decision they make that affects their financial well-being, which is university versus apprenticeships.

And it seems that both those paths at the moment lead to potentially detrimental effects on young people's financial well-being, making that decision about taking out a student loan at a young age, and whether people have got the right advice in the right way about what that might mean for the long term financial well-being. And then the point that my friend from Keighley made about this potential disparity in the way in which young people who decide to take an apprenticeship are treated in terms of their access to financial resources versus those who are in full time employment.

I thought that was a really interesting point. Perhaps the minister will be able to say something about that. The honourable member for North West Leicestershire, um. Used her experience on the financial inclusion Appg also to talk about the excellent work undertaken by Young Enterprise in improving understanding of young people with money, and I think this comes quite timely because Money Week, which Young Enterprise started, has just concluded, I think a week or so ago Sir John, in schools trying to teach and expand the knowledge of young people about finance.

And I echo what the honourable lady said, that it would be good to see that level of involvement extend beyond the age of 16 to to young people more generally. The honourable member for York outer, um talked used his experience also to echo a point made in an intervention by the honourable member for Kettering about how young people are turning to social media as their source of understanding. Now, that cannot be I mean, turning to social media for anything, Sir John is is usually not good for one.

And that's one of the reasons why the government has come around to to putting a ban for young people on social media. But when it comes to getting advice about finances, when people are already young, people are already at risk. Lack of knowledge and understanding. This is a very, very dangerous course of information that can lead to young people undermining what they might learn from their parents, or might learn from from schools. And I would also just echo the point. The member for West Dorset said about the the fact that familiarity with technology is not the same as access to financial services.

But I would say that I do think that there is an opportunity with financial technologies for us to do something about this. Sir John, the issue of financial inclusion for young people is a shared passion between my own party, obviously, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Labour Party. This is one of the areas where we are all looking to make progress under the last conservative government, we made financial education compulsory in the curriculum for 11 to 16 year olds. But I think the evidence showed, and the minister may confirm this, that we weren't getting all that number of schools doing what they should do, or at least the results from that were not as we would wish them to be.

But it was the right step. And the government is moving now to make that also compulsory in primary schools, and that must be a positive step. Uh, we also made progress in the last government by improving student attainment in mathematics. Sir John, you may be interested to know on the Pisa ratings for mathematics in 2009, England, because education obviously devolved matter in England was ranked 27th in maths amongst those countries by 2023, England was ranked 11th. So that was good progress.

In part of ensuring that young people understand numbers and can therefore get to grips with things that that the government are. Professor Becky. I think it is sorry if I got that wrong in her review of life skills, and she talked about the importance of young people learning about budgeting interest, mortgages, pensions and financial planning. And that must truly be because for young people, the one thing they have to their advantage. The member for York Outer mentioned this as well, is the beauty of compounding interest, the opportunity, if you get the right start at a young age and are able to put some money aside, by the time you get to my age, perhaps even to your youthful age, Sir John, the savings that you've put aside, you'll be people, will be remarkable, find remarkable the way in which compounding interest has worked.

If you save. On the other hand, Sir John, if you fall into debt, compounding can drive you in the other way to a much worse situation. So it's absolutely crucial that we teach young people the power of compounding both positive and negative aspects of that. To my questions, Sir John, for the Minister, and as I didn't get a chance to advise her beforehand, I'd be quite happy. And she has a number of other questions to respond to. If she wants to write to me afterwards.

The first I have to ask about is, ironically, about cryptocurrencies and about what assessment has been done by the government of the potential for cryptocurrencies to promote financial inclusion. Now, I am sceptical, but there are potential benefits of cryptocurrencies, but also risks. So cryptocurrencies can provide an easier way in than financial institutions. They also have lower transaction costs, but there are risks involved with cryptocurrencies as well. I'd be interested in the government's view about that. Second of all, to echo the point was made earlier on by the member for Hertford when he introduced this debate.

The issue of micro finance, what assessment has the government made of the use of micro finance platforms, uh, targeted at young people in order to enable them to take the first steps of building up a credit record, or indeed potentially for being small scale entrepreneurs, which would be another great thing that young people can do. But thirdly, on fintech, what's the government's view of the merits of leapfrogging traditional financial systems in favour of educating young people on emerging fintech platforms?Is that something that might raise engagement of young people with financial education?Is it actually something that ultimately might be in their best interest?A slightly small point, and one that I'm not too familiar myself with, but the minister may have a view is on know your customer rules.

Uh, is the minister satisfied that the current way in which know your customer rules works, uh, is effective to maximise access for young people to basic financing and banking facilities. And finally, to the point, uh, I think both myself and the minister share, which is making sure that schools are teaching financial inclusion both at primary and secondary levels. How satisfied is the minister, that schools are complying with the compulsory rules for financial education?And what can we all do collectively as members of Parliament in our constituencies, to ensure that those schools are delivering the quality of financial inclusion and financial education that we would all like to see?Thank you, Sir John.
17:19
17:20
None Portrait Speaker 5
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Thank you very much, Sir John. It really is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I have to say, I'm really grateful for this. My first chance. Speaking as minister in Westminster Hall debate for such a thorough and rich debate on this topic and to join with this now tradition that we have on our first job, I spent many a happy Saturday afternoon on the High Street in a sadly now closed women's retailer, uh, doing a doing a Saturday job. Jobs that I am proud to very much still exist.

But it gives me a very thorough and deep understanding of the importance of the High street. And it would be really impossible for me to cover and to respond to all of the very rich and broad points that have been raised with me this afternoon, and I do want to give the honourable member for Hertford and Stortford a chance to chance to respond. I really want to thank him for bringing this forward and for all of the work that you do to focus the government and colleagues on young people and the particular challenges that they face.

We've had a really broad range of contributions from West Dorset, Ilford, North West Leicestershire, York, Outer Kettering, Keighley and it really has been a powerful debate so far. We can all agree on the importance of ensuring everyone across the UK has access to affordable financial products and services to enable them to really engage in the economy. I wanted to respond just to talk briefly about youth employment, support for mental health, and then try to get through the questions that were put to me by the honourable member for Hertford and Stortford.

I think following the Milburn report and the contributions that have been made here today, I've got to be clear that the government is in no way complacent about youth unemployment and absolutely determined to unlock the potential of young people across the UK. Funding is increasing for employment support to more than 3.75 billion per year by 2020 829, and at the last budget, the government committed to more than 1.5 billion to back young people through the Youth Guarantee and invest additional funding in the Growth and skills levy. This afternoon we've heard really interesting suggestions for how that work can be undertaken, whether or not it's in youth hubs or in other youth settings, and I think it's the responsibility of all of us to consider how that investment can be made most effective with industry working together with the government to provide jobs guarantees for a wide range of people, to make sure that there are youth jobs, grants, which businesses under which businesses receive £3,000 for every young person they hire between 18 and 24?This is a partnership approach between industry and government, and one that I believe will make a real difference.

I also want to talk about the really significant issue of mental health and its prevalence in society, particularly among young people. Today. We're talking specifically about its interaction with financial inclusion, and the strategy itself does recognise that mental health can significantly affect people's ability to access and use financial services, and the interrelationship between people's mental health and their attitudes, and their ability to work with particular financial products. It's therefore really important that we strengthen support available for individuals through interventions to improve debt collection practices, expand the Breathing Space scheme to support individuals in problem debt during a mental health crisis, and examine how pre-existing mental health conditions are treated in the travel insurance market.

And each of those approaches is very much underway. I will now come on to responding particularly about the thin credit point that was raised by the.
17:24
17:24
None Portrait Speaker 5
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Well, I would expect I would disagree with him about his characterization of employers. And I and also of the bill. And I would remind him about the positive impact that both of those measures are having on workers and also having on the on our NHS and on the services that are being funded by by those changes. I'd also remind him about the specific ways it's operating with young people and remind him that, therefore, the evidence base that he's putting forward doesn't entirely stack up.

But I do want to come on now specifically to the issue about building up a credit record. The government is continuing to engage with the FCA on their work with industry in terms of tackling thin credit files. And as part of this, the FCA has recently consulted on introducing mandatory credit information, sharing information sharing by regulated firms, which would mean that any firm reporting to one designated credit reference agency must report the same information to all designated credit reference agencies, ensuring full and consistent information on a consumer's file.

I'm going to rattle really briefly around actions on insurance to give the honourable, my honourable friend a chance to respond. The government absolutely recognises the important role of insurance in supporting individuals financial resilience, and that does very much include insurance. There are pilots amongst social renters as well as led by finance, and the government also recognises that affordability is a key issue. I would like to now talk about a scam ads, because we've had quite a thorough discussion of those in this debate. The Online Safety Act places duties on the largest social media platforms to tackle these fraudulent adverts.

Ofcom are due to consult on these measures later this year and once implemented, Ofcom will be able to impose fines of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying revenue, whichever is greater. I do certainly want to hear from my honourable friend. There's much more to cover in this and I commit to doing that in writing, in responding to that. But I'm really grateful to my hon. Friend to bring this forward, and I'd be very happy to continue this conversation. Oh, yeah.

Sorry. No, no, I'm not giving away. Yeah.
17:27
17:28
17:29
This debate has concluded
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