Business of the House

Andrew Pakes Excerpts

Thursday 3rd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

My hon. Friend is doing a great job championing Dudley, which she represents. She is absolutely right: town centre regeneration, which has many different facets to it, needs a holistic approach and real leadership. Local areas need the powers, resources and policies to ensure that we can regenerate town centres such as Dudley, as this Government are committed to doing.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

Like most of us in this House, I am incredibly proud of the rich mix of communities that I represent. It was an absolute privilege last week to attend a meeting at the Faizan-e-Madina mosque alongside representatives from our cathedral, our chief of police, our fire services, the mosques and other faith and community leaders to discuss the implementation of our city-wide Islamophobia statement, which came from a motion against Islamophobia put forward by Councillor Jamil and—unlike some debates in this House—received cross-party support. Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Councillor Jamil and Mr Choudhuri on their leadership on this important issue, and will she ensure that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government continues to support communities such as mine as we develop important cross-community initiatives?

[Lucy Powell]

I am pleased to hear of the leadership that councillors in my hon. Friend’s constituency have brought to this matter. He is absolutely right: Islamophobia is a scourge across our society. We must do more to work together to stamp it out.