Christmas Adjournment

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered matters to be raised before the Christmas adjournment.

I wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and Members, their staff and all the staff here in Parliament a very merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, and a happy, peaceful, prosperous and, above all else, healthy new year. As the nights are drawing in, we will undoubtedly all be lucifugous by the spring—explanations of that will come later.

Let me turn to local matters in my constituency. When the Conservative party took over Harrow council back in 2022, it was mired in corruption, there were backlogs in road, pothole and pavement maintenance, and basic services were not being delivered to residents, who pay a high level of council tax. Well, things have changed. The administration is now spending more than £40 million across three years on the highways budget, and it is very apparent on our roads and pavements that things have changed.

We have also rolled out one hour of free parking across the borough. That is the most generous parking allowance anywhere in London. Fly-tipping, which I know is also the blight of many other areas of the country, is being addressed. In the past year alone, more than 1,000 fines were issued to the culprits of fly-tipping. The council has even reopened phone lines so that people can call and actually speak to a human being at the council, which was not possible for many years—I welcome that.

In Rayners Lane, the council is tackling the scourge of double parking and stopping those who think that they can simply park their car in the middle of the road, lock it and go off to the shops. Thanks to Councillor Thaya Idaikkadar, there is now an enormously successful red route. More than 500 fines were issued in the first week, and awareness of the scheme rules is growing. I just hope that, when he visits Rayners Lane, Santa Claus does not park in the middle of the road, because he will get a ticket.

To tackle fly-tipping, the council has introduced one free annual bulky waste collection for every household. That is making a huge difference. We know what it is like when people want to dispose of freezers, wardrobes or sofas. We want them to be cleared up quickly. As well as the bulky waste collections, there are drop-and-go sessions for which the council sets up a recycling centre in a car park, so that residents can drop off their waste. That is extremely popular and has reduced fly-tipping—people can see the difference. However, those who dump rubbish on the streets of Harrow or elsewhere should suffer the penalties for doing so. Harrow suffered criminal fly-tipping that was similar to, but not as large as, that in Oxfordshire. It is vital that residents continue to report fly-tipping and that action is taken.

There could have been even better news for residents in Harrow this week, as we were all looking forward to confirmation that Harrow’s first special educational needs and disabilities school in more than a generation will be built. The money to build and operate the school was delivered under the previous Conservative Government, but in common with so many other projects, when this Labour Government came into office they froze the proposal and we have been struggling to get clarity ever since. Indeed, the Budget was supposed to have been an early Christmas present for residents, but it has turned into a nightmare before Christmas.

Certain Labour Members—not Conservatives—were told about the bubble and squeak medley of the announcement last week. Money was announced to improve existing SEND facilities in mainstream schools, while the Government are now minded to cancel the new school that had been promised by the previous Labour administration in Harrow. The much-needed SEND school at 265 The Ridgeway, where the previous Harrow Labour administration wanted to build flats, is in continued limbo, with alternative funding to be provided—you could not make it up. The school needs to be built urgently, because children are being sent for an hour and half each way to specialist schools miles outside the borough, which is costing the council an incredible amount. That is bad news for their education and their mental health. Spades could be in the ground now and the school could be opening soon, but we need the money and we need the school built now.

Similarly, hon. Members will have heard that the Labour Mayor of London is breaking yet another manifesto promise by closing police front counters across the capital, including in Harrow and in Pinner. It is unacceptable that the mayor can promise before the election that everything will be better with a Labour Government and a Labour mayor, while knowing the state of London’s finances, and then blatantly break that promise. As one of our local councillors put it, the pantomime villain in this endless saga is the big baddie—the Mayor of London.

Police front counters are a vital safe haven for women and girls. Those who have unfortunately been sexually molested or raped need to go somewhere safe to report the crime committed against them. In the case of Pinner, the front desk was being run by volunteers, so there is very little saving. I urge the Government and the Home Secretary to step in, and to join the thousands of residents who have signed my petition and the petition organised by my neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds), to keep the front desks open at the police stations in Harrow and Pinner, as was promised.

Hon. Members who have attended these debates before will know that I have campaigned constantly for step-free access and lifts in stations in Harrow for a long time, and that campaign continues. When I was first elected, I took up the cudgels on this, and there is now the good news that Canons Park station has finally been shortlisted for a feasibility study. I hope that that happens. However, we still await news about Queensbury station and, more importantly, Stanmore station.

Stanmore is designated as step-free, but in reality passengers face a choice of 48 steps to the main entrance, 16 steps via the car park, 24 steps at the side to the bus stop or the so-called step-free route, which is 140 metres long and includes a steep ramp that even the Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson could not complete unaided. For the past six or seven months, my office has been working to get Stanmore delisted as step-free and obtain a proper definition of what step-free means, so that we can then work to get lifts or adaptations installed. I urge colleagues who face similar problems to contact my office so that we can work together.

While I am on the subject of transport, Transport for London continues to blame the September 2024 cyber-attack for the backlog in private hire vehicle and private carriage office licences, which is unacceptable and is delaying many of my constituents in gaining work. The new Piccadilly line trains have been delayed again, and are not expected until late next year. Graffiti on the Bakerloo and Central lines continues to get worse, despite the head of TfL claiming that vigilantes from Looking for Growth were painting graffiti on to then clean it off, which is a completely ridiculous position.

Homelessness in England is increasing. Crisis found record levels of homelessness, with more than 300,000 individuals and families experiencing its worst forms in 2024, which is an increase of 22%. London has the greatest homelessness pressures, and one in 50 Londoners and, sadly, at least one child in every London classroom is homeless. As we approach Christmas, many of us will be doing our shopping, seeing family and loved ones, and maybe turning the heating up a bit, but let us think of those sleeping rough: cold, wet and often hungry, on a park bench or in a shop corner, in sub-zero temperatures overnight. There are no official stats on how many homeless people are, sadly, dying in their sleep, but one has only to imagine the harsh and life-threatening conditions that they have to endure.

There are steps that can be taken, and I invite the Government to take them. My oven-ready Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, which is yet to be implemented, could help. My private Member’s Bill, which had an unopposed Second Reading, is still waiting for its Committee and Report stages and conclusion, but we can take other steps. Local authorities have to meet rising costs so that victims of domestic abuse are not forgotten and hospital discharges and the plight of temporary accommodation are not ignored. I thank the team at Crisis and all the other charities for the work that they do to help homeless people.

I represent Harrow East, which is the most diverse constituency in the country, with someone from every faith and country in the world and speakers of every language spoken on earth, so I deal with a large chunk of matters related to the Home Office. However, it has not helped that my staff have been told not to chase cases for upwards of a year. They will get no updates for 12 months, and even longer in some cases, so I am left flabbergasted and discombobulated by the position. The Government must be thorough in their checks, but it does not do much for my constituents, their family members or my staff to be told month after month, “I’m sorry, but there is no update.”

My office recently met Home Office officials to manage expectations and make it clear that I am not going to stop chasing the applications until they are decided overall, not just closed. Indeed, in my role as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on fire safety and rescue, I have been continually raising the issue of the Grenfell Tower inquiry recommendations. I note that a written ministerial statement about that is on the Order Paper, but we have other issues, such as lithium-ion batteries, solar panels, modern construction methods and other technologies, that come into the proposals.

I know you want me to wind up, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I have three quick points. On Iran, let the Government come forward and proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety, as they promised when they were in opposition. On India and Bangladesh, let us ensure that there are free and fair elections that include every single party; in my humble opinion, the outlawing of the Awami League is an outrage. I am delighted that we have reformed the Azerbaijan all-party parliamentary group, and we are looking for increased trade, which was worth £888 million in the last 12 months alone.

I was delighted to captain the House of Commons bridge team this year to a commanding victory over the House of Lords. I was even honoured with the award for the best-played hand. My partner, the former MP Aaron Bell, left me in a very difficult contract, but I managed to make it.

While we sit on these green Benches and praise and thank everyone, we must always think about the incredible team behind us. My team in my office this year has dealt with more than 12,000 individual cases, bringing the total to almost 100,000 cases since I was elected in 2010. I thank my entire team: my wife Nicola; Hattie Shoosmith, who has now gone off to Dubai; Matthew Goodwin-Freeman; James Thomson; Rhys Benjamin; James Bourke; and Gabriele Montone for their work. I hope they have a good rest over Christmas and are ready to do it all again next year. One member of my team, Rhys Benjamin, is off to Australia—hopefully he will see some cricket and see a turnaround of England’s fortunes in the Ashes. Merry Christmas.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

There will have to be an immediate three-minute time limit.

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

It is good to see the Leader of the House personally responding to this debate; it shows the respect that he has for the House, which is much appreciated. We were talking yesterday about the Chartist graffiti in the Cloisters, which lay hidden until a few years ago when it was uncovered. As the MP for Newport East, I can say that we are very proud of our Chartist history in Newport. I pay tribute to Newport Rising, which commemorates the Chartist uprising of 1839 every year; it was the last armed insurrection in this country. As my late constituency neighbour, Paul Flynn, used to say, we could do more in this House to recognise movements such as the Chartists that shape our democracy, particularly in times when our democracy is under threat.

Newport may have a rich Roman, Chartist—we are the city of democracy—and industrial heritage, but it also has a very bright future. Throughout its history, Newport has been prized for its location, with our unrivalled access to rail and sea links, and that plays a central role in the city’s economy today as we take steps into the new industrial revolution. This year has been a transformational one for Newport: there have been big investments in our exceptional semiconductor cluster; companies have moved their headquarters to the city; we have had new tech jobs; there is work under way on one of the UK’s biggest battery storage sites; we have strong local cyber-security expertise; and, thanks to the Government, Newport is a key player in the south Wales artificial intelligence growth zone. This is all supported by two active Governments at both ends of the M4, showing the benefits of two Labour Governments working together after years of Tory neglect.

Our traditional industries remain strong, with tens of millions of pounds-worth of investment in Associated British Ports’s Newport port this year, and Tata’s steelworks—clearly, it is a difficult time for steel, but I thank our Ministers for an active industrial policy that is helping. Newport is the fastest growing city in Wales; jobs in new sectors are opening up many opportunities for the city’s young people. It is not just about our industries; it is about our people. I have been privileged this year to work with Newport council, led with great positivity and energy by Dimitri Batrouni, who has massive ambition for our city. The biggest ever settlement from the UK Labour Government to Wales means that the council is able to address the things that matter to people, such as getting streets resurfaced. Streets are cleaner, and the city centre is on the up with 85% retail occupancy rates, which is great. There is still work to do, but the growth in our policing settlement is really starting to help.

Like all hon. Members, the great privilege of my job is working with constituents who do not just do it for the thanks—but I am going to thank them anyway. I particularly thank 11-year-old Sfiyah, who has juvenile arthritis and uses her incredible energy and infectious positivity to raise awareness, including coming to lobbies in this House. She inspires me every week, as does former Welsh Guard Mike Hermanis, a Falklands veteran who is fighting to get to the truth of what happened when the Sir Galahad was attacked in 1982.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. I call Mark Francois.