Animal Welfare Strategy for England

Joe Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I stand here as the owner of Roy the dog, who we were originally told was a black lab but turned out to be the size of a cocker spaniel—we are still not entirely sure what happened there. When I told my wife that I was going to apply for selection in Hexham, she said that if I was going to do this mad thing then we were getting a dog—thank goodness: he looked good on the leaflets.

Animal welfare and the extension of the fox hunting ban to include trail hunting was one of the first things that drew me into politics, and to the Labour party. There is a lot to be welcomed in the animal welfare strategy, and I say that as someone who has spoken to many constituents who are appalled by the continuation of fox hunting and want to see it end.

I want to touch upon the excellent speech, in many respects, by the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson). Continuing to allow lower standard food into UK shops undermines our farmers and our claims to prioritising welfare. My hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Laura Kyrke-Smith) made the point that improving food labelling is essential for allowing customers to make conscious choices to know that they are supporting, not just high-welfare food standards and domestic procurement, but reducing the carbon emissions caused by food when they back British-made food. Therefore, labelling could be looked at by the Minister, to see how we can ensure that we not only prioritise animal welfare in trade deals and preserve UK standards wherever possible, but that we promote domestic food consumption, so that we do not allow fields to be carved out of the Amazon to feed the United Kingdom. We must ensure that we back our farmers wherever possible, in order to feed the United Kingdom.

I will quickly mention a few other issues that the strategy could address. One of the issues that comes across my desk quite a lot is concern about vicarious liability when it comes to raptor persecution on grouse moors. I engage a lot with grouse moors in my constituency—I speak to the people involved with them—so I know that it is incredibly important to a lot of people that where raptors are being persecuted, the ultimate owner of the land is held responsible, and that we do not simply allow those lower down the food chain to take the blame. We must ensure that such persecution of raptors is made the landowner’s responsibility.

The constituency of Hexham is full of animal-lovers, who are concerned about pets, livestock and growth in animal welfare standards. The strategy is an incredibly good foundational document, but I urge the Minister to consider where we can go further. I note that one of the Parliamentary Private Secretaries at the Department for Business and Trade, my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Mr Charters), is here; it would be great if he could go back to colleagues in the Department and urge them to ensure that when they engage in trade negotiations, we are able to have confirmatory votes on them, so that MPs can stand up and be counted when it comes to ensuring that animal welfare standards are preserved, not just at home but abroad.

Water (Special Measures) Act 2025: Enforcement

Joe Morris Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, as always, Dr Allin-Khan. I join colleagues in congratulating the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Tom Gordon) on securing such an important debate on a crucial topic, which concerns people across the country.

I am grateful to take the opportunity to speak today about the River Tyne, which holds great sentimental value to me, as I know it does to so many people who call both Northumberland and the wider north-east home, and have been raised in the area surrounding it. I, along with many of my constituents, have deeply fond memories of exploring and enjoying the astonishing diversity of nature that the River Tyne has to offer. It is a natural landmark, central to community life, to local economies and to the identity of the region, along with some of Northumberland’s other great rivers.

With that in mind, I will take a moment to highlight the incredible work of the Tyne Rivers Trust and the Wylam Clean Tyne organisation, both of which are dedicated to improving the wellbeing of the region’s rivers and communities—from Alston up to Kielder and beyond—through education, practical conservation and environmental activism. The protection and development of the Tyne’s waters establish it as one of the best salmon rivers in England. It houses a diverse range of animals and plant life, and it is worth millions to our local economy. Importantly, it also acts as a third space for local communities looking to access the positive effects on wellbeing associated with spending time in and around nature.

It is a devastating fact that the previous Government allowed our river to be flooded with an unregulated torrent of sewage. They were a Government who saw environmental protection as an inconvenience, not a responsibility. They underfunded regulators, scaled back monitoring and weakened the enforcement of environmental standards. They allowed water companies’ profits to soar, bosses to accept hundreds of thousands of pounds in bonuses, and household bills to increase. They left my constituents with a River Tyne that is unsafe and in decline, not because of natural change but because of political failure and political choices.

I strongly welcome the measures in the Water (Special Measures) Act, which reflects our mission to clean up our rivers and bring accountability to water companies. I agree that, in order to bring about the necessary long-standing reform, it is fundamental that the plans are effectively enforced, and that funding and resources back regulators so that they can apply the new legislation consistently and effectively. I would like to hear from the Minister how rural communities, including those in my constituency, can be supported by the Act specifically. Northumbrian Water must be held accountable, having made over 3,000 sewage dumps into the Tyne in 2024 alone. It must be held responsible for what must be significant investment in the infrastructure of overflows and the rebuilding of public trust.

I also want to emphasise, as often as I can, the importance of working in partnership with communities across my constituency, particularly rural communities. The expertise of the organisations that I mentioned will be crucial to the conversation that Northumbrian Water and local government could have if they are serious about understanding and tackling the problem. They, alongside farmers and land managers, are vital stewards of our environment. Supporting sustainable land use, reducing run-off and improving soil and water management must be done collaboratively, with practical support, funding, clear guidance and long-term certainty. This Government understand that environmental recovery and economic growth go hand in hand. Clean rivers do not just enrich our environment; they support tourism, angling and farming, and they build a sense of local pride. Protecting the Tyne is not a barrier to prosperity; it is part of building a greener, fairer and more resilient future.

I will touch on the impact of the clean river on young people. Tyne Green in the town of Hexham or the banks along Wylam and Prudhoe are all venues for young people to get to know the river and enjoy it. There have been some fantastic initiatives on river safety pioneered by my friend and comrade, Angie Scott, who is a Northumberland county councillor for Prudhoe. As we try to clean up our waterways, it is important to ensure that young people maintain not just access to them but an understanding of them. I should be grateful if the Minister would speak about that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Joe Morris Excerpts

Thursday 13th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) (Lab)]

4. What steps she is taking to help increase prosecution rates in cases of violence against women and girls.

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

5. What steps she is taking to help increase prosecution rates in cases of violence against women and girls.

[Tristan Osborne (Chatham and Aylesford) (Lab)]

10. What steps she is taking to help increase prosecution rates in cases of violence against women and girls.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Solicitor General]

I thank Restore for its excellent work—the organisation has been diligently supporting victims of domestic abuse for decades now. Under the joint justice plan, CPS areas and police forces have worked together to tailor their response to domestic abuse, addressing local priorities and community needs, including those in rural areas. In the new year, police and CPS will hold a joint knowledge-sharing event on domestic abuse in rural areas, to build improved understanding of the barriers these victims often face.

[Joe Morris]

In 2024-25, Northumberland domestic abuse services supported 555 adult survivors of domestic abuse and responded to thousands of domestic abuse incidents. Sadly, many of those incidents involved children. Will the Solicitor General meet me and Sharon Brown from NDAS—who is sat in the Public Gallery—to discuss steps for improving support for victims of domestic abuse in rural areas?

[The Solicitor General]

My hon. Friend’s question provides another example of the enormously important work that organisations such as NDAS do to support survivors of domestic abuse. I welcome Sharon to the Gallery today, and pay tribute to her and her colleagues. I would be delighted to meet her and my hon. Friend to discuss what more can be done to support victims in rural areas, particularly with our CPS colleagues.

Driven Grouse Shooting

Joe Morris Excerpts

Monday 30th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Rishi Sunak (Richmond and Northallerton) (Con)]

It is a great pleasure to follow the excellent speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont). I last spoke on this subject in this very place back in 2016. A lot has changed in the last nine years—notably, 10 Chief Secretaries to the Treasury, seven Chancellors and, indeed, five Prime Ministers—but one thing that has not changed is my view on grouse shooting.

For full disclosure, I should say that I have never shot grouse, pheasant or any other type of bird. That is not a request for invitations, but the fact that I do not shoot grouse has not changed my absolute commitment to grouse shooting. Why? Because grouse shooting is fundamental to hard-working people in constituencies such as mine. It is a part of our local social fabric, and it is one of the world’s great conservation success stories.

Advocates of a ban often think that the only people who will suffer are rich men in plus fours with port-faced complexions, but as I said back in 2016, nothing could be further from the truth. The real victims of any ban would not be caricatures, but ordinary working people: the farmer’s wife who goes beating at the weekend so that her family can make ends meet; the young man able to earn a living, in the community that he loves, as an apprentice to a gamekeeper; or the local publican welcoming shooting parties with cold ales and warm pies. Let us be absolutely clear that those who support a ban on grouse shooting should only do so if they are prepared to look those people in the eye and explain to them why their livelihoods are worth sacrificing.

Some question shooting’s contribution to the rural economy. As we heard, the petition itself uses the words “economically insignificant”, but there is nothing economically insignificant about 2,500 direct jobs and tens of millions of pounds paid out in wages. If anything, those numbers are an underestimate. From the Yorkshire B&B welcoming ramblers drawn to our area by the moors’ summer blossom, to the workshops of Westley Richards in Birmingham or Purdey in London, whose handmade shotguns are the finest in the world, the ripples of employment that grouse shooting creates reach every corner of our country.

Grouse shooting makes an invaluable contribution not only to the rural economy, but to our rural landscape. A tendency among some conservationists is to act as though farmers and gamekeepers are somehow trespassing on Britain’s landscape, but without their hands repairing our dry stone walls or their dairy cows keeping the fields lush, the rural beauty of our countryside would soon fade. Heather moorland, as we heard, is rarer than rainforest, and 75% of it is found right here in Britain. It is a national treasure.

From Heathcliff to Holmes, the moors have become a proud part of our cultural heritage, and no one has set out a viable, privately funded alternative vision for those uplands. Without the million pounds of private income spent by moor owners on land management every single week, that proud heritage would come to an end. Overgrazed by sheep, used to grow pine timber, or abandoned to bracken, the moors as we know and love them would be lost. That would be a disaster for British wildlife.

Academic study after academic study shows that endangered wading birds such as curlew and lapwing are much more likely to breed successfully on managed grouse moors. The vast majority of rare merlin, the UK’s smallest bird of prey, are found on grouse moors. A recent study by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust in Northumberland reveals the devastating ecological impact on plover, snipe, lapwing and curlew populations of the withdrawal of predator control carried out by moor owners.

There has been some discussion about the state of the hen harrier population, and although numbers reached a record high in 2023, more can and must be done, but we must be clear: a Britain without grouse shooting is not a Britain where the hen harrier would thrive. Research carried out on the Scottish grouse moor of Langholm and published in the Journal of Applied Ecology found that when gamekeeping ceased, the hen harrier population plummeted. Without gamekeepers to control the predators, they multiply and hen harriers pay the price. That is why the participation of 1 million acres of grouse moor in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs hen harrier brood management scheme is the right approach, and why gamekeepers supporting diversionary feeding is the right approach. Conservation will succeed only through partnership with the grouse-shooting industry and not through its destruction.

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

The right hon. Gentleman is making an interesting speech. I was drawn to his comments about Scotland where, as this matter is devolved, there is a degree of responsibility—vicarious liability—on landowners. To crack down on wildlife crime, does he share my desire to see the Minister explore the potential of introducing more vicarious responsibility for landowners across the UK, so that if wildlife crime is taking place on managed estates, it can be properly prosecuted and the landowners ultimately held responsible?

[Rishi Sunak]

As I said, conservation will succeed only if it is done in partnership with the grouse-shooting industry. Let me be clear: I have zero tolerance for raptor persecution. It is rightly condemned by all shooting organisations and is, as the hon. Gentleman says, a crime. Those suspected of illegal activities should face the full consequences of their actions. There is absolutely no place for them in this sector.

I turn next to the petition’s comments on the environment. The tightly controlled rotational burning used to manage heather moorland may seem odd to some, but without it, our moors would not regenerate as well or support the rich wildlife and biodiversity that they do; the risk of wildfires would also increase. I have found no clear scientific consensus to support a blanket ban. In addition, contrary to some claims, there is no specific evidence that links burning to flooding. Far from seeking to create drier moors, managers appreciate that wetter is better, and have blocked thousands of grips in order to ensure that peat on their landscapes is rewetted.

As for the myth that grouse shooting is somehow unregulated, I would be amused to hear what the gamekeepers in my constituency think of that. There are scores of regulations, codes and licences, and even Acts of Parliament, to comply with, covering every aspect of the sector, including the possession and use of firearms, the use of lead ammunition, the length of the season, the methods of predator control, heather burning, the use of medicated grit, and the protection of wild birds.

Banning grouse shooting would undermine the balanced ecosystem of our countryside. It would leave not only many families but our landscape and wildlife poorer. A ban on grouse shooting would be a policy with no winners. It would be a case of a small section of urban Britain imposing its views on rural Britain, and that is not right. The failure to appreciate other people’s views and interests will not bring our country together. I urge the Government to stand firm and reject these ill thought-through calls for a ban. Instead, we should all work together to build on this quintessentially British success story.

Farmed Animals: Cages and Crates

Joe Morris Excerpts

Monday 16th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship for the first time, Mr Mundell. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) on leading this important debate.

The Labour Government were elected on a manifesto commitment to introduce the most comprehensive animal welfare programme in a generation; I am pleased that we are already making significant headway on that. It was animal welfare that first politicised me as a child. One of the reasons why I joined the Labour party was the previous Labour Government’s partial ban on fox hunting. I look forward to finishing the job in this Parliament.

My colleagues and I take the welfare of animals very seriously. The United Kingdom currently has some of the highest food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards for food production in the world, but we can and must go further. I am sure all Members present share similar concerns for animals trapped in cages. Sentient animals such as cows, sheep, pigs and chickens all have the capacity to feel emotion, ranging from happiness and joy to fear, pain and distress. It is stress inducing for animals not to engage in natural behaviours or to be unable to benefit from the landscapes across the country to which they are accustomed. Being trapped in cages that restrict animals’ movement and freedom prevents them from engaging in their natural behaviour. Not only are cramped cages emotionally distressing, but they cause clear physical discomfort and a greater likelihood of illness, disease and reduced lifespan.

The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to introduce an animal protection law—the Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822—and has subsequently stated that animals are sentient beings that deserve the highest standards of animal welfare protection. However, the previous Administration did not do enough on the issue. Instead, they broke promises regarding animal welfare, made U-turns and signed trade deals that allowed in lower-quality products that did not meet health and welfare standards by omitting any mention of imports having to uphold this country’s welfare standards for animal products. They quietly dropped the consultation on hen and pig cages and abandoned plans for mandatory welfare labelling.

[Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)]

The hon. Gentleman raises the incredibly important issue of imports. Every pig or chicken farmer I speak to in West Dorset fully supports a transition, but they all raise the prospect of how we avoid driving up production costs and so increasing the cost to consumers and making imports look more attractive.

[Joe Morris]

We need proper, targeted support that involves genuine conversations, and listening and engaging respectfully with those communities, as well as a trade policy that stands up to those imports. I was delighted that the Business and Trade Secretary announced trade deals that genuinely protect the interests of the agricultural sector. I do not believe that would have happened under the previous Government, when farmers were far too often put on the chopping block. I went out to farms throughout the general election campaign and have been out to them since; particularly in the sheep farming sector in my part of the world, farmers are sick of being sold down the river.

So far, we have encouraged a move away from colony hen cages to free-range production through grants to laying hen and pullet farmers in England. Colony cages are already being replaced with non-cage systems that directly prioritise the welfare of hens. The Government are supporting major supermarkets in their pledge to stop selling eggs from chickens kept in colony cages by the end of 2025. While the previous Administration saw eggs from caged production reach 44% of the market in 2018, this Government saw that proportion reduce to 20% at the end of last year.

In addition, 50% of the national sow-breeding herd are giving birth in outdoor units—we have heard some of the arguments in favour of indoor production. While the move to more outdoor units is a step in the right direction, it is imperative that we constantly investigate how to improve animal welfare standards. As the hon. Member for Bridlington and The Wolds (Charlie Dewhirst) said, that must be part of a genuine conversation between industry, campaigning groups and the Government. The work to promote animal welfare is never fully complete; we will hopefully have the debate in the years to come, and it will never fully be laid to rest.

I pay tribute to the farmers in my constituency, who strive for the highest animal welfare standards and look after their environment. They need our support in terms of both international trade and respectful, positive engagement with the Government.

I am a Member of Parliament for a constituency that borders Scotland, so it will be unsurprising that I mention the Scottish Government’s recent consultation on ending the use of animal cages. I am glad to see that all steps are being taken to reduce the confinement of farm animals, and the consultation will make significant headway in fulfilling the animal welfare agenda.

I am pleased that the Government are carefully considering the use of cages and crates, and I thank all Members for engaging in this debate and sharing a commitment to protecting the welfare of animals. This is an opportunity for us to truly lead the way in protecting the welfare of animals and supporting humane farming methods. I warmly welcome the Government’s commitment to achieving the most ambitious animal welfare programme in a generation; I urge further consideration of the use of animal cages for farmed animals.

Global Deforestation

Joe Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 30th April 2025 Westminster Hall

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner) on securing this important debate. When I worked for UK Steel, it was always a pleasure to get in touch with him about carbon sequestration from steel, and it is a pleasure to speak with him now on the subject of deforestation.

Deforestation does not simply cut down trees: it cuts off food chains, collapses ecosystems and drives animals from their homes. It is, as the right hon. Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale) said, a global crisis that will have impacts that reverberate down the generations. It is a devastating loss to our planet that up to 15 billion trees are cut down every year right around the world, and it does not only destroy the homes of vital species. I put on the record my thanks to Northumberland College at Kirkley Hall zoo, which kindly hosted me after my election to talk about its great work in preserving biodiversity. Deforestation is contributing hugely to the deeply concerning examples of climate change that we are seeing.

I also put on the record my support for the responsible forestry industry—I have a lot of it in my Hexham constituency, where I see the jobs, employment and certainty it provides to local communities—and recognise the great Northumberland forest plan to plant millions of trees, which has commanded genuine cross-party support in my part of the world. I am conscious that we have local elections on Thursday, but we can get together with the Tory group at Morpeth and recognise that they do have some good ideas occasionally.

We need to recognise that we cannot fight climate change simply by sacrificing biodiversity. In fact, we need to embrace it. We are stripping away the lungs of our planet and the homes of irreplaceable wildlife, sacrificing the Amazon and other great forests at the altar of industrial agriculture, as land is carved out for cattle and soy at the expense of our planet’s future.

I am conscious that the Minister will not be able to speak on issues that affect the Department for Business and Trade, but I urge her, when she has the relevant conversations, not just to look at how we preserve and protect our high food standards. When we look at UK Government procurement, we should look at transport and the other emissions incurred by goods that are brought out of the planet using suboptimal methods, and ensure that, wherever possible, we use the best methods for getting products into the UK and make sure they are produced to a high standard, wherever they come from. That comes up in my inbox an awful lot.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have grown up surrounded by the Northumberland landscape. We must preserve such landscapes not just in Northumberland but around the world. We must protect our climate and confront deforestation head on. I note the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Brent West, and from other hon. Members who have far more experience of this than I do, about the practices of certain large corporations.

To touch briefly on my previous life working in the steel sector, timber and lumber are products that sequester carbon far more effectively. We need to have a truly honest conversation with ourselves about how the 1.5 million new homes target can be achieved using products that are far kinder to the environment, that provide jobs here at home and that provide environmental benefits right across the world.

Sewage

Joe Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak in such an important debate, particularly as I represent one of the most beautiful counties, and the largest constituency, in England—as the Lib Dem spokesman, the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron), has already hinted at. Rivers define my constituency and the county I grew up in. From the Tyne to the Coquet to the Allen Valleys and all the way to the River Rede, we cannot go throughout Northumberland without coming across rivers and the communities that are named for them and depend on them. They drive tourism, wildlife, and our local economies.

Protecting those rivers is not a luxury or a nice to have; it is a fundamental duty for those of us who represent those communities. I am incredibly proud to be the MP for such a vibrant and active constituency with such fantastic grassroots campaigners, including Dr Stephen Westgarth and the “Clean Tyne” campaign. Conservative Members will be aware that he was at one point a Conservative county council candidate—I enjoy working cross-party with people, although probably not quite as much in the week before the local elections as in the week after. I also pay tribute to a retiring Green party councillor in my constituency, Dr Nick Morphet, the councillor for Humshaugh. He has done an excellent job and, despite running against me in the general election, was always good company when I met him on the doorsteps.

Coming back to slightly hackneyed party politics, I recognise quite how much the sewage issue raises hackles and confirms just what a state of stagnation and decline the country has fallen into. During 2024, my constituency was polluted 3,991 times, with spillages lasting more than 27,000 hours. Dumping sewage is not waste management; it is environmental destruction and environmental vandalism, and it is particularly devastating in the rural north-east, where so much tourism relies on water.

When the Minister comes to wind up the debate—she is not in her place, but I hope she will hear this—I hope she will dwell on those communities that rely on water, particularly the really isolated communities such as those in Kielder, where they deal with the practicalities of living so sparsely. I often talk about Hexham having a very rural population, but when I go to Kielder, they look at me coming from Hexham as if I had come from Vegas. I was at a Kielder parish council meeting—it took an hour to get there—where one of the farmers said that if she is feeding her cows, she cannot have a shower. That is the kind of sparsity and rurality we are dealing with. I urge the Minister, when she comes to her feet, to address that point. If she came to meet the “Clean Tyne” campaign to discuss the difficulties it faces and the work it is doing to combat some of the challenges we face on the Tyne, it would be massively appreciated in my constituency.

Bathing Water Regulations

Joe Morris Excerpts

Tuesday 4th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[Emma Hardy]

Forty-four amendments! We had many debates and discussions during the passage of that Act. To rehearse an argument we have had many times before, the reason why we are not focusing on the volume of water coming out is simply because volume can be very diluted, and therefore not a great threat. There can be a small amount of incredibly toxic waste causing a huge amount of damage. I would like to see the investment going into water quality monitors. That is part of the next price review—how can we put water quality monitors in? They would measure whether it is a huge amount and it is dilute, or a small amount and it is toxic. We just want to know what damage is being done to the river. My focus is, and remains, on water quality.

There were some genuinely helpful suggestions from the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) about where to place those monitors for measuring water quality. That was a really helpful contribution. While I am paying credit to him, the way we describe it—how we say it is safe to bathe—was also a helpful suggestion.

[Joe Morris]

Will the Minister give way?

[Emma Hardy]

I will; I am praising the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale—let us get back to normal.

[Joe Morris]

The Government have moved quickly on this issue. Does the Minister recognise that it is important that we maintain an engaged and concerned public? I have met with the Wylam clean river group and with other concerned groups throughout my constituency along the length of the Tyne. One thing that continues to resonate with me is that these groups understand that this is a consistent piece of work, and that we need to be constantly iterating on making sure that our rivers do not just get clean, but remain clean into the future. The Government and the public need to consistently work in partnership.

[Emma Hardy]

I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. I know that he cares deeply about this issue and has spoken to me many times about the importance of cleaning up rivers, lakes and seas. I would like to think it is something that we are united on.

Many stakeholders, many people and many Members have called for bathing water regulations to be updated to reflect the new ways in which we are using our waters or falling into our waters, whatever it might be, and to continue to support public health outcomes. It would be irresponsible for us not to consider public health when we are thinking about designation.

We are a Government who listen. We are a Government who believe in co-production. We are a Government who actively engage. I encourage all Members to contribute to the water review. It is out there now; the consultation is only open for the next seven weeks, so please do not lose the opportunity to have your say.

I put on the record my thanks to all the environmental campaigners, Surfers Against Sewage and all those organisations involved in supporting our clean rivers, lakes and seas.

Public Services: Rural Areas

Joe Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his powerful speech. I can tell him that people in the west of Northumberland share his frustration about the neglect and the contempt in which they seem to be held by the Conservative administration at county hall. I am delighted that he has picked up on the point about provision of SEN transport. Constituents visiting our surgeries are devastated by the challenges they face in getting their children into an appropriate educational environment. Does he agree that we must judge local government on the provision of those opportunities, and that residents of Northumberland will ultimately judge the Conservatives on that come the local elections?

[David Smith]

Yes, I wholeheartedly associate myself with the comments of my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour. Last Friday, I was in the village of Chatton, which is near the border between our two constituencies, to speak to a group focused on autism and special educational needs. There was palpable frustration in that room among 30 parents and carers who are simply unable to get the support they need from the county council, despite the additional funding. I believe that he and I can work on that together.

Let me move on to my third and fourth points, which relate to healthcare. Until schools improve, and until transport becomes more reliable, healthcare professionals will not move to rural areas. For Berwick to have an accident and emergency department, and for North Northumberland to have genuinely local primary care, we must incentivise doctors and nurses to move, with their families, into our neighbourhoods. Until they do, rural healthcare will continue to suffer.

Some 25% of rural residents are aged 65 or over, and in North Northumberland the average age is 54, but rural councils receive 14% less grant funding for social care services and 58% less for public health. Dental care provision is also extremely sparse. It is estimated that a 1,500 sq km region of North Northumberland has no NHS dentist. Imagine someone living alone in Wooler or Rothbury—miles from the nearest NHS dentist—whose tooth starts to twinge.

Rivers, Lakes and Seas: Water Quality

Joe Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 15th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

It is, as always, a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouthshire (Catherine Fookes) for securing this vital and important debate.

The quality of our rivers, lakes and seas is a concern not just for my constituents in Hexham, but nationally. I am pleased to see so many hon. Members, from most parties, in the Chamber today to share our commitment to protecting and improving water quality throughout the country.

The alarming and extremely dangerous threat of pollution and sewage not only harms our wildlife and ecological systems—our rivers are flooded with sewage on a daily basis, which cannot be ignored—but dramatically damages the tourism business in my constituency of Hexham, which is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country and to most of Northumberland national park, which I invite all hon. Members to visit. I am extremely proud that the Government’s Water (Special Measures) Bill is taking the necessary first steps towards addressing the poor performance of our water companies by increasing regulation over them and criminalising the sewage pollution of our waters. The Bill is a vital step to effecting broader change across the sector. I know that the Minister sees it as a much-needed first step in challenging those practices after 14 years of neglect.

I pay tribute to groups such as the Wylam Clean Tyne group, which found in 2022 that pollution in our River Tyne exceeded safe levels by over 15 times, a shocking indictment of the previous Government’s legacy. From the River Tyne to Kielder Water and Derwent reservoir, and hidden waterfalls such as Linhope Spout and Hareshaw Linn, near Bellingham, my constituency has some of the most idyllic waters in the country. We also have wildlife: woodpeckers, spotted flycatchers, wood warblers and badgers can all be seen in my constituency, as well as a number of freshwater fish—since I was elected, some Members have told me that they occasionally go fishing in my constituency. We need to protect the quality of those waters not only because it is the right thing to do but because of the fundamental difference that would make to my constituency and its local economy.

I again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouthshire for securing this debate, and thank the Minister for her work. I join all my constituents in calling for the Government to go further to make sure that our rivers are properly protected.

[Peter Dowd (in the Chair)]

I gently remind Members that referring to who is and is not present is the road to perdition.