Business of the House

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Thursday 3rd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend, a Liverpool MP, for mentioning the tragic loss of Diogo Jota in that terrible car accident.

My hon. Friend is a champion of children who live in temporary accommodation and highlights the blight it casts on their lives. We absolutely have to tackle the very high number of children living in temporary accommodation, and she is right to raise some of the ways we can do that, but I am sure she would agree that the best way is to provide people with a long-term stable home. That is why we are committed to the biggest social housing programme in a generation.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

Those of us who have been involved in the mishandled transition of post offices from directly managed branches to franchises, as has happened in Bexhill, have seen how poorly the Post Office has responded to local businesses that want to run those branches and the MPs who support them. Will the Leader of the House agree with me, on the record, that it really matters when businesses like the Post Office pay lip service to MPs’ views but ignore us on matters of substance?

[Lucy Powell]

I agree absolutely. I have seen at first hand as a constituency MP what happens when we lose a Crown post office and have instead a franchised service that does not match the one it is replacing. It is vital that MPs are able to play their role as champions of their local communities and the services they receive, including post offices. Post Office Ltd should pay more heed to them.