Pensions Triple Lock

Debate between Pat McFadden and Markus Campbell-Savours

Tuesday 13th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the social care workforce. It has been undervalued over the years. The jobs that these people do are incredibly important to the people they look after, and we are not waiting until April 2030 before addressing some of those concerns and putting forward a better deal for the social care workforce.

[Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith and Solway) (Lab)]

Rural pensioners are often more reliant on the state pension and experience higher heating and travel costs and poorer service access. Many often experience strict criteria or less outreach for council support. How do we ensure that changes to the triple lock do not leave my rural constituents behind, and that rural communities are not the last to benefit from the vitally needed national care service, especially considering the recruitment challenges we have in areas such as Cumbria?

[Pat McFadden]

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the needs of rural pensioners. The changes that this Government have made will result in energy bills £150 lower than they otherwise would have been. We have also put forward special help to local authorities in areas where large amounts of people are reliant on home heating oil. We have said that we will remove VAT from electricity bills, and we will continue to do what we can to help households with the rises in energy bills, which are caused by external geopolitical events.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pat McFadden and Markus Campbell-Savours

Thursday 5th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

I urge the hon. Member to have a little patience until the spending review in a few days’ time. We got a taste of it yesterday, with the Chancellor announcing funding for major transport projects around the country. We are investing in public services not just in England, but right across the United Kingdom. The hon. Member will hear a lot more about that in a few days’ time.

[Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith and Solway) (Lab)]

T2.   Despite the majority of hereditary peers leaving the other place and the limitations post- election on the Opposition’s ability to appoint new peers, the House of Lords will remain disproportionately dominated by Opposition peers. Why not tweak the Fowler recommendations, set a new limit of 500 and legislate for that in the last year of this Parliament? When that is blocked, as it will be, why not leave reform of the House of Lords to be an issue at the next general election?

Storm Éowyn

Debate between Pat McFadden and Markus Campbell-Savours

Monday 27th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his questions, and I echo his thanks to those who have helped so many over the past few days. He is right that these storms seem to be becoming more frequent. If he wants more money for flood defences, he of course must support the revenue raisers that go towards that money—I hope there will be consistency on that. I also echo his thanks to farmers for their efforts in difficult times such as these. We know they can be very hard hit by the kind of weather we have seen over the weekend.

[Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith and Solway) (Lab)]

This weekend, Cumbria was hammered by Storm Éowyn. I must compliment the hundreds of local authority staff and contractors who worked day and night to deal with hundreds of incidents of fallen trees and damage to power lines and buildings, but I note that many of my residents are still waiting for power to be restored. Will the Government consider the eligibility criteria for the Bellwin scheme and whether it truly supports the emergency response costs, which will very likely run to seven figures for each of Cumbria’s two unitary authorities?