China and Japan

Rachel Taylor Excerpts

Monday 2nd February 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I raised a wide range of issues of concern to this House with President Xi, as the hon. Member would expect.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

Growing our relationship with China could boost our motor manufacturing industry. The Prime Minister will know only too well that small businesses in this sector are the engine of economic growth in my constituency and right across the west midlands. Can he set out how his visit will help small businesses in North Warwickshire and Bedworth?

[The Prime Minister]

This issue is so important, in terms of the opportunities that we have. That is why we had representatives from motor manufacturing with us. They are only too well aware of the great benefits that taking full advantage of the opportunities will have for her constituents and others.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rachel Taylor Excerpts

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

5. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce the cost of living in Wales.

[Dame Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

6. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce the cost of living in Wales.

[The Secretary of State for Wales (Jo Stevens)]

The Government are absolutely determined to lower the cost of living for families across Wales and the whole UK. That is why we are benefiting 69,000 children in Wales by scrapping the two-child limit. It is why we are slashing household energy bills by an average of £150 a year, and why we are again increasing the national minimum and living wage, building on the previous increase, which boosted the incomes of up to 160,000 workers in Wales.

[Rachel Taylor]

The latest interest rate cut—the sixth since Labour formed this Government—is great news for mortgage holders in Wales, North Warwickshire and Bedworth and across the UK, bringing down the cost of family mortgages by almost £1,400 a year. Will the Secretary of State update the House on how this Government’s policies are helping to strengthen our economy and improve the cost of living as a result?

[Jo Stevens]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; this Government are supporting people across Wales and the UK with the cost of living. In comparison with when we came into government, households that take out a new mortgage are saving around £1,400 a year on their mortgage repayments. We have also increased the state pension by 4.8%, which will take effect in April, benefiting 700,000 pensioners across Wales. We have also uprated the universal credit standard allowance by over 6%—the first ever permanent real-terms increase—benefiting 320,000 households in Wales.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rachel Taylor Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

I do not know.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

T9. To support transport operators in North Warwickshire and Bedworth, what discussions has the Minister had with EU counterparts on securing a professional driver exemption from the 90/180-day Schengen travel restrictions for UK drivers of heavy goods vehicles and coaches?

[Chris Ward]

I recognise the importance of this issue to my hon. Friend’s constituents. Amendments to Schengen rules are predominantly a matter for member states, but the Minister for the Cabinet Office has regular discussions with his counterparts in the EU, and I will ensure that he is aware of those concerns.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rachel Taylor Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The Conservatives left a broken criminal justice system in which victims of rape and serious sexual violence wait three or four years for trial. Only this week I have heard further examples of 14-year-old and 16-year-old girls having to give evidence four years after the allegation. That is not justice for them, and I am determined that we will deal with that. As the hon. Gentleman well knows, of all criminal cases going to court, 90% have always been in the magistrates court and 10% go to the Crown court. Of that 10%, 7% of defendants plead guilty, which means that 3% of all criminal cases go forward for a jury trial—not all our cases. We are making sensible changes to ensure that victims get justice, which was denied to them under the failure left by the Conservatives.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

Q3. I am really pleased to hear many constituents tell me how much local NHS services have improved since this Labour Government entered office, but some, such as David Wootton from Atherstone, have faced long delays. He was told that he would have to wait five months for X-ray results from George Eliot hospital—and he is not the only one. My constituents deserve better. Will the Prime Minister set out how he will go further and faster to get our NHS fighting fit again?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I am sorry to hear that her constituent David is waiting. We took decisions at the Budget to invest in the NHS and tackle waiting lists, which was to help people such as David. We delivered £29 billion extra investment into the NHS and scrapped NHS England to invest in the frontline. We are opening 250 neighbourhood health centres to treat patients closer to home, and we have more than 5 million extra appointments being delivered. Waiting lists are down 230,000—[Interruption.] Conservative Members are chuntering, but they absolutely destroyed our health service—we are picking it up. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Defence and Security

Rachel Taylor Excerpts

Tuesday 25th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support on Ukraine. The First Minister has set out that support in clear terms in recent days; that is important, and I acknowledge it. We have had to make difficult decisions, but as he and the House know, wherever there is war and conflict, it is the poor and the poorest who are hit hardest. There is no easy way through this, but we have to ensure that we win peace through strength, because anything other than peace will hit the very people the hon. Gentleman has identified harder than anybody else on the planet. That is why it is so important that we have taken the decision we have today.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

National security is the first duty of any Government, so I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement, and his strong leadership today. This Government are rising to the challenge of investing in our defence, whereas the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) has said that Vladimir Putin is the leader he admires the most, and that NATO provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Does the Prime Minister share my concern that those comments play right into the hands of Britain’s enemies?

[The Prime Minister]

You do not show patriotism by fawning over Putin.

G20 and COP29 Summits

Rachel Taylor Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

This is a really important point, and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising it. We are powering forward to clean power by 2030, which will not just achieve independence, particularly to stop Putin putting his boot on our throat with energy bills—everybody has suffered because of that—but will also bring down prices, meaning cheaper bills, which is really important. To the hon. Gentleman’s point at the beginning of his question, it will deliver the next generation of well-paid, secure jobs across the United Kingdom, including in Scotland.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

A couple of years ago, my constituents were hit hard by rocketing gas prices and energy bills, because the last Government left the UK hooked on global gas markets controlled by dictators such as Vladimir Putin. Following the COP summit, can the Prime Minister reassure my constituents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth that he will work relentlessly to ensure that nothing like that ever happens again?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I can; it is an important point. All countries were impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. We were impacted more than other countries, because some of the steps that could have been taken in the move towards renewables were not taken at speed by the previous Government, and people across the country paid the price.