Since the election, this Government has taken steps to support local renewal, including investment through the Pride in Place Programme, fairer local government funding, publication of the Northern Growth Strategy, and further progress on fiscal devolution and community empowerment. Today I’m announcing a new programme of reform to further restore...

Since the election, this Government has taken steps to support local renewal, including investment through the Pride in Place Programme, fairer local government funding, publication of the Northern Growth Strategy, and further progress on fiscal devolution and community empowerment. Today I’m announcing a new programme of reform to further restore...

My Right Honourable Friend the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Steve Reed OBE MP) has today made the following statement:

Since the election, this Government has taken steps to support local renewal, including investment through the Pride in Place Programme, fairer local government funding, publication of the...

My Right Honourable Friend the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Steve Reed OBE MP) has today made the following statement:

Since the election, this Government has taken steps to support local renewal, including investment through the Pride in Place Programme, fairer local government funding, publication of the...

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s Impact Assessment entitled Banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16 years, published on 23 June 2025, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the proportion of...

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s Impact Assessment entitled Banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16 years, published on 23 June 2025, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the proportion of...

Examination of witnesses. Written evidence reported to the House.

Examination of witnesses. Written evidence reported to the House.

Programme motion agreed to. Written evidence motion agreed to. Motion to sit in private agreed to. Examination of witnesses.

Programme motion agreed to. Written evidence motion agreed to. Motion to sit in private agreed to. Examination of witnesses.

I enormously welcome this Bill, in which there is so much that will make a real, positive difference for my constituents in North West Cambridgeshire. Due to time constraints, I will have to skip through a lot of the praise I had for the Bill and move straight to an...

I enormously welcome this Bill, in which there is so much that will make a real, positive difference for my constituents in North West Cambridgeshire. Due to time constraints, I will have to skip through a lot of the praise I had for the Bill and move straight to an...

I thank my hon. Friend for supporting me in my debate last week on Professor Jay’s recommendations for the Church of England. Does he agree with me that, alongside the Government implementing those recommendations, it is critical that faith organisations implement them as well?

I thank my hon. Friend for supporting me in my debate last week on Professor Jay’s recommendations for the Church of England. Does he agree with me that, alongside the Government implementing those recommendations, it is critical that faith organisations implement them as well?

I could not concur more. Police funding and police officer numbers have resulted in fewer fines being issued for many types of crime. In fact, the Bill will give the police more powers to challenge nuisance biking and other offences. The Bill is an absolutely necessary first step.

I could not concur more. Police funding and police officer numbers have resulted in fewer fines being issued for many types of crime. In fact, the Bill will give the police more powers to challenge nuisance biking and other offences. The Bill is an absolutely necessary first step.

On Saturday, I visited quite a few retailers in Wokingham. There was no police presence at all in the town, despite crime occurring hourly in our shops. Someone is always shoplifting. Thames Valley police has only 198 police officers per 100,000 people, which is well below the national average of...

On Saturday, I visited quite a few retailers in Wokingham. There was no police presence at all in the town, despite crime occurring hourly in our shops. Someone is always shoplifting. Thames Valley police has only 198 police officers per 100,000 people, which is well below the national average of...

I agree that insufficient police numbers in recent years resulted in a shoplifters’ charter under the last Government, when people were allowed to shoplift up to a set amount.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for her Westminster Hall debate last week, and I...

I agree that insufficient police numbers in recent years resulted in a shoplifters’ charter under the last Government, when people were allowed to shoplift up to a set amount.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for her Westminster Hall debate last week, and I...

Perhaps the most pernicious effect of 14 years of Conservative Government is how they systematically undermined security in every part of our society, whether it was national security through the hollowing out of our armed forces, financial security with our economy crashed and wages stagnating, or security in our communities....

Perhaps the most pernicious effect of 14 years of Conservative Government is how they systematically undermined security in every part of our society, whether it was national security through the hollowing out of our armed forces, financial security with our economy crashed and wages stagnating, or security in our communities....

I completely agree with the hon. Member that while crime stats are important, the way people feel about crime also is hugely important for all our communities. The issues are felt acutely in constituencies like mine. In Hazel Grove, in towns and villages such as Marple and Romiley, shop workers...

I completely agree with the hon. Member that while crime stats are important, the way people feel about crime also is hugely important for all our communities. The issues are felt acutely in constituencies like mine. In Hazel Grove, in towns and villages such as Marple and Romiley, shop workers...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

The Crime and Policing Bill will make our streets safer, put neighbourhood policing back at the heart of communities after years of neglect, give law enforcement the powers it needs to protect the public and tackle the most...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

The Crime and Policing Bill will make our streets safer, put neighbourhood policing back at the heart of communities after years of neglect, give law enforcement the powers it needs to protect the public and tackle the most...

The right hon. Lady makes an important point about neighbourhood policing. Does she agree that local police stations should be integral to this plan?

The right hon. Lady makes an important point about neighbourhood policing. Does she agree that local police stations should be integral to this plan?

Local police stations are a matter for local forces, but they can be a central part of neighbourhood policing, which, sadly, has been heavily cut back in recent years. In fact, in many areas of the country, neighbourhood policing has been cut by a third or nearly half. At the...

Local police stations are a matter for local forces, but they can be a central part of neighbourhood policing, which, sadly, has been heavily cut back in recent years. In fact, in many areas of the country, neighbourhood policing has been cut by a third or nearly half. At the...

I will give way first to my hon. Friend and then to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty).

I will give way first to my hon. Friend and then to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty).

A report by Harlow council in 2023 stated that fewer than half of residents in Harlow felt safe going outside after dark. Does my right hon. Friend see the neighbourhood policing guarantee as part of the way of solving that problem?

A report by Harlow council in 2023 stated that fewer than half of residents in Harlow felt safe going outside after dark. Does my right hon. Friend see the neighbourhood policing guarantee as part of the way of solving that problem?

My hon. Friend is right: neighbourhood policing is crucial, but neighbourhood policing teams have been decimated, and even those that remained were often abstracted or merged with other teams. That has been deeply damaging. It is crucial to get those neighbourhood police back on the streets, back into our town...

My hon. Friend is right: neighbourhood policing is crucial, but neighbourhood policing teams have been decimated, and even those that remained were often abstracted or merged with other teams. That has been deeply damaging. It is crucial to get those neighbourhood police back on the streets, back into our town...

The right hon. Lady mentioned 13,000 neighbourhood police, but 3,000 of those will be new warranted officers; I believe that 3,000 will be operational police officers brought back from other places. When will police forces find out what their share of those police officers will be? How will the 3,000...

The right hon. Lady mentioned 13,000 neighbourhood police, but 3,000 of those will be new warranted officers; I believe that 3,000 will be operational police officers brought back from other places. When will police forces find out what their share of those police officers will be? How will the 3,000...