Speeches by Morgan.

“I beg to move, That this House calls on the Government and service providers to help improve mobile connectivity in rural areas. I start by thanking the Backbench Business Committee for granting time to hold this vital debate and for granting us a second opportunity to do so, as the debate had to be postponed earlier t…”

“My right hon. Friend makes a good point about the use of public money and how we develop infrastructure fit for the modern age as part of a public and private operation. Rural roaming measures have been opposed by the industry, but they were recommended by the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in …”

“Shropshire council is about to see a 10% cut in its core funding from central Government, having been terribly badly run by the Conservatives for the previous 16 years before the Lib Dem administration took over in May. The Government have given the council permission to put up its council tax by 9% without a referendu…”

“The police officers and police community support officers in North Shropshire work hard, but PCSOs’ hours have been cut because of budget constraints, and there are no front desk services at all in my constituency, despite it having five market towns. Can the Minister outline how we will ensure better and more visible …”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stringer. I congratulate the hon. Member for South Shropshire (Stuart Anderson) on his excellent speech. He described many circumstances similar to those in my constituency, so I will try to keep my comments brief. Rural services—whether that is transport links, mobil…”

“I could not agree more. If someone living in Cockshutt takes the bus to the post office in Ellesmere, they would have to wait three hours to get the next bus home. We can imagine how difficult it is for people in nearby villages who have no bus service at all. Jean, who lives in Weston Rhyn, said: “I now live in a vill…”

“I think we all agree that our posties work really hard, but one of the problems that has been described to me in Shropshire is recruitment and retention of posties, because their conditions are poor. Royal Mail promised me that it would put in extra rounds in North Shropshire to alleviate the problem. As far as I know,…”

“1. What steps he is taking to reduce court delays in Shropshire.”

“In my constituency of North Shropshire, residents have to travel to Shrewsbury to have their case heard. As of last September, there was a backlog of more than 730 open cases at Shrewsbury Crown court, a 7% increase on 2024. The wider West Mercia area ranks 43rd out of 44 areas for the time that it takes cases to get t…”

“T5. In my constituency, complaints about water supply to single living accommodation doubled from 116 in 2018 to 232 in 2024, with 16 separate losses of water for more than 24 hours last year. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can bring single living accommodation up to the standard that our servicemen and wo…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her point, which I agree with fully. That is why we have tabled new clause 1. It will require the Government to publish a report on the Bill’s impact on the number of applicants to foundation and speciality training programmes and, crucially, to break that down by speciality. If applications …”

“I am pleased to welcome this Bill, broadly. It seeks to prioritise graduates from UK and Irish medical schools for foundation and specialty training places. On this point, the Liberal Democrats support the Government, but we have some concerns about how that will be delivered, and about the real-world consequences for …”

“I declare an interest in that my husband works for an independent wine merchant. Today’s news will be very welcome for the many pubs in North Shropshire that have been pushed to the brink over recent years by national insurance contributions increases, high energy bills and now business rates. However, this will not he…”

“The amendments in my name raise concerns about the Bill’s impact on fairness, transparency and the smooth functioning of the NHS, notwithstanding the Liberal Democrats’ overall support for the Bill. Clause 7(1) would allow Ministers to change who is eligible for prioritisation through the negative procedure, meaning th…”

“The hon. Gentleman is being so generous with his time. In North Shropshire we were really excited because we were included in Project Gigabit, which was going to roll out fibre broadband for 12,000 properties—mostly easier to reach ones, but it would have been a significant improvement none the less. Freedom Fibre, whi…”

“I know that Members across the House supported Liberal Democrat plans to introduce a decent homes standard for service family accommodation, and I am very grateful to the Government for bringing that in through recent legislation from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. However, single living acc…”

“As the Secretary of State has pointed out, in rural areas, we tend to have older housing stock and lots of people off-grid. They are very keen to see upgrades made to their home, and we welcome this announcement. In my constituency, a number of people engaged with the energy company obligation 4 scheme. Unfortunately, …”

“Powys health board has been categorising the needs of its patients based on cost rather than clinical need, and that is causing a real problem for the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt orthopaedic hospital in my constituency and the associated Headley Court veterans’ centre, because they need to prioritise patients based on …”

“The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent speech and a really good point, which applies equally to urban and rural areas. Mobile network operators do not have minimum standards of coverage and quality of signal. At some places where there was good coverage before, that now no longer appears to be the case because the s…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I just highlight that I did not declare my interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on digital communities, which I should have done?”