Speeches by Athwal.

“When the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak) was Chancellor, he said that he had diverted public money away from deprived urban areas. In Ilford South, our local Redbridge council has been ranked among the most cost-effective council in the country, yet my neighbours are still suffering from …”

“I thank the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) for securing the debate. He spoke powerfully and passionately, and with knowledge. Imperialism is violent and tragic, dividing communities, separating families, and leading to untold death and destruction. That has been the grim real…”

“I commend my hon. Friend on securing such an important debate and for his powerful points. On the point that the right hon. Member for Tatton (Esther McVey) just made, in recent years my constituency has become a banking desert—literally deprived of banks on high streets. For my neighbours living in Chadwell Heath, the…”

“Thank you for calling me, Sir Desmond. I thank the hon. Member for Stockton West (Matt Vickers) for securing this important debate. If we want to revive our high streets, we need innovative solutions that bring customers back, as well as the basics of law and order, as has been mentioned. People must feel safe and it m…”

“The Minister makes powerful points. Does he agree that we should consider a wider, holistic approach, taking into account planning and advertising—for instance, children going to school and having access to the proliferation of chicken shops and fast-food shops, and being exposed to, on average, 13 to 15 junk food adve…”

“May I say what an honour it is to serve under the chairmanship of such a multi-talented, multi-functional Chair?”

“I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing this important debate. Cardiovascular disease changes lives, takes lives and robs families of loved ones. I speak from personal experience: my father has been gone for 29 years and my mother for 28 years because of cardiovascular disease, so I know it ab…”

“T4. In Ilford we have worked with Queen Mary University to launch a new satellite campus to teach medicine and dentistry. Given the growing importance of education in science, engineering, technology and mathematics, what specific steps is the Secretary of State taking to increase educational opportunities in London an…”

“I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this debate on such an important topic. Everyone deserves to feel safe, yet over the last 14 years we have seen police numbers being decimated. In the borough that encompasses my constituency of Ilford South, we used to have five police stations. Now, there is only one, for fo…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. The conflict in Gaza has undoubtedly devastated communities, decimated areas and destroyed countless lives. Each and every day, the death toll rises as further lives are extinguished. Futures are lost forever. Our Government have worked extensively with the …”

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“I am pleased that my hon. Friend has secured this debate. Last week, I spoke about the importance of a holistic approach to preventing crime, and especially of providing young people with safe spaces. We have had 14 years of brutal cuts. The council I used to lead had a £1 billion budget, but now it is £800 million—£20…”

“I recently met constituents who are increasingly concerned about the anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh. Since last August, there have been reports of more than 2,000 incidents of violence, most of which have been targeted at the minority Hindu community. Furthermore, I have seen deeply perturbing reports of the arrest …”

“On the point about inner and outer London, the problem is that outer-London boroughs are now seeing inner-London problems, the funding system is archaic and the formula is based on outdated deprivation statistics, using household numbers rather than population. This unfairly impacts boroughs such as Redbridge, which co…”

“I thank the Minister for her speech and for the money that we are going to see. I also associate myself with some of the remarks made by the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) about community policing and neighbourhood policing being decimated over the last 14 years. With that decimation comes insurance, includin…”

“None of us would wish to pre-empt the public inquiry before it has even started, but based on what the Minister has told us, it seems inevitable that we will face the issue of different state agencies failing to speak to each other about an individual who is coming up on their systems. If they had spoken to each other,…”

“Can I just make this point?”

“I will made some headway, because I can see the clock ticking. Another key weakness of PR systems is that they almost inevitably create coalition Governments. We know what happens there. No one votes for coalition Governments. Instead, they are created by agreements hammered out in dark rooms, behind closed doors—they …”

“I think it is about being pragmatic in our response, being pragmatic with our residents, and making the right decisions.”

“I thank the hon. Member. The other thing I would like to say is that when we are over-reliant on statistics, it says something. I will come on to statistics as well, if I am allowed. I have had the privilege of living in my constituency for half a century—more than 50 years. I am incredibly grateful for the opportuniti…”