Speeches by Coombes.

“The future of the car industry is in electric and automated vehicles, and the west midlands and the UK have always been leaders in car manufacturing across the world. Can the Minister say more about what we are doing to protect the industry and ensure that its future lies in the UK?”

“Angela and Terry, a couple from my constituency, were the proud owners of Otis, a little three-legged shih tzu dog. Angela, who is in her 80s, was walking Otis a few weeks ago when two rottweilers got loose and savaged Otis terribly. Angela took him to the vets and paid thousands of pounds, but, sadly, Otis died. It is…”

“In the past six months, the black country was rocked by two horrific cases of Sikh women being raped in racially aggravated assaults. The two attacks shook the entire community to our core, but it recently came to light that a Reform party election candidate celebrated those appalling attacks. Thankfully, he has now st…”

“That is absolutely true. Vehicles are registered to Mickey Mouse, or to big organisations’ addresses. There are simply no checks whatsoever on whom people register vehicles to, which means they are doing really dangerous and really antisocial things, and getting away with it. The Labour Party manifesto committed us to …”

“I thank the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Vikki Slade) for securing this important debate. Roads are the arteries of our nation, keeping us and our economy moving, and the rules governing our roads rely on being able to identify vehicles and their drivers, which is the responsibility of the DVLA. It reall…”

“I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) for that powerful speech. I agree wholeheartedly with him about the need for reform of the proxy voting system and for some humanity to be introduced for such circumstances. I was proud to serve on the Modernisation Committee and to take p…”

“Football fans in my area are looking forward to the world cup and many hope to travel, but before we get to that competition, many are very concerned by reports of a potential points deduction for West Bromwich Albion due to allegations of financial rule breaches, which the club has strongly rejected. Given Albion’s re…”

“I am very proud to represent a strong industrial constituency with hundreds of excellent manufacturing businesses, and I was very grateful to the Secretary of State for his visit to one of them before Christmas. This Government back British manufacturing, and the BIC scheme will be game changing for the 10,000 business…”

“Last week, the Sikh community in Sandwell was rocked by a second appalling attack at Guru Nanak gurdwara. For the second time, the gurdwara faced a racist attack in which someone dropped a bag of meat on the doorstep. Given that meat is strictly banned inside the gurdwara, this was deeply offensive. As this was a repea…”

“Is it not true that the number of jobs in the North sea oil industry halved in the last decade when the shadow Secretary of State’s party was in government?”

“Is it not the case that Britain’s renewable economy is growing three times faster than the rest of the economy? If we were to retract our commitments to renewable energy and net zero, the investor confidence would reduce, which would be really bad for our European economy and the brilliant jobs that have been created i…”

“1. What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Serious Fraud Office.”

“Scams are devastating for the victims in my constituency, but serious fraud is insidious and is undermining the UK economy. Given the Serious Fraud Office recently found that just 10% of fraud referrals are coming from whistleblowers, what more are the Government doing to empower whistleblowers to come forward and to p…”

“Drivers looking for refreshment on the motorway have regular signs to point them to the available hospitality, but it is less easy for drivers of electric vehicles to see where they can get a coffee and a charge because of arcane rules that prevent EV signage on motorways. This is also a problem on A roads—one charge c…”

“This week, there was a mass release of balloons in Birmingham in memory of my friend, Councillor Waseem Zaffar, who passed away suddenly and tragically at the age of 44. There was no prouder Brummie than Waseem: he loved the city, he loved the Villa and he loved representing the people of Lozells. As the cabinet member…”

“I am proud to represent a very large Sikh community in Sandwell, which is near my hon. Friend’s constituency. What she campaigns for—for ethnicity data about the Sikh community to be recorded—is really important for organisations such as the NHS as well as for Home Office data and crime data. We have suffered some very…”

“T2. The situation we inherited at the election, with one in eight young people not in education or employment, is a national scandal and I am glad that this Government will put it right. In West Brom, there are lots of opportunities in the manufacturing sector, but lots of young people often think of a different realit…”

“We have heard a lot about young people today, but in my constituency, the thing that young people really want is the chance to own their own home. For years, they have been locked out of that because of sky-high mortgage rates thanks to the policies of the Conservative party. I welcome the six interest rate cuts that t…”

“Thanks to the policies of the Labour Treasury team, Sandwell will receive £1.5 million to smarten up our towns. Does the Chancellor agree that local people should have a say in how that funding is spent, and will she encourage people in Rowley, West Bromwich and Oldbury to fill in my survey about how we spend this Gove…”

“Last week, I met a mother from my constituency who told me a terrible story. In October, her daughters were taken by their father, supposedly for a day out at the fair, but they never came home. It seems he has abducted them and taken them out of the country, either to Afghanistan or to Pakistan. Can the Minister set o…”