Speeches by Coombes.

“T2. Happy new year, Mr Speaker. Traffic jams at junction 1 of the M5 are a nightmare for residents, businesses and West Bromwich Albion FC fans. We have already had a traffic light upgrade, which has improved things slightly, and the Government have now given Sandwell council yellow box enforcement powers, which I hope…”

“Guru Nanak gurdwara in West Brom recently suffered a horrible incident of anti-Sikh hate. An unidentified vandal ran past and dumped a bag of meat on the doorstep. As many Sikhs are vegetarian, that is obviously a horrible, offensive incident. Will the Leader of the House make time for a debate about how we reject that…”

“I thank the Minister for all her hard work on this strategy—I have no doubt that it will save lives. I have spent the last year campaigning against ghost number plates, which make drivers invisible to speed and police cameras. These plates are great for car racers and criminals and terrible for the rest of us. They hav…”

“I spoke to representatives of BBC Arabic in Amman in the summer, and they talked about the fact that when cuts to the BBC meant that BBC Arabic radio was turned off in 2023, Russia’s Radio Sputnik stepped into that space and started broadcasting false and fake news in the English language. That is very worrying for us …”

“I have heard heartbreaking stories of women from my constituency who have waited years for their abuser to be brought to trial. The crisis that has developed in our courts is having a devastating impact on victims. Given that many of the previous reforms to judge, jury and magistrate trials over the past 50 years were …”

“The Government were elected to pick the NHS up off its knees, and that is exactly what we are doing by putting tens of billions extra into the NHS—that includes giving a 28.9% pay rise to doctors. That money is delivering a 20% reduction in NHS waiting lists in my area. However, despite that progress, families are worr…”

“Solar geo-engineering is the idea of injecting particles into the Earth’s atmosphere to dim or reflect the light of the sun and cool the planet, and it has been the subject of science fiction and conspiracy theories for many years. However, recent reporting by the respected Politico journalist Karl Mathiesen has thrown…”

“I was part of that same cross-party delegation to COP in Belém. We were proud to meet parliamentarians from all over the world who are absolutely invested in the COP process and still absolutely believe in its importance. I was struck by how many conversations we had about the UK’s enduring global leadership on climate…”

“T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.”

“Ghost number plates are a scourge on our roads and must be tackled. Part of the problem is the thousands of rogue traders who are very happy to sell ghost and cloned number plates to criminals with no questions asked. Despite this number plate wild west, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has removed from its regi…”

“The first duty of any Government is to keep our citizens safe, which is why this Labour Government are delivering a historic uplift in defence spending, in stark contrast to the cuts of the Conservative Government. The Minister set out a potent example of the rising threats to our country. Will he say more about how ou…”

“Road Safety Week starts on 16 November, but the critical thing is that the Government have their upcoming road safety strategy, which is the first comprehensive road safety strategy for 10 years. The issue has not been substantively debated in the Chamber for a long time. As Anna said, different bits and bobs have been…”

“I absolutely agree that the infrastructure needs to be in place and the benefits of autonomous vehicles need to be felt across the whole country—in coastal areas, but also in urban areas and towns, such as those that I represent. Car clubs have never reached their full potential in the UK—I think that is because of the…”

“Definitely. Safety has to be paramount. Britain is a leader in universities and institutes such as the Institute for Safe Autonomy, to ensure that as this new technology rolls out, it is safe and has public confidence. On accessibility, 30% of my constituents in West Bromwich do not have a car; they rely on buses, bike…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered connected and automated vehicles. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. Yesterday, I jumped in a car with a couple of other people near King’s Cross station. It was a pretty normal journey. We watched the world go by, chatted and got stuck in a bit of t…”

“It is absolutely about creating a safe system for the future. If AVs are involved in an incident, will they be able to get to hospital? All those questions have to be talked about, as we begin to see fully driverless vehicles on our roads. One person who has benefited from new employment in the AV industry is our safet…”

“I agree that exciting pilots are going on. I am sure Kettering and many other parts of the country could benefit. Wayve is an example of a company leading the way in helping the UK to become a global leader in this technology. Although the company was founded out of the University of Cambridge and is now based in King’…”

“It was very important that the Government intervened after JLR suffered a cyber-attack and went into full shutdown, because many businesses in my area rely on JLR. I agree that cyber-resilience has to be at the heart of this. I want the west midlands to feel the benefit of manufacturing the hardware and the vehicles th…”

“We have heard about all the different parts of this issue today: sharing the benefits of the future autonomous revolution UK-wide; the importance of public trust and uptake; accessibility and independence; and security and safety. We need the benefits to be shared nationwide—in Strangford, Weston-super-Mare, Kettering …”

“Absolutely. I represent many professional drivers myself, so I completely agree about the importance of the current systems working for them, as well as future systems working. I want to be clear about this. Given that full vehicle automation is decades away, I hope that we can provide reassurance that mass redundancy …”