Speeches by Reed.

“I will give way to my hon. Friend later. We know already that illicit finance can damage people’s trust in politics, and maintaining the confidence of the electorate is imperative. That is why we are requiring stronger checks on significant donations, requiring more transparency from those making donations and ensuring…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend and, indeed, to others who were involved with the Speaker’s Conference. They have made a huge contribution to the shape of the Bill and the detail of its final version.”

“I hope the hon. Lady will forgive me if I make progress. We are going further with our support for the Electoral Commission. The commission is the independent statutory body tasked with overseeing elections and regulating political finance in the UK, and its work is invaluable as the guardian of our democracy, but it r…”

“The right hon. Gentleman makes an important point. That is not currently part of the Bill, but I am always happy to keep the position under review. We want to remove obstacles to those seeking to vote and stand in elections. These measures include absent voting and a new power to obtain information to help people to un…”

“I certainly share the hon. Lady’s confidence that this is the right thing to do, and I thank her for making that point.”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her support for these measures? They were in the Labour election manifesto on which we both stood, and it is a great pleasure now to start to implement them. We committed to these measures because we understand that in a democracy, people must be in control of their lives and their own countr…”

“The hon. Lady is quite right—it is important that the agencies have the resources to carry out the functions that we require of them. The final part of the Bill contains general provisions, including on powers and commencement. I can also confirm that we have written to the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Ass…”

“As always, my right hon. Friend raises an important point. There are huge concerns about cryptocurrency, not least because we cannot track where the funding has come from. We have charged Sir Philip Rycroft with conducting a review into these matters. His recommendations will be incorporated into the Bill as it progres…”

“I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. There is a lot of interest from Members across the House in this Bill, and that is no surprise, because we are all proud of our British democracy. Our democracy is a fundamental part of who we are as a country. The long history of this House has been punctuated by…”

“We are tightening the rules on donations so that the system can be much more robust and has much greater integrity than is currently the case. My predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner), published our strategy for modern and secure elections in July 2025. The strategy promised…”

“Yes, we have absolutely considered that and we will continue to keep under review the important matter that the hon. Gentleman raises.”

“That is a very appropriate intervention. My hon. Friend makes his point very well and I agree with what he has to say. We will establish new safeguards on digital campaigning and allow digital voter identification. We will strengthen our elections against foreign interference, and we will protect those who put their na…”

“I thank the Chair of the Select Committee for her questions and comments. She raises perhaps the most important point in all this, which is that no one listened to the voices of the people living in Grenfell Tower when they raised their concerns. That must never happen again. That is why the Government are seeking to s…”

“It is emotional to see the tower coming down slowly, brick by brick, but it is important for the community, and for all concerned about what happened, to know that the memorial commission is working with the community to secure a design for the memorial, which will be a lasting testament to what happened on that fatefu…”

“In fact, the police are investigating an incredibly complex set of circumstances. That is why one of the biggest teams in the Met’s history is focused on getting to the bottom of this and of whether there is a need to pursue any prosecutions. It is one of the biggest and most complex police investigations ever—rightly,…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments and welcome the tone that he has adopted. It is quite right that we should all work cross-party on this matter to speed up the outcomes that we are all looking for and that we work together in a way that shows respect to the families and those who lost their lives in this tra…”

“I would be happy to arrange a meeting between my hon. Friend and the fire safety Minister so that they can discuss her concerns in detail, but she is quite right to point to the very severe concerns about leasehold charges. That is why the Government published a consultation last year on the costs for major works and o…”

“I am happy to support the hon. Lady’s call for all affected stakeholders to feed in their views to the inquiry, be they in Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland. The legacy of Grenfell and other tragedies, such as the one she refers to, should be greater safety from fire for everybody.”

“I am aware of what happened in my hon. Friend’s constituency recently, and how worrying it has been not just for the people living there, but for people right across the country. Just as with what happened at Grenfell, it attests to the fact that the building safety regulations and system in this country were inadequat…”

“The hon. Gentleman is right to point to that concern, which we all share. In the most recent Budget, the Chancellor announced £600 million to fund skills training in the construction sector, so that we have the skills available not just to carry out work on the Grenfell site and remedial work on other sites affected by…”