Tag Archives: manuela perteghella

Manuela Perteghella MP writes: Cody’s Law – protecting young lives

As I stood up in Parliament to ask my first-ever question at Prime Minister’s Questions, I couldn’t stop thinking about Cody Fisher and his family. Cody was just 23 years old when he was stabbed to death on the dance floor of The Crane nightclub in Birmingham on Boxing Day 2022. What should have been a fun night out with friends ended in tragedy because of failings that could—and should—have been avoided.

Cody’s death has left an unimaginable hole in the lives of those who loved him. A talented young footballer, he had his whole future ahead of him. But a deadly weapon—a zombie knife—was smuggled into the venue, bypassing what the court later described as “cursory” security checks, despite over 2,000 people being there that night. It’s hard to comprehend how such a basic safety measure was overlooked, and it’s even harder to accept that no action has yet been taken to prevent something like this from happening again.

Since Cody’s murder, his family, and in particular his mum, Tracey Fisher, has been incredibly brave in her fight to make sure no other family goes through what hers has endured. Tracey is calling for “Cody’s Law,” which would make it mandatory for nightclubs and similar venues to install metal detectors and have bleed kits on site. These are simple, common-sense measures that could save lives.

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Starmer faces FIVE Lib Dems at PMQs

This Parliament, anything less than 3 Lib Dems at PMQs is a disappointment – a benefit of having 72 MPs.

For the third time since the General Election it was a Lib Dem who kicked off proceedings. Daisy Cooper took the opportunity to ask the PM about her local hospital:

West Hertfordshire teaching hospitals NHS trust has eliminated 65-week waits and has now met all three national cancer standards. Those remarkable achievements by the staff are happening despite their working in terrible buildings that are life-expired and crumbling. If the Government are looking for a project that is high-performing and shovel-ready, that is it. Will the Prime Minister give our trust the green light to build a new hospital without further delay?

The Prime Minister
I thank the hon. Lady for raising that issue, which is of importance to her constituents and beyond. The new hospital programme we inherited was a failure of the previous Government. We are committed to delivering, and we are reviewing to ensure that we can deliver. The Health Secretary will set out further details, but I am very happy for her to have a meeting with the relevant Minister if she wants to follow up on the specifics.

Then came Ed Davey with two hard-hitting questions on ending the Winter Fuel Payment and the hike in employers’ National Insurance contributions for hospices:

May I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about the terrible impact of Storm Bert and all the flooding? Our thoughts are with all those affected, with thanks to our amazing emergency services.

Christine’s father was told that he needed end of life care, but after a few days it was removed due to funding cuts. He was told that he would not get it, and he died a few weeks later in excruciating pain. Christine says that it was terrible to watch him suffer. Does the Prime Minister agree that, whatever the House decides on Friday, it is urgent that we improve access to high-quality end of life care? Will he make that a key focus of the 10-year NHS plan, and will he now commit to protect hospices from the national insurance rise?

The Prime Minister
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising that case, and I am sure the thoughts of the whole House are with the family involved. Obviously there is a very important vote on Friday, but whichever way that vote goes, we must invest properly in care across our health service. That is why, in addition to putting the NHS back on its feet, we are putting forward a 10-year plan to make sure that the NHS can give the care that everybody would expect across the spectrum, including end of life care.

Ed Davey
I thank the Prime Minister for his reply. I hope that we will hear more from Ministers, particularly on hospices and national insurance, in the days to come.

I turn to the cost of living crisis. On Friday, Ofgem said that energy bills will go up again in January, after last month’s 10% rise. Millions of people are really worried about how they will make ends meet this winter, not least hundreds of thousands of pensioners who are in poverty but above the pension credit limit, who will now lose winter fuel payments. With energy bills going up again, will the Prime Minister reconsider and restore winter fuel payments?

The Prime Minister
Obviously the whole House is concerned about energy bills, which are actually lower this year than they were last year. The long-term way to deal with this issue is to have clean power by 2030, to make sure that we drive energy bills down on a permanent basis, and that is what we will do. On the winter fuel allowance, the right hon. Gentleman knows very well what the Government’s position is; indeed, I have rehearsed it with him many times.

The fact that Keir just can’t be bothered defending himself any more makes Ed’s repeated returns to this issue all the more potent.

Mext up, Manuela Perteghella made her PMQ debut by raising the issue of a constituent of hers who is campaigning to end knife crime after her son was killed:

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Maiden Speeches: Manuela Perteghella MP for Stratford-Upon-Avon

Up to the West Midlands now for the maiden speech of Manuela Perteghella who spoke on 12 September in the debate in memory of David Amess MP.

The text is below:

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Our new MPs: David Chadwick, Manuela Perteghella, Tom Gordon

We thought you might like to find out a little bit about our new MPs. We didn’t think we’d have quite so many, but this is a lovely problem to have. All details come from the party website or the MPs’ social media. We’ll get to know them more over the next wee while, but here’s a taster. 

Our editor sleepily compiled a Twitter list of all our MPs’ accounts she could find. You can follow it here

David Chadwick MP: Brecon, Radnor and Cym Tawe

David lives in Brecon with his wife Gemma and young son William.

David works as a consultant in Cybersecurity and became interested in politics when his grandfather took him to see the steelworks in Port Talbot to see what it was like to work in a blast furnace stating it gave him an early insight into how politics, industry and communities are intrinsically linked.

David is keen to build on the hard work of local Liberal Democrat councillors who took control of Powys Council in 2022 after the Conservatives were left with just a single councillor across Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe.

David’s priorities include:

  • Making sure local farmers aren’t sold down the river in the name of cheap trade deals.
  • Protecting our pristine natural environment, including ending sewage dumping in the River Wye. Tawe and Usk.
  • Fighting for better economic investment, well-paid jobs and improved infrastructure in rural Wales and the former industrial heartlands of the upper Swansea Valley; making sure that our residents aren’t ignored by those in London and the South East.

Twitter: @libdemdavid

Manuela Perteghella MP: Stratford-Upon-Avon

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