Speaking out against Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill

Barry intervened three times in opposition to the Third Reading of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. He raised the point that strikes have led to a variety of Health and Safety legislation being brought in that has made the workplace safer. Barry also raised issues surrounding existing legislation, that the Government is attempting to give employers the power to force employees back to work, something that not even the Courts can do, and forcing Trade Unions to expel members that vote to withdraw their labour.

Power in the Union: Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill

During the second reading of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, Barry pointed to the Bill’s constitutional significance and impact on devolved nations. Barry highlighted that legislating powers to Ministers to override devolved legislation passed by the Senedd and Scottish Parliament would only provoke and better equip those who seek the dissolution of the United Kingdom.

MPs speak on Iranian Human Rights Violations

“Whether or not I sign the confession papers, they will kill me”.

Today in the Commons, Barry read the emotional testimony of Mr Hassan Firouzi, who has been sentenced to death in Iran.

Barry and many other MPs have committed to speaking out on the Human Rights violations perpetrated by the Iranian government.

Listen to Barry’s question during the Urgent Question on the execution of Alireza Akbari, and the Foreign Secretary’s response:

UK's rate of emissions cutting "not sufficient"

Barry intervened during an Urgent Question in the House of Commons about the COP 27 climate summit to point out that while it may be true that the UK is reducing emissions faster than other countries, it is not sufficient to meet the targets.

He asked the minister what the government was doing to ensure there was enough “new money” - not previously announced “old money” - to fund the Glasgow Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) adequately going forward.

How profiteering, not workers' pay claims, is fuelling inflation

“Workers’ wage demands are not fuelling inflation, they are following it, and responding to it in desperation as they see their living standards eroded - first by genuinely inflationary pressures and then by company profiteering.”

Barry intervened in the House of Commons in the debate on the Autumn Statement by highlighting how profit margins for the UK’s biggest listed companies are now 73 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.

A survey of retailers earlier this year revealed that firms are actively using inflation to boost their profits by increasing prices more than the increase in their costs - an act of gouging which then creates further waves of inflation.

Barry called on the Labour front bench to do more to make the case that workers are not causing inflation.

“When companies themselves tell us they’re ripping us off, it’s time for politicians to listen and to act.”

Watch Barry’s speech 🔽

Safer Neighbourhoods Police time

Barry called on the Home Secretary to commit to publishing figures on the “abstraction” (taking) of Safer Neighbourhood Police Team hours, after it was revealed that Brent has seen 320 hours abstracted in the last three months.

He said it was important that the figures are made public as communities need to be able to access the information to know if the teams are there, acting for them.

Watch him ask the question 🔽

Questioning Liz Truss

Barry intervened in Prime Minister’s Questions to ask the (then) Prime Minister Liz Truss what, in view of her recent experiences, she intended to do to improve the mental health of the people of the country, given the mental anguish and despair being sufferred by his constituents.

Her reply was that the Health Secretary has set out a "very clear plan". She resigned the next day.

Barry calls on new Chancellor to increase taxes on oil and gas producers

Barry warned that the government’s Energy Prices Bill, which is intended to control prices and encourage the efficient use and supply of energy, would introduce another windfall tax - but on renewables not oil and gas producers.

Speaking during the remaining stages of the Bill in the House of Commons on 17 October, he welcomed the new Chancellor’s statement announcing a Treasury-led review of the government’s energy support plan, he urged him to ditch the Investment Allowance Subsidy, which allows producers to effectively offset the temporary windfall tax, and to adopt a tax rate that the rest of the globe considers “fair and equitable”.

"Deep debt and despair" if the government doesn't uprate benefits in line with prices

Some 15,626 families in Brent North are dependent on means tested benefits. Today, Barry told the Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt that failing to uprate benefits in line with inflation may save the government £3 million but it will put those families, and millions like them across the country, into deep debt and despair.

He asked whether she would arrange for a debate on the uprating of benefits, and on poverty this winter.

Care Quality Commission confidence

Barry intervened today after an Urgent Question was asked of health minister Will Quince about the mistreatment of patients at the mental health Edenfield Centre in Prestwich near Manchester, where a BBC Panorama investigation found a "toxic culture of humiliation, verbal abuse and bullying".

What, he asked, was the earliest date a whistleblower or family member contacted the department or the Care Quality Commission, and what confidence can there be in the CQC as a result?

Barry demands a rise in the basic tax rate for oil and gas producers

Barry asked the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Philp if, given the £60 billion borrowing for the government's energy guarantee is to be paid back by bill payers – not the oil and gas producers making record profits off the backs of the public's misery – he would consider raising the basic tax rate for producers. It's the lowest in the entire world and even raising it to the global average would raise £13.4 billion a year.

Predictably, Philp refused. This was soon after the climate minister Graham Stewart announced, in an Environmental Audit Committee in which Barry was sitting, a windfall tax on renewables – an outrageous move

"Turbocharging" the Iranian regime - Barry warns of the terrible consequences

Barry has today intervened in the House of Commons during an Urgent Question about the death of the young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of the “morality police”, warning that any reduction in sanctions and unfreezing of Iranian assets would only serve to strengthen the regime and turbocharge its repression of young people.

“What assessment has the government made of the attempt by President Biden to revive the Iran nuclear deal, which would lead to such a reduction?”

Stuffing the pockets of the rich

Intervening in the new Chancellor’s “mini-Budget” statement, Barry challenged Kwasi Kwateng on his motives in slashing taxes.

“If the Chancellor is so optimistic about growth, will he set a timescale for it? Will it be six months? Will he retire in a year if the growth he has predicted hasn’t been achieved?

“Or was today's budget an admission that he’s going to stuff as much money into as many of his friends’ pockets before the general election in 2024?”

NHS workforce strategy

Barry challenged new health secretary Thérèse Coffey on the measures she announced to tackle NHS backlogs and waiting lists and shortages. He cited the experience of his constituents who waited five hours for an emergency ambulance after suffering a stroke.

“The health secretary can set all the expectations and targets she likes but she will not have the human resourse to achieve them unless she addresses the workforce strategy and the 132,000 vacancies in the NHS.”