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12,832 spoken contributions under 12 words (interjections such as “Will the hon. Member give way?”) are hidden. Show them

1. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

   Infected Blood Compensation Scheme

   The Infected Blood Compensation Authority has asked 6,321 people to start their claims. I am sorry to say that the horrible nature of this awful scandal means that there is inherent uncertainty about the number of eligible people, but we are deeply committed to ensuring that everyone eligible receives the compensation they are due. IBCA has a registration service, which supports its understanding of who intends to claim. As of 25 August, IBCA had received 20,487 registrations.

   Hansard source
2. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

   Infected Blood Compensation Scheme

   My hon. Friend, with her considerable experience in this area, is absolutely right. The fact of the matter is that no amount of money will make up for the impact that this terrible tragedy has had on countless victims and their families, but we are determined to deliver justice as swiftly as possible. We are very grateful for the work and time of the Committee in assessing the progress made on compensation schemes. We are also considering this as part of the Government’s response to the Williams inquiry report, in which we indicated that the Government would give further thought to how redress should be delivered in future. We will respond to the Public Accounts Committee in due course.

   Hansard source
3. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

   Infected Blood Compensation Scheme

   I am incredibly sorry to hear about the experience of Stan and the death of his family member. Unfortunately, that experience has been shared by too many people, and the Government, including my predecessor as Minister for the Cabinet Office, have done considerable work to improve the scheme, setting out a number of reforms and new statutory instruments. I will ask my noble Friend the Minister in the other place to meet the hon. Member and his constituent to consider his experience and how we can improve the system.

   Hansard source
4. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

   Job Support: Public Procurement

   Last month I announced reforms to public procurement that will cut red tape and focus social value on delivering good jobs and skills development. In the autumn, I will publish new guidance to ensure that central Government procurement consistently supports jobs, skills and people in every postcode.

   Hansard source
5. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

   Job Support: Public Procurement

   I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing the important work of Together Gloucestershire to the House’s attention. It is an excellent example of where social value can ensure that British taxpayer’s money is directed towards delivering British jobs and skills in our constituency. I will ask the Minister and our officials to meet with my hon. Friend and businesses in his constituency.

   Hansard source
6. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

   Topical Questions

   For far too long, the state has found itself reaching for the comfort blanket of consultation, review and process. To deliver change at the pace and scale the public expect, my Department is stripping out needless bureaucracy. Between 2019 and 2023, the Government asked the public three times for their views on introducing legislation to microchip cats—you couldn’t make it up, Madam Deputy Speaker. If we cannot microchip cats without tying them up in red tape, it is little wonder the public have lost faith that the Government can deliver change. I am telling ministerial colleagues that consultations are not required, and we will introduce reforms to minimise the risk of judicial review. Once the necessary legislation has passed, transport, water and other major infrastructure projects will benefit from parliamentary authorisation. Governments are elected to lead, not to hide behind process. This Government will lead and put public control at the heart of our decision making.

   Hansard source
7. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

   Topical Questions

   I am very sorry to hear about the appalling experience of the hon. Gentleman’s constituent. As was mentioned earlier in Cabinet questions, we have made considerable efforts to improve the scheme and ensure that constituents receive their compensation as quickly as possible. Reports are being laid in the House today, and we will consider the hon. Gentleman’s question as we go forward.

   Hansard source
8. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

   Topical Questions

   The Mayor of the Tees Valley Ben Houchen already has the ability to provide grants to businesses and communities. He is very welcome to do so with the considerable funding that he already receives.

   Hansard source
9. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

   Topical Questions

   I will explain it to the shadow Secretary of State. There is a difference between rebates and grants. The mayor does not have the ability to provide rebates now and is unlikely to in the future, because it would involve getting data from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and having the ability to set income tax thresholds, which we will of course not be devolving to a mayoral level. If the Mayor of the Tees Valley wishes to support businesses and communities, he is as welcome to now as he will be in the future.

   Hansard source
10. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

    Topical Questions

    Giving young people opportunities to reach their potential is a key priority for this Government. That is why we have asked Alan Milburn to push forward this agenda, looking at young people not in employment, education or training. We are using specific local social value schemes that suppliers can support through public procurement, which will provide much-needed education, employment and training so that young people can progress.

    Hansard source
11. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

    Topical Questions

    I thank and congratulate my hon. Friend on his many years of campaigning on this terrible issue. He will know about the Prime Minister’s personal involvement in and commitment to this issue, about his personal experience of campaigning alongside the victims, and how important he and the Department consider the matter. The Infected Blood Compensation Authority has now paid out over £2.2 billion in final compensation payments, but we are very aware that there is much more to do. The Minister in the other place will be happy to meet my hon. Friend’s APPG.

    Hansard source
12. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

    Topical Questions

    A number of responsibilities were removed from the Cabinet Office in order to create the new Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, a central new body at the heart of Government committed to delivering the priorities of the Prime Minister and the British people.

    Hansard source
13. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Louise Haigh

    Topical Questions

    I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his kind words and continual championing of the Isle of Wight. I will ensure that fixing his ferry is top of my to-do list. The proposal that he outlines is exactly the kind of work that No. 10 North has been designed to champion to drive good growth in every postcode, north and south.

    Hansard source
14. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    Business of the House

    As the Leader of the House said, today is World Suicide Prevention Day, and I thank him for his comments. In the UK, someone takes their own life every 90 minutes—the length of a football match. Partnerships such as the Premier League and the Samaritans’ “Together Against Suicide” initiative show how sport can break stigma and save lives. Will the Leader of the House join me in welcoming that campaign and set out how the Government are supporting community-led suicide prevention across the country, and will he allow a debate in Government time on suicide prevention?

    Hansard source
15. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lee Pitcher

    Business of the House

    May I first congratulate Merv Johnson, who has been shortlisted for an award in recognition of the countless hours he gives to Outcasts cricket club, keeping its ground in fantastic condition throughout the season. Volunteers like Merv are the backbone of grassroots sport, but their dedication depends on clubs having somewhere to play. Will the Leader of the House set out how he will support clubs going forward?

    Hansard source
16. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Laura Kyrke-Smith

    Business of the House

    I am working with a cross-party group of colleagues on a proposal for a parliamentary Committee for the future. The Committee would focus on medium and long-term challenges, from the impacts of climate change to the future of work, to ensure that strategic foresight is better integrated into policy making and legislation, and that young people and future generations are better represented in this place. From Finland to Kenya and South Korea, we are seeing this approach being taken up and starting to work. Does the Leader of the House agree that such a Committee could strengthen the work of this House, and can he give me any guidance on how to move this proposal forward?

    Hansard source
17. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Kim Johnson

    Business of the House

    I welcome the Government’s expansion of free school meals for children in households eligible for universal credit, which will take 500,000 children out of poverty. However, the fact that those children will not be eligible for holiday activities and food funding will lead to two-tier poverty. Will the Leader of the House grant time for a debate to consider how we can reverse that situation?

    Hansard source
18. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Kevin McKenna

    Fathers and Positive Male Role Models

    It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. Massive congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) on securing this very timely debate on a topic that lights up the attention of many Members of this House. For me, the discussion about fatherhood and paternity leave has brought recollections—well, not really recollections, because I do not remember the first few weeks of my life, but my father died last year, and his death has put me in a particularly reflective cast of mind. He was so important in getting me through those first few weeks. I was born with a cleft palate, as about 700 children a year are in the United Kingdom. That was a big shock to my father and my mother, and it put additional strain on my parents, because I was unable to swallow and feeding was very difficult. I failed to thrive in the first couple of weeks as a baby. I was losing weight quite rapidly. The medical team was insisting on one particular mode of feeding implement to get me to take food in. My mum and dad knew that it was not working, but they could not get the help they needed. Thankfully, in the end, one of the nurses in the hospital sidled up to my dad and said, “Look, the doctors won’t tell you this, but this old-fashioned device works so much better.” It was just an implement that went on the top of the bottle, and my dad put his feet right to the floor to try to find it somewhere. He went all over London, all the way from Kent to the south-east London border, and eventually wound up at a pharmacist’s in Camden Town that had it in stock. That was a huge amount of support that he had to put in. It took him away from his work. We are talking about 1974; it is not like paternity leave was a thing back then, and the expectations on men were so different. That is just an example of how much so many fathers have to put in to support their families through those first few precious days of a child’s life. That is replicated across the country: dads are doing so much for their children and their partners—their wives and girlfriends and the mothers of their children—and it is something we have to facilitate. Not everyone will have that kind of situation, but every father, mother and parent of a new-born child will face big challenges. Particularly with the first child, it always feels like the biggest challenge you have faced in your life up to that point. That all really matters, because the inspiration and caring that my father showed then, which were reflected through his whole life, gave me the confidence to move into a caring profession as a nurse and to have a take on masculinity that is not so bound by the conventions of society and the manosphere problems we are talking about. I see versions of that all over. In my constituency, there is an inspirational boxing club, the Apex Boxing Academy in Sheerness. Absolutely, it is a boxing club; it is about young people learning how to channel their aggressive impulses into discipline. There are the dads who support it as volunteers, and it has also built in not just practical support around the boxing, but counselling and mental health support for the boys and girls learning to box. The club is really showing how masculinity, fatherhood or just being a man in the world do not have to fit into any preconceived box—whether that is this aggro, toxic masculinity or, indeed, some other form of masculinity that people may not feel so confident buying into—because it is a very complicated world that we live in. All of that is inspirational to me. It is why I strongly support this push for six fully paid weeks of paternity leave for fathers. The Women and Equalities Committee published a report pushing for that last year. I was lucky to go to Spain with the Committee this year to see how the policy is working in Spain. It is brilliant; from talking to people, it is clear that it has been transformational. If we followed the Spanish example in my constituency, 880 dads a year would absolutely take the offer up. That would be an incredible change for people in Sittingbourne and Sheppey. I strongly commend it to the Minister.

    Hansard source
19. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    Good morning, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will ensure that your comments are relayed. May I begin by again apologising to passengers across the United Kingdom who faced significant disruption as a result of the issues that impacted NATS’s operation on 8 September, resulting in delays and cancellations for hundreds of thousands of passengers, as well as the disruption that it has caused for industry? Let me be clear that disruption of this kind is absolutely unacceptable. To provide some context to the House, at around lunch time on 8 September NATS experienced an issue with its flight processing system at its Swanwick centre affecting the data that was available to controllers. The disruption had a significant impact across the UK aviation network resulting in widespread delays, cancellations and diversions. NATS worked hard to fix the issue, but that took time as the systems needed to be tested to ensure that they had fully recovered and operations could safely return to normal. My officials were in regular contact with NATS, airlines and airports during the incident to understand the issues impacting them and to offer Government support, such as granting night flight alleviations to support recovery at regulated airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. NATS has confirmed that it was a technical issue and it does not believe it to be cyber-related. The Secretary of State and I met Martin Rolfe yesterday, and we have agreed that he will send a report to us by Wednesday 16 September setting out the cause of the incident and the actions being taken to ensure that this cannot happen again. The Secretary of State has also asked the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct an independent review to establish cause and to ensure that our air traffic control systems can get passengers to where they need to be, with an update to be provided to me within six months. We will work closely with both organisations as well as airlines and airports to ensure that lessons are learned and that any necessary improvements are implemented. This morning, I met representatives from Unite the union to hear directly about the impact of the incident on airport and airline staff and to discuss broader issues with them relating to the abuse of frontline transport workers. I express my and the Secretary of State’s gratitude to all those staff at our airports and airlines who provided support to passengers whose journeys were disrupted over the past few days. Our sympathies remain with all those passengers who have experienced delays to their travel plans or cancellations.

    Hansard source
20. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    I thank the shadow Minister for his questions. He asks me for more detail about what exactly happened, given that a cyber-attack has now been ruled out. The disruption was caused by a technical issue in NATS’s Swanwick flight processing system, which affected the processing of flight plans used by data controllers. NATS advises that the problem was affecting the flight processing system and the data that was being fed into controller radar displays. A fix was implemented later in the day, but recovery took time, as NATS needed to test that the system was safe. The shadow Minister is right to raise the experience of Martin and the other hundreds of thousands of passengers across the United Kingdom who were adversely affected. That raises serious questions about contingency and resilience planning at our airports, and I am determined to have conversations about that with the CAA, NATS, airlines and airports in the coming days. The shadow Minister criticises the fact that it will take around a week to get the report back. It is incredibly important that we take the time to figure out exactly what happened, because ultimately this is about aviation safety. It is about making sure that the UK can retain its reputation for getting passengers to where they need to go while protecting their safety. He asked about the report coming back over recess; I am happy to return after recess to answer any questions that hon. Members may have about the issue. There is a broader question about the CAA being asked to conduct an urgent review and report back within six months, and whether that is the right timeline. I remind hon. Members that after the largest recent outage, in 2023, it took two and a half years for the CAA to fully assess the implications and all the technical improvements and requirements that were needed as a result of that incident. It provided 34 recommendations, all of which have been implemented. A six-month timeframe to get to the bottom of what is a highly technical matter and an incident of disruption is proportionate and timely, and will allow us to react quickly, with stringent ministerial oversight. The shadow Minister asks Ministers to take control of the situation and exercise effective oversight on behalf of passengers—that is exactly what we are doing.

    Hansard source
21. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    I thank my right hon. Friend for his constructive question. He is right to ask whether NATS’s resourcing is exactly where it needs to be to ensure that we have the capacity and the right people in the right places to deal with these issues when they arise. I am confident that the fantastic teams of people working at NATS responded with all possible haste and diligence to the disruption that was experienced, and I thank them for doing so. My right hon. Friend raises broader questions about NATS’s resilience. Part of that is about implementing the large-scale technological transformation programmes that are required to ensure that our air traffic control systems are fit for purpose. More often than not, the UK has a formidable reputation for aviation safety, but that does not mean that when disruption like this occurs, we should not take a cold, hard look at NATS’s processes and see where we can do better.

    Hansard source
22. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    I would like to point out that more often than not, our air traffic control systems and the individuals who work in them provide a safe and effective service for UK air passengers. In a typical year, NATS handles over 2.5 million flights, and around 300 million passengers travel over the UK and across the north Atlantic. We are responsible for a large proportion of European air traffic, and NATS does a good job to ensure that UK passengers get to places safely. However, incidents like this, and the fact that they have occurred three times within four years, bring home the fact that when disruption occurs, it is incredibly difficult for passengers and for our airlines and airports to adapt to. The hon. Member is absolutely right to say that lessons must be learned. There are technical lessons that must be learned, and that is what we will get to the bottom of through the report from NATS and then the six-month report from the CAA. He is right to raise broader questions. If we are to facilitate what this Government want to achieve, which is an ambitious programme of expansion in our airport capacity, particularly in the south-east of England, we will do so with passenger safety at its heart, and effective oversight of NATS must run to the core of that.

    Hansard source
23. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    I thank my hon. Friend and predecessor in this role for all his work in holding the CAA and NATS to account and managing some of the difficult conversations following previous disruptions. He raises the valid point that those recommendations were passed on by the CAA and have been implemented in full, and yet we have seen this disruption. Part of this is about us working with the CAA to encourage NATS to go further, faster on some of the technological innovations and transformations he describes. He is right to say that, despite the negativity of the situation, this is a useful opportunity to ask ourselves questions about where we can encourage NATS to go further and push the boundaries in terms of regulatory innovation in the areas he spoke about, such as eVTOL—electric vertical take-off and landing—and drones, and to learn the lessons from this incident and think about how we can build a greater depth of resilience across our UK aviation sector.

    Hansard source
24. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    I thank the hon. Member for representing the staff at NATS so admirably and for his constructive questions. I believe that six months is the right timeframe in which to report back, because it allows us to learn the lessons effectively and get to the bottom of what is ultimately a highly technical matter, but he is right to say that Parliament must engage with the lessons learned. It is also important that we think about the connection between this incident and legislation that is moving through the House. The Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill will give us new powers to give the CAA the ability to set aviation safety rules, enhance air passenger rights and directly enforce consumer rights. Parliament must have its say on how the lessons that we learn from this incident can inform the Bill, so that it practically improves the travelling experience of passengers up and down the country.

    Hansard source
25. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    I thank my hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity to thank the NATS staff at Prestwick, and across the United Kingdom, for the incredible work that they do. NATS will come under a lot of scrutiny in coming days and weeks—rightly so, because we expect it to maintain a system of air traffic control that keeps the British public safe—but I am resolute in my belief that all the staff at NATS responded with all the haste and diligence that we would expect to protect passengers, and to ensure that aviation could restart safely. Ultimately, that is what we expect of NATS.

    Hansard source
26. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    While I am not currently in a position to give the hon. Gentleman a pounds-and-pence figure for the economic impact, I am under no illusions about this; it will be incredibly significant. We need to learn the lessons from what has happened to minimise the chance of disruption of this kind ever happening again. He asks me a broader question about compensation or refunds for passengers. Passengers whose flights have been cancelled are entitled to assistance from their airlines, including either a refund within seven days or a rerouting to their destination, including through another airline, where appropriate. Passengers may also be entitled to care and assistance while waiting for a delayed or rerouted flight, but we saw lots of incidents of airport capacity not being able to deal with the number of passengers who were disrupted. That is a key lesson that we have to learn from this incident.

    Hansard source
27. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    I thank my hon. Friend for his determined advocacy for passengers with disabilities in both our aviation sector and the wider UK transport system. He is right that the Bill will enable the Secretary of State to conduct a review of how to enhance air passenger rights, particularly for those who can face the most acute forms of disruption while travelling, including people with disabilities or other protected characteristics. We need to take a cold, hard look at how some of the most vulnerable people in society are affected by disruption of this nature, and think about how we can strengthen our air passenger rights regime to respond effectively.

    Hansard source
28. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    Let me reassure the right hon. Gentleman, my constituency neighbour, that we have a system of prioritising what we feel as a Department is most important, passing that through the CAA, and down to NATS. The Secretary of State puts together a priorities letter that sets out very clearly her expectations of our air traffic control system, and chief among them, when that was last done, was technological transformation to ensure that our systems are resilient. That recommendation is more pressing than ever, given what we have seen. The Secretary of State and I will both reaffirm that in our meetings with NATS and the CAA, because this incident teaches us that that technological change should be completed with all possible haste.

    Hansard source
29. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    We are in close dialogue with both airlines and airports, and are reminding them of what needs to be done to protect the welfare of their passengers. Both airline and airport staff and the companies themselves across the country are endeavouring to do the right thing by their passengers who face this disruption. The Department needs to ensure that it is doing its bit, and we will never be shy of fighting for passengers and their rights.

    Hansard source
30. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    I thank the hon. Lady for her challenge. She is right; both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports have ambitious programmes of airspace redesign under way. I reassure her that the Department is committed to working productively with them to ensure that they can realise those airspace change proposals as quickly as possible. That will help us to make our flights more efficient, reduce carbon burn, stop planes idling when they do not need to, and hopefully minimise noise. Scotland is well ahead of other areas in that space, and we need to give it all possible tools, so that it can deliver that important work.

    Hansard source
31. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    My hon. Friend is right to point out that the issue that caused the initial disruption was fixed as quickly as possible by NATS, but a number of hours then went by, because it needed to ensure that the system was stable when it was rebooted, and that flights could return to the air safely. That is the most important consideration for NATS when it faces disruption of this kind. I can confirm that the congestion we have seen has largely passed through, despite the fact that lots of planes were out of place and needed to be rerouted. It is now up to the Department for Transport, NATS and the CAA to work practically together to ensure that any subsequent congestion is minimised, and that the British public can carry on flying to where they need to go.

    Hansard source
32. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    The Secretary of State said from the Dispatch Box yesterday that she is of the view that while this disruption was not foreseen, it was not unavoidable, and there are lessons to learn about how we can minimise the chances of this recurring. The hon. Member is right to point to the fact that resilience is clearly not where it needs to be. We need our technological systems to be more adaptive and more reactive. That is exactly why the Secretary of State has said that technological change needs to be at the forefront of the CAA and NATS’ priorities, and agility and the resilience in the system need to be among their top considerations.

    Hansard source
33. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    The Transport Secretary and I met Martin Rolfe on Wednesday, and expressed our concern about the scale of disruption on behalf of passengers and the industry. The Transport Secretary has asked for the cause of the issue to be identified and addressed as quickly as possible. Scrutiny of both the leadership of NATS and the technological programmes and processes is critical, and is something that the Department will keep at the forefront of our minds in the days and weeks to come.

    Hansard source
34. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    Allow me to reassure the hon. Member that the civil aviation air traffic control systems and those used by the military and the Ministry of Defence are separate. However, it is right to say that our air traffic control for civil aviation is a foundation of the resilience of our aviation sector, and an enormous amount of economic growth is dependent on that sector functioning effectively, whether that be through air freight, the movement of business travellers to where they need to go, or facilitating the UK tourism industry. That is why it is so important that lessons are learned from this incident, and that we identify how we can minimise impacts on our national resilience in future.

    Hansard source
35. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    I thank the hon. Lady for her work representing her constituents who are employees of NATS. Let me use this opportunity to thank them again for the hard work that they do. However, she is right to say that resilience in those systems is not currently where we need it to be. We never want disruption of this kind to occur, but when it does, we need to use it as a productive lesson on how we can strengthen systems and ensure that when things do go wrong, they are restored as quickly as possible. I am confident that NATS responded to this incident in the shortest possible timeframe, while ensuring that safety was paramount for aircraft, both arriving and departing, but there are lessons to be learned about the contingency plans that need to be put in place, and we will endeavour to learn them.

    Hansard source
36. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    As the right hon. Member knows, retaliation against cyber-attacks is not an appropriate matter to discuss at the Dispatch Box. However, he raises an important point about our overall resilience and ability to defend against cyber-attacks when they occur. While NATS has confirmed that this was a technical issue—it does not believe it to be cyber-related—I can reassure the right hon. Member that the CAA, NATS, DFT and transport providers work very closely together to defend against cyber-attacks from our adversaries, and any other threats that may emerge.

    Hansard source
37. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    Aviation connectivity is perhaps nowhere more important than from Northern Ireland to the rest of the United Kingdom. It is an economic and a social lifeline—I am cognisant of that. I can reassure the hon. Member that retaining resilience with the links from Northern Ireland to the UK mainland is of the utmost importance to me, and I would be glad to speak further to him to think about how we can strengthen those aviation links.

    Hansard source
38. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    Let me just say quickly to the hon. Member that if he has constituents experiencing particularly thorny issues in engaging with airlines to get the support they need, he is welcome to raise them with me. Passengers whose flights have been cancelled are entitled to assistance from their airlines, including either a refund within seven days or rerouting to their destination. The CAA has published guidance on its website stating that delays and cancellations caused by the NATS technical incident are likely to be considered extraordinary circumstances, because they are beyond airlines’ control. That being said, we will think about how we can work with a range of actors, including the airports and airlines, to get the right information to passengers in order to ensure that they can access the support they need.

    Hansard source
39. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    Let me use this opportunity to restate my thanks to workers across UK airports who have responded to this disruption. I am concerned to hear about the case that the hon. Member raises, and if he writes to me with more detail, I can ensure that the appropriate action is taken.

    Hansard source
40. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Keir Mather

    Air Traffic Control Disruption

    That is a very fair challenge. Our response to ensure that his constituents get the protections they need is threefold. First, we need to learn the lessons of what has happened, the nature of the technical fault, and to fix it to minimise the chance of it ever happening again. Secondly, there is a broader resilience question about air connectivity from Northern Ireland. I would like to work with him and other Members to think about how that can be strengthened further, but I reassure him that resilience work on that matter is widespread across the Department for Transport and is at the forefront of our minds. Thirdly, there is the question of residents in Northern Ireland being able to benefit from the measures in the Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill that are specifically designed to strengthen consumer protections, enhance air passenger rights and make our system of aviation safety more streamlined. I look forward to working with him and other hon. Members on those important issues.

    Hansard source