Clive Jones

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Parliament's party history for this member: Liberal Democrat (4 Jul 2024 – present).

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Latest on this tracker 404

1. 27 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

   Covid-19 Inquiry Module 4 Report: Government Response

   It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart, and I thank the hon. Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) for securing this debate. Today we must remember all the loved ones who were taken from us by covid, and all those who suffered so terribly during the pandemic and the lockdowns. It is for that reason that during the pandemic I proposed a covid memorial wood in my Wokingham constituency, where people could go to remember their loved ones. I am delighted that a wood of nearly 8,000 trees has been planted. Those who suffered deserve not only our sympathy but our determination to learn every lesson from this tragic chapter in our country’s history. Time and again, the inquiry has confirmed the failure of the last Conservative Government. The Conservatives left our country vulnerable and unprepared. The British public will never forgive them for partying while communities were engulfed by grief, fear and isolation. Never can such a tragedy be repeated. We must learn the lessons from the inquiry and ensure we never return to a politics that ignores expertise and evidence. We cannot afford political leaders like those in Reform who would cut back vaccines, trash medical science and spread disinformation. Every party leader should commit to implementing the inquiry’s recommendations and to supporting the vaccines that helped to end lockdowns and save lives.<span id="127WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="127WH"></span> While today’s debate concerns module 4 on vaccines and therapeutics, I want to briefly touch on module 6, which examined the pandemic’s impact on adult social care. That report confirmed what bereaved families have long known: the last Conservative Government failed to prepare the county, and its failures on social care and years of neglect left the sector exposed, creating the conditions that allowed this horror to unfold. That is why the Liberal Democrats supported the bereaved families’ call for the former Health Secretary Matt Hancock to be stripped of his place on the Privy Council.

   Hansard source
2. 27 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

   Covid-19 Inquiry Module 4 Report: Government Response

   Returning to module 4, the inquiry highlighted one of the genuine successes of the pandemic response: the vaccine roll-out. The roll-out was, in the inquiry’s words, “an extraordinary feat”. The success belongs to our scientists, NHS staff, community pharmacists and volunteers who delivered around 132 million jabs in 2021 alone and created the largest vaccine programme in British history. The vaccine saved almost 475,000 lives in England and Scotland. We should never forget that and we must never allow anyone to rewrite history. Yet the inquiry was equally clear that trust in vaccines must be rebuilt. Childhood vaccination rates have been falling for years, leaving more people vulnerable to preventable disease and increasing pressure on our health service. We must listen to our scientists, not to conspiracy theorists. Nigel Farage and Reform are amplifying the dangerous anti-vaccine rhetoric associated with Donald Trump.

   Hansard source
3. 27 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

   Covid-19 Inquiry Module 4 Report: Government Response

   Apologies, Mr Stuart. We cannot allow Trump’s America to become Farage’s Britain. That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for a strategy to combat anti-vaccine and medical disinformation, alongside a new drive to deliver record vaccination rates. Vaccines should be brought closer to communities through trusted local venues, including church halls and community centres. The best way to honour the people we lost is to learn the lessons from the inquiry, defend science, rebuild trust in vaccinations and ensure that when the next crisis comes, Britain is not so unprepared.

   Hansard source
4. 22 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

   Business of the House

   The carer’s allowance scandal saw thousands of unpaid carers unfairly pursued for debts caused by system failures. Five months into the review process, only about 1% of cases have been reassessed. Will the Leader of the House allow time for a statement from the Government on accelerating reviews and compensation and ending the unfair earnings cliff edge?

   Hansard source
5. 21 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

   Engagements

   <Question HRSContentId="{142E26AA-175D-4090-8E4D-8BBA329EFCFF}">Q1. <QuestionText HRSContentId="{597B0CD1-E589-4694-AD6B-590CA242404F}">If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 21 October.</QuestionText></Question>

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6. 21 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

   Engagements

   Like you, Mr Speaker, I have recollections of Aberfan and being at primary school myself at that time. Too many patients are suffering because of treatment delays and having their cancers missed. My private Member’s Bill, the Cancer (Reporting and Strategy) Bill, would require annual reports to Parliament on cancer diagnosis, outcomes and delivery. Will the Prime Minister commit to supporting this Bill to ensure that <span id="1103" class="column-number" data-column-number="1103"></span>his Government and all future Governments are held to account by this House for improving cancer diagnosis and outcomes?

   Hansard source
7. 15 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

   Smoke-free UK

   It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank the hon. Members for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) for securing this debate. Tackling cancer must be a national priority. Lung cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer and is often caused by smoking. It accounts for about 35,000 <span id="254WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="254WH"></span>deaths every year—approximately one in five cancer fatalities—and causes suffering and heartbreak in communities across the country. I know at first hand the impact that smoking can have, as my father was a very, very heavy smoker. He began smoking at around the age of 14. It was fashionable; everybody did it. Serving in the second world war, there was a plentiful supply of cigarettes. He could not give them up and continued smoking for the rest of his life—often 60-plus a day. It eventually killed him at the very early age of 63. That is why the ambition of a smoke-free Britain is so important to me. For that reason, I welcomed that Tobacco and Vapes Act, which passed earlier this year. It introduces a progressive generational ban on the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 1 January 2009, which means that future generations will never legally be able to buy cigarettes or other tobacco products. That is particularly important because, although overall smoking rates have fallen over the past 15 years, the proportion of children who have tried smoking has increased from 14% to 18% since 2023. The Act is an important step forward in trying to stop young people taking up the habit of smoking, but legislation alone is not enough. Experts have rightly raised concerns about enforcement, and the decade of cuts to public health under the previous Government impeded smoking cessation services. The 2022 Khan review warned that, without further action, England would miss its smoke-free target by at least seven years, with some of the poorest areas not becoming smoke-free until 2044. That is why the Liberal Democrats have called for a return to the 2015 levels of public health spending and for renewed investment in smoking cessation services, funded in part by a levy on tobacco company profits. Tobacco is a uniquely harmful product, and smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the country. It claims about 80,000 lives every year from lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. It is linked to at least 16 different cancers and countless other illnesses, and it kills up to two thirds of its long-term users. It is also the leading cause of lung cancer. Too many patients still face unacceptable waits for diagnosis and treatment. More than 106,000 cancer patients waited longer than 62 days to begin treatment in 2025. Freedom of information requests revealed that most NHS trusts reported patients waiting more than six months for cancer treatment, with some waiting considerably longer. Such delays have serious consequences. Evidence suggests that every four-week delay to treatment can significantly reduce survival rates. For lung cancer patients, early diagnosis and rapid access to treatment can mean the difference between life and death. Given the need to improve outcomes, I welcome the Government’s national cancer plan. The ambition to meet all cancer waiting time standards by 2029 is positive. That includes the target of all patients beginning treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral, for which the Liberal Democrats have been calling for some time. I am particularly pleased that the plan includes dedicated specialist cancer nurses for patients, but that is a massive ask because of the huge shortage of specialist cancer nurses. The Liberal Democrats would recruit 3,000 additional cancer nurses, doubling the current workforce. Will the Government commit to doing that? In addition, <span id="255WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="255WH"></span>the Liberal Democrats would introduce 200 fully staffed radiotherapy machines across the country, but particularly in areas of deprivation and areas that are currently poorly resourced. These measures would help to tackle the inequalities that continue to drive poorer outcomes in areas with the highest rates of lung cancer and smoking-related disease. By bringing together prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and addiction support, we can reduce both smoking rates and the harm that smoking causes. There is a strong economic case for action. Smoking costs society annually an estimated £44.8 billion through healthcare costs, lost productivity, social care pressures and smoking-related fires. Those costs far outweigh the £7.5 billion a year of revenue generated through tobacco taxation. If smokers spent their money elsewhere, it would support up to 135,000 full-time equivalent jobs and boost economic output by billions of pounds. A smoke-free Britain should be an ambition shared across the House. Reducing smoking, preventing lung cancer and ensuring equal access to high-quality treatment are goals that should transcend party politics. To finish, I have a couple of quick questions for the Minister. Can she provide an update on progress towards offering opt-out smoking cessation support as part of routine hospital care and explain what further support is being provided to help current smokers to quit? Can she also confirm that local authority funding for smoking cessation services will be protected throughout this Parliament and that the ringfence around the public health grant will remain in place?

   Hansard source
8. 15 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

   Business of the House

   While the Government have committed to a workforce plan for social care, many carers are pleading for urgent action to help resolve the high vacancy rate and to incentivise people <span id="567" class="column-number" data-column-number="567"></span>to stay in the sector. Will the Leader of the House allow a debate on delivering the skills and professional development that social care needs to retain its workforce?

   Hansard source
9. 15 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

   National Care Service

   I welcome the Minister’s statement on the national care service and thank her for early sight of it. My Liberal Democrat colleagues and I believe that everyone deserves to be able to live independently with dignity and to receive the care they need in their own home when possible. Hundreds of thousands of people are desperately waiting for the care they need and 13,000 people every day are left stranded in hospital beds, unable to leave because their care packages have not been put in place. One in seven people over 65 now pay more than £100,000 for their care in their lifetime. Spiralling social care costs have left many councils, such as my own in Wokingham, struggling to fulfil other basic services that residents want to see. Social care services are in crisis and have been for too long. That has been recognised for many years by Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats and a carer himself.

   Hansard source
10. 15 Oct 2026·Parliament·Clive Jones

    National Care Service

    Apologies for that, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are pleased that the Prime Minister has recognised from his own experience that social care needs fixing. The Liberal Democrats are keen to work on a cross-party basis to fix social care. Failure to act on social care would be a catastrophe for families, for the NHS and for local services. The Liberal Democrats have set the Government three tests for the social care reforms. First, they must put family carers front and centre, with guaranteed rights for every carer, and replace the broken carer’s allowance system. Secondly, the reforms must include a universal safety net of care, including free personal care. Thirdly, the Government must protect people from catastrophic costs so that family finances are not decimated and people do not have to lose the family home. I am pleased that the Prime Minister committed yesterday to arranging another round of cross-party talks to fix social care. The Liberal Democrats will engage in those discussions and we urge others in the House to do the same.

    Hansard source

2024 General Election: Wokingham

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