Lizzi Collinge

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

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1. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

   Topical Questions

   <Question HRSContentId="{84E47A3B-1C29-43C1-9631-C8FB3C75C084}">T7. <QuestionText HRSContentId="{F0215713-8561-4789-9D1D-2CC7E03A6848}"></QuestionText>Between 2023 and 2025, we saw an 82% drop in net migration. This week, the Chancellor will lay out his Budget and there will be lots of chatter about headroom, tax take and fiscal rules. Given that Government estimates show that the entire 2022-23 skilled worker visa cohort will make a net positive lifetime contribution of approximately £47 billion, what assessment has the Home Secretary made of the economic impact on tax take and other measures of the reduction in net migration and the proposed changes to legal migration policy?</Question>

   Hansard source
2. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

   Civil Service Pensions

   I have taken up 11 constituency cases about the civil service pension this year alone, and only three have been resolved. I was pleased to hear the Minister’s strong statement, because my constituents are fed up of being told by Capita that things are improving when they are simply not. The most heartbreaking case is that of a gentleman I started helping at the beginning of the year, who has since died. His widow is now having to fight Capita, and I am doing everything I can to fight alongside her—I am sure she will be glad to know that the Minister is with her too. What can the Minister say to give my constituents confidence that the situation will finally improve?

   Hansard source
3. 21 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

   Jackdaw Gasfield

   As a member of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, I have looked in detail at both Jackdaw and Rosebank. It is important that we in this House do not confuse the two. My main concern has always been the impact on carbon emissions of any gas taken from Jackdaw. Will the Minister tell me what impact Jackdaw gas will have on emissions? Will he reassure me that this decision will not have an impact on the speed or scale of the low-carbon energy transition?

   Hansard source
4. 20 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

   Topical Questions

   <Question HRSContentId="{F14FBFB9-FCEA-4F38-A95F-37B730D656CB}">T9. <QuestionText HRSContentId="{DF91C47D-E6F7-4E27-8DB3-112ECB2983AD}"></QuestionText>As the Minister knows, I work with a lot of dying people and their families, so good palliative care is important to me, as it is to my constituents. Recently, this House turned down an opportunity to expand end-of-life care, with some opponents citing the state of palliative care as the reason for voting against assisted dying. What is the Minister doing to improve palliative care, particularly in the light of recent announcements about a national care service?</Question>

   Hansard source
5. 16 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

   Heritage Public Houses Bill

   Custard pies!

   Hansard source
6. 16 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

   Drought Conditions: England

   Not many people know that the Westmorland part of my constituency includes part of the Yorkshire Dales national park, so to see our neighbours in Yorkshire going into drought, and a lot of the rest of the country in severe drought, is very worrying. I welcome the statement about protecting public water supplies. Does the Minister share my disappointment that we continue to see in this House arguments against tackling climate change, which is fundamentally the cause of the drought?

   Hansard source
7. 16 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

   Heritage Public Houses Bill

   I thank the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood) for raising the important issue of heritage pubs. I grew up in a small village in north Cumbria. We were lucky enough to have two pubs, both of which I worked in as a teenager—most memorably one Christmas day, when I was presented with a Mrs Santa Claus outfit to wear. As a teenager more interested in heavy metal, I was not very pleased. Those pubs were important community hubs. I feel lucky to be representing the constituency of Morecambe and Lunesdale, which has many more excellent pubs than I could possibly mention in one speech. Before this debate, I went on Facebook to ask my constituents what their favourite heritage pub was. The comments section was absolutely inundated—it was fantastic to see the passion that my constituents have for their locals. Morecambe and Lunesdale has dozens of great public houses, many with beautiful heritage features or important heritage settings. The Old Hall Inn in my town of Heysham is apparently the oldest dwelling in the borough, having been built in 1598. People can go from the Black Bull in Sedbergh to the Royal in Heysham, perhaps via a cheeky pint of Wainwright in the Albion at Arnside, looking across at the lakeland <span id="692" class="column-number" data-column-number="692"></span>fells. They could even engage in a “west end wobble” in the heart of Morecambe, usually starting at the Exchange, possibly popping into the Constitutional Club and finding their way to the newly opened Prince Albert on Albert Road, which has a fantastic cellar that no one could guess existed from the outside. We are spoilt for choice. I invite any hon. Member here to come on a little pub crawl with me. I maintain that I have the most beautiful constituency in the country. Any visitor to our pubs will get to see every corner of it.

   Hansard source
8. 16 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

   Heritage Public Houses Bill

   I have not tried that ale. I wonder whether those of us on the correct side of the Pennines would welcome a Yorkshire pint or not—but I am sure it is delicious. Pubs are vital community assets, whether in Yorkshire, Lancashire or Westmorland. British life often happens over a pint and maybe a bag of Scampi Fries or—even better—a packet of Lancashire crisps. My tenuous claim to fame is that Wainwright Beer is named after my great-great uncle Alfred Wainwright, who was a fell walker and writer. He did enjoy a pint at the end of a walk, although I have to say that his mother, who was a strict teetotaller, would be turning in her grave at the idea of her son having a beer named after him. I have spoken before in this place about the need to have spaces in our community where people can drop by, see a mate, run into people they know or even make new friends. Much as I love the great coffee shops in my constituency like the Salty Bean, or maybe something a bit more traditional like Lewis’s, which has many heritage features, you cannot beat a swift half at the Dispensary at the end of a long week. It is about not just community—I will come back to that—but conserving important architectural and cultural buildings. The Tivoli Bar in Morecambe, which was named after the Tivoli gardens in Copenhagen, closed a few years ago, but I remember the inside of it being stunning. The Tivoli and the Queen’s Hotel in Morecambe could be fantastic assets to our town and examples of heritage buildings being preserved and put to good use; instead, they lie neglected. The Tivoli is owned by Samuel Smith’s Brewery, and despite Morecambe BID and I trying to get it and other absent landlords to engage on how we get more buildings open and working again, unfortunately we did not get any engagement from the brewery when we wrote to it back in February.

   Hansard source
9. 16 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

   Heritage Public Houses Bill

   My hon. Friend puts me on the spot—of course I cannot remember a single example right now, but I know they are everywhere. However, the point he makes about reuse of buildings is really important, and one that I will come back to. While we can keep pubs as pubs, times change and things change, and what is important is to preserve those buildings for the use of the community, whether as a pub or not. I thank the group in his constituency for doing that. The Queen’s Hotel in Morecambe recently changed hands, so I want to wait and see what happens with that, but it sat neglected for a long time. That has a huge impact on how people feel about the town and on the businesses and landlords who make a huge effort to keep their buildings in really good condition; it is not fair that they should have to be next to those eyesores. I want to take a moment to talk about the business community across Morecambe and Lunesdale, and in particular Morecambe BID’s work in the town. I meet local businesses every week, and without doubt they are a key part of what makes a community thrive. We have loads of local businesses who are wedded to the community. They are part of it and do a lot to support it. For example, I recently met Vicki Edwards, who is a breast cancer survivor. She is raising money for CancerCare, a fantastic local charity that supports families affected by cancer. Vicki was supported in her campaign by 14 local pubs. Every venue had a collection box and leaflets on “know your normal”, which is a Breast Cancer Now campaign to help people detect suspected breast and chest cancers earlier. Many of those pubs also ran their own fundraising events for CancerCare. I want to recognise the Morecambe pubs that supported Vicki, which are the Pier Hotel, Soul Bowl, Palatine, the Bull hotel, Fisherman’s Square, the Chieftain Hotel, the Royal Bar and Shaker, the Crown Hotel, Harry’s Bar, the York, O’Nellys, Brittlestar Wine Bar, the Pestle and Mortar and the Hurley Flyer. I think even more pubs might have helped out, but that was the list in my local newspaper, so I am sticking to it. They, as always, showed the best of British businesses. I want to talk about the staff who work in these pubs. Heritage pubs often have narrow staircases and low-levelled cellars. I have worked in many a pub, and met my husband when he was running the Britannia in Lancaster, a Victorian pub that is now a block of flats. Staff in pubs work very hard, often with antisocial hours, and sometimes have to deal with some interesting customers. That is why I am proud that they now have much better employment protections through our Employment Rights Act 2025, in particular the improved sick pay situation and, of course, the increase to the minimum wage. I spent many years working on the minimum wage, and that increase is an absolutely essential part of ensuring that everyone who works hard for a living is rewarded for that. I remember the long hours, the hard work, the occasionally tricky customer, the glasswasher breaking on the busiest day of the week, of course, and the beer delivery being late. But I also remember the joy: not only meeting my husband, but the wider friendships we built, the flatmates above the pub—Stephie, Jay, Jade and Chris—and the late-night chats—definitely not lock-ins; we never did that. I still occasionally pop over to Lancaster and drop into the Gregson centre, which was originally built in 1889 for the community. I worked <span id="694" class="column-number" data-column-number="694"></span>there twice and, 20 years later, I still see regulars who I used to serve. In fact, one of those regular’s toddler sons—who should, I swear, still be three years old—was recently on “University Challenge”. I am sure that Aliki is very proud of her son. That work history also came in handy when visiting local pubs in my constituency, where they set me up with a pint glass, a real ale pump and a glint in their eye, clearly expecting the local MP to make a right frothy mess of the pint. I particularly remember a visit before the election to the Royal, in Bolton-le-Sands, with my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West and Pudsey (Rachel Reeves). I have to say, I do pour a better pint than my right hon. Friend, and it is a proper northern pint with a creamy head, too—none of this southern nonsense with no sparkler tap. I am not having that; it is just absolutely wrong. I will turn now to the provisions in the Bill. The Bill obviously has good intent, and I share the desire of the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire to protect our heritage pubs and buildings. I mentioned the Tivoli in Morecambe and the Victorian pub where I met my husband now being flats, and they are just two examples. I do have some concerns about certain aspects of the Bill, as I do not want to create more bureaucracy in the planning system. I think one of the great achievements of this Government will be having a planning system that works to protect our assets without being overly complicated and expensive. About 70% of planning authorities in England already have heritage lists, and 11,000 of the listed buildings are pubs or inns, so pubs are already afforded strong protections through the planning system.

   Hansard source
10. 16 Oct 2026·Parliament·Lizzi Collinge

    Heritage Public Houses Bill

    That is an interesting and important point. I will go on to mention the importance of retaining those additional features when pubs, or any buildings, are renovated. The hon. Gentleman makes an important point there. However, as he knows, proposals to demolish or change the use of pubs already require a planning application, as they are deliberately excluded from relevant permitted development rights. That allows local authorities, through the planning committee, to consider the full impact of the proposals. Local authorities have the power to issue an enforcement notice for a breach of planning control. I appreciate that in the hon. Gentleman’s case, with the Crooked House, that came far too late, and I really do share the despair he must have felt at that happening. We have talked about the heritage lists. Pubs that are formally designated as listed buildings are afforded additional protection, with listed building consent needed to demolish or undertake any works of alteration or extension that affect the listed building’s character or appearance. Failure to obtain listed building consent is, of course, an offence. I just want to say that I thoroughly support local authorities’ fully enforcing all planning consents and building regulations. There is a pub in the area where I <span id="695" class="column-number" data-column-number="695"></span>was a county councillor that was changed into flats where the developer, frankly, had no respect for the planning process or local people and consistently and flagrantly breached the planning consents he had been given. I would support much stronger powers to prevent people like that from being able to develop in the future.

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2024 General Election: Morecambe and Lunesdale

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