Speeches and Articles - Hilary Benn MP

Hilary’s Article for the Yorkshire Evening Post

Nowadays, barely an advice surgery of mine goes by without someone asking for help with their personal independence payment (PIP). PIP has replaced the old disability living allowance and as a result many people are going through new assessments. Mainly, people come about decisions to refuse them PIP or to…

Britain and the World after Brexit

It is a great honour to have been invited to give this the third Harold Wilson Memorial lecture here at the University of Bradford with which he had such a long and close association. Little did I know when, as an 11 year-old, I attended a Labour Party rally in…

Hilary’s Article for South Leeds Life – November 2018

It is sadly all too common in our big cities these days, Leeds included, to see people sitting on the ground asking for money or huddled up against the cold sleeping in doorways. Homelessness is on the increase, but the vast majority of people affected contact their local council to…

Hilary’s Article for South Leeds Life – September 2018

Last Saturday, I went to Leeds station to talk to the guards who are in dispute with Northern Rail over their future role. They are opposing driver-only operation and campaigning in support of keeping guards on the trains. I think they are right to be doing so for many reasons,…

Hilary’s Article for the Yorkshire Evening Post

When Parliament returns next week, Brexit will continue to dominate British politics and all our futures. It’s not hard to see why. The stakes are high, much is still to be decided and time is running out. And that’s why there is now more talk about the possibility of leaving…

Hilary’s Article for South Leeds Life – August 2018

We are told that unemployment is at a 40 year low and yet demand for food banks in South Leeds has never been higher. How can this be? There are lots of reasons, so let’s look at each of them in turn. First, it’s the result of benefit cuts, sanctions…

Watch: Hilary’s speech on Brexit in the House of Commons yesterday

After the last chaotic fortnight for the Government on Brexit, here’s my speech in the House of Commons yesterday…..

Hilary’s Article for South Leeds Life – July 2018

Recently someone tried to set fire to two local places of worship – the mosque in Hardy Street and the Sikh Gurdwara in Lady Pit Lane. In both cases the doors suffered damage but thankfully the fires did not spread. I spoke to the Mosque and the Gurdwara to offer…

Hilary’s Article for South Leeds Life – June 2018

“Why are they still using plastic like this when it isn’t recycled?” My wife Sally was standing in the kitchen waving a black plastic tray at me that moments earlier had been home to some prawns. It wasn’t the first time I had been on the receiving end of this…

Hilary’s Article for the Yorkshire Evening Post

The Government is in a terrible mess over Brexit. There are bitter divisions in the Cabinet. Ministers can’t agree on what customs arrangements they want after we leave. There still isn’t an answer on how to keep an open trade border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. And two…