Commons
Oral Questions
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
9 July 2026
Topical Questions
I welcome the new Minister for farming to his post and welcome his willingness to meet the National Pig Association, and presumably the National Farmers Union Scotland pig sector, too. However, I suggest that the situation needs a bit more urgency than meeting in due course. There is a clear and pre…
Commons
Proceedings
8 July 2026
2 contributions
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on the management of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and proposed changes to payments made to coastguard rescue officers.
Through you, Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank Mr Speaker for allowing me the opportunity to ask this urgent question today, and I thank the Minister for his answer. As he knows, last week, we had more than 30 Members in Westminster Hall for a debate on these changes. I am pleased to hear that as a resu…
Commons
Westminster Hall
1 July 2026
5 contributions
Coastguard Volunteers: Remuneration and HMRC Guidance
I beg to move,
That this House has considered HMRC guidance and remuneration of coastguard volunteers.
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Alec. I welcome the Minister to his place.
This debate is timely, because I am angry and offended by what the Maritime and Coastguard Agency …
I know of no CRO who gives their time and skills for the money, but the way in which they have received financial recognition in recent years has enabled them to make their contribution. That is especially true for the self-employed: many paid by the hour in their day jobs will lose out financially.…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
21 May 2026
Industrial Strategy
The largest sector of the manufacturing base is food manufacturing, but it was deliberately left out of the industrial strategy. As a consequence, food manufacturing is now facing rising input costs, especially from energy, and is unable to get the assistance that the Minister just referred to. The …
Commons
Proceedings
20 May 2026
Processed Russian Oil Products: Sanctions
For years, Ministers on the Treasury Bench have told us that oil is traded as a global commodity, so it makes no difference where in the world it is taken out of the ground and that, as a consequence, we can wind down production on the UK continental shelf—availability of supply would continue. Give…
Commons
Oral Questions
26 March 2026
Topical Questions
T8. Airlines are already adding fuel surcharges to ticket prices as a consequence of current events. That may not be surprising, but does the Secretary of State agree with me that, if they are going to do that, they should at the same time publish a trigger point, so that customers will know when th…
Commons
Oral Questions
26 March 2026
2 contributions
European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service
12. What recent discussions she has had with the aviation industry on the potential merits of the UK rejoining the European geostationary navigation overlay service.
I think I can speed things up there, because I can tell the Minister exactly what the impact has been. Since we lost access to EGNOS, the number of cancellations to island communities has trebled, which in turn has put up the cost of tickets, and occasionally air ambulance flights are unable to get …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 March 2026
Middle East: Economic Update
Shetland is home to one of the largest onshore wind farms in the country, the operators of which are paid millions not to generate electricity because of grid constraints. As a result, the announcement this morning of a trial of discounted energy rates for communities such as ours will be met—possib…
Commons
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
EU-UK Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement: Negotiations
Obviously, there are real opportunities to be had from the completion of an SPS agreement, but those who import fresh produce, in particular citrus fruit, are concerned that imports from countries outside the European Union will become more difficult and more expensive as a consequence. May I encour…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 March 2026
Digital ID: Public Consultation
I commend the Minister for admitting that he does not know how much this is going to cost, but it is almost six months since this became Government policy, and now he has decided that it is time to consult the public. Can he tell the House how much it has cost us so far?
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 March 2026
Type 1 Diabetes: Infant Testing
I am grateful to you for allowing me to take part in the debate, Sir Alec. I apologise for my late arrival; I had a five-hour delay to my flight today, which is all part of the joys of highland living. I particularly wanted to take part as a consequence of representations I received from my constitu…
Commons
Debate
2 March 2026
Representation of the People Bill
The hon. Lady is absolutely right about the 2014 referendum experience. After that, I brought a section 30 order before the House to give the Scottish Parliament the power to lower the voting age to 16 for local council and Scottish Parliament elections. I can tell the hon. Lady that there is nobody…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 March 2026
Middle East
Mr Speaker, you will recall that in 2003 this House voted to support George Bush’s war in Iraq, and that 10 years later we voted not to support Barack Obama’s intervention in Syria. I believed, and still believe, that on both occasions we made the wrong decision, but it was of critical importance fo…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 February 2026
2 contributions
Energy Developers Levy
The hon. Member has really come to the nub of the matter: the energy companies that are building and installing the renewable capacity are making a lot of money out of it. In my constituency, there are turbines whose owners are being paid for not generating anything, while we have the highest levels…
I urge the Minister to learn from the experience of Shetland and Sullom Voe, 50 years ago. We took the most important step on North sea oil and gas coming ashore in Shetland, but on our terms: there was a genuine funding stream coming to the community. If we give the whip hand to the corporates, the…
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 February 2026
Firearms Licensing
The hon. Gentleman’s point about the DVLA is an interesting one. If I consider my casework load over the years, I would not necessarily hold up the DVLA as a model of the advantages of centralisation.
Are we not losing sight of the fact that, when Parliament legislated in the first instance for two…
Commons
Debate
12 February 2026
Rural Mobile Connectivity
It would be wrong to let this moment pass without reflecting on the fact that EE has its network of masts as a result of significant public investment, because it got the contract for the emergency services network. Does that not impose a duty on it to do more than merely commercial negotiation in r…
Commons
Westminster Hall
12 February 2026
6 contributions
UK-EU Agritrade: SPS Agreement
Thank you, Ms Jardine. It is, as ever, an inestimable pleasure to serve under your stewardship in Westminster Hall. May I place on record my appreciation of the Backbench Business Committee for granting time for me to make a statement to mark the publication of our Committee’s fifth report of this P…
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. I welcome him formally to the Committee and thank him for his contribution to its proceedings. We benefited from our time at the John Innes Centre, and it is not a subject of any controversy to say that the Committee was very impressed with the profession…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
5 February 2026
Farming Sector Productivity
Has the Minister had the opportunity to consider the report by the Andersons Centre for CropLife UK? It estimates that if a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement with the European Union was implemented without a suitable implementation period, it could result in steep drops in UK crop production and …
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
2 February 2026
2 contributions
High North: Defence Resources
4. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of UK defence resources in the High North.
May I thank you, Mr Speaker, for your words about the late Lord Wallace of Tankerness? Jim Wallace was not just my predecessor in this House; he was a friend and, in fact, my London flatmate for many years. I am sure that his family and all those who mourn his passing, especially in the Northern Isl…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 February 2026
Indefinite Leave to Remain
The hon. and learned Gentleman is making a compelling case. The position is particularly acute in island communities, where we need to bring people in to be part of our community. Their role is welcomed, as we cannot just ship workers in from another town or village 10, 15 or 20 miles down the road.…
Commons
Debate
22 January 2026
10 contributions
Fishing Industry
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Government support for the fishing industry.
I place on record my appreciation of the Backbench Business Committee for making time available for this debate and for bringing it back to its rightful place here in the main Chamber of the House.
The Prim…
It is critically important. I heard that for myself from my hon. Friend’s constituents when I visited Brixham not once but twice in the run-up to Christmas. It remains to be seen whether the invasion of octopus will be permanent because of changing water temperature, or whether it is just another of…
+8 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
22 January 2026
Emergencies: Rural and Coastal Areas
I can tell the Minister that the promises made by telecoms companies about the withdrawal of copper landlines have not been kept. A recent power outage that covered both Caithness and Orkney left my constituents without any landline connectivity or mobile connectivity, as there was no power to the m…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 January 2026
Water White Paper
I welcome what is in the White Paper, and it should lead to more effective regulation, but I have just a couple of words of caution. First, the Drinking Water Inspectorate is the only part of the set-up that works well, so folding it into a new regulator should not involve it losing that ability. On…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 January 2026
Warm Homes Plan
Orkney and Shetland are home to some of the worst levels of fuel poverty in the United Kingdom, as well as some of the largest onshore wind farms in the country. Solar panels are of limited usefulness to us, because it is coldest in the winter and we might have as little as five hours of daylight in…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 January 2026
3 contributions
Water (Special Measures) Act 2025: Enforcement
All this talk of gangsters makes me think my hon. Friend must be styling himself as the Eliot Ness of the water industry. His point about the Drinking Water Inspectorate is particularly important today, as we hear about the changes proposed in the White Paper. The DWI does exceptionally high quality…
Thames Water first paid out bonuses it said it would not recoup, and has subsequently said only that the payment of bonuses is paused. My hon. Friend knows that I am a nasty, suspicious and cynical person, but I am pretty sure the senior management, the chief executive and the chair of that company …
+1 more contribution in this session