Commons
Debate
13 January 2026
Finance (No. 2) Bill
To come to the rescue of the Chancellor, it turns out that she simply did not understand the impact, according to the Business Secretary. Perhaps the Minister, in her winding-up speech, will be able to confirm that the Chancellor literally did not know what the impact of her own policies would be on…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
12 January 2026
Topical Questions
The local government settlement strips £27 million from East Riding of Yorkshire council. I learned today that there will be an additional £21 million cost over the next three years from the minimum wage and the jobs tax. Does the Minister really think it is acceptable that local residents should ha…
Commons
Debate
16 December 2025
13 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill
The Minister says that there will be no cut to capital budgets, but of course he is talking only about the public sector. Has he seen the CBI Economics research that suggests that there will be severe capital budget reductions in the private sector—the very sector that creates the wealth on which ev…
On that point, will the Minister give way?
+11 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
5 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
Will my hon. Friend give way?
I am extremely grateful. My hon. Friend is setting out a powerful case. We are puzzled, because a system designed for ordinary workers that has a sensible cap is now being opened up to the very CEOs who, as has been highlighted, would not have previously used it. We have a Labour party in hock to th…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
15 December 2025
Women Veterans
My constituent Katie has served in the RAF for 25 years. In preparation for her return to civilian life, she secured an MOD rentals tenancy to provide housing stability before she receives her pension next year and can buy a house of her own. At short notice, that tenancy was withdrawn, leaving her …
Commons
Proceedings
11 December 2025
Business of the House
May we have a debate in Government time on the quality of parcel delivery services? Prompted by constituents, just last night I asked about Evri on Facebook. I have more than 100 responses already, most of them negative, sadly. Amid the gloom, one name did stand out, and that was Patrington’s Evri d…
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
11 contributions
Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Will my right hon. Friend give way?
My right hon. Friend is right to put his finger on the issue of trust. It is not the 280,000 people who are not employed now compared with last year; it is not the lost opportunities for so many young people in hospitality or, indeed, the so many other areas of failure, such as the reduction in numb…
+9 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
7 contributions
Seasonal Work
My hon. Friend may be aware that just across the channel in France, high regulation and high tax has led to consistent, long-term high youth unemployment. Speaking of Andy Williams, another song says that there is a “lesson to be learned” from this, and we do not have to look too far to learn it.
What seems to be missing on the Government Benches is any recognition of the growing anger among young people at the fact that they are being shut out of the jobs market. It is the most damaging time in someone’s life to be barred from work when they are young. The Minister does not seem to be an An…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
9 December 2025
3 contributions
Railways Bill
I wonder whether my hon. Friend is concerned, as I am, about how Ministers will square their responsibility to the trade unions—who, of course, fund the Labour party —with the producer interest, and whether she has any reflections on their past failure to get that balance right.
The Minister responding to this debate represents Selby. One of the great successes of the open system has been Hull Trains, which provides a fantastic service from Hull, through Selby, down to London, and then back again. Does my hon. Friend worry, as I do, that open services such as Hull Trains wi…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 December 2025
4 contributions
Network Rail Timetable Changes: Rural Communities
Order. I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called to speak in the debate.
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesman.
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 December 2025
Creative Education
I remind hon. Members that they may only make a speech with prior permission from the Member in charge of the debate and the Minister. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates.
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 December 2025
7 contributions
Water Scarcity
I remind Members to please bob if they wish to be called in the debate.
If everybody speaks as scheduled, it should be about seven minutes each.
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
3 December 2025
Engagements
Commons
Proceedings
24 November 2025
Ministerial Code
We just want the transparency that was promised to be delivered. The Minister has been given an impossible task as a junior Minister, but the House surely deserves to know how much cash was transferred to the Prime Minister by someone who has been given a £130,000-a-year part-time sinecure. [ Interr…
Commons
Proceedings
17 November 2025
Illegal Waste: Organised Crime
Correlation is not causation, but no one has so far mentioned that our environmental levies on legal waste disposal go up and up, in correlation with rises in criminal dumping. Is it possible that we have gone too far in that direction? Regardless of the enforcement we do, we are creating an incenti…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Power Station: Wylfa
Like the shadow Secretary of State I welcome the announcement on moving forward with SMRs, but like the Minister’s extremely knowledgeable hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols), I am concerned about gigawatt scale. Wylfa is truly the best site for a gigawatt-scale nuclear d…
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
11 contributions
Energy
Even before my right hon. Friend came into the Department and asked for a whole-system energy cost analysis when I was the Energy Minister, our strategic objective was to be among the countries with the cheapest electricity prices in Europe by the 2030s. Does she have any idea why the Labour party h…
The Minister talked about honesty, which is ironic given where he sits at the moment, in the Government of which he is a member. The Minister is better than this. He was talking specifically about renewables. Less than 7% of our electricity came from renewables in 2010, and by 2024 the figure was ap…
+9 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
5 November 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker—
It is, Madam Deputy Speaker. You will be aware that a Bill was presented to Parliament only this week that provides for a duty of candour for public servants. It is not enough simply to tell the truth; there has to be a duty of candour. Can you, Madam Deputy Speaker, share with the House whether the…
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
13 contributions
Supporting High Streets
My hon. Friend is giving a powerful speech. Hospitality is fundamental to social mobility. I would have thought that Government Members would be ashamed of a policy that means that those furthest away from the labour market—young people—are put off from trying to get their first job. Hospitality is …
Does the Minister regret the fact that unemployment has gone up every single month since Labour came to power, whereas, over the 14 years of the Conservative Government, 800 more people a day—4 million in total—came into work? Surely she must recognise those facts, away from her—albeit rather brilli…
+11 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
30 October 2025
Topical Questions
T2. The Conservatives brought in a national guarantee of 11,500 post offices in the network. Labour has promised to scrap that. What assurances can Ministers give to people in Middleton, Lockington, Leconfield, Cherry Burton, Aldbrough, Walkington, Tickton, Hedon, Wawne, Skirlaugh, Sproatley, Beverl…
Commons
Oral Questions
Wales
29 October 2025
Economic Growth
It is not just farmers but lots of other family businesses who are terrified for their future. Under the business property relief, a company worth £20 million would have to pay £4 million in tax, yet that responsibility falls not on the business but the person who inherits it, so they will have to e…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
14 contributions
Stamp Duty Land Tax
The Minister is always generous with his time and always has a smile, which is a welcome thing in this Chamber. Government spending this year is approaching £1,300 billion, but Ministers could not save £5 billion because of their own Back Benchers. Is it his complete failure to make even the smalles…
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
+12 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
North Sea Oil and Gas Industry
Every month, 1,000-plus people lose their jobs in North sea oil and gas. Contrary to the case that the Minister presents, the industry says that this declining basin still has 4 billion additional barrels that could be extracted, if only there were new licences. He tells the House that that oil and …
Commons
Debate
21 October 2025
4 contributions
Sentencing Bill
On another form of recall, does the hon. Member have any sympathy with new clause 62, tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Esther McVey), and the idea that there should be a sunset on this provision? However we look at the contents of this Bill, it is a bit of an experiment, so we s…
rose —
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
21 October 2025
2 contributions
Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry
Two.
Getting this right is both important and extremely difficult. I have two questions for the Minister. If, when she meets Fiona and Ellie-Ann, she finds that they are right and that there is something wrong, what powers does she have to intervene? Secondly, will she provide assurances that the inquiry…