Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 October 2025
Heathrow: National Airports Review
Can the Secretary of State confirm that this is not a done deal? As part of the ANPS review process, will there be a full and independent analysis of the economic costs and benefits, the environmental effects, and demand in London and the south-east, given airport expansion elsewhere? As she says, t…
Commons
Debate
21 October 2025
7 contributions
Sentencing Bill
As I did at the start of my speech on Second Reading, I put on record the continuing crisis in our prisons. The prison population currently stands at 87,427, with usable operational capacity being 89,286. Prison population projections estimate that the population could rise to more than 100,000 by M…
I do agree with that, and in a moment I will talk about a new clause that deals specifically with tagging. I am rattling through my speech because I have a lot to get through, but what I am specifically talking about in relation to domestic abuse is simply the need for there to be due process. That …
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
20 October 2025
Alleged Spying Case: Home Office Involvement
The Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley), and other relevant Select Committee Chairs, including me, have met the Director of Public Prosecutions and sent him a detailed series of follow-up questions. The Chair of the Joint Commit…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
Criminal Courts: Independent Review
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship this afternoon, Mr Efford. I am grateful to the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright) for securing this debate. As he says, the changes being proposed to the way in which the criminal courts operate are very signif…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 October 2025
Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case
The Government have made it clear that they regret the fact that this case is not going ahead. The Minister rightly says that the CPS acts independently when making charging decisions, but will he go further than regret and say that, as a matter of law and evidence, this prosecution should have gone…
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
3 contributions
Sentencing Bill
Prisons in England and Wales are almost at capacity. The prison population currently stands at 87,578, with a current operational capacity of 89,664. The latest prison population projections estimate that the population will rise to between 95,700 and 105,200 by March 2029. This troubling picture me…
The right hon. Member is not easily confused. I will turn to exactly that point later, but in brief it is both, and there is a contradiction in it being both. There is going to be a massive expansion in prison places, and there are going to be more people in prison. However, at the same time, partly…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
16 September 2025
Topical Questions
I am sure the Lord Chancellor has read Baroness Harman’s independent review of bullying, harassment and sexual harassment at the Bar and on the bench, which was published last week. Its troubling findings are primarily for the Bar itself and for the judiciary to address, but do the Government suppor…
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
16 September 2025
Probation Service
I welcome my right hon. Friend back to his rightful place. I remember being a junior shadow Minister under him—I will try to be less deferential in my current role.
My right hon. Friend rightly says that the Government are recruiting new probation officers to fulfil the new responsibilities under t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
4 September 2025
Court Backlog
Last year, 446 Crown court trials were ineffective because the prosecutor failed to attend. Given that the Government are getting to grips with the backlog they inherited by increasing sitting days and through Brian Leveson’s proposals, is the Solicitor General concerned that the CPS also needs to s…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 September 2025
Duty of Candour for Public Authorities and Legal Representation for Bereaved Families
It is a pleasure to see so many people here. We clearly cannot do justice to this subject in two and a half minutes, but in a way, the number of people here speaks more eloquently than any speech. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne) for securing the debate and for …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Middle East
The Prime Minister responded to my questions on Gaza in the Liaison Committee this afternoon by saying:
“we need a ceasefire and we need it straightaway”
and
“the situation on the ground is intolerable”.
How will we get that ceasefire when the Israeli Government have already rejected the stateme…
Commons
Debate
11 July 2025
Rare Cancers Bill
It is a great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh), and I thank her for everything she has done on this issue. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) for taking up this Bill and getting it to this stage.
As…
Commons
Proceedings
9 July 2025
Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions
What Sir Brian’s comprehensive report demonstrates is the terrible state that our once envied criminal justice system was left in by the shadow Lord Chancellor and his colleagues. Does my hon. and learned Friend agree with Sir Brian that digging ourselves out of the hole in which they left us will r…
Commons
Oral Questions
8 July 2025
Crown Court Backlog
Last year, 839 magistrates court trials and 186 Crown court trials had to be cancelled because the defendant was not brought to court on time by prisoner escort contractors. We expect Sir Brian’s report very shortly, which will have a range of proposals on how to reduce the unprecedented backlog in …
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 July 2025
2 contributions
West Bank: Forced Displacement
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I will try to be as brief as I can in making some points that are not new, but perhaps bear repetition.
The west bank is occupied territory, something that puts it in a different class from many overseas disputes on which the Gover…
What is the practicality of holding elections when the Israelis will not recognise the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem as being able to vote? Given the situation in the west bank, let alone that in Gaza, how are they supposed to organise elections? Is that not just utopian?
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
6 contributions
Criminal Justice
I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing time for this important debate on the spending of the Ministry of Justice on criminal justice.
An effective criminal justice system is vital to the proper functioning of a democratic society. An ineffective criminal justice system presents grave…
My hon. Friend, who is knowledgeable on these issues, is absolutely right. We are relying on the implementation of the Gauke review’s recommendations to do two things: to ensure there is capacity in the prisons for the growing number of people being sentenced in our courts; and, in the longer term, …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
Topical Questions
The postponed French-Saudi conference on a two-state solution may take place as early as next month. Does the Minister think it will provide the significant opportunity that he seeks for us to recognise Palestine as a state, alongside UK allies?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
Middle East
Does my right hon. Friend believe that the attacks on Iran are beneficial to this country or will they create more instability in the middle east and beyond? As an upholder of the rules-based international order, which he says that we still support, is there a cost to the UK if the actions of our al…
Commons
Debate
20 June 2025
2 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I will speak briefly and cover just three points. I do not expect to persuade those committed to opposing the Bill to change their minds; I hope that I do not persuade those supporting it to change theirs. This is the time to put our concluded thoughts on the record before seeking their lordships’ o…
I am not going to give way.
The obvious qualification to what should be a clear and personal choice to leave life in a matter and at a time of one’s choosing is the risk of coercion, and that has rightly dominated much of the debate for the past eight months. There are two points to be made here.
…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
19 June 2025
Non-violent Drug-related Offences: Prosecution
Given that the independent sentencing review suggests that more use could be made of community sentences in such cases, but courts seem reluctant to use them as an alternative to custody, what can the Law Officers do to ensure that sentencers have confidence in community sentences, which have better…
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
5 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I will speak to new clauses 23, 24 and 25 in my name. New clauses 23 and 24 propose restrictions on the delivery and display of pointed knives to avoid death and serious injury from knife attacks. New clause 25 repeals certain unnecessary and unlawful punitive measures directed against Roma, Gypsy a…
When it was people like me proposing it, it was regarded as comical, but now Idris Elba is in favour of it, as well as experts across the field. I pay tribute to not just those celebrities, but victims and experts, particularly those on the Safer Knives group, of which I am member. It looks at the l…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 June 2025
HS2 Reset
Delays to HS2 have blighted parts of west London around the main site at Old Oak Common. Benefits, when they finally arrive, will include a major interchange with Great Western Railway and the Elizabeth line. Will the Secretary of State consider opening the Elizabeth line station at Old Oak Common a…
Commons
Debate
10 June 2025
Grenfell Tower Fire: Eighth Anniversary
I thank my hon. Friend and neighbour for securing this debate, and for realising from the first day he was elected that he is the Member for not only Kensington and Bayswater, but Grenfell. It is good that the Government are implementing all 58 recommendations of phase 2 of the inquiry, but does my …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 June 2025
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
The sanctioning of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir is welcome news, not least because theirs are the loudest voices calling for annexation of the west bank. The settlement building and forced displacement of Palestinians are accelerating, and surely it is time to recognise Palestinian sovereignty over the 22%…
Commons
Debate
5 June 2025
Bank Closures and Banking Hubs
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this incredibly important debate. Last month, the well-used Chiswick post office in my constituency closed without notice. I met Post Office Ltd yesterday, and it assured me that a service would be restored shortly. Does he agree that this volatility and unc…