Commons
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
2 contributions
Publicly Owned Markets: Food Security
4. If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of public ownership of markets on food security.
A number of us in London are concerned about the City of London’s proposal to put through a private Bill to relinquish its responsibility for providing the fish and meat markets, Billingsgate and Smithfield. A lot of our constituents rely on Billingsgate for selling and buying fresh fish, and it is …
Commons
Oral Questions
17 March 2026
Topical Questions
T7. I have a number of constituents who have had serious delays to their immigration appeals as a result of His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. One particularly tragic case involves someone who has no recourse to public funds and serious mental health problems. They applied in September 20…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
10 March 2026
Youth Unemployment: Autumn Budget 2025
I am glad that the Government are introducing things like the youth guarantee and working to help those who are not in education, employment or training. However, as the hon. Member for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo) highlighted, AI is also an increasing concern. Businesses I have spoken to a…
Commons
Debate
9 March 2026
Middle East: Economic Update
My right hon. Friend is right to focus on the cost of living and de-escalation in the middle east. I am pleased to hear her confirm again that there is money for the Ministry of Defence and access to the special reserve to deploy additional capabilities to the middle east. Can she give us a figure o…
Commons
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
Immigration Policy
Could the Minister update us on the discussions about people who arrived in this country pursuing leave for five years, or whatever period their visa stated, to get status in the UK, and who are approaching the end of that period? I have a number of constituents who will reach that point in April, a…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 March 2026
Spring Forecast
I have to say that the sound and fury from the shadow Chancellor is extraordinary, given that it was his Government who ran the country and its citizens into chaos, with interest rate and inflation increases under the Truss mini-Budget. I welcome today’s forecast partly because there has been so lit…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 March 2026
Middle East
The Prime Minister has spoken about repatriating British citizens in the region. Will that be through the Ministry of Defence? If so, who will foot the bill: the MOD, the Treasury or those being repatriated?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 February 2026
Business of the House
My constituent Isabel Rose suffered a horrendous event in Hong Kong almost exactly two years ago. She was sexually assaulted and violently raped. She went to the authorities in trust to report this, but it was not properly investigated. Given the Government’s support for tackling violence against wo…
Commons
Oral Questions
Restoration and Renewal Client Board
26 February 2026
2 contributions
Palace of Westminster: Major Works
6. What its planned timetable is for starting major works on the Palace of Westminster.
In modern times, this issue has been discussed since 2016; we are on our 10th anniversary of discussing what has actually been an issue for 40 years. I disagree with the hon. Member for Bridlington and The Wolds (Charlie Dewhirst) about going back to the drawing board again. Does my hon. Friend have…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
2 contributions
Access to Mental Health Services
5. What steps he is taking to improve access to mental health services.
The NHS’s work on this is vital, but I also draw the Minister’s attention to Mind in Hackney, which is pioneering a new approach to make sure that people get two sessions of mental health support within two weeks. They can get more later on, but that is what they get, rather than waiting in a queue …
Commons
Debate
4 February 2026
4 contributions
Lord Mandelson
rose—
There is a well-worn route for dealing with these matters, through Humble Addresses and otherwise. Previous Humble Addresses, when the Labour party was in opposition, would sometimes name a Select Committee. I was on the receiving end of that as the then Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. I gen…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
3 February 2026
6 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
As my right hon. Friend has described, this is a crucial policy, but it is a downpayment on tackling other failures of the former Government, including the poor-quality and overcrowded housing that puts too many children in poverty of situation. Is he proud, as I am, that we now have a Labour Govern…
What does the shadow Secretary of State have to say to my constituent, who found herself single with three children in temporary accommodation and then moved into a one-bedroom flat? In those overcrowded conditions, her youngest got ill, and she had to give up her good job to look after that child. …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 January 2026
Police Reform White Paper
I welcome the announcement by the Home Secretary. In London, we have long known that neighbourhood policing is vital. Only yesterday I was in Dalston, where there has been a lot of antisocial behaviour, and people have noticed the extra police on the streets. There has, though, been an issue of abst…
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
22 January 2026
2 contributions
Digital Identity Scheme
18. What recent progress he has made on the digital ID scheme.
I had the privilege of chairing the Public Accounts Committee for nearly a decade, and in that role I saw the challenges caused by how poor data often is across Government. In one hearing, for example, we learned that Government Departments have 13 different ways of recording an individual’s address…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 January 2026
Mobile Phones and Social Media: Use by Children
My right hon. Friend is taking exactly the right approach. This place is littered with legislation that turns out not to be as good as it should have been, and then it does not get amended—and late amendments are not a good thing either. My hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) hi…
Commons
Proceedings
19 January 2026
Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure
Many pubs in my constituency are seeing eye-watering increases in business rates. We know from the Valuation Office Agency, which gave evidence to the Treasury Committee last week, that the formula used is the same formula that has been used for 20 years. This should have been no surprise, as the sh…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 January 2026
Business of the House
I am sure that, like me and others, the Leader of the House will be pleased to learn that NHS waiting lists continue to drop. I am also sure he will agree that Homerton hospital, which has seen productivity on operations increase by more than 11% year on year, is a beacon of what can be done. I hope…
Commons
Proceedings
15 January 2026
Digital ID
I welcome my hon. Friend’s explanation from the Dispatch Box of the change. We have been here before; we issued identity cards, as they were, when the technology was much older, so I welcome the new approach. We already do many things online that involve the Government and our proving who we are, in…
Commons
Oral Questions
15 January 2026
Topical Questions
In a response to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan), the Minister was full-throated in his support for music venues. What conversations has the Department had with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about planning for music venues? The Mot…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 January 2026
Offshore Wind
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing this investment. We are hearing some real chutzpah from the Opposition, who seem to have forgotten that it was they who imposed the ban on onshore wind. We need to remember who is in favour of tackling the issue of green energy and bringing down bills.…
Commons
Proceedings
8 January 2026
Business of the House
As you know, Mr Speaker, we had a good discussion at Transport questions about bus services. Many Members from across this House are passionate about that issue, because bus services are such an easy way for people to get around, and they make transport accessible, financially and otherwise. In Lond…
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
8 January 2026
Topical Questions
Earlier, Ministers talked about the benefits of bus services. In London we have been at the forefront of improved bus services, but unfortunately some aspects of that, such as low-traffic neighbourhoods, have had an impact on main routes, and now the No. 38 bus route is under threat of curtailment. …
Commons
Debate
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill
Hackney council was the subject of a major cyber-attack in 2020. It did a good job, though it was very slow because of the nature of the challenge of getting things back up and running. The Bill is therefore very welcome but, pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Mr P…
Last year, the Treasury Committee wrote to the top 10 banks in the UK because there had been a number of outages. There was no suggestion that cyber-security attacks were involved in most cases. A trend in the responses was that third-party software providers are often the source of the issue. What …
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
6 January 2026
Topical Questions
T2. Banister House in Homerton in my constituency was the first community energy scheme in Hackney with solar panels on the roof, and it is the UK’s largest such scheme on social housing. The forthcoming local power plan will provide an opportunity for others to follow where Hackney has led. Could t…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
Jimmy Lai Conviction
A constituent of mine suffered a terrible rape in Hong Kong which was not properly investigated. Her statement was made with the use of Google Translate, and no rape kit was taken. She then found herself being accused of something else as a result, and will have been in the system for two years in J…