Commons
Debate
23 March 2026
Middle East
Against the backdrop of this illegal, counterproductive and reckless war, next month, Palestinians in the west bank and in parts of Gaza will take part in municipal elections, which include candidates who are committed to peaceful dialogue with Israel and who reject Iranian-backed terrorism. Does th…
Commons
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Police Efficiency: Technology
Police efficiency is the argument being used to propose the merger of Lancashire and Cumbria police forces, something which I strongly oppose. Lancashire is a wonderful county, but it is a county that has many urban centres with larger populations. Does the Home Secretary agree that there is a real …
Commons
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
Publicly Owned Markets: Food Security
Only 55% of Britain’s food is produced in Britain, so food security should be a much bigger priority for this Government. Donald Trump’s war in the middle east, Putin’s war on Ukraine and all the other global shocks have not woken up the Government to this, yet England is now the only country in the…
Commons
Debate
18 March 2026
4 contributions
Fuel Duty
I thank the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden) for bringing forward this debate. It is a really important one because the impact of fuel costs—both for motorists and for those having to heat their homes—is devastating.
Over the past three weeks, people’s entire ability to bud…
The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. That will be the case across my communities, too; many people will drive to Penrith, Oxenholme, Grange-over-Sands or Windermere to park and then catch the train to their place of work or study. These are significant costs. Of course, it is worth bearing in…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
17 March 2026
Crown Court Funding
Last year, Carlisle Crown court saw a reduction of 71 sitting days. Add to that the fact that Westmorland, our neck of the woods, lost our magistrates court in Kendal 10 years ago. Does that not remind us that backlogs are not because Britain has juries, but because we lack capacity in our judicial …
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 March 2026
Rural Roads
Westmorland and Furness council has seen its budget cut by 31%. We are England’s largest and most rural council. Yet the Government have decided to defund rural communities, which is juxtaposed with the fact that we have the biggest number of visitors to our communities of anywhere in the country ap…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
GP Contract
The beautiful and vibrant yet very isolated community of Coniston has had a GP practice for the last 200 years or so, but it runs the risk of losing it this year. Its GPs, who were wonderful, retired last summer and a caretaker service is being provided. Bids have been invited and there has been muc…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 March 2026
Environmental Protection and Biodiversity
It is an honour to serve under your guidance this afternoon, Sir Roger. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for North East Hertfordshire (Chris Hinchliff), who made a fantastic speech.
Some 70% of our land mass in this country is agricultural land. We are achieving nothing for biodiversity if we do no…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 March 2026
Middle East
A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the west bank and Israel, where these actions were being anticipated, largely with some dread. The great sense I got from talking to both groups of people was of deep national trauma, caused in no small part by the actions of Iranian-backed terro…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
2 March 2026
Speech and Language Therapy
On the subject of the provision of speech and language therapy for students with special educational needs, Westmorland and Furness council, in my area, was not one of the councils in financial difficulty—until last month, when the Government decided, for the crime of it being the most rural distric…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
Access to Radiotherapy
I welcome what the Minister has just said, but we start a long way behind. In OECD countries, the average proportion of people with cancer with access to radiotherapy is 53%. In England the proportion is 36%, and in Lancashire and South Cumbria it is the worst in the country, at just 29%. There is n…
Commons
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Topical Questions
T6. Last week, I spent half an hour talking to a constituent in Windermere who owns a small hotel. Over the past four years, his energy bills have doubled. He does not draw any salary any more and can only afford to keep going because he has drawn down his pension. He carries on because he loves wha…
Commons
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Electricity Distribution Network: Resilience
There are two things that the Government could do to improve energy resilience, particularly in communities like mine in Cumbria. First, they could support Electricity North West by ensuring that it buries its cables where possible to protect them against wild weather, which, as the Minister knows, …
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 February 2026
Independent Water Commission: Final Report
It is a pleasure to serve under your guidance, Sir Jeremy. I thank everyone who has taken part in this debate so far, which has been interesting and thoughtful, but especially my hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) for securing another really important debate on this broad issue.…
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 January 2026
Local Authority Children’s Services
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making an important speech on behalf of his most vulnerable constituents. Does he agree that rural and sparsely populated authorities can deliver good-quality children’s services only if special educational needs provision, health integration and transportation ar…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
26 January 2026
Youth Hubs
May I encourage the brilliant team at Kendal jobcentre, who already do a fantastic job reaching out to young people across the Westmorland area, but also congratulate the Secretary of State on what is a very positive initiative? Will he bear in mind, however, that in communities like mine where the …
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 January 2026
2 contributions
Animal Welfare Strategy for England
It is a pleasure to serve under your guidance this morning, Ms Lewell. I pay tribute to all the speakers, including those who have come here with much to say but have not managed to get in in this debate. I feel for them— I have been there. I offer a massive thank you to the hon. Member for South De…
Of course. What is the point in having these standards if we give them away to those who put us under extreme pressure? I completely agree with my hon. Friend and urge the Government to take the same position.
We are seeing the UK outsourcing its egg and pig production abroad, to lower standards—it…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 January 2026
3 contributions
Water (Special Measures) Act 2025: Enforcement
It is as privilege to serve under your guidance, Dr Allin-Khan. I say a big thank you to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Tom Gordon) for securing this debate and leading it so ably. I also make a little apology to my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton and Wellington (Gideo…
My right hon. Friend is neither nasty nor cynical; he knows Thames Water only too well. Well intentioned though the Act may be, it is clearly full of holes, and the water company chief executives and others are finding ways through them.
We contrast all of that with the fact that in 2024—the last t…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 January 2026
Northern Powerhouse Rail
I have read the statement—I am very grateful for early sight of it—and have listened to the Secretary of State carefully. The Liberal Democrats are massive supporters of Northern Powerhouse Rail, but all that is really concrete in this statement is just over £1 billion so that we can spend the next …
Commons
Proceedings
13 January 2026
Storm Goretti
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George) for his characteristic passion and energy in defending his communities in St Ives. I also wish to send my and the Liberal Democrats’ collective deep sympathy to the family of the man who lost his life in the storm, and to add my thanks to…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
ADHD Services
Roughly 50% of the young people on the books of child and adolescent mental health services in south Cumbria have ADHD or autism. The integrated care board provides no funding whatever to acknowledge that. That is a huge burden on those young people and their families. It stops them getting back int…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
6 January 2026
Topical Questions
Some 25% of the houses in my constituency were built before 1900. They are expensive to heat and very difficult to insulate. When will there be a bespoke plan for insulating those properties, using the right materials, and, crucially, for the insulation to be installed by specialists?
Commons
Westminster Hall
6 January 2026
Future of Thames Water
It is a pleasure to serve under your guidance this afternoon, Mrs Harris. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) for securing the debate, for leading it so brilliantly and for standing up for her community so well for so many years.
I also pay tribute …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
Britain is historically America’s best friend, and best friends tell each other when they are acting appallingly; they do not go into toadying mode. As my right hon. Friends the Members for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) and for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) have mentioned, in 2003 in this H…
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief
Our farming and rural communities in Cumbria and right across Britain should be utterly proud of themselves, because this U-turn is their victory, and I pay tribute to them. However, the appalling emotional and economic damage done to farmers over the last 14 months has been cruel and will have a la…