Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
28 January 2026
29 contributions
Engagements
Mr Speaker, I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Prime Minister, who is visiting China and Japan.
Yesterday was Holocaust Memorial Day. For the first time, a Holocaust survivor, Mala Tribich, addressed Cabinet. I found her testimony profoundly moving, especially having recently visited the M…
The Government will work with my hon. Friend. The situation she describes is unacceptable and people are right to be furious. The Environment Agency is taking action to prevent further dumping, and we are giving it more powers and resources to crack down on fly-tipping. I will ensure that Ministers …
+27 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
12 contributions
Topical Questions
I pay tribute to Lenny Scott, who was a dedicated prison officer and much-loved family man. In 2020, he seized an illicit mobile phone from a prisoner, who took revenge four years later by taking his life in broad daylight. Perpetrators of heinous killings like that must feel the full force of the l…
I am truly grateful to my hon. Friend for once again raising the voice of victims in this House. I hope that over the coming months, as we debate our courts Bill, hon. Members will keep in mind those victims, and the voices that we often hear, via female Members of Parliament. The £550 million of mu…
+10 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
3 contributions
Victim Support: Funding
Last week I announced record funding for victim support services: £550 million over the next three years—the biggest investment in victim support services to date. This Labour Government are putting victims at the heart of the justice system.
We have committed to providing PCCs with £131.8 million for 2026-27 and £134 million for 2027-28 for their work on sexual violence and domestic abuse. It is really important that we ringfence that funding.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
9 contributions
Jury Trials Proposal: Impact
Everyone has a right to a fair trial, and the essence of a fair trial is a timely trial. Only 3% of all criminal cases are heard by a judge and jury under the current regime. Jury trials will remain a cornerstone of the British justice system. Delayed justice is justice denied.
I completely reject what the hon. Gentleman said. It is an absolute essential foundation of our democracy that all of us in this House and in government respect the independence of the judiciary. I remind him that it is precisely because of the judiciary’s independence that it is not able to answer …
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
3 contributions
Foreign National Offenders: Deportation
We said that we are determined to remove foreign national offenders from our prisons sooner, and we have. I am pleased to say that the number of foreign criminals removed from the country early has rocketed by 75% under this Labour Government, with more than 2,700 foreign national offenders deported…
My hon. Friend is right. That is what we are doing in the Sentencing Bill, which is going through Parliament, which will enable us to remove foreign nationals earlier—a key component of the Bill. We are absolutely clear: if someone comes to our country and commits a crime, they no longer have any ri…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
4 contributions
Legal Aid
We are making significant investments in legal aid: we have announced additional funding of up to £34 million a year for criminal legal aid advocates and an additional £92 million a year for criminal legal aid solicitors. We are also uplifting housing and immigration legal fees by £20 million a year…
I ask the hon. Gentleman to write to me first, as it sounds like there is some technical detail in that case. If necessary, I will then ask the relevant Minister to meet him.
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 December 2025
43 contributions
Criminal Court Reform
With your permission, Mr Speaker I will make a statement on criminal court reform.
As the House is aware, the first part of the independent review of criminal courts was published in July. I am grateful to its chair, Sir Brian Leveson—one of the foremost judges of his generation—and to his expert a…
I am very grateful to the shadow Justice Secretary, although I am a little surprised that in his tirade, he never once mentioned victims—not once. Not once in his clip did he talk about the people waiting in the backlog.
The right hon. Gentleman has boasted that he is an armchair historian. May I g…
+41 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
40 contributions
Prisoner Releases in Error
With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement on releases in error from prison.
On Armistice Day, let me begin by paying tribute to those we honour: Members of both Houses and parliamentary staff who gave their tomorrow for our today. Whatever divides our politics, today we remember what bi…
This is a crisis that we inherited in our prison system. [Interruption.] That is worthy of sober reflection, because the shadow Justice Secretary knows that when the Conservatives were in government, 17 prisoners were released in error every month. He knows that. A former Conservative Justice Secret…
+38 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
11 contributions
Topical Questions
Since the last Justice oral questions, I am proud to have taken the next steps towards putting a landmark Hillsborough law on to the statute book, with the Second Reading of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill. There has also, understandably, been widespread interest in the number of releases in…
This issue does require more neighbourhood policing and bobbies on the beat—as the hon. Gentleman knows, numbers were cut under the last Government. I also think that the intensive supervision courts, provided for in the Sentencing Bill, will be able to make a huge difference. A lot of shoplifters n…
+9 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
3 contributions
Imprisonment for Public Protection
It is right that the IPP sentence was abolished. The number of unreleased IPP prisoners fell to 946, as of 30 September 2025—a reduction of 14% compared with the previous year. Legislative changes that we implemented have reduced the number of people serving IPP sentences in the community to around …
I recognise the challenges for Terry and his family. We are determined to support those in prison to progress towards safe and sustainable releases, but understandably that cannot be in a way that undermines public protection. We are not giving up on any individual serving an IPP sentence. We will e…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
5 contributions
Probation Service
We are determined to back our hard-working probation staff by investing up to £700 million by the final year of the spending review and investing an initial £8 million in new technologies to reduce administrative burdens. We will also recruit 1,300 trainee probation officers in 2025-26, in addition …
Cambridgeshire is a part of the country that I know well, having spent seven years of my life in Peterborough. I will look closely at this issue, and I will ask the Prisons Minister to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss how we move forward.
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
6 contributions
Human Rights Laws
Mr Speaker, the whole House will know that I shall be making a statement shortly after this Question Time.
The Government are committed to human rights at home and abroad, but in order to retain public confidence, the European convention on human rights and other instruments must evolve to face mod…
The hon. Gentleman is right; people are claiming the article 8 right in particular and using domestic law to thwart removal to their countries. That is why it is important for us to deal with that domestically, through legislation. I remind the hon. Gentleman, however, that this Government are depor…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
5 November 2025
29 contributions
Engagements
My right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister is in Brazil, attending COP30 in Belém and the Earthshot prize ceremony alongside His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
The thoughts of the whole House remain with those affected by the appalling scenes we saw in Huntingdon and Peterborough, whe…
It is very kind of my hon. Friend to say those opening remarks. I am conscious that my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), and indeed the Leader of the Opposition, are both trailblazers who have stood at the Dispatch Box. It is important to recognise the p…
+27 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
30 contributions
Prisoner Release Checks
I would like to make a statement on the release in error of Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford last Friday morning.
As the House will be aware, Mr Kebatu was apprehended by the Metropolitan police on Sunday morning in the Finsbury Park area of my constituency. He is back where he belongs: behind bar…
This is a serious issue and that is why there will be a full independent investigation.
The shadow Justice Secretary—I will give him this—is smooth. But as my mother would have said, if he was chocolate he would lick himself. He should hang his head in shame. The crisis in our prisons that we face …
+28 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
19 contributions
Sentencing Bill
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
It is my pleasure to open this debate—my first since being appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. It is an honour to be back on this beat and to take up this brief. Justice has always been at the h…
That is a very good summary. We must have punishment that works, and I will talk about that later in my speech.
When we look at the record of the previous Government, and I have looked at the figures very closely, we see that the recidivism rates were running at 60%, 65%, 68%. Something is not work…
+17 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
16 September 2025
11 contributions
Topical Questions
It is my honour to take my first oral questions as Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary.
Today, the Government will introduce the Public Office (Accountability) Bill—better known as the Hillsborough law. It will create a new professional and legal duty of candour, placing public servants under a d…
I remain very concerned, particularly about neurodiversity in young people and how they fare in the criminal justice system. I will look closely at the youth justice system, working closely with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care and of course the Department for Education.
+9 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
16 September 2025
5 contributions
Prison Safety
The safety of our prison staff is a No. 1 priority for me. That is why we are investing £40 million to stop the contraband that puts our hard-working staff particularly at risk. We are also rolling out protective body armour for use in the highest security units and trialling the use of Tasers for s…
I did see that the shadow Lord Chancellor had visited France. I looked seriously and closely at what he was proposing, and I propose to make some announcements in that area over the coming weeks.
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
16 September 2025
6 contributions
Probation Service
We are determined to back our hard-working probation staff by investing up to £700 million by the final year of the spending review, and an initial £8 million in technology to reduce administrative burdens. We will also recruit 1,300 trainee probation officers in the next year.
I was with probation officers last week, in my first visit as Secretary of State—it was important that probation was the first place I went to because the work and dedication of those officers and the staff is immense. We are working with the Home Office to ensure that those risk assessments are don…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
16 September 2025
11 contributions
Court Backlogs
Mr Speaker, it is nice to be back on my old beat.
This Government inherited a record courts backlog. We have taken immediate action by funding a record high allocation of 110,000 Crown court sitting days this year. Fundamental reform is of course necessary, which is why the previous Lord Chancellor…
My hon. Friend will be pleased that we are recruiting more legal advisers and we are increasing capacity in the system. He is right that magistrates courts particularly are the bedrock of the system, which is why I was so appalled that the previous Government cut back our magistrates courts so exten…
+9 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
11 contributions
Topical Questions
Yesterday I updated the House on the unimaginably bleak situation in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. I shared the latest on Iran’s dangerous nuclear programme, and my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary set out Britain’s unwavering support for Ukraine. May I also mention the tragi…
I know that the hon. Gentleman has not been in Parliament very long, but he will see that there is a Second Reading next week, and of course there will be a vote.
+9 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
4 contributions
Russia: Economic Sanctions
Until Putin stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions. Since coming to office we have sanctioned more than 680 individual entities and ships, more than double the number of designations made in 2023.
I thought that one of our proudest moments was watching President Zelensky walk up the steps of No 10, and reflecting on the role that the Prime Minister has played in corralling the global community around the coalition of the willing. The hon. Gentleman will have seen the Prime Minister with Presi…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
3 contributions
Recognition of a Palestinian State
We have been clear that we will recognise a Palestinian state by the United Nations General Assembly in September to protect the viability of the two-state solution, unless the Israeli Government take substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza and commit to a long-term sustainable peac…
High-level week is not actually next week; it is in three weeks’ time. May I say to the hon. Gentleman that it is most bizarre to say to a responsible Government that they should not attempt to change the situation on the ground to encourage Israel to commit to a ceasefire and to a process? Of cours…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
9 contributions
Gaza: Ceasefire
The situation on the ground in Gaza is horrendous, and we urgently want to see a deal done to end the suffering on all sides. An immediate ceasefire is our overwhelming priority, alongside the unconditional release of all hostages and a large-scale delivery of aid. The ceasefire must be sustainable …
I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. Diplomacy, not bloodshed, is how we get security for both Israelis and Palestinians, and getting to a ceasefire is the immediate priority. I will be in the region again in the coming days, discussing with them the Prime Minister’s framewor…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
3 contributions
Gaza: Evacuation of UK Scholarship Students
I have been working closely with the Home Secretary to ensure that students from Gaza, including Chevening scholars, can secure their UK visas. We are expecting nine Chevening students to start their courses soon. I am pleased to say that we are extending this support to students in Gaza with full s…
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing Yara to the attention of the House. Of course we want to see bright students like her able to achieve their ambitions. We are reliant on Israeli permissions and on students having a full scholarship, but what I can do is ensure that the Minister for the M…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
5 contributions
Sudan
May I begin by acknowledging the terrible loss of life in Tarseen in Darfur over the weekend? Sudan is facing its worst humanitarian crisis on record. Over 30 million people need aid, 12 million have been displaced, and famine and cholera are spreading. As the UN Security Council penholder, we are l…
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the leadership that she has shown on this issue. I spoke to the UN emergency relief co-ordinator just yesterday and raised this issue. Of course, we are supporting the call of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs for a pause in fighting, so tha…
+3 more contributions in this session