Commons
Proceedings
4 December 2025
Local Elections
But the Government could have done this right and come to Parliament with a statement today. Instead, once again we wake up to overnight briefings. Cancelling elections is always a bad idea, and there is a real suspicion that the Government are worried about being trounced in elections.
May make a …
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
4 December 2025
2 contributions
Proposed Chinese Embassy
5. Whether the Prime Minister has had discussions with the Chinese Government on the proposed Chinese embassy.
Will the prayers of long-dead medieval monks save us from this hideous mega-embassy, right next to the most totemic building in the United Kingdom, the Tower of London? On 14 January, the then Secretaries of State for the Home Office and the Foreign Office wrote a letter insisting that a condition b…
Commons
Proceedings
3 December 2025
OBR: Resignation of Chair
For what it is worth, I think the OBR has become too powerful. We live in a parliamentary democracy, not a quangocracy, and the Chancellor alone should be responsible. Does the Chief Secretary agree that in future all communications between the Chancellor and the OBR should be in deep private? That …
Commons
Proceedings
2 December 2025
2 contributions
Budget Resolutions
Will the Minister give way?
As a matter of interest, why did Labour Chancellor Hugh Dalton resign?
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
2 contributions
Right to Trial by Jury
I served as a young barrister in criminal courts, and I have served on a jury, and I can say that I was deeply impressed by the care that people on the jury, from all walks of life, took to consider the evidence—actually, they were better than the barristers in many ways.
I can understand where the…
I feel so strongly about it.
Commons
Oral Questions
Church Commissioners
27 November 2025
Occupied Palestinian Territories: Support for Christians
I agree with everything the Leader of the House has just said. The fact is, the pressure by illegal settlers on Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem and the west bank is absolutely appalling, particularly in Taybeh, the last Christian town on the west bank. I have been to the west bank and have seen …
Commons
Debate
26 November 2025
4 contributions
Budget Resolutions
The benefit bill is now unsustainable in this country. Really, the main reason I will say what I want to say today is that I hope we can create some consensus in the House to try to deal with this problem, which is imposing a massive level of debt on families.
I am absolutely sure that the Governme…
I was not actually making that point. What we were discussing earlier in the year was people seeking work, and trying to encourage people to get back into work. I can understand the political imperative of what the Chancellor has done today—to sustain her position with her Back Benchers—but the prob…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
The Prime Minister has done a pretty good job of getting close to President Trump. Can he convince the tyrant bear that to reward him with land he has already taken would be bad enough, but it would be utterly egregious and appalling to allow him—the ruthless bear—to take land he has not even taken …
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 November 2025
7 contributions
Immigration Reforms: Humanitarian Visa Routes
Order. A very large number of people wish to take part in the debate, and I will try to get everybody in, but if there continue to be interventions, some people will not get in. I just ask the hon. Gentleman whether he can shortly bring his remarks to a close so that I can get everybody in. Thank yo…
All right, we will have one more intervention.
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 November 2025
Level 7 Apprenticeships
I will call Sarah Gibson to move the motion and I will then call the Minister to respond. I remind other Members that they may make a speech only with the prior permission of 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…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Migration: Settlement Pathway
The Home Secretary loves our country and I love her efforts, frankly, because it is not just the fate of this Government that depends on her success, but good community relations, saving dozens of lives at sea and, let us be frank, probably our political fate. Will she undertake to be judged not jus…
Commons
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Separation Centres: Terrorist Offenders
When it comes to terrorists, what is worrying a lot of us is the fact that people are pouring across the channel illegally and there is absolutely no check whatsoever on them. The Minister may not be able to answer this now, but I am interested in the state of the law. Surely it is a very risky thin…
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
19 November 2025
Memorial to People who Served in Northern Ireland
Many thousands of our brave troops served in Northern Ireland, and many gave their lives for peace and for our country. Does the Secretary of State agree that they deserve a permanent memorial, not for some of them to be prosecuted?
Commons
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Topical Questions
Earlier, the Minister said that only 0.4% of land is being taken by solar, but he knows that in the Gainsborough constituency the number is far higher, because I went to see him—he was most gracious and reasonable. He will know that 14,000 acres around Gainsborough will be taken from some prime agri…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Asylum Policy
We Conservative Members genuinely wish the Home Secretary well, because otherwise, in her own words, the country will start falling apart. It is a good effort—seven out of 10. She clearly has strong conservative instincts, but does she fear that the misery in many of these countries is such that asy…
Commons
Debate
13 November 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
The housing market is absolutely flat and we desperately need to build more housing. What is stopping all this new building, people moving and creating a healthy housing market? It is the appalling stamp duty that everybody acknowledges is the worst tax. The Minister is not the Chancellor, but will …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Police Reform
The Minister mentions our excellent police and crime commissioner in Lincolnshire, Marc Jones, and perhaps she might pay tribute to him again. The poor man is tearing his hair out. His force is nearing bankruptcy, and our chief constable says that
“Lincolnshire is the lowest funded force in the cou…
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
Taxes
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the real downfall of the Government dates from when they did not face down their own Back Benchers and deal with the rocketing benefits bill? Frankly, the country is going broke and the Government must have the courage to deal with millions of people who are not …
Commons
Proceedings
12 November 2025
Independent Football Regulator
It is not my style to attack the integrity of any Member of Parliament, so may I just ask a general question about the whole process of securing public confidence? Can we now consider tightening the ministerial code, and indeed the whole process, so that at the beginning of the process civil servant…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Human Rights Laws
I serve on the Council of Europe, which is a perfectly worthwhile assembly. The convention was framed shortly after the second world war and was designed to counter Nazism—it was not designed to protect illegal migrants entering a country. We all know that this crisis is sapping belief in government…
Commons
Proceedings
5 November 2025
Conflict in Sudan
Obviously, what is happening in Sudan is absolutely appalling for the people there, but we cannot insulate ourselves from these sorts of conflicts. Mali is about to be taken over by terrorists. All over Africa, energetic young men are fleeing. They are walking across to Libya, being tortured and end…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
“Soldier F” Trial Verdict
Whatever the wrongs committed on that day, does the Secretary of State understand that it beggars belief that a former IRA man can, in his old age, be lolling on a sofa, despite all his torturing, kneecapping and executions? I am thinking of Captain Nairac, who was abducted, tortured and killed; his…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
29 October 2025
Engagements
Q10. Given all the hatreds there are in the world today, was it not a lovely moment to see the King and the Pope pray together in the Sistine chapel? Does it not give us hope that these historic divisions can be resolved? Does it not give us hope that, despite the fact that Ukraine and Gaza may seem…
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
Prisoner Release Checks
The crisis of small boats crossing the channel is utterly debilitating and is alienating millions of people from the whole political process. Imagine how the whole atmosphere would have lightened if the Government had come here today and said, “This sort of farce cannot continue. We will get out of …
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund
In Lincolnshire we know all about fishing, because Grimsby used to be the world’s greatest fishing port. It beggars belief that we, a coastal nation, import twice as much fish as we export. Fishermen feel completely betrayed after years of vassalage to the European Union and this latest deal. We are…