Commons
Westminster Hall
5 November 2025
4 contributions
House Building: London
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I salute my hon. Friend the Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Mr French) for initiating the debate.
The debate is timely given the decision last week, by the Government and City Hall, to lower targets for affordable housing in dev…
No, the other one: the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn). That meant that whole sites in London were not developed to provide housing when they should have been.
Clearly we have a serious problem here. In my constituency, there is a planning application that has been outstanding…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Does my right hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor accept that the housing market is virtually stagnant? It is moribund. The houses and flats that we want in this country are not being built, and one of the barriers is that the cost of stamp duty is so high that individuals do not want to pay it.
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
28 October 2025
Gaza Peace Plan
Thankfully, the living hostages have been returned to receive medical attention and go back to their families, but, very sadly, the bodies of the deceased hostages have not all been returned. That is a key element in this ceasefire treaty. What action is the Foreign Secretary taking to ensure that I…
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Business of the House
I add my tribute to the late Oliver Colvile. I first came across him in the final selection in Brent North, where he was up against Sajid Javid and Grant Shapps. He had to wait until 2010 to finally be elected. In the famous cricket match in India when the Lords and Commons took on an Indian select …
Commons
Proceedings
21 October 2025
Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry
The hon. Lady has been an outspoken champion for the victims, and will continue to be so, but she must be concerned that two members of the panel have withdrawn, and we understand that one of the candidates to be chair of the inquiry has withdrawn. Clearly, there is concern across the House that ins…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 October 2025
3 contributions
Ending Homelessness
I beg to move,
That this House has considered progress on ending homelessness.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank the Backbench Business Committee, which I chair, for granting this debate—I am not surprised that it took that very sensible decision. I begin by wel…
Clearly, the hon. Member anticipates something I will say later in my speech. I have long advocated that we need to build 90,000 affordable homes for social rent each year to meet the demand.
As co-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for ending homelessness, I want to draw the Minister’s …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
I am sure that the Secretary of State will find the irony in the fact that last weekend—as I am sure they will next weekend—premier league footballers took the knee to demonstrate the need to drive out racism from football. What has happened here is antisemitism at its heart. If the issue is the saf…
Commons
Proceedings
16 October 2025
Business of the House
I thank the Leader of the House for allowing protected time on Monday for the debate on baby loss. It was a three-hour debate and a three-minute limit was imposed on contributions from Back Benchers so that everyone had the opportunity to speak. I trust that we can look at doing that again in future…
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
15 October 2025
2 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023: Replacement
13. What steps he is taking to replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
One of the concerns around dragging veterans through lawfare and our courts is the effect on Army recruitment, so what is the Secretary of State’s reaction to Colonel Nick Kitson, the son of General Sir Frank Kitson, saying:
“How can anyone volunteer to put their life on the line for a Government—i…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 October 2025
Middle East
Over the past two years, as co-Chair of the all-party parliamentary group on UK-Israel, I have hosted innumerable meetings where the families of hostages have come before us pleading for our support and help. In addition, we have screened multiple films of the terror events on 7 October 2023 that us…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 October 2025
Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case
The problem that the Government have is that the story keeps changing, either each day or within a day. The right hon. Gentleman, who is obviously stating the Government’s position now, is giving us a view that completely contradicts the messages given by Ministers over the weekend. He has clearly r…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 October 2025
Manchester Terrorism Attack
In the wake of the terrorist attack in Heaton Park, I am very proud to say that Belmont shul, in my constituency, hosted a Shabbat service following a meeting of the Harrow Interfaith council at which representatives of all religions stood together with the Jewish community to say that hatred will n…
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
16 September 2025
Reoffending Rates
One of the keys ways to reduce reoffending is to ensure that ex-offenders leaving prison have secure places to live and are not tempted to go back to a life of crime. However, it can be a consequence of early release that that is not prepared in advance. What action will the Minister take so that pr…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 September 2025
Business of the House
I welcome the Leader of the House to his position. I hope that we can have an early meeting to ensure that Back Benchers can have their voice heard in this Chamber, as before.
I thank the Leader of the House for giving us the business for 13 October, when we return from the conference recess. Given…
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
Life Sciences Investment
The Minister will know that the part of London where MSD was going to invest has received significant investment for medical research, particularly research of brain-related diseases. This decision casts doubt on the future of the greater King’s Cross area. What are the implications of the decision …
Commons
Proceedings
10 September 2025
Qatar: Israeli Strike
I was surprised and disappointed that there was no word from the Secretary of State in relation to the terrorist attack in Jerusalem on Monday, where terrorists opened fire on a bus, killing rabbis and women. The reality is that Hamas’s leadership not only condoned the attack, but praised it. Does t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Science, Innovation and Technology
10 September 2025
Online Safety Act 2023: Effectiveness
I welcome the new Secretary of State to her position. Will she look at the downloading of virtual private networks, which allow people to get content from all over the world? Many VPNs are based overseas. Once they are downloaded, parents have no control whatsoever if their children are then accessi…
Commons
Proceedings
4 September 2025
Business of the House
I thank the Leader of the House for announcing the Backbench Business for next week. She will know that 50 Back Benchers were frustrated on Monday that they were not able to debate transport inequalities. Obviously there were important statements—we understand that—but will she consider giving that …
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
4 September 2025
2 contributions
Grooming Gangs
11. What steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to prosecute people for grooming gang offences.
I welcome the fact that the backlog of those cases will be examined again, and that historical cases will be looked at, but one of the challenges is that whistleblowers in local authorities were sacked under non-disclosure agreements. What advice is the Crown Prosecution Service providing to ensure …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 September 2025
Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
The Minister will be well aware that many of the victims of this disgraceful, despicable type of activity were originally taken from broken homes and put into the care of a local authority, and then groomed ruthlessly. Social workers turned a blind eye. Managers told social workers to turn a blind e…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
Gaza: Ceasefire
The remaining hostages in Gaza—those who are still alive—are being starved, persecuted and prevented from getting any form of medical aid. When the Foreign Secretary visits the region, will he force the International Red Cross to seek the hostages and ensure that they are given the medical attention…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
The Home Secretary has spoken about tweaks to the rules and regulations, and potentially to interpretation of the law. The problem with that, of course, is that our courts will also interpret the law, and may go against what the Home Secretary wants to do. Will she set out what changes to the law sh…
Commons
Debate
22 July 2025
3 contributions
Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment
I beg to move,
That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming adjournment.
I should say, for the benefit of new Members, that this is quite rightly called the Sir David Amess debate, because this was his debate. I remember a poor Minister having to respond to him after …
I will not, because many Members want to get in.
The justification for these “tough choices” is the need to address a £260 million funding gap, yet this is not the right area in which to be cutting vital support. For years, Sadiq Khan has told us how much better London would be with a Labour mayor …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Middle East
Last week, I hosted Keith and Aviva Siegel, both of whom were hostages and were released. The previous week, I met families of hostages who all pleaded with all of us to get the hostages released. The hostages have now been in captivity for 654 days, without any access by the International Red Cross…
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Business of the House
I thank the Leader of the House for announcing the business in the Chamber. If she could also look forward to the September sitting and give us dates early, it would help us to plan debates in the Chamber.
In addition to the business that the Leader of the House has announced, we will have the foll…