Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
Topical Questions
T3. At the age of six, Ellis Lake was diagnosed with metachromatic leukodystrophy, which is treatable if diagnosed early. His parents Tracy and Luke are campaigning for newborn screening for the disease. The UK National Screening Committee did not recommend screening in its last review of the condit…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 June 2026
Progression of Bills through Parliament
I thank my hon. Friend for giving way while making such an important speech on such an important, but also contentious, subject. We know that the Parliament Act has only ever been used seven times and never for a private Member’s Bill, and in recent weeks leading figures have opposed use of the Parl…
Commons
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
Business of the House
Further to the concerns raised by the hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers), will the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero make a statement on the delayed hydrogen strategy refresh? Projects in my constituency, including the Lhyfe Wallsend development, are ready to move…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 March 2026
2 contributions
Clean Energy: Private Sector Investment
11. What discussions he has had with private sector representatives on securing investment in clean energy industries.
Allocation round 7 was a resounding vote of confidence from developers, and our supply chains will welcome that. At a roundtable I hosted last year, the Secretary of State set out the innovative principles behind the clean industry bonus. However, competing against lower-cost regions, such as the mi…
Commons
Debate
23 March 2026
2 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
I commend my hon. Friend for all her work as part of the APPG on smoking and health and in her former role as a councillor. Does she find it as shocking as I do that four in 10 adult smokers in this country believe vaping to be as harmful or more harmful than smoking, when it is one of the most effe…
I welcome the Minister to her place and congratulate her on her new role. She has a hard act to follow, but I am sure she will be brilliant in her job. Could she say what metrics the Government will use to measure whether the Bill successfully reduces youth vaping?
Commons
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
Business of the House
A local pharmacy has contacted me regarding the need for a fast resolution to this year’s settlement negotiations. The pharmacy’s leadership tells me that their wage, pension and national insurance costs will increase substantially in April, and as a result they are planning to reduce opening hours …
Commons
Debate
5 March 2026
Palliative Care
I am very sorry to hear about the mother of my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Tom Collins).
This is a topic of deep personal importance to me, to many of us in the Chamber and to many of our constituents, but it took a private Member’s Bill on assisted dying to bring the debate on palliative…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 March 2026
Energy Markets
At a time when the UK is increasingly dependent on and exposed to internationally traded LNG, does delaying the oil and gas price mechanism not risk reducing investment in domestic supply exactly when global markets are least stable?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 February 2026
Business of the House
Over recent weeks, students and graduates have written to me about the broken student loans system. They tell me about the mental stress caused by punitive interest rates, and that the planned freeze of the repayment threshold will impact their living standards when they aspire to earn more and spen…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
23 February 2026
2 contributions
Leasehold Reform
2. What steps he is taking to reform service charges for leaseholders.
Leaseholders in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend contact me regularly about extortionate service charges, saying that tribunals are slow and stressful and that, ultimately, they feel powerless. The Minister for Housing and Planning has previously set out that retaining variable charges is impor…
Commons
Proceedings
12 February 2026
Business of the House
Rising employer contributions to the teachers’ pension scheme are mounting significant pressures on post-1992 universities and driving some to cut costs to deliver the same teaching. I have been contacted by staff at Northumbria University who are concerned about the proposed changes to their pay an…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
29 January 2026
Women’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO Report
The Secretary of State said that the evidence shows that the vast majority of 1950s-born women already knew that the state pension age was increasing. I, like my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist), am also a 1950s-born woman. Does the Secretary of State honestly think there w…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
14 January 2026
Engagements
Q7. I welcome the Prime Minister’s leadership and our Government’s clear commitment to tackling child poverty, recognising that high-quality education is one of the best routes out of poverty. However, young people in one of the most deprived areas of my constituency who are attending Churchill comm…
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
Budget Resolutions
I welcome a number of the announcements in the Chancellor’s Budget addressing the issues affecting my constituents’ lives. Despite the challenging headwinds facing the Exchequer, the Chancellor decided to protect the £120 billion of additional capital investment she set out at the spending review an…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 November 2025
3 contributions
Parkinson’s Disease
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Paul Davies) on securing this debate. I have had the honour in the past of being the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Parkinson’s, which is very forceful, and rightly so.
I want to address a couple of things, starting with the …
The hon. Gentleman has eloquently described the very real problem of what happens after diagnosis.
Sitting alongside the Government’s workforce plan, a new, modern service framework for neurological conditions would set clear, evidence-based objectives and standards for care delivery.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
29 October 2025
3 contributions
Offshore Wind Supply Chain: Tyneside
I thank Mr Speaker for granting the debate. I do not underestimate the challenges that the Minister and her colleagues face, because the transition is a monumental task. Tonight I will set out the case for further Government support being needed for the offshore wind sector in places such as Tynesid…
I certainly will.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
North Sea Oil and Gas Industry
I welcome the Government’s mention of tiebacks in a consultation earlier this year. The development of tiebacks is important because it reduces costs and extends the life of existing critical infrastructure. However, many existing hubs are reaching the end of their life and we may miss the opportuni…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
2 contributions
Homelessness
11. What steps he is taking to reduce youth homelessness.
The Minister’s announcement is welcome, but last year, in England and Wales, 18% of the people who were found to be at risk of homelessness or were experiencing homelessness were aged just 16 to 24. That number is far too high. Will the Minister agree to meet the YMCA and the Youth Homeless Chapter …
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
2 contributions
Gaza: Humanitarian Aid
22. What steps he is taking to help improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
President Trump and envoy Steve Witkoff played an important role in securing the previous ceasefire agreement. At crucial moments, Netanyahu has been receptive to Trump’s wishes; we saw that earlier this year, when Israel and Iran stepped back from the brink. As the White House has a defining role t…
Commons
Debate
22 July 2025
Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment
Children are 20% of the population, but 100% of our future. I see that every time I visit a school in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend. We know that the first few years of a child’s life are crucial, laying the foundation for their overall development. For that reason, I am delighted that Battl…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 July 2025
Afghanistan
My constituent has an active application to bring members of his family, who are currently in a third country, to safety in the UK. The MOD has advised him to assume that their data has been compromised, which is deeply concerning given the nature of the work he used to undertake. He has been told t…
Commons
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
2 contributions
Green Industries: Supply Chain Jobs
2. What steps he has taken with Cabinet colleagues to help increase the number of jobs in supply chains in green industries.
The power cables over the Tyne are a barrier to businesses securing work for large renewable energy structures, risking possible net GVA benefits of up to £1.2 billion. It has been proposed that the removal of the cables will be completed in 2032. Will the Secretary of State help me push for it to b…
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Business of the House
Following yesterday’s “Act Now, Change Forever” mass lobby of Parliament, organised by the Climate Coalition, will the Leader of the House make time to debate the serious nature of developing countries’ debt, which prevents those nations from adequately spending to mitigate a climate crisis they hav…
Commons
Proceedings
3 July 2025
Phone Theft
Further to the intervention from the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), does my hon. Friend agree that public awareness is not where it should be? It worries me to see people with their phones sticking out of their back pockets or people standing and taking photographs around Westminster, kno…
Commons
Debate
3 July 2025
Women’s State Pension Age: Financial Redress
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Salford (Rebecca Long Bailey) for securing this debate from the Backbench Business Committee, of which I am a member, and for her eloquent and informative speech.
Financial security is something we endeavour to secure for our families and for ourselves. Many 19…