Commons
Westminster Hall
30 June 2026
High Streets
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. Anchor institutions on our high streets, such as banks and post offices, are disappearing. Across the United Kingdom, 7,000 banks have disappeared, including 11 in my constituency, and post offices have disappeared in my constituency too. Accord…
Commons
Debate
30 June 2026
Department of Health and Social Care
I commend the hon. Lady on the speech she is making. It is really important that we talk about the disadvantages of this deal, and there is a clear disadvantage to Northern Ireland. Access to everyday medicines in rural communities in Strangford and across Northern Ireland will be inhibited, so does…
Commons
Westminster Hall
30 June 2026
Financial Inclusion: Young People
I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing this forward. The situation in Northern Ireland is no different from the one he described in his constituency and the wider United Kingdom. Young people face unprecedented barriers to building financial security. High street bank closures are turning rural a…
Commons
Oral Questions
29 June 2026
Universal Credit: Care Leavers
I thank the Minister very much for his answers, as always. In Northern Ireland, care leavers are really untold heroes in the work that they do. Many of us, in all our communities, understand the delivery of care that is provided. In relation to young people, has the Minister had an opportunity to ta…
Commons
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Prisoner Early Release
I thank the Minister for his answers to the questions. My constituents are horrified by the early release of rapists and child groomers. If a criminal is sentenced to 15 years for destroying a child’s life or committing a horrific rape, they should serve every single day—indeed, every single hour—of…
Commons
Debate
29 June 2026
Cabinet Office
I commend the hon. Member for his introduction and his wise words, ever mindful of modern warfare and the way it is going, and the changes that the Government and we as a nation need to be prepared for. When it comes to resilience and drone technology and how to use that to the betterment and the sa…
Commons
Westminster Hall
29 June 2026
NHS Breast Screening
I commend the hon. Lady for securing this debate. Unfortunately, many women are diagnosed with this cancer each year. Invasive lobular breast cancer accounts for some 15% of all breast cancer cases, yet it is routinely missed until it reaches an advanced stage. Hundreds of members of this House have…
Commons
Debate
29 June 2026
2 contributions
Northern Ireland Office
I commend the Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee for all that she does, but this issue of course goes beyond what she is setting out. The Northern Ireland Office is tasked with co-ordinating the local growth fund across the Province, yet my local community and voluntary sector are expre…
I thank the hon. Lady for giving way again. As she will know, one reason for that 152% health spending figure is the level of disability and poverty across Northern Ireland. The 152% figure reflects the actual need on the ground, and meeting that need must be the major goal for the Secretary of Stat…
Commons
Debate
29 June 2026
Home Office and Ministry of Justice
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that when prisoners are engaged in retraining or rehabilitation, they can then return to the community they were brought up in, but that is often where their problems started? The report might be able to recommend things that can be done in prison, but when people get b…
Commons
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Diethylstilbestrol: Intergenerational Impact
I commend the hon. Member for Bournemouth West (Jessica Toale) for securing the debate. I spoke to her beforehand to obtain her permission to intervene. As she rightly says, over 300,000 women in the UK were prescribed DES in one of the worst medical disasters in NHS history. Repercussions of the us…
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
25 June 2026
Civil Service Jobs: Relocation
I thank the Minister for her answer. I am very supportive of the Government’s tactic and policy. Back home in Northern Ireland, the relocation of civil service roles has been very important, but there is an issue that concerns me, and my constituents have asked me about it. Civil servants who are se…
Commons
Proceedings
25 June 2026
Sudan
I thank the Minister for his answers. Two weeks ago to the day, I held a debate on Sudan in Westminster Hall, as the Minister will know. We highlighted all these issues, and today we are back again. Does the Minister agree that the terrifying escalation of drone strikes and the ethnically targeted v…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 June 2026
2 contributions
HOUSING, COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
I thank the Committee for its deliberations, thoughts and recommendations. As the hon. Member for North East Hertfordshire (Chris Hinchliff) said, one thing that I am particularly pleased to see is that the Committee is trying to address the issue of stamp duty.
I can remember building my first hou…
It was 37 years ago.
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 June 2026
2 contributions
National Lung Cancer Screening Programme
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. We will be together all afternoon if you are here for the next debate as well. I welcome this debate on the national lung cancer screening programme. I thank the hon. Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) for securing it, and for his dedication …
This debate is about lung cancer, but I noticed a story in the paper today about an increase of between 5% and 10% in the number of people who now have breast cancer. Does the Minister agree that that underlines the issue that while there are many advances in cancer, and we welcome all of them, ther…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 June 2026
Ports and Port Connectivity
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I want to say a special thank you to the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham) for highlighting this important topic.
The title of this debate is “Ports and Port Connectivity”, but from Northern Ireland’s point of view, perhap…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2026
4 contributions
North Sea Oil and Gas
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I thank the hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) for introducing the debate and support his ambitions to take this issue forward. It is no surprise that the hon. Gentleman and his party have been at the fore in pressing it, including…
My hon. Friend and colleague brings forward the exact motivations of many people who speak to me. I endorse what he says, as I am sure others will.
When it comes to our national future, security must always come first. Global instability proves that we cannot simply rely on foreign regimes for our …
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2026
Animal Shelters: Regulation of Euthanasia
First, I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing this issue forward. I spoke to him beforehand, to make him aware of my intervention. He will not be aware—indeed, nobody will be—that my wife has been a volunteer in animal shelters for a great many years, so we have had the cats and dogs that could n…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 June 2026
Conversion Practices Ban
I am mindful of the question asked by the hon. Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) and the Minister’s response. What protection has the Minister put in place for those who actively and honestly seek help and prayerful support, and who are seeking guidance in churches and through Christian and faith-based…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 June 2026
Discrimination against Trans People
I am mindful of the question asked by the hon. Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) and the Minister’s response. What protection has the Minister put in place for those who actively and honestly seek help and prayerful support, and who are seeking guidance in churches and through Christian and faith-based…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2026
Public Libraries: Bournemouth East
My Newtownards library has been allocated funding by the relevant Minister. Understanding that a warm library is a place of knowledge, friendship and community, does the Minister also agree that the benefit to communities is more than the ability to borrow a book and is in fact the ability to connec…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2026
Farming: Financial Sustainability
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank the hon. Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), who set the scene incredibly well. I have four points of 30 seconds each. When we talk about farming in Northern Ireland, we are talking about family farms. Over 27,000 farming …
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 June 2026
3 contributions
Fly-tipping: Residential Areas
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) for setting the scene incredibly well. I welcome the Minister, who we are very fortunate to have. She is committed to the very things that we are asking for. I wish he…
I certainly do. It is an absolute disgrace that, across Northern Ireland, we see fewer than six successful illegal dumping prosecutions per year. Criminal fly-tippers are treating minor fixed penalties as nothing more than a business expense. That must change. We need to back our local authorities i…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 June 2026
Border Security: UK-Ireland Co-operation
I commend my hon. Friend for securing this debate. The party that she and I belong to has been highlighting this back-door approach for a number of years, but the Government have refused to act. The people recently took to the streets in their thousands to tell their Government peacefully that actio…
Commons
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Defence Spending and Readiness
I commend the shadow Minister and the Conservatives for what they are bringing forward today. Warfare is changing, and the shadow Minister knows that. As an example of how warfare is changing, the papers today are talking about warfare that could be done by artificial intelligence, with maybe some 1…
Commons
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Puberty Blockers
I just say this to the hon. Lady and, perhaps more importantly, to the Secretary of State, who is very genuine, personable and easy to speak to. In Northern Ireland, the Assembly and the Minister there have taken a decision not to pursue this. Would the hon. Lady agree that, when the Government purs…