Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 July 2026
Historical Forced Adoption
I thank the Prime Minister for his really heartfelt statement—I think everybody here could feel that. Does he agree that we must recognise that a lack of empathy and dehumanising approach was adopted in this practice? I am minded that the statement “Don’t judge someone before you walk in their shoes…
Commons
Debate
30 June 2026
3 contributions
Department for Work and Pensions
I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing this debate. The Department for Work and Pensions supports nearly 23 million people and spends around £300 billion each year—around £1 in every £5 of Government spending. Some £164 billion is spent on pensions and pension-age benefits—a third mor…
I am grateful for that intervention; long may that work continue.
About one in eight young people are not in work, education or training. That is more than a million young people. It is the first time since 2013 that have we seen figures on that level. Ill health, and especially mental ill health, …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 June 2026
Connect to Work Programme
I am pleased to present the Work and Pensions Committee’s second report in our employment support for disabled people inquiry series. Our first report, “Disability at Work”, examined workplace issues impacting on disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, who I will now refer to as …
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
17 June 2026
Engagements
Q5. I associate myself with the remarks of the Deputy Prime Minister, and congratulate my constituent Sir Kevin Sinfield on all the work he does. Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the murder of our dear friend Jo Cox. As well as being a sister to our wonderful hon. Friend the Member for Spen …
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
Topical Questions
T9. There is overwhelming evidence that marketised health systems, as the NHS has become, increase health inequalities. Will the Health Secretary consider amendments to the Health Bill that will tackle the rising inequalities in existing health policies, including allowing local NHS organisations to…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 June 2026
Milburn Review: Interim Report
I welcome Alan Milburn’s report. The Select Committee is in the concluding stages of its own youth employment, education and training inquiry. We take account particularly of the drivers, and the Minister is right. As the millennium cohort study has shown, more than half of NEETs have experienced ad…
Commons
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
Topical Questions
Our declining healthy life expectancy, as underlined in today’s Health Foundation report, is a real worry, but as Professor Sir Michael Marmot has shown, that is no surprise after 14 years of austerity and its impact on our public services. There is the potential for a significant knock-on effect on…
Commons
Debate
20 April 2026
Security Vetting
I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement. For clarity, could he confirm to whom, and when, the UK Security Vetting report outcomes were made available? Could he also say what guidance is given to senior officials on matters that must be escalated to their Ministers?
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
2 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
I must say that I am slightly surprised by the shadow Minister’s speech. I understand that Pensions UK agrees with the asset allocation, and has welcomed the change that has been announced, which is in line with the amounts prescribed in the Mansion House accord. The accusations about the Government…
Going back to the asset aspect of the debate, I came across some new analysis from the New Financial that shows that over the last 10 years UK equities allocation by DC pensions has fallen from 25% to just 5%. It argues that this has helped create a self-fulfilling doom loop of lower demand, lower v…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 April 2026
Middle East
I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for all that he is doing towards de-escalating the conflict in the middle east. I agree with him that we should not get drawn into the conflict. May I ask him about Palestine, and the west bank in particular? More than 30 former UK ambassadors have said that …
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
25 March 2026
Engagements
Q3. I thank the Prime Minister for the funding for three new primary school nurseries in Oldham, but may I ask him specifically about Monday’s Liaison Committee meeting, at which he agreed that the Israeli settlements in the west bank are unlawful and that their expansion threatens the viability o…
Commons
Debate
17 March 2026
Middle East
I commend my right hon. Friend on her statement, and I thank her and her offices for the safe return of two of my constituents who were caught up in the original bombings.
I support what my right hon. Friend says about the Government’s position not to get embroiled in this war of choice, but I note…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
Strait of Hormuz
A number of Arab ambassadors attended a meeting in the House of Commons last week. They were clear that the military action undertaken by Israel and the US emanated from the action that we have seen over more than two years in Gaza, and that the solution needed meaningful peace in the area. What are…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 March 2026
Spring Forecast
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, and I absolutely agree that this year the British public will start to feel the difference that it makes to have a Labour Government. Will she expand on what she is doing to ensure that all dimensions of inequality—inequality of income, wealth, power and h…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 March 2026
Middle East
I thank the Prime Minister for his statement, and for his reassurance about the principles for involving the United Kingdom in any military action. For those on this side of the House, it is important that, as well as having a viable plan, we stand by the rule of law. Has my right hon. Friend been a…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 February 2026
Gaza Healthcare System
My hon. Friend and I were at a meeting at which we heard from human rights and medical aid experts. I was struck by the figure that on the World Health Organisation wait list 18,500 people from Gaza are awaiting medical treatment. East Jerusalem hospitals have stated that they are able to care for 5…
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
3 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
Can the shadow Minister remind the Committee of the weekly rate for the standard UC allowance?
Is the hon. Member aware of the tackling child poverty strategy and the inquiry by the Education Committee and Work and Pensions Committee looking at just that, as well as at the data the Education Secretary published before Christmas?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Young people with special educational needs or disabilities, and with multiple disadvantage, are three times more likely to be not in education, employment or training. I appreciate what my right hon. Friend is saying about reducing the attainment gap, but…
Commons
Debate
10 February 2026
4 contributions
Pensions and Social Security
I am pleased to follow the shadow Minister. I would like to challenge several things she said, but I will pick up on just a couple.
First, one of the hon. Lady’s opening statements was that hard-working people who get up at dawn and go out to work do not approve of this increase in support. I gentl…
My hon. Friend may not know this, but the Minister and I were on the Work and Pensions Committee when the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Trussell Trust presented the case for the essentials. I think there is overwhelming support for such measures, but it is a question of how we do it in a sustai…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
3 February 2026
4 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
Of the measures brought forward in this Government’s Budget last year, the abolition of the two-child limit is the one that most fills me with hope and more than a little pride, so I thank the Government for listening to so many of us who raised this issue as a concern.
As my right hon. Friend the …
Absolutely; my hon. Friend is a wonderful member of the Select Committee, and I thank her for that. In particular, she is very active on our joint inquiry with the Education Committee.
In the space of the 15 years between 2010 and when we were elected in 2024, child poverty escalated from 3.9 milli…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
26 January 2026
2 contributions
“Keep Britain Working” Review: Recommendations
15. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of his Department's progress on implementing the recommendations of the “Keep Britain Working” review.
As my right hon. Friend knows, Sir Charlie made a number of recommendations, including providing evidence of returns on investments that would incentivise more businesses to take part in preventive measures to ensure that their workers remain healthy and in work. Given the excellent network of acade…
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
Middle East and North Africa
I welcome my hon. Friend’s statement. The lack of progress in Gaza is a real concern. On top of this, we have seen a shockingly callous display by the Israeli Government in their banning of 37 organisations. It is just incomprehensible. I want to focus on what is happening in the west bank, where pe…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
2 contributions
Court Backlogs
15. What steps he is taking to tackle backlogs in the courts.
The Minister will recall that last week I mentioned two cases in my constituency involving juveniles and child sexual abuse. Those cases of alleged sexual abuse have been adjourned a number of times and, as I explained to her, the damage done to the lives of those children cannot be underestimated. …
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
2 contributions
International Human Rights Day 2025
I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Penrith and Solway (Markus Campbell-Savours) on his excellent speech. We are celebrating International Human Rights Day, and the universal declaration of human rights was set up, as we all know, in the wake of the second world war, to set out the foundations …
Does the shadow Minister think that the Opposition’s current position has changed markedly from their position when they were in government?
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
Child Poverty Strategy
I warmly congratulate my right hon. Friend on the introduction of the child poverty strategy, particularly the lifting of the two-child limit, which will make a measurable difference to hundreds of thousands of children’s lives. Child poverty does not just blight educational attainment and employmen…