I would first like to associate myself with the condolences to all those who have lost loved ones. We are increasingly seeing foreign leaders not only flout international law but ignore our international rules-based system, which was hard-won after the second world war. What is my right hon. Friend …
CommonsOral QuestionsWork and Pensions23 June 2025
Previous changes in eligibility for disability benefits have resulted in significant adverse health impacts, including an additional 600 suicides in 2010 and 130,000 more people with new onset mental health conditions in 2017. What estimates have the Government undertaken of the impacts on health of…
CommonsOral QuestionsHealth and Social Care17 June 2025
Between 2001 and 2011, the 15% health inequalities weighting in NHS allocations made a positive, measurable difference to the health of deprived people. Unfortunately, it was cut to 10% in 2015. With the spending review’s increase in funding to the NHS, when will the health inequalities weighting re…
I know that my right hon. Friend will be working tirelessly and using all his diplomatic skills and those of his office to resolve this new, immediate crisis, but as others have said, how will he balance that with getting aid in, a permanent ceasefire, getting hostages out and recognition?
I thank my right hon. Friend for her statement. I also pass on my thanks to Dame Louise Casey for meeting Oldham victims and survivors of CSE. They want no further delays to justice, and for perpetrators to face the full force of the law now. It is unacceptable that some are being given court dates …
I congratulate the Minister, and his team and officials, on all that they have done. I do not underestimate the amount of work that has been put in, especially the work with our international allies that has brought us to where we are. As the Minister can see, however, there is always a demand for m…
CommonsOral QuestionsEnergy Security and Net Zero10 June 2025
16. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending the warm home discount to all households in receipt of means-tested benefits on people receiving those benefits.
I am sure the Minister can sense the frustration across the House and from all parties. I support their frustration. We were at a meeting yesterday with the former UN secretary-general for human rights, Andrew Gilmour. He said that the lack of action that the international community is taking now on…
I congratulate the hon. Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) on securing this important debate and on her excellent speech, and I wish her father-in-law and cousin all the very best.
I have been the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on dementia for the past 10 years. Like my co-chai…
That is a very long question. I certainly believe that we need to improve care. Dementia is obviously an umbrella term for several different diseases, and we cannot make recommendations that apply to each specific disease; I think that has unfortunately not had the airing that it might have.
The AP…
I welcome the SDR, in particular the reference to an increase in investment in the defence medical services. Given that 70% of veterans have a clinical mental health condition, will my right hon. Friend explain how the interface with NHS mental health services will be managed?
I support the increase in defence spending and I recognise the reasons behind it, but will the Minister indicate what impact it may have on the non-proliferation treaty?
I thank my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and the ministerial team, who have done so much work to get the statement out and other deliverables. Given that 14,000 babies are about to lose their lives in the next 48 hours and hundreds of Palestinians have been slaughtered overnight, what are …
CommonsMinisterial Statement15 May 20258 contributions
I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allocating time for me to make this statement to the House, which marks the publication of the first report of this Parliament, “Safeguarding Vulnerable Claimants”.
The inquiry that led to this report was first launched in 2023 by our predecessor Committ…
Yes, I would be very grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker. Thank you.
I basically want to thank the Minister. This has been quite a robust and rough journey, but he has listened to comments from across the House, analysed the arguments we have made and listened to the other place. I think this is now going to be a very strong Act that will help enormously to shift our…
In addition to calling for the release of all hostages, Tom Fletcher, the UN emergency relief co-ordinator, asked last night what action we will tell future generations that we each took
“to stop the 21st century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza.”
What action will the Government tak…
CommonsOral QuestionsForeign, Commonwealth and Development Office13 May 2025
On 15 May we will commemorate the 77th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, which saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes and dispossessed, and it still continues today. I pay tribute to Ministers for the diplomacy they are engaged in and for the recent memorandum of understan…
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for what she said about resolving the issues with the application process for Access to Work. Will she also kindly reassure disabled people about the future of Access to Work, and that there will not be cuts in the budget for it?
I wholeheartedly support the Minister in his calls for de-escalation. I reiterate my condolences to the families who have lost loved ones in the attacks last month and overnight. About 20% of my constituents have Pakistani-Kashmiri heritage but, for our common humanity, we should extend our condolen…
I will be brief. I want to draw Members’ attention to a report published on Friday that provides evidence of the impact by constituency. It clearly shows the impact on northern areas: an average of £269 per working adult in the north-east, and similar in the north-west and in Yorkshire and Humber. T…