Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Houses in Multiple Occupation: Planning Consent
We are seeing more and more HMOs across Walsall borough and in my constituency, and it is leaving my local residents feeling that they have very little say on what is happening in their streets. Walsall council has worked on this. I welcome its new article 4 direction, which came into effect in Octo…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
2 contributions
Official Development Assistance Reductions
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank the hon. Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) for securing this timely debate. I also welcome the Minister to her place on the Front Bench; I think this is the first time we have met across the Dispatch Box in Westminster Hal…
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention; I was just going to come on to the point that I believe answers his question.
Our development partnerships must adapt to the changing geopolitical landscape that we face today. That is at the heart of this issue. The minilateral model, where…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Business of the House
It would not be business questions if I did not raise a certain topic, but I have let the newly appointed Leader of the House settle into his role before I raise the issue of Aldridge train station. In 2021, the Conservative mayor committed £30 million to build a new station in Aldridge and we were …
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Sudan: Protection of Civilians
If I may, I will start by thanking the Minister for his update on Hurricane Melissa. On behalf of His Majesty’s official Opposition, I add my thoughts and solidarity for all those affected at this time.
I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for granting the urgent question and to the right hon. Member …
Commons
Proceedings
29 October 2025
Asylum Seekers: MOD Housing
My constituents are increasingly concerned about the rising number of houses in multiple occupation. Can the Minister assure me that any overflow from these bases will not lead to an increased reliance on HMOs in our towns and cities, including Walsall, and may I ask what further powers the Governme…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
2 contributions
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Does my right hon. Friend agree that, even in such a short period of time, this Government are showing that it is they who cannot be trusted with the economy and the future of this country? Is it not time they woke up to the reality?
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury indicated that if there was a plan to fund the proposal, he would back it. The shadow Chancellor has clearly set out that we do have a plan to fund it, so will the Chief Secretary back it?
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
28 October 2025
Ukraine
Russia’s war in Ukraine is fuelled by oil export revenues sustained by third-country refineries in India, Turkey and China. They process and re-export Russian crude as refined products, often to sanctioned states. These countries are fuelling Putin’s war chest. Last month, President Trump called on …
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
Prisoner Release Checks
Kebatu’s accidental release is beyond belief; it is a national embarrassment. But what I have found really disturbing has been sitting here on the Back Benches watching the Justice Secretary laugh at some of the responses. I find that wholly unpalatable and am left wondering what the victims must be…
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Business of the House
The Birmingham bin strike has now cost taxpayers £14 million. Residents have had no recycling collection since last Christmas, and the city has lost £4 million in income due to no garden waste collection. The strike is doing irrevocable damage to the reputation of the west midlands, including my con…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
22 October 2025
Engagements
Q2. My constituents have so many questions they would like to ask the Prime Minister, but I will settle for one today: can the Prime Minister define when grey belt is really grey?
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 October 2025
Korean War: 75th Commemoration
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I welcome the Minister to his new position. This is the first time we have—I will not say sparred, because it is not the sort of debate for that—worked together since we served as Whips a number of years ago.
Let me begin by congratulatin…
Commons
Debate
21 October 2025
Sentencing Bill
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for making that point, because many of us will have examples in our constituencies of families who have been tragically affected by knife crime. Some go on to do amazing work to educate young people, but at the same time it is important that where a sentence has…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 October 2025
2 contributions
Electricity Infrastructure: Rural Communities
We have a similar issue in the west midlands, although it is not entirely a rural area. On the edge of Birmingham in my constituency, battery energy storage systems are being imposed upon local communities. What was green belt is now being defined as grey belt. Local communities feel that they get a…
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
20 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
I beg to move amendment 1, page 1, line 7, leave out subsection (2) and insert—
“(1A) The Treaty and sections 2 to 4 of this Act do not come into force until the duties outlined in section [The additional period and right to extend: duty to publish legal advice and risk assessments] are discharged.…
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Chairman, and to speak to the amendments that stand in my name and in the names of other right hon. and hon. Members, as we open this Committee of the whole House to debate Labour’s Chagos surrender Bill.
It has been more than a year since the surrend…
+18 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
As things stand, the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans reflects so badly on Birmingham, the west midlands and our country, and at a time when football can often bring people and communities together. Will the Secretary of State assure us that she will do all she can to ensure that any reviews un…
Commons
Proceedings
16 October 2025
Business of the House
Nineteen thousand: that is the number of homes that this Labour Government want to impose on the Walsall borough. In Aldridge-Brownhills, not only are we fighting to protect our precious green spaces and our green belt, but we now find ourselves threatened by this term, and new regulation, “grey bel…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 October 2025
Ada Lovelace Day
The Ada Lovelace event held earlier this week in Parliament was an excellent way of highlighting for many of us the importance of women in manufacturing and STEM, but Ada Lovelace was clearly a visionary. Does the hon. Lady agree that we need to keep that visionary sense at the heart of all we do wh…
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
Ambassador to the United States
Let us be crystal clear: this emergency debate is about honesty, integrity and the credibility of this Labour Government. It is about what the Prime Minister knew about Lord Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein, and when he knew it. The public deserve the truth, but instead they have been treated to…
Commons
Debate
9 September 2025
5 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
Today’s Second Reading is not only important, but historically significant—sadly, for all the wrong reasons. We are debating a Bill that will leave Britain less secure, undermine our strategic interests and leave British taxpayers out of pocket. The decision by this Labour Government to surrender so…
I remind the hon. Member of two things. First, talking and signing are two very different things. Secondly, some of us on the Conservative Benches remember that no deal is better than a bad deal.
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
2 September 2025
5 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
In the right hon. Lady’s attempts to drive forward this carthorse of devolution, will she tell us where the accountability and scrutiny will come from and where the voice of local people will really be heard?
Democracy matters; accountability matters. I am afraid that this Bill strips away both. At the heart of this Government’s attempted reforms lies a democratic deficit where planning committees lose their powers; councillors may scrutinise but cannot decide; and local councils are diminished, while in…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
Official Development Assistance Budget
At a time when we face global development spending reductions across critical areas such as global health, women, peace and security, girls’ education, water, sanitation and hygiene, and nutrition, Ministers have chosen to increase energy and climate spending by £244 million—an increase of 59%. Coul…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
On the watch of this Home Secretary, 2025 has been the worst year on record for small boat crossings. The Government claim that they want to end the use of asylum hotels, but the right hon. Lady is not telling us when they will do that. I would like reassurance that we will not see an increase in ho…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
3 contributions
Black Country Day
The hon. Lady makes an important point about the history, landscape and geography of the Black Country and the fact that our roots are in industry. She makes a very good point about how we can reuse our brownfield sites—for example, for the battery and energy storage system. Does she agree with me t…
I thank the hon. Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for securing this debate and giving us, as Black Country Members of Parliament, and you, Ms Vaz, the opportunity to highlight some of the lot that is the Black Country at its best. I do not think that 90 minutes is long enough to talk…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
21 July 2025
Asylum Hotels: Migrant Criminal Activity
One year on, it is quite clear that the Labour Government have not got a grip on illegal migration and criminality. There is no plan and no cap, and it would appear today that there is not even an answer or any knowledge as to whether any gangs have been smashed. When will the Minister put in place …
Commons
Proceedings
17 July 2025
Business of the House
With no garden waste or recycling collections since the start of the year, all-out bin collection strikes now entering day 129, and no sign of an agreement, Birmingham’s bin strike is having an impact on not just the residents and reputation of the UK’s second city, but on the broader west midlands.…