Commons
Westminster Hall
17 July 2025
RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz; I am really pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) on securing the debate and providing Members with the opportunity to recognise those from our constituencies. All o…
Commons
Proceedings
16 July 2025
Sudan
I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question, and my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir Andrew Mitchell) for pursuing this matter.
The situation in Sudan is dire. We are deeply concerned by the International Criminal Court’s findings last week that there a…
Commons
Debate
15 July 2025
Taxes
I wonder whether the right hon. Gentleman could help me out by explaining what a working person is.
Commons
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
2 contributions
Industrial Electricity Prices
8. What steps his Department is taking to help reduce industrial electricity prices.
The UK’s industrial electricity prices are among the highest in Europe, and it is quite clear that the Government’s current policies are failing manufacturing businesses in constituencies such as mine. Will the Minister commit to introducing support that genuinely reduces electricity costs for manuf…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
6 contributions
West Coast Main Line
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I acknowledge the hon. Gentleman having allowed the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) to intervene first, given that the latter is fortunate enough to have a train station on his patch!
You may wonder, Dr Murrison, why I am here for this debate when normally I am campaigning for…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 July 2025
6 contributions
Neighbourhood Plans: Planning Decisions
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point because that is not just happening in his local community. Does he agree that we see the same thing right across the country? The same is happening in Birmingham, where the housing target is going down, yet in places such as Aldridge-Brownhills i…
On that point, some of us do not have parish councils, but the local voice in neighbourhood planning is still important. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this insistence on top-down targets is driving out any space for local communities and the local voice? That is deeply damaging if we want to cr…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
However the Secretary of State dresses this up, her Labour Government, aided by Mayor Parker, are still leaving communities such as Aldridge behind by pushing our train station project into the sidings. Given her announcement—or reannouncement—of the midlands rail hub, can she confirm whether she is…
Commons
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
Topical Questions
The charity sector includes hospices, such as Acorns children’s hospice in Walsall. Hospices are being hit by the Government’s damaging rise in employer national insurance, which was mentioned in an earlier question. Given that in his opening remarks, the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and T…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 July 2025
3 contributions
West Bank: Forced Displacement
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) on securing the debate.
The Conservatives are clear in our support for a two-state solution delivered in the right way at the right time. The only way forward is a solution…
In April, the Government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Palestinian Authority, but we were left with more questions than answers. On elections, can the Minister confirm the “shortest feasible timeframe” referenced in the MOU for the Palestinian Authority to hold presidential and parli…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 June 2025
Business of the House
The latest data from the Environment Agency shows nearly 17,000 reports of waste crime across England in the past year, with the west midlands sadly showing the highest concentration of incidents. Waste crime costs the UK economy around £1 billion annually, and no doubt the Labour-led Birmingham bin…
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
5 contributions
Department for Transport
I agree with the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) on one thing, which is the importance of transport for connecting communities. I then diverge from her a little, because if this Government are serious about unlocking and delivering economic growth, particularly across the west…
My hon. Friend makes an interesting point on franchising. He is right to highlight the potential impact and the challenge for smaller authorities, but there are also challenges for the bigger authorities. My constituency is part of the West Midlands combined authority, and also part of Walsall metro…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
I rise to the three-minute challenge. We hear that this is the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a generation. I am sure we all remember the day when we got the keys to our first home and how that felt. We are told there will be £39 billion over 10 years, but the real test is wh…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
Rights of Women and Girls
Education is a basic right, and ensuring quality education for every girl is essential to building a more equitable world. In 2023, the Conservative Government launched the women and girls strategy to deliver on the three Es: education, empowering women and girls, and ending violence. Does the Minis…
Commons
Debate
20 June 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
This is the first time I have spoken in the debate, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I assure you that I will keep my comments short and respectful, and respectful of others. I am also conscious that none of us in this place underestimates the enormity of the decision that we face today. I do not believe i…
Commons
Oral Questions
19 June 2025
Fly-tipping
When it comes to cracking down on litter and fly-tipping, I would welcome anything the Government do. However, during proceedings on the Crime and Policing Bill, which passed through this place this week, Government Members had ample opportunity to accept various new clauses and amendments that woul…
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I am clear that Traveller and minority groups absolutely do have rights, but they also have responsibilities. When this law was put in place, there was good reason for it: to redress some of the imbalance. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that repealing this law would leave our communities unprotected …
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+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
17 June 2025
8 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
On neighbourhood policing, I welcome the fact that we have some extra capacity coming into the west midlands, but I have not yet had clarification on whether the money that is coming to the west midlands will cover all the extra national insurance costs. The Labour police and crime commissioner is a…
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for setting out those policing numbers. Does he share my concern about the additional police officers we are getting? When I look at our figures for the west midlands, the boost is coming from deployments. I worry about where they are actually coming from and just how…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
10 June 2025
5 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Like others, I sat in the Chamber yesterday listening to the Government voting down so many amendments. We had an opportunity to do something really good with this Bill, and we have missed it. Does the shadow Minister agree that, if we are not careful, we will end up with a piece of legislation that…
When it comes to infrastructure, such as battery energy storage systems, it is not just the Scottish Borders that are affected, but areas like mine, Aldridge-Brownhills in the west midlands. I support what my hon. Friend says about this feeling like encroachment, and about increasing compulsory purc…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 June 2025
3 contributions
USAID Funding Pause
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Hobhouse. I congratulate the hon. Member for Melksham and Devizes (Brian Mathew) on securing the debate. It is very timely, coming as it does one day before the Chancellor’s spending review announcement.
It is more than three months since the P…
In my comments, I was appreciative of the challenges that any Government faces in such circumstances. However, I gently remind the Minister that this is now happening on her Government’s watch and, as she rightly acknowledges, my job as the shadow development Minister is to keep asking those questio…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
9 June 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Does my hon. Friend agree that our constituents expect to have their voice heard on a local planning committee? Provided that councils are well-trained, the system that we have is working quite well.
To put it more simply, the sense of urban sprawl is about the green belt not just between specific villages but between communities. We see that between Streetly and Pheasey in my constituency on the edge of Birmingham. Does he agree that it would help to tackle the problem if the Government adopted…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 June 2025
Winter Fuel Payment
No matter how the Minister tries to dress it up, the Chancellor made a monumental political mistake last year. While I welcome the news that the payment is being reinstated, it is cold comfort to those pensioners who missed out last year and faced really difficult choices over the winter. Will the M…
Commons
Debate
2 June 2025
6 contributions
Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords]
I wholeheartedly agree with the Secretary of State on the importance of buses for connectivity. I note that the Bill talks about “socially necessary” services, but it would be helpful to have a better understanding of the definition of what they are beyond my own interpretation. For example, if a co…
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+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
2 June 2025
Government Announcements
I fully respect the role of the Leader of the House in this place, but I am shocked, although in a way not surprised, by what has happened. The Government Benches are very quiet today, which is unusual on such occasions, so I think Labour Members must feel the same way we do. I would like to ask the…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
2 June 2025
Topical Questions
T6. Since taking office almost a year ago, the Home Secretary has spectacularly failed to put a cap on illegal immigration or a deterrent in place, and this weekend’s record number of boat crossings demonstrates that she has clearly completely failed to take control of our borders. What can she say …
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 May 2025
Ukraine: Forcibly Deported Children
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I congratulate the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) on securing this debate. She has spoken with passion and sincerity in this place, not just today but on a number of occasions. I join her in welcoming the …