Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
11 December 2025
Small and Medium-sized Businesses
The Scottish Chambers of Commerce has said that this Labour Budget
“falls short of reassuring business owners”
and that SMEs in Scotland are being left “on the brink”. I have met a range of businesses in the Scottish whisky and hospitality sectors and the crucial energy industry, and this Budget i…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
8 December 2025
Topical Questions
Since Maximus began the contract to provide work capability assessments in September last year, nearly 1,000 people have had their assessment appointments cancelled. However, a whistleblower has been in touch with me to state that cancellations are a regular occurrence largely because of IT services…
Commons
Oral Questions
2 December 2025
Gaza: Humanitarian Situation
The death toll in Gaza now exceeds 70,000 people. Since the ceasefire, at least 357 Palestinians have been killed and 903 wounded. Israel has committed close to 600 violations, and there is recent video evidence of extrajudicial murders. Does the Secretary of State agree that this suggests that it i…
Commons
Proceedings
24 November 2025
Ministerial Code
The former Environment Secretary and now Housing Secretary, the right hon. Member for Streatham and Croydon North (Steve Reed), claimed at the Dispatch Box just a few months ago that water pollution levels in Scotland are worse than they are in England. When it was pointed out that this is completel…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 November 2025
China Espionage: Government Security Response
Our devolved nations, local authorities and educational institutions are not being made adequately aware of the risks that China poses, as is evidenced in Sunday’s report by David Leask. The Minister has mentioned briefings with devolved Governments, guidance for candidates and a closed event with u…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 November 2025
Video Games: Consumer Law
The hon. Member is making an excellent case. I represent the city of Dundee, otherwise known as the gaming capital of Europe. Given that we are the city that created “Lemmings” and “Grand Theft Auto”, and that we have the world’s first university degree in computing gaming, it should come as no surp…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Business of the House
Local newspapers and media outlets often break the most important stories for our constituents, but their ability to do so is increasingly at risk. In the last month alone, we have heard of a proposed restructure of Reach PLC that puts over 300 editorial jobs at risk, while STV has decided to close …
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Sudan: Protection of Civilians
In relation to the atrocities that have been committed by the RSF in Sudan, Amnesty International has said that
“the UK kept approving arms sales to the UAE, even when the risks were staring it in the face. This raises serious questions about the UK’s…complicity in mass atrocities.”
This is not th…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
30 October 2025
Trading Relationships
In taking steps to improve our trading relationship with other countries, I welcome the new sanctions announced by the UK and the US targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies: Rosneft and Lukoil. However, despite pointing out to Ministers on several occasions that hundreds of billions of pounds h…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
5 contributions
China Spying Case
The hon. Gentleman is making a good case about cross-party consideration of the threats China poses. I want to ask a very simple question, which I have asked in this place before: does he think that China should be on the foreign influence registration scheme, as Russia is—yes or no?
In 2023—we are going back a couple of years—Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee report on China warned
“that China’s view of an ideal future…would be antithetical to the UK’s interests”.
In its conclusion, China was detailed 11 times as a “threat”, an “acute threat” or a “grave threat…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 October 2025
Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case
The Minister states:
“we will take all necessary action to deter those who seek to do us harm,”
and that includes threats “emanating from China”. Despite ongoing transnational repression of Tibetans, Uyghurs and Hongkongers, continued cyber-security attacks on this country, and Members of this Par…
Commons
Debate
15 September 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
On short-notice periods for zero-hour contracts, there was an opportunity in the House of Lords to support the Liberal Democrat amendment that would require employers to give employees at least 48 hours’ notice. Labour peers voted against that amendment and the Government have not come forward with …
The challenge is that we are waiting years before we have any response to what the numbers might be. Does the hon. Member find that reasonable? In the meantime, we have no protections whatsoever for these people who we are all trying to protect.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Hospitality Sector
rose —
Apart from my hon. Friend the Member for Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey (Graham Leadbitter). I thank the Minister for highlighting the V&A museums, one of which is in my city of Dundee, which has numerous hospitality businesses. Scotland makes a £9 billion contribution to the UK Exchequer thro…
Commons
Debate
2 September 2025
Speciality Steel UK: Insolvency
The Minister was right to come here today to make a statement on such an important part of the national infrastructure. It is just a shame that no Minister has ever made a statement in this House on Grangemouth. We have now learned that the Chancellor met INEOS chair Jim Ratcliffe just three weeks a…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
2 contributions
Recognition of a Palestinian State
12. What discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the recognition of a Palestinian state.
The United Kingdom Government should never have placed conditions on the recognition of the state of Palestine—there is no place for it in international law. However, given that it is clear that Israel has failed to comply with these conditions, can the Secretary of State confirm that the UK will un…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Middle East
This morning, the Scottish Labour leader told a press conference in Glasgow:
“there is a genocide happening in Gaza. I believe Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and he will have to face further sanctions.”
Does the Foreign Secretary agree?
Commons
Proceedings
22 July 2025
Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery
With the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland having closed, and Prax Lindsey facing the same fate, there is clearly a missing element in the UK Government’s just transition policy. There can be no just transition if skilled jobs are lost when that transition is made. What assurance can the Minister giv…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Middle East
Twenty-nine arms export licences were suspended in September due to the possible breaking of international law, yet between September and December we saw a further 34 licences. Will the Foreign Secretary explain that decision? How many licences have been granted this year? What is the UK Government’…
Commons
Proceedings
17 July 2025
Strategy for Elections
The SNP welcomes that the UK Government are catching up to Scotland, where we have had votes for 16-year-olds for the last nine years. However, it is clear that real change also requires looking at this Parliament’s electoral system. Recent polls have shown that the leading party currently would win…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
17 July 2025
Trade Agreements: Implementation
The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 is a restrictive piece of legislation that centralises power to the UK Government and allows them to override the Scottish Parliament. Yesterday, the Labour Government confirmed they would not repeal or amend that Tory Act. Indeed, the Secretary of State f…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Post Office Horizon Inquiry: Volume 1
The Government have been told routinely by organisations such as Scottish Postmasters for Justice and Redress that compensation for victims of the Horizon scandal is taking too long and that the application process is akin to the trauma of a second trial for victims. We have also heard today that Si…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 July 2025
3 contributions
West Bank: Forced Displacement
I thank the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) for outlining the key issues of the situation in the west bank. While the genocide continues in Gaza, the west bank is in an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing. In the last 18 months, at least 1,000 Palestinians in the west bank have been m…
I thank the hon. Member for raising an important point about tariffs. I was going to come on to that, but thankfully it has now been covered, which I appreciate.
The bottom line is that, surely the rights and lives of Palestinians—as I have just stated—are of equal value to those of Ukrainians. The…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 June 2025
China Audit
As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Tibet, I welcome the fact that the Government have responded to human rights situations in Xinjiang and Tibet. I would like to have seen more about religious freedoms, which includes next week’s birthday of the Dalai Lama—probably the most well-k…
Commons
Proceedings
12 June 2025
Business of the House
Authoritarian regimes are increasing their attempts to silence those who stand up against them, wherever they are in the world. That includes the Hong Kong Government, who have issued arrest warrants and million-dollar bounties for 19 activists in exile, including 10 who are resident here in the UK.…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
12 June 2025
Topical Questions
The Prime Minister routinely states his unwavering support for Ukraine, yet as a result of UK Government inaction, British businesses continue to bankroll Putin’s brutal war on a colossal scale. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, a whopping £205 billion of Russian fossil fu…