Commons
Debate
2 February 2026
US Department of Justice Release of Files
There are many aspects of this that are hugely troubling, but I will focus on one: the passing on of highly sensitive information by a serving Cabinet Minister to third parties. Clearly, that could amount to misconduct in public office, and I hope that the police investigate it.
The papers reveal a…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
19 January 2026
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
The Minister was right when she said that trust has to be earned. I believe that she is really putting her heart and soul into earning the trust of the families. I thank her for her work in doing so, and I hope that it leads us to a satisfactory conclusion. Not everyone affected by Hillsborough is a…
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 January 2026
Sale of Fireworks
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) on his breakneck introduction, in which he took so many interventions on this massive issue. He was right, as many other Members have been, to observe that we have had these de…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
The Foreign Secretary has set out that it is possible to not shed a tear for Maduro’s removal but be concerned about upholding international law. In that regard, this should not be seen as a green light for Greenland. With that in mind, will the Foreign Secretary confirm to the House that when she s…
Commons
Proceedings
16 December 2025
Points of Order
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. This is a slightly unusual point of order, but one that it is important to deal with now as it may become more of an issue going forward. Last week, it was claimed I had participated in a Westminster Hall debate on digital ID, where I allegedly not only spo…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
16 December 2025
Electoral Resilience
I welcome this review and the fact that it is independent. It is really important that this is seen to be above party politics, because we must protect our democracy; it is very clear that it is fragile and under attack from foreign forces. I want to ask the Secretary of State about the terms of ref…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
May I first declare my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and donations from the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers trade union, as well as my membership of the GMB and Unite trade unions? I am not sure if we are on a ping or a pong now, but there is a whiff of stubbor…
I am glad that there are some Conservative Back Benchers here. Last week they were all somewhere else, but now we are hearing some contributions. I was not in the room when the negotiations took place, but I understand that that was the deal. I am afraid that there have been some wilful misunderstan…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
NHS: Winter Preparedness
Late on Friday, I received notification that the Eastham walk-in centre was to be temporarily closed for four weeks, which appears to be a move in response to the real pressures in the NHS, as I think most of the staff are to be redeployed to the local A&E. Given that previously I and my hon. Fr…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
11 December 2025
Topical Questions
T7. I am sure the Department will be aware of the coverage this week of some harrowing stories about the treatment of Vodafone franchisees. Without asking Ministers to comment on specific cases, they will no doubt recognise the power imbalance in that relationship. Will they consider looking at meas…
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
Cammell Laird Workers’ Imprisonment: Public Inquiry
I congratulate my hon. Friend on bringing this debate. I declare for the record my membership of the GMB trade union. I was at that Westminster Hall debate, in which the Minister at the time said that a search had been undertaken. Given what my hon. Friend has said today about the highest levels of …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 December 2025
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
Our constituents will consider it absurd that we spend billions of pounds every year on training doctors who will never work in the NHS. I am pleased that we are grappling with this issue, just like the Secretary of State is grappling with many others. He has shown that by working constructively thr…
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
May I first declare my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and the donation from USDAW trade union, as well as my membership of the GMB and Unite trade unions? I declare an interest as someone who represented working people before I came into this place and as someone who wants to …
We can always have a dig at the SNP, but the real enemies have been the Greens, the Liberal Democrats, the Tories and the Reform Members who have voted against this Bill consistently. They are the ones who have brought us to this point.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
1 December 2025
4 contributions
Budget Resolutions
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker.
As always with a Budget, there is far more to say than one can fit in a speech, but I just want to start by saying that the decision by the Chancellor to increase the headroom is not one that will garner many headlines or capture the p…
My hon. Friend is right to point out that the policy punished children for being born, which is not something any Labour Government should be part of.
We hear that this decision may encourage people not to work, but we all know from the statistics that a majority of people in receipt of benefits ar…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
Business of the House
I am pleased to see that the Employment Rights Bill is coming back to us shortly. It has been eight and a half months since we first sent it to the other place, and the Lords keep blocking it. Now the Greens have joined the Tories and Lib Dems in blocking our manifesto commitment. I am worried that …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 November 2025
Critical Minerals Strategy
I welcome the statement from the Minister and refer him to the Select Committee’s report issued today on economic security, which touches on some of the issues that he has talked about. It also talks about the much wider threats to the resilience of the UK’s economy. On that point, I want to ask him…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Budget: Press Briefings
The problem that we have is an insatiable 24/7 media who want stories and will sometimes generate their own. All this speculation has created uncertainty that has hampered investment, which I know is not what the Treasury wants. Will the Minister be clear from the Dispatch Box that any further specu…
Commons
Debate
5 November 2025
5 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
I am grateful to the shadow Secretary of State for giving way. I am pleased that he has learned to count now; he must have improved his skills since his time under Liz Truss in the Treasury. He talked about the consensus over 30 years, but was it not his Government who introduced the Trade Union Act…
The Liberal Democrat spokesperson has just said that it is not right that employers should pay for a mistake they made in hiring someone. Why should the employee pay for that mistake, if it was not theirs?
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Topical Questions
T6. I refer the House to my membership of Unite. I met Unite reps in the automotive sector yesterday, including from the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port, who raised with me their concerns about changes to the employee car ownership scheme in the automotive sector. This will mean an increase in taxe…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
2 contributions
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
It is a privilege to be here today debating a Bill that has been decades in the making. Before I begin, I want to join those who have already spoken in paying tribute to the tireless campaigning of the Hillsborough survivors and those who lost loved ones in the disaster. They have been through an un…
That is an interesting suggestion. I think a lot of Members are concerned about how this will relate to the security services, because we have had many examples in the past of where they have done things that we would rather had not happened. I hope that, as the Bill progresses, there will be some g…
Commons
Debate
30 October 2025
Property Service Charges
I congratulate the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) on her excellent speech and on securing the debate. I state for the record that I am a patron of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, which does such good work in advising leaseholders.
It was eight years ago that I stood on the Opposition s…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
May I welcome the Minister to her place, and say what an encouraging start this is? All the funding that my community is receiving is very welcome, and it is such a contrast to the previous regime’s approach, where we had the crumbs off the table, and a politically motivated process in which communi…
Commons
Debate
15 September 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
Will the shadow Secretary of State give way?
I am glad to be back.
The shadow Secretary of State just talked about legal fees for firms when it comes to defending tribunal cases. If the right to be accompanied is expanded to include lawyers, the response of firms will be, “We had better get a lawyer too”, and that will just put up costs, will…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
3 contributions
UK Internal Market
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Dr Huq. I am grateful to the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith), for giving me ample time to respond to the many issues that have been raised. He may be keen to take a phone call as a result of the shadow Cabinet r…
He is staying in place.
I congratulate the right hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) on securing this debate. He referred to not having a great deal of luck in applying for debates; perhaps he is right that he has not faced as much competition because this is the last day before recess. But …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
17 July 2025
Topical Questions
The hon. Member is right to pay tribute to the tremendous work that posties do up and down the country, rain or shine, to deliver the mail. There have, of course, been issues with performance in the Royal Mail. I am happy to discuss that further with him, and to make sure, with the help of Ofcom, th…