Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Middle East
Doctors have told us that they walk into the emergency room and see, if not starved and emaciated children, tiny bodies strewn across the floor with burns, blasts and bullets, and their job is to choose which child to save and which ones they will have to let go. That is decision making. The Foreign…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
Topical Questions
York is seeking to advance new models of support for children with SEND that are inclusive and provide opportunity, including greater curriculum flexibility to deliver a broader education in small groups and a life skills curriculum so children are equipped to navigate the world around them safely. …
Commons
Proceedings
16 July 2025
Sudan
The brutal violence being perpetrated against Sudanese civilians is only fuelled by external actors from the UAE, Egypt, Russia and beyond. Will the Minister ensure diplomatic interventions with each of those nations and report back to the House on the outcome of those dialogues? Will she also ensur…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
Women and Girls with Autism: Mental Health Support
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West (Jessica Toale) for securing the debate. Will the Minister ensure that mental health trusts and integrated care boards do not put people waiting for an autism assessment through a process of filling in a pro forma, only to be left langu…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 July 2025
State of Climate and Nature
I thank my right hon. Friend for making such a pertinent statement when the planet is in such a critical condition. I also thank him for his domestic and global leadership. The BioYorkshire project will create 4,000 jobs, helping us to see a green transition but also ensuring that we have future agr…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
Topical Questions
City of York council is the lowest funded unitary authority, but under the fair funding review we do not fare any better. Can the Minister extend the consultation guidelines? These are complex issues. Will he meet our council to look at the impact of the review?
Commons
Debate
9 July 2025
4 contributions
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
Last week’s chaos and climbdown has been overshadowed by events of the last 48 hours. The impact assessment published last night shows that £2 billion is still to be stripped from up to three quarters of a million sick and disabled people by 2029-30 through the slashing of the health element of univ…
I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. We know that when people’s mental health declines because of stresses and strains, it pushes them further away from the labour market, which is not the objective of “Pathways to Work” or this Government. It would be detrimental to people and our ambition…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
In the year of the 200th anniversary of the railways, my rail city of York will greatly welcome the announcement about Haxby station. The line in question will address congestion issues and provide economic opportunity in my constituency. The trains will arrive at York station, but the rear of that …
Commons
Debate
8 July 2025
Government Resilience Action Plan
Climate change is very real for us all, so building a resilience strategy is absolutely crucial. In a city that floods so regularly, it is drought that we are most concerned about, not least with the hosepipe ban being introduced this Friday. Will the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ensure that…
Commons
Oral Questions
8 July 2025
Topical Questions
Survive is a York-based charity providing specialist services and trauma-specific interventions to survivors of sexual violence and abuse. However, it has had to close its waiting list because it does not have the capacity to meet the demand. Will the Minister look at providing additional funding, s…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
I am so grateful for my right hon. Friend’s focus and commitment on investing in our very youngest, not least because when we invest in early years, we change the trajectory of a child’s life. Will she look at the model we have created in York, where we have not only a SEND co-ordinator, but a SEND …
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Community Policing and Neighbourhood Health Teams
3. What recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of integrating community policing and neighbourhood health teams.
Evidence shows that integrating policing and health is vital in delivering better outcomes in areas like mental health, substance misuse and youth violence—areas that we need to address in my city of York. With both police and health realigning into neighbourhood teams, will the Home Secretary ensur…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
NHS 10-Year Plan
I congratulate my right hon. Friend, his Ministers and officials on putting together a vision for the NHS for the next 10 years. It will optimise how we live, but it is also really important that we can palliate how we die. Could he set out how he will ensure that we do not have a postcode lottery f…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
Business of the House
On Saturday, we mark the 80th anniversary of the greatest reforming Labour Government: the Attlee Government, which brought in the welfare state. I have to say I am so disappointed that the Government are pressing ahead with the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill—or should I cal…
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
2 contributions
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “That” to the end of the Question and add:
“this House, whilst noting the need for the reform of the social security system, and agreeing with the Government’s principles for providing support to people into work and protecting people who cannot work, d…
What the hon. Member says is so powerful. I urge all my colleagues to take with them the stories of their constituents. We are here because of them, and they expect us to serve them in this difficult vote. I, too, find it hard, as I have known my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir Stephe…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
1 July 2025
2 contributions
Poverty Reduction
3. What fiscal steps she plans to take to help reduce the number of disabled and sick people in poverty.
Many disabled people are really struggling right now. We know that three in 10 are living in poverty, as I can see in my York constituency, but I was particularly taken aback by the Women’s Budget Group report, which highlighted that three quarters of the people who will lose their personal independ…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Welfare Reform
I welcome progress, but I cannot countenance sick and disabled people being denied support to enable them to be independent in the future, and 150,000 people being pushed into deeper poverty. Nor can disabled people across our country support these measures. It is a matter of conscience. Will the Se…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 June 2025
G7 and NATO Summits
Diplomacy is the best way to prevent and de-escalate risk and ensure long-term security. What discussions took place on how to escalate the focus on diplomacy in the middle east in order to resolve the situation in Gaza—clearly, the architecture is not delivering at pace—as well as on the forgotten …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 June 2025
Business of the House
The Leader of the House extols the virtue of parliamentary democracy, yet over half of MPs reject the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill. We have spoken to our constituents and to organisations representing disabled people. They reject the Bill, because it will cause harm to dis…
Commons
Oral Questions
Science, Innovation and Technology
25 June 2025
2 contributions
Science and Innovation Funding
6. What steps he is taking to distribute funding for science and innovation.
York and North Yorkshire is a national leader in the bioeconomy. BioYorkshire will create 4,000 jobs, as well as start-ups and spin-outs. It requires £67 million to build its facilities over the next decade, but it will return £215 million back into the economy. When will the science plan recognise …
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Department for Education
I am really grateful for the work of the Education Committee, which is excellently chaired by my hon. Friend. Does she agree that cutting the value of grants to families from the adoption and special guardianship support fund will put more pressure on children’s social care and leave children withou…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
UK Modern Industrial Strategy
York Central, our biggest brownfield site, will release 12,500 new jobs in advanced and digital rail and the digital creative sector, as well as in the bio-economy mentioned in my right hon. Friend’s brilliant industrial strategy. Will he, however, ensure that innovation hubs at the centre of these …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
Middle East
My right hon. Friend is right to focus on de-escalation and diplomacy. However, we know that the joint comprehensive plan of action did not curtail Iran’s enrichment of uranium, so what lesson will he learn as he rebuilds the architecture for diplomacy to ensure that Iran cannot rebuild its nuclear-…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
23 June 2025
Topical Questions
T8. With 800,000 people not going to be in receipt of PIP by 2029-30, we have to be honest in this House. We all know, don’t we, that many of those people are just not able to access the healthcare that they need, such as for mental health, neurodiversity and physical health? As a result, they will …
Commons
Proceedings
19 June 2025
Business of the House
Yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting people from York Foodbank, one of many food banks in my constituency. It told me that last year it handed out emergency food parcels to 8,700 people in my constituency. That number has doubled since covid, and numbers continue to rise, yet the food supply does…