Commons
Debate
2 March 2026
Representation of the People Bill
There are some very welcome measures in the Bill. I intend to table an amendment to stop oil and gas giants making donations, given the pernicious role that they play in undermining the action that we need to take on climate change. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the amendment and the need to …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 March 2026
Middle East
This is an extremely dangerous moment, and Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya show where it can end up: with death, destruction, terror and chaos impacting tens of millions of people. Given that, should the Government’s focus not be on pushing Trump, Israel and Iran towards diplomacy, de-escalation and a c…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 February 2026
Student Loan Repayment Plans
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. Graduates are making massive repayments—9% of their earnings. As he says, they will be paying this debt off for decades, and having to do that is breaking a whole generation. As a society, it is time we had a serious discussion about cancelling s…
Commons
Debate
4 February 2026
6 contributions
Lord Mandelson
Of course, the thoughts of everyone in this House are with the victims and survivors of Epstein’s appalling, horrific abuse, but the motion we are discussing focuses on something very particular: not just what is known now or what has been revealed in the past few days—conduct for which Peter Mandel…
I agree with the hon. Member. If the Government are foolish enough to push their amendment, which I do not think they will, I will of course vote against it because it would operate to stop us getting the full and complete truth about this matter. I will come on to some other points and make some pr…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
2 February 2026
US Department of Justice Release of Files
The public are asking how on earth Peter Mandelson ever got to be appointed ambassador to the United States, given what was known. One would presume he passed some sort of security check or vetting. As well as an inquiry into Peter Mandelson’s appointment, can the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minist…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 January 2026
3 contributions
Waste Collection: Birmingham and the West Midlands
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I am a trade unionist and a Unite member. Before I was a Member of Parliament, I was a trade union lawyer, and like my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne), in my many years as a member of the trade union movement I nev…
My hon. Friend, himself a diligent and passionate Birmingham MP, makes a very important point. I agree with him that, if the council leadership or the commissioners have that legal advice, they should indeed publish it, because the advice of Unite’s King’s counsel, Oliver Segal, is very clear and ru…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
19 January 2026
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
The campaign for the Hillsborough law—not “a” Hillsborough law—has been this country’s greatest and most defining campaign for justice led by ordinary people in the modern era. I am very pleased that the Government pulled back at the weekend from what would have been—regardless of any good intention…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
19 January 2026
Arctic Security
Donald Trump’s appalling threats to seize Greenland, along with his disgusting bombing of Venezuela, are a new form of gangster politics that are set out in his new national security strategy, which also speaks of boosting support for the far right across Europe. We have to deal with that reality, a…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
It was the Prime Minister who decided to disregard the United Nations charter when it came to Trump’s bombing and killing, and his kidnapping the Head of State. It speaks volumes that the Prime Minister has chosen not to come to this House to explain his decision. The reality is that if it were Puti…
Commons
Proceedings
11 December 2025
Business of the House
Forty-one MPs, including myself, have signed early-day motion 2386 tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) regarding the Palestine Action hunger strike, which calls on the Justice Secretary
“to intervene urgently to ensure”
that the treatment of the pris…
Commons
Proceedings
11 December 2025
US National Security Strategy
At the heart of this strategy, laid out in black and white, is Trump’s explicit revival of the reactionary idea that Latin America is a United States backyard. We have already seen the consequences of that mindset in the US’s escalations against oil-rich Venezuela. Trump is adopting a similar approa…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
Kashmir: Self-determination
My hon. Friend speaks with great passion. He says that the world has failed the people of Kashmir, and I agree. Does he agree that no longer should politicians in this place view the matter of Kashmir as some kind of bilateral issue between Pakistan and India? In fact, it is a matter for internation…
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
On that point, will my hon. Friend give way?
On that point, will the Minister give way?
Commons
Proceedings
3 December 2025
Venezuela: US Military
This is an enormous military build-up under Trump, one of the largest in decades. Retired US generals, along with US politicians including Republicans, are warning that Trump’s strikes off the coast of Venezuela are already violating international law. Yesterday, the Government told me that no Briti…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 December 2025
Criminal Court Reform
I need to be honest: the prospect of citizens in our country being put away in jail for up to three years without the benefits of a trial by jury sends a chill through my heart. I gently say that no Government should ever govern as if they will be in power for ever. Those on the Front Bench denounce…
Commons
Oral Questions
2 December 2025
Topical Questions
On Donald Trump’s threats of military action against oil-rich Venezuela, reports suggest that British military personnel are aboard the US warships heading towards Venezuela. Will the Foreign Secretary therefore make it clear that Britain will have no involvement at all, including through troops on …
Commons
Proceedings
1 December 2025
2 contributions
Budget Resolutions
I congratulate everyone in this House and outside it who fought to scrap the two-child benefit cap and to make the wealthiest pay more. The positive steps in the Budget in that direction, such as the mansion tax, are a real credit to that campaigning.
On the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, …
I thank the hon. Member for his kind words. It is important that we all see our time in Parliament as being part of a crusade against child poverty and to make child poverty history, because no child is responsible for their own poverty. It sickens me to hear some of the talk from the Opposition on …
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 November 2025
Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations
The right hon. Gentleman is vividly explaining the reality of what is happening in Gaza and the west bank. Does he agree that the Government of Israel are treating the international community with contempt, as well as the public the world over who are concerned about the genocide? Rather than treati…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Asylum Policy
I remember when the Prime Minister pledged an
“immigration system based on compassion and dignity”,
yet now we have an immigration Minister tweeting
“Deport, Deport, Deport”
and this policy announcement, which I am afraid scrapes the bottom of the barrel. If we are being frank, is this not just …
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
2 contributions
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
The Bill before us stands as a testament to the decades of campaigning by the Hillsborough families. I want to pay special tribute to them and to other families I have been humbled to work with, including Grenfell families and the family of Zane Gbangbola, who are still fighting for justice. They ha…
She has been forgotten too many times in this place, but I will put that to one side.
The letter from the then shadow Home Secretary and I called on Theresa May to introduce a Hillsborough law in the aftermath of Grenfell. I commend this Labour Government for bringing forward this legislation. A du…
Commons
Proceedings
29 October 2025
Gaza and Hamas
The war crimes carried out by Israel last night, including the killing of 35 children, are a continuation of the horrors that we have seen over the last two years visited on the people of Palestine by a state led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is currently wanted for war crimes. The Government rig…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
27 October 2025
Child Poverty
Despite what those on the far right try to claim, the cost of living crisis remains the main issue that people face. One way to really help struggling families would be to lift the two-child benefit cap—that would lift hundreds of thousands of children across the country out of poverty, including ma…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
2 contributions
Health Service Spending
14. What steps his Department is taking to tackle wasteful spending in the health service.
Private finance initiative deals did huge damage to NHS budgets. Despite receiving just £13 billion in assets, NHS trusts were saddled with more than £80 billion in PFI debts—most of that is still being paid back. We have even seen some hospitals spending more on PFI debts than on medicines. If they…
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
Is it not the case that the police, acting on intelligence, believe that Maccabi fans should not be allowed to attend the match for public safety reasons? Their record of hooliganism will have contributed to that. Such bans have happened with fans of other teams across Europe, yet in this case there…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
Not only as the Member of Parliament, but as an east Leeds resident, I am delighted that £20 million has been secured for Seacroft North and Monkswood, which really needs it. Does the Minister agree that the ideas and answers on how this vital money should be spent lie with the local people in Seacr…