Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 November 2025
ExxonMobil: Mossmorran
I think any of us who represent an industrial constituency cannot help but feel a tinge of sympathy for my hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) this evening. We have all seen factories and manufacturing businesses in our constituencies close. While I accept what the Mi…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Asylum Policy
If we look at a heat map of asylum dispersals, we see that they tend to be in inner-city London, and then the towns and cities of the midlands and the north-west, which have the least resources to help them. Thankfully, in Stoke-on-Trent, organisations such as our citizens advice bureau and Asha are…
Commons
Proceedings
17 November 2025
Illegal Waste: Organised Crime
While the dumping and the criminal gangs that perpetrate the dumping are one part of this, the other part is the businesses that seek to circumvent the legitimate routes for getting rid of their waste by passing it on to those companies that are illegally dumping in the first place. Can the Minister…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
I welcome the words from the Leader of the House about the covid memorial response. Last Friday in my constituency, I met some bereaved families, led ably by my constituent Lynn Jones, whose husband Gareth sadly passed away. We are working on a local covid memorial in Stoke-on-Trent. May I encourage…
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
2 contributions
Energy
The Minister will know that one of the most energy-intensive industries in the country is the ceramics sector, which cannot go off gas because the technology simply does not exist to change the kilns from gas to electric—that process cannot happen. Under the Conservatives, the sector was excluded fr…
National Energy Action estimates that Stoke-on-Trent is No. 1 in the country for fuel poverty. According to its analysis, even if we reduce energy bills, as we will do, most of the energy will simply disappear through leaky windows, draughty doors and uninsulated homes. Does my hon. Friend accept, a…
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
Supporting High Streets
In a polycentric city such as Stoke-on-Trent, we have six town centres, as well as many other areas of trade. One big thing that affected us under the last Conservative Government—we also had a Conservative council in Stoke-on-Trent—was the closure of five of the six town-centre police stations, whi…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Houses in Multiple Occupation: Planning Consent
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd, and I welcome the Minister to her new role.
In this debate, I have found myself feeling slightly envious, listening to hon. Members around the Chamber talk about the work their councils are undertaking to achieve better regulation of HMOs.…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
Care Leavers
Stoke-on-Trent has the second highest number of children in care per capita—second only to Blackpool. The items that the Minister has outlined are welcome for children in my city, but because we have that high per-capita number, the costs are such that more money is spent on children in care than ca…
Commons
Debate
30 October 2025
Property Service Charges
Much like my hon. Friend in Staffordshire, I have constituents who are under the same management company. Even when trying to use mechanisms to see things, such as by a section 21 request under the Landlord and Tenancy Act 1985, they have been ignored and dismissed, or often are given incorrect info…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 October 2025
Infected Blood Compensation Scheme
I congratulate and thank the Minister for his work on this; I know how much of his time it is taking. Further to the points made by my hon. Friends the Members for Eltham and Chislehurst (Clive Efford) and for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier), and the right hon. Member for New Forest …
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
30 October 2025
Topical Questions
To make steel in this country, we need ceramics. To build houses in this country, we need ceramics. Five of the eight industrial strategy growth sectors require ceramics. Ahead of the launch of the British industrial competitiveness scheme, might there be any interim relief from energy prices for en…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
Support for Disabled Veterans
I congratulate my hon. Friend on her appointment to her ministerial role. It is encouraging to hear again that the Government intend to legislate to put the covenant on a statutory footing, but she will know that enforcement of the covenant is as important as the statute from which it derives. Acros…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
China Spying Case
The right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) touched on several relevant points. There was a time in this House when a Member coming under attack and finding themselves on the wrong end of something was a moment of unification for us, and we would come together to f…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 October 2025
Co-operative Sector: Government Support
This debate has focused on the business element of the co-operative sector, but could the Minister take back to the Department the work on co-operative solutions that happens in social settings? My constituency was one of the few that had riots last year. The Co-operative party’s community power wor…
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
2 contributions
A50/A500 Corridor
I gently point out to the Minister that there is not just a rich history of manufacturing and industry, but potentially a rich future, too. We are still an area of the country that makes many things, whether that is high-tech agricultural machinery at JCB or fine porcelain ceramics in the city of St…
I thank the Minister for being so generous in giving way. Thirteen years ago, when I was leader of the local authority in Newcastle, I joined the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire local enterprise partnership board. This project was on the books then. The sclerotic nature of the last Government meant…
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
I should draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as a governor of a sixth-form college in Stoke-on-Trent and as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on sixth form education.
The V-levels provide an exciting opportunity for vocational qualificati…
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
It was reported over the weekend that, in August, a legal observer to one of the protests was arrested simply for wearing a Star of David because it was considered to be antagonising. Now, with the decision to ban the Maccabi fans from coming to the UK, there is a genuine cumulative effect on what i…
Commons
Proceedings
16 October 2025
Business of the House
The streets around Birches Head and Sneyd Green have become an impenetrable labyrinth of road closures, diversions and blockades while Severn Trent Water digs up the roads to replace important infrastructure, causing great disruption to local people. The New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 and the T…
Commons
Oral Questions
House of Commons Commission
16 October 2025
2 contributions
British-made Ceramics
5. What steps the Commission is taking to increase the use of British-made ceramics by the House of Commons.
May I thank you, Mr Speaker, for your leadership on this? The exquisite Speaker’s House collection that you personally commissioned is made proudly in Stoke-on-Trent by Duchess China. I am sure that the House will be pleased to know that it is in stock, reasonably priced and available in time for Ch…
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
15 October 2025
2 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023
8. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
When the unlawful legacy Act shut down 200 investigations into the deaths of British soldiers, people across the country, including in my constituency, will have thought that was desperately unfair, and not just on those individuals but on the families and victims. Can the Secretary of State assure …
Commons
Oral Questions
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Net Zero: Impact on Manufacturing
8. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of his Department’s net zero policies on the manufacturing industry.
I congratulate the Minister on his well-deserved elevation to the Front Bench. He has worked quite hard with the ceramic sector on this issue. Energy-intensive industries, such as ceramics, are at the mercy of an international gas market over which very few countries have direct control, but one of …
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
I am enjoying the right hon. Gentleman’s one-man show on why he should be leader of the Conservative party. He will get no argument from me on the fact that we need to reduce the number of foreign national offenders in our prisons—I agree that that is what we do need to do, as does my party. However…
The shadow Minister is reading out a series of crimes that are reprehensible, and no one in this House would want to see the individuals who commit such crimes having anything but the book thrown at them. In the spirit and tone in which he has read that list out, his Government oversaw a 2.6% charge…
Commons
Debate
15 September 2025
5 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
Will the hon. Member give way?
Well, that wouldn’t be the Tory party, would it, Madam Deputy Speaker?
What the shadow Secretary of State seems not to understand is that workers cannot turn up to a trade union and go, “I’ve got a problem. Can I join and get representation, please?”. Almost every union in this country requires a q…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
9 September 2025
2 contributions
Accessibility of Railway Stations: Dulwich and West Norwood
If one of my hon. Friend’s constituents in Dulwich or West Norwood were to get a train to my constituency in Longton—there is a tenuous connection—they would also find that station to be entirely inaccessible. Unlike her case, funding was allocated to Longton train station through the transforming c…
While the Minister has his diary out, I wonder whether he could facilitate a similar meeting for me with the Rail Minister regarding Longton train station.
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 September 2025
3 contributions
Housing: North Staffordshire
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I commend to the Minister the draft local plan in Stoke-on-Trent, which is very bold. It recognises that there is an acute waiting list for housing in Stoke-on-Trent, and that we need to build the houses that we need for local people, so that…
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+1 more contribution in this session