Commons
Debate
4 September 2025
14 contributions
House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
I obviously declare an interest as my wife is a Member of the House of Lords—and a salaried Minister, for good fortune. The shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster recognises that the Labour party won an election but is talking about deals that go back further. Does he not realise that he risks …
I thank the shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for his indulgence. He says that Lords amendment 1 makes a significant improvement to the Bill. Why, then, when it was brought forward in the other place by Lord Grocott as a private Member’s Bill and in this place by David, now Lord, Hanson, d…
+12 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 September 2025
Early Education and Childcare
I think the whole House can welcome the investment that has been announced today. We know that going through early education makes young people more ready for school, and closing the school readiness gap also closes the attainment gap later on in education settings. When I visit primary schools acro…
Commons
Proceedings
4 September 2025
Business of the House
My constituents—like yours, I am sure, Madam Deputy Speaker—want to have ready access to cash and banking facilities, but when the Lloyds bank in Stoke town closes its doors later this year, the town will have no banking facilities. The Link assessment has determined that the three sub-post offices …
Commons
Proceedings
22 July 2025
Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery
Much like the ceramics sector, the refinery sector is an energy-intensive industry that is at the mercy of industrial energy prices, which are beyond its control but have a huge impact on its viability. It is welcome that the Minister thinks that the energy-intensive certification programme could ex…
Commons
Oral Questions
22 July 2025
Topical Questions
T3. My constituency of Stoke-on-Trent Central has some of the deepest ingrained health inequalities anywhere in the country. My constituents are just as deserving of first-class healthcare as anyone else, so can the Secretary of State set out how the 10-year health plan will help reduce those heal…
Commons
Oral Questions
22 July 2025
2 contributions
Electronic Patient Record Systems
7. What steps his Department is taking to improve electronic patient record systems in the NHS.
The Minister will be aware that my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) and I have been working on a replacement system for the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust in north Staffordshire, which would improve public and patient experience, and productivity, at those hospita…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Independent Water Commission
My constituents want to know that their drinking water is safe and that waterways such as the River Trent are clean and looked after. I welcome all the Secretary of State’s commitments on the new regulatory body, but he will know that the power of a regulator is not just in its powers, but in its ab…
Commons
Proceedings
21 July 2025
Asylum Hotels: Migrant Criminal Activity
When violent disorder erupted on the streets of my constituency last summer, the police put themselves between two groups of people who had been wound up and were looking to see how much damage they could do to each other. Chief Constable Chris Noble, alongside Chief Inspectors David Barrow and Laur…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
Topical Questions
T7. As well as being the governor of a sixth-form college, I am proud to be a governor of the Abbey Hill special school in Stoke-on-Trent—I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests accordingly—which is why I was so appalled by the comments of the Reform …
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Sixth-form Colleges: Funding
11. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for sixth-form colleges. [R]
I draw the attention of the House to my entries in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am a governor of the City of Stoke-on-Trent sixth-form college and the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on sixth form education. I thank the Minister for her answer; the additional capital av…
Commons
Debate
16 July 2025
7 contributions
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
It is a genuine pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore). He and I have worked together for the best part of a decade, and his commitment to seeing a real improvement in the lives of the children he represents is commendable. We should all take a leaf out of his book.…
How could I not agree? Those facilities in communities are what turn them from housing estates into homes, and turn the communities into something special.
At this point, I should declare my interests. I am a governor of a special educational needs school in Stoke-on-Trent, and I chair the all-part…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
9 July 2025
Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions
My constituents have a very simple view of the criminal justice system: they want to know that the victims of crime will have their day in court and that the perpetrators will have a punishment commensurate with the crime they commit. That underpins their faith in the system, so they come forward to…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
I congratulate my right hon. Friend, partly for the launch today of the national year of reading. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on literacy, that is a wonderful and joyous thing to see. We all know that reading with children can be great not just for their literacy development, b…
Commons
Proceedings
7 July 2025
Actions of Iranian Regime: UK Response
We are potentially moving to a point where proscription of the IRGC needs to be looked at considerably more strongly as a mechanism for dealing with the transnational repression that Iran is getting away with. The murder of Mahsa Amini in 2022 saw a wave of Iranian dissidents attempting to rise up a…
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
2 July 2025
2 contributions
Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive
14. What discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the adequacy of the level of funding for Northern Ireland in the spending review 2025.
Whether it is Stoke-on-Trent in the west midlands or the proud communities in Northern Ireland, the spending review anticipates helping to create good jobs and industrial improvement. Will the Secretary of State set out how the spending review will help to improve the industrial base in Northern Ire…
Commons
Committee Stage
2 July 2025
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill
The provision of 16 to 19 secure schools to ensure that young people have an opportunity to develop skills to prevent reoffending is absolutely something I welcome. Given that, however, I should declare my interest: I am chair of the all-party parliamentary group on sixth-form education. Given that …
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
I, too, welcome the commitment that was given from the Dispatch Box on the removal of clause 5, but I wonder whether my hon. Friend shares my hope that, when the Minister sums up this evening he will categorically state that those people grandfathered in today, to help get past that clause 5 moment …
Commons
Debate
30 June 2025
Road Safety Powers: Parish and Town Councils
It is a testament to my hon. Friend’s popularity that we are all here this evening supporting him on a really important issue. Whether it is Bambury Street in Sandford Hill, Newcastle Lane in Penkhull or Whieldon Road in Fenton, the local knowledge that he so rightly points to has come to me not via…
Commons
Debate
30 June 2025
2 contributions
Deprivation of Citizenship Orders (Effect during Appeal) Bill
I accept the Minister’s point that this is a very narrow Bill, but is he able to tell the House how many individuals who currently have an appeal that has not yet been heard, and to whom this Bill will ultimately apply, have been deprived of their citizenship?
I thank the Minister for that explanation, but hypothetically there exists a circumstance in which the Home Secretary could deprive an individual of their citizenship, that individual could go for an appeal and have it reinstated, and this law would prevent them from retaining that citizenship and t…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery
The shadow Secretary of State mentioned Moorcroft in Stoke. A small glimmer of light in what is otherwise a rather gloomy story is the rescue of that company by Will Moorcroft, the grandson of its founder, and the jobs that are potentially coming back. However, those jobs were put at risk, much like…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Glastonbury Festival: BBC Coverage
As well as the despicable chants, the monologue that preceded them by the artist in question clearly drew on the influence of Jewish power in music, an age-old antisemitic trope. Could the Secretary of State say a bit more about what conversations she will have with the BBC, not just on what it broa…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Welfare Reform
Presumably, the outcome of the Timms review will require some form of primary legislation to enact the changes to the system that will come from the Department for Work and Pensions. In which case, I suggest to the Minister that removing clause 5 from the Bill tomorrow and putting it into any future…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
30 June 2025
Topical Questions
T7. North Staffordshire Tri Service and Veterans Support Centre does a wonderful job supporting veterans across Stoke-on-Trent, but all too often, it finds that the military covenant is not working for them. In Stoke-on-Trent in particular, it seems to be failing. What action are this Government t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
30 June 2025
2 contributions
Defence Sector Exports
4. What steps he is taking to support defence sector exports.
It is welcome news that MOD is committed to the establishment of a defence exports office. Will the Minister set out what this will mean at home for jobs in constituencies such as mine in Stoke-on-Trent Central, where our proud manufacturing companies stand ready to support UK defence and security?