Commons
Proceedings
8 July 2026
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) for bringing forward this urgent question. My constituents in South Queensferry, where we have a lifeboat, have written to me in great numbers to say that they are concerned about the coastguard service. The service in S…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
7 July 2026
Topical Questions
The Government have stressed the importance of energy independence, sovereignty and security. How concerned are they that it is difficult to pin down, as we have tried to do, exactly how many, and what percentage, of the wind turbines in this country are produced in China, considering that a thousan…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 June 2026
Draft Conversion Practices Bill
I congratulate the Minister on the Bill, which has been a long time coming. I was in the Chamber in 2018 to hear the then Prime Minister, Theresa May, promise that there would be a conversion ban. It seems that it was almost impossible for the Conservative party to live up to that promise, and at la…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 June 2026
2 contributions
Ports and Port Connectivity
I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to speak, even in this heat, although jackets can be removed.
Although only a few hon. Members want to speak, I wonder if we could limit speeches to around five minutes to get everybody in.
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
16 June 2026
Topical Questions
Watching coverage of the football in America, it may be difficult to believe that a great number of Scottish football fans were refused ESTAs—the electronic system for travel authorisation—at the last minute, after they had previously been approved, costing them thousands of pounds in cancelled airf…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 June 2026
Social Media Ban for Under-16s
I know from my mailbox that today’s statement will be widely welcomed by parents in Edinburgh West who are concerned about the safety of their children and the impact of social media on them, but does the Secretary of State agree that there are societal dangers as well? A lot of children are directe…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 June 2026
Brain Cancer
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Barker. There are moments that remind us why we are MPs and what we are here to do, and there are people who do the same. Archie Goodburn is one of those people.
I met Archie when he was 23. He is an elite athlete—a Commonwealth swimmer for Scotland. Ho…
Commons
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Digital Safety: Children
While we all welcome the fact that the Government are finally acting, I will point out to the Minister that not a single parent of the very many parents in Edinburgh West who have been in contact with me has requested that the Government ask the tech companies to behave differently. Every single one…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
8 June 2026
2 contributions
Immigration Rules: Economic Impact
20. What assessment she has made of the impact on the economy of her proposed changes to immigration rules.
Hospitality, social care and the tech sector are all vital sources of employment and economic stability in my constituency. The companies in those sectors are telling me that, despite their efforts to recruit domestically first, the Home Secretary’s changes to indefinite leave to remain are making i…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 June 2026
Community Pharmacies
Order. I remind Members to bob if they wish to be called. In order to get everybody in, we will have an informal time limit of three and a half to four minutes. I will call the Front-Bench speakers at 10.28 am.
Commons
Oral Questions
Science, Innovation and Technology
20 May 2026
Growing up in the Online World: Consultation
A considerable number of parents in my constituency have written to me concerned about their children’s safety and online dangers. They welcome the Government’s consultation but are concerned about the timing, and they would like reassurances about how quickly the matter will be dealt with. In the m…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 May 2026
National Security
I welcome the statement because the issues that the Minister raises, particularly the antisemitism that we have seen grow exponentially and frighteningly in this country, and issues with the Chinese embassy, which are particularly relevant in my constituency, are concerns that we hear from our const…
Commons
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
2 contributions
Civil Service Pension Scheme
15. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the delivery of the civil service pension scheme.
Happy St George’s day. Yesterday, in the statement, the Paymaster General was kind enough to say that he would look into the case of one of my constituents who is afraid that she will lose her house because she has no income and cannot get access to her civil service pension. However, I have several…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 April 2026
Pension Schemes
I am delighted to hear the determination with which the Minister intends to approach this and the messages he is sending to Capita, because like many others, I have a mailbox full of civil service pensioners unable to access their funds, many of them in hardship. One woman at the moment fears she ma…
Commons
Debate
20 April 2026
Security Vetting
It must be clear to the Prime Minister that many of us in this House are totally scunnered with this whole mess, although that is nothing compared with what I am being told on the doors in Scotland by voters who feel that they expected, and that they were right to expect, more from this Government a…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Business of the House
A constituent recently contacted me to say that she is concerned that her son, who is a member of the armed forces, is finding it impossible to get a driving test. The well-documented concerns about delays are compounded by the fact that he is posted abroad, his timing is difficult to anticipate, an…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Video Games Industry
As the Minister knows, the video games industry is huge in Scotland. In fact, it is huge worldwide—it is now bigger than the film and television industries put together. The Scottish industry is worth £188 million, but we have reached a point where we have identified a lack of business acumen among …
Commons
Oral Questions
Scotland
15 April 2026
Pride in Place: Regeneration
Does the Minister share my disappointment that my constituency of Edinburgh West was the only one in Edinburgh that was not considered for a Pride in Place programme, including areas like Drylaw and Stenhouse which have particular problems that could have been helped by this programme?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 April 2026
Middle East
I have been overwhelmed by the number of constituents who have written to me over the past two weeks about the situation in the Gulf. They are of course concerned about their energy bills and the cost of living, but overwhelmingly they are outraged at the actions of all the actors in this conflict—I…
Commons
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
2 contributions
Agricultural Industries: Funding
9. Whether she plans to increase the level of funding available to agricultural industries.
Edinburgh West may not seem like the most rural constituency, but we have several critical agricultural businesses in the seat, including the Royal Highland Centre in Ingliston and a number of businesses that are diversifying into agritourism. There is funding available, but it is often unclear how …
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 March 2026
2 contributions
Freedom of Religion or Belief in China
Order. I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. Unfortunately, if they were not here at the start, I am not sure that I will be able to get them in.
I will have to call the first Front Bencher at 3.28 pm.
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
16 March 2026
Topical Questions
T6. A Ukrainian family that we managed to reunite visited my office on Friday. During the conversation, it became clear that they are concerned for the future of Ukraine, given the war in the middle east and the US now loosening the sanctions on Russia. What representations have been made to the Ame…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
12 March 2026
Business of the House
May I associate myself with the remarks of the Leader of the House and the shadow Leader of the House about the anniversary of Dunblane?
Many of us in this place have pensioner constituents abroad, and the 90% of them who are in the Commonwealth had their pensions frozen from the point at which the…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 March 2026
Fur: Import and Sale
I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate.