Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
I declare an interest: an employee of mine works for the company that I am about to mention, although they have not been affected by the action taken.
That company is video game publisher Rockstar Games, which has fired at least 30 employees across its UK studios, including Rockstar North in Edinbu…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Business of the House
I have previously raised the case of a young constituent with an inoperable brain tumour. He has since been granted named patient access to a drug that is being trialled, and he is responding well. Unfortunately, however, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recently decided not to …
Commons
Westminster Hall
30 October 2025
Land Value Capture
We begin with a Select Committee statement. Florence Eshalomi will speak on the publication of the third report of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, “Delivering 1.5 million new homes: Land Value Capture”, HC 672, for up to 10 minutes, during which no interventions may be taken…
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
North Sea Oil and Gas Industry
I accept the Minister’s comments about Petrofac, but it is a very worrying day not just for the 2,000 workers whose jobs are at stake but for the entire oil economy in north-east Scotland. Two things are missing that we desperately need in Scotland: one is investment in the jobs and skills that we w…
Commons
Westminster Hall
27 October 2025
Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay
This is a valuable and important debate. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that as well as having new policies, we have to know that they are being implemented properly and fairly, and that therefore it will be necessary to require large employers to publish their policies and data in the same way that …
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
I welcome the Secretary of State’s remarks and commend her for her conciliary tone and attitude. Yes, safety is paramount for all football supporters, but, as she has said, this is not taking place in a vacuum, and this country is now in a very tense situation. She mentioned a strategy going ahead t…
Commons
Proceedings
20 October 2025
Alleged Spying Case: Home Office Involvement
Notwithstanding the Home Secretary’s reassurances about spads or Ministers not being involved in the advice, does the Minister accept that this matter has reinforced the growing concern in this country about a lack of clarity on our position towards China, the fear of a threat to our energy security…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 October 2025
Middle East
Like everyone else in this House, I am sure, I feel enormous relief at the fact that a ceasefire has been achieved, but that can be nothing compared with the relief felt by those Israeli families who thought they would never see their loved ones again and those thousands of children in Gaza who were…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 October 2025
Speaker’s Statement
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I would also like to pay tribute to Ming Campbell, whom I met personally in later years, but whose political influence has hung over my entire adult life.
As an 18-year-old student at the University of Glasgow, I heard about these three great figures of B…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
Topical Questions
T8. Further to the earlier comments about driving test centres, the problem is serious in my constituency. All five of the closest centres have waiting times of 24 weeks —six months—and people are now looking to other parts of Scotland for tests. I appreciate what the Minister said about employing e…
Commons
Proceedings
10 September 2025
Qatar: Israeli Strike
I am pleased to have the Minister’s confirmation that, despite yesterday’s egregious actions by Israel, Qatar will continue its commitment to pursue the peace that we all long for in the middle east. To that end, the Government have said that they would commit to recognising a state of Palestine bef…
Commons
Proceedings
4 September 2025
Business of the House
Over the summer, a constituent who is a mortgage adviser came to me with concerns about so-called conditional selling by estate agents, where prospective home buyers feel pressurised to take the estate agent’s in-house mortgage rather than risk losing out on a house. This practice breaches the Estat…
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
5 contributions
Hospitality Sector
I come to Parliament this week fresh from the Edinburgh festival—on which note I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Hon. Members will be pleased to hear that I was there not as a performer, but because every year I am tempted across the border into neighbour…
No, actually—I think the hon. Member has said enough today.
Those businesses are suffering and they have been for years. Hon. Members know how important they are not just to my constituency, to Edinburgh or to Scotland, but to the United Kingdom, because of the jobs that they create and the people …
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
I welcome the Home Secretary’s confirmation in her statement of the expedited visas for students, particularly those from Gaza. I wrote to both the Home Secretary and the Foreign Secretary this summer to appeal for exactly this move, and I know how welcome it will be to those students.
The Home Sec…
Commons
Oral Questions
1 September 2025
2 contributions
Pension Credit Uptake
14. What steps she is taking to increase the uptake of pension credit.
Earlier this year, a constituent of mine in Edinburgh West contacted me about the delay she had faced in getting the pension credit she was entitled to. She applied in September last year and was told that she would receive it in November, but it was March before she got her pension credit awarded. …
Commons
Proceedings
17 July 2025
Strategy for Elections
I very much welcome what is in the Government’s policy, particularly votes for 16 and 17-year-olds. We already have this in Scotland for the Scottish parliamentary elections and I have also campaigned for the change to be made for general elections. Will the Minister confirm that this will be in pla…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
17 July 2025
2 contributions
Hospitality Sector
19. What steps he is taking to support the hospitality sector.
I hope the Minister will join me in thanking all the hard-working hospitality staff who are about to have a very busy summer, particularly in Edinburgh West, where they are about to be immersed in the Edinburgh international festival, to which the Minister and the Secretary of State—all the Minister…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 July 2025
2 contributions
Spending Review 2025
2. What discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on the potential impact of the spending review 2025 on Wales.
I was pleased to see funding for a number of transport projects in Wales in the spending review, not least because my city of Edinburgh is now linked directly by rail to the Secretary of State’s city of Cardiff. Lumo, which runs services in Scotland through open access, is hoping to begin a service …
Commons
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
2 contributions
Radio Teleswitch Service
15. What steps he is taking to manage the radio teleswitch service switch-off.
I welcome the Government’s change in course, because the previous hard deadline would have left many people, including people in my constituency of Edinburgh West, vulnerable and, indeed, unaware that there was any need to change their meter, but there is still a big problem in Scotland, as 100,000 …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 July 2025
Future of the Post Office
A number of semi-rural and suburban communities across my constituency—Newbridge, Blackhall, Ratho—have lost their post offices recently. Their banks have also gone, so there is a dearth of local facilities. At the same time, the Horizon scandal has undermined public trust across those communities. …
Commons
Debate
14 July 2025
UK-France Migration: Co-operation
I welcome these important first steps announced by the Home Secretary, as well as her commitment to working with wider European partners, but what safeguards have been put in place to ensure that international law is respected and that the rights of genuine asylum seekers are protected?
Commons
Oral Questions
Scotland
9 July 2025
Spending Review 2025: Scottish Public Services
Like the Secretary of State, I welcome the great news for Ferguson Marine this morning. As he knows, Scottish Liberal Democrats secured funding for key projects across Scotland in last year’s Scottish budget negotiations, including the Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh, which is so important for my constitu…
Commons
Debate
8 July 2025
Football Governance Bill [Lords]
It might seem odd that I, as a Scot, want to intrude in this debate, but the health of English football is valuable to us in Scotland as well. Does my hon. Friend agree that if football is to continue on the current scale, it needs another generation to see it, to love it and to want to take part in…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Post Office Horizon Inquiry: Volume 1
A constituent who I have been representing for two years was unfairly dismissed as a result of the Horizon scandal. I appreciate the effort that the Minister and his predecessor have put into this matter. The report makes it absolutely clear that the compensation system is too cumbersome and complic…
Commons
Debate
8 July 2025
Government Resilience Action Plan
I welcome the Minister’s statement, as well as the fact that there will be more information, not just mobile phone alerts, because those alerts do not work evenly, even in urban areas such as my constituency—there is often some delay with some phones. One of the questions that has arisen from the tr…