Commons
Ministerial Statement
17 December 2025
UK-EU Common Understanding Negotiations
I also welcome progress on Erasmus, but may I ask about progress on another commitment from the May summit: advance co-operation on foreign information, manipulation and interference, and working together to fight violent extremism including in its online dimension? The UK and the EU do indeed face …
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
Sudan: Humanitarian Situation
I welcome the Government’s sanctioning of senior commanders in the RSF, but the Minister will be aware of the genuine fears about further barbaric escalation in the run-up to Christmas. He rightly talked about the appalling killing of peacekeepers, but in the past couple of days a hospital has been …
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 December 2025
Online Safety Act 2023: Repeal
Like my hon. Friend, I want to pay tribute to site managers and moderators; I am sad indeed that an incredible example of that function from my city of Oxford, Maggie Lewis, has passed away. She was an incredible presence online for the community and did much other community and charity work.
I loo…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 December 2025
National Plan to End Homelessness
As my hon. Friend knows, homelessness pressures in Oxford are some of the worst in the whole country. Will she join me in commending Oxford city council’s plan to purchase 260 additional homes for temporary accommodation to get kids out of hotel rooms and other unsuitable accommodation and into dece…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
AI Safety
It is such a pleasure to take part in this critical debate. I start by acknowledging the Government’s commitment to rolling out AI in many areas and making the UK an adoption nation. They must also respond to the public demand for regulation in this area, however, and recognise that the two are inte…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 December 2025
Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor
It is a pleasure to be part of this important debate.
I very much share the assessment given by my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner): after many years of rhetoric, we are finally starting to see delivery for the growth corridor under a Labour Government. Recent months have seen…
Commons
Oral Questions
2 December 2025
Sudan: Ceasefire
I was pleased to hear that the Foreign Secretary met representatives of the emergency response rooms. I also met some of those incredibly brave volunteers. Of course, their humanitarian organisations have been strictly neutral throughout the war, yet they have been targeted by belligerents on all si…
Commons
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
Transport Infrastructure Upgrades
The structures fund announced in June will help to deliver transport infrastructure upgrades effectively. Upgrading transport can of course support other goals: fixing Kennington bridge in my constituency would help thousands of motorists and cyclists while also enabling the Oxford flood alleviation…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 November 2025
Gaza and Sudan
On Sudan, I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s comments about potential additional sanctions and aid access, but surely, given the nightmarish reports, we need to go far further if we are to do what she has committed to doing—if we are to prevent further atrocities, and prevent impunity for perpetrator…
Commons
Debate
5 November 2025
Drug-related Deaths
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing this debate. She will be aware that many of those who have died from complications and overdoses related to opioids died on their own. That reflects the social isolation that so many experience when they become addicted to drugs. Does she agree that it is…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 November 2025
Curriculum and Assessment Review
Does the Secretary of State agree that there must be strong support from school leaderships and local authorities for individual teachers as they, rightly, teach social media literacy? Does she agree that the review’s focus on social media literacy must be accompanied by stronger co-ordination on th…
Commons
Proceedings
5 November 2025
Conflict in Sudan
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification recently discovered conditions of famine in El Fasher and Kadugli. It has also stated that conditions in Dilling in south Kordofan are likely similar to those in Kadugli, but those conditions cannot be classified due to insufficient reliable data. Do…
Commons
Proceedings
4 November 2025
Sudan: Government Support
I am very grateful to the hon. Member for securing this important debate, and to everyone who has participated. He mentioned impediments to aid, and he will be aware that the most recent, very disturbing IPC assessment showed that famine is taking place in El Fasher and Kadugli. That came out after …
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation
I have found that local post workers are really keen to innovate where they can to try to deal with the issues. One thing they pioneered was putting the NHS barcode on healthcare-related letters. Does the hon. Member agree that the Minister should liaise with his colleagues in the Department of Heal…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
2 contributions
Sudan: Protection of Civilians
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs if she will make a statement on the UK’s activity to promote the protection of civilians, following a reported massacre at El Fasher’s Saudi maternity hospital.
Mr Speaker, I am very grateful to you for granting this urgent question. The scale of suffering in Sudan’s war on civilians is almost impossible to comprehend. A population the size of Australia’s are living in acute hunger. A population the size of London’s have been forced to flee their home. Ther…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
28 October 2025
Sudan
As penholder at the UN Security Council for both Sudan and the protection of civilians, the UK has a special responsibility following the fall of El Fasher and the appalling reports to which the Foreign Secretary referred. Will she call an emergency session of the Security Council focused on the pro…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
Humanitarian Situation in Sudan
It is a pleasure to speak in this really important debate. I am very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal), who was absolutely right to state that the war in Sudan is a war on civilians—that is what it is. She set out many of the truly grim statistics. I will try to…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
SEND Provision: South-east England
I sure that, like me, the hon. Member has taken up many cases with her local education authority on behalf of parents and children. I have not heard a single parent or child say to me that the current system is working; I keep hearing them say that the system is broken. The Government have been clea…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Welfare Reform
Increasing access to employment opportunities for disabled people and improving the retention of disabled workers were urgent before, and they are even more urgent now. My right hon. Friend did not mention the Mayfield review, although she has just mentioned it in response to a question. Can I pleas…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
UK Modern Industrial Strategy
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s determination to reduce energy costs. He has heard about the need for that from me, from many other colleagues and from industry, and he has acted. The previous Government did not act; he has gripped on to this. I welcome that, because it will level the playing field…
Commons
Debate
19 June 2025
Water Safety Education
I welcome you to your place, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) for securing this debate.
Water safety education is particularly important for my constituency of Oxford East, for several reasons. We have many bodies of water in …
Commons
Westminster Hall
12 June 2025
Humanist Marriage
My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. When it comes to equity, I am sure she is aware that the High Court ruled five years ago that there was an issue of discrimination. The approach since then has been that we need to wait for wholesale marriage reform, but this is a very simple change. Does sh…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 May 2025
Diego Garcia Military Base
My right hon. Friend has set out that this deal, which is essential for our national security, will cost less than a quarter of 1% of our national defence budget. Will he also confirm that this deal costs far less than other base deals, such as France’s deal with Djibouti, yet offers vastly superior…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 May 2025
4 contributions
EU-UK Summit
It is a pleasure to speak with you in the Chair, Ms McVey, particularly in a week when the Government acted in our national interest by ensuring a deal that is good for business, bills and the security of our borders. By contrast, the one struck by the Conservatives was, as I put at the time, thin a…
I could not agree more with my hon. Friend; she is absolutely right that sadly we face the same threats from autocrats and those who seek to support them and disrupt free and fair elections. We need to ensure that we are sharing information, particularly given the speed of change. It has already bee…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 May 2025
Government Travel Advice: Laos
I am grateful to the Minister and to my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Jim Dickson) for enabling me to make a brief contribution to this debate, and to highlight an issue about a Brit from my constituency who faced a very difficult situation in Laos. I wish, however, to start my remarks by say…