Commons
Westminster Hall
10 June 2026
5 contributions
Local Government Reform
I beg to move,
That this House has considered local government reform.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I would particularly like to thank Mr Speaker for granting me exceptional permission to speak from the Back Benches on an issue that many of my constituents feel v…
I am very sorry to hear that. I was just about to make that point: as well as the loss of local accountability and identity, the argument is just wrong. Ministers believe that big is always better—that big is beautiful—but the evidence does not support that. If big were beautiful, Birmingham city co…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
18 March 2026
6 contributions
Student Loans
In January, the Chancellor was saying that the student loans system was “fair and reasonable”. She now admits —as of yesterday—that it is broken. In one sense, we have won this debate even before it started. The Government say that they are looking at these issues, but they would not be looking at t…
Yes, and I am grateful for that question. Under our proposed reforms, four fifths—80%—of plan 2 graduates would benefit and pay less over their lifetime. The hon. Gentleman can look up all this stuff on the IFS website if he wants to check.
There are so many personal stories here. The other day, on…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
12 February 2026
Rural Mobile Connectivity
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. For the last 18 months, the Government have been sitting on the guidance relating to gender-questioning children in schools—a very controversial subject—which the Government keep saying is coming. It has become apparent in the last half an hour that they pl…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 February 2026
Standards in Public Life
I thank the Chief Secretary for advance sight of his statement.
The Prime Minister’s authority is gone and his Government are starting to collapse. The Prime Minister’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson raises massive questions about standards in public life—questions that the Chief Secretary’s s…
Commons
Debate
4 February 2026
3 contributions
Lord Mandelson
This has been an absolutely extraordinary day in British politics. It is not often that there is an audible intake of breath in this Chamber, but we all heard it earlier—that gasp when the Prime Minister admitted that, yes, he had known that Peter Mandelson had had an ongoing relationship with Jeffr…
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and I want to know whether the Minister agrees that the ISC should be able to give the gist of documents, even if they are not fully released.
Thirdly on this hastily proposed manuscript amendment, can we be reassured that we will not be waiting for months—th…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
16 October 2025
2 contributions
Official Secrets Act Case: Witness Statements
(Urgent Question): To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the three witness statements in relation to the alleged breach of the Official Secrets Act on behalf of China.
I should declare an interest as I am named in the witness statements. As someone sanctioned by China, I was shocked to learn that the Prime Minister knew that this case was about to collapse several days beforehand, but chose to do nothing. We now know that the CPS was not far short of what it neede…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 October 2025
2 contributions
Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Yes, Madam Deputy Speaker. Like you, I am one of the parliamentarians sanctioned by China. Like many Members of this House, I am left wondering whether it was not just our offices that were spied on, but our families, our homes and our children, and in the absence of a trial, I have no way of findin…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 September 2025
Official Secrets Act
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker, I am one of the MPs who is currently sanctioned by China, and as one of the founders of the China Research Group I am one of the MPs who was spied upon here. I find it astonishing not just that this case, which was a slam dunk last year, has now been dropp…
Commons
Proceedings
11 September 2025
3 contributions
UK Ambassador to the US: Appointment Process
(Urgent Question): To ask the Foreign Secretary if she will make a statement on the process for the appointment of the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for granting this urgent question, and I agree with the words of the Minister about 11 September and Charlie Kirk.
This is yet another extraordinary error of judgment by this weak Prime Minister. I pay tribute to the Leader of the Opposition for yesterday securing justice fo…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
SEND Provision: Funding
Parents are getting in touch with MPs across the country to ask whether existing special needs support will continue under the planned reforms. The Minister for School Standards has said that the Government will not remove “effective support”, but what does that word “effective” mean? Who will judge…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Post-16 Education: Skills
Before the election, Labour said that it would allow employers to take 50% of their apprenticeship levy money and spend it on other things, but since the a while election, different Ministers have said different things about whether that is still happening. The Skills Minister said it would all depe…
Yes or no?
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
Teacher Recruitment
The Secretary of State just said that the Government were turning around declines in teacher numbers. Under the last Government the number of teachers went up by 27,000; under this Government it is down by 400. That is the opposite of the truth.
One thing that drives people out of teaching is poor …
Commons
Debate
16 July 2025
6 contributions
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
Everybody wants to give children the best start in life. That is why we increased spending per pupil in schools by 11% in real terms in the last Parliament, and why we doubled real-terms spending on the free entitlement for the early years. More importantly, it is why we pushed through difficult ref…
I am happy to take an intervention.
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 July 2025
Afghanistan
As well as risking lives, this extraordinary error has cost taxpayers huge sums. The Secretary of State says that it will now cost £1.2 billion less, but what will be the total cost of all these schemes after that? First, given the extraordinary lack of transparency that this Parliament has been sub…
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Educational Attainment of Boys
In Leicestershire, where I am from, it is the last week of term, so as we come to the end of the school year—my children’s primary school has only just broken up— I want to thank all the teachers and other staff in our schools who have worked so hard this year, for both our boys and our girls. We as…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 July 2025
Generative Artificial Intelligence: Schools
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I knew as soon as my brilliant and learned right hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) secured this debate that it would be well worth attending and very interesting, and it has proved to be exactly that. It builds on …
Commons
Debate
7 July 2025
Government Performance against Fiscal Rules
A £6 billion hole has been opened up because those on the Labour Front Bench cannot get those on the Labour Back Benches to vote for their own policies. As a result, No. 10 is today conspicuously refusing to rule out a wealth tax. If we tell business people and wealth creators that their money will …
Commons
Oral Questions
Church Commissioners
3 July 2025
Poverty
Churches across the country are doing amazing work tackling poverty, but they could be doing more. Many of my constituents will be surprised that the Church Commissioners have already spent £5 million on Project Spire when it is not within their charitable objectives, and that they plan to spend £10…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 July 2025
3 contributions
Music Education
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I congratulate the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) on securing this very important debate.
They say that politics is showbusiness for ugly people, and in my case that is directly true: the only reason I am her…
The hon. Gentleman has taken the opportunity to put on the record an important point of clarification. I understand that the Leader of the House is looking at modernising the terms that we use in this place—the word “Bill” will be scrapped, perhaps—so the next time we come to this Chamber, it may no…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 July 2025
Children with Allergies: School Safeguarding
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. I congratulate the hon. Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore) on securing this important debate, which he opened by telling a frightening story about his own child. I am sorry that he is also suffering in a smaller way this afternoon, but we…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
25 June 2025
Engagements
Q10. Labour has invited proposals from cities to expand their boundaries, and the Mayor of Leicester wants to expand the city to swallow up areas like Oadby, Wigston and Great Glen, but local people do not want that, and thousands have signed our petition against it. It is not just about the higher …
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
2 contributions
Department for Education
Before the election, Labour said that increasing VAT would pay for more teachers. Even in December, the Chancellor said that
“every single penny of that money will go into our state schools”.
More recently, however, the Prime Minister has claimed that this will instead pay for investment in social…
I am glad that the hon. Member has prompted me—he must have a copy of my speech. In the last Parliament, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, real-terms spending per pupil went up by 11%. I thank him for allowing me to make that point.
So why are so many teachers getting the sack? It is p…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
23 June 2025
Draft Combined Authorities (Adult Education Functions) (Amendment) Order 2025
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I will not detain the Committee for long, because this is a technical piece of legislation simply updating regulations to reflect new qualifications and, in a sense, maintaining the principle that we established during our time in governm…
Commons
Debate
19 June 2025
Water Safety Education
Let me pay tribute to the hon. Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) for leading this important debate and for doing such a good job in setting out all the different issues at stake. Although he covered a huge amount of ground in his opening statement, we also heard some excellent speeches f…
Commons
Proceedings
19 June 2025
Business of the House
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Although they did not mention it before the election, Labour is committed to abolishing every district and borough council in Leicestershire. It has also invited proposals to expand the city’s boundaries, and the Mayor of Leicester has put forward such a proposal. This is univ…