Commons
Westminster Hall
30 June 2026
High Street Regeneration and Unlawful Storefronts
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) for securing this important debate.
South Shropshire residents really value their high street—the 4,500 people who filled in my survey explaining what was important to them o…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2026
Farming: Financial Sustainability
I thank the hon. Member for securing a very good debate. On food security, in south Shropshire, just outside Onibury, there is a campaign to stop over 130 acres of solar panels going on good agricultural land. The plans would make it harder to be resilient and to provide food security as a country. …
Commons
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Defence Spending and Readiness
I thank the Minister for taking my intervention. I, too, served with 20th Armoured Brigade and was deployed in operations from Germany over to the Balkans. She talks about mismanagement. She is in a position where, unless more funding comes forward, the Government are about to make some of the bigge…
Commons
Debate
20 May 2026
2 contributions
Defence Readiness
It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Leeds South West and Morley (Mark Sewards), who clearly understands the topic. He spoke passionately and gave a great speech.
I want to turn the attention of the House to the following countries: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, the US, Den…
If the defence investment plan is the Secretary of State’s priority and the Prime Minister’s priority, is it completed and just waiting for the financial sign-off, or is there a gap in capability to be able to complete it?
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 April 2026
Park Home Owners
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I thank the hon. Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) for securing such an important debate. My right hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes), who is here beside me, is unable to speak in the debate, but I w…
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
Strategic Defence Review: Funding
I have served on operations under both Conservative and Labour Governments, and I can tell horror stories of how I was treated, which led to 15-plus years of complex PTSD. When I finally rebuilt my life, I wanted to ensure that nobody ever had to go through what I went through. As soon as I got here…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 April 2026
2 contributions
Cost of Heating Oil
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) for securing this important debate.
South Shropshire is a very rural, remote area, and its beauty is unrivalled, as many Members will agree. With 53% of my constituents off g…
Further to that point of order, Dr Allin-Khan. I would also like to declare that I use heating oil.
Commons
Proceedings
24 March 2026
4 contributions
Defence
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Loughborough (Dr Sandher). I do not think that I have heard anyone call for 20% of spending on defence, but I like it. I am not sure how we would maintain the reversal of the two-child cap if 20% of spending went to defence, but he made a very good spee…
I thank my hon. Friend for that important point. How warfare is fought is catching people by surprise—we are seeing that played out in the middle east at the moment—and we have to be prepared. We have stood with our head and shoulders high on the world stage, and I want to see us continue to do that…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
24 March 2026
Topical Questions
T4. Over half of South Shropshire residents rely on heating oil or other solutions, such as liquified petroleum gas, to heat their homes. The recent Government support does very little for the majority of my constituents, and the best price today for heating oil is more than double what it was five …
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 March 2026
Puberty Blockers Clinical Trial
I have five children, and have watched half of them go through puberty. They continually change their minds about things. Ethically, I can see no justification for allowing children to be experimented on. What might be a short-term solution could become a permanent solution that people often grow to…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 March 2026
14 contributions
Rural Roads
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the condition of roads in rural areas.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer, especially on a topic as important as road conditions in rural areas such as South Shropshire. We will all know that there is no place like South Shr…
The hon. Member raises a very good point. I will come on to the preventive measures and what can actually be returned to the economy to help the Department fix this major issue.
Potholes are one of the biggest issues raised with me since I have been an MP, and I am sure the same will be true for ma…
+12 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
9 March 2026
Middle East: Defence
I visited the UK-US Bahrain base at the end of last year, and during the Venezuela statement on 5 January this year I said that we were exposed in Bahrain with the naval assets. The Secretary of State has rightly said that the UK presence over there has been ramped up since January. If last Tuesday …
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
23 February 2026
Topical Questions
T3. Many park home residents in South Shropshire are concerned about the 10% sales commission and think it is unfair. I know that the Government have committed to a consultation, but will they speed that up and just scrap the unfair commission?
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 February 2026
4 contributions
Firearms Licensing
It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Sir Alec.
I want to put on record that I enjoy shooting. I have also been shot—so I am one who has seen both sides of this equation. I thank the more than 738 South Shropshire residents who had signed this petition as of last week.
As the hon. Mem…
My right hon. Friend makes a really valid point, which will often be overlooked when people are looking at the difference between section 1 and section 2. People will bulk order shotgun cartridges; they will be able to pick them up when they need them for a shoot, legally, with a licence—they cannot…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
4 February 2026
4 contributions
Lord Mandelson
I found it shocking today when the Prime Minister openly admitted that he knew that Mandelson had an ongoing relationship with a convicted paedophile when he appointed him. Regardless of anything else we discuss today, that goes against any value that I stand for in my life and that my constituents …
My hon. Friend is making a great speech about Mandelson’s influence in the Labour party. It is reported that he was involved in the selection of up to 25% of its candidates. Does my hon. Friend think that the documents in question should be made available to anyone who needs help looking into his in…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 February 2026
10 contributions
Postal Services: Rural Areas
I beg to move,
That this House has considered postal services in rural areas.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. Residents of rural areas such as South Shropshire deserve access to good postal services, which keep families and friends connected, businesses alive and pe…
I look back fondly on the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, and I realise that this is a problem across the country. It is a nationwide issue, as he rightly pointed out.
I have also campaigned for the resumption of postal services in Cleobury Mortimer, which were closed in 2023, leaving the town witho…
+8 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
3 February 2026
3 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
I am enjoying listening to Members who say they have met constituents who have suffered hard times. I grew up in hard times, on welfare, through the death of a parent, watching my mum go without food to feed us. There is no possible way, given that the cuts to benefits have been pulled, that the cou…
The hon. Member is making an impassioned speech. If the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that this will be the biggest change made in a Parliament —a full parliamentary term—why are the Government doing it now after refusing to do it 18 months ago?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 February 2026
Town and City Centre Safety
I have recently completed a “shop local” survey of almost 4,500 residents, and they said that a cleaner high street would improve community pride and help to reduce crime. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that that is a good initial approach, although it does not replace police on the beat?
Commons
Debate
21 January 2026
3 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles: Legacy and Reconciliation
I have seen a pattern forming. I hope the hon. Member did not misquote when he said that the Liberal Democrats have more veterans in their parliamentary party than anyone else, when they have eight and we have 17. I see that only one of theirs is here today, whereas many of ours are here.
May I follow up on that point?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
20 January 2026
2 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
rose —
It is not as if the President of the United States has not expressed disapproval; he says it is an “act of great stupidity” to do this deal. Does my right hon. Friend think that it is ironic that the Secretary of State for Defence made the first statement to the House on the subject last May, but wi…
Commons
Proceedings
19 January 2026
Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure
I am speaking to loads of business owners across South Shropshire in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, who are telling me the polar opposite of what the Minister is saying from the Dispatch Box, showing that the Government are completely detached from reality. There is a U-turn coming on …
Commons
Debate
14 January 2026
4 contributions
Ukraine
Today the NATO Parliamentary Assembly has been given an open letter from the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk. He has been here, and I have met him a few times. He is urging
“the immediate delivery of air defence and air-to-air missiles”.
Ukraine is in desperate need of them…
I thank the Minister for giving way a second time. In December, I went on a cross-party trip with NATO to South Korea; we heard that its Government have changed their position on Russia and are now looking to open plants in Russia. They spouted the Russian lines against NATO. I have fed that into Go…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 January 2026
Offshore Wind
The price that has been fixed today is higher than gas with the reduction of carbon tax and higher than the average for gas for all of last year. South Shropshire residents’ energy bills have been going up since the Secretary of State has been in post. Can he promise when energy bills will come down…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 January 2026
3 contributions
Ajax Programme
I thank my hon. Friend for initiating this important debate. Does he agree with me that it is important for the Minister to set out that in 2022 I and colleagues on the Defence Committee went to Merthyr Tydfil, did a review and clearly stated that IOC was nowhere near deliverable in the timeframes p…
I do not want to steal my right hon. Friend’s thunder, but when we were on that visit, I was absolutely shocked that the team building Ajax said that no two hulls had ever left the factory that were the same. They were all slightly different, and that was a flaw in the whole building project.
+1 more contribution in this session