Commons
Debate
10 June 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Does my hon. Friend agree that where CPO powers already exist, there is a massive lack of trust between landowners and the acquiring authority? All too often a proposal will be put on the table, and an agreement will be reached, but then the legal agreement that actually comes along is totally diffe…
The hon. Gentleman just said that CPO powers are, to the landlord, an inconvenience. I would say that having a home, farm or business taken is absolute devastation, not an inconvenience.
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 June 2025
Nuclear Power: Investment
Happy birthday, Mr Speaker. To give credit where it is due, I totally welcome today’s announcement on nuclear. Where I disagree with the Secretary of State is on his persistence to plough ahead with inefficient technologies such as solar and the associated paraphernalia, such as battery storage, whi…
Commons
Debate
9 June 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Will the Minister give way?
When the Minister says that agricultural protections are very strong, that simply is not true, is it? In the new NPPF that the Government brought in after being elected, they removed the important clause that explicitly protected land used in food production.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 June 2025
Winter Fuel Payment
During the general election campaign, that well-known political giant, “a Labour spokesman”, said that Labour had no plans to change the winter fuel payment, but within weeks, the Government had cruelly cut it, withdrawing it from millions of pensioners, and 13 months later, the Minister is performi…
Commons
Debate
5 June 2025
Battery Energy Storage Sites: Safety Regulations
I congratulate the hon. Member for Horsham (John Milne) on bringing forward this important debate. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in it, because this is a matter of considerable concern to the many rural communities in the Mid Buckinghamshire constituency, particularly given the safety r…
Commons
Debate
5 June 2025
Bank Closures and Banking Hubs
The number of banks that have left my constituency has driven me mad: in the 336 square miles of Mid Buckinghamshire, only one high street bank is left standing. One of the most absurd things that I have heard multiple banks say over the years is: “Oh, but there’s a bank just a few miles away.” That…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 June 2025
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
I listened carefully to the answer that the Minister gave to the right and proper question from the hon. Member for High Peak (Jon Pearce) just now. Will the Minister not accept that simply calling for Hamas to go back to the negotiating table is nowhere near strong enough? For there to be accuracy …
Commons
Proceedings
22 May 2025
School Teachers’ Review Body: Recommendations
I am full of admiration for all the hard-working teachers across my constituency, and indeed the whole country, and my sister-in-law is a secondary-school English teacher, but I have no doubt that every teacher and headteacher watching our proceedings, either live or later, will have had their jaw o…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 May 2025
9 contributions
EU-UK Summit
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey, and to take part in this debate this afternoon. Having been first elected to this place in 2019, I feel I missed out on the meaningful votes and the main Brexit wars of a few years ago. However, I had the privilege, for the whole four and …
I am grateful to the hon. Member for her intervention, but I am not sure that I fully agree with her analysis. This deal is relitigating Brexit. It is reintroducing dynamic alignment and a role for the European Court of Justice in many ways that we thought we had put behind us after the last Governm…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
21 May 2025
2 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023: Replacement
9. What steps he is taking to replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
I listened carefully to the answers the Secretary of State gave just now to the shadow Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Alex Burghart), and to my right hon. Friend the Member for Goole and Pocklington (David Davis). The Secretary of State must understand the sev…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 May 2025
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
It is essential that aid reaches innocent civilians in Gaza, as the shadow Foreign Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), was equally clear in stating. It is also vital that this war comes to a swift end. However, in searching for that path to peace, is it not equally v…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 May 2025
UK-EU Summit
Dynamic alignment undermines sovereignty, and to undermine sovereignty does not just undermine the central principle that 17.4 million people voted for; it also undermines everybody who respects the democratic outcome of that referendum. Therefore, if the Prime Minister will not think again about th…
Commons
Proceedings
15 May 2025
Solar Farms
I am listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman. So that we in this House and the whole country can hear clearly, is he saying that the Liberal Democrats fully support solar farms?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 May 2025
Sanctions Implementation and Enforcement
As the sanctions regime ramps up, although perhaps not as quickly as my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) calls for—I endorse that call—the Minister is right to be doing the work he is doing. As part of his review and assessment as those sanctions ramp up and become…
Commons
Oral Questions
15 May 2025
2 contributions
Driving Test Backlog
At the Transport Committee in April, the Secretary of State admitted that under Labour’s watch,
“waiting times for access to driving tests hit new highs.”
For all the talk of a new plan, she then admitted that the Government only aim to reduce driving test waiting times to seven weeks by “summer n…
I do not think the Minister has got the memo that she is in charge now. The Government cannot hide behind the same old excuses and try to blame others, as average test volumes are now lower—on a month-by-month basis—than they were in the previous two years. In quarter 1 alone, nearly 100,000 fewer t…
Commons
Proceedings
14 May 2025
Gaza: UK Assessment
Nobody wants war, but we must reflect that this is a war. It is a war between our ally Israel and the aggressor, Hamas. It was Hamas who brutally murdered, mutilated and raped innocent Israeli citizens. It is Hamas who still keep 58 hostages under lock and key. It is Hamas who, in their own charter,…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 May 2025
Carer’s Leave
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I congratulate the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) on securing this important debate.
On behalf of His Majesty’s official Opposition, I too want to underscore the indispensable role of unpaid carers in our society a…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
12 May 2025
Immigration System
The White Paper talks in vague terms about potential changes that build on and learn from the displaced talent programme. Will the Home Secretary be really clear with the House about where she sees those changes going? More importantly, what safeguards will she put in place to ensure that any such c…
Commons
Debate
12 May 2025
US-UK Trade Deal: Northern Ireland
I congratulate the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) on securing this urgent question, although I agree that the Government really should have offered a statement to the House on this important subject.
Of course, the House has still not yet seen the full detail of the trade a…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
12 May 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
T2. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
One of my constituents is experiencing severe delays in getting Access to Work scheme payments, dating back to February. In correspondence with the Department, a letter openly says there is no long-term solution to that, so when will the Secretary of State come forward with a long-term solution to s…
Commons
Proceedings
7 May 2025
United States Film Tariff
The film industry is enormously important to the Buckinghamshire economy. Pinewood Studios is in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey), but many of my constituents are supported in jobs not just at the studios themselves, but in the many supply-chain business…
Commons
Westminster Hall
7 May 2025
3 contributions
Automotive Manufacturing: Employment
It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I begin by drawing the House’s attention to my entries in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) on not only securing this debate but delivering a superb ope…
I will give way to my constituency neighbour.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 April 2025
UK Airstrike: Houthi Military Facility
I welcome the Defence Secretary’s statement, and I add my thanks to, and appreciation for, the Royal Air Force and all those involved in this successful operation. In his statement he said that
“even Russia has attempted to support the Houthi operations.”
However, does it not go a little bit deepe…