Commons
Debate
13 January 2026
10 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill
On behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition, I wish to speak to new clauses 22 to 24, tabled in my name and those of my hon. Friends. As the Minister set out, clauses 63 to 68 introduce measures to apply inheritance tax to unspent pension assets and other death benefits for deaths occurring after 6 April …
These changes were presented as some sort of simplification and modernisation, but clauses 83 and 84 nearly double remote gaming duty from 21% to 40% and increase general betting duty to 25%. We will have some of the highest rates of tax on gambling in the world. As we have heard from some Members, …
+8 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
Topical Questions
The Health Secretary has said he is “shocked” at the inability to acknowledge and then remedy state failures. It is now two years since the Hughes report was published, but no timeframe has been set for compensation for the valproate scandal. When will my constituents Colleen and Andy get the redres…
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
8 January 2026
E-scooters
There are 1 million privately owned scooters, which are illegal to use on public roads. I declare an interest, having bought one a few years ago in the expectation that I would be able to ride it legally by now, but that is permitted only under state-licensed schemes. Why have the Government extende…
Commons
Debate
7 January 2026
Jury Trials
The Government’s amendment, which the Minister has signed, refers to the Government’s impact assessment. Have the Government done an impact assessment but are refusing to publish it, or did they announce plans to end jury trials for certain cases without that evidence?
Commons
Westminster Hall
7 January 2026
Rural Fuel Duty Relief
I congratulate the hon. Member for North Devon (Ian Roome) on securing this debate, and I thank all hon. Members for the contributions that we have heard. It was a Conservative Government that introduced the rural fuel duty relief scheme in 2011, and that was in recognition of the fact that remote c…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 December 2025
National Plan to End Homelessness
I welcome the ambition to end homelessness and pay tribute to the Purfleet Trust, King’s Lynn Night Shelter, the borough council and other groups that are working hard and collaborating to end rough sleeping and homelessness. How will this strategy and the resources help to support their efforts and…
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
5 contributions
Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
This is a rare and serious conduct motion that calls on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to apologise for misleading the country about the state of the public finances, breaking promises on tax and breaching the OBR confidentiality process—in short, for not being straight with the British people.
I …
If the hon. Gentleman had been here for the whole debate, he would have had the opportunity of the opening 45-minute speech to put that to my right hon. Friend.
What happened as a result of all the policy kites that were flown? Pensions were drawn down, fewer mortgages were approved and investment …
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Hospitality Sector and SMEs
The Chancellor promised a new golden era of hospitality, but the reality of her business rates raid, as the British Beer and Pub Association has said, is
“sleepless nights, pay cuts and staff layoffs”
for publicans, who will be paying an extra £13,000 on average. Why did the Chancellor tell busine…
Commons
Proceedings
8 December 2025
Restriction of Jury Trials
There is capacity for almost 2,000 more court sitting days that are not being used for rape or other trials at the moment. Why is the Justice Secretary not prioritising funding those days to help reduce the backlog, rather than trying to scrap jury trials?
Commons
Proceedings
4 December 2025
Local Elections
This is an utter dog’s breakfast that is entirely of the Government’s making. Will the Minister apologise to Tim Passmore and other mayoral candidates for cancelling the elections next year? When will Norfolk and Suffolk get the £37.4 million investment fund that we were promised if we had a mayor, …
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
4 December 2025
Topical Questions
The Cabinet Office has an important role to play in publishing data to enable the public to track the Government’s performance. Does the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister agree that it would be helpful to have data on the number of prisoners wrongly released every day by the Justice Secretary?
Commons
Debate
3 December 2025
Pension Schemes Bill
Before speaking to new clauses 24 and 25 and amendments 14, 15 and 16, I shall begin by reiterating the position adopted by my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier), the shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury—he is not here today, as the Minister acknowledged—which is that we supp…
Commons
Proceedings
3 December 2025
Official Secrets Act and Espionage
The report says that the National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, apparently had very “limited” engagement about the case. In contrast, one of his predecessors, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, with whom I worked in the Ministry of Defence, said he
“would have expected to be involved intimately in the pro…
Commons
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
NHS Dental Services: Norfolk
The Minister told the Health and Social Care Committee that the spending envelope for dentistry would be confirmed by the end of the summer at the latest. Is the Office for Students still waiting for a ministerial direction to launch that competition for new places, so that UEA can bid along with ot…
Commons
Proceedings
24 November 2025
Ministerial Code
The Prime Minister agreed with the independent adviser on ministerial interests to recuse himself from the appointment of the football regulator in autumn 2024. Then, in April, as the report by the Commissioner for Public Appointments makes clear, he confirmed Mr Kogan’s appointment, breaking that u…
Commons
Debate
20 November 2025
2 contributions
Injury in Service Award
I am pleased that this debate has made its way to the Floor of the House, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mr Morrison) on securing it. My late uncle Malcolm served as a police officer in Norfolk for many years, so I understand a little about the level of dedication and personal sacri…
I referred to my time in the Ministry of Defence, and during that time we created the Op Shader medal for British service personnel who were involved in operations against Daesh in Iraq and Syria. The original proposal was that that medal should only go to the pilots in the planes conducting the str…
Commons
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Separation Centres: Terrorist Offenders
This terrorist was moved to a separation centre over concerns that he would use his extremist Islamist ideology to radicalise others, and yet the ruling says that this move was a breach of his right to a private life under the European convention. Should national security and prison officers’ safety…
Commons
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Russian Ship Yantar
In January, the Defence Secretary came to this House to make a statement when the Yantar passed through British waters, but he did not see fit to do so when that ship directed lasers at our pilots, which I think reflects poorly on him. Has the Russian ambassador been summoned over this highly danger…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Power Station: Wylfa
In the spirit of consensus, which the Energy Minister untypically just moved away from, I join him in welcoming this announcement. I was advising the then Energy Minister when the Hinkley contract was signed and the Horizon project was proceeding, before Hitachi withdrew, so I am keen to see develop…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
2 contributions
Solar Farms: Food Security
7. Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of solar farms on food security.
I think the Minister’s answer was a bit tone-deaf. North West Norfolk’s farms and farmers play a vital role in our food security. My constituents are concerned about the Droves and High Grove solar farms, which will cover 7,000 acres. Why are the Government, and the Net Zero Secretary in particular,…
Commons
Proceedings
12 November 2025
Independent Football Regulator
I have to say, I am quite surprised at the lack of contrition from the Secretary of State, given a very damning report. In November 2024, Mr Kogan withdrew from the application process because, he said, there was
“a lot of noise going around about Labour donors”,
but in March, in a move that the c…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
Public safety should be the Justice Secretary’s priority, so why did it take six days for the Metropolitan police to be informed that a sex offender had been wrongly released from HMP Wandsworth?
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Alcohol Duty: UK Wine Sector
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair once again, Mr Turner. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford) on securing this important debate. In Blur’s immortal words, he knows his claret from his Beaujolais, but I will not have anyone say he is a charm…
They are always wrong.
Commons
Debate
5 November 2025
5 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
Does the Minister not listen to the voices of business and business organisations? They say that what the Government propose will make young people—whom it is riskier to take on—less likely to get jobs in the first place. Why does she think she knows better than employers and the people who create j…
The Minister referred to a nine-month probationary period as opposed to the six-month unfair dismissal period. A report from the Resolution Foundation—which is usually held in high regard on the Treasury Bench—says that this is a “messy compromise” that risks confusing employers and preventing them …
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
Welfare Spending
A few hon. Members in this debate have mentioned the record of the last Government, so it is worth putting on the record that, under the last Government, 4 million jobs were created, youth unemployment was halved and a million more disabled people moved into work. Sadly, under this Government, we ha…