Commons
Statutory Instrument
1 September 2025
Draft Hovercraft (Application of Enactments) (Amendment) Order 2025
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Hobhouse. I rise to speak to the statutory instrument before us, which concerns hovercraft and the invaluable role they play in supporting the local economy, particularly on the Isle of Wight, and our wider transport network. We welcome the Gove…
Commons
Debate
15 July 2025
8 contributions
Taxes
The shadow Chancellor is making an excellent speech. Does he agree that the danger is that if Governments do not have a prudent financial position, they end up in the situation that we are now seeing, with the interest on Government debt going up and up? We are now paying around £10 billion a year m…
Labour Members pretend that 2010 was year zero. In truth, in 2010 there was an annual deficit of 10% of GDP in Government spending, which meant that the Government were borrowing £1 for every £4 they were spending. Does the hon. Member not acknowledge, or understand, that that was a far worse econom…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
Clean Power: Jobs
People across Basildon and Billericay, and indeed across the country, want to see more jobs in energy production and to see cheaper energy. What they do not understand is why the Government are backing some but not all forms of energy. Why are the Government insisting on shipping jobs in oil and gas…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
14 July 2025
Financial Assistance to Industry
I should declare that Ford’s UK headquarters is in my constituency. Will my hon. Friend also reflect that there is a real issue here for not just cars, but commercial vehicles? I am thinking particularly of the Transit, Ford’s best-selling international medium-sized van, which is known the world ove…
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Business of the House
Does the Leader of the House agree that it is wholly unacceptable for a senior official at His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to refuse to respond to repeated reasonable requests from me on behalf of my constituents? We have correspondence going back to early March. Will she meet me to discuss how we…
Commons
Oral Questions
10 July 2025
Civil Service Relocation
Heads of Departments have said that 60% attendance in the office is the best balance for civil servants working in Government Departments, but in an answer to a recent written parliamentary question from my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood), the Cabinet Offi…
Commons
Proceedings
9 July 2025
Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions
The jury system is essential to protect us against oppressive judges, malicious individuals—sometimes malicious police officers—or even Governments. The Minister speaks of the most serious cases. Is it not a fact that the most serious impact on individuals may result not necessarily from what she ma…
Commons
Oral Questions
8 July 2025
Crown Court Backlog
One of the most important things we can do, as the Lord Chancellor seems to indicate, is reduce the number of cases going into the system by reducing reoffending where possible, including intergenerational reoffending. Given that 65% of boys with a parent in prison will go on to offend, what steps i…
Commons
Debate
7 July 2025
Government Performance against Fiscal Rules
Who does the Chief Secretary to the Treasury think is most responsible for the extra 276,000 people unemployed since the time of the Budget? Is it the national insurance jobs tax, is it the business rates increases, or is it the attacks that the Government have made on long-term investment, whether …
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
Shoplifting
Whether at Asda in Basildon or Waitrose in Billericay, there have been real issues with shop thefts, particularly by organised gangs, which often come from outside the local area. They come in, ransack stores and then drive away. What is the Minister doing to address the issues that go beyond local …
Commons
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
2 contributions
British Musical Acts: International Promotion
5. What steps she has taken to promote British musical acts internationally.
I welcome anything the Government bring forward to support our new bands and musicians across the country, but the big thing that so many musicians are asking for is that we get touring rights sorted out with our European counterparts. Could the Minister update the House on what progress there has b…
Commons
Debate
26 June 2025
Floating Solar Panels
This is another issue where the Conservatives can perhaps give more information to those on the Government Benches. We have real issues in many parts of rural Britain with the energy infrastructure that has to go alongside solar farms—for example, the massive mega-pylons in East Anglia. If the energ…
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 June 2025
BBC World Service Funding
This is an important debate. I broadly agree with the hon. Member on the positive influence of the World Service. Would he acknowledge, though, that on occasion—such as on BBC Arabic—standards have fallen below what we would expect, with former Hamas officials put forward as neutral observers? We ne…
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Department of Health and Social Care
Does my hon. Friend recognise that it is not just community pharmacies that are being hammered in this sector but hospices too, such as St Luke’s hospice in Basildon, which is facing a £450,000 rise in its national insurance costs? Does she also agree that Ministers are putting these costs on to pha…
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Department for Education
In the past few days, a headteacher in my constituency has told me that their school’s funding is going down significantly in real terms this year. They say that they are now looking at a crisis, with potential staff cuts coming. On top of that, I have heard local providers of early years education …
Commons
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
Topical Questions
Cousin marriage is often used as a cover for forced marriage. Have the Government raised the issue of the incredibly high rate of first-cousin marriage with the Pakistani Government, given that so many of those marriages are between UK and Pakistani nationals?
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
23 June 2025
Universal Credit: Support into Work
There are 300 more people on out-of-work benefits in Basildon and Billericay than there were 12 months ago. Local businesses tell me that that is because business rates have gone up under the Labour Government, national insurance tax has gone up under the Labour Government and taxes on investment fo…
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
I rise to speak in support of six of the new clauses that go to the heart of our responsibilities as legislators—safeguarding children, restoring public confidence in the law and defending free expression—although due to the lack of time, I will not be able to go into them all in detail.
New clause…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 June 2025
3 contributions
Marriage between First Cousins
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Government policy on marriage between first cousins.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain. I rise to speak on a topic that many in our country assume is already settled. People assume that the marriage of first cousins is pr…
The hon. Member contributes so often to our debates in such a thoughtful way. He raises an important point about health, which I will develop. The health issues are of fundamental importance but, as I have said in my speech, there are broader societal concerns that mean this issue should be higher u…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
17 June 2025
Medicine Supply Chain: Community Pharmacies
Supply chain problems are just one of the many issues that are having an impact on community pharmacies. My local pharmacy in Noak Bridge is one of them, but it is also being hammered with national insurance increases, and the combination of these issues means that its long-term viability is at stak…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
16 June 2025
School-based Nurseries
This morning, in my constituency, I met the chief executive of the Early Years Alliance. Its Laindon nursery is facing closure, not because of falling demand but because it is being hammered by the national insurance tax rises. How can the Secretary of State talk about expanding provision when nurse…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
11 June 2025
Engagements
Commons
Debate
10 June 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I totally agree with what my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith) has just said. So many of our constituents, particularly those in the farming community, are already feeling totally let down by this Government, and they feel that this is a further steamroller on their assets.…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
9 June 2025
Leasehold Reform
I am glad to see the Government starting to tackle some of these issues. Will the Minister assure me that people on freehold housing estates with covenant issues in places like Basildon and Billericay will also be included in any legislation? They often face service charge increases of tens of per c…
Commons
Proceedings
5 June 2025
Business of the House
I know that you, Mr Speaker, are an animal lover, like me and my Basildon and Billericay constituents, although sadly some people are not. After some horrific cases, will the Leader of the House push the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to get on with its consultation on licensing …