Commons
Debate
25 November 2025
4 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I seek your guidance? I know that this issue has been exercising Mr Speaker. Yesterday, at topical questions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, in response to a question asked by the hon. Member for South Shields (Emma Lewell)…
I open by drawing the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I hold some voluntary roles in local government. I place on record my particular thanks to my hon. Friends the Members for Hamble Valley (Paul Holmes) and for Broxbourne (Lewis Cocking), who ser…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
Homelessness Strategy: Housing First
When we look at the statistics, we see that homelessness and rough sleeping are surging under this Government, with London and the south-east hardest hit where social housing delivery has collapsed under the current Mayor of London. Will the Minister commit to lifting the restrictions that this Gove…
Commons
Debate
13 November 2025
5 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
The Opposition join the Minister in thanking our colleagues in the other place for their sterling work. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hamble Valley (Paul Holmes), who has been our shadow Minister and contributed enormously to the debate in Committee.
I welcome the Minister back to the …
I am going to develop my answer to that, because that is the question we face as a country. We set ourselves a target in the last Parliament of delivering 1 million homes, and we fell just short of that, but when this Government set out their commitment to net zero, I do not think they intended 23 o…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Houses in Multiple Occupation: Planning Consent
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Dowd, and to speak in this debate called by the hon. Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm). He gave a clear exposition of the issues facing his constituents, which mirror the experiences of mine. I was out at the weekend talking to peo…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
This statement speaks of pride. Conservative Members have pride in our local pubs, 200 of which have closed in the past six months, hammered by the Labour party’s business rates rises. We have pride in our restaurants, which are closing in record numbers under the business rates burden imposed by th…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Private Rented Sector: People Granted Asylum
Despite that answer, it is clear that things are getting worse. Our councils are battling with the cost of this Government’s border failures. The 22% rise in small boat arrivals, combined now with Chagossians arriving in rising numbers, throwing themselves at the mercy of our local authorities as th…
Commons
Debate
15 September 2025
2 contributions
Point of Order
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. May I seek your guidance? I led an Adjournment debate last Wednesday. In an intervention on the Minister for Secondary Care, the hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Danny Beales) made reference to
“the misquoting of things that have been said”. —[ Official R…
indicated assent.
Commons
Debate
10 September 2025
6 contributions
Urgent Care Centres: Hillingdon
This Adjournment debate is on the future of the minor injuries unit at Mount Vernon hospital. I am particularly grateful to the Minister, who, despite representing a Bristol constituency, has a great deal of knowledge of my area having grown up in it, and to the Secretary of State for a number of co…
I am grateful to the hon. Member. What he described is similar to the concerns outlined by my hon. Friends the Members for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey) and for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra) and others across the wider area, as well as by many people who have been in touch with me directly.
…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
2 September 2025
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
It has been a wide-ranging debate. I particularly thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) and my hon. Friends the Members for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune), for Isle of Wight East (Joe Robertson), for Reigate (Rebecca Paul), for Romford (Andrew Rosindel…
I thank my right hon. Friend for highlighting that issue; she has been a champion for the voices of those affected by it. While I understand that Ministers have come to the Dispatch Box time and again and said that they must wash their hands of it, the unions said in their statement today that there…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
1 September 2025
Draft Local Audit (Amendment of Definition of Smaller Authority) Regulations 2025
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I am sure we are all delighted to be here—I could sense the excitement in the room when Members read the subject matter.
The Opposition commend the Government for their efforts to bring about a greater degree of fairness in local governm…
Commons
Proceedings
22 July 2025
Birmingham Bin Strikes
As the hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) alluded to, the House knows that the origins of the dispute in Birmingham are in the 2017 settlement of the equal pay arrangements, which created a £760 million liability for that local authority under the Labour party, and which have been un…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
3 contributions
Black Country Day
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I am sure that, for the rest of us, you are our favourite Black Country Member of Parliament, in contrast to what we have just heard from the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson). I add my congratulations to the hon. Member for Tipton …
Several Members mentioned the late Queen; as she was fond of saying, “Recollections may vary.” When Andy Street left office, he was particularly proud of the contribution made by his work, especially as somebody who was absolutely rooted in that local area. He was also proud that he had not levied a…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
22 July 2025
Accident and Emergency Waiting Times
The Government have spoken passionately about how minor injuries units, such as the one at Mount Vernon hospital in my constituency, help to take the pressure off A&E by diverting less urgent cases for treatment elsewhere. I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his time for a brief discussi…
Commons
Proceedings
16 July 2025
Points of Order
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I seek your guidance? The NHS announced yesterday morning the closure of the Mount Vernon hospital minor injuries unit in my constituency, which also affects my right hon. Friend the Member for Hertsmere (Sir Oliver Dowden), my hon. Friends the Members …
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
West Coast Main Line
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison, for the first time. I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Connor Naismith) on securing the debate. Hon. Members will know that I am not the usual face to respond to a debate that sits with the transport team, but …
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
Building Social and Affordable Homes
There has been a 66% reduction in new affordable housing starts in London under Mayor Khan, and I note that Hillingdon Labour vigorously opposes the Conservative council’s plans for a new affordable housing site at Otterfield Road in Yiewsley. Will the Secretary of State condemn the failings of thes…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
Planning System: Community Involvement
Community support is always vital for development, and with 95% of planning applications already decided by officials under delegated powers, it is clear that that democratic voice can be missing. Can the Minister tell the House why, taking that in tandem with the devolution White Paper, which envis…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 July 2025
2 contributions
London’s National Economic Contribution
It is a pleasure to speak for the official Opposition in this debate, and congratulate the hon. Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell) for having secured it.
Although there will always be a degree of party political difference—I am sure the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Luke Taylor) a…
I am glad to hear my neighbour express his strong, vocal support for the family farms tax. I am sure his constituents at Goulds Green farm, Maygoods farm and other such places will be listening attentively to the position he takes as they reflect on the impact that will have on their businesses and …
Commons
Westminster Hall
30 June 2025
Driven Grouse Shooting
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I follow the tradition set by a number of Members by declaring that I am a resolutely suburban Member of Parliament. There are no grouse moors in Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, although there is a significant number of members of the Bri…
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
It has been a wide-ranging debate. I add my congratulations to the Chair of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), for securing it and introducing it so well. I pay tribute to my Conservative colleagues—my right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridg…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
Middle East
The family of my constituent, Katie Solomon, have been in touch to share their fears about her as she shelters from Iranian attacks in Israel. My constituent Mehdi Moslehi has told me about how his life in the UK started as a refugee from the Iranian regime. Can the Foreign Secretary tell my constit…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
16 June 2025
Child Sexual Exploitation: Casey Report
My Hillingdon constituents have seen the work that the local authority has had to do over many decades to deal with child sexual exploitation and trafficking arising from Heathrow. When I led the Local Government Association’s response—when these cases first came to light—one issue that arose was th…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
9 June 2025
Local Authority Funding
The Minister knows from his time at the Local Government Association of the impact that asylum has on the budgets of local authorities. With the Home Office’s much-vaunted increase in the grant rate for asylum claims, the Government are pushing thousands of households on to council waiting lists and…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
9 June 2025
Support for High Streets
Our high streets and small businesses have been hammered by this Government, with big increases in the cost of business rates and national insurance contributions. Can the Minister tell the House what measures he and the team have put forward to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to help our small busi…