Commons
Proceedings
24 March 2026
Oil and Gas
I agree with the hon. Member about the need for energy security, and certainly we do not want a supply chain that depends on the People’s Republic of China, which could lead to economic coercion. Does he share my view that the deduction is that we need home-grown manufacturing for renewable energy i…
Commons
Debate
23 March 2026
2 contributions
Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns
I am grateful to the hon. Member for Shrewsbury (Julia Buckley) for securing the debate and for enabling me to speak in it.
I would like to welcome once again the news announced at the spending review last June that funding has been allocated to reinstate the railway station at Cullompton. I was pl…
The hon. Lady makes an excellent point. I recognise wholly the vulnerability of the line at Dawlish, which my hon. Friend the Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) has also been campaigning on. I am sure that together, Devon and Cornwall MPs can keep up the fight.
To conclude, reliable rail link…
Commons
Debate
23 March 2026
Middle East
The Secretary of State talked a lot in his statement about British hardware, but coercing an adversary also requires us to understand their war aims and their beliefs. In Iraq, we learned late about the need to develop cultural awareness. Martyrdom is central to Shi’a Islam and viewed as redemptive …
Commons
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Topical Questions
T6. Residents in Devon want visible community policing. The new towns taskforce recommended a new settlement called Marlcombe in east Devon. When new towns are built, how are additional police officers allocated to the area?
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 March 2026
Banking Services: Accessibility
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing this debate, because so many people in my area of Devon, as well as his area of Cornwall, feel strongly about the issue. Not only are fewer services available when a bank closes its high street branch, but, if they are available a banking hub, they are av…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 March 2026
Disability Equipment Provision
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Betts. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) for securing this debate.
Disabilities impact the lives of many people in the south-west of England, with older people some of the most affected. Age UK …
Commons
Debate
9 March 2026
Middle East: Defence
The Secretary of State made the distinction between permitting the use of British bases for offensive action and for defensive action. I understand the need to protect and defend British citizens in the middle east, but can the Secretary of State explain how he is seeking to maintain this distinctio…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 March 2026
Healthcare in Rural Areas
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Huq. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson) for securing this debate and for talking about the one-size-fits-all solution, which I completely recognise. He is right to say that neighbourhood health hubs need to app…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 March 2026
2 contributions
NATO and the High Arctic
My hon. Friend knows a great deal about this subject; I am also grateful to the hon. Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) for securing this debate.
Yesterday, President Trump suggested that our current Prime Minister is no Churchill. Should we not add that the current President of the United State…
In its negotiations with the United States, Denmark pledged to raise defence spending from 2.4% of GDP last year to 3% of GDP this year and next. Does the Minister think that the example Denmark is setting is a good one for the United Kingdom?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 March 2026
Spring Forecast
Many small and medium-sized enterprises add value to our towns and villages, but I am concerned about their survival. The Community Waffle House in Axminster is a community interest company that is struggling under the pressure of last year’s national insurance increases. Waffle Axminster boasts £3.…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 March 2026
Middle East
In his statement, the Prime Minister explained his disagreement with the US President about UK participation in the initial strikes, and I commend that decision. When the UK refused to participate in US interventions in Vietnam and Grenada, Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher kept their disagreement…
Commons
Debate
25 February 2026
4 contributions
Ukraine
Last night, I joined the Minister for the Armed Forces and the former leader of the Conservative party, the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), at Trafalgar Square for a rally for Ukraine. It was a really moving event. Hosts from across the UK and Ukrainian fa…
The hon. Member makes an excellent point. That Ukrainian culture was on full display last night, at the Trafalgar Square rally.
At the moment, we sometimes talk down NATO, and certainly its European parts. We should not, because in NATO we have the strongest military alliance that the world has eve…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory
I agree with the hon. Member for Clacton about the need for proper scrutiny of the vast sums of taxpayers’ money that the Government propose to send to Mauritius, yet I am puzzled that he would travel all the way to the British Indian Ocean Territory without a permit, given that Diego Garcia is a mi…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 February 2026
Local Transport: Planning Developments
The West of England rail line runs from Exeter to London Waterloo via Feniton, Honiton and Axminster. Network Rail describes the line from Exeter to Basingstoke as
“one of the worst-performing single-track sections nationally”.
It is one of the most under-invested lines in England. In this place, …
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 February 2026
Banking Hubs: Rural and Post-Industrial Communities
The Conservative Government passed the Financial Services and Markets Act in 2023, which gave the FCA powers to set up banking hubs and give access to cash. Does the Minister think that that was a missed opportunity at the time to prevent banks from closing high street branches in the thousands, as …
Commons
Debate
12 February 2026
2 contributions
Rural Mobile Connectivity
One of those commercial operators is O2. My constituent, Martin Ferdinando, contacted O2 over 40 times. He was offered a handset, a new 5G SIM, an escalation to the ombudsman and, in the end, a £125 goodwill payment. Does my hon. Friend agree with me that our constituents do not want such “goodwill”…
The hon. Gentleman is talking about the frustrations in Cornwall, which my constituents really can relate to. This issue is peninsula-wide, across Devon and Cornwall. Only 52% of mid and east Devon is covered by 5G, compared with 62% nationally. Does he recognise that this is about our remote south-…
Commons
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Pharmacy First: Withholding Payments
Allied Pharmacies has taken over a couple of failing Jhoots Pharmacy branches in my area since Pharmacy First was introduced, which is very welcome. The chief executive said this week that the outlook for elderly people and those without a car in rural areas was stark. Between 2015 and 2025, communi…
Commons
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address Motion
First, I should say that, although I enormously respect the right hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard), I disagree with him about the independence of the Intelligence and Security Committee. It is very much a Committee of Parliament, and it is independent as such.
The ISC is awaiting receipt…
Commons
Westminster Hall
12 February 2026
UK-EU Agritrade: SPS Agreement
I am grateful to the Chair of the EFRA Committee for laying out the top lines from this excellent report, and I also commend the Committee for its work on the inquiry into animal and plant health. My right hon. Friend spoke about the Cabinet Office Minister not appearing before his Committee, but th…
Commons
Debate
11 February 2026
Local Government Finance
The final settlement for local government finance does not bring good news for Devon. Research by the Rural Services Network has shown that urban councils will have significantly more Government-funded spending power per head than rural councils.
By 2028-29, urban councils will have seen a 20% incr…
Commons
Debate
11 February 2026
2 contributions
Police Grant Report
My hon. Friend is making an excellent point about rural crime. My concern is that as the boundaries of police forces become greater, the resources tend to go to the urban areas. We see that in east Devon, where Cranbrook has sucked in resources from villages and towns that have previously had a poli…
Measuring police effectiveness by looking solely at numbers is absolutely flawed. Does the shadow Minister accept in retrospect that the way in which Theresa May allowed police numbers to plummet while claiming that crime was falling was completely flawed? We lost a lot of experience in those years.
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 February 2026
Independent Water Commission: Final Report
My hon. Friend mentions the River Lim Action group that works on the boundary between his West Dorset constituency and mine. The group has identified that the sewage treatment works at Uplyme cannot cope with the amount of sewage that occurs during high rainfall. Does he agree that South West Water …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 February 2026
Standards in Public Life
The Intelligence and Security Committee wrote to the Prime Minister last Thursday. The letter, which has been published, included the following request:
“The Committee would be grateful to, now, be told the date on which we will receive those papers such that we are able to plan the resourcing requ…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 February 2026
Russian Influence on UK Politics and Democracy
I accept the hon. Gentleman’s point about the need to amplify threat perception, but I do not think that that is required with the conduct of elections. The Intelligence and Security Committee’s Russia report in 2020 said that it was informed that
“the mechanics of the UK’s voting are deemed largel…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 February 2026
2 contributions
Sustainable Drainage Systems
What my hon. Friend has identified in his Newton Abbot constituency is a situation that exists all over the country. In July 2025, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs wrote a report called “National standards for sustainable drainage systems”, which talked about a national shortag…
I am really grateful to my hon. Friend for securing this debate. He talks about maintenance, but design is also crucial. Margaret Leppard, from Seaton, set up the Seaton Flood Working Group. She points out that developers sometimes use outdated datasets when designing drainage systems. She says that…