Commons
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
Topical Questions
I welcome the news that the Deputy Prime Minister has been appointed to lead a national summit to discuss the issues affecting men and boys, but given that those in politics—including, let us face it, progressive politics—all too often fail to see and speak about some of the specific challenges face…
Commons
Proceedings
4 December 2025
Business of the House
The people of the Stotfold Good Neighbour Group have been far more than just good friends for lots of people in their community; they go above and beyond to be a crucial lifeline for many who would otherwise be isolated, helping with trips to the doctor and hospitals and crucial shopping trips. With…
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
Sexual Consent and Relationships Education
I know the Minister will share my concerns about some of the rise in regressive attitudes to sex, relationships and women among some subsets of young men, but far from being the drivers of that problem, young men should be the solution. Fantastic groups such as Beyond Equality show that at their hea…
Commons
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
Palliative Care Strategy
I welcome the Government’s commitment to a strategy for palliative care, which is as overdue as it is important, but it will mean nothing for hospices that are not able to last out until it comes into effect. Garden House hospice in my constituency is facing a crucial funding shortfall, and although…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
Topical Questions
If it comes forward, Tempsford new town would offer an opportunity to get infrastructure right while building the homes we crucially need, in stark contrast to the chaotic approach to development seen by far too many of my Bedfordshire towns and villages. If it does proceed, will the Minister meet m…
Commons
Debate
20 November 2025
International Men’s Day
I start with a thank you to my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for the incredible way in which he opened the debate. Securing it was important enough, but the bravery that he has shown today, as well as the leadership that he has shown on so many of the issues he spoke to in …
Commons
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Large-scale Solar Farms
Solar energy is an important part of securing clean, cheaper energy for our country, but one way to reduce its pressure on land use is to ensure that we are making better use of rooftops. It is fantastic that after my campaigning, we are going to be much tougher in requiring new homes to come with s…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
Last week I had the privilege of visiting Hitchin boys’ school to listen to pupils across the year groups debating how we could do more to protect them from online harm, and I think we could probably learn some things from their thoughtful, considerate and informed approach. The debate was informed …
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 October 2025
Educational Assessment System Reform
I thank my hon. Friend for the way in which he has tirelessly championed young people and their mental health since entering Parliament. Over the summer I held a number of workshops with young people and families with special educational needs, as well as schools, to understand their concerns about …
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
4 September 2025
Grooming Gangs
Alongside the failure to go after some of the evil perpetrators of these crimes without fear or favour, another devastating failing of the grooming gangs scandal was the criminalisation of some of the young people involved by a system that all too often failed to see them as children and victims fir…
Commons
Oral Questions
4 September 2025
2 contributions
Sustainable Farming Incentive
7. What steps he is taking to increase access to the sustainable farming incentive for small and medium-sized farms.
Like the National Farmers Union, I welcome the protections for the agriculture budget in the recent spending review, including crucial funding for sustainable farming. On visits to farmers in my constituency, the difference this is making is clear: it is investing in our countryside and supporting n…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
2 contributions
Gaza: Humanitarian Aid
7. What steps he is taking to help increase levels of aid entering Gaza.
I share many of my constituents’ despair and anger about the intolerable suffering in Gaza. Last year, I had the privilege of meeting one of my constituents, Becky, to hear about her heartbreaking experience of delivering medical aid in Palestine. Devastatingly, a year on, the situation is much wors…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
The European convention on human rights is an important bedrock, protecting not only vulnerable people’s rights here in the UK, but also our strong international relationships, which were crucial to securing the returns deal with France, and co-operation with Germany and other European partners on f…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Independent Water Commission
Many of my constituents share my utter disgust at the way in which water companies have been able to profit from degrading our rivers and chalk streams. It is fantastic to see bonuses already banned at polluting Anglian Water and to see that we are following up by taking action and sacking regulator…
Commons
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
Industrial Electricity Prices
One way to drive down energy costs, including for energy-intensive industries, could be to help cut curtailment costs by encouraging the co-location of new energy-intensive industry sectors with some of the renewable sectors that we are currently having to pay to switch off. As we start to roll out …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 July 2025
State of Climate and Nature
I had the real pleasure of visiting York Road nursery school in my constituency this morning to celebrate its securing Eco-Schools green flag status—with distinction no less. As well as being a sobering reminder of my inability to hold the attention of four-year-olds for very long, it was a powerful…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
Given the importance of family hubs, I know the Secretary of State shares my disappointment that neither Central Bedfordshire nor Hertfordshire previously received a single penny of family hub funding. It was vulnerable families in the towns and villages in those areas of my constituency who were pa…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 July 2025
Parental Leave Review
Having raised with the Minister the need to do more on paternity and kinship leave in particular, I very much welcome today’s statement and the upcoming landmark review. I recently had the pleasure of hosting a number of parents at the Victoria pub in Hitchin to talk about the challenges caused by t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2025
6 contributions
Unadopted Estates and Roads
I beg to move,
That this House has considered unadopted estates and roads.
It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler, and a real pleasure to have the Minister present to respond.
I am proud to be part of a Labour party that takes the housing crisis, which affects far too…
I thank my hon. Friend; she will be a powerful champion for the many residents in her community who are falling on the hard edge of this challenge. Sadly, she is far from alone. Far too many MPs from right across the country have been speaking to me about the issues that their constituents have been…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
17 June 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
Before I move on to the amendment I want to speak about, I thank the Minister for the speed with which the Government have brought forward this Bill. It addresses important issues around protecting retail workers and tackling shoplifting and antisocial behaviour—issues that communities such as the t…
A lot of us have been inspired by my hon. Friend’s campaigning before she arrived in this place, and her intervention is a powerful example of why. It is exactly that moment—that lack of belief—that far too many victims of spiking are encountering when they go to the authorities at the moment, and i…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
16 June 2025
Child Sexual Exploitation: Casey Report
Any and every instance of child sexual exploitation should shame all of us, but I think what so many of us found particularly horrific about the grooming gangs scandal was the fact that those crimes continued to be perpetrated because of a failure to act by stakeholders and agencies that had complet…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
16 June 2025
Smartphones in Schools
From speaking with former teaching colleagues and local school leaders, I know that the impact that powerful school policies to restrict the use of smartphones and keep them out of schools can have is really clear. Fantastic work has been done on that, including by Hitchin boys’ school in my constit…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 June 2025
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Having had a number of conversations with the Minister about the importance of the new sanctions, I wholeheartedly welcome today’s announcement. Those two Ministers’ comments go well beyond what could be tolerated, accepted or explained away, and I am really glad that we have played a leading role i…