Commons
Westminster Hall
8 December 2025
Digital ID
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. I congratulate my fellow member of the Petitions Committee, the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore), on introducing the debate.
I want to address the 5,092 people from Sunderland Central who signed the petition. I hear and r…
Commons
Debate
26 November 2025
Budget Resolutions
On putting up taxes, a household living in a band A property in Sunderland that is worth £50,000 currently pays more council tax than one living in a £50 million property in Westminster. Do the hon. Gentleman and his Reform UK colleagues agree that reforming the system to increase council tax for th…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Migration: Settlement Pathway
I welcome the Home Secretary’s statement, particularly what she said about the more than 75,000 nurses working in our NHS who have arrived in this country since 2021. Those nurses and other healthcare professionals were actively encouraged to come here to fill the gaps left by the previous Governmen…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Business of the House
Our creative industries offer huge opportunities for economic growth, and the Crown Works film studio in Sunderland will be a box office smash for jobs across the north-east. Last year, the Chancellor premiered investment to prepare the site, adding Government support to that of our Labour council a…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Asylum Policy
We want to continue the UK’s proud history of offering sanctuary, while simultaneously reducing illegal channel crossings. Refugees fleeing persecution should seek safe and legal routes that are subject to full security checks and controls, not pay people-smuggling gangs to cross the channel in an u…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Police Reform
What the people of Sunderland want is visible and responsive policing. There is no doubt about the decline in recent years. Northumbria lost 1,100 officers under the previous Government. How will the Minister ensure that the savings resulting from these changes are reinvested in the frontline, to im…
Commons
Debate
5 November 2025
Drug-related Deaths
I commend my hon. Friend for securing this really important debate. Does she agree that even if the Home Office does not agree with changing legislation, more could be done within existing legislation, for example with drug checking facilities, of which a very small number are already licensed by th…
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
23 October 2025
2 contributions
Public Sector Reform
1. What steps he is taking to develop the Government’s approach to public sector reform.
Could my right hon. Friend outline what role he thinks digital ID could play in supporting public sector reform?
Commons
Debate
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
Many Sunderland families, including mine, share stories of Cherry Knowle, the Sunderland borough asylum in my constituency, which opened in 1895. Severe mental illness has always been a feature of society. Thankfully, the legislative framework and services have developed somewhat since 1895, but arg…
My hon. Friend is absolutely right and I thank him for his intervention. Part of the issue around poorly reported waiting times is that it is less easy to see that differential access than it would perhaps be in physical health services. Indeed, over the years when specialist teams have been set up—…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 October 2025
Northern Ireland Troubles
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement and for the way he and the Minister for the Armed Forces have engaged on this matter in recent months. I have many constituent veterans in Sunderland Central who served with distinction in Operation Banner; the Secretary of State rightly praised the p…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
2 contributions
Driving Test Availability
9. What steps she is taking to increase the availability of driving tests.
Learner drivers in Sunderland are fed up of waits of around 22 weeks for a driving test. In that time, they are often facing higher costs and barriers in accessing job opportunities. Can the Minister tell the House what steps he is taking to reduce driving test waiting times in Sunderland, and when …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
We must stop criminal gangs launching illegal crossings from the French coast. Will the Home Secretary update us on her conversations with the French authorities to ensure that their tactics include intervening in shallow waters, so that they stop as many of these boats as possible at source?
Commons
Debate
22 July 2025
Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment
It is a privilege to contribute to the Sir David Amess debate. Sir David proudly championed Southend and its people, and it is in that spirit that I would like to speak about Sunderland today. To start, Mrs Ann Blakey, the retiring headteacher of St Benet’s Roman Catholic school in my constituency, …
Commons
Oral Questions
22 July 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
There were 5,448 drug-related deaths in 2023—the highest figure ever—and an 84% increase from the number that led the previous Government to publish their drugs strategy, which was supposed to save lives. Does the Secretary of State agree that the existing drugs strategy is not fit for purpose, and …
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
17 July 2025
2 contributions
High Street Businesses
16. What steps he is taking to support high street businesses.
In the last Budget, the Government committed to a fairer business rates system that protects the high street. Making sure online retailers pay a fair share of rates will help support businesses on the high street in Sunderland. Will the Minister update the House on the engagement and design work tha…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 July 2025
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
Anyone who has ever worked in healthcare knows that it is a team sport and that delivering excellent care requires a range of staff across the allied health professions including nurses, doctors, administrative staff and estate staff. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is therefore essential …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
British Film and High-end Television
I thank the hon. Lady for her statement and her Committee for its work on this important area. I also thank her for mentioning the Crown Works Studios site, which is in my constituency, so she will understand why I am such a proud champion of our regional film and screen industries. The Select Commi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
NHS 10-Year Plan
It falls on each Labour Government to reform and renew the NHS in the service of patients, and that includes mental health patients; from my consultations, I know that they are a key priority for the people of Sunderland Central. I welcome the plan’s emphasis on empowering patients by providing them…
Commons
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
2 contributions
Creative Industries Sector Plan
11. What recent progress her Department has made on delivering the creative industries sector plan.
Thanks to a Labour council, mayor and Government working together, diggers are now in the ground at the Crown Works site in my constituency, preparing it for transformation into film studios. The selection of a private sector partner is now starting, so can the Secretary of State say how the Governm…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 June 2025
5 contributions
Armed Forces Recruitment: North-east England
It is a pleasure to serve under you in the Chair, Dr Allin-Khan.
It is a privilege to participate in this debate in Armed Forces Week, given Sunderland’s proud tradition of military service and as a member of a serving armed forces family. My good friend Dr Dan Jackson, in his excellent book “The N…
I will absolutely do that. I commend the gentleman in the Public Gallery and all those who serve. The tradition of connection between place and service is so important and an asset that we must continue to use as we consider recruitment in the future.
One in 20 of my constituents are veterans, prob…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Department of Health and Social Care
I welcome the estimates and the CSR settlement from the Government —a record settlement for the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS. Given the time constraints, I will focus on three key points: financial management, underlying demand and the prioritisation of spend in the estimates.
W…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
2 contributions
Middle East: British Nationals
12. What steps his Department is taking to provide assistance to British nationals impacted by conflict in the middle east.
British nationals in Israel, including the daughter of my constituents, remain concerned about their safety. The advice has been for British citizens to make their way to Egypt via the border, but there have been some reports that the Israeli Government have suggested those journeys would be unsafe.…
Commons
Debate
20 June 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
It strikes me that the judgment before us today is this: would permitting some terminally ill adults to choose an assisted death reduce suffering without inadvertently creating undue risks to others? I am clear, having worked in the NHS for 19 years, that the Bill absolutely can do that.
I know the…
Commons
Proceedings
12 June 2025
Business of the House
The volunteers of the Southwick Village Green Preservation Society have for six years worked with pride and love to improve the green in my constituency. Thanks to their efforts, it not only looks beautiful but celebrates the proud history of Southwick, including the contribution of Suddickers to sh…
Commons
Westminster Hall
12 June 2025
Humanist Marriage
It is a pleasure to serve under you, Dame Siobhain. Like others, I commend the hon. Member for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo) and my hon. Friends the Members for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards) and for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) on securing this debate.
In 2009, I got married in the N…