Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 July 2026
NATO Summit
The Foreign Secretary has rightly highlighted the UK’s unwavering commitment to our ally, Ukraine. Her Estonian counterpart recently said that
“Russia wages war not only with missiles, but with narratives.”
With that in mind, last week I sent a letter to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media a…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
2 July 2026
Distillers
Earlier this year in my constituency, the much-loved brand Slingsby Gin went into administration. A cocktail of different things added to the pressure on the business. Will the Minister wish the new owners of Slingsby Gin, Chris and Asma Williams, good luck in their new venture, and tell me what ste…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
2 July 2026
Topical Questions
I recently visited Envirovent, a manufacturer and supplier of sustainable ventilation products just outside Harrogate. It was recognised in The Sunday Times’ best places to work 2026 and recently produced its three-millionth ventilation fan unit. Will the Minister join me in congratulating Enviroven…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 July 2026
2 contributions
Heart Disease and Stroke: Premature Deaths
The hon. Gentleman is, as always, generous with his time. We all fully appreciate the slant that he brings from Northern Ireland. Would he agree that there is also the issue of regional inequalities within England? We see in Yorkshire and the north of England some of the worst rates of survival when…
As chair of the all-party parliamentary group for diabetes, I should say that we have been pushing to make sure that, when people with diabetes have those diabetic care processes, those are better linked with other comorbidities and ancillary services. Does he agree that we need to see more of that …
Commons
Debate
2 July 2026
Access to Further Education
Quite often when I come to this place, it is to moan and groan, and gripe about something that has gone wrong, but today I want to highlight a really positive story. One of the first campaigns I ran after the general election was to secure an extension to the FE capital transformation fund for the r…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
22 June 2026
2 contributions
SEND: Improvement
23. What steps her Department is taking to improve the SEND system.
I have been campaigning for a number of years to get the special school at Bilton Woodfield open. It was first set to open in September 2024, then it was delayed to September 2025, and we have now been told that it will open in September 2026. It beggars belief that a school that has had millions of…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 June 2026
3 contributions
Stoma: Public Toilet Provision
I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this important debate and raising awareness of this issue. Anyone who was at Prime Minister’s questions last week will have seen me talk about living with ulcerative colitis. I am grateful that the Prime Minister has arranged for the Minister to meet me to tal…
I thank the hon. Gentleman for being so generous with his time. He listed restaurants, businesses and other places where one might find a toilet. In recent years, we have seen the hollowing out of local government and the loss of publicly accessible toilets provided by town councils, unitary authori…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2026
2 contributions
Abuse of Customer-facing Workers
I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman will join me in commending the work that organisations such as the Harrogate business improvement district do to support the town centre in Harrogate. It has recently hired a business crime officer who has 30 years’ experience in policing. Having organisations tha…
Does my hon. Friend agree that police powers could be beefed up through the use of public spaces protection orders? People in customer-facing roles often end up with abuse from people who might have been drinking. Does she agree that we should look at how those powers could be better used, given tha…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
2 contributions
Housing Developers: Accountability
6. What steps he is taking to increase the accountability of housing developers.
Constituents of mine living on the Kingsley Farm development have spent months chasing the developer, Stonebridge Homes, to finish elements of the estate that were agreed and outlined in the planning permission when it was granted. Residents of The Willows now find themselves in the exact same situa…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
10 June 2026
Engagements
Q11. Earlier this year, I found myself in hospital as a result of a flare-up from living with ulcerative colitis. I was bowled over by the support of local constituents and people who live with inflammatory bowel disease across the country when they got in touch. For people with IBD, however, care o…
Commons
Proceedings
10 June 2026
Speaker’s Statement
Q11. Earlier this year, I found myself in hospital as a result of a flare-up from living with ulcerative colitis. I was bowled over by the support of local constituents and people who live with inflammatory bowel disease across the country when they got in touch. For people with IBD, however, care o…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 June 2026
Sir David Attenborough: Permanent National Monument
The hon. Lady was talking about how Sir David has had a number of species named after him. Does she agree that, going forward, we should do more to name our green spaces, such as Rotary Wood in Harrogate, which was planted by children, after legends like Sir David Attenborough?
Commons
Petition
9 June 2026
Review of the Student Loans System
I, like millions of people, took out a student loan. At the time I took it out, there were agreed terms and conditions; since then, Governments of different colours and persuasions have changed those terms, with no recourse for people like me and others across the country. It has become a tax on asp…
Commons
Oral Questions
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
4 June 2026
Access to Nature
Earlier this year, children from Pannal primary school went to their forest school in Sandy Bank woods, only to find that the path was cordoned off and trees had been felled. What steps is the Minister taking with her colleagues in the Department for Education and the Ministry of Housing, Communitie…
Commons
Proceedings
4 June 2026
Russian Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure
The latest attacks by Russia should be condemned in the strongest terms. Russia has rightly been made a pariah on the international stage for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the crimes associated with it, but it is slowly slinking its way back into cultural and sporting events, such as last mont…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
4 June 2026
2 contributions
Violence against Women and Girls
2. What steps she is taking to help increase prosecution rates for cases involving violence against women and girls.
Does the Solicitor General agree that public confidence in the justice system and supporting victims is crucial to improving prosecution rates for violence against women and girls? What further actions is she taking with the CPS to reassure victims that sexual offences such as rape and other crimes …
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 June 2026
3 contributions
Home-to-School Transport
I beg to move,
That this House has considered home-to-school transport.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg, and I am grateful for having secured this important debate. At its core, home-to-school transport is a simple promise: where a child cannot reasonably walk to school, t…
I thank my hon. Friend for her diligent work as a member of the PAC, and for making that point about SEND, which I will come on to during my speech.
Local authorities in England spent £2.6 billion on home-to-school transport in 2024-25, which was a real-terms increase of 70% since 2015-16. SEND tra…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2026
Seasonal Hospitality Businesses in Coastal Areas
The visitor levy is the wrong policy at the wrong time, as the hon. Gentleman puts it, and I have discussed it with UKHospitality. Does he agree that we need to stop this tax, at the same time as cutting VAT? If we do not, we will end up with an effective VAT rate on hospitality and tourism business…
Commons
Debate
1 June 2026
4 contributions
Health Bill
Will the Secretary of State give way on that point?
Will the Secretary of State give way on that point?
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
19 May 2026
High Speed 2 Reset
I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. It is outrageous to hear about the waste, with money thrown away by successive Conservative Governments. Even now, the eye-watering level of money required to reset HS2 grates on people up in Yorkshire and the north, where the northern legs were canc…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 May 2026
Youth Justice
On Friday, I was at Leeds Trinity University and met with a group of future teachers. They were talking about the exclusion-to-offending pipeline in our schools, and the challenges in meeting the needs of SEND children. Will the Secretary of State elaborate further on what tangible steps his Departm…
Commons
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
Topical Questions
Disabled people in England face a postcode lottery when it comes to the time in which they can use their bus passes. What conversations have been had with colleagues at the Department for Transport and the Treasury about removing those unfair time restrictions?
Commons
Debate
21 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Given that the new powers are being handed to local transport authorities, will there be funding to enforce the new measures and the obligations that councils are getting?
Commons
Proceedings
20 April 2026
2 contributions
Community-owned Assets: Government Support
The right hon. Lady is outlining a really clear case for community-owned assets. Can she elaborate on that and tell us if the UPP is an asset of community value? We have recently had to fight a campaign to stop Harrogate Spring Water chopping down the much-loved Rotary Wood, which is an asset of com…
I just want to acknowledge the Government’s fantastic work, which the Minister is outlining, on this particular issue. Does she agree that one of the biggest worries people have in areas undergoing local government reorganisation is that cash-strapped councils will have to sell off such assets? Ofte…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 April 2026
Antisemitic Attacks
I recently had the pleasure of attending a Passover service at Harrogate synagogue. It saddens me that whenever I meet the Jewish community there, they always talk about their security and safety. In the light of the Chief Rabbi’s comment that attacks on the Jewish community are gathering momentum, …