Commons
Westminster Hall
14 July 2026
Coastal Communities: Isolation and Hidden Deprivation
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. Hartlepool is a town with a proud coastal and industrial heritage, but above all, it is a town of proud people. We spend a great deal of time in this place talking about the concept of freedom, by which we usually mean freedom from somethi…
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 July 2026
Illegal Immigrants: Offshore Detention and Deportation
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate, and I am grateful to the 1,744 people in Hartlepool who signed the petition. That is a significant number of my constituents, and their concerns deserve to be heard and taken s…
Commons
Debate
13 July 2026
Immigration and Asylum Bill
I can say absolutely wholeheartedly that the Home Secretary retains my complete support for seeing this legislation through in full. Does she not agree that, as we take this action forward, it is important not just that the hotels are reduced, but that the dispersal accommodation that has overburden…
Commons
Proceedings
6 July 2026
Rochdale Grooming Gang: Offender Deportation
Some crimes are so despicable and some individuals so evil that they forfeit their rights and their protections, and we must change the law to ensure that they are never afforded them. Is not the law change required here to ensure that no individual can ever again be released unless the very next da…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
6 July 2026
Topical Questions
T5. Hartlepool, like the rest of the north-east, has always been critical to our defence industry, including brilliant Hartlepool companies such as Merlin Flex. Will the Minister outline how the record investment secured by this Labour Government will benefit jobs in the economy in Hartlepool and th…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2026
North Sea Oil and Gas
I fully support more drilling in the North sea and the granting of more licences—I believe that is important for energy security—but I think it is important to be straight with the British people. As things currently stand, that would not lower their bills, because the oil and gas are sold on the in…
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
Healthwatch
While I support the Government’s desire to drive out bureaucracy from the NHS and simplify systems for patients, Healthwatch Hartlepool has done an outstanding job in ensuring that patients’ voices are heard as systems and services are improved. What can the Minister do to ensure that local expertis…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
8 June 2026
Immigration Rules: Economic Impact
In Hartlepool we are reversing 30 years of globalisation and taking advantage of the unprecedented falls in immigration, thanks to this Home Secretary, and training our own, whether through our Health and Social Care Academy, our civil engineering academy, our centre of excellence for welding or our…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
4 June 2026
Jury Trials
There is considerable scepticism across the House, and among experts outside this place, including in the Criminal Bar Association, about whether restricting jury trials will have any impact on the backlog. Does the Solicitor General understand the confusion of many Members about why we simply do no…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 June 2026
Children’s Social Care: Enduring Relationships Strategy
I warmly welcome the Minister’s statement today and pay tribute to him for his enduring commitment to this issue, which started long before he came to this place. Improving the lives of children in care and care leavers must be our highest priority, and Hartlepool’s previous Labour council stood fou…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2026
Seasonal Hospitality Businesses in Coastal Areas
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I congratulate the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East (Joe Robertson) on securing this important debate, which matters enormously to communities like Hartlepool. For far too long, politics in this country has been obsessed with helping th…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
1 June 2026
Topical Questions
My constituent David Hewitt was dismissed from the RAF simply for being gay, and that was just days before the armed forces lifted the ban on LGBT service personnel. Years later, he is still waiting for the restoration of his rank and financial redress. What can the Minister do to expedite this proc…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
21 May 2026
Hospitality Industry
This week, I hosted the British Beer and Pub Association in Parliament. It has more than 20,000 members across the country, including Camerons Brewery in Hartlepool. Among the many issues that it raised was this summer’s football world cup. In other parts of the UK, late licences are being permitted…
Commons
Debate
21 May 2026
4 contributions
Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill
I just wish to seek some clarity from the hon. Gentleman. Is the Conservatives’ position that they would prefer British Steel in the hands of the Chinese than the British?
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
20 May 2026
Processed Russian Oil Products: Sanctions
I listened very carefully to the Minister’s explanation about what exactly we are doing, and I echo the comments from colleagues across the House about the failure to communicate this effectively in the last 24 hours. I have had very upset constituents getting in touch with me about this issue. One …
Commons
Debate
20 April 2026
Security Vetting
One of the things that I find most difficult to understand in this process is why, when this scandal erupted in September of last year, before the Prime Minister made statements in this place and elsewhere—statements that he must have known would have involved talking about the vetting—he did not si…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Business of the House
Public service is about dedication, resilience and delivering for those who need it most, and as she prepares to retire next week, Denise McGuckin, the chief executive of Hartlepool borough council, has exemplified those qualities throughout an outstanding career. It has been my privilege to work wi…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
2 contributions
Topical Questions
T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Swim England recently launched its report into the state of the nation’s swimming facilities. The report, “The Deep End”, clearly shows the crisis facing community swimming, largely due to issues with funding and infrastruc…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 April 2026
Access to Work Scheme
I met the Disability Poverty Campaign Group, which points to the fact that in recent years average support has fallen sharply and, as a result, job retention has dropped from 88% to 43%. That is fewer people in work as a result of the broken system the hon. Gentleman describes. That is counterintuit…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 April 2026
Knife Crime
I welcome the 8% reduction in knife crime and the increase in neighbourhood policing, which has seen a named officer in every ward of Hartlepool, but the Minister is right to say—and my constituents would agree—that it is not enough. Frontline officers tell me that they are taken off the street for …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 April 2026
Infected Blood Compensation Scheme
I want to join Members across the House in commending the Minister for his steadfast commitment to this issue and, in particular, for the way in which he has consistently listened to members of the community and acted on what they have said. My constituent, Alex Robinson, lost her father to the scan…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
Topical Questions
In just one week prior to Easter, Hillingdon council discharged its homelessness duty by issuing 22 section 208 notices and placing 77 individuals, including 35 children, in Hartlepool, with many concentrated in just one postcode. Does the Minister accept that this unfair practice places far too gre…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 March 2026
Proposed Visitor Levy
Is the issue not also about the way the economy is balanced? The truth is that some areas of the country, including Hartlepool, will struggle to bring people in with their tourism offer compared with others. A tax such as this actually drives money and investment away from areas that need it most. I…
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 March 2026
Court and Tribunal Transcripts
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I thank the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for opening this debate in his characteristic way—highly detailed and bringing the voices of victims to the fore, something that is so important here.
The petition before …
Commons
Proceedings
18 March 2026
Student Loans
Given that plan 2 tuition fees were introduced by the Conservatives in 2012, that they froze the repayment thresholds in 2016 and that they abolished the maintenance grants, was that fair then?