Commons
Westminster Hall
7 January 2026
Advanced Brain Cancer: Tissue Freezing
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I start by saying how honoured I am to follow the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who demonstrates so ably that the high-minded ideals of representation, compassion and decency run right through this place, and perhaps more oft…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
17 December 2025
Local Government Finance
Over 14 years of the Conservative Government, they cut Hartlepool’s budget in real terms by 40%. That is £50 million missing from that budget every single year. It meant libraries and parks being left behind and child poverty being up by 10% over those 14 years. While some of the Conservatives come …
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Income Tax and National Insurance Threshold Freeze
Pensioners in my constituency of Hartlepool who rely solely on the state pension have shared with me their concern that freezing the tax threshold will draw them into paying tax. Can the Minister confirm what the Chancellor has already said publicly, which is that pensioners who rely solely on the s…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
8 December 2025
Unemployment Levels
Since the general election, the number of people claiming universal credit in my constituency has fallen by 7.3%. Does the Minister agree that central to this Government’s mission of getting people back into work is that it must reach every part of the country, including those areas that have been l…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 December 2025
Digital ID
Like many Members, I have been inundated with messages. My Hartlepool constituents are hugely concerned. Does the hon. Member agree that part of the problem is that we got an announcement without the detail? I have written to the Minister with a number of questions that my constituents have put to m…
Commons
Proceedings
4 December 2025
Business of the House
Last week was Parliament Week, and like Members across the House I had the chance to visit some of the brilliant schools in my constituency, to hear from Hartlepool children about the things that matter to them at St Teresa’s, St Peter’s Elwick, West View, and Eldon Grove academy, where pupils showe…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 December 2025
Acquired Brain Injury Action Plan
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain. I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) for securing this debate and for all his ongoing work leading on this issue.
One of the most remarkable features of the human brain is its abi…
Commons
Proceedings
2 December 2025
Budget Resolutions
I welcome so much that is in the Budget: the measures to reduce the cost of living, most notably the £150 off energy bills; the lifting of half a million children out of poverty, including 3,210 in my constituency of Hartlepool, paid for by taxes on online gambling; and the decision to introduce a m…
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
2 contributions
Reading: Pre-school Support
19. What steps her Department is taking to help support families to read with their child before they start nursery and school.
My constituent Lyndsay Hogg has successfully brought a Penguin little library to her community in Hartlepool. It is designed to celebrate Penguin’s 90th anniversary, and the aim is to promote the joy of reading. Hartlepool borough council’s leader, Labour’s Pamela Hargreaves, inspired by Lyndsay’s b…
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 November 2025
Young People not in Education, Employment or Training
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on further education and lifelong learning. This debate matters deeply to my constituency. Hartlepool has one of the highest levels of young people not in education, em…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
The Prime Minister rightly said in his statement that Putin continues to seek to undermine our security. Those efforts were aided and abetted by Reform’s Nathan Gill when he took Russian bribes. He is a traitor to this country. How plausible does the Prime Minister think it is for that just to have …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 November 2025
Critical Minerals Strategy
I welcome the statement from the Minister, who is of course my constituency neighbour. He knows full well that we represent areas that built this country and were far too often left behind by the last Government, by globalisation and by deindustrialisation. Can he assure me that this strategy and ou…
Commons
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Topical Questions
Hartlepool has one of the largest clean energy economies in the north of England with thousands of local jobs—jobs that Reform would destroy. At the same time, we have one of the largest nuclear industries. We have signed the biggest deal in our history—jobs that the Greens would destroy. Does the M…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Asylum Policy
I welcome this statement and can say clearly to the Home Secretary that she will have my complete support in implementing the measures within it and in doing whatever it takes to fix our broken asylum system and secure our borders. One of the consequences of the broken system is what can only be des…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Power Station: Wylfa
I welcome this announcement about small modular reactors. Thanks to the landmark deal done back in September, Hartlepool will now lead the world in advanced modular reactors, which will bring £12 billion of economic input and 2,500 jobs, and power 1.5 million homes. The pace in getting that project …
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
17 November 2025
Topical Questions
Hartlepool police do a magnificent job, but like police in the rest of the Cleveland force area, they are hamstrung by a funding formula that is broken. The victims core grant works out at £7 a crime in my constituency. Down the road in North Yorkshire, the figure is £19 a crime. That is unfair and …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Police Reform
I welcome today’s announcement, particularly the savings that have been identified. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can use the savings in the Cleveland area to reverse the disgraceful decision in 2019 to close Hartlepool’s custody suite? So far, there is an unwillingness to look at reop…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
Like many MPs across the House, I am sure, I have been inundated with correspondence from concerned constituents on the issue of fireworks, be it about their use in antisocial behaviour, the impact on household pets, or the severe distress that they can cause to the vulnerable, including veterans. T…
Commons
Petition
11 November 2025
Council Tax Reform
This evening I am presenting a petition on behalf of the people of Hartlepool to register their total opposition to the current council tax system. Council tax is deeply regressive and a tax on deprivation, and it hammers towns like Hartlepool. It simply does not work, not for councils, not for Gove…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
BBC Leadership
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. It is absolutely right to hold the BBC to the highest standard, because that is the best way to defend our national broadcaster. Does she agree that it is not acceptable for Members of this House who are paid by the BBC’s commercial rivals—in fact, looki…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Imprisonment for Public Protection
8. What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the number of prisoners serving imprisonment for public protection sentences.
My constituent, Terry Rowley, received an IPP sentence on 8 February 2008. His minimum tariff was set at one year and 126 days. That was 6,486 days ago—almost 18 years—and he remains in prison. No one disputes the seriousness of his offences, but the issue for Terry and his family is one of equal ju…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
5 November 2025
2 contributions
Engagements
rose—
Q3. My constituent Georgia Hart was just 15 years old when she was diagnosed with Friedreich’s ataxia, a cruel and degenerative condition that slowly robs a person of their mobility and independence. Since then, her courageous parents have battled day in and day out to raise awareness and money to g…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Houses in Multiple Occupation: Planning Consent
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. If I had to choose three letters to sum up my inbox when it comes to planning matters, it would be HMO. Nowhere in my constituency illustrates that more starkly than Windsor Street. I first saw the challenges there when I served the area as…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
Care Leavers
My hon. Friend has outlined the vast range of steps that the Government have taken in short order to fix a very broken care system, but these things take time, and local authorities are under unimaginable pressure—they are at breaking point in many cases. What can he do in the short term to ensure t…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
29 October 2025
Engagements
Q4. Football is a game based on fairness, yet brilliant clubs that unite communities every week, like Hartlepool, are being held back by a fundamental unfairness. The 3UP campaign—backed by 72 national league clubs, including Hartlepool United, and championed by Hartlepool legend Jeff Stelling—seeks…