Commons
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Steel Tariffs
We all support greater production here in the UK, but the details of these tariffs need more work. Black Country MPs, such as me and my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes), have heard huge worries from our downstream industries, including stockholders such as Amari, fabricators …
Commons
Oral Questions
28 April 2026
Topical Questions
T4. We now know what was going on in the economy before the attack on Iran. Growth was up. Unemployment was down. Borrowing was lower than forecast. The Chancellor took the right decisions and it was working. Does my right hon. Friend agree that families and businesses should know that, when times a…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 April 2026
Single Status of Worker
I thank my hon. Friend and fellow member of the Business and Trade Committee for giving way. We have sat in a number of hearings where different industries have expressed to us the competitive disadvantage that they experience because people in the industry use the gig economy or platform work to av…
Commons
Debate
17 March 2026
Youth Unemployment
I thank the Secretary of State for this announcement, which will make a big difference to so many young people in our area of the Black Country who are looking for work or training but unable to find the opportunities they need. I recently visited Asda in Great Bridge, where I saw the supported inte…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
10 March 2026
Topical Questions
Given the global situation, what discussions has the Chancellor had with Cabinet colleagues on helping to keep industrial energy costs manageable? Will she work with colleagues to bring in the British industrial competitiveness scheme, which would cut manufacturing energy costs by 25%, as soon as po…
Commons
Debate
4 March 2026
Department for Business and Trade
I congratulate the Chair of the Select Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North (Liam Byrne), on securing this important debate. I wish to align myself with the remarks he made about the need for a steel strategy to be published soon for clarity on how …
Commons
Debate
11 February 2026
2 contributions
Local Government Finance
Does my hon. Friend agree that the work being done on the draft local government settlement to get us to this final local government settlement has actively put the principles of fairer funding into place? My local authority in Sandwell—the fifth most deprived local authority in the country—is getti…
Will the hon. Member give way?
Commons
Debate
3 February 2026
6 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
I am sure that my hon. Friend will agree that the statistics on below-average-income households are published annually by the Department for Work and Pensions, which is the source of the statistic that he so cleverly deployed in the course of his argument.
I stand here as a proud representative of the Black Country and the trade union movement. Black Country people work hard. We are proud and we are resilient, but 50 years of deindustrialisation and 14 years of Tory austerity mean that wages are low, poverty is high, unemployment is high, economic ina…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
26 January 2026
2 contributions
Jobcentres: English Courses
16. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of jobcentre work coaches in directing people to English for speakers of other languages courses.
I thank the Minister for her answer. I recently visited Tipton Jobcentre Plus, and I pay tribute to the great work of the staff based there in what is a really tough jobs market. They told me that they would value the ability to refer jobseekers to an intensive ESOL course, with the expectation that…
Commons
Debate
14 January 2026
West Midlands Police
I thank my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary for her words, particularly about the dedicated frontline police officers of West Midlands police who serve my community and hers. It is clearly time for the chief constable to go. It is right that we expect a high standard of community engagement acro…
Commons
Proceedings
12 January 2026
New Medium Helicopter Contract
I support calls by my union, Unite, for a speedy decision on crewed helicopters. I hope soon for good news on that front in the defence investment plan, which we all look forward to so very much. Might the Minister have any news on the manufacture of autonomous helicopters here in the UK, and on the…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
17 December 2025
Local Government Finance
Black Country people are proud and resilient, but 50 years of deindustrialisation and 14 years of Tory austerity have left my borough of Sandwell the fifth most deprived in the country. Does the Minister agree with me that this Government can finally see deprived urban areas—post-industrial areas li…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
17 December 2025
Engagements
Q6. The west midlands car industry is world famous, and this Government back our automotive sector. We have a United States trade deal, and when criminals shut down production at Jaguar Land Rover we backed the supply chain—brilliant companies such as J.H. Lavender in my constituency. What a contras…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
I am sure the Minister is coming on to this in her speech, but it might be worth reiterating, for the benefit of those on the Opposition Benches, that the best way to avoid having to pay compensation for unfair dismissal is to avoid unfairly dismissing someone in the first place.
I wonder if the hon. Gentleman would like to tell the House which of these business groups he disagrees with and that he thinks we should not listen to today, because these are the groups telling us and peers in the other place that we should be voting for the Bill. Does he disagree with the British…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
15 December 2025
Topical Questions
T4. The west midlands is a key engine of the UK’s manufacturing base. What work is the Minister doing with our West Midlands Mayor to ensure that west midlands companies, especially our small and medium-sized enterprises, benefit from our increased defence spending and our defence industrial strateg…
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
One of the things I am most proud of—having stood on doorstep after doorstep in Tipton, Wednesbury and Coseley at the general election, hearing people tell the dreadful stories of how long they and their relatives had been waiting for hospital treatment—is the 45% fall in people waiting more than a …
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
17 contributions
Seasonal Work
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
While we are being nice to the hon. Gentleman, I think with affection of the times we have sat together on the “Politics Midlands” sofa. For the benefit of the House, will he tell us how many zero-hours workers he has spoken to in preparation for his speech today?
+15 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Topical Questions
Last week I went to Alucast in Wednesbury, one of our brilliant foundries. I have also been to Newby Foundries. Both told me of their relief that the landfill tax will not impose significant additional costs on them. I wonder whether the Chancellor would like to set out the action she is taking to s…
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
The hon. Member seems to be under the misapprehension that the lifting of the cap was not agreed as part of the negotiation on the compromise. It was. Perhaps she would like to revise her remarks.
I wish to draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, my membership of Unite, and the kind support of ASLEF and the GMB for my election campaign.
This Employment Rights Bill is our promise to working people on its way to being fulfilled, thanks in no small part to my…
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
Child Poverty Strategy
I thank my right hon. Friend for her leadership on the two-child limit, and for always carrying the kids who did not eat last night in her heart.
Last week, I was at Sacred Heart school in Tipton in my constituency, where the school council and the teaching staff spoke to me about how children livi…
Commons
Proceedings
2 December 2025
Budget Resolutions
I am so sorry that the shadow Health Secretary is no longer in his place. After his astonishing speech, I wanted to invite him to the Black Country, where waiting lists of more than a year are down by 45%. I think that the right hon. Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) managed somehow to c…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 December 2025
Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts
It is very worrying to hear about the repeated attempts to access the statement before it was given, and I wonder why Conservative Members are not a little more concerned, given that the same situation may have affected them. Does my right hon. Friend agree that if a Government left themselves with …
Commons
Debate
26 November 2025
Budget Resolutions
Will the hon. Member address this point that in the case of the six in 10 children who are in families affected by the two-child benefit limit, those families have jobs? Will he address the situation of my constituent who lost her husband? She was working, he was working and they had three kids toge…
Commons
Debate
5 November 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
The hon. Member is not being very clear. Does he like the pre-2016 trade union regime, which is the one this Bill takes us back to, or does he like the post-2016 trade union regime, which is the one he seems to be advocating except when he talks about the 30 years of settled consensus? Which is it, …
Does the hon. Member believe that, in the first six months of employment, it is appropriate for people to be dismissed for unfair reasons and without a fair process?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
4 contributions
Welfare Spending
On the two-child benefit cap, will the hon. Member give way?
I thank the hon. Member for giving way. Do some children deserve to go hungry?
+2 more contributions in this session