Commons
Statutory Instrument
24 June 2026
2 contributions
Draft Local Government (Structural and Boundary Changes) (Control of Disposals etc.) (Amendment) Order 2026
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. The Government are bringing forward logical proposals to deal with new councils, but my concern is that I am not sure that this measure goes far enough. It talks about protecting new councils from existing councils’ decisions about their…
Thank you for your guidance, Mr Vickers.
This is an important piece of legislation that the Government are bringing forward. I wonder whether the Minister could explore some of the points that I have raised in this debate.
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
Leasehold Reform
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Like millions of people across the country, I am a leaseholder. We have been waiting nearly two years since the Government promised to improve the system. While the Government dither, leaseholders are being ripped off with higher service charges from companies such as FirstP…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
Retirement Home Exit Fees
The Minister should also consider the impact of the conveyancing process on this important issue. I have heard many complaints from older people in my constituency about the lack of transparency from solicitors, with families then hit with huge fees at the worst possible time. I am sure if people kn…
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
2 contributions
Accountability in the Health Service
15. What steps he is taking to improve accountability in the health service.
We need more local accountability in the NHS. In Broxbourne we have seen thousands of new houses built, but when I and local Conservative councillors have pushed for new healthcare facilities to cope with the new demand, we have been refused. Can the Minister explain who will be accountable for that…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 June 2026
Murder of Henry Nowak
This is an appalling and sickening tragedy. Words cannot express my heartbreak for Henry’s family and my fury at the system that has led to this. We have all seen the body-worn video footage. In a previous role, part of my job was to review that footage and give an independent judgment. In this case…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
20 May 2026
2 contributions
Delegated Legislation Committee
Will the Minister give way?
Will the Minister set out the evidence for her statement that unitary councils perform better?
Commons
Statutory Instrument
20 May 2026
2 contributions
General Committees
Will the Minister give way?
Will the Minister set out the evidence for her statement that unitary councils perform better?
Commons
Debate
27 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
If the Minister reckons that Ministers should not dictate what local government structures should be, will she let areas that have two-tier government, and that want to keep their district councils, keep them? My area does; it wants to keep Conservative-run Broxbourne district council. Why is she ma…
Commons
Debate
21 April 2026
5 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
In the interests of time, I will keep my remarks brief. First, I would like to speak in favour of Lords amendment 26, which would ensure a brownfield-first approach. If this were well and truly a brownfield-first Labour Government, they would support this amendment. Broxbourne has had its fair share…
My right hon. Friend makes a fantastic point, and she is an excellent campaigner for protecting the green belt in her constituency. The green belt around London was set up after the second world war to protect the periphery from urban sprawl. Just as her constituency is next to a big city, mine is n…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 April 2026
2 contributions
Apprenticeships
3. What steps she is taking to promote apprenticeships as an alternative to university education.
New figures reveal that 73% of teachers think there is not enough focus on preparing young people for employment while they are still in school. A good apprenticeship can bridge that gap, but the number of starts has fallen for those under 19 in the past year. Will the Minister change course and lea…
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My constituents George and Areti are in the Gallery. Their story is one that no parent should ever have to go through. Their 15-year-old son, Chrisopher, was an active and outgoing young man with a bright future ahead of him.
One night in January 2022, Christopher was in his room playing video game…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
15 April 2026
Engagements
Q4. Welfare spending is set to rise by another £70 billion by 2030. The last time I asked the Prime Minister about this, he said he was mending the system. Since then, this disastrous Labour Government have raised taxes on working people to give even more to those who do not work. The people I speak…
Commons
Committee Stage
14 April 2026
Representation of the People Bill (Seventh sitting)
The hon. Member is speaking about company donations. I am not saying I agree with this, but does she feel that the same logic should apply to trade union donations? If she feels that companies cannot donate, does she still feel that trade unions can?
Commons
Committee Stage
14 April 2026
Representation of the People Bill (Sixth sitting)
When postal voters are notified by their local authority that they are about to drop off the roll, does the Minister agree that they should not always be encouraged to do that online? Some people who have postal votes do not want to make online applications. Does she also agree that they should be s…
Commons
Debate
26 March 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
The criteria for choosing the Government’s preferred options for local government reorganisation seem to have been applied differently in Surrey than in Hampshire and Essex. Will the Government release their reasoning behind it? Let me be clear: when it comes to Hertfordshire, I do not want any reor…
Commons
Committee Stage
24 March 2026
9 contributions
Representation of the People Bill (Fourth sitting)
Is the Minister confident that when we collect all this data, and the Boundary Commission and Electoral Commission get it, they will be able to analyse it to make sure that all constituencies at the next general election fall within their parameters for how many electors each MP needs to represent, …
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dame Siobhain. I support Opposition amendments 26 and 27 in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Hamble Valley, but I want to outline my concerns about automatic voter registration.
I think the way electors currently register themselves to vote …
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
24 March 2026
2 contributions
Representation of the People Bill (Third sitting)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Allin-Khan.
We are coming at this debate in the wrong way. We need to look at when someone becomes an adult in this country, rather than at an arbitrary age at which it is acceptable to vote. The last Labour Government obviously thought that peo…
I am arguing that, if we want to lower the voting age, we need to have a debate about when someone becomes an adult. We can absolutely have that debate, and if the Government decide that we want votes at 16, we need to consider a number of other age limits. I would not change any of them, and I woul…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
18 March 2026
Draft Warm Home Discount (England and Wales) Regulations 2026
If the Minister issued new oil and gas licences for the North sea we could produce more of our oil and gas here at home. That would mitigate some of the problems that he has just raised about being over-reliant on oil states.
Commons
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
Immigration Policy
Paying illegal asylum seekers £40,000 to leave the United Kingdom is a kick in the teeth for my hard-working constituents. Why are we not using that money to build a detention centre so that we can detain and immediately deport those who arrive in this country illegally?
Commons
Debate
2 March 2026
2 contributions
Representation of the People Bill
Will the Secretary of State give way?
Does the shadow Secretary of State agree that if the Government are going to push forward with auto-enrolment on to the electoral roll, it should at least apply to everybody at the same time, for the same general election? If not, they could be perceived by the British people as gerrymandering to ge…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
25 February 2026
2 contributions
Draft Surrey (Structural Changes) Order 2026
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger.
When creating new unitary councils, it is important that we take communities with us, and community identity is really important. I have raised concerns about this whole devolution and unitarisation process and how we take all the commun…
I completely agree. I do not think the Government have spent much time considering that fundamental flaw and how we take communities with us by getting that identity right.
The people of Spelthorne feel strongly about their historical ties to Middlesex, and I urge the Minister to listen to those co…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 February 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
Having decided that elections should go ahead after all, will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating Conservative-run Broxbourne council on defending democracy from day one and never once considering delaying its elections? Will he confirm that this Labour Government will not use the same …
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving
The SEND system needs urgent and serious reform. Families I speak to in Broxbourne have been battling against an unfair funding formula that sees pupils get thousands of pounds less than elsewhere in the country. Will the Secretary of State reassure me and my constituents that historical demand will…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 February 2026
Supported Exempt Accommodation: Birmingham
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I congratulate the hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) on securing this important debate.
Supported exempt accommodation plays a critical role across the country, but as we have heard, there are clear issues that need to be r…