Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
13 July 2026
Topical Questions
The Culture Secretary has quit X and removed her Department from the platform, citing its descent into misinformation and abuse. Does the Home Secretary agree with her decision? What is the Home Office doing about the abuse and misinformation on X? Will the Home Office be leaving, too?
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
13 July 2026
Asylum Hotels
Last year the National Audit Office reported that the cost of asylum accommodation contracts had more than tripled, from under £5 billion to more than £15 billion. Clearly they are bad value for money, bad for communities and bad for the asylum seekers themselves. The right hon. Member for Makerfiel…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 July 2026
Death of Ann Widdecombe
The news about Ann Widdecombe is shocking and deeply distressing. My thoughts are with her family, including her nephew, the Rev. Roger Widdecombe—my constituent—and his wife Hannah, who lead the congregation at St Paul’s church in Cheltenham. Her death is all the more tragic given what we now know …
Commons
Debate
13 July 2026
5 contributions
Immigration and Asylum Bill
I am reluctant to interrupt the shadow Home Secretary when he is in full flow, but he listed countries to which we are successfully deporting people; does he think that our membership of the ECHR has any impact on our ability to deport people to those countries?
I was quite taken aback by the passion that the shadow Home Secretary showed for wiping out many decades of hard-won human rights that we all enjoy. Human rights are not just for asylum seekers and people from other countries; in the first instance, human rights are for all of us. To put the right h…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
2 July 2026
Topical Questions
The Secretary of State is aware of the importance of Cheltenham’s cyber-security industry, which is a key part of this nation’s defence efforts. I have good news for him: we are about to break ground on the Golden Valley development, bringing 12,000 jobs in cyber and tech to my town, as well as much…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
2 July 2026
Hospitality Sector
Harry Kane’s heroics last night mean that many England fans are looking forward to an early morning or a late night on Monday, depending on one’s perspective. That is a good thing, but pubs risk missing out on a real opportunity to get more money into the till if Ministers do not make a blanket exte…
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
30 June 2026
2 contributions
Family Justice System
8. What steps he is taking to reform the family justice system.
When family courts decide that care is to be split between parents 50:50, we might expect that fair financial arrangements follow. However, when courts make that ruling, and the Child Maintenance Service makes decisions based on which parent is the recipient of child benefit, one parent often finds …
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
22 June 2026
2 contributions
SEND: Improvement
8. What steps her Department is taking to improve the SEND system.
Recent events lead me to believe that we will have an in-depth discussion about regional funding inequalities in this country. With that in mind, may I draw Ministers’ attention to the f40 group of local authorities, and in particular Gloucestershire, within which my constituency falls? In the last …
Commons
Debate
17 June 2026
3 contributions
National Security (State Threats) Bill
I want to begin by restating that Liberal Democrats support this Bill. We have long called for action to tackle the threat posed by the IRGC, and we have repeatedly been disappointed by slow progress. The Bill represents a positive step, and a rare moment of agreement on a principle across this Hous…
I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. The new clause will not be withdrawn. The sentiment is shared between us, and I think we should appreciate that.
New clause 3 reflects the Government’s stated intention to move by the summer recess, and it ensures that this commitment will be honoured i…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
8 June 2026
Topical Questions
Last week we discussed the murder of Henry Nowak, which continues to shock the country. As we said last week, his father, Mark, asked politicians not to use the tragedy to stoke division and hatred. With that request in mind, and considering the need to maintain trust in policing, would the Home Sec…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
8 June 2026
Illegal Migration
Brexit has seen off a number of Prime Ministers, but as we approach the 10th anniversary of the referendum this Prime Minister has apparently been given a period of indefinite leave to remain in No. 10. Ministers are clearly feeling unusually generous, but are they aware of a report by the Oxford Mi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 June 2026
3 contributions
Murder of Henry Nowak
This is a heartbreaking case of a young man who should be alive today with a happy life ahead of him. Because of the forces of evil, he is not. On behalf of my party, I extend my sympathies to Henry’s family and friends, and I welcome the Home Secretary’s statement.
The independent investigation sh…
That must be tackled, as Mark Nowak has rightly said. The judge’s remarks in this case tell us that the knife being carried by the murderer was different from that typically carried by British Sikhs as a part of their faith.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
20 May 2026
Defence Readiness
I represent the constituency of Cheltenham, which is the home of GCHQ, where thousands of people work every day to keep us safe. They work quietly and never ask for our thanks. In this House, it is right that we acknowledge that whenever we can. I strongly agree with the points made earlier about th…
Commons
Debate
22 April 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
I recognise that, since the last round of ping-pong, a concession was made on youth diversion orders in the other place and we welcome that. We are disappointed that the Government have not made suitable concessions on fixed penalty notices. However, we do not seek to force that to a vote this eveni…
Commons
Debate
20 April 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will try not to talk too much rubbish, although those on the Treasury Benches will object, as usual. As I stated last week, the Liberal Democrats support many aspects of this Bill, but we have some concerns about the lack of a proper rural crime strategy, and about…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 April 2026
Antisemitic Attacks
On behalf of the Liberal Democrats, I want to extend my sympathies to the Jewish community, who will understandably be worried about the disturbing uptick in violence against their community across Britain.
The series of arson attacks on Jewish sites in recent days is an abhorrent trend. The patter…
Commons
Debate
14 April 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
As the Liberal Democrats made clear at earlier stages, there are parts of the Bill that we can support and parts that we strongly oppose. We welcome a number of the new measures brought forward today. None the less, it is a pity that the Government have overlooked opportunities to take action in som…
Zoe’s case goes to show that we need to go so much further to protect women, and the depiction of that kind of activity clearly might provoke unintended consequences that none of us in this House want to see. Spiking remains a big problem on high streets and in pubs and bars up and down this country…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Topical Questions
The agreement to fund French police activities to prevent small boats from leaving the French coast is about to run out. That risks the resumption of higher numbers of small boat crossings, which place lives at risk and undermine efforts to bring control to the asylum system in this country. Many in…
Commons
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Asylum Seekers: Accommodation
The Home Secretary’s authoritarian tendencies often please the Reform party and the Tories, but some Labour Members are apparently less happy with that approach to immigration and asylum. In particular, changes to indefinite leave to remain risk busting efforts at social cohesion while harming publi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
12 March 2026
Defending Democracy Taskforce
I thank the Speaker’s Office for all that Mr Speaker and the Madam Deputy Speakers are doing on this issue. I must say, I was somewhat taken aback by the shadow Minister’s approach; I will try to be constructive, but where I veer away, I hope the Minister will take my points.
The Minister is right …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
12 March 2026
Business of the House
Under regional devolution plans, MHCLG has told Gloucestershire to look to the north, with Herefordshire, Worcestershire and maybe Warwickshire, too. Our integrated care board is being merged with Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. Meanwhile, our police boundaries are being merged wi…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
12 March 2026
Topical Questions
High streets are a key concern for us all in this House. On the Promenade in Cheltenham we have Cavendish House, which was a cherished retail centre for 200 years. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Rhondda and Ogmore (Chris Bryant) remembers it. Now it is empty; Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct left an…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 March 2026
Protest Policing
The Home Secretary is aware that we have concerns about her authoritarian tendencies. We have particular concerns about this Government’s enthusiasm for restricting the right to protest and their use of terrorism legislation to proscribe protest groups. The Liberal Democrats place a much stronger we…
Commons
Debate
11 February 2026
10 contributions
Police Grant Report
I would like to start by declaring an interest, in that my father-in-law is the police chaplain for North Yorkshire police and my brother-in-law is an inspector in North Yorkshire police. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] Hear, hear, indeed, and I would like to segue from thanking them to thanking Inspe…
Absolutely. My hon. Friend makes an important point. When we call the police, we expect them to turn up. I do not blame the police officers for not showing up. If there are simply not enough of them to do the job, that problem is a hangover from the previous Government. This Government must go faste…
+8 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Topical Questions
Rendesco is a brilliant renewable energy business in my constituency. Just before Christmas, it was awarded a £2 million grant from UK Research and Innovation, but since then the phone has not been working at UKRI’s end. Can Ministers have a word to see whether this money can be unlocked, to ensure …