Commons
Debate
8 July 2025
7 contributions
Football Governance Bill [Lords]
We welcome this Bill, as did Members across the House until a few short months ago. [ Laughter. ] Indeed, some of those Members even came up with the idea. Like many in the Chamber today, we are disappointed that the consensus remains broken, after an apparent direction from the Leader of the Opposi…
A huge amount of money is already going around in football, and we know that when we get to contract negotiations with the broadcasters and the leagues, these things are chunked up into packages. And when the next contracts are up, this would be one of those packages. I do not see that there would n…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
British Musical Acts: International Promotion
May I associate my party with the words said about Diogo Jota? It is a tragic loss to the world of football.
A few weeks ago, we stood in this place and talked about the UK-EU reset deal. My party welcomed the moderate progress, but we think the Government should go further, particularly on touring…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
1 July 2025
2 contributions
Supporting Economic Growth
21. What steps she is taking to help increase economic growth in Gloucestershire.
The industrial strategy was right to highlight the potential for the National Cyber Innovation Centre in my constituency. If we are going to deliver that, we will need to make sure that junction 10 of the M5 is also done to enable the traffic to get around that development. This is a development of …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Glastonbury Festival: BBC Coverage
We welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. Sadly, rather than devoting our attention today to how this House can push for a just and sustainable resolution to the horrors of the conflict in the middle east, we are talking about something else. On this occasion—there have been past occasions, too…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
UK Modern Industrial Strategy
I congratulate the Business Secretary, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Minister for AI and Digital, the hon. Member for Enfield North (Feryal Clark), on listening to me over the last 11 and a half months and including in the sector plan for digital and technolo…
Commons
Committee Stage
17 June 2025
22 contributions
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Tenth sitting)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. We are not calling for a ban on gambling with the new clause, but we are calling for a ban on advertising it through one of our most culturally powerful platforms. The new clause is a pr…
It is not about the money that this would take out of football, but the money that is taken out of the pockets of many football fans who are being exploited by predatory gambling companies every day.
+20 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
17 June 2025
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Ninth sitting)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I rise to speak in support of amendment 141. The hon. Member for Sheffield South East has made a compelling case for its necessity. The Bill has a clear purpose, and we believe it broadly does the job. That is why we support it. Changing th…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
12 June 2025
Industrial Strategy
Cyber-security will be a key pillar in the industrial strategy. That is welcome news in my constituency of Cheltenham, which is already a centre of excellence in the sector. We are on the cusp of unlocking £1 billion-worth of investment at the Golden Valley development in west Cheltenham. I know Min…
Commons
Committee Stage
12 June 2025
6 contributions
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)
We have seen in the past things such as the renaming of St James’ Park in Newcastle to the Sports Direct Arena, and other fans groups around the country have been furious when historic stadium names have been changed to sponsors’ names. Would the shadow Minister extend the sentiment that he is now e…
The hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe) once fell foul of this when he attempted to change the name of the Dell to the Friends Provident stadium. Perhaps we might consult him on his learnings from that experience after we have completed this Committee.
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
11 June 2025
2 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
Only three?
Will the Minister congratulate innovators such as my constituent James Hygate, who was recently awarded an OBE for his work on green fuels? Over genteel tea and cake—as the House can imagine, this happens all the time in Cheltenham—he told me of his plans to turn human faeces into SAF. He is an inno…
Commons
Committee Stage
10 June 2025
3 contributions
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Sixth sitting)
I beg to move amendment 75, in clause 26, page 19, line 20, at end insert—
“(c) respects and promotes the protection of human rights and prevents modern slavery (as set out in section [Human rights and modern slavery considerations]).”
This amendment is linked to NC8.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. The amendment would prohibit individuals with a record of human rights abuses from club ownership. Our national game is a source of huge pride to our country and everyone in this room. It should not be exploited by individuals and regimes th…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
10 June 2025
7 contributions
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)
Would this new clause preclude the owner or chairman, or some other executive officer or member of staff, of a football club from standing for election? I can think of one example: a former chairman of my club Southampton, the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe). He stood for the Referendum…
Some would regard wearing rainbow laces for Pride as a political statement. In the hon. Member’s ideal world of football governance, would a club have to go to a referendum of its fans to work out whether its players and the club could wear rainbow laces for Pride, for example? Would that not be mor…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
5 June 2025
Joining Up Government
A couple of weeks ago, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made a statement at CYBERUK about the Golden Valley development in my constituency, which was welcomed in the constituency. Since then, a decision has been made on joining up Government with the functions of public sector and on Governm…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 June 2025
Swimming Facilities
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East (Joe Robertson) on securing this important debate.
We are in the midst of a massive public health crisis caused by two things: the poor food that we all eat, which the system encourages…
Commons
Oral Questions
22 May 2025
UK Artists Touring the EU
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am pleased to not be forgotten today. [ Interruption. ] If we are abolished, perhaps we will all be forgotten. There have been previous positive statements on touring performers, but there was no concrete good news in the UK-EU deal. Touring performers are reliant on this De…
Commons
Petition
21 May 2025
GP services in Cheltenham
I rise on behalf of petitioners in Cheltenham. Cheltenham is a thriving and growing town, which has many old buildings. That combination of factors provides challenges in the provision of medical services. Some of our existing GP surgeries are searching for improved premises, and with more homes pla…
Commons
Oral Questions
15 May 2025
Topical Questions
T4. Residents in Cheltenham remain extremely frustrated about the state of the roads. We have too many potholes and the approach taken to the maintenance of our high street by the previous Conservative county council administration has been substandard. The state of our strand and the threat to our …
Commons
Proceedings
13 May 2025
3 contributions
UK-EU Summit
Will the hon. Member give way?
I wonder whether the shadow Minister has quantum leapt into a body in which Brexit has been a huge success. Could he say either way?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 May 2025
2 contributions
Churches and Religious Buildings: Communities
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) and the Second Church Estates Commissioner, the hon. Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova), on securing this important debate.
As a Liberal Democrat, I am primarily inter…
Absolutely—as the parent of a toddler, soft play centres are a vital service that I use. I am sure that all around my hon. Friend’s vast constituency, there are far more soft play centres in the various churches, and I join him in saying thank you. The individuals who volunteer deserve our thanks, a…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
12 May 2025
Immigration System
One of the things I have appreciated about this Government’s approach is the moderate tone of language that they have taken on really divisive cultural issues, but I am afraid I was disappointed to hear the Prime Minister use the phrase “island of strangers” today. We all remember the deleterious ef…
Commons
Debate
7 May 2025
5 contributions
Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords]
The press have obviously been briefed by Conservatives that the Conservatives are pushing for a ban on social media for under-16s, but it seems that what is actually being suggested is a review of the digital age of consent with a view to perhaps increasing it to 16. The two positions are very diffe…
I thank the shadow Minister for giving way. As ever, he is extremely polite in his presentation and in his dealing with interventions, but I am not sure that he dealt with my intervention, which was basically asking whether the Conservative party position is as it has briefed to the press—that it wi…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
7 May 2025
United States Film Tariff
British film really is the marmalade sandwich in the lunchbox of our creative industries; it has given us Bond, Paddington, Harry Potter and Monty Python. Donald Trump clearly thinks he is a god-like figure, but on the Lib Dem Benches, we are clear that he is not the messiah—he’s a very naughty boy.…
Commons
Debate
6 May 2025
2 contributions
Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary
On the eve of war, Liberal leader Archibald Sinclair warned:
“A policy which imposes injustice on a small and weak nation and tyranny on free men and women can never be the foundation of lasting peace.”
He was speaking about the Munich agreement, which saw European powers cede Czechoslovakian terr…
Absolutely. The second-best spa town in the country, I am sure, celebrates VE Day wonderfully well.
This anniversary arrives at a time of renewed global instability. From Ukraine to the middle east, we are once again reminded that peace is fragile—that it cannot be taken for granted. The internatio…
Commons
Proceedings
6 May 2025
Point of Order
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. During Prime Minister’s questions last Wednesday, I was sitting behind the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage). I made some comments, and I learned the lesson that the microphones in this place are very good and pick up comments made by those sitting dir…