I am answering today on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Minister for Digital Government, who is away on other duties. As of September 2025, more than 1.3 million premises in rural and hard-to-reach communities across the UK have already been upgraded to gigabit-capable broadband through Governmen…
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to press this issue. Project Gigabit delivers gigabit-capable broadband to parts of the UK that are unlikely to be reached by the commercial market alone. However, as Project Gigabit extends its coverage, it will increasingly also cover properties that already have…
+1 more contribution in this session
CommonsOral QuestionsCabinet Office22 January 2026
As with so many things, the previous Government gave up, accepted fraud as inevitable, and stopped tackling it properly. By contrast, this Government are delivering the most significant package of measures to tackle fraud and error in recent history. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast tha…
CommonsOral QuestionsCabinet Office22 January 20265 contributions
A new digital identity system is a vital part of the infrastructure that the UK needs to transform public services and accelerate digital government. As my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister said this week, our goal is simple: to make government work better for people by joi…
We are building a digital ID system because it is the infrastructure that we need for the foundation of the British state and better public services in years to come. I am proud that we as a Government are investing the time and resources to improve government and make it work better for people so t…
Following my appointment as a joint Minister across the Cabinet Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, I would like to respond to Members’ concerns about the digital ID policy. The programme has two core objectives. The first is to transform the state and make it work bett…
I am, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am proud that this Labour Government are building this vital public infrastructure to make Government work better for everyone.
+35 more contributions in this session
CommonsWestminster Hall8 December 20258 contributions
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I thank the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for introducing this important debate today; I hope that it is the first of many such debates to come, including in the main Chamber. Also, I apologise to the hon. Member for Ch…
I am told that I have 11 minutes.
I want to do three things today, as I endeavour not to be hapless: first, to explain why we want to build this new national digital credential and the principles that will guide us as we do so; secondly, to debunk some of the nonsense and myths surrounding this deb…
+6 more contributions in this session
CommonsOral QuestionsCabinet Office4 December 20252 contributions
In this country, at present millions of people cannot access public services online, and millions lack the IDs that they need to go about their daily lives. That is the status quo, and we will not accept it. That is why we are introducing a new national digital credential, free for everyone over 16,…
Let me be clear about the status quo that the Conservative party left behind: millions of people right now are digitally excluded from accessing public services, and millions of people lack the identity credentials that they need to access them. We will not accept that. We will make sure that post o…
CommonsOral QuestionsCabinet Office4 December 20254 contributions
Mr Speaker—[Hon. Members: “Bring back Chris.”] Sorry to disappoint!
Over the past few months, I have begun to stand up a high-calibre team, working at pace to develop proposals for a free new digital credential for all UK citizens. This credential will be inclusive, secure and useful, learning from…
Around the world and across Europe, countries use digital checks to evaluate whether someone has a legal right to work, but we do not. While we have brilliant digital verification tools, millions of checks use unreliable paper-based systems based on passports, birth certificates and other forms of e…
+2 more contributions in this session
CommonsProceedings24 November 202522 contributions
Trust in Government and in politics is at an all-time low. For my constituents in Makerfield, Wigan and for others across the country, there is a crisis of faith and trust, and it is incumbent on all of us across this House to fix and restore it.
The Prime Minister has always been clear: serving th…
I thank the hon. Member for his series of questions—connected, I think, by virtue of being in relation to the ministerial code. Things happen in politics. Things go wrong and people misbehave. But the difference between us and the Conservatives is that whenever something has come up, we have always …
+20 more contributions in this session
CommonsOral QuestionsCabinet Office23 October 2025
In our public services, almost everywhere we look, outdated digital and data systems trap us in the past. We are laser focused on reforming the state. Central to that is a free, universal digital ID that will bring the state to all citizens and improve access to public services. A national digital i…
CommonsOral QuestionsCabinet Office23 October 20253 contributions
The Government believe that strong partnerships with the voluntary sector are central to delivering for people across the country. Following publication in July of the civil society covenant—our ambitious plan to partner with civil society—we are now working with partners to launch a new £100 millio…
I know that my hon. Friend has been a real leader in working with voluntary organisations in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and indeed across the country. As he knows, those organisations are often closest to the communities they serve. I am proud to say that, from April next year, …
Our politics is not working. Too many people feel that what we do here has little relevance to their lives. They feel that their vote is less a source of power and a decision about our common future, and more an expression—the only way they have to demonstrate how bad the status quo has become. Ofte…
On this island, citizenship is an idea still in its infancy. When Great Britain was forged in the Acts of Union in 1707, British people were not citizens, but subjects, equals by virtue of their relationship to the monarch. Only with the British Nationality Act 1948 was the concept of citizenship in…
The right hon. Member is portraying the United Kingdom as an exception to a global rule in which citizenship is a straightforward binary and a right. I am of Jewish ancestry and have a right to claim citizenship in Israel, though I have not. My wife is American and our children are dual citizens, so…
CommonsOral QuestionsWork and Pensions23 June 20252 contributions
6. What steps she is taking to support people on universal credit into work.
Last week, I held an emergency community meeting for 250 workers in my constituency who are about to lose their jobs following the closure of the electric fibreglass site in Hindley Green. It was heartbreaking. Some families have three generations of workers who have powered the blast furnace and pr…
CommonsOral QuestionsWomen and Equalities18 June 2025
As a boy, Billy Boston dreamed of playing rugby union for Wales and for Cardiff, but he was never selected because he was black. Wigan and rugby league welcomed him with open arms. Rugby league has always been a sport that champions equality; it was created by working-class men who wanted to be paid…
CommonsOral QuestionsWork and Pensions12 May 20252 contributions
2. What steps she is taking to support young people into employment, education or training in Makerfield constituency.
In the towns I represent, the largest type of private employment is the trades. Bricklayers, plumbers, electricians—these are the people who build our nation’s future and on whom our future security and prosperity depend. They are the working people the Labour party was created to represent. What is…
CommonsPrime Minister's QuestionsPrime Minister30 April 2025
Q5. For years, my constituents in Orrell have suffered from a lack of local health provision, but next month that will begin to change, thanks to a new partnership that I have built with our local NHS, Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors at a centre for excellence in women’s sport. This will be a s…