Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
Under the system that has been in force for many years, the Government cannot initiate deportation action until after minimum custodial terms have been served. Can the Deputy Prime Minister commit to ensuring that measures removing all minimum custodial requirements will be implemented, so that elig…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 November 2025
2 contributions
Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Cat Eccles) for securing this important debate. The ECHR has delivered extraordinary victories for British people. When Jeanette Smith and Graeme Grady were discharged from the armed forces simply for being gay, the English courts rejected their cha…
I will conclude by saying that, on this 75th anniversary, 300 organisations—from Liberty to Mind, Shelter to Amnesty—rightly defend the convention. It is up to this Government to demonstrate to the public that we can have both border control and compassion. Let us celebrate 75 years of freedom, and …
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
2 contributions
China Spying Case
As far as I can remember, the Attorney General told the House of Lords yesterday that 3 September was when he was informed that there were evidential difficulties with the case. The key point is that he had no power to intervene, because of the memorandum between the Attorney General’s Office and th…
Will the right hon. and learned Member give way?
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
28 October 2025
China: Assessment of Threat Level
When it comes to the UK’s relations with China, it is not a simple binary choice between national security and growth—national security must always be our non-negotiable red line—but subject to that, does the Foreign Secretary agree that when there are specific sectors where economic engagement with…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 October 2025
12 contributions
Asylum Seekers: Support and Accommodation
I beg to move,
That this House has considered e-petitions 705383 and 718406 relating to support and accommodation for asylum seekers.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I lead this debate for the Petitions Committee, and I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Mem…
I agree with the hon. Member that we absolutely must ensure that those seeking asylum have proper access to legal aid. It is much quicker and cheaper in the long run if we can flush out all the claims at the outset, so that we do not have them raised at the last minute, when perhaps costs are higher…
+10 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
2 contributions
International Rail Services: Ashford
It is a privilege to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) for securing this debate, which is of huge importance to Kent, Sussex and the country as a whole, and I agree with everything that she has said today.
For…
On competition, why did it take a Labour Government to press the Office of Rail and Road to revisit the question of access to Temple Mills, which is key to unlocking competition? Unless other operators use Temple Mills, there is no competition. Why did it take this Government to do that? The hon. Me…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Criminal Courts: Independent Review
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright) for securing this important debate. As he said, we have serious and fundamental challenges in our criminal court system, and it is clear that only bold,…
As the hon. Lady seems to oppose a lot of the meat of the reforms, is there one that she can support to reduce the pressures on the system? That is a fundamental task that we all agree needs to be addressed.
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
I am glad to support a Bill put forward by the only party serious about reforming our criminal justice system. I say that as a barrister with 19 years’ experience, and I draw the House’s attention to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Having been in full-time practice ri…
I do not think anyone is suggesting that people are going to leave their sentences early from the UK and walk free in their country of origin. There is a range of existing rules relating to prisoner transfer agreements and so forth, which will apply in any event. This may be a matter that the right …
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
15 September 2025
Human Rights Act 1998: Immigration
By leaving the EU, the Tories tore up our returns agreement with the EU, and they completely failed to negotiate a new one, but this Government have now rectified that. Does the Home Secretary agree that the Tories and Reform are in cloud cuckoo land if they think that the French would have signed a…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 September 2025
Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) for her tireless activism on this issue.
Twenty months ago, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches Pa…
Commons
Oral Questions
10 July 2025
2 contributions
Relations with the European Union
4. What steps he is taking to improve relations with the EU.
I thank my right hon. Friend the Minister for his answer. Given that he leads on UK-EU relations, will he outline how the Cabinet Office will ensure that the new sanitary and phytosanitary agreement will reduce the level of checks on goods at both the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkstone, in my constitu…
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
Topical Questions
T4. I echo the Home Secretary’s remarks about the 7/7 attacks. Alcaline Transport in my constituency was fined £10,000 after it reported that a clandestine migrant was found in one of its vehicles. When will improvements to the clandestine entrant civil penalty scheme be fully implemented, so that…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 July 2025
West Bank: Forced Displacement
It is a privilege to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) for securing this timely debate.
We must be crystal clear about what is going on in the west bank. The forcible displacement of Palestinians there is an act of grave immor…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Welfare Reform
I thank the Minister for her statement and for her engagement. My question is about the co-production proposal. By what mechanism will that be given effect, and how is co-production different from consultation? Will disability groups have any entitlements or powers beyond simply giving their views?
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 June 2025
2 contributions
Political Prisoners
It is a privilege to serve under your chairship, Mr Western. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake) for securing this vital debate. I commend her for her work fiercely fighting for her constituents. I declare an interest in this debate as the chair of t…
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We must not forget that Hong Kong still, it is said, has a common law system, so Hong Kong must observe the common law and the basic principles attached to a fair trial. That is the bedrock of what the common law is about. It has been a privilege and inspiring for…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 June 2025
Farmed Animals: Cages and Crates
My hon. Friend talks about an additional 1p per egg, but does she agree that some sort of financial incentive or financial reason would be an important factor in increasing the state’s ability to phase out cages and crates? Otherwise, we are not going to see this happen en masse.
Commons
Debate
13 June 2025
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I want to put on record my sincere thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) for the way that she has approached this Bill. Her willingness to listen to concerns from across the House has been evident, not least in new clause 14, brought forward in the names of the hon. Me…
I will press on.
Secondly, the amendment attempts to limit the scope of future regulation by barring any changes to the Suicide Act 1961, but that is already covered by new clause 14, which prevents other changes to this Bill, should it become an Act. The amendment is not only duplicative, but clos…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2025
Animal Welfare in Farming
Does the hon. Member agree that, through the Government’s programme of planning reform, we must not create any loopholes that could be exploited to facilitate the destructive, large-scale farming operations that he refers to?
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 June 2025
15 contributions
Decriminalising Abortion
I beg to move,
That this House has considered e-petition 700014 relating to decriminalising abortion.
It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. The petition creator is Gemma Clark, and this is what it says:
“I am calling on the UK government to remove abortion from crimin…
I am not aware that following the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland there has been a strong current to re-criminalise it, which might be expected had a situation such as the right hon. Gentleman referred to actually occurred. It is not my understanding that that has happened.
For ea…
+13 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
15 May 2025
5 contributions
Solar Farms
I am pleased to follow the right hon. Member for North East Cambridgeshire (Steve Barclay), as he will find out shortly.
I strongly support this Government’s clean energy mission, and I want this country to be a clean energy superpower. I want to see more wind, tidal, hydroelectric power and, as I …
As I will come on to say, there is an issue about each area taking its fair share of developments. It is absolutely key that we support the Government’s clean energy mission and take our fair share, but we need to make sure that it is a fair share.
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
14 May 2025
Gaza: UK Assessment
I, too, thank the Minister for all his work on this issue. Given the UK’s commitment to a two-state solution, and given our obligations under international law, can he explain how the Government justify engaging in trade negotiations with Israel while the UN is warning us about genocide in Gaza, and…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 May 2025
Future of Public Libraries
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Jonathan Davies) for securing this timely debate.
Public libraries are critical community centres that educate and enlighten. They are used disproportionately by people from disadvantaged …
Commons
Debate
12 May 2025
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, and to the support provided to my office by the Refugee, Asylum and Migration Policy Project. I also chair the all-party parliamentary group on refugees. I thank the Ministers and members of the Public Bill Committee for …
Commons
Westminster Hall
7 May 2025
Personal Independence Payment: Disabled People
I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) for securing this important debate.
I totally agree that the welfare system needs reform. There is something seriously wrong when a person who cannot work at one point in time is written off work forever and n…