Commons
Proceedings
8 July 2026
NHS Corridor Care
I thank my hon. Friend for her fantastic work in the NHS as a doctor; it is much appreciated. Like many NHS workers, she struggles against the odds and sees on a daily basis the impact of corridor care. Does she agree that NHS staff feel frustration with corridor care as much as patients do, and tha…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
7 July 2026
2 contributions
Climate Change: Weather Events
1. What steps he plans to take following recent weather events to help tackle climate change.
Last week in Rochdale, I attended a community screening of Chris Packham’s “National Emergency Briefing”, and one of the most chilling lines in that entire documentary was that today’s extreme weather is the coolest and most stable weather we will experience for the rest of this century. In other wo…
Commons
Westminster Hall
7 July 2026
Human Rights in Kashmir
My hon. Friend talks eloquently about the need to lower the temperature and de-escalate the situation. One of my constituents was visiting relatives in Kashmir recently and saw with his own eyes a relative shot by the Pakistani authorities who was too terrified to go to hospital because he feared re…
Commons
Proceedings
6 July 2026
Rochdale Grooming Gang: Offender Deportation
Shabir Ahmed is a dangerous, manipulative paedophile whose sickening crimes are a damning indictment of the public authorities’ failure to adequately protect the victims of Rochdale grooming gang. Does the Minister agree that, now that we have a new Immigration and Asylum Bill, this House has the po…
Commons
Westminster Hall
29 June 2026
Animal Abusers
My hon. Friend makes a valid link between the abuse of animals and of human beings. I thank the petitioner, Bea, for bringing this issue to this place, because it shines a spotlight on both forms of abuse. The RSPCA has reported that 71% of domestic violence victims suffer death threats to their pet…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2026
High Street Shops: Illicit Activity
My hon. Friend is right that dodgy shops and mini-marts are often a front for organised crime, particularly drug dealing, but also for the sexual and criminal exploitation of children, which we sadly know all too much about in Rochdale. I am delighted that the Government have listened to experts suc…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
1 June 2026
2 contributions
Armed Forces Day
9. What plans his Department has to mark Armed Forces Day.
To celebrate Armed Forces Day this year in Rochdale, there will be not only the usual flag-raising ceremony at Rochdale town hall, but on Saturday 27 June we will have a free community picnic in Denehurst Park, with live music from local bands and military vehicle displays. Will the Minister join me…
Commons
Westminster Hall
1 June 2026
Child Sexual Offender Data
The hon. Member refers to real people. There are no people more real than the three girls mentioned in the 2017 BBC docudrama and the whistleblowers involved. Does he accept that within days of that broadcast, which exposed to the nation the horrific actions of a Rochdale grooming gang, Andy Burnham…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 April 2026
Maternity Commissioner
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I thank my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) for leading this debate. I pay tribute to Louise Thompson, Theo Clarke and the other petitioners for raising the profile of the issue of birth trauma and…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Business of the House
Council tax arrears can be devastating for people’s finances and mental health, so I warmly welcome the Government’s changes to the debt collection rules today, which mean that people will not be tipped further into poverty by a single missed payment. In Rochdale and wider Greater Manchester, Jo Bar…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 April 2026
Middle East
I thank the Prime Minister for refusing to allow the UK to be dragged into America’s war in Iran, which is hitting my constituents directly in the pocket and at the petrol pump. He rightly mentioned the people of Palestine earlier. May I remind him that last week, the former heads of Shin Bet and Mo…
Commons
Debate
26 March 2026
Business of the House
The latest Department for Education performance tables rank Rochdale sixth-form college as the No. 1 sixth-form college in England. It already scored highly on exam results, but it is now first in England for A-level progress, applied general progress, academic progress and, crucially, progress for …
Commons
Debate
23 March 2026
Hatzola Ambulance Attack
May I express my solidarity and the solidarity of all Rochdalians with Britain’s Jewish community in the wake of this horrific attack on the ambulance station in Golders Green? Whenever such an antisemitic outrage has occurred, my Muslim constituents stress to me repeatedly that it is not done in th…
Commons
Debate
23 March 2026
Middle East
I put on record my thanks to the British armed forces, which are working round the clock to defend British interests and British people. My constituents have made it clear that they want no part in the wider war being waged by the US and Israel, but at the same time, they expect the robust defence o…
Commons
Debate
19 March 2026
2 contributions
Online Harms
The latest Louis Theroux documentary for Netflix, “Inside the Manosphere”, was deeply shocking to many of us who watched it. But it was not remotely shocking for the millions of teenagers to whom his subjects are well known. It was not shocking to my three twenty-something sons; it was not shocking …
The Minister for Safeguarding, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), has repeatedly emphasised the need to crack down on and outlaw misogyny, as have many of my colleagues. There is definitely more work to do on that, but it is a key part of our violence against women and…
Commons
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
Business of the House
Last night, there was an emotional farewell for Councillor Ashley Dearnley, who attended his final full council meeting after an incredible 44 years of continuous service. As a Conservative, Ashley could be described as an endangered species within our borough, but his decency, courtesy and integrit…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 March 2026
Social Enterprises and Community Ownership
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate and for mentioning Rochdale’s crucial role as the birthplace of the co-operative movement—a global social justice movement. Rochdale council is currently acquiring a church with the intention of turning it into a community-owned cultural venue, and our…
Commons
Debate
17 March 2026
Middle East
I thank the Foreign Secretary for confirming today that British foreign policy is being decided by the British Government and not outsourced either to Washington or to Tel Aviv.
At the weekend, Israeli police killed two young Palestinian brothers and their parents in the occupied west bank, shootin…
Commons
Debate
16 March 2026
Heating Oil Support
My constituents, Barrie and Gill Fulton, live in a rural part of Littleborough, and therefore rely on LPG. Both Barrie and Gill have cancer, and they are worried sick about the price spike that they are seeing at the moment. Can my hon. Friend reassure me that the scheme will be flexible enough to t…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
Strait of Hormuz
This Government are absolutely right to refuse to take part in the war being waged by the United States and Israel. Will the Minister confirm to the House that we are going to put British interests first in everything we do? That includes protecting the global economy, and protecting all our constit…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
12 March 2026
Business of the House
Rochdale’s BASA football club recently returned from its tour of Bangladesh, where members met street children, blind children and autistic children who were helped by the amazing £20,000 that the club had raised for charity. Will the Leader join me in congratulating Doliz Miah, Saj Miah and all the…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
10 March 2026
Topical Questions
My constituent in Rochdale, Louise Marshall, wrote to me this weekend because she is worried sick about the massive price rise she is facing for heating oil. Can the Chancellor assure me, notwithstanding the meeting we are all going to have with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, that we can b…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 March 2026
Social Cohesion Action Plan
I recently attended an anti-hate crime seminar organised by the Rochdale Council of Mosques. It struck me that it was clear that innocent Muslim men, women and children are subjected to vile Islamophobia in the street and blamed for terrorist outrages, just as Jews are subjected to vile antisemitism…
Commons
Debate
9 March 2026
Middle East: Defence
I shed no tears for the demise of an Iranian regime that murdered and repressed tens of thousands of its own citizens, particularly women, but I am proud that this Government have not joined the US and Israel in this reckless war, which lacks a clear plan and which is hitting my constituents in the …
Commons
Proceedings
5 March 2026
Business of the House
Today is World Book Day. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating the winner of my World Book Day competition, Matilda Mann of Littleborough Community primary school, for her brilliant review of “A Box Full of Murders” by Janice Hallett, and congratulate all the local businesses that h…