Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 December 2025
Grooming Gangs: Independent Inquiry
I strongly welcome the appointment of Anne Longfield as the chair of the new independent inquiry into national grooming gangs. As the Home Secretary said, the key is to find the facts and follow the evidence, wherever it leads. During the trial of some of the Rochdale child rapists earlier this year…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 December 2025
Medal for Wounded Service Personnel
I congratulate my hon. Friend on bringing forward the debate. I fully support this excellent campaign to create a brand-new medal for all servicemen and women who have been wounded in combat. He mentions Andy Reid’s charitable works, which are legendary in themselves. I had the pleasure of meeting A…
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
Child Poverty Strategy
When I visited Sacred Heart Roman Catholic primary school recently, I asked the children in the assembly to put up their hand if they had two or more brothers or sisters, and a forest of hands went up. Does the Secretary of State agree that those kids are among the 5,000 kids in Rochdale who will be…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
3 December 2025
Engagements
Q6. As a lifelong Dale fan, I am delighted that Rochdale football club is top of the national league right now. But after 14 years of Tory cuts, sadly my town is also near the top of a league table that people do not want to be in: the child poverty league table. Does the Prime Minister agree that l…
Commons
Oral Questions
Wales
3 December 2025
2 contributions
Economic Growth
4. What recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on increasing economic growth in Wales.
I was pleased to see Conwy recently selected for this UK Government’s Pride in Place programme. That is alongside the existing funds for Rhyl and Wrexham. Given the north-west’s strong economic and family ties to north Wales, I was proud to secure £20 million for Rochdale through the Pride in Place …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 December 2025
Angiolini Inquiry
Like many Members, my thoughts today are with the family and friends of Sarah Everard.
Sexual predators like Wayne Couzens and David Carrick were a disgrace to the police uniform that they wore. As the Minister has said, I know that many police officers were as disgusted by those crimes as members …
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 December 2025
Homelessness: Funding
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers and I thank the chair of the Backbench Business Committee, the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for bringing this debate.
Winter is coming and the temperatures are dropping. I remember a particularly bitter winter 28 years ago,…
Commons
Proceedings
1 December 2025
Budget Resolutions
On that point, will the right hon. Lady give way?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 December 2025
Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts
Mr Speaker, you were rightly furious last week when this OBR report was prematurely leaked to the public and the markets. It is clear from the independent report that this was an accident waiting to happen due to pre-existing cyber-security failures—pre-existing failures that may well have laid open…
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
5 contributions
Budget Resolutions
This is a Budget that cuts the cost of living for families in Rochdale, boosts apprenticeships, and helps the NHS and our public services—public services that were brought to their knees by 14 years of not just Tory cuts, but coalition cuts. This is a Budget that balances the books, with fairness at…
That is exactly what my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions set out at the Dispatch Box earlier, talking about the positive case for this move on child poverty.
In Rochdale, we feel child poverty more keenly than anywhere. The statistics for my constituency after 14 years…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
Business of the House
From one Lancastrian to another, happy Lancashire day to you, Mr Speaker. Last week, Owen Charnley from Rochdale completed a solo charity walk of more than 4,200 miles from Azerbaijan to his home in Ogden. Owen braved torrential rain, searing heat and several attacks by stray dogs on his trip throug…
Commons
Debate
26 November 2025
2 contributions
Budget Resolutions
Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Will the right hon. Member give way?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
Last week in Rochdale, I joined our proud Ukrainian community to mark the Holodomor, which was Stalin’s forced famine of millions of Ukrainians in the 1930s. There is a modern-day Holodomor going on in Ukraine through the drone strikes and air strikes by Putin’s regime. Does the Prime Minister share…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 November 2025
3 contributions
Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Butler. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell), and others, for setting out the context of the modern-day moral outrage that is the plight of the people of Gaza. Gaza may have disappeared from the headlines and TV …
I agree with my hon. Friend. There must be accountability for Israel’s actions—for its sins of omission as much as those of commission.
Is the UK pushing for education to be a key part of the peace plan? As Members have said, it has been singularly missing so far. Nearly 200,000 people signed the e…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Business of the House
Last week saw a big day for Rochdale and for Greater Manchester, as building works began on a world-leading research centre—the Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre in Kingsway Business Park, which is backed by £15 million of this Government’s money. Does the Leader of the House agree that…
Commons
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
Topical Questions
Apologies for jumping the gun earlier, Mr Speaker. We need to crack down on drug drivers. Leon Clarke from Rochdale crashed his car and killed his eight-year-old son while driving under the influence of cocaine. Does the Minister agree that we need to change the law on roadside drug tests to stamp o…
Commons
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
Practical Driving Tests
I warmly welcome the tough action taken by this Government to cut the backlog in driving tests, but one thing that will help drivers more than anything, and help pedestrians too, is a crackdown on drug drivers such as Leon Clarke, who crashed his car and killed his eight-year-old son while driving u…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 November 2025
Gaza and Sudan
I welcome the leading role that the UK has played at the United Nations, both in trying to corral international action on the slaughter and sexual violence in Sudan, and on the international leadership we have shown in recognising the state of Palestine—an historic recognition, as the Foreign Secret…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
Minky Homecare’s ironing board factory in Shawclough, in Rochdale, is the only one of its kind in the whole country. It provides high-quality British-made products and lots of vital local jobs. Does the Leader of the House agree with me that making, selling and buying British products is this Govern…
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
Energy
My hon. Friend references Scotland. I was at COP26 in Glasgow the last time we had a Conservative Prime Minister who showed real climate leadership on the global stage, yet we have now seen the sad spectacle—and we will see more of it later today—of a party that had a distinguished tradition of envi…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
BBC Leadership
As a former journalist and former member of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, I know more than most some of the failings of the BBC, but I also recognise some of its great strengths, not least in combating misinformation online. I know many of its journalists personally and many, many of them …
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
I put on record my thanks to all the prison officer staff at Buckley Hall prison in Rochdale, who have held the line in the face of impossible cuts and challenges over the past 14 years under the previous Government.
It is hard to imagine the sheer distress that is caused to victims and their famil…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
This legislation is all about a fundamental rebalancing of power between the state and the citizens it is meant to protect and serve. We have heard powerfully today from many Members about the Hillsborough families and their enduring quest for the truth. Briefly, I would like to add the nuclear test…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
2 contributions
China Spying Case
First, I want to put on the record my anger and frustration, shared by many in this House, at the collapse of this case, particularly the dropping of the spying charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry and the resulting collapse of their trial, which had been due to go ahead this very …
That is a matter for Ministers to decide; I am not privy to all the information that would be required to make that determination.
It is vital for our own national security and is in our national interests that we maintain a similar consensus as we have on Ukraine on the threats, challenges and opp…
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
Prisoner Release Checks
Hadush Kebatu is clearly a depraved individual and a dangerous pervert who should be booted out of the country without delay. But my constituents are sick and tired of having to foot the bill for the cost of housing foreign national offenders in British jails. Will the Home Secretary therefore reass…