Commons
Westminster Hall
4 March 2026
NATO and the High Arctic
The hon. and gallant Member is making a hoofing speech. He mentioned the Greenland-Iceland gap. We have committed to Operation Firecrest later this year, which will see the carrier strike group go to the High North as a deterrent against the Russian northern fleet breaking out of the Kola peninsula …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 March 2026
Spring Forecast
We have heard several different discussions about defence today, but may I remind the Chancellor that yesterday morning an Iranian Shahed drone struck the runway at RAF Akrotiri? It was not taken out by any counter-drone technology—technology that was due to be included in the defence investment pla…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 March 2026
Middle East
I would like to come back to the drone attack on RAF Akrotiri and the alarming ease with which the Iranian regime was able to penetrate our defences and strike the airfield. That very much suggests that it has little by way of counter-uncrewed aerial systems capability and nothing by way of No. 2 Co…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
2 March 2026
2 contributions
EHCP Backlog: Cambridgeshire
3. What steps she is taking to help tackle the education, health and care plan backlog in Cambridgeshire.
The EHCP backlog in Cambridgeshire is a significant challenge. I appreciate what the Minister said about the help that is currently in place. Having read the SEND White Paper, I am struggling to see where the immediate impact will come. I had a letter from a constituent at the weekend who thanked me…
Commons
Debate
25 February 2026
4 contributions
Ukraine
When will this House see the force structure of the British component of Multinational Force Ukraine so that we can properly scrutinise it?
As he marked the fourth anniversary of the conflict in Ukraine, following Russia’s illegal invasion, President Zelensky said that Putin “has already started” world war three. He went on:
“The question is how much territory he will be able to seize and how to stop him…Russia wants to impose on the w…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
2 contributions
Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory
I will push back slightly on what the Minister is saying. As we know, the discussion between the UK and the Government of Mauritius around the sovereignty of the Chagos islands started in January 2009 under the previous Labour Government. That was confirmed to me by the Minister for the Overseas Ter…
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. On 9 February I asked a named day question about the role of Jonathan Powell in the Chagos islands deal, which was due for answer on 12 February. As of now, 25 February, it has still not been responded to by the Government. How can I best encourage the Gove…
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving
It was not lost on me this morning that the Secretary of State announced the SEND White Paper in Peterborough, just down the road from my constituency of Huntingdon. It comes under Cambridgeshire county council, which has a terrible record of delivering EHCPs. I have spoken to dozens of schools and …
Commons
Oral Questions
23 February 2026
Labour Together and APCO Worldwide: Cabinet Office Review
Far be it for me to insert myself into the internecine warfare fast breaking out on the Government Benches, but the Minister pushed back when it was suggested that he had received donations from Labour Together. His entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests shows £63,000-plus of donation…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
23 February 2026
Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor
Defence will be a key pillar of the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor. In my Huntingdon constituency, we are lucky to have RAF Wyton. It is in the middle of a very ambitious project, Project Fairfax, which will use surplus Ministry of Defence land. The MOD signed a memorandum of understanding with Hu…
Commons
Proceedings
12 February 2026
Business of the House
The town of Huntingdon in my constituency has a rich cultural and historical heritage and is the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell—one of my predecessors in this House. It is the former home of the diarist Samuel Pepys, it is the first place in the UK where chocolate ice cream appeared on these shores, …
Commons
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
2 contributions
Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address Motion
Whose fault is that?
The issues surrounding Lord Mandelson and Lord Doyle and their proximity to paedophiles are now intertwined. On 2 January 2026, I tabled a written question, asking the Cabinet Office to publish the findings of the internal investigation that took place prior to the granting of the peerage for Lord D…
Commons
Debate
11 February 2026
10 contributions
Police Grant Report
No, they will have multiple wards.
I concur with the hon. Gentleman’s point on what the Minister has just said. In Cambridgeshire, our named neighbourhood officers—it is a little difficult to pin down exactly how many there are and how big an area they cover—cover a vast area. For example, the officer who covers the town of St Ives—t…
+8 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 February 2026
Local Power Plan
The Secretary of State talked about British people having a stake in our energy system, and generating returns for local communities and people. He then went on to say that he was on the side of local communities. I appreciate that he was talking about auction round 7, not nationally significant inf…
Commons
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Ministry of Defence: Palantir Contracts
I want to return to a question that was initially asked by the Opposition spokesperson, my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge). When the Prime Minister met Palantir and Peter Mandelson in February 2025 in Washington DC, was he aware that Palantir was a client of Peter Mandelso…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 February 2026
Standards in Public Life
The Chief Secretary keeps making reference to, “If we had known then what we know now,” with regard to Peter Mandelson’s appointment. The key fact is that we already knew of Peter Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, as the Prime Minister spoke about at PMQs last week, just as the …
Commons
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Jimmy Lai: Prison Sentence
The Minister appears to have come to the Chamber today with absolutely nothing to say. The recent visit to China was an absolute disaster, with people taking burner phones and a burner plane—we even appear to have taken a burner Prime Minister. The Minister referred earlier to progress being made in…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
9 February 2026
Topical Questions
Rasheed Afrin, co-director of the al-Roj camp in Syria, recently commented that several ISIS-linked individuals have been repatriated from that camp to the UK. Can the Home Secretary say how many ISIS-linked individuals have been repatriated to the UK, and whether they were held in custody on their …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 February 2026
Separation Centres Review
I wholeheartedly agree that our most dangerous prisoners should be dealt with appropriately, but I will touch on an adjacent point around prison capacity. We are aware that the Government are in the process of rolling out more prison places—around 14,000—but we are also aware that none of those pris…
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
3 February 2026
Prison Estate: Safety
The use of drones to bring contraband into prisons has become a significant issue. Last year there was an intra-year increase of 43% in the use of drones for illegal activity on the prison estate, and, as an MP with a prison in my constituency, HMP Littlehey, I find this surge in their use alarming.…
Commons
Debate
2 February 2026
China and Japan
I want to follow up on the questions from the Chair of the Defence Committee, the hon. Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi), and from the hon. Member for Aldershot (Alex Baker), on the global combat air programme. The funding for the next round of GCAP is going to run out in a matter of months. That will af…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
2 February 2026
2 contributions
Ajax: Initial Operating Capacity
8. What steps he is taking to ensure the delivery of initial operating capability for the Ajax programme.
The Minister knows that I have a keen interest in this topic. There were 33 injuries sustained during Exercise Titan Storm. General Dynamics achieved initial operating capability for Ajax on 23 July, and between then and Exercise Titan Storm on 22 November, there were three other exercises: Exercise…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
29 January 2026
Prison Capacity: Annual Statement
Regarding prison capacity, my understanding is that none of the 14,000 prison places that are planned is category A. Can the Minister confirm how much remaining capacity there currently is within the prison system at category A, and is he confident that there will be enough going forward?
Twelve pr…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
29 January 2026
Topical Questions
The Ajax armoured vehicle programme is currently under threat, but work is due to be completed at the Merthyr Tydfil factory next summer. Could the Minister confirm whether there are any conversations through the UK Defence and Security Exports office around securing an export package for the Ajax v…
Commons
Debate
28 January 2026
4 contributions
British Indian Ocean Territory
Could the hon. Member clarify precisely how much of the cost of the Chagos islands deal will come from the Ministry of Defence budget?
So wrote the President of the United States only a week ago:
“The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY.”
For once, he is not wrong. I have lost track of the number of times I have spoken about the Chagos deal in this House, but each time brings a new stick with whic…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
26 January 2026
3 contributions
Armed Forces Bill
On that point, will the Secretary of State give way?
Following that pledge, will the hon. Gentleman outline what the additional 30,000 troops would be roled as?
+1 more contribution in this session