Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
30 June 2025
Topical Questions
Since 14 June, an F-35B from the Prince of Wales carrier strike group has been stranded on the runway at the Thiruvananthapuram civilian airport in India. What steps are the Government taking to recover the plane, how much longer will that take, and how will the Government ensure the security of pro…
Commons
Debate
26 June 2025
2 contributions
Floating Solar Panels
I must declare that I share an office with my hon. and gallant Friend, so I know an awful lot about floating solar because he is so passionate about it. As a result, I would point out that Grafham water in my Huntingdon constituency is the eighth largest reservoir in the country by volume and the th…
We have already heard about Grafham Water, which is a large reservoir in my constituency. Just to the north of my constituency, in North East Cambridgeshire, we are about to start building the Fens reservoir, which is, as I am sure the Minister is aware, a joint project between Cambridge Water and A…
Commons
Debate
26 June 2025
4 contributions
Armed Forces Day
On the selling off of military homes and the buying back of them by the Labour Government, will the Minister acknowledge that the negotiations for that deal started in May 2024 under the Conservative Government and were completed by the Labour Government?
I appreciate that the Government are working on this issue, but could the Minister update us on the work being done to waive visa fees for families and dependants of our Commonwealth service personnel?
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 June 2025
G7 and NATO Summits
There is scepticism in my constituency that the increase in defence spending might create good local jobs there. As I have already pitched to the Chancellor and the Defence Secretary, and earlier this month to the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, alongside my local authority CEOs, I kn…
Commons
Proceedings
25 June 2025
Nuclear-certified Aircraft Procurement
The Minister is well aware of my interest in the F-35 programme. Lockheed Martin manufactures around 150 jets a year, and there are nearly 600 on order by everyone from Switzerland to Singapore. On top of that, there are 1,200 still to be delivered to the US air force, so whereabouts are we in the q…
Commons
Proceedings
23 June 2025
Points of Order
On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. During the statement on the middle east earlier today, I asked the Foreign Secretary:
“In the event that Iran does launch a retaliatory military strike against the US, what do the Government believe our article 5 obligations would be with regards to military …
Commons
Debate
23 June 2025
UK Military Base Protection
Given the manner of infiltration at RAF Brize Norton, I am concerned that the MPGS across the defence estate is neither resourced sufficiently nor given the authorisation to engage potential saboteurs. The scope of its role allows lethal force to be used only if there is a direct threat to life. RAF…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
Middle East
In the event that Iran does launch a retaliatory military strike against the US, what do the Government believe our article 5 obligations would be with regards to military support for the US, and how would that change if the location of the attack were in the region?
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My right hon. Friend and I had a discussion about this earlier. On the subject of illegal e-bikes, does he agree that we need to clamp down on the illegal conversion kits that are readily accessible online which allow an ordinary bicycle to be converted to do anything up to 30 or 40 mph? I tabled a …
I wish to speak about new clauses 84 to 86 and return once again to policing and police funding. In new clause 86 on neighbourhood policing, the Liberal Democrats seek to address the Government’s recently announced neighbourhood policing plan. The plan pledges to recruit an additional 13,000 police …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
18 June 2025
Violence against Women and Girls
On Friday, my private Member’s Bill is due for Second Reading. It calls for the Government to publish a strategy to tackle interpersonal abuse and violence against men and boys. The strategy would ensure that male survivors of crimes considered to be violence against women and girls, such as rape, s…
Commons
Debate
12 June 2025
2 contributions
SEND Funding
I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) for securing this important debate, and for his work on this issue. According to the latest figures, there are around 1.7 million school pupils in England with identified special educational needs. That equates to 18…
It was strongly suggested the other day that the Government were going to look at changing EHCPs and possibly even scrapping them completely. Can the Minister give some reassurance to the House, and to constituents who may be watching this debate, that EHCPs will remain extant and will be worked on?
Commons
Proceedings
9 June 2025
Chinese Embassy Development
“China is likely to continue seeking advantage through espionage and cyber-attacks, and through securing cutting-edge Intellectual Property through legitimate and illegitimate means.” Those are not my words, but the words of the Government’s own strategic defence review. Given the sub-threshold thre…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 June 2025
6 contributions
Police Presence on High Streets
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss.
I have never seen so many police officers in Huntingdon high street as were on patrol the afternoon that the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary came to my constituency to announce the neighbourhood policing plan. Due to the police alloc…
I absolutely welcome that additional funding, but the point that I would most like to make— I have made it previously—is that the police allocation formula, which determines how much funding each of our police forces receives, is grossly unfair. Constituencies like mine in Cambridgeshire do not rece…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
2 June 2025
Strategic Defence Review
With reference to recommendation 46, the US’s 2025 marine aviation plan, published earlier this year, outlined that the US Marine Corps—by far the biggest user of the F-35B—has changed its programme of record, reducing orders for F-35Bs by 73 aircraft in favour of the F-35C. The upshot is that the u…
Commons
Debate
2 June 2025
UK Nuclear Deterrent
We are not due to hit 2.5% of GDP for two years, and 3% is by no means guaranteed. With the continuous at sea deterrent ringfenced, spending on conventional forces is well under 2% and in the bottom third of NATO countries. Introducing an air-launched nuclear weapon into our arsenal is a significant…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
2 June 2025
Violence against Shop Workers: Rural Areas
I recently visited the Huntingdon branch of Barclays bank in my rural constituency, where staff highlighted to me that although the Crime and Policing Bill will make assaulting a shop worker an offence, branch staff in banks and building societies are not included in that classification, despite the…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 May 2025
Diego Garcia Military Base
I hope the Defence Secretary is fully across the detail here. Annex 1, paragraph 3, sub-paragraph c states:
“Mauritius and the United Kingdom shall jointly decide upon the management and use of the electromagnetic spectrum”
in the Chagos Archipelago beyond Diego Garcia. Given that Diego Garcia sha…
Commons
Proceedings
22 May 2025
School Teachers’ Review Body: Recommendations
Schools in my constituency tell me they are struggling. Serious pressure is being put on their staffing budgets by the national insurance contributions increase, and that is exacerbated by the appallingly slow approval rate of special educational needs inclusion funding and education, health and car…
Commons
Debate
21 May 2025
5 contributions
Immigration
Will the hon. Member give way?
Will the hon. Member give way?
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 May 2025
UK-EU Summit
Ursula von der Leyen yesterday said that a second step of further negotiations is required before British firms would be eligible to compete for joint procurements aligned to the Security Action for Europe fund. The Prime Minister spoke warmly about the positive industry response, but the chief exec…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
19 May 2025
Defence Sector Jobs
My constituency of Huntingdon is the home of our defence intelligence capability. It is also home to the joint intelligence operation centre Europe, which is an analytics centre for the US air force, and the NATO Intelligence Fusion Centre. Wyton airfield has recently been designated as a trailblaze…
Commons
Proceedings
15 May 2025
Solar Farms
The Minister and I have had this conversation a number of times. He will be aware that paragraph 2.10.29 of EN-3 states that “best and most versatile” land should not be used for solar farms. He has already informed me that no solar farm in the country uses more than 50% of best and most versatile l…
Commons
Proceedings
15 May 2025
Business of the House
I am sure that the Leader of the House, like me, loves a farm shop. Johnsons of Old Hurst in my constituency was last week declared the best farm shop and delicatessen in Cambridgeshire at the Muddy Stilettos awards for independent businesses. The shop offers high-quality, home-grown British produce…
Commons
Proceedings
15 May 2025
Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits
The new measures announced by the Justice Secretary suggest that the Government have learned nothing from the furore and loss of public confidence that followed last year’s early release debacle. That same Justice Secretary, along with the Victims Minister, the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davie…