Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
AI Safety
On the hon. Gentleman’s point about risk, I want to highlight another area that has been brought to my attention by the British sign language community, which is concerned that the design of AI BSL is not necessarily including BSL users. In a visual language that relies on expression, tone and gestu…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 December 2025
Net Zero Transition: Consumer-led Flexibility
The hon. Member makes a point about a modern solution. I have felt for some time that our supermarkets, with the installation of bi-directional chargers, could offer consumers the opportunity to bring their mobile energy source—their EV—as a power supply during peak times for supermarkets; in return…
Commons
Proceedings
4 December 2025
Business of the House
Tomorrow marks the 10-year anniversary of Storm Desmond and the flooding of the city of Carlisle that forced thousands of my constituents from their homes. As we remember the horror of 2015, we also celebrate the incredible people of Carlisle who came together to support their friends and neighbours…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
19 November 2025
Engagements
Q14. Over the summer, large quantities of illegal cigarettes were seized in shops in my constituency. However, many of those shops were reopened the very next day. Does the Prime Minister agree that we have to make it easier to shut these shops down permanently so that we put these criminal networks…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 November 2025
Flood Risk and Flood Defence Infrastructure: North-west England
My hon. Friend touches on an important point about early warning. My constituency experienced devastating flooding in 2005 and 2015. Last week, despite flood warnings, we mercifully escaped—though parts of the city were affected —when what had been forecast was not what transpired. The Environment A…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 November 2025
UNESCO: 80th Anniversary
My hon. Friend and I share not only Gilsland but Hadrian’s wall. Members may not be aware that it is only in the last eight years that Hadrian’s wall has yielded its long-kept secret that the largest structure is to be found at Carlisle cricket club, thanks to a fantastic dig that is going on there.…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
I am sure that Members from across the House will want to thank volunteers and members of the Royal British Legion for their exemplary work in recent weeks. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking Keith Richardson, and members of the Carlisle and Stanwix branch of the Royal British Legion, …
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 November 2025
Rogue Builders
I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this important debate. One of my constituents was ripped off to the tune of £19,000 when the builder walked off the job part-way through. However, when they went to trading standards and the police, they were told that, because the work had begun, it was a civ…
Commons
Proceedings
12 November 2025
Independent Football Regulator
Does the Secretary of State agree that rather than obstructing and delaying the work of the Independent Football Regulator, the Opposition need to do right by the fans and let David Kogan get on with the job? May I also request—slightly selfishly, as a Carlisle United fan—that one of the first thing…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
Our constituents deserve a prison system that they can have confidence in, yet prisoner releases in error increased every year since 2021. Despite that, there was no call for an investigation and there were no reforms. Can the Justice Secretary therefore reassure my Carlisle constituents that it is …
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
5 November 2025
2 contributions
Violence against Women and Girls
2. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.
Over the past year, my office and I have supported a depressing number of constituents who have been failed—failed by the police and social services for not listening to reports of coercive control; failed by the family court for not recognising who the victim is; and failed by the Crown Prosecution…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Cross-border Healthcare
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship Mr Dowd. I congratulate the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick) on securing this important debate.
As the Member of Parliament for Carlisle and north Cumbria, I represent a region where the realities of geography often challeng…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
My hon. Friend makes a very powerful point about the obstruction that families and individuals still face. A family in my constituency have for the last 18 months methodically uncovered failings in the care of their father in hospital. He sadly died, yet the failings that they uncovered were ignored…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Ageing and End-of-life Care
I spoke earlier to the hon. Gentleman to ask if he would take an intervention. When earlier this year my mum was placed on end-of-life care—she was put into the local hospital to receive that care—I had to repeatedly ask hospital staff to transfer her to our local, excellent Eden Valley hospice. It …
Commons
Debate
30 October 2025
Property Service Charges
I thank the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) for securing the debate and enabling Members across the House to give voice to our constituents, like mine in Carlisle, who are, quite frankly, fed up. They are fed up with being charged hundreds of pounds a year in estate management fees for servic…
Commons
Debate
23 October 2025
Black History Month
In 1835, John Kent became the first black police officer not just in the Carlisle constabulary, but in any police force in Britain. I recently approached Historic England to ask that John Kent be commemorated with a blue plaque in Carlisle. Does the Minister agree that John Kent’s plaque should be j…
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Business of the House
Today marks the start of the Carlisle beer and cider festival, a fantastic celebration of local independent brewers, including those just over the border in Scotland, who now benefit from the guest beer agreement, making it easier for them to get their product into local pubs. Will the Leader of the…
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
23 October 2025
Topical Questions
T2. Storm Benjamin is mercifully not forecast to affect my Carlisle constituency today. However, when storms do land, storm-related power cuts can last hours, and quite often days, in north Cumbria and can include the loss of power to mobile phone masts. Fixed telecoms operators are under a licence …
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
22 October 2025
Engagements
Q14. December will mark the 10th anniversary of the Storm Desmond floods that devastated my constituency and forced thousands of people from their homes. Despite promising us new flood defences, previous Conservative Governments left them unfinished. With climate-related rainfall forecast to increas…
Commons
Debate
21 October 2025
5 contributions
Sentencing Bill
I am going to speak in favour of Government new clause 1, but I first want to take the opportunity to mention the Conservatives party’s record in government. A lot has been made during this debate about the prisons that were built during the last Government, so let us place it on record that, betwee…
I think the hon. Gentleman is making a correction to the former Lord Chancellor, because those were his words. I am sorry that the Conservative party has moved so far in two years that you wish to disown the work of a Lord Chancellor who stood in this Chamber just two years ago.
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
21 October 2025
Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry
In 2012, a Bangladeshi national was sentenced in my Carlisle constituency for attempting to recruit four girls, aged 12 to 16, into prostitution. In his summing up, the judge described how the man’s conduct had corroded
“the foundations of decency and respect by which all right-thinking people live…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
Children with SEND: Mainstream Schools
I recently held two events, with professionals and with families, on the subject of SEND in my Carlisle constituency. Their concerns are very much backed up by figures that show that Cumberland is spending less per pupil on those with education, health and care plans, and that there are fewer specia…
Commons
Proceedings
16 October 2025
Business of the House
Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Teresa Mulholland, who earlier this week was named Cumbrian woman of the year? Teresa is director of Carlisle United’s community sports trust and was recognised for her leadership, empathy, courage and determination to help others. In congratula…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 October 2025
3 contributions
World Menopause Day
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Neath and Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) for securing this incredibly important debate and speaking with the passion and verve that we have come to expect of her.
Menopause, as I am sure we will hear t…
I agree entirely. Menopause remains an area where many employers are still failing to support their staff in the way that they need. As my hon. Friend the Member for Neath and Swansea East said, one in 10 women who works during the menopause will leave their job due to their symptoms, and nearly a q…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
I warmly welcome the Government’s investment of £20 million in the Raffles and Morton neighbourhoods of my Carlisle constituency. As I am very fond of reminding Members, Carlisle is the most northerly city in England—120 miles north of Manchester, and a very long way from this place. Does the Minist…