Commons
Westminster Hall
14 July 2026
Coastal Communities: Isolation and Hidden Deprivation
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. Britain’s coastal communities are among the most beautiful parts of our country, but behind that picture postcard image lies a reality that too often goes unnoticed—isolation, hidden deprivation and a lack of opportunity. As an MP represen…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
13 July 2026
High Streets Organised Crime Unit
Bridgwater high street has many excellent independent businesses, such as Styles Menswear, Soda & Rye, and Alise and Louie, but there are also too many dodgy Turkish barbers and criminal enterprises selling illegal cigarettes. Will the Home Secretary outline what additional funding she will give…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 July 2026
Flood Insurance: Reform of Flood Re
I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement, and for our recent conversations about flooding in Somerset.
Flooding is a huge challenge for areas across the country. Some 6.3 million properties in England are currently located in areas that are at risk of flooding, including many in my c…
Commons
Westminster Hall
1 July 2026
3 contributions
Fishing Industry: Government Support
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I thank the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) for securing this important debate.
Fishing is not just an industry; to many it is a way of life, passed from one generation to the next. It is why so many peop…
Will the Minister give way?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
30 June 2026
Department of Health and Social Care
Does the hon. Lady agree that the Government’s failure to publish the impact assessment means that NHS authorities across the country do not know how much this deal will cost them? My constituents in Somerset cannot get a GP appointment or see an NHS dentist. That is far more important to them than …
Commons
Debate
29 June 2026
4 contributions
Home Office and Ministry of Justice
I am grateful to the Chair of the Justice Committee for giving way. What contribution to reducing the Crown court backlog does he believe curtailing the right to jury trials will make?
The Crown court backlog is the most significant challenge facing the Ministry of Justice. Long delays in cases reaching trial undermine confidence in the whole justice system. I welcome the extra money that the Government have made available to increase the number of sitting days of the Crown court.…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
25 June 2026
4 contributions
Houses in Multiple Occupation
I thank the hon. Lady for obtaining the debate. In the town of Bridgwater, we have had an increasing number of HMOs being developed. It leads to an enormous number of vehicles trying to park on a single road, it changes the nature of an area, and the council seems powerless to stop it. Does she agre…
rose—
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
22 June 2026
Teacher Recruitment and Retention
The Secretary of State knows that the figure she has quoted to the House excludes primary schools. The Labour party manifesto promised to increase the number of teachers by 6,500, funded by the party’s education tax, yet this morning the DFE website says that there are now 1,900 fewer teachers than …
Commons
Debate
15 June 2026
2 contributions
NHS Dentistry
The Government were elected on a platform that included a dentistry rescue plan. They correctly assessed a crisis in NHS dentistry and promised to fix it. Nowhere is that crisis more felt than in the rural areas across the country.
Nearly two years on from the general election, I consulted resident…
I thank the hon. Lady for her point. I think golden hellos are a useful tool, but they are not sufficient. Reform of the contract is fundamentally what we need, and one would hope that after two years in his place, the Minister would have developed an idea of what to take forward. I believe that the…
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
11 June 2026
Topical Questions
T2. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s decision to discontinue hourly payments to volunteer rescue coastguards threatens the safety of Burnham-on-Sea in my constituency and coastal communities around the country. It is inevitable that fewer people will be able to volunteer to assist the coastguard…
Commons
Proceedings
11 June 2026
Compassionate Use Medicine Schemes: VAT
It is utterly shameful that this Government are presiding over the imposition of VAT on drugs donated for compassionate use. The Minister referred to the previous Government. VAT was not put on those drugs under the previous Government, but it is being put on them under this Government. Was it the H…
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
19 May 2026
Topical Questions
The former Minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls said that real change in combating violence usually came only after threats from her following “catastrophic mistakes”. Does that not confirm that the Government are unwilling to take the tough decisions necessary to tackle vi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 May 2026
Youth Justice
I thank the Lord Chancellor for his statement. The Justice Committee heard that, as of February 2026, there were only 412 young people in custody, of whom about 44% were on remand, so when he says, with a great flourish, that he intends to reduce the number by 25%, he is talking about reducing a ver…
Commons
Proceedings
14 May 2026
Getting Britain Working Again
Twelve months ago, the Secretary of State’s predecessor, the right hon. Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall), attempted to cut the welfare bill and was sent packing by Labour Back Benchers. In the autumn, the Government had to get rid of the two-child benefit cap because of Labour Back Benchers. …
Commons
Debate
22 April 2026
Government Procurement Strategy
The Minister is right to try to support small businesses by cutting red tape, but will he explain why, while he is saying this at the Dispatch Box, another part of Government is requiring any business seeking a Government contract to demonstrate trade union recognition? Does he accept that that is c…
Commons
Debate
20 April 2026
Victims and Courts Bill
The Minister might remember that, in a debate on these amendments on 25 March, she and I had an exchange in which I described the very long explanation that she had given as a “load of waffle”, and she replied:
“We have listened directly to the families about what they want. We could have brought f…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 April 2026
Falling School Rolls
Thank you, Mr Speaker. One reason for improved academic standards in our schools under the last Government was the ability for good schools to expand and for failing schools to be put under new leadership. How will the Secretary of State ensure that underachieving schools with falling numbers are tr…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Business of the House
My constituency has two railway stations, one in Highbridge and one in Bridgwater. Sadly, neither station is accessible. There is no step-free access to enable wheelchair users and those with mobility impairments to move easily from one platform to another. To do so at both stations involves travell…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Grassroots Sport
Sydenham amateur boxing club does an incredible job, working with young people in and around Bridgwater. It helps teach not just boxing, but discipline and control. In order to help more young people, it wants to expand and build a purpose-built gym, so will the Minister outline what support is avai…
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Will the Minister give way?
The Minister has said that she wishes to take swift action. Surely the swiftest action she could take is to use this Bill to ban smartphones from schools, and to ban children under 16 from using social media. What extra information does she need to take those steps?
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
Strategic Defence Review: Funding
Lord Robertson, the former Labour Defence Secretary, said that we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget, so will the Minister explain to my constituents why this Government can set out their welfare spending plans until 2031, but cannot publish their defence investment plan for…
Commons
Debate
14 April 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
The hon. Lady is making an important speech on the right to protest, but does she accept that many members of the Jewish community feel intimidated by regular marches by the pro-Palestinian brigade, who demonstrate loudly and not always peacefully in the same area, week after week? How does she beli…
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 April 2026
Disclosure and Safeguarding: At-risk Children
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I thank the hon. Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson) for introducing this debate, and other Members for their contributions. In particular, I thank the hon. Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist), who described so movingly…
Commons
Debate
25 March 2026
3 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
I was slightly concerned when I heard the Minister say that she was “working at pace”—that is the phrase that Ministers in the Ministry of Defence have used about the defence investment plan, which has been repeatedly postponed and still is not with us—so can she give a more precise timescale? Does …
The Minister will forgive me if I describe what she has announced as a whole load of waffle. The problem is that the 28-day period is too short, and she should consider some mechanism to allow it to be extended. Providing for training, notices and stuff on websites will not help many victims, who ju…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
24 March 2026
2 contributions
Defence
Governments of all colours reduced defence spending after the cold war to spend more on health, education and welfare, but the world of today is not the world of 1991. This Government must deal with President Putin rather than President Yeltsin. Since Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, it has become i…
I do agree, and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the additional time.
The legacy legislation introduced by the previous Conservative Government intended to halt that injustice is now being repealed by Labour. That is disgraceful. Not only is Labour’s campaign against our veterans deeply unfa…