Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
19 November 2025
2 contributions
Memorial to People who Served in Northern Ireland
7. What assessment he has made of the potential merits of funding a permanent memorial to people who served in Northern Ireland.
On 5 April 1979, an IRA sniper fired at an armoured vehicle as it entered Andersonstown Royal Ulster Constabulary station, killing Blues and Royals serviceman, Anthony Dykes. My constituent Kathleen, his mother, now aged 94, has never let his memory go. She told me that her son is a forgotten soldie…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Asylum Policy
I thank the Home Secretary for her statement. Does she agree that enforcing the immigration rules, including on removals, is in the public interest? Will she provide greater detail about the action that the Government will take to balance the public interest against individual rights?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
Bassetlaw’s Member of the Youth Parliament Cameron Holt had one ambition, and that was for financial literacy to be included in the national curriculum. He has been formidable in lobbying the Government and travelling up and down the country to speak in schools and on regional and national TV. The a…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 October 2025
3 contributions
Mandatory Digital ID
Thank you, Mr Turner. Wow, that is a big announcement!
Just over a month ago I visited Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, a country that has been using digital ID for 30 years and a country we can learn from—how it works, how it reaches the digitally excluded and how it protects people’s security. Wh…
I totally agree with my hon. Friend.
From the moment we are born, the state begins to gather data: our birth is registered; the NHS stores our health records; we are issued with national insurance and NHS numbers; and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs tracks us. By having a digital ID, we can see t…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 October 2025
Northern Ireland Troubles
Following the last question, I want to say that the Tory’s immunity system would have meant immunity for the perpetrators of terrorist crimes across the UK. Our domestic courts have determined that. Does the Secretary of State agree that this Government have no choice but to rectify the situation?
Commons
Debate
13 October 2025
Baby Loss
Tonight I will talk about Laura Corcoran, an inspirational woman who lives in my Bassetlaw constituency. When a scan showed no heartbeat, she was sent home to wait two weeks until the delivery of her baby. She remembers asking, “How do I collect my baby?” She said that the thought of flushing it dow…
Commons
Debate
13 October 2025
Digital ID
Just over a month ago, I visited Tallinn, in Estonia, to understand why digital ID is so popular with the old, the young and those who are defined as digitally excluded. They told me that it is because they have control over their data that is held by the state; they can see it, see who has accessed…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Topical Questions
T6. Another vape shop opened on one of my high streets in Bassetlaw last week, and yet another opened in a vacated bank less than a month ago. People tell me, and I tend to agree with them, that nobody knows how those shops will sustain an income to keep them going. What are the Government doing to …
Commons
Debate
15 September 2025
Employment Rights Bill
I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, and my proud membership of the GMB and Community unions.
In Bassetlaw, where the average hourly rate is £14.16 per hour for women and £14.69 for men—over £5 per hour less than the national average and not much higher tha…
Commons
Debate
14 July 2025
UK-France Migration: Co-operation
I welcome the fact that we have a Home Secretary who is willing to do what it takes to stop the small boats. The French claim that the ability to work illegally in the UK is what motivates those who are willing to take the dangerous journey across the channel. Does the Home Secretary agree, and will…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
2 July 2025
Engagements
Q10. While we all revere the football stars of the past, many are struggling with welfare issues, including organised financial fraud and head injuries linked to the onset of dementia. May I give the Prime Minister this letter on player welfare from 303 former players, which local champions such as …
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
1 July 2025
Supporting Economic Growth
Does the Minister agree that the new Green Book with its proposals on place-based analysis will mean that left-behind places like mine will start to get the infrastructure investment that they so desperately need?
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
21 contributions
Post-industrial Towns
The post-industrial towns of the red wall areas are dying on their feet. Our young people are moving away, never to return, to the cities, to London and to the surrounding commuter towns, for good jobs, skills and higher pay. The good apprenticeships are too few, and we have low-skilled populations …
I agree with my hon. Friend. We have to invest in areas like his and mine to rebuild those jobs and our industry. Such areas in our constituencies must become the engines of the future.
In Bassetlaw we have just welcomed the award of £2.5 billion for the development of fusion energy in north Nottin…
+19 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
17 June 2025
6 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
Lawlessness, antisocial behaviour, street crime and shoplifting have dragged our communities down. When people believe that they can act with impunity, without fear of apprehension or respect for others, we need Parliament to come down hard to restore law and order and give the police the resources …
My concern is that such unorganised racing events are held to show off how fast and noisy cars can be—there needs to be much stronger action to control that. I worry that there will be further deaths and accidents if the police are not given the powers to deal with it.
In Bassetlaw, I visited resid…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 June 2025
Nuclear Power: Investment
I, too, wish you a happy birthday, Mr Speaker. I very much welcome the statement, which is about the future-visioning and future-proofing of our energy security and production. I particularly welcome the £2.5 billion investment in fusion, including for the STEP—spherical tomahawk for energy producti…
Commons
Proceedings
9 June 2025
8 contributions
Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw
The first known descriptions of breast cancer date back to beyond 3,000 BC. Hippocrates described the progressive stages of breast cancer in 400 BC, when he outlined his theory for its cause. Although breast cancer mortality rates have been decreasing since the 1970s, approximately 11,400 women and …
My hon. Friend makes a valuable point, and I hope that the Minister has taken heed of it.
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 June 2025
Regional Growth
I welcome the Minister’s statement. There is a shift from focusing funding on areas where it is easy to deliver in London and the south to focusing it on the midlands and the north, where there are left-behind areas like my constituency. I very much welcome that local mayors will take that decision.…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 June 2025
Disadvantaged Communities
I welcome my hon. Friend’s call for a project of national renewal; I think that is absolutely excellent. I also welcome her comment that these communities are special—they are, and we need to focus our attention on them. Does she agree that the closure of Sure Start centres, including in my constitu…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 May 2025
Independent Sentencing Review
When a previous Government fail to take responsibility for the crisis they have caused, they deserve a life sentence on the Opposition Benches. I welcome the construction of a new wing at Ranby prison in my constituency by Worksop-based Laing O’Rourke, a specialist in modern methods of construction …
Commons
Debate
21 May 2025
2 contributions
Immigration
There was a court case yesterday where a people smuggler, known as “Captain Ahmed”, was jailed for his part in co-ordinating and managing the small boat crossings of more than 3,000 people. He is a ruthless man who treated human life as rubbish, ordering the murder of migrants and happily bribing of…
I thank the Minister for making that key point. The British people were let down by the Opposition when they were in government. I welcome the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which gives us the powers to pursue those people not only here in our country, but across borders to their orig…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 May 2025
UK-EU Summit
I congratulate the Prime Minister on this deal, which will benefit so many of my constituents; it is exactly what businesses in my constituency asked for when they sent me to Parliament. The youth mobility scheme will benefit local farmers, but I want to know how young people in my area will also be…
Commons
Debate
12 May 2025
3 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
Will the right hon. Member give way?
I wonder whether the shadow Home Secretary could comment on the views of his colleague the hon. Member for Stockton West (Matt Vickers), who said during the Public Bill Committee that
“immigration is too high. Previous Governments have failed to solve it.” –– [ Official Report, Border Security, Asy…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
12 May 2025
Immigration System
With net migration at 1.7 million over the last two years of the previous Government, people in Bassetlaw tell me that they are fed up with the pressures that uncontrolled immigration has put on our local infrastructure. The Prime Minister has recognised this today, with a clear commitment to reduce…