Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
4 February 2026
Engagements
As the Prime Minister has pointed out, today is World Cancer Day. As outlined in our cancer plan, early detection and diagnosis is vital. Will the Prime Minister agree to consider the campaign by my constituent Gemma Reeves, who is a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother hospital, to ensure …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 January 2026
Warm Homes Plan
May I congratulate my right hon. Friend on this warm homes plan? It has been a long time coming—perhaps a little longer than Conservative Members are prepared to admit, given that he and I worked on something very similar before the Tories abandoned the warm homes ambitions that we now see fulfilled…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 January 2026
Offshore Wind
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on structuring the auction to drive down the strike price and reduce consumer energy bills. It is worth reiterating that this means renewable energy will be 40% cheaper than gas. Importantly, though, this is also about creating jobs, specifically in coastal indust…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Gas-fired Power Stations
19. Whether he has made an estimate of the cost of building new gas-fired power stations.
Current global instability, from Ukraine to Venezuela, has shown the vital importance of having domestic energy security. Does the Secretary of State agree that investing in renewables will help with both security and cost, particularly because they are cheaper to build and operate, as well as provi…
Commons
Westminster Hall
6 January 2026
BBC Charter Renewal
Does the hon. Member agree with the principle that just because he does not like something, that does not mean it should not be produced? There is a wide variety of BBC productions that we may not watch, but that does not mean that we do not think they should exist.
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 January 2026
2 contributions
Free Bus Travel: Over-60s
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell.
London’s Freedom Pass model is the envy of older residents across England, and it has become embedded in the expectations of many that free public transport is one of the benefits of living in our capital city. However, free travel for old…
I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. When talking about increasing the opportunities for young people in my constituency, I find it frustrating when people say that young people need more aspiration. I remind them that, frankly, young people need a bus service that gets them to where they can…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
NHS: Winter Preparedness
Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that, in the run-up to Christmas, NHS staff will be having to change their Christmas plans to cover emergency shifts as a result of this ridiculous strike, and patients will have emergency operations, and indeed scheduled operations, cancelled?
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
2 contributions
Seasonal Work
I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I was interested in him suggesting that it was Labour’s principles that are causing the problem. Which bit of our plan for small and medium-sized businesses, action to tackle late payments, reducing regulatory burdens and expanding access to finance does he…
I am grateful to the Government for the fact that Ramsgate in particular is benefiting from the Pride in Place fund. More widely, on the matter of seasonal work, which is vital for coastal communities such as mine, can the Minister confirm that seasonal and hospitality workers will benefit from many…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
8 December 2025
NEET Young People
I welcome the commitment to free apprenticeships for small and medium-sized enterprises if they take on under-25s, which was announced in the Budget, and I also welcome the commitment to apprenticeships in the hospitality sector. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that there will be a focus on coastal…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 December 2025
Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts
My right hon. Friend will acknowledge, as he already has done, the importance of stability for families and businesses across this country. What we have called fiscal headroom is frankly money for a rainy day, and it is fundamental to being able to maintain that stability—something that was a failur…
Commons
Oral Questions
27 November 2025
Gambling Duty
I congratulate my right hon. Friend and, indeed, the Chancellor on making the decision to tax online gambling in particular. The fact that people effectively have a casino in their pocket destroys lives and families, and it is right that we send that strong signal, as well as make sure money is avai…
Commons
Debate
26 November 2025
3 contributions
Budget Resolutions
May I confirm that the right hon. Gentleman is then perfectly happy for children to continue to live in poverty while we try to reform the welfare benefit system?
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
COP30
I am sure the Secretary of State would not necessarily like me to remind him that it is 16 years since the first COP he attended with me, which was significantly less successful than the one this year. I commend him for his great effort over that time in managing to demonstrate the UK’s leadership o…
Commons
Debate
24 November 2025
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I support my hon. Friend in his advocacy of new clause 29. The Minister mentioned that the Bill should be a floor on ambition, not a ceiling, and I am keen to seek reassurance on the climate duty, as I am sure my hon. Friend is. In particular, it is vital that local authorities can shape it locally,…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
My right hon. Friend will be aware of the appalling environmental pollution incident at Camber Sands in East Sussex last week. A few days later, we also had huge sewage dumps in the seas around my constituency, leaving beaches in Ramsgate and Broadstairs effectively unusable. Not only do these incid…
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
5 contributions
Supporting High Streets
I emphasise the importance of the pride in place programme for places such as Ramsgate, where the vacancy rate in the high street has been an appalling 24%. We were left with the legacy of 14 years of Tory Government, and only because of the social and community energy in Ramsgate have we been able …
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way. I am interested in her acknowledgment that we have made specific progress in dealing with the botched Brexit deal left as part of the legacy of the previous Tory Government, which she may indeed welcome. For example, our sanitary and phytosanitary deal …
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
29 October 2025
2 contributions
International Baccalaureate: Funding in State Schools
I congratulate the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) on securing this debate. Dartford grammar sounds much like Dane Court school in my constituency, which offers the opportunity of the international baccalaureate to children from across the academy chain—I know that some of your cons…
I gently remind the Minister that, simply because people live in the south-east, it does not mean they are dripping in gold. My constituency in particular experiences distinct levels of deprivation; only 10% of our children manage to pass the Kent test in East Thanet. The opportunity to access the i…
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
North Sea Oil and Gas Industry
What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that the UK arm of the company, which is an in-demand business with a highly skilled workforce and many successful contracts, has a long-term future in the UK, particularly in the context of our clean energy jobs plan announced last week and, as my hon. Fr…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
International Baccalaureate
I, too, have a school in my constituency that offers the international baccalaureate. Dane Court school in Broadstairs has an extremely successful programme in breaking down barriers to opportunity for a large number of pupils in an area of significant deprivation. Only 10% of the children in East T…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
4 contributions
International Rail Services: Ashford
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I can see France from my constituency on a clear day, and yet my constituents cannot get there easily or affordably for work or pleasure. Last week, I was speaking with one of my friends about her plans to go to Paris for the Christmas mar…
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Despite significant investment under a Labour Government in High Speed 1, which benefits my community, it often feels as though many people are still cut off from those opportunities. We need to break down barriers to opportunity, and the restoration of intern…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
16 September 2025
2 contributions
Probation Service
2. What steps his Department is taking to support probation officers.
The probation officers I have spoken to are supportive of the early release scheme inasmuch as it was necessary to deal with the chronic overcrowding in our prisons—a legacy of the previous Government’s dereliction of duty. Many offenders on the fixed recall scheme with a determinate sentence, howev…
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
Regional Transport Inequality
I would like to talk about the importance of the impact of both austerity and covid on entrenching the regional transport inequalities we have heard so much about today. I will also talk about the importance of our making the most of our existing infrastructure, which has ended up crumbling and negl…
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
3 September 2025
Violence against Women and Girls
Will my hon. Friend use this opportunity to remind the House how many women and girls are vulnerable to people they know, as distinct from people they do not know? Will she also use this opportunity to condemn elected politicians who peddle misinformation about who is most at risk and where the targ…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Independent Water Commission
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, which is detailed, practical and focused on outcomes. That is in stark contrast to the ludicrous, back-of-a-fag-packet policy of the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), who claimed yesterday that he would simultaneously nationalise half the water indus…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
SEND Provision: South-east England
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward.
We are lucky in East Thanet to have several brilliant council-maintained SEND schools: Forelands Field, Laleham Gap, Stone Bay and St Anthony’s. They do brilliant and vital work, despite the incompetence of Kent county council. I know from …