Commons
Proceedings
25 March 2026
Foreign Financial Influence and Interference: UK Politics
Section 10 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 amended the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 so that, in addition to already needing to be on the electoral register, a donor would need to be domiciled in the UK for tax purposes. However, section 10 required a statutor…
Commons
Debate
16 March 2026
Heating Oil Support
I appreciate the speed at which the Government are working, and understand that local authorities will have a role in how the money is distributed. However, in the absence of detail, many people are doing a back-of-a-fag-packet calculation. Can the Minister reassure them that we are committing enoug…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
GP Contract
I welcome these reforms. However, on the issue of accountability, despite years of failure documented in multiple inspection reports by the coroner and the Care Quality Commission, the integrated care board has not yet removed the contract from Cockermouth’s Castlegate and Derwent partnership. What …
Commons
Debate
4 February 2026
2 contributions
Lord Mandelson
I will take the hon. Member’s word for it that those Humble Addresses did not contain those words, but if you take, for example, the Humble Address on Lebedev’s appointment to the House of Lords in 2022, it did not have to contain those words for the Conservative Government to use national security …
Apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker; I am obviously out of practice on interventions. Is the hon. Lady aware of that convention?
Commons
Debate
12 January 2026
Finance (No. 2) Bill
I rise to speak in favour of Government amendment 24 and the associated amendments that will increase the 100% allowance cap for agricultural property relief from £1 million to £2.5 million. In December, I believe I closed my last speech on this issue with a plea for the Government to listen to my m…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
Has the Secretary of State reflected on the well-documented difficulties that arise when the US assumes administrative control of occupied territory—difficulties we saw all too clearly during the Iraq conflict? Given these lessons, will the Government press our American allies to ensure we see an ea…
Commons
Debate
16 December 2025
Finance (No. 2) Bill
I struggle to be brief, so excuse me if I compensate with bluntness, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am a lifelong Labour supporter, a Labour activist of 20 years, a former councillor and chief whip on a Labour group, and although I currently have the Labour Whip suspended, people should be under no illusio…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
2 contributions
International Human Rights Day 2025
I beg to move,
That this House has considered International Human Rights Day 2025.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Ms Butler. I am grateful to hon. Members for attending this debate on International Human Rights Day, a day marked each year on 10 December. The …
I thank all colleagues who participated in the debate, including the persistent hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who raised the important issue of freedom of religion and belief, and the hon. Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), the Government’s special envoy for FORB, who spoke p…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
Village Schools
It is not just about money. In my constituency of Penrith and Solway, we have seen the unrestricted change of use of properties from homes to holiday lets, which has led to the depopulation of villages and has undermined local schools. I understand that the Minister for Housing and Planning is curre…
Commons
Proceedings
2 December 2025
Budget Resolutions
I welcome the positive steps taken in this Budget to support our NHS, including commitments to cut waiting lists, investment in technology and the delivery of up to 250 new neighbourhood health centres across the country. Measures like that matter, especially in rural areas like Cumbria, where our h…
Commons
Oral Questions
12 November 2025
Topical Questions
T3. The Information Commissioner’s Office faces constant criticism for weak freedom of information enforcement and sluggish decisions. Why must Britain lag behind countries like Sweden and Norway, where citizens routinely access information in under a week, and how can MPs meaningfully hold the comm…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Sudan: Protection of Civilians
I would like to give the Minister the opportunity to be as robust as possible on the issue of arms exports. Do the Government consider the reports that UK military equipment exported to the UAE has been found on the battlefield to be credible? Has the UAE been challenged on that? Are the relevant ex…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
29 October 2025
UK-Türkiye Typhoon Export Deal
Many UK manufacturers are part of international groups and have the opportunity to transfer UK-generated profits to overseas entities via internal pricing mechanisms and management fees. Can the Minister confirm whether those profit-shifting mechanisms are assessed and dissuaded as part of UK defenc…
Commons
Petition
21 October 2025
Wordsworth House and Garden
Many years ago, the community in Cockermouth saved Wordsworth House from demolition when plans were proposed to build a bus station, and the birthplace of William Wordsworth now stands as a historic gem on Cockermouth’s main street. Over the summer, following concerns about its future, I launched a …
Commons
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
Topical Questions
T5. After years of watching dentists in Cumbria turn their backs on the NHS contract and move those patients who can afford it to private plans, my constituency is now an NHS dental desert. Can the Minister confirm when the Government will publish their response to the consultation on quality and pa…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
I thank the Minister for this fantastic funding announcement. I know that my constituents in Maryport and Broughton Moor will make good use of this £20 million investment. Thinking back to the last Government’s approach to levelling up, I recall that the Public Accounts Committee criticised the lack…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
Topical Questions
T5. Penrith and the surrounding villages have endured a summer of gridlock, with junction 40 on the M6 repeatedly grinding to a halt, particularly when peak holiday traffic is heading to Cumbria and the lakes. While we await the vital A66 trans-Pennine upgrade, for which we are all grateful, will th…
Commons
Proceedings
8 September 2025
Palestine Action: Proscription and Protests
As I understand, convictions simply for displaying the name of a proscribed group have been extremely rare unless there has been clear evidence of intent to promote a group’s more extreme actions. If that is the case, and as it is clear that the acts of protest and civil disobedience seen in recent …
Commons
Debate
22 July 2025
Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment
It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, which comes at a good time to take stock of my first year serving my constituents in this place. I am extremely grateful to the old hands for their sage advice; however, there is one piece of advice I was given that I am happy to call out as the worst I have…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Middle East
As I understand it, Hamas want Egypt, Qatar and the United States empowered as legal guarantors not only for a 60-day truce, but up to the signatory date of any final agreement with Israel. Can America not be prevailed upon to act as a guarantor beyond the final settlement? Hamas could be forced to …
Commons
Proceedings
21 July 2025
Asylum Hotels: Migrant Criminal Activity
The press regularly runs stories where economic migrants are quoted describing what they believe are the benefits available to them in the UK and the work opportunities that our relatively under-regulated labour markets offer. Does the Minister agree it is time that we considered Labour’s ID cards p…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 July 2025
2 contributions
Freedom of Religion or Belief: UK Foreign Policy
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith) for securing this debate and for his work on this important issue. I would like to share two personal reflections that shape the way I view religious freedom and its place in our foreign policy.
The first reflection is on my l…
I do agree, and that is a difficult one for me as a Labour Member. All I can say is that I will hold my Government’s feet to the fire on ensuring that we return to levels of overseas development assistance, which I recognise is an important contribution that we make internationally.
More than 80% o…
Commons
Petition
16 July 2025
School visits to Parliament
Maymi, James, Caleb, Riley, Noah P, Kadie, Louisiana, Mylo, Sienna, George, Penny, Ethan, Isla, Noah G, Harry, Ruby, Faye, Brad, Joe and Oliver are all children in year 6 at Stoneraise school. Like many of my constituents, they are conscious of how far away Cumbria is from Westminster. As they leave…
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Business of the House
Early-day motion 1496 sets out how Samiul Ahmed bought Cockermouth’s Old Courthouse for a knock-down price and, ignoring professional advice, allowed the listed building to collapse into the River Cocker.
[That this House notes in July 2022 Samiul Ahmed of Tower Hamlets purchased The Grade II liste…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
Like many Cumbrians, I am delighted and relieved that the Government have agreed funding for the A66 trans-Pennine project. It never should have been in doubt, and it is clear to me that it would not have been were it not for the financial legacy of the previous Government. Ministers can now look fo…