Commons
Oral Questions
11 March 2026
Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation
I thank the Minister for his constructive engagement with me over the past few weeks on Royal Mail’s poor services in my Bolton West constituency. I know that he shares my utter frustration at the current service provision. May I flag with the Minister a letter that I sent to Horwich constituents on…
Commons
Debate
2 March 2026
Representation of the People Bill
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about shell companies. Does she agree that it was really concerning that so many loopholes were left open by the previous Government, who allowed foreign money to reach the highest levels of our politics, often hidden by those very same shell companies? Indeed…
Commons
Proceedings
12 February 2026
Business of the House
Local journalism is the lifeblood of our democracy, but the defamation laws in this country make it difficult for investigative media outfits—like The Londoner , The Manchester Mill and their parent company Mill Media—to speak truth to power. The Government’s own anti-corruption strategy recognises …
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 February 2026
2 contributions
Russian Influence on UK Politics and Democracy
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I declare an interest as an officer of the all-party parliamentary group on Russia and democracy, and as chair of the APPG on anti-corruption and responsible tax.
Let me say at the outset that the most important step at this juncture is …
The hon. Lady is making a good point about foreign interference and money in politics. Could she confirm today whether she has submitted her thoughts to the Rycroft review, which is under way at this time?
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 February 2026
Town and City Centre Safety
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. Let me start by thanking Westhoughton South councillor John McHugh for his campaigning for measures to tackle antisocial behaviour in Westhoughton, to give residents and firms the confidence they need to go about their business. John has wo…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
29 January 2026
Business of the House
I was recently contacted by one of my constituents regarding a four-month delay to her daughter’s provisional driving licence application, relating to her type 1 diabetes diagnosis. My constituent’s application remains outstanding. She has been unable to obtain an update from the Driver and Vehicle …
Commons
Westminster Hall
29 January 2026
Ukraine: Non-recognition of Russian-occupied Territories
Ukrainian language education has been banned, cultural heritage sites have been destroyed and children have been transferred to Russia under the guise of evacuation, as has been mentioned. Does my hon. Friend agree that those acts demonstrate that occupation is not merely territorial, but an attempt…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
26 January 2026
2 contributions
Cost of Living: Support for Families
10. What steps he is taking to support families with the cost of living.
Almost 4,000 people with jobs in my Bolton West constituency still need universal credit to cope with the cost of living. Heating, water and food bills have been stubbornly high. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that families in my constituency get the support they need to pay the bills?
Commons
Debate
20 January 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
On the security of the base, does my hon. Friend recall the visit to Washington DC that I think we both went on last year as members of the Foreign Affairs Committee? We spoke to many American interlocutors, including State Department officials. Over the course of an entire week in the US capital, n…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
19 January 2026
Arctic Security
As a proud member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, I thank the Foreign Secretary for her visit to our Marines at Camp Viking in Norway, and for her unequivocal stance in support of collective security with NATO at its heart. I welcome the Rycroft review of foreign interference in our politics. In…
Commons
Debate
19 January 2026
Local Elections: Cancellation
The truth of the matter is that there is actually a lot of false information flying around—does the Minister agree? In Bolton, we are very much looking forward to having local elections in May. Can the Minister confirm that that has always been the case, as it has been in the other nine boroughs in …
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 January 2026
Sale of Fireworks
My hon. Friend is making a very powerful speech about the need for change in the law, and the impact on humans and animals. One of my constituents got in touch with me to talk about the massive detrimental impact that the irresponsible launching of fireworks had during bonfire night weekend. She tal…
Commons
Debate
14 January 2026
3 contributions
Ukraine
On that point, two tankers from the shadow fleet were scheduled to go through the channel earlier today. The shadow fleet exists solely to keep money flowing to the Kremlin, while threatening maritime safety and environmental security. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the UK Government should be…
Will my hon. Friend give way on the topic of sanctions?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 January 2026
2 contributions
Universities: Statutory Duty of Care
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. I will focus on recent goings-on at my local institution, the University of Greater Manchester, where over the past year there have been credible, detailed and publicly available allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption involving s…
Can the Minister confirm that the taskforce will look at the effectiveness of the OfS as the regulator for the sector in driving better student outcomes and preventing student harm?
Commons
Debate
8 January 2026
2 contributions
High Street Gambling Reform
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) on securing this debate and on her campaigning on this issue over the years. That includes this week’s letter to the Prime Minister, which had nearly 300 signatories and which she co-ordinated. She was quite right to say that our …
The hon. Member makes a valid point. We see that on high streets in my constituency time and time again, all too often, in the context of vape shops.
As an aside, we all know that gambling today is no longer confined to a once-a-week trip to the bookies; it is on people’s phones, in their pockets a…
Commons
Debate
8 January 2026
3 contributions
Human Rights Abuses: Magnitsky Sanctions
I thank the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) for securing this important debate and I am pleased to see the Minister in his place. He has already heard plenty from colleagues in the Chamber on sanctions, and I hope that today’s debate will provide further fo…
My hon. Friend is quite right about the spheres of influence that Russia seeks to exert across central and eastern Europe.
Ivanishvili could be sanctioned under any number of our regimes—Magnitsky, global anti-corruption or even the Russian sanctions regime given his reported links to the Kremlin a…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
8 January 2026
Business of the House
For years, solicitor Andrew Milne has been bullying, threatening and harassing leaseholders, including my Horwich constituents, into buying freeholds off him at massively inflated prices—sometimes as much as £25,000—yet the Solicitors Regulation Authority has done nothing to stop his outrageous beha…
Commons
Westminster Hall
7 January 2026
Advanced Brain Cancer: Tissue Freezing
I want to pay tribute to my constituent, Alex Davies, who sadly passed away last November, the day after his 50th birthday, two years after his glioblastoma diagnosis. He is survived by his wife Emma and their two daughters. Alex volunteered to have his brain tissue frozen after two surgeries, for o…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
My constituents do not mourn the removal of Nicolás Maduro, who oversaw the violent repression of his people, a fraudulent presidential election and horrific human rights abuses for many years, but they are alarmed about the unilateral regime change sought by the Trump Administration in order to acc…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
17 December 2025
UK-EU Common Understanding Negotiations
As a former Erasmus student, I congratulate the Paymaster General on the steely resolve, the pragmatism and the significant progress he has been able to achieve. Only a few weeks ago, two fellow Erasmus students from the UK who I studied with in Germany were in this place. I was with them for the fi…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
Sudden Cardiac Death in Young People
My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech and giving an extensive list of recommendations to the Government. He talked earlier about defibrillators. There is an important point about access to defibrillators and where they are sited in constituencies. Does he agree that it is also important to ensu…
Commons
Debate
11 December 2025
Foreign Interference
I congratulate the hon. Member for Lewes (James MacCleary) on securing this important debate. At a time when our country faces profound geopolitical uncertainty, when hostile states are probing every weakness in our democratic and economic systems, and when the US national security strategy talks ab…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 December 2025
Fairtrade Certification
The hon. Member is making an important point about young children in schools. Last month, Joshua, Leyla and Elizabeth from St George’s primary school in my constituency wrote to me about their campaign to promote sustainable palm oil labelling. They are carrying on a fine tradition in Bolton, where …
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
2 contributions
Budget Resolutions
rose—
I warmly welcome the Chancellor’s Budget. It will improve the lives of my constituents by putting £150 back into the pockets of working people through removing levies on energy bills and by lifting 2,570 children out of poverty. This is a Budget with fairness at its core; it reduces child poverty, h…
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
Business of the House
I thank the Leader of the House for his warm remarks about my campaign to exempt search and rescue services vehicles from vehicle excise duty.
Will the Leader of the House join me in celebrating this coming weekend’s 25th anniversary of the passage of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, whi…