Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2026
National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation
I hugely welcome the report and join in the thanks to all those who made it possible, but most fundamentally the families who shared their experiences and showed extraordinary courage through the whole process. Many of those stories were shared with us in the all-party parliamentary group on baby lo…
Commons
Debate
30 June 2026
Culture, Media And Sport
As we have this debate about budgets and the figures being spent on sport, one key question keeps leaping out. As has been said by colleagues, we know that sport and physical activity is one of the things that can best maintain good health and prevent ill health. However, when we look at the numbers…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2026
8 contributions
Small Towns: Transport Links
I beg to move,
That this House has considered transport links for small towns.
It is a pleasure, Sir Roger, to serve under your firm chairship. I thank the Minister for attending today. He has been a keen advocate for small towns, and I am sure a lot of the issues we will talk about today will be …
Thank you, Sir Roger. There will be an extensive section on buses—pages 75 to 300—so I am sure we will cover a lot of that sort of ground. Connectivity really matters for connecting communities. Ultimately, it is about how easily and affordably we can move through the place that we call home.
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
Business of the House
I wish you a splendid St George’s day, Mr Speaker.
My constituent Milly Mulcahy is a wheelchair user who is entirely reliant on a lift maintained by Lancashire county council to enter and leave her home. Since being installed six years ago, this lift has broken down constantly; every time it breaks…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 April 2026
Maternity Commissioner
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. I will make some comments as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on baby loss, but also as a bereaved parent: we lost our daughter Mallorie at the age of five days.
First, I want to thank everyone who responded to the petition. It…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 March 2026
6 contributions
Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John, and to open this important debate. Today we are discussing a category of child death that has previously been described in this room as
“one of the most s…
Yes, of course I agree, and I am coming on to the research. We simply owe families answers and our best efforts to find those answers.
As I was saying, we know that research and awareness raising, backed up by national leadership, can make a profound difference, as it has in other areas. When prior…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
4 March 2026
2 contributions
Ministry of Defence
Current events are once again showing the vital importance of an agile and independent fast jet defence capability, and the UK is one of the few countries with a sovereign ability to manufacture these world-leading fast jets. The UK’s Typhoons are made in Lancashire, where over 20,000 jobs are relia…
Precisely, and of course the upgrade in the radar systems gives it the very latest capability to suppress at a distance. The Typhoon is a powerful beast and works so well within a blended capability, alongside F-35s and other craft. Other European countries have voted for their domestic production b…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 March 2026
Spring Forecast
The stability the Chancellor has brought back to our economy has allowed us to allocate record levels of infrastructure investment. Alongside the Green Book review, this creates the conditions for meaningful investment in previously left-behind places like Lancashire. Yet, as the review highlights, …
Commons
Debate
5 February 2026
2 contributions
Road Safety
In my constituency, road safety is now the No. 1 issue raised with the police. Just in the last year we have seen fatalities, injuries and countless near misses across Rossendale and Darwen. My inbox is filled with emails from people telling me that the roads just do not feel safe, which is why I wa…
Absolutely; I welcome my hon. Friend’s intervention. It is outdated guidance, and it is used as an excuse to avoid taking the action that people need to see.
It does not have to be this way. Neighbouring authorities—we have heard about the example of West Yorkshire—proactively listen to schools and…
Commons
Oral Questions
5 February 2026
Business of the House
Ever since Australia banned social media for under-16s, my office has been inundated by appeals from parents for action here in the UK. They see the very real risks of a social media wild west; they fear for their children and want to say no, and are simply asking for the Government to have their ba…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 January 2026
Horse and Rider Road Safety
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. In the interests of time, I shall ditch what I assure you would have been a fascinating speech and reflect on just a couple of areas.
I congratulate the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon) on securing this debate. I very much agree with and s…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 January 2026
Road Safety Strategy
I thank the Minister for her statement and her great personal commitment to this vital issue. It is clear that the Government have listened to families and the road safety community and followed the evidence. She rightly recognises the importance of local partnerships in delivering on the ambitions …
Commons
Proceedings
8 January 2026
Business of the House
A happy new year to you, Mr Speaker.
In this new year, I am looking forward to seeing how the policies that this Government have delivered in their first 18 months have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of people in Rossendale and Darwen. Despite much-needed investment, including from the Pride…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 December 2025
2 contributions
Grassroots Cricket Clubs
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Andrew Lewin) for securing this debate. It gives me a chance to wax on about surely the greatest cricket league in the country—the historic Lancashire league, of which my constituency of…
I remember that great series of 2005 where we all saw the Ashes on Channel 4 playing out with great drama. It was amazing. There is no doubt that access to those moments on terrestrial TV is massively important.
Through the all-party parliamentary group for cricket, my hon. Friend the Member for We…
Commons
Proceedings
4 December 2025
Business of the House
This week, residents in Rossendale have once again experienced massive disruption and delays due to roadworks. This time it was emergency works by United Utilities, where necessary four-way lights were not being operated according to the permit. My office has been working with Lancashire county coun…
Commons
Proceedings
2 December 2025
Budget Resolutions
Our fiscal framework is not working. This is the structure that is supposed to manage compliance with our fiscal rules and deliver stability and confidence, yet we are seeing quite the opposite. Our current framework is leading to speculation, policy volatility and short-termism, so is there a bette…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Business of the House
It is national Road Safety Week and soon the Government will unveil their much-anticipated road safety strategy. In my constituency, road safety is now the issue that is raised most often with me and our neighbourhood police, but when we raise these concerns with the Reform leadership at Lancashire …
Commons
Westminster Hall
12 November 2025
3 contributions
Typhoon Fighter Sovereign Capability
It is truly a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. I congratulate the hon. Member for Fylde (Mr Snowden), a fellow Lancashire MP, on the passion with which he spoke.
I associate myself with all the remarks that have been made, and will be made, in welcoming the Turkey deal. As h…
The hon. Gentleman is reaching levels of technicality that I do not fully understand, but I think the fundamental point is that we should strike a balance and try to get the best of both. The Typhoon is a platform that can deliver capabilities that we very much need. As has been pointed out, other E…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Topical Questions
T4. Will the Chancellor please update the House on progress made with the implementation of the Green Book review and that change, as a result, might better enable investment in small northern towns such as those that make up Rossendale and Darwen?
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Business of the House
Reform-led Lancashire county council proposes to close a gritting depot that serves my borough of Rossendale, which could cause absolute chaos this winter. That is just one of many cuts that Reform is considering, with nurseries and care homes already in the firing line. Will the Leader of the House…
Commons
Debate
13 October 2025
2 contributions
Baby Loss
I beg to move,
That this House has considered baby loss.
I am deeply privileged to be opening this debate in the middle of national Baby Loss Awareness Week, and in advance of the international “wave of light” on Wednesday. I want to start by welcoming the bereaved families who have joined us in t…
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will speak relatively briefly. I would just like to thank everybody for their presence, honesty and passion today. This has been a moving, deeply powerful and deeply impactive debate. I particularly thank the Secretary of State, not just for being here, but for the…
Commons
Proceedings
4 September 2025
Business of the House
As the Leader of the House well knows, Rossendale is the only local authority area in the north without a commuter rail link. Rossendale council’s city-to-valley proposal would have finally addressed that by linking us up with Manchester. The idea was repeatedly shot down by the previous Government,…
Commons
Oral Questions
4 September 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
As we move into autumn, flooding is once again on the minds of residents in Rossendale and Darwen. This Government have already made vital commitments to our flood defences, but recently some communities have expressed concern that flood modelling is out of date and is either not fully identifying r…
Commons
Debate
2 September 2025
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I enormously welcome this Bill. It is a thoroughly rare thing for a Government to seek to actively give up power, but this Government understand that we are going to deliver an economy that works for everyone, with a new way of governing that shifts powers away from Westminster once and for all. At …
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Virtual Teachers
15. If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of virtual teachers on school children.
In Rossendale, the academy trust that runs our “stuck” school, Valley leadership academy, recently announced plans to introduce a virtual teacher for top-set maths. This approach has understandably raised a lot of concerns, and I have been working with the trust to make sure it is designed in the pu…