Commons
Westminster Hall
3 December 2025
4 contributions
Advanced Ceramics Industry: North Staffordshire
And Newcastle-under-Lyme.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for securing this debate. I want to add my voice, and those of thousands of people back home in Newcastle-under-Lyme, in support of the excellent case she made that there is no better place to invest than our part of the world. The Minister …
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
2 contributions
Budget Resolutions
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. Many of the measures announced yesterday will make a real difference to the lives of the people I represent back home in Newcastle-under-Lyme. To whom much is given, much is expected. The Labour party received a mandate and the trust of the …
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who gives voice to the fact that we are one United Kingdom, and the same approach must be taken in Scotland as in the centre of our collective universe, Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is important to note that the challenges facing our farming industry did not start last J…
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 November 2025
2 contributions
Young People not in Education, Employment or Training
Thank you, Mr Dowd, for calling me to speak—and for saving the best until last. I am also grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Linsey Farnsworth) for securing this important debate. Ensuring that young people in Newcastle-under-Lyme who are not in education, employment or training…
I am grateful to my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for her intervention. She is absolutely correct to talk about the importance of not just our local college but of colleges generally in ensuring that we get this matter right for our young people up and down the country.
For young people af…
Commons
Debate
20 November 2025
Children with Serious Neurological Conditions
My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. May I put to him the importance of communication? He has just touched on the many cases of families going to a million and one different agencies to seek support. More often than not, when there is a need for those agencies to speak to each other and the…
Commons
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Ukraine: Forcible Removal of Children
Using children in this way is sick—there is no other word for it. The people of Newcastle-under-Lyme opened their homes, they spoke out, they spoke up and they stood with the people of Ukraine—and they still do. They raise money and deliver medical supplies, books and clothes. I thank them all for t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 November 2025
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, from one Adam to another. I want to give a shout out to ME Group Staffordshire, which does wonderful work in supporting my constituents and people in the surrounding areas, and does so much to challenge the stigma that many people living with ME fa…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 November 2025
2 contributions
Parkinson’s Disease
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Paul Davies) on his excellent opening speech. In June this year, my father-in-law, Adrian Lawther, died after living with Parkinson’s for more than a decade. Adrian was a smart, decent and unassuming man, and very much lived the lessons of “…
I could not have put that better myself.
In Newcastle-under-Lyme, hundreds of local people live with Parkinson’s, and that number is rising. It is a life-altering disease that destroys personal autonomy; it affects someone’s ability to talk, swallow, move and write. Cruel is not the word. For those…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Remembrance Day: Armed Forces
On that point, will the Minister give way?
I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. In the interests of peace and togetherness, I will not take it personally that he chose to take an intervention earlier from my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson), whose constituency is in the east midlands, rather than from me, …
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Topical Questions
T5. My constituents are grateful for the Government’s work to get our national health service back on track. Our local Royal Stoke university hospital is doing better but there is still much more to do. Will the Chancellor assure me that our national health service will always remain free at the poi…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
Care Leavers
I join my hon. Friend in welcoming the Minister to his place. Just this morning on my way down here, I visited the Newcastle-under-Lyme jobcentre, where I met the brilliant staff who are supporting care leavers to find fulfilling work and the dignity that comes with it. Will my hon. Friend add to he…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
“Soldier F” Trial Verdict
Many people impacted by the troubles continue to live with the pain, trauma and grief of war. The previous Government’s approach to legacy was rendered essentially useless because, as the Secretary of State just said, it was opposed by all the political parties in Northern Ireland. What steps has th…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Business of the House
In recent days, a number of women who have been out in Newcastle-under-Lyme town centre have reported being spiked. That is both criminal and evil, and does not reflect the town that I live in, represent and know. I have raised the issue with the Home Secretary and with Staffordshire’s police commis…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Sudan: Protection of Civilians
I am grateful to my experienced right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford East (Anneliese Dodds) for her urgent question. As the grandson of a proud Jamaican, I am grateful to the Minister for updating us on efforts to mitigate the impact of Hurricane Melissa.
The events in Sudan are inexplicably evi…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
Stamp Duty Land Tax
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I followed him when I gave my maiden speech and it is good to see him in his place. Does it not say everything that Conservative Members are now defending the Truss Budget and all the damage that it did to communities like mine and his?
Commons
Oral Questions
Church Commissioners
16 October 2025
2 contributions
Supporting Freedom of Religion or Belief Abroad
2. What assessment the Church of England has made of the effectiveness of the Government’s policies on supporting freedom of religion or belief in other countries.
Anglicans in Newcastle-under-Lyme will very much welcome the appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury and will be praying for her—as the first woman in the role, she has made history. The United Kingdom has long worked to promote pluralist values across the globe, so I welcome the employment …
Commons
Petition
14 October 2025
Safety of the A500 Audley slip road
I am grateful to my constituency neighbours and near-neighbours, my hon. Friends the Members for Crewe and Nantwich (Connor Naismith), for Congleton (Sarah Russell), for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams), for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner), for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) and for Mi…
Commons
Oral Questions
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Warm Home Discount: Fuel Poverty
7. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending the warm home discount on levels of fuel poverty.
I congratulate the Minister on being freed from the Government Whips Office and welcome him to his position on the Front Bench. I commend the Government on extending the warm home discount to a further 2.7 million low-income households, but there is much more to do. With that in mind, will the Minis…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
I congratulate my hon. Friend on her knee exercises this morning in giving way to us all. May I give voice to my constituent Eva from Newcastle-under-Lyme? She has been in touch with me after I met her at a coffee morning recently. Her concerns are on early diagnosis, access to services and the fact…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 October 2025
Glasgow Safer Drug Consumption Facility
I thank my hon. Friend and her Committee for this important report. The effects of drug addiction and misuse hit communities hard in Scotland, as we have heard, but also in Newcastle-under-Lyme and elsewhere in Staffordshire. I think of the work of Paul Sweeney MSP on the ground in Glasgow; he has d…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 October 2025
Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case
My constituents will welcome the Minister’s clarity that China is indeed a threat. [ Interruption. ] Let me finish. Those threats to our national security take place not just here, but overseas, and I am increasingly troubled by the actions of the Chinese Government in former British colonies across…
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
Regional Transport Inequality
My hon. Friend talks about being a Greater Manchester MP, and Newcastle-under-Lyme and our part of Staffordshire are not too far away. I wonder whether she would support my calls for a direct train line from Stoke-on-Trent station to Manchester airport, which would unlock growth and cut costs for fa…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 September 2025
Biosecurity at the Border: Britain’s Illegal Meat Crisis
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his comments and to members of the Committee for looking at this important issue. I am very proud of the farmers in Newcastle-under-Lyme, whom I meet as often as I can—I am particularly proud of the highest-quality meat and milk that they produce in very…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 September 2025
Business of the House
The forced adoption scandal has outraged people in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and up and down the country. This week I heard from Karen Constantine, who gave birth aged 15 in the late 1970s. She was forced out of education in north Staffordshire and into a mother and baby home in Birmingham, and was push…
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
Life Sciences Investment
I am very pleased that the Minister has confirmed and reiterated that the life sciences remain a priority in the industrial strategy. Keele University in Newcastle-under-Lyme is at the heart of our life sciences sector, which is particularly important for jobs and opportunities in the industrial hea…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
10 September 2025
Engagements
Q10. People in Crackley and Bradwell and right across Newcastle-under-Lyme are sick and tired of antisocial behaviour going untackled. I welcome the Government’s commitment to taking back our streets, but we need action. Will the Prime Minister join me in urging the Conservative police commissioner …