Commons
Proceedings
8 January 2026
Business of the House
Evri are the worst. My constituents faced misery over Christmas, with no customer service. In fact, customer service was provided only in the form of chatbots. I recently received a woeful reply after writing to Evri’s CEO. There are many excellent couriers, including Rodrigo, Martin and Tony in Bou…
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
8 January 2026
2 contributions
E-scooters
4. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the illegal use of e-scooters on public roads and pavements.
In Dorset, we have just seen record numbers of e-scooter seizures. The police and crime commissioner, David Sidwick, and I are prioritising tackling this issue, because not only is it a form of antisocial behaviour, but it is an ideal way for drug dealers to get around. Residents in Littledown and I…
Commons
Debate
7 January 2026
2 contributions
Rural Communities
I thank the shadow Secretary of State for giving way from her humorous speech. She has just listed a series of changes that she would like this Labour Government to make. Can she tell the House whether, in a 15th year of Conservative Government, those changes would have been made?
Bournemouth is a town of animal lovers, and it has received with great happiness the news that the Government are bringing forward animal welfare reforms. Could the Minister outline some of those reforms and how they will particularly benefit our rural communities?
Commons
Debate
7 January 2026
Jury Trials
I was not going to intervene, but I think it is important to because I have just visited Bournemouth Crown court and magistrates court, and the people there talked about that question of sickness. They talked about the fact that their staff have been carrying the load for so many members of a team w…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
6 January 2026
Topical Questions
Once the political situation is stabilised in Venezuela and foreign companies can be enticed to invest somewhere between £100 billion and £200 billion there, it will take emergency repairs, workforce modernisation and retraining and many more things to get the infrastructure and industry in Venezuel…
Commons
Westminster Hall
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Therapeutic Play and Children’s Healthcare
My hon. Friend is describing some of the approaches that I have recently been honoured to see in action at Poole hospital. Does he agree that play professionals in our healthcare settings need proper support? Does he also agree that the Government should include health play professionals in the NHS …
I am pleased that the Government committed £18 million to playground investment in the Budget. Does my hon. Friend agree that we should include health play professionals in the NHS workforce plan? Would she advocate for that as part of the plan?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
Like the Foreign Secretary, we want an end to this brutal regime. I hope now that Venezuela can move to a democracy with full control of its oil and other resources following this breach of the UN charter. The Leader of the Opposition says that we live in
“a fundamentally different world and an inc…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
5 January 2026
Topical Questions
T5. Because of antisocial behaviour, including drug dealing and public injecting, Upper Charminster community action group has activated a community safety trigger, and this month we will have a case review. I thank the group and Queen’s Park councillor Sharon Carr-Brown for their focus on antisoc…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
5 January 2026
Asylum Hotels
I recently visited an asylum hotel in my constituency and have spoken separately with people living there and in the community surrounding the hotel. It is clear that ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers is in the best interests of not only asylum seekers, but the neighbouring community and t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 January 2026
3 contributions
Free Bus Travel: Over-60s
Before I was elected, I ran mental health services, including for older adults, so I understand the importance of older people being able to access services in a way that means they do not lose their appointment. We have 47,226 over-60s in Bournemouth, and many decisions about bus routes have not be…
My hon. Friend is making a powerful case, as per usual. Just before Christmas I held an inclusive bus roundtable, to which I invited Bournemouth Gateway Club and the Cambian Wing college. The Cambian Wing college calculates that it costs around £300 a year for its students to reach the college, beca…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
17 December 2025
UK-EU Common Understanding Negotiations
I welcome the Minister’s focus on jobs, bills and borders as part of a pragmatic and balanced reset of our relationship with the European Union. I have already heard from constituents like Robert in Boscombe, who welcomes the fact that the UK will be rejoining Erasmus. When a Government invest in ou…
Commons
Proceedings
17 December 2025
Puberty Suppressants Trial
I welcome the trial. I commend the Secretary of State for following clinical advice and the Government for trying to build a consensus for one of the most minoritised communities in our country.
May I ask the Secretary of State—a man who I know to have empathy and thoughtfulness—to speak directly t…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
2 contributions
Contracted Prisoner Escort Services: Bournemouth
6. What steps he is taking to ensure Serco delivers prisoners on time at Bournemouth Crown and county court.
We must ensure that courts like Bournemouth are not being kept idle at a cost of thousands of taxpayers’ pounds every day. After all, we have a backlog that we have got to clear thanks to the Conservative party. Bournemouth piloted the pathfinder model, and it wants to do more, but it is being held …
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 December 2025
Transgender People: Provision of Healthcare
Trans healthcare is challenging to access and afford. Waiting lists are ludicrously long and treatment options are limited. There is a massive gap between the treatment that trans people need and what they are being offered. Does the hon. Member agree that, as we just heard from my hon. Friend the M…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 December 2025
2 contributions
Online Safety Act 2023: Repeal
I have met constituents to understand their concerns and ambitions in relation to online safety legislation. There is a clear need to balance the protection of vulnerable users against serious online harms with the need to protect lawful speech as we pragmatically review and implement the Act.
My h…
We heard today from the MI6 chief, who talked about how Russia is seeking to “export chaos” into western democracies and said that the UK is one of the most targeted. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need online safety, because it is our national security too, and that as we face the rising threat …
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
Seasonal Work
Across these Benches in the mainstream parties, we have to develop solutions to the problems we face, partly because we know that in our Chamber we have the likes of Reform. Our country is in debt to the tune of £2.7 trillion and we spend around £105 billion each year to service the debt before we s…
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Topical Questions
An independent and effective OBR is critical for our country, but it needs to do better. Why can the OBR not count? Why can it not forecast accurately, given that the economy grew 50% faster than it had predicted in March? Why can it not even publish the Budget document without making a dog’s breakf…
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
2 contributions
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
Before I was elected, I ran mental health and complex needs services for five years. I saw a landscape that had pretty much been devastated under the Conservatives, and one way in which it had been devastated was through the loss of Sure Start. The Institute for Fiscal Studies produced a report this…
I have written more mental health investment standard funding applications than I care to remember. Although investment is obviously important, one major challenge with that stream of funding was that I had to apply on an annual basis. There was no certainty around multi-year settlements, so I was r…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
8 December 2025
Topical Questions
Nan Roberts is 92. She was widowed this year and is facing her first Christmas without her husband of 64 years, and she is feeling utterly fobbed off by a creaking DWP system. She is waiting for her “choices letter”, despite having ingoing state pension payments dating back to 1994. The threat of as…
Commons
Proceedings
3 December 2025
OBR: Resignation of Chair
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was disappointed, as were my constituents, by the botched and premature release of the Budget on the OBR website, and I welcome the news that the OBR is welcoming in an expert in cyber-security. I sincerely hope that it is not the Lea…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 December 2025
2 contributions
Local Media
Will the hon. Member give way?
I look forward to collecting the prize. Does the hon. Member agree that local media is critical? In Bournemouth we have the Daily Echo , which dates back to 1900. With his grace, I give a shout-out to Toby Granville, James Johnson, Sarah Cartlidge, Benjamin Paessler, Alexander Smith, Erin Rhodes, Je…
Commons
Proceedings
2 December 2025
Budget Resolutions
My hon. Friend is making a powerful case for investment into her town and the wider region. Does she agree that this investment is only possible because the economy has been stabilised by a Chancellor who is investing in capital infrastructure to the tune of £120 billion and has attracted around £25…
Commons
Debate
26 November 2025
Budget Resolutions
I grew up in poverty. One in four children in Bournemouth, the town that I represent, is growing up in poverty. I can tell the right hon. Gentleman that growing up in poverty is not a good thing. It is an awful thing for the life chances of the child, an awful thing for the family who care for them …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 November 2025
Critical Minerals Strategy
I welcome the strategy for all that it will do to tackle China’s stranglehold on critical minerals. It will sit alongside the Government’s efforts to build home-grown clean energy to get off the Russia-dominated fossil fuel market, and our work to ramp up the domestic production of defence capabilit…
Commons
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Renewable Energy Sources: Funding
I am thrilled that University Hospitals Dorset NHS foundation trust, one of the region’s biggest emitters, has secured two grants totalling £3 million from Great British Energy for solar investment, but its ambition goes further. The trust wants to develop a geothermal solution that pulls energy fro…