Commons
Petition
15 July 2025
Accessibility at High Brooms Station
I rise to present this petition regarding accessibility at High Brooms station. This is further to an online petition on the same matter, which has collected 610 signatures. Under the previous Government’s Access for All scheme, plans were drawn up for High Brooms featuring three new lifts and a foo…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
4 contributions
SEND Provision: South-east England
I beg to move,
That this House has considered SEND provision in the South East.
It is an honour and pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. I will speak specifically about Kent and my Tunbridge Wells constituency; I am sure that right hon. and hon. Members will speak about examples …
I thank my fellow Kent MP for his intervention; I will address many of those points as I make progress. He is right that there is a reason for the statutory deadline for EHCPs, and it would be nice if local authorities could meet it.
To return to tribunals, between 2021 and 2024 Kent council spent …
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
7 July 2025
Actions of Iranian Regime: UK Response
Does the Minister think it more or less likely that, as a result of the American airstrikes, Iran will get a nuclear bomb?
Commons
Debate
7 July 2025
Government Performance against Fiscal Rules
With its NI rises, among other measures, last year’s Budget skewed the tax burden on to small companies. My hon. Friend the Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) has just laid out some measures that would skew that burden towards bigger companies and multinationals. Given that the Government’s No. 1 p…
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
Less than three weeks ago, the Home Secretary whipped her Back Benchers against new clause 43 to the Crime and Policing Bill, which had cross-party support and would have criminalised the harassment of women and girls. Her Ministers promised at the Dispatch Box and elsewhere that the new clause was …
What about your strategy?
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 July 2025
West Bank: Forced Displacement
It is actually worse than just importing goods from the settlements. We are receiving tariffs from their import, so the British Government are making money from that import of goods. Would the Minister speak to that in his closing remarks?
Commons
Committee Stage
2 July 2025
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I congratulate the hon. Member for Cramlington and Killingworth on bringing forward this Bill.
By reducing the funding termination agreement period from seven years to two, the Bill aims to make secure 16-to-19 academies more cost effective…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 July 2025
Parental Leave Review
As someone who is about to welcome their second child into the world—[Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] Thank you very much. I am delighted to be discussing parental leave and I welcome this review. The Minister said that one objective of the review is to reset the relationship between men and women—I pa…
Commons
Westminster Hall
1 July 2025
Hospitality Sector
It is fascinating that the vast majority of the tourism businesses in West Dorset are microbusinesses. Can my hon. Friend think of a worse policy for those businesses than reducing the NI threshold to the level it was reduced to in the Budget? Can he think of a policy that would do more economic dam…
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
National Armaments Director
The strategic defence review mentions that there will be an increase in the size of the Army at some point if funds allow. Does my hon. Friend not agree that, now that we will be spending 3.5% of GDP on defence, we can accelerate that shift and grow the size of the Army now to provide that deterrent…
Commons
Proceedings
25 June 2025
Nuclear-certified Aircraft Procurement
I fully welcome the announcement, and I thank the Minister for making the statement. In an age of uncertainty about the reliability of our US ally, it seems an odd choice to be leaning into them, in the sense that we will be dropping dual-key, US-made munitions from these planes. It makes more sense…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 June 2025
2 contributions
Armed Forces Recruitment: North-east England
As we all know, the tagline for the Royal Marine commandos was “99.9% need not apply”. When it comes to parliamentary spoken contributions, the hon. Member is in top 0.1%, so he has achieved that goal.
It is as pleasure to serve under your chairship for the first time, Dr Allin-Khan. I congratulate the hon. Member for Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor (Alan Strickland) on securing the debate.
Few topics are more important for the armed forces than recruitment and its partner, retention, which the ho…
Commons
Proceedings
24 June 2025
National Security Strategy
If you will allow me, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will read a small quote from page 10:
“We will continue to abide by the important principle—shared by NATO and its key partners—that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions are inextricably linked”.
But that is not how the US views it. …
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2025
3 contributions
VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs
I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way, but does he not now regret his vote to leave, seeing as it created all of these problems for his constituents?
What is the going rate for meeting with a shadow Minister?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
UK Modern Industrial Strategy
There is much to like in the statement. I particularly like the reduction in energy costs of between 20% and 25%, but I would like to push the Secretary of State a little on that; so that industry can plan, when does he think those 25% reductions are going to happen?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
Middle East
Is it UK Government policy to pursue regime change in Iran—yes or no?
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I rise to speak in support of new clause 43 in my name and in the name of the Chair of the Select Committee on Home Affairs the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley) and of the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy), both of whom I thank for their support. It is also co…
In the Government’s defence, I do not think that this is a difference in policy; it is a difference in timing, but the timing seems to be very elastic. We seek a definitive time when the Act will be commenced—perhaps the Minister can respond at the Dispatch Box.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
17 June 2025
2 contributions
Biopsy Waiting Times
12. What steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for biopsy results.
My constituent Julian noticed that he had a mole on his chest that was growing and bleeding. Members of his family had died from skin cancer, so he was very concerned and went to his GP. He was referred to the Kent integrated dermatology service and was told that the results would come back in four …
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2025
Transport Infrastructure: Cramlington and Killingworth
Let me take the debate from the north-east to the south-east and Kent. The story that the hon. Lady is telling is very similar to that of the A21 Kippings Cross junction in my constituency. Of course, we have the opposite problem: the houses have all gone in, but none of the infrastructure has been …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 June 2025
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
I want to clarify some of the Minister’s earlier remarks in response to questions from my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George) and in his previous answer. The Minister said earlier that the trade in goods from settlements attracts a higher tariff. Will he therefore confirm that the Bri…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 June 2025
3 contributions
USAID Funding Pause
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
On geopolitics, will the hon. Gentleman give way?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
9 June 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I completely agree that not enough social homes are being built. Does the hon. Lady think we should have a target for social homes in the Bill?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 June 2025
Winter Fuel Payment
The cut to winter fuel allowance and the subsequent U-turn have caused much anguish, distress and misery to the parliamentary Labour party. Judging by the questions from the Minister’s Back Benchers, it seems that we will have two further U-turns, on PIP and on the two-child benefit cap. To save his…
Commons
Proceedings
9 June 2025
Chinese Embassy Development
I think we can all agree that we would like a decision to be made in this case that does not encourage the Chinese Government to think that we are a soft touch. Let us try another tack. National security is going to be taken into account as part of this planning decision. I ask the Minister this hyp…