Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
5 contributions
Supporting High Streets
What my hon. Friend is saying really resonates with me. Does he agree that the fact that pride in place is a 10-year fund allows us to be really strategic about the regeneration of our high streets? Instead of them receiving bits and bats of money for six months with really tight frameworks, local p…
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation
I represent a partly rural constituency, Morecambe and Lunesdale, so my constituents rely on the universal service obligation. They also rely on regular mail deliveries for vital information such as hospital appointments. But my constituents, particularly in villages like Endmoor, are suffering with…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
The Hillsborough law we debate today is not an historical problem; it is something that my constituents need right now. I have already spoken in this place about baby Ida Lock, who died after failings in her care, and the incompetent investigation and lack of transparency that followed.
Today I wan…
Commons
Debate
29 October 2025
Sentencing Bill
I really welcome this Sentencing Bill, because I think my constituents want not only criminals being punished for their crimes, but the prevention of future crime. It should be about not just punishment—which is rightly owed to a lot of people—but making sure that our communities are safe in the fut…
Commons
Proceedings
29 October 2025
Gaza and Hamas
My colleagues have already asked about the current horror in Gaza, so I will pivot to the longer term. Before this crisis, we saw decades of illegal settlements on Palestinian territory, so I welcomed the Government’s sanctions on extremist settlers and Israeli Ministers. I do not want us to lose si…
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
North Sea Oil and Gas Industry
Does the Minister share my concerns about Reform and the Conservatives denying the reality of climate change, and denying that the best way to protect people’s jobs, including energy jobs, is to follow the green jobs plan? Does he agree that nuclear, including as Heysham 1 and 2 in my constituency—a…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 October 2025
6 contributions
Ada Lovelace Day
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Ada Lovelace Day and Government support for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. Today, many hon. Members will talk about modern women in science, technology, engineering…
I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. Groups such as the Women+ in Engineering group at the University of Strathclyde can do so much to support other women in STEM. I must also put on record my thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Northfield (Laurence Turner) for inspiring this…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
The £20 million pride in place funding going into the west end of Morecambe shows that this Labour Government are really trusting local people to spend money locally, without lots of bureaucratic hurdles—and I really welcome that. Whether it is smartening up Yorkshire Street or Regent Road, or getti…
Commons
Debate
15 October 2025
Jhoots Pharmacy
My constituents in Sedbergh, a rural market town, have suffered greatly from the terrible pharmacy provision by Jhoots. Medicines have been unavailable, the pharmacy has often been closed, and staff and locum pharmacists are going unpaid, yet pay slips are being issued, so it is very hard for them t…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 October 2025
Middle East
I thank the Prime Minister for his statement and I welcome an end to the killing in Gaza. What guarantees are in place to ensure that humanitarian aid can now reach Gaza without interruption? Will that aid be independent of the whim of the Israeli Government or any other actor on the ground?
Commons
Debate
13 October 2025
Baby Loss
I speak with a number of hats on: as the MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, representing all my constituents who have lost babies in pregnancy; as a mum of two children; and as a woman who has lost two much-wanted pregnancies. I want to use my place here to shine a light on the pain that families are f…
Commons
Debate
13 October 2025
Digital ID
The current proposal is that digital ID will be mandatory for right-to-work checks by the end of this Parliament. Concerns have been raised with me by constituents that that makes it de facto mandatory for working-age people. Has the Secretary of State considered simply sticking with it as a volunta…
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
4 contributions
Sentencing Bill
I want to speak today about how the Sentencing Bill will bring some common sense to sentencing and bring in an evidence-based approach to stopping reoffending and protecting victims of crime. That is the primary duty of government: to protect citizens from harm. I will particularly highlight changes…
I agree that retail premises need relief from that shoplifting, but I would like that relief to be permanent. I would like to see the causes of shoplifting stopped, and quite often that is drug use and organised criminal behaviour. I do not want just to chuck people in prison for a bit and then let …
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 September 2025
3 contributions
International Day of Democracy
I am interested by my hon. Friend’s reference to Orwellian thought. Did he notice that on Saturday, Elon Musk was wearing a T-shirt that said, “What would Orwell think?”, and does he agree that anyone with a passing knowledge of George Orwell’s work knows exactly what George Orwell would think of El…
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that the murder of Charlie Kirk was an appalling act. No one should ever feel threatened by violence; no one should ever be killed for their beliefs or their actions. However much we disagree with the horrendous nature of his death, does the hon. Gentleman agre…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq.
I welcome the opportunity to speak about special educational needs and disability support. I know how important the issue is to many of my constituents, because every week, like many of us here, I receive heartbreaking casework and have to try…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Duty of Candour for Public Authorities and Legal Representation for Bereaved Families
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I want to speak about transparency and accountability in healthcare, and about my constituents Ryan and Sarah, and their daughter Ida. Ida died in 2019 at seven days old. She died from brain damage caused by failings in her care. Those fa…
I absolutely agree. People should not have to have this fight. They should not have to have resources to take on hospital trusts or the state. They should not have to do that; his point is well made.
When mistakes are hidden or dismissed, families lose faith not only in an individual hospital or or…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 September 2025
The Battle of Britain
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I thank the hon. and gallant Member for Tewkesbury (Cameron Thomas) for securing this important debate.
There are few more pivotal moments in our history than the battle of Britain. France had fallen and the new Vichy regime had sued for …
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Children with SEND
17. What steps she is taking to improve support for children with SEND.
We know that early intervention is most effective for children with SEN, but too many children in my constituency of Morecambe and Lunesdale have been let down in that respect. However, Lancashire is, for the first time, receiving funding for Best Start hubs. Can the Minister tell me how that will i…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 July 2025
2 contributions
Freedom of Religion or Belief: UK Foreign Policy
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith) for securing this important debate. Religious persecution is not confined to any one group, belief or country. It is a global issue that threatens the fundamental righ…
I thank the hon. Gentleman and all the other people involved; I believe that was part of Mubarak’s release and I am very grateful for it, as I am sure are Mubarak and his family. His story reminds us that non-religious belief can be just as dangerous as religious belief in the eyes of a repressive s…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 July 2025
RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship today, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) for securing this important debate. We are here today to honour the men and women of the RAF photographic reconnaissance unit, whose intelligence gathering and same-day reports inf…
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Business of the House
The crisis at Morecambe football club continues. Due to the owner’s failure to sell, staff are unpaid, the bar is unstocked and two primary school leavers’ dos have been cancelled. The community has rallied round, as it always does in Morecambe, and the parties will go ahead, but may we have a debat…
Commons
Debate
9 July 2025
2 contributions
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
Last week, I voted against the Government because I was not happy with the proposals on the table. When the Bill was initially put forward, I was particularly concerned about the proposed changes to PIP eligibility criteria, which in my view were arbitrary and risked taking support from those who ne…
I think the hon. Gentleman has missed the bit where the Government are taking out clause 5 and the measures on the PIP eligibility criteria, and are doing the review first, but I thank him for his intervention.
I will hold the Government to account for their promises about the review. I also endors…
Commons
Debate
8 July 2025
2 contributions
Football Governance Bill [Lords]
I had hoped to come to the House today with a spring in my step, having seen the sale of Morecambe FC go through. Instead, Morecambe FC and our town have been put through hell over the past week or so, and we still cannot see the end of it. More than 10 days ago, the EFL approved a buyer, Panjab War…
My hon. Friend talks about the class system. It is telling that in other countries that perhaps have less class-based societies, football is recognised as culture. Does he agree that football should be recognised in this country on a par with other cultural opportunities such as the theatre and oper…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
As a mother of two, I saw the decline in children’s services under the last Government in real time, so I welcome this statement. I particularly welcome identification and intervention for SEND kids. Will the Secretary of State say how this announcement changes the funding for vital children’s servi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
Business of the House
We all know that Morecambe and Lunesdale is the most beautiful constituency in the country, and the village of Dent is particularly beautiful. Unfortunately, 40% of homes there are now second homes or short-term holiday lets. Can we have a debate in Government time on the impact of short-term lets o…