Commons
Westminster Hall
16 October 2025
Ada Lovelace Day
I am truly grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) for securing this debate and for her powerful speech.
One of this debate’s origins was a question raised by a pupil at St Thomas Aquinas school in Kings Norton. They wanted to know what more could be done …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
I warmly welcome the £20 million pride in place funding for the Hawkesley estate in my constituency. It stands in stark contrast to the hopes and expectations that were allowed to be built under the last Government for £11 million for Northfield’s high street in the second-round bid for the levellin…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Ukraine
I thank the Foreign Secretary for her statement and for her recent decision, when she was Home Secretary, about the Ukraine permission extension scheme. Does she agree that when Putin probes weakness we must respond by demonstrating strength? Does she further agree that the post-war development of U…
Commons
Debate
15 September 2025
6 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
Does the hon. Member agree that fair notice may be relative to the industry we are talking about? What is fair notice in, say, the retail sector may be completely different from what is fair notice for someone working on an offshore oil rig.
I am grateful for being able to contribute to this debate. It is a privilege to follow so many powerful speeches, and the speech delivered by my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen) was the most powerful I have heard in this place. Her words rose to the moment; mine are inadequate by …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
3 contributions
Regional Transport Inequality
I will do my best to speak at high speed, Madam Deputy Speaker.
I want to say a few words about my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood): she was an outstanding Minister and the Department’s loss is the Whips Office’s gain. She will be much missed on the Transport Front Ben…
rose —
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
Life Sciences Investment
I welcome the Minister to his place.
The life sciences sector is helping to regenerate parts of south Birmingham’s economy, from the new Waters pharmaceutical factory on the old Longbridge MG Rover site in my constituency to the University of Birmingham’s life science incubator. The Minister has be…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
Topical Questions
Half the bus sector’s funding now comes from public sources, but during the summer, National Express announced changes to bus services in my constituency with just two weeks’ public notice, which will have a really negative effect on residents in New Frankley, Allens Cross and Bournville Gardens Vil…
Commons
Proceedings
9 September 2025
Jaguar Land Rover Cyber-attack
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Widnes and Halewood (Derek Twigg) for securing this urgent question, and welcome the Minister to his new role. JLR employs hundreds of people directly in my constituency, and many more indirectly. This is an extremely concerning time for them, and I hope that th…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 September 2025
Indefinite Leave to Remain
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I echo the welcome that has already been extended to the Minister of State, Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North and Kimberley (Alex Norris), in his new post. I know that he will bring to this position the same …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 September 2025
Early Education and Childcare
It is so gratifying to see the school-based nursery programme going from an idea to a reality. I place on record an appreciation of the positive role that the trade union movement, and in particular the GMB, has played in nurturing that idea in response to the problem of falling rolls. Will the Mini…
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Property Taxes
It is a pleasure to be called in this debate, even if I must start by questioning the wisdom of the Opposition’s decision to bring forward today’s motion. After all, the memories and consequences of their so-called mini-Budget are still fresh—the culmination of Liz Truss’s economic policies, which t…
The hon. Member tempts me to get drawn into a discussion to which, in one minute and 30 seconds, I do not have enough time to do justice. Of course we need a bin service that is fit and decent—I have spoken about that many times in this House.
What my constituents did not need were the sharpest cut…
Commons
Debate
2 September 2025
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
For many years under the Tories, the west midlands was at the bottom of the league table for regional transport investment, but Mayor Richard Parker has secured £2.4 billion of investment to extend the metro. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the powers in the Bill will make it easier for combi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 September 2025
Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
One of the questions that haunt Baroness Casey’s audit is, “Why?” Why was this type of offending allowed to grow seemingly unchecked for so long? Will the Minister, whom it is good to see in her place, give an assurance that serious and credible research on all the factors that drove and enabled the…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Ukraine
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement and his leadership on this issue. As the pressure on Ukraine to agree a ceasefire builds, Russia too escalates its campaign of aerial attack on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure. In the liberated city of Kherson, Russian first-person drone ope…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 July 2025
Orgreave Inquiry
I strongly welcome the Minister’s statement and the fulfilment of that manifesto commitment and, like others, I pay tribute to the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.
I am sure that Members across the House will have been disturbed by reports of the destruction of potentially relevant documents—a …
Commons
Proceedings
22 July 2025
Birmingham Bin Strikes
I welcome the appointment of the new lead commissioner. As the Minister knows, we have had many discussions about the intervention, including at times from a place of concern. I look forward to working constructively with Tony McArdle on behalf of the citizens of Birmingham. I draw attention to my e…
Commons
Proceedings
22 July 2025
Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery
I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in respect of the GMB trade union. The Minister said that he was engaging with workers. Will he set out in more detail what engagement he is undertaking with the trade unions that are those workers’ representati…
Commons
Debate
21 July 2025
Extending the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme
Has the hon. Member seen the research produced by the University of Birmingham on the experience of Ukrainian refugees in circumstances such as those he describes, particularly loss of employment and loss of tenancies? Does he agree that landlords and employers should not be acting in this way, that…
Commons
Debate
21 July 2025
Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary
I am truly thankful to be called to speak today. In three weeks, we will remember as a nation the end of the second world war and the deliverance of peace from that bloodiest conflict. In this House, too, we remember the terrible scale and depths of human suffering, the more than 50 million civilian…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
Topical Questions
Victoria college in my constituency is one of the relatively small number of SEND specialist further education colleges in the country. It does outstanding work. For many years, such colleges have not had access to dedicated capital grant funding. Will the Minister be so good as to look into the iss…
Commons
Debate
9 July 2025
Birmingham Pub Bombings
I thank my right hon. Friend for bringing this debate to the House, and for the powerful and creditable case he is making. Does he share the concern that after 51 years, memories are fading? Documentary evidence, some of which may not be secured in the Department or the National Archives, is at risk…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
I welcome the statement, and thank the Transport Secretary for all the positive engagement that she and other Ministers have had with the midlands rail project. At the heart of those works is the upgrade of Kings Norton station in my constituency, which is critically important for the cross-city lin…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
I strongly welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement. Under the Conservatives, 40 Sure Start children’s centres in Birmingham were shut down, including seven in my constituency, with devastating consequences for thousands of children who needed that support. I am so glad that Labour is taking ac…
Commons
Proceedings
7 July 2025
Actions of Iranian Regime: UK Response
Like many Members, I have constituents who are stranded in Iran. We have all heard what the Minister has told the House this afternoon, and I know that he takes the safety of British nationals overseas extremely seriously. Will he assure the House that all practical steps are being taken to extend c…
Commons
Debate
7 July 2025
Government Performance against Fiscal Rules
In the context of spending decisions taken by the Johnson Government, the last Conservative Rail Minister, Huw Merriman, told the Transport Committee last week:
“A lot of promises were made to MPs and others as to the ambition, but it did not match the amount that was actually being set down.”
He …