Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
6 July 2026
Topical Questions
T4. I was pleased to see co-operation with the Netherlands on a new amphibious fleet in the defence investment plan. I spent two years of my career working alongside the Dutch marines, and the Royal Marines have a long history of co-operation with them—mostly not fighting each other—but since our am…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
6 July 2026
2 contributions
Russia: Level of Threat to UK
13. What assessment he has made of the level of threat from Russia.
I was concerned to see reports last week of drones launched from Russian shadow fleet vessels overflying critical infrastructure in the UK, including nuclear air bases and nuclear sites, as well as other concerning issues. I welcome the action taken by the Royal Marines to seize the shadow tanker ve…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
1 July 2026
Engagements
Q4. I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s comments on the legacy of Jo Cox. I know that all of us in this place have been following the contest for No. 10 quite closely in recent weeks, but amid the north versus south debate, I think it is about time we had someone from the midlands who was r…
Commons
Proceedings
23 June 2026
2 contributions
Defence Spending and Readiness
I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has raised air defence. Does he regret the cuts made to air defence under the last Government, when funding for defence reduced so dramatically, and does he welcome the investment this Government are making in air defence, learning the lessons we are now seeing in U…
I recognise similar circumstances at that time when I served, which was for a shorter period than my hon. Friend, but does she recognise the massive impact on morale of the successive real-terms pay cuts that the Conservatives gave our brave armed forces during that period?
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2026
8 contributions
High Street Shops: Illicit Activity
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the matter of tackling illicit activity in high street shops.
It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. Before I start, I want to put on the record my thanks to my hon. Friends the Members for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie …
Absolutely. My hon. Friend is completely right that we need to tackle those dodgy shops. I am pleased that the Government have made a range of announcements on that, but I will make further suggestions for where we might go even further.
We see dodgy shops in Derby, and we do not just have to take …
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
11 June 2026
2 contributions
Topical Questions
T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
I have been contacted by a number of residents including Stuart from Quarry Bank and Stephanie from Homer Hill about the dangerous use of modified e-bikes and e-scooters in parks across the constituency. Older people are particularly worried about youths riding dangerously without thought for road c…
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 April 2026
19 contributions
Gambling Advertising
I beg to move,
That this House has considered gambling advertising.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris, particularly as you have taken such an interest in gambling harm over many years. I am grateful to be able to open this debate on gambling advertising and its impact acro…
I will not accept that. Having met lots of people with lived experience of gambling and having seen the evidence in our report, I know there is a clear link between gambling advertising and halting the recovery of people with gambling addictions.
An argument often used by the industry is that more …
+17 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
21 April 2026
9 contributions
Peter Mandelson: Government Appointment
I have come from the Foreign Affairs Committee sitting this morning, where we had the opportunity to speak to Sir Olly Robbins as our witness. I want to use my speech to pull out some of the pertinent points that we heard that I think are relevant.
Before I start, I absolutely agree with Members ac…
I can speak only to what the witness told us in the inquiry this morning. Many Members made the same case that the right hon. Gentleman is making now: that it was a red box case, as we have seen in the evidence submitted. However, Sir Olly was clear that this was a borderline case, and it is usual f…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
Strategic Defence Review: Funding
I remember defence “investment” under the last Government; I was serving when our pay was cut, our defence housing was ruined, and equipment projects were cancelled and underfunded. In fact, it was under the Conservative Government that our Navy warships were cut by 25%, our amphibious ships were mo…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
2 contributions
Leasehold Reform
18. What steps his Department is taking to reform the leasehold sector.
My constituent Yvonne has lived in a house in Halesowen that she has owned for 20 years. She purchased it under a leasehold arrangement that allowed her property management company, Principle Estate Management, to quadruple her service charge from £400 to £1,550 without conducting any maintenance. C…
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 March 2026
2 contributions
Northern Ireland: Legacy of the Past
My hon. Friend is delivering an excellent speech. Does she recognise the fact that there are also 200 service families among those victims who are seeking answers, and that the Bill will help to address that issue at the same time?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for being so sensitive in his speech. He mentions the remedial order that does away with the immunity scheme set up by the last Government; does he accept that that scheme was never actually in place, because it was struck down by the courts in Northern Ireland? The remedi…
Commons
Debate
11 March 2026
Finance (No. 2) Bill
Before I start, I should declare that I am co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on gambling reform. I want to talk about new clauses 8 and 9, which my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) spoke to earlier. They are thoughtful, well-meaning new clauses that addres…
Commons
Debate
9 March 2026
Middle East: Defence
The shadow Secretary of State laments the state of our Royal Navy, but he will remember that it was his party that cut investment in our Royal Navy over 14 years, cut the number of warships we had by 25% and ordered no new destroyers in that period either. Does the Secretary of State agree that whil…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 March 2026
6 contributions
NATO and the High Arctic
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Government policy on NATO and the High Arctic.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. There are slightly fewer people here than I was expecting—I think we have a clash with the Ministry of Defence estimates debate—which is a bit of a s…
I absolutely agree that the JEF is a vital alliance for our operations in the High North. I met the Estonian ambassador only a couple of weeks ago, and we were pleased to discuss opportunities for co-operation, in addition to the UK forces that are based in Estonia, as part of deterring the Russian …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 March 2026
Middle East
I thank the Prime Minister for his restraint so far in this operation, and for not heeding the calls of the Leader of the Opposition to get us embroiled in the reckless US and Israeli strikes on Iran. I still remember interventions in the region: colleagues not returning from Afghanistan, friends wh…
Commons
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory
I know that the hon. Member for Clacton has a number of additional jobs in combination with his responsibilities as an MP, but I had not realised, until his recent adventure, that small boat captain was among them. Maybe, as a former Royal Marine, I could help him with his navigation. Could my hon. …
Commons
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
Topical Questions
T3. I welcome the changes set out in the gambling White Paper about the responsibilities of the Department in relation to the treatment and prevention of gambling harms. As part of the new responsibilities, will the Secretary of State commit to undertake a review of the impact of gambling advertisin…
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill
It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Madam Chair. I welcome the Bill and, more broadly, the Labour Government’s focus on our modern industrial strategy. In the Black Country, where manufacturing is our tradition, businesses are following this agenda very closely. I am pleased to se…
Commons
Debate
3 February 2026
Iran
I join the Minister in condemning Iran’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in recent weeks. However, it is also important that those who do Iran’s bidding on the streets of the UK—particularly in targeting peaceful protesters—are held to account. I welcomed, last year, the UK’s decision to put…
Commons
Debate
2 February 2026
China and Japan
The Prime Minister will know that many excellent west midlands businesses export to China, including great car makers such as Jaguar Land Rover, the Morgan Motor Company and Aston Martin. Collectively, those car exports are worth more than those from any other region in the UK, I would say. Can the …
Commons
Debate
21 January 2026
6 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles: Legacy and Reconciliation
I am happy to speak in support of the motion as set out on the Order Paper.
The wider context is straightforward: the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 passed by the Conservatives attempted to replace long-standing legal routes with a new commission, ICRIR, and a condit…
I am grateful to have the opportunity to gently correct the hon. and gallant Gentleman. When asked that question a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister said categorically that we would not allow Gerry Adams to claim compensation. There are several civil cases that would be blocked, supporting the victi…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
20 January 2026
8 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
In answer to the intervention by the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp), there is more than one veteran on the Labour Benches. I wonder what the veterans from the Conservative party who went through 11 rounds of negotiations under the previous Government were saying; they clearly supported th…
I will not be supporting Lords amendment 1, because it would require renegotiation. We already have a joint commission to deal with issues that arise, and international treaty law would provide routes to termination if we were in that sort of situation, so the amendment is not necessary at all. I wi…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 January 2026
2 contributions
Sale of Fireworks
rose—
I thank the hon. Member for giving way. In my constituency, many people have written to me about the impact of fireworks on dogs. Two people in particular, Marianne and Rosleen, wrote about how excessive fireworks around fireworks night cause their dogs to tremble uncontrollably and run desperately …
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 January 2026
Gambling Harms: Children and Young People
It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Kevin McKenna) for delivering an excellent speech that covered many of the issues on which many of us in the all-party parliamentary group on gambling reform have been c…
Commons
Oral Questions
15 January 2026
2 contributions
Gambling Advertising
5. What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the level of spending on gambling advertising.
This week FIFA announced a four-year partnership so that gambling platforms can stream world cup games on UK websites for the first time. Football fans are already heavily exposed to gambling advertising, and the Government have confirmed that there is clear evidence linking gambling advertising to …