Commons
Debate
13 January 2026
4 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill
Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the proposal to harmonise gambling taxes, which the horseracing industry was most opposed to, was first proposed by his Government? It is something that they were proposing; we have just inherited it.
I want to speak in support of clauses 83 and 84 on gambling taxation. I of course strongly welcome these steps on remote gaming duty, which cover online slots, online casino games and other high-risk remote gambling products.
Ahead of the Budget last year, I was one of more than 100 Labour MPs, alo…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
8 January 2026
High Street Gambling Reform
I thank my hon. Friend for giving way; she is delivering an excellent speech, and I support her campaign to end the aim to permit. Another issue I have heard lots of people concerned about is the 80:20 rule, which requires gambling shops to have only 20% of their machines to be the higher stake, mor…
Commons
Proceedings
8 January 2026
Business of the House
I want to pay tribute to Colin Brookes, the president of Halesowen Town FC, who passed away at the end of last year doing what he loved most: watching his beloved Yeltz. After playing as a professional footballer and serving as a police officer, Colin dedicated 25 years of his life to Halesowen Town…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 January 2026
2 contributions
Ukraine and Wider Operational Update
Unlike the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice), I am very concerned that the leader of Reform UK has gone on television today to reject sending British troops to Ukraine to help secure a sustainable peace—
That is exactly what he said. Does the Secretary of State agree that the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) should be ashamed, because we owe so much to the Ukrainian people who have fought so hard to secure democracy in Europe, and that this shows for real how much closer the leader of Reform i…
Commons
Westminster Hall
7 January 2026
3 contributions
UK Town of Culture
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the UK Town of Culture competition.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I want to begin by saying why the UK town of culture competition matters to towns like Halesowen. At its best, culture is not a luxury for places that are a…
I join my hon. Friend in celebrating Max Stokes and his wonderful achievements in Redditch. My hon. Friend knows Halesowen well, because he has campaigned there for many years, so I hope that he will be an advocate for my town throughout the competition.
When I ask the Minister to recognise Halesow…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
Northern Ireland Troubles Bill: Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention
The Minister has been too modest; he mentioned the September figures for the increase in recruitment, but the December figures were released just a couple of days ago, and they show a 20% increase in recruitment to the armed forces over the last year. Some 2,170 additional personnel were recruited i…
Commons
Debate
9 December 2025
Railways Bill
In our part of the country, in Halesowen and the Black Country, we have a long history of building trains and railways. Indeed, in Stourbridge—just one stop down the line—Foster, Rastrick & Co. built the Stourbridge Lion, the very first steam locomotive to be exported to the Americas in 1829.
H…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 December 2025
Ajax Armoured Vehicle
The Ajax vehicle was ordered in 2014, and was due to be delivered in 2017. It has now been delivered eight years late, in a state of service that is completely unusable by our personnel. This is a catastrophic failure by MOD procurement. As we increase spending as we respond to the war in Ukraine, h…
Commons
Proceedings
4 December 2025
Business of the House
Last week, I had the privilege of meeting a number of schools during UK Parliament Week, including Tenterfields academy, the Impact independent school and Leasowes high school in my constituency. I had some fantastic questions and really intelligent insights into democracy from those students. Leaso…
Commons
Debate
19 November 2025
3 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
I thank the Minister for his earlier comments. When I speak to constituents in Halesowen, Cradley Heath and Quarry Bank, their message for me is clear: they are concerned about illegal immigration, and they want the Labour party to secure our borders. That was one of our manifesto commitments, becau…
Yes, of course. We are a compassionate country, and a place of refuge for many people who are fleeing persecution or face other issues. Everything that the Government have announced this week, and the measures in the Bill, allow us to be compassionate; but we can also be also tough on the smuggling …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
18 November 2025
3 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles Bill
Does the hon. Member recognise that the immunity that was promised never came into action because the British courts rejected it? Does he accept that we are not taking away immunity, because it was never possible in the first place?
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
4 contributions
Taxes
Does the shadow Chancellor recognise that the previous Government were the only Government in living memory to oversee a reduction in real living standards over the course of five years? Does he accept that the difficult situation with the cost of living is in large part due to his Government’s deci…
I thank the shadow Chancellor for giving way. He will of course remember his time as the Work and Pensions Minister, when he oversaw a £33 billion increase in the welfare budget. Of course he is talking about cuts now, but not about welfare cuts, because he had the opportunity to make those cuts and…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Houses in Multiple Occupation: Planning Consent
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd, and a pleasure to join this important debate, called by my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm), which gives me a chance to raise an issue that really matters to my constituents in Halesowen—the rising number of houses in multip…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Official Development Assistance Reductions
The hon. Member is raising some good points about national security and migration. He is probably well aware that the top three nationalities that come to the UK on small boats are from conflict-affected states: Afghanistan, Syria and Iran. Does the hon. Member share my concern that the UK dismantli…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Israel-Palestine Conflict: Government Response
I welcome the statement of the Chair of the Committee. I think all of us on the Committee are relieved that since our report was published, we have now reached a ceasefire. The UN has been able to re-enter Gaza and the situation it has seen on the ground is devastating. The UN’s humanitarian chief d…
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
15 October 2025
2 contributions
Defence Industrial Strategy
4. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the defence industrial strategy on Northern Ireland.
I am incredibly proud of our naval engineering history in the Black Country, including at companies such as Somers Forge in Halesowen and Brooks Forgings in Cradley Heath. I am delighted that this Labour Government are increasing defence spending to levels never seen under the previous Government. D…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
I thank the many petitioners who brought forward this debate, which is fundamental to parents in my Halesowen constituency. I have been speaking to many of them, and the message I am receiving is clear: the system is not working.
Parents raised three major themes with me. First, getting support for…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 September 2025
Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access
Does my hon. Friend agree that Israel’s attack on our friend Qatar—indeed, against the very negotiators that were supposed to be discussing this ceasefire—shows that it has no interest in securing peace, and that there must be consequences for that action?
Commons
Debate
9 September 2025
16 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My hon. Friend has spoken about the important capabilities of this vital US-UK base. Does he agree that it would be dangerous and counterproductive to put those capabilities at any risk—certainly if that could have happened in a matter of weeks or months?
Does the Minister not think it is the height of hypocrisy for those in the last Government, who negotiated 85% of this treaty over 11 rounds, to wait until they were in opposition to make these claims, none of which they made during their negotiations?
+14 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
4 September 2025
2 contributions
BBC Monitoring Service
rose—
The right hon. Member is delivering an excellent speech. As the Defence Committee did in 2016, the Foreign Affairs Committee is now conducting an inquiry into disinformation, which covers many of the same areas that he discusses. Does he agree that the increasing spread of disinformation, increasing…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
4 September 2025
2 contributions
People Smuggling
10. What steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of people smugglers.
My constituents in Halesowen continue to be concerned about the number of people crossing to the UK on small boats. They are calling for swift and tough action against the people smugglers responsible for these dangerous crossings, which are putting the lives of women and children at risk. Can the S…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
In a previous life, I worked on the Turkey-Greece returns deal, which returned refugees who had crossed in small boats from Turkey to the Greek islands in return for properly registered asylum seekers in Turkey. As we all know, that deal drastically reduced the number of small boats that crossed int…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
4 contributions
Black Country Day
Does my hon. Friend agree with me that the three trade deals that our Prime Minister secured earlier this year with India, the EU and America will benefit our region greatly and can really help to turbocharge manufacturing in the Black Country?
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for organising this debate. It is a pleasure to see so many Black Country MPs together to discuss our great region with such passion. It is also nice to hear Members fro…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Middle East
We have seen again images of children dying of starvation and malnutrition, and this comes after months of warnings from the UN system about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s announcement of more aid, but we know that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 July 2025
Afghanistan
I served twice in Afghanistan alongside some of the bravest soldiers, judges and women’s rights defenders I have met. After the fall of Kabul, I was based in Pakistan with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where I was involved in the evacuation from Afghanistan. At that time, despite…