Commons
Westminster Hall
30 June 2026
High Street Regeneration and Unlawful Storefronts
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Vaz. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) on introducing this important debate, on the constructive spirit in which he introduced the subject and on his generosity in taking interventions. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid…
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 June 2026
Fly-tipping: Residential Areas
On rural and private land, the Environment Agency in my constituency has said that there is a gap in regulation when it comes to privately owned sites that are used for one purpose initially but gradually accumulate waste and become fly-tipping destinations. The Environment Agency has no power to ac…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
22 June 2026
Draft Private Landlord Redress Schemes (Approval and Designation) Regulations 2026
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Barker. On the parent Act to this instrument, the Liberal Democrats campaigned in favour of ending no-fault evictions, and we were pleased to support the Bill to bring that about and bring those to an end. We support the principle of the landlord …
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
2 contributions
Housing Developers: Accountability
What many people see as the Government’s developer-led planning approach is draining local communities’ trust in the planning system. The new national planning policy framework proposes the most centralising changes in planning in my lifetime. It will mandate granting permissions under wider than ev…
People will have heard the Secretary of State referring to people wanting to protect the most precious green spaces as nimbys. They are not nimbys; they are trying to protect the most important nature in our country. If the Government will not allow a debate on the NPPF in relation to green spaces, …
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
8 June 2026
Migration: Safe and Legal Routes
Dr Alasttal in my constituency is doing vital medical work. In normal circumstances, his wife would be allowed to visit him on the appropriate visa, but because she is in Gaza and would have to travel to Israel or to other cities to give biometric information, she cannot visit or join him here. Will…
Commons
Debate
20 May 2026
3 contributions
Defence Readiness
Will my hon. Friend give way?
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
28 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I will be brief, as most of the arguments have already been well stated.
We acknowledge the Minister’s argument yesterday that this Bill represents a step forward, not the final destination, and that consistency is needed to make the system function, but it is important that, in seeking that consis…
Commons
Westminster Hall
27 April 2026
Animal Testing
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) for opening the debate and for her ongoing commitment to this issue. I thank the petitioners —including 201 from Taunton and Wellington—for raising it, and other Members f…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 April 2026
Maternity Commissioner
The hon. Gentleman is doing right by his constituents, if I may say so; I am sure they will appreciate the account that he is giving. Would he agree that some of the issues with maternity departments can sometimes be much more mundane? For example, at Musgrove Park hospital in Taunton, water is comi…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Business of the House
Anyone who attended the national emergency briefing on 27 November, as I did, could not help being captivated by the international expertise on show about the effects of the climate and nature crisis on everything from food security and national security to all other aspects of British life. Is it n…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 April 2026
Housing Needs: Young People
It is a pleasure to serve under you in the Chair, Ms Butler. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dunbartonshire (Susan Murray) was the driving force behind securing this debate, the application for which I supported, and I congratulate her on doing so. I should declare an interest as a social landlord…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 April 2026
NHS Federated Data Platform
Does my hon. Friend agree that the key issue, as raised by the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell), is accountability to this House for these contracts? Big contracts can be signed replete with assurances about protecting the public and protecting patients’ data only to morph into an enti…
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Will the Minister confirm for the record that the ban on mobile phones in schools will not extend to alternative and augmentative communication devices? Laura in Taunton has put those devices to use for her son. That has transformed his life; it provides an autistic child with an alternative means o…
I congratulate my hon. Friend on her work on this issue. She is right that age classifications that tackle the social media companies, rather than going after children and their rights, are what matters. Recent research by PISA—the programme for international student assessment—on seven internet act…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
14 April 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
I rise to speak mainly about Lords amendment 333 on illegal trading, but I share the concerns of my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson) and the hon. Member for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East (Andy McDonald) about the illiberal nature of the crackdown on protests. I never thought I…
Commons
Debate
26 March 2026
Transport Accessibility for Disabled People
It is appropriate to take part in this debate on what is National Epilepsy Day. I am grateful to the Chair of the Transport Committee, the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury), for securing the debate and for her expertise in this area, and I congratulate her on doing so. I thank a…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 March 2026
2 contributions
Household Energy Bills
Despite solar and wind being freely available, only 15% of renewables are subject to contracts for difference, which effectively control prices. Given that the conflict in the middle east is set to add up to £300 to bills, is it not time that the Government addressed this Trump tax by transferring a…
As a former member of the zero carbon homes task force, I well remember the Conservatives cancelling the zero carbon homes programme—presumably they want homes to be colder, more difficult to heat and more expensive. The Liberal Democrats welcome the enactment today of the requirement for solar pane…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 March 2026
Women’s Safety in Rural Areas
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Dowd. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Frome and East Somerset (Anna Sabine) on securing this debate and making a powerful, well evidenced and entirely reasonable case for women and girls’ interests to be taken better into account in pl…
Commons
Oral Questions
17 March 2026
Topical Questions
Given the massive immigration tribunal backlog left by the previous Government, would it not make more sense to lift the cap on non-salaried tribunal judges who are already recruited, and invest in court venues such as Taunton, instead of abolishing their role and doing massive damage to morale?
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 March 2026
Rural Roads
I congratulate the hon. Member for South Shropshire (Stuart Anderson) on securing this debate. This has been a year of records for Taunton, Somerset and the Somerset levels: the Environment Agency reported the wettest week on record for at least 30 years, and in January, the River Tone and the River…
Commons
Debate
16 March 2026
Grenfell Tower Memorial (Expenditure) Bill
I join the Secretary of State in paying tribute to the 72 people who tragically lost their lives in the disaster nearly nine years ago. The Liberal Democrats welcome the Bill, and we support it. Nearly nine years since the fire, families and communities have waited long enough for a proper legal and…
Commons
Debate
16 March 2026
Heating Oil Support
Residents of Curland and Hatch Beauchamp are among the 9,000 off-grid households in my constituency, and they have contacted me about the heating oil question. Given that prices have gone up so greatly, they will welcome the Government’s move, however small, against the soaring prices caused by Trum…
Commons
Debate
10 March 2026
5 contributions
Courts and Tribunals Bill
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) on defending trial by jury, which is a long-standing right that people have enjoyed—albeit only in certain circumstances—and we should think very seriously before taking it away. One hundred senior barristers and KCs have wr…
I do. The hon. Member is right: the problem with these reforms is that they are not going to speed up the criminal justice system or solve the backlog issues. We have rehearsed all the challenges that the system faces—we know what they are, and they need to be addressed, but abolishing trial by jury…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
5 March 2026
Palliative Care
I am sure the whole House congratulates the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) on her immense work on this topic—I certainly do. I am sure that she would sympathise with one of my constituents, whose case was brought to my attention by Marie Curie. The lack of a doctor on duty over a wee…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 March 2026
NHS Capital Spending
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Western. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) on securing such an important debate.
The No. 1 issue that I promised during my election campaign that I would focus on and prioritise, if elected, was ca…