Commons
Westminster Hall
21 October 2025
Ending Homelessness
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Efford. I congratulate the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) on securing this debate and on all the work he has clearly be done in this area—of course, the fact that he is Chair of the Backbench Business Committee has absolutely nothing to…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 October 2025
Asylum Seekers: Support and Accommodation
My hon. Friend is making a powerful point; we desperately need people to come and work in our national health service and care sector. Does he agree that the case for legally working migrants and refugees who genuinely need asylum, perhaps from Syria or Afghanistan, and the case for our communities,…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
I welcome the Minister to her place. Liberal Democrats welcome the Government’s commitment to invest in high streets and communities—making our local centres thrive is a cause that all of us across this House share. However, despite the strategy talking about empowerment and the Government previousl…
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 October 2025
3 contributions
Bovine Tuberculosis Control and Badger Culling
My hon. Friend is making a helpful speech that benefits from his huge amount of experience. I congratulate the 229 people from my constituency who signed the petition. On the basis of team science, does my hon. Friend agree with Keith Cutler, a constituent of mine who is a past president of the Brit…
rose —
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Social and Affordable Housing
In 2007, Ming Campbell launched the Liberal Democrats’ campaign for not just affordable but decent homes for our military. I congratulate the Secretary of State on his position. Will he join me in congratulating the forces families who backed my amendment to provide them with a decent homes standard…
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
We need more prisons and prison places, but I find the Conservative case absolutely incoherent. They talk about being tough on crime, but they closed police stations, closed courts, cut the number of police officers and completely failed to deliver the number of prison places that they speak about—t…
The hon. Lady makes a compelling point about the depths to which that kind of sentencing can go. The lack of concern from Conservative Members about reoffending after short-term prison stays is surprising, to say the least.
Coming down hard on crime means we need to bring back proper community poli…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
2 contributions
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Dr Huq, and a privilege to speak on behalf of the 204 people in the Taunton and Wellington constituency who signed the petition and all the other families who are deeply concerned. It is not abstract for me, because of the support my wife gives to many famil…
I very much agree with my hon. Friend, who is a great champion of families in that position in his constituency. As the 122,000 signatures on today’s petition show, too many families are forced into crisis before help arrives. Many fear that the Government’s forthcoming reforms will make things even…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 September 2025
Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access
The Minister knows from when I wrote to him that what distinguished the shooting up and ransacking of the Action around Bethlehem Children with Disability charity by the Israeli army was the fact that it is a British charity. Will he pursue compensation from the Israeli Government for that British c…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 September 2025
Free-to-air Broadcasting: Cricket Participation
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. On the T20, will he take a moment to congratulate Somerset county cricket club for reaching the finals—I heard the cheering from my garden at the weekend—and will he recognise that county cricket needs all the support it can get?
Commons
Debate
8 September 2025
7 contributions
Renters’ Rights Bill
I am grateful to the Minister for presenting the Government’s position on the Lords amendments, as indeed he presented their position on the 92 amendments we tabled in Committee. I only regret that, in doing so, he rejected all 92 of them. I was going to congratulate the Secretary of State on his ne…
I do agree with my hon. Friend, and I pay tribute to the sterling work he does in Torbay, and has done in the past as leader of the council, on these issues.
That change in the burden of proof may sound technical, but in fact it would gut the powers of local authorities to hold bad landlords to acc…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
8 September 2025
Topical Questions
T2. I congratulate the hon. Members for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard), and for North East Derbyshire (Louise Sandher-Jones), on their new ministerial positions. My constituent, former senior aircraftsman Mark Shephard, was subjected to discriminatory dismissal from the RAF, denying hi…
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Hospitality Sector
The pubs, restaurants, cafés and hotels in our hospitality sector are not just places to eat and drink; they are the heart of our communities. They provide jobs, keep our high streets alive and make our communities better and stronger, but many of them tell me that they feel abandoned as a result of…
I completely agree with my hon. Friend, and look forward to visiting them with him when I am next in his constituency.
Hospitality is not asking for special treatment. Rather, it is asking for fairness, a level playing field and the chance to compete, invest and thrive without being penalised by th…
Commons
Debate
2 September 2025
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Does my hon. Friend agree that the Conservatives have some nerve talking about top-down reorganisation when, against people’s wishes—as expressed in a poll—they imposed an unwanted and unpopular unitary council on the whole of Somerset? Does she also agree that the Bill should introduce fair votes, …
Commons
Proceedings
22 July 2025
Birmingham Bin Strikes
Birmingham wants its refuse and recycling service back as quickly as possible to end the risks to public health and the environment, especially in the most densely populated parts of the city. The Liberal Democrats pay tribute to the volunteers and emergency services, who were out there cleaning up …
Commons
Debate
21 July 2025
Extending the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme
I am sure that my hon. Friend will want to share his sympathies for Julia in my constituency, who no longer has her flat or any accommodation back in Ukraine. She has secured a job with a legal firm that wishes to train her up and get her qualified, but she now finds that she may no longer be secure…
Commons
Debate
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary
I rise quite simply to honour all those who served in the Pacific campaign and in Asia during world war two. That included my own father—a very young Captain Amos at the time—who served at the end of the second world war after being redeployed from Europe. We also remember those who died on all side…
I am extremely grateful to the hon. Member. Dr X served 25 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps and transferred to the NHS less than two years ago. He has been given the prognosis that he has only weeks to live, and because he has been in his transferred position with the NHS for less than two year…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
2 contributions
Social Housing: Right to Buy
16. What assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing local authorities to end the right to buy in their areas.
My Somerset councillor colleagues have for decades steadfastly protected and managed our stock of council houses, which has declined through right to buy from tens of thousands a number of years ago to only 6,000 now. While I welcome the recent attention to this issue by the Deputy Prime Minister an…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 July 2025
Northern Ireland Veterans: Prosecution
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity to place on record my thanks to the veterans and servicepeople in my Taunton and Wellington constituency, including 40 Commando, and to the 412 people who signed the petition. I am a man who is willing to believe that we should approach t…
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Business of the House
I declare my interest: I am a registered provider of social housing, and before the election I had support from a construction firm in my constituency. Yesterday the Competition and Markets Authority found, in its notice to accept commitments from the big seven house builders, that
“suspected condu…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
People around the country have been plagued and let down by a transport system that was completely neglected by the last Conservative Government. The problems have ranged from potholes to cancelled bus services, along with entirely fictional budgets for rail and other transport projects.
Given that…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
I welcome today’s announcement, but Joanne from my constituency of Taunton and Wellington has asked me to advocate for children with special educational needs and disabilities, given the numbers involved and the limitations on resources. This is at a time when Somerset’s auditors have blamed the pre…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
23 June 2025
Child Poverty Taskforce
As in Stroud and the north-east, children in poverty rely on food banks to get by—6,617 food parcels in my constituency alone. Will the Government take the advice of the Trussell Trust and seek and follow independent advice on the universal credit standard allowance?
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 June 2025
Businesses in Rural Areas
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) on the welcome focus on our vital rural businesses. When we talk about rural business, we are talking about the lifeblood of our countryside. In Taunton and Wellington, and across Somerset, businesses are not just economic u…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 June 2025
Spending Review 2025
I thank the Chancellor for her statement. As well as freeing people up by tackling the social care crisis, the real way to get the growth we all want is a target for publicly funded social homes—albeit, I welcome the funding that has been found for housing—and funding for the infrastructure that com…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 June 2025
NHS Funding: South-west
I congratulate my hon. Friend on bringing the NHS in the south-west into the spotlight. Does he agree that the pressures on Musgrove Park hospital, due to the closure of the Yeovil maternity unit, put staff in an almost impossible position, with 30° heat in summer and leaking roofs and walls with ho…