Commons
Committee Stage
26 June 2025
3 contributions
Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)
Will the Minister give way?
I take the hon. Member’s point about joining up buses and trains. As I am on the Committee, might he also include ferries in that analysis?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
26 June 2025
4 contributions
Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)
On my hon. Friend’s point about rural areas such as his constituency and my constituency on the Isle of Wight, it is difficult to move between towns. On the Isle of Wight, we have a radial system that makes it easy to get in and out of Newport, which sits in the middle of the island, but it is less …
The more I hear the shadow Minister unpicking all these issues, the more it transpires that the whole franchising model that the Bill offers to local authorities is really rather unattractive. Particularly for smaller local authorities, it is complicated, and there is a huge risk that when the new s…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
26 June 2025
7 contributions
Public Bill Committees
On my hon. Friend’s point about rural areas such as his constituency and my constituency on the Isle of Wight, it is difficult to move between towns. On the Isle of Wight, we have a radial system that makes it easy to get in and out of Newport, which sits in the middle of the island, but it is less …
The more I hear the shadow Minister unpicking all these issues, the more it transpires that the whole franchising model that the Bill offers to local authorities is really rather unattractive. Particularly for smaller local authorities, it is complicated, and there is a huge risk that when the new s…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
3 contributions
Department for Transport
The hon. Member talks about £100 million being available for mayoral combined authorities, but is she confident that that is genuinely new money, rather than money reallocated from other pots for mayors to distribute?
My right hon. Friend talks about the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill, which is now in Committee. Does she share my concern that the franchising arrangements that that Bill offers have little attraction for small local authorities such as mine on the Isle of Wight, because if it were minded to go down the …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
2 contributions
Criminal Justice
My hon. Friend talks about probation and prison places. Does he share my concern that it is all very well for the Government to announce £7 billion to deliver prison places by 2031, which is six years away, while 16,000 prisoners are walking the streets because they were released earlier by this Gov…
The hon. Member referred to the early release scheme as temporary. Is she 100% confident that it is a temporary scheme, and that the Government will not release more prisoners over the next few years?
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Does my hon. Friend agree that the problem with the Government’s housing policy is that they are failing to identify the right places to build the right homes? Until they do that, they will not deliver these eyewatering numbers, especially if they are relying on greenfield rural sites.
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Department of Health and Social Care
The hon. Member is making her points very well, and I congratulate her on her success in bringing this debate to the Chamber. I agree with what she has said about fair pay for social care workers—I support that as well—but does she agree that a fair pay agreement will put undue pressure on providers…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
19 June 2025
Violence against Women and Girls: Prosecution
Earlier this week, I was unsuccessful in trying to amend the Government’s proposed new spiking law to ensure that reckless spiking is an offence. Will the Solicitor General meet me to discuss the challenges of prosecuting violent crime towards women and girls if the Government are unpersuaded to ens…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 June 2025
HS2 Reset
Will the Secretary of State set out the steps she is taking to ensure that infrastructure like the £100 million bat tunnel will not be included in future projects, such as East West Rail?
Commons
Debate
17 June 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I rise to support my amendment 19, which seeks to amend clause 94, which brings in a new law to make spiking or administering a harmful substance an offence. I am grateful for the cross-party support I have received for this amendment from Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green and Independen…
I thank my hon. Friend. I was on the Bill Committee, where a similar amendment was tabled, so I can reference the Minister’s response at that time. I have also had a brief word with the Minister outside this place. The Government’s position seems to be that the type of activity I am describing is co…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
17 June 2025
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Ninth sitting)
The shadow Minister is speaking very clearly, and I agree with him on the potential for political interference. Does he also see within the clause any scope for market distortion because of the powers that the regulator has?
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
12 June 2025
Topical Questions
The chief executive of UKHospitality estimates that there will be an extra £1 billion of costs on employers for new workers—774,000 of them—coming in to the national insurance contributions regime, on top of £2.4 billion in other costs. If, by the next Budget, it turns out that the previous Budget i…
Commons
Committee Stage
12 June 2025
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)
Can the hon. Member explain what the process the football regulator should go through would look like? The amendment does not specify any standards for what acceptable oversight of the consultation process would be.
Commons
Committee Stage
12 June 2025
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Seventh sitting)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I rise to add my support to the amendment that the shadow Minister discussed very well and clearly.
The point is that the list set out in clause 37(2)(a) to (f), which gives examples of things that would prevent a potential owner from havin…
Commons
Oral Questions
Wales
11 June 2025
Defence Spending: Wales
The Minister sounds unexpectedly optimistic, given that so many question marks remain over promises and aspirations for defence spending. Can she confirm the impact of handing over the Chagos islands and billions of pounds to Mauritius? [Interruption.] Can she confirm the impact of that decision on …
Commons
Committee Stage
10 June 2025
3 contributions
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Sixth sitting)
My hon. Friend the shadow Minister sets out his question very well. It sounds as though the situation could get very complicated, especially over time, as the regulator might impose certain conditions on certain clubs and severely distort the market. Does he have any comment on that?
I have sympathy with the aims of the amendments, but I also have a few questions. I wonder whether the wording in the Bill about “requisite honesty and integrity” might cover the issue that the hon. Member for Cheltenham is trying to deal with in new clause 8. I note that amendment 75 would do more …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
10 June 2025
Football Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)
Another reason to include the word “badge”, my hon. Friend would presumably agree, is not only that is it technically correct, but it is a word used in football. It is a word that fans use. It is always helpful if legal documents in a Bill can reflect both technical and everyday wording. If the two …
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
5 June 2025
Joining Up Government
I welcome the Minister’s words on wanting a more joined-up Government, but I have concerns that the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are not working well enough together both generally and specifically on cross-Solent transport to the Isle of Wig…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 June 2025
9 contributions
Swimming Facilities
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Government support for swimming facilities.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I am very pleased to have secured this important debate on Government support for swimming facilities. I will start with the importance of swimming …
I agree that swimming is hugely important for young people and for the mental and physical health of the nation, for all these different reasons. We rely heavily on local authorities for ensuring that these facilities remain open to the public and, crucially, accessible to less well-off people.
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Scotland
4 June 2025
2 contributions
North Sea Oil and Gas Licences: Economic Growth
1. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of not issuing new North sea oil and gas licences on levels of economic growth in Scotland.
Ministers across various Departments have repeatedly said that oil and gas is here to stay for many years. Issuing new North sea oil and gas licences would support tens of thousands of jobs, return millions in tax revenue to the Treasury and help to grow the Scottish economy. Why are the Government …
Commons
Debate
3 June 2025
3 contributions
Dementia Care
I thank the hon. Member for drawing attention to the issue of not seeking to correct those with dementia on where they think they are. In that respect, dementia care and understanding have come a long way, and in fact it is now standard not to try to do that. I thank the hon. Member, along with my r…
As my hon. Friend knows, at the beginning of the year, the Government and NHS England removed dementia from their planning guidance, which sets their priorities for the year ahead. Crucially, they removed the diagnosis targets. That was a cruel blow to people living with dementia and their families.…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
2 June 2025
Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords]
When my hon. Friend talks about the increased risk smaller local authorities would face through franchising, he could be talking about my local authority, Isle of Wight council. Does he see anything in the Bill that is appealing to small unitary authorities, or is this really just a Bill for bigger …
Commons
Debate
22 May 2025
Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords]
The Secretary of State talks about delivering certainty, but does he not see that the certainty he is giving is to large multinational tech companies that will be able to get away with scraping original content that is copyrighted? Through the Bill, he will give such companies the certainty to abuse…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 May 2025
Business of the House
The Government are implementing their plans for UK transport, including major interventions on rail and buses, but also road and aviation. So far, they have ignored the plight of UK island residents, including mine on the Isle of Wight, where we pay up to £400 to take a car back and forth on a four-…