Commons
Westminster Hall
24 November 2025
4 contributions
Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. The e-petition is focused on our humanitarian obligations in Gaza. Over 600 people from my constituency signed it, along with over 200,000 people from across our nation. As the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) mention…
We must do whatever it takes to get aid into Gaza to stop people dying of starvation, and to get in medical aid to stop people dying from treatable illnesses and injuries. Not only must this Government and all their allies work together to get aid into Gaza, but any involvement of Israel in Gaza mus…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
20 November 2025
2 contributions
Injury in Service Award
I congratulate the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mr Morrison) on securing this important debate, and I welcome and thank all the public servicemen and women who are in the Gallery and watching at home.
This debate coincides with the fantastic news this week that the brave train driver Samir Zitouni, inj…
I am sure there is a bit of disappointment at the Minister’s statement, but could he enlighten the people in the Gallery and the Chamber on the timescale for when a decision might be reached?
Commons
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
2 contributions
Practical Driving Tests
11. What steps her Department is taking to reduce the backlog in practical driving tests.
Rachel, a constituent of mine, reached out to me regarding booking a driving test for her daughter at the Huddersfield centre. There are no appointments available next week, next month or even in the next year. Young people across the country are facing similar delays since the covid pandemic, forci…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Asylum Policy
The UK has historical and ongoing involvement in unlawful military interventions, alongside allies such as the United States and Israel. How does the Home Secretary assess the correlation between these foreign policy actions and wars, and the displacement of populations, resulting in increased numbe…
Commons
Proceedings
17 November 2025
Illegal Waste: Organised Crime
In 2023-24, there were 1.15 million fly-tipping incidents across England, with about 47,000 classified as tipper-load lorry sized or industrial. A tip fire occurred at an unauthorised waste dump in Dewsbury in early 2012. It burned for four weeks, causing significant disruption and house evacuations…
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
2 contributions
Nolan Principles
The Minister talks about public trust, and one way to try to restore that trust is to hold accountable every single breach of the Nolan principles in this and every other place obligated to follow them. The public do not see that accountability in action, so would he agree with me that the new Gover…
I thank the Minister for giving way. One area that I do not believe is fully covered and needs to be expanded on is racism and discrimination. It is not clear which one of the seven principles covers that. Normally it would breach all of them, but I gently request that the Government look at how we …
Commons
Proceedings
12 November 2025
Independent Football Regulator
Along with many others, I fully supported the Football Governance Act and the introduction of the Independent Football Regulator. I accept the Secretary of State’s comment that she sincerely was not aware of the donation, but does she understand the public’s perception that an “independent” appointe…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
Over the summer recess, I had the pleasure of visiting the probation centre in Dewsbury, where Lucy Nicholson, head of Kirklees probation delivery unit, and her team hosted me. I pay tribute to their work, which has been made extremely difficult by the lack of investment in not just in the Probation…
Commons
Proceedings
5 November 2025
2 contributions
Points of Order
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I rise to ask whether my letter to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, dated 23 October—on whether the deeply offensive comments she made to me and my independent alliance colleagues in the Chamber on 20 October were in breach of the Nolan …
I am not sure.
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Topical Questions
Between 2010 and 2020, the personal tax allowance threshold went up by 9.2% on average per year. However, it was frozen by the previous Government in 2021, and the freeze has continued under this Government. Will the Chancellor consider unfreezing the personal tax allowance and adjusting the additio…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
27 October 2025
Topical Questions
I welcome the Secretary of State to his place and wish him well. Last week, I attended a drop-in for the Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign where I was informed that there are currently 4,320 women in Dewsbury and Batley affected by the WASPI scandal. That number was previously higher, …
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 October 2025
4 contributions
Mandatory Digital ID
I thank the hon. Member for Perth and Kinross-shire (Pete Wishart) for securing this debate. This is one of the most controversial and divisive issues currently supported by the Government, who have form. I am here on behalf of my constituents, as nearly 100 have written to me opposing the scheme, a…
I am, but that will not solve the issue.
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
2 contributions
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
After the conflation of antisemitism with the banning of football hooligans who happen to come from Israel, and the abuse that I and other people have received for supporting the ban on safety grounds, I must put on the record that I and those people are not antisemitic—never have been and never wil…
Yes, please.
Commons
Debate
15 October 2025
5 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
I am pleased to rise to speak to my new clause 7 and amendment 12. I support the intentions of the Bill, and I want to strengthen it with my amendments, which I believe are essential to ensuring this legislation delivers a real, lasting impact for our climate, our economy and our position on the glo…
I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention and I wholeheartedly agree. We in the UK have the capabilities to be a leader in these technologies and we must take a collective approach on green energy for both environmental and economic gains. We need certainty for private capital to flow in and the d…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 October 2025
2 contributions
Educational Assessment System Reform
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) for securing this important debate. For everybody in this room and every educationalist across the country, the aim is to get the best from every child at every age, from kinderg…
I absolutely agree. After my last exam at university, I promised myself that I would never take another exam. Before I became an MP—not since—I had nightmares where I believed I had an exam in the morning and had not revised, which is a common feeling among many.
This debate follows the House’s pas…
Commons
Debate
14 October 2025
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
This Bill gives us a real opportunity to modernise mental health care and make sure that patient choice and fairness are at the heart of mental health services, but to achieve that, we must first confront the deep inequalities that still shape people’s experience of mental health care, particularly …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Middle East
I associate myself with the tributes paid to Lord Campbell across the House, and I thank the Prime Minister for his statement. I also welcome the release of all hostages and several hundred Palestinian detainees, but we must remember that more than 10,000 captives—some prisoners, but many held witho…
Will the Prime Minister confirm to the House when the Government will be in full compliance with the International Court of Justice advisory opinion on not doing anything that helps perpetuate the unlawful occupation?
Commons
Debate
13 October 2025
Digital ID
As has been mentioned, the petition opposing the Government’s proposals is the fourth largest that the people of this country have signed. I have had nearly 100 emails from my constituents opposing the scheme. Will the Secretary of State please commit to documenting every single use case for the sch…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 October 2025
Manchester Terrorism Attack
I join the Home Secretary and all Members across the House in my unequivocal condemnation of the heinous terrorist and antisemitic attack against Jewish worshippers in Manchester, and I express my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Mr Daulby and Mr Cravitz. As a proud British Muslim,…
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
Ambassador to the United States
An additional question is whether there was any external influence. Did Tony Blair or any of Mandelson’s friends have anything to do with the appointment?
Commons
Debate
15 September 2025
2 contributions
Provision of Council Housing
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. Since the Labour Government established the social housing policy and built the houses that were needed, the number of council houses has reduced as the Thatcher Government decided to sell those houses off. I will not object to people …
Will the hon. Member give way?
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
2 contributions
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
The hon. Member is making an important and passionate speech. Councils across the country are spending upwards of £100 million a year fighting EHCPs and going to tribunal instead of issuing those plans and providing the education that those children need. Does he agree that that money could be bette…
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the over 124,000 people who signed this petition, including 178 from my constituency. I join them by speaking in support of retaining the legal right to assessment and adequate support for children with special educational needs …
Commons
Proceedings
10 September 2025
Qatar: Israeli Strike
I join the House in its condemnation of the attacks against civilians in Jerusalem this week.
The impunity and military support afforded to the state of Israel over the past 77 years, and as it carries out the ongoing genocide in Gaza and wider Palestine, has emboldened its leaders to launch assaul…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 September 2025
Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) for securing this important debate.
I begin with a harrowing quote from a father in Gaza speaking to aid workers:
“Bread has become a dream. On the fourth attempt, I…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 September 2025
3 contributions
Duty of Candour for Public Authorities and Legal Representation for Bereaved Families
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I extend my immense gratitude to my friend, the hon. Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne).
On behalf of my independent alliance colleagues, I begin by paying tribute to the Hillsborough families, survivors and campaigners who for …
This is a harrowing story about Ida and Sarah. Does the hon. Member agree that not every person who is impacted by failings of state, and who has lost family and loved ones, has the resources, time and energy to fight for five and a half years?
+1 more contribution in this session