Commons
Debate
2 September 2025
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
First, I thank Mayor Tracy Brabin for her investment in mass transit across West Yorkshire, including a new bus station in my town of Dewsbury. I am grateful for those investments, but how will this Bill stop a council from making the decision to distribute funding unequally across its borough? How …
The hon. Member is making an extremely informed and important point in her speech. Does she agree that for Sheffield and her council the committee system has been better, more inclusive and more democratic for her residents than the original cabinet system? Does she endorse the view that any council…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 September 2025
Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
I pay tribute to the Minister for her work and thank her for her statement.
This crime is absolutely abhorrent. Every single victim and survivor of this crime must get justice, no matter the perpetrator—Pakistani, Indian, English or anyone—so can we please dial down the politicisation and the infla…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
Gaza: Ceasefire
Israel has breached two ceasefires to date. Its bombing, its killing and now its starvation have continued for months. It is not just the hostages who are not getting food; it is also babies, children, women and men. The impunity that Israel has to continue to perpetrate war crime after war crime, a…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Middle East
The Foreign Secretary said that
“we can and must be precise with our language”.
I stand here 23 months after the atrocities of 7 October—completely unforgivable atrocities against civilians and other innocent people—and I join in his call for all hostages to be released. However, since 8 October 2…
Commons
Proceedings
22 July 2025
Birmingham Bin Strikes
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) on tabling this urgent question and thank the Minister for his response. The Birmingham bin strikes are not just about waste. They are about what happens when the state retreats from local services without proper reform.…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
2 contributions
Humanitarian Situation in Sudan
There is no justification or excuse to prevent any human being from practising their faith, or no faith, wherever they live, in peace and without interruption or force. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that is a fundamental human right and should be protected wherever it can be?
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I congratulate the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal), who is my constituency neighbour, for securing this really important debate.
Unfortunately, we live in a world of competing crises and wars, one overshadowing the next. Dependin…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Middle East
I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s announcement of additional aid to help the people of Gaza, but it is aid that will join the millions of dollars and thousands of trucks that are stood outside the border not being allowed into Gaza. There are 1 million children in Gaza starving to death. Palestinian…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Independent Water Commission
Between 2001 and 2023, there were over 4,600 incidents of sewage overflows in Dewsbury and Batley, amounting to over 28,000 hours. Bills for my constituents and Yorkshire Water customers have gone up by 40% in the last five years and by nearly 30% in the last 12 months. Some £84 billion has been tak…
Commons
Debate
16 July 2025
5 contributions
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
I thank the shadow Secretary of State for giving way—
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I ask the shadow Minister how his party would fund the investments in early years proposed by the new Government?
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
15 July 2025
Taxes
The right hon. Member is making an important speech. Some 80% of millionaires in our country want to pay more tax. They want to contribute to our society and to our public services, so does he agree that when people want to pay more tax, they should be given the opportunity to do so?
Commons
Debate
15 July 2025
Welfare Spending
According to the latest DWP data, more than 11,800 children in my constituency of Dewsbury and Batley are living in poverty. This is not abstract and it is not inevitable; it is a direct result of policy choices by the previous Government and the maintenance of that policy by the current Government.…
Commons
Debate
9 July 2025
4 contributions
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
Does the right hon. Member agree that the reduction in investment in the NHS and in mental health service support for the people of our country has led to an epidemic of people who have had to wait for support, sometimes for nearly two years, which worsens their condition and makes it harder for the…
I rise today to speak in support of amendments 2(a), 37 and 39, and new clauses 8, 10 and 11. Without going into a Third Reading speech, it is important to highlight that we are debating a Bill that will have a profound and, in many cases, devastating impact on thousands of families across our count…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 July 2025
Glaucoma Awareness
Under the 10-year plan, the Government want to invest in the NHS and bring services into the community. There are examples of that around our country, and maybe in Northern Ireland. There are trusts in London with diagnostic hubs that better manage glaucoma. There are regions with community glaucoma…
Commons
Debate
8 July 2025
2 contributions
Football Governance Bill [Lords]
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
I rise today to speak to the new clauses in my name and to lend my support to several of the other new clauses. Some have already been spoken about by my hon. Friends across the House. New clause 6 is about financial abuse, mismanagement or fraud and about protecting players. New clause 13, which my…
Commons
Debate
4 July 2025
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill
I congratulate the hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers) on introducing this important Bill. It is an absolute honour and a privilege to speak on this subject. I have spoken on animal welfare in two Westminster Hall debates in the past month, and it is an important topic to speak about on the ann…
Commons
Proceedings
3 July 2025
2 contributions
Phone Theft
I congratulate and thank the hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) for bringing this important debate. I rise to support her and to bring urgent attention to an issue that continues to disrupt lives not just across the UK, but in my constituency: the rising tide of mobile phone thefts.
This is n…
I thank the hon. Member for his informed contribution to the debate. I agree with him and the hon. Member for Brent East, who indicated that companies are not doing enough. It should be easy to disable phones so they are beyond use both in this country and abroad, and so the only value they have wou…
Commons
Debate
3 July 2025
2 contributions
Women’s State Pension Age: Financial Redress
Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that taking this step to ignore the findings of an ombudsman sets a really dangerous precedent that could be exploited by private companies and by Departments?
I stand here in support of the 6,020 WASPI women in my constituency and every single WASPI woman across the UK. I congratulate the hon. Member for Salford (Rebecca Long Bailey) on securing this crucial debate. I also thank her for her powerful and compelling speech, which clearly presented the case …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
NHS 10-Year Plan
I also welcome the statement and the 10-year plan, and I offer my full support for most of the elements. Staying focused on the positive, I hope to be permitted to raise three points.
First, Dewsbury and Batley is unfortunately one of the many constituencies with dental deserts. Dewsbury West, a wa…
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
4 contributions
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
Just to reflect on the record of the previous Government, as of 2024, approximately 24% of the UK population—nearly 16 million people—were living in poverty. Between 2019-20 and 2022-23, an additional 2.1 million people were living in poverty. In the year to April 2024, before the Labour Government …
Will the hon. Member give way?
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
Post-industrial Towns
The towns of my constituency, Dewsbury and Batley, lie at the heart of West Yorkshire’s heavy woollen district. We have a proud history of textiles, and we were the centre for recycled wool textiles called shoddy and mungo. Today, we are actually the UK’s capital, if not the European capital, of put…
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
Even celebrities such as Emma Raducanu, and others in the public eye who have been affected by stalkers, feel unsafe and unprotected by existing legislation. Does the hon. Member agree that is clear additional evidence that the law needs strengthening?
I welcome the inquiry and the investigation into who was responsible for helping this scourge to continue unabated, but does the right hon. Lady agree that the 20 recommendations of the Jay review urgently need to be implemented and that the inquiry should not delay the implementation of those recom…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2025
Disabled People in Poverty
Talking of austerity, Kirklees council has been devastated by the cuts imposed on it by the previous Government. Some 18.9% of people in Kirklees are recorded as disabled. Does the hon. Member agree that taking away PIP from nearly 4,200 residents in my constituency will put an even greater burden o…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2025
Genocide Convention: UK Compliance
Nearly a year ago, in an advisory opinion, the ICJ ruled Israel’s occupation of the Palestine territories unlawful. It clearly specified obligations on all states not to provide any economic, diplomatic, political or military support that helps to perpetuate that unlawful occupation. The UK Governme…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 June 2025
4 contributions
Farmed Animals: Cages and Crates
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I thank the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) for introducing this important debate.
The Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, said:
“Whoever is kind to the creatures of God, he is kind to himself.”
Caring for anim…
I completely agree. I do not oppose farmers’ critical work to provide food for our country. I hope that the Government will push to speed up the transition by supporting the 8% of farmers who have already implemented new systems and supporting the other 92% to make the transition.
As the petition h…
+2 more contributions in this session