Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
22 January 2026
2 contributions
Government Insourcing
9. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Government’s insourcing policies.
The Minister repeated the promise that was made nearly 18 months ago when the Labour party came into power. We are not seeing a massive amount of insourcing at the moment. I have constituents in Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey who work on three different military bases as contractors. Many used to …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 January 2026
Warm Homes Plan
I welcome the additional investment in energy efficiency measures, which is a good thing. I certainly welcome the simplification of the energy efficiency systems that people can bid into, which can only be a good thing for consumers because that has been a veritable maze. However, the biggest barrie…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 January 2026
Mobile Phones and Social Media: Use by Children
We should not underestimate the complexity of this issue or the potential for unintended consequences from a complete ban. There is early evidence that some unintended consequences are already occurring in Australia. Parents are rightly worried and they are demanding action. Does the Secretary of St…
Commons
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
2 contributions
Security of Greenland and the Arctic
3. What diplomatic steps she is taking to help Greenland strengthen its security.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister attempted to justify the hesitant approach that is being taken to Greenland, the US and the EU as being in the national interest, yet there was nothing in the national interest about Brexit, a false-hope deal that has left us far away from our European friends, desperat…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 January 2026
Offshore Wind
Although the news on Berwick Bank and Pentland is hugely welcome, it risks masking serious jeopardy for Scotland’s offshore wind sector. There is great worry that today’s news represents a longer-term shift in the renewables industry from north to south, due to the unfair and disproportionate transm…
Commons
Oral Questions
Scotland
14 January 2026
2 contributions
Cost of Living
1. What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential impact of her policies on the cost of living in Scotland.
While the Labour Westminster Government have been killing jobs, hiking energy bills and exacerbating the cost of living crisis, yesterday the SNP Scottish Government’s budget cut child poverty, boosted funding for the NHS and slashed income tax for hard-working families. A clear majority of workers …
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 January 2026
3 contributions
Factored Energy Arrangements: Pricing
I beg to move,
That this House has considered energy pricing for consumers with factored energy arrangements.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I am pleased to have secured this debate on a systemic regulatory failure that is quietly draining the bank accounts of reside…
That is absolutely the case. To take Scotland as an example, consumers have a route to address complaints about this issue through the regulation of factors, but it is complex and cumbersome. There should be a simpler way to do it through the energy regulator, as I will touch on later in my speech.
…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
12 January 2026
New Medium Helicopter Contract
Obviously, the biggest impact will be felt in the constituency of the hon. Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance), but there will be an impact on businesses that are in the supply chain across the UK, and most people will be asking how on earth the procurement process has taken so long. Focusing on the mili…
Commons
Debate
17 December 2025
National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill
While businesses are still reeling from last year’s national insurance increase, with this Bill the Labour Government are set to increase tax again by making salary sacrifice pension contribution schemes worse for workers.
What has the Labour party said previously? In its 2024 manifesto, on page 79…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
17 December 2025
INEOS Chemicals: Grangemouth
I know that Government Members forget which Parliament they are actually in—who knows, maybe they would feel better in the Scottish Parliament.
This is a welcome announcement. For months now, the Scottish Government have been calling on the UK Government to intervene to protect jobs at Grangemouth …
Commons
Oral Questions
17 December 2025
Artificial Intelligence Skills
Science and technology skills are vital if we are to fully realise the economic and social opportunities available to us, and I am sure the Secretary of State would agree that science centres are a vital part of that ecosystem in engaging and enthusing young people in science, technology, engineerin…
Commons
Proceedings
1 December 2025
5 contributions
Budget Resolutions
I will focus on particular measures in the Budget that will have a massive impact on my constituents in Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey, and more widely across the north and north-east of Scotland.
First, one of the bigger contributors to the cost of living crisis is the cost of energy. To recap w…
I agree that we need a publicly owned energy company, and I would fully support that. The problem is that we do not have the full powers of an independent country, which are just the normal powers that we would need to do that. I am glad that the hon. Lady recognises that problem. We are nearly 18 m…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 December 2025
Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts
The Prime Minister said this morning that politics is about choices. The Chancellor chose not to disclose the improved tax outlook from the OBR when she addressed the country on 4 November; the Chancellor chose to overstate the challenges with the public finances; the Chancellor chose to withhold th…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
COP30
Right across the world, people’s day-to-day lives are being destroyed by the impacts of climate change and associated industrial activity, from the indigenous tribes of the Amazon seeing their rainforest home destroyed around them, to island peoples in the Pacific, whose nations will literally cease…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
2 contributions
Pride in Place Funding: Scotland
13. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of Pride in Place funding eligibility criteria in Scotland.
The Government are encouraging towns across the UK to apply for Pride in Place funding, but with the specific exclusion that any town applying should not be located in a UK parliamentary constituency with a phase 1 neighbourhood. Does the Minister appreciate that in my constituency of Moray West, Na…
Commons
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Russian Ship Yantar
I associate myself with comments about the bravery and professionalism of the military personnel involved in the response to the Yantar’s presence, many of whom are based at Lossiemouth in my constituency. Yesterday, the Defence Committee published a report recommending that the UK Government accele…
Commons
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
Transport System: Economic Growth
Aviation is vital to economic development and transport in the highlands and islands. The European geostationary navigation overlay system would have the massive benefit of improving the security and reliability of those flights, and they would be able to land in conditions than they cannot currentl…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 November 2025
ExxonMobil: Mossmorran
We are talking about 400 direct jobs at Mossmorran, more in the supply chain, hundreds more at Grangemouth and a thousand a month out of Aberdeen. Those are independently assessed figures and figures that we know from the statement today. As somebody whose father worked at Ravenscraig in the 1980s, …
Commons
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Topical Questions
In the light of the deeply damaging situation at Mossmorran, what is the Minister’s assessment of the potential impact on the Acorn carbon capture, utilisation and storage project?
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
2 contributions
Energy
It is vital that we challenge the bankrupt energy record of the UK Government—a record of failure that continues to punish Scottish workers, strip our national wealth and plunge families into fuel poverty.
The current policy being prosecuted from Westminster is not a sustainable plan. It is quite s…
Yes, the jobs are transferable, but the work they can be transferred to needs to exist. It does not exist at the current time. The downturn in the North sea from a crippling fiscal regime is absolutely destroying those jobs and the skills that we need to get to that clean energy potential.
The SNP …
Commons
Proceedings
29 October 2025
Asylum Seekers: MOD Housing
My colleague Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice in the Scottish Government, wrote to the Secretary of State about this issue on 26 September, seeking an urgent meeting with Highland council and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. No reply to that letter was r…
Commons
Debate
22 October 2025
9 contributions
Devolution in Scotland
Back in the early ’90s, I was just out of school and getting involved in politics. It was an exciting time, with a constitutional convention, excitement about a new Parliament, and decision making coming closer to home. People in Scotland had the right to decide on whether to have devolution with a …
The point made is entirely reasonable and I commend the work done by charities and third sector organisations over many years in highlighting that and a wide range of issues. I am grateful that the hon. Member acknowledges that the Scottish Government responded to those concerns and took action, dem…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 October 2025
2 contributions
Mandatory Digital ID
When the Prime Minister unveiled this plan at the Global Progress Action Summit 2025, he referred to digital ID only as a tool for right-to-work checks; there was no mention of any linkage to public services. Within a matter of weeks, though, digital ID appears to have encompassed a disturbingly lar…
The Prime Minister said that this was mandatory if people wanted to work in the UK, so for every single person who wants to work in the UK it is mandatory. Is that not pretty much a compulsory ID card?
Commons
Proceedings
20 October 2025
Alleged Spying Case: Home Office Involvement
After the Cabinet Office meeting of 1 September, did the Prime Minister receive a note on this case in his ministerial red box, and, if so, did he approve it? Additionally, did the UK Government give Chinese officials private assurances at any point and in any form that the application for the Chine…
Commons
Debate
14 October 2025
3 contributions
Energy Profits Levy: North-east Scotland
The loss of skills impacts investor confidence in the North sea. That investor confidence is directly linked to investor confidence in renewables, given the lack of availability of skills that will result. Does the hon. Lady agree that the Government need to give an end date for this so-called tempo…
Will the Minister give way?
+1 more contribution in this session