Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 March 2026
Spring Forecast
The Chancellor stands there and says that living standards are up and the economy is growing, but people can see the reality in their everyday lives: unemployment up month on month and energy bills higher than when Labour came to power. The latest figures in fact show that per person, our economy is…
Commons
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory
We have been saying for months that to give away the Chagos islands and pay for the privilege is complete and utter madness. Having rammed this through, we are now told that the Government are taking a “pause for thought”. Can the Minister explain why the Government signed off this disastrous and di…
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
I will speak in support of amendments 1 and 2, tabled by my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately). One of the most basic principles of any successful society is that those who work hard are able to reap the rewards, yet under this Government, mi…
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address
We must see the documents that pertain to the appointment of Peter Mandelson. Given that any member of the public could have told the Government that Mandelson was dodgy, it seems amazing that the Prime Minister requested that this vetting happen in the first place. This is not a question of process…
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
11 February 2026
Defence Industrial Strategy 2025
Whatever the defence industrial strategy aims to do, its aims will not be met if we cannot find and recruit people willing to use the equipment and technology that are created. People will be far less likely to risk their lives to keep our country safe and free if they cannot rely on the Government …
Commons
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
2 contributions
Court Reporting Data
For decades, victims, survivors, campaigners, whistleblowers and journalists have fought to force the British state to reveal the whole truth about the rape and grooming scandal. The data held by Courtsdesk could be invaluable in uncovering the truth. The Minister tells us that we can rely on the Go…
That is important data!
Commons
Debate
9 February 2026
3 contributions
UK-India Free Trade Agreement
The Indian Government are highly unusual in their approach to trade agreements. Unlike most other countries, India has a long-standing policy of using trade deals to try to secure favourable treatment in the immigration system. This deal, unfortunately, is no different. Under the terms of the agreem…
That is an important point because, as I am about to talk about, we have double contribution conventions with other countries, but not with other countries with economies like India’s where so many people—well north of a billion people—would be happy to do these jobs for much lower salaries than our…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 February 2026
Standards in Public Life
The Minister’s statement is insulting. The first, but not the last, time that Peter Mandelson resigned in disgrace from a Labour Government—on that occasion, it was Tony Blair’s Cabinet —I was seven years old. Is the Minister seriously telling us that our Prime Minister needs tweaks to process to kn…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
9 February 2026
Illegal Migrants: Pull Factors
Last week, The Times reported that companies and company directors who have previously abused the work visa system have been allowed to continue sponsoring visas, despite the Government’s promise of a clampdown. One social care business has been able to sponsor 116 visas, despite being caught hiring…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
9 February 2026
Violence against Women and Girls Strategy
When the violence against women and girls strategy was announced, I asked the Safeguarding Minister whether she had considered the impact that mass migration is having on the safety of women and girls and why it was not mentioned. I was not sure from her response then what the answer is. Can she ple…
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 January 2026
Defence Industry: Environmental, Social and Governance Requirements
It is a pleasure, Ms McVey, to serve with you in the Chair this afternoon, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Jack Rankin) for securing this important debate.
It is often said—including by my hon. Friend in his opening speech today—that we are living in an ever more dangerous world.…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
21 January 2026
Engagements
Tens of thousands of people across Kent and Sussex were without running water last week. While the response of South East Water was shambolic, the Staplehurst emergency help team got a bottled water supplier, set up a collection station and delivered water to vulnerable people. Using only volunteers…
Commons
Debate
20 January 2026
2 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
This Government’s handover of the Chagos islands is nothing short of a disgrace. British taxpayers are being asked to stump up billions of pounds to pay for the privilege of giving away something we own—a strategically vital territory—to a close ally of the Chinese Communist party. And why? All beca…
The question that we are voting on today is the deal that the Government have agreed to. It is an appalling deal, and it should be opposed.
The Government’s arguments for putting the deal forward become even thinner when we look at the amendments and how the Government have responded to them both h…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 January 2026
3 contributions
Food Inflation
As ever, it is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dame Siobhain. I thank the hon. Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet (Catherine West) for securing the debate.
For many people across the country, rising food prices are one of the most concrete ways in which the cost of living crisis impact…
What is important here, and what I am trying to set out, is how many costs farmers have to meet even just to get their produce out of the door. When we talk about food prices, it is inevitable that we will talk about why those prices rise, what the costs are and how they might be going up. Many of m…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 January 2026
Ajax Programme
It is a pleasure, as ever, to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) for securing this debate today.
As has already been laid out, the Ajax programme has been a disaster. It has been repeatedly delayed and enormously ex…
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 January 2026
Universities: Statutory Duty of Care
My constituent Hilary’s daughter Phoebe took her own life at the University of Newcastle, aged just 20. Does the hon. Member agree that the level of pastoral care that universities do and do not provide is an important factor, not just for students but for their parents, in the choice where to go to…
Commons
Proceedings
12 January 2026
Water Supplies: East Grinstead
I was very sorry to hear about the Minister’s father.
Thousands of my constituents over the weekend in Headcorn, Staplehurst, Coxheath and the surrounding villages had no running water. It is vital in these situations that we are able to share accurate and timely information, but South East Water h…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
12 January 2026
2 contributions
House Building: London
2. What discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on the rate of house building in London.
The Secretary of State mentions a countrywide problem, but numbers of housing starts in London are particularly pitiful. There were only about 370 new starts for every month of last year, which is the lowest level for almost any region for any year that I have been alive. There are nearly six times …
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
Northern Ireland Troubles Bill: Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention
The relentless and malicious lawfare to which our brave Northern Ireland veterans have been subjected has exposed the fact that, in Britain, human rights laws can be used to attack those who have risked their lives for this country, not to protect them. The conditions in which soldiers and veterans …
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief
Family farms and family businesses across the Weald of Kent have been through appalling emotional turmoil in trying to work out how to avoid leaving their children unaffordable, crippling tax bills when they die. They are operating on razor-thin margins and small profits, and many of them have been …
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
5 January 2026
Community Policing
It is becoming increasingly apparent that West Midlands police retrospectively created a rationale and, according to remarkable investigative work by The Sunday Times , false evidence to justify their predetermined decision to ban fans from the world’s only Jewish state from going to a football matc…
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
Data Publication and Quality (Immigration, Nationality and Country of Birth)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about the collection and publication of data on immigration status, nationality and country of birth of certain persons, including relating to users of certain public services, claimants of certain benefits, the prison populati…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 December 2025
Catapults and Antisocial Behaviour
It is, as ever, a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I congratulate my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp) on arranging this debate. He is a tireless champion for his constituents. I can testify to his enthusiasm for Spelthorne Gymnastics, as he shar…
Commons
Proceedings
1 December 2025
3 contributions
Budget Resolutions
Madam Deputy Speaker, it is a particular pleasure to speak with you in the Chair this afternoon, inspiring envy, I am sure, from your new legions of fans.
On Wednesday, the Chancellor said that energy prices were one of the greatest drivers of the rising cost of living. She accepted that the cause …
The gas is already stored in the North sea. The problem with the industry, and what is making it unprofitable, is the Government’s determination to hammer the oil and gas industry.
The Chancellor gave no clear verdict on the nuclear regulatory review. Instead, she promised that the Government would…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 November 2025
Violence against Women and Girls: London
As ever, it is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) for bringing forward this vitally important debate. She spoke bravely of her own experiences.
It is foundationally important that everyone in this country is able t…