Commons
Westminster Hall
18 March 2026
3 contributions
Social Enterprises and Community Ownership
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh—a different Leigh—and Atherton (Jo Platt) for introducing this important debate. Like her, I am low-key obsessed with towns, so it is a genuine pleasure to speak on the subject.
When we talk about …
I encourage everyone to attend that meeting.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 March 2026
Royal Mail: Performance
Two-tier contracts have been raised in my constituency, with new employees being brought in on poorer terms and conditions. Moreover, the backlog has increased because, when people come back from sick leave, their overtime is cut, which causes real issues in building the backlog and causing staff me…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 March 2026
Productivity and Economic Growth: East Midlands
I want to out myself: I am a west midlands MP, not an east midlands MP. But what my hon. Friend is speaking about is a structural failure of transport across the east and west midlands. The east midlands receives 54% of the UK’s average transport spend per head, which is the lowest of any region or …
Commons
Debate
16 March 2026
Heating Oil Support
I thank the Minister for his statement and for the rapid action he has outlined. About 7% of households in my constituency are oil fuelled. Families in Gnosall, Norton and Haughton have told me that they had agreements with an oil contractor for deliveries, which were supposed to take place last wee…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 March 2026
2 contributions
Community Cohesion
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger) for securing such an important debate at a particularly important moment. I want to talk about something that, sadly, we seem to talk about only during really challenging periods, …
Does the hon. Member agree that we saw a hollowing-out of state institutions that really matter to our communities during the 14 years of Conservative Government between 2010 and 2024? I refer to the point I made in my speech: under the Conservative-led Staffordshire county council, we saw the third…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
2 March 2026
Topical Questions
Given that this is Colleges Week, may I take the opportunity to mention Stafford college, which is widely accepted to be the best college in the country? It already has 1,150 students on manufacturing courses, and works with 250 local employers in the sector. Does the Minister agree that if Newcastl…
Commons
Oral Questions
26 February 2026
2 contributions
Arts and Culture: Local Government Support
Stafford Gatehouse Theatre in my constituency is absolutely smashing it in my constituency of Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages. It welcomed 150,000 people last year and is likely to welcome 170,000 this year. The pantomime alone welcomed 19,500 people—oh yes it did!
Thank you. [ Laughter. ] Does the Minister agree that thriving venues in towns such as Stafford demonstrate the appetite for culture in our local places? What are the Government doing to support towns like Stafford?
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving
Many constituents have spoken to me of their absolute despair about the SEND system. It was their feedback, along with that of schools, SENCOs and professional organisations, that helped me produce my report, “Better SEND support for Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages”, which the Minister kindly …
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
23 February 2026
Topical Questions
While I welcome the fact that the Red Lion in Sutton has had its asset of community value status extended by a year, that does not completely protect it from future planning applications. Will the Minister meet me to discuss this case, and that of the Railway Inn in Norton Bridge, to understand how …
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 February 2026
2 contributions
Firearms Licensing
Will my hon. Friend give way?
One of my constituents, Martin Price, who holds both a section 1 and a section 2 licence, got in touch with me before this debate. He is clear that ownership is a privilege and safeguards are essential for the system, but he also describes significant delays as well as inconsistency between forces w…
Commons
Proceedings
12 February 2026
School Minibus Safety
I am concerned that under the current system, someone could fail their test to drive a minibus in a professional setting and it would not stop them from driving one in a school setting, which does not require a D1 licence. Why is that licence not required to drive children to and from school activit…
Commons
Debate
12 February 2026
2 contributions
Rural Mobile Connectivity
I thank the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) for bringing forward this important debate. Mobile connectivity remains a real concern for many in rural communities, especially in my constituency of Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages. It affects how people run their businesses, how th…
I thank my hon. Friend. As fellow Staffordshire MPs, we experience broadly similar issues, and that echoes exactly what many people in my constituency have told me, particularly about working from home.
For farming businesses in particular, of which I have many in my constituency, the impact is eve…
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
12 February 2026
Topical Questions
We on the Labour Benches know that effective bus services are key to economic growth. Unfortunately, when Staffordshire county council was run by the Conservatives, it sought to cut bus services in my county by 41%. One of those was a direct service from the train station to Staffordshire technology…
Commons
Westminster Hall
12 February 2026
3 contributions
Healthy Relationships
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Maya Ellis) for securing such an important debate.
As someone who, before I was elected, worked in the sector, delivering programmes with and to young people, I understand how key this i…
I agree with my hon. Friend. Soroptimist does incredible work in my constituency on supporting healthy relationships, as well as work to support women in prisons, which I have worked with it on, so I completely agree.
Schools in Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages are working really hard to get t…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 February 2026
2 contributions
Place-based Employment Support Programmes
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Southport (Patrick Hurley) for bringing forward what I consider to be a truly vital discussion. Colleagues will not be surprised to hear me talk about towns today—I am the proud product of one, and…
I completely agree with the hon. Member. Recognising the talent that we have in our towns, and making sure that all our Government programmes are working to support that, is integral. I welcome the Government’s investment in growth and opportunity, and we are seeing a revised investment in towns. Pr…
Commons
Debate
5 February 2026
2 contributions
Road Safety
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) for securing this debate.
Parish councils across my constituency have been raising the alarm on road safety for years. In Bradley, residents and councillors continue to push for a reduction in the…
Something that all Staffordshire MPs have in common is our absolute despair at the state of our roads. The Government have allocated additional funds, which is really important and will make a significant difference to what we can achieve. However, to put it in perspective, Staffordshire is the slow…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 February 2026
2 contributions
Civil Service Pension Scheme: Administration
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood (Lorraine Beavers) for securing this vital debate. As some of my colleagues have already done, I will speak about the human cost of the failures in the administration of the civil service pension scheme, and I will do so with the pe…
Does the hon. Member agree that the warning signs were there when Capita failed on the TPS?
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 February 2026
Educational Outcomes: Disadvantaged Boys and Young Men
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) on securing this incredibly important debate.
Education should be the great leveller in this country, but for too many disadvantaged boys and young men it is drasticall…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 February 2026
Town and City Centre Safety
I appreciate that this is a slightly different issue but, with empty properties on high streets and absent landlords not contributing to our communities, crime is taking place in those buildings in Stafford, and local authorities do not have the powers they need to take them back from absentee landl…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 January 2026
Animal Welfare Strategy for England
I feel the need to say that, like 52% of the population, I am a dog owner myself—I have the wonderful Nico Ingham—and I was so pleased to see that the Government will consult on introducing a registration scheme for dog breeders to get rid of dodgy breeders and puppy farms, which many of my constitu…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 January 2026
ADHD Diagnosis
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this incredibly important debate. He is right to raise the issue of ADHD waiting lists, and the Health Secretary is right to commission the review, which is needed, into rising demand. Does my hon. Friend agree that the right response is to understand and then fix…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 January 2026
Offshore Wind
Despite representing an entirely landlocked constituency, offshore wind matters greatly to me, as the largest employer in Stafford, GE Vernova, produces critical components for the sector. Can the Secretary of State assure me that any and all future manufacturing requirements for this sector will re…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 January 2026
Northern Powerhouse Rail
I understand why the Secretary of State has today taken the sensible long-term decision on the future capacity needs on the west coast main line, but for residents in Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages, who have had 17 years of worrying, it means more years of worrying for them. Can she assure me…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
12 January 2026
Topical Questions
Several prominent buildings in Stafford have been left vacant for long periods, with landlords allowing sites to fall into disrepair with no intention of bringing them up to standard. Labour-led Stafford borough council is trying to act proactively to tackle these eyesores, but what advice and suppo…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 January 2026
Road Safety Strategy
I thank the Minister for her statement and I welcome the strategy, particularly its focus on speed management. While icy and ungritted roads currently make speeding less of an issue, thanks to the Reform-led county council’s failure to grit roads across large parts of my constituency, excessive spee…