Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 January 2026
Ukraine and Wider Operational Update
Given that what is proposed today is a peacekeeping force, does the Secretary of State wonder, as I do, when the leader of Reform will cease his adulation of Putin, ensure that there are no further traitors among his ranks, support the peace process in Ukraine and stand up for British interests?
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Warm Home Discount
9. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending the warm home discount on levels of fuel poverty.
I greatly welcome these cuts to forthcoming bills. Notwithstanding those potential improvements, many of my constituents in Roche, for example, live in areas not connected to the mains gas grid, and the initial outlay associated with implementing renewable technologies can be prohibitively expensive…
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief
I thank the Minister for his considered engagement with rural Labour MPs such as myself on this issue from the get-go. I also thank farmers—at least in my part of Cornwall—for their dignified engagement at what I know has been a difficult time. Does the Minister agree that where we have landed now s…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
15 December 2025
Topical Questions
Given the recent further estimates putting the total cost of the war in Ukraine to the European economy at north of $1 billion a year, while the total allied commitment to Ukraine remains at about $100 billion a year, does the Secretary of State agree that we cannot but afford to go further in our s…
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Economic Growth: Rural Areas
Cornish communities and small and medium-sized enterprises in the supply chains of Cornwall’s most promising industries alike will have been delighted by the Chancellor’s announcement of the Kernow industrial growth fund in the recent Budget. Does the Chief Secretary to the Treasury agree that those…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 December 2025
7 contributions
Digital ID
Will the hon. Lady give way on that point?
Like many Members who have spoken today, I have received a lot of representations from constituents to speak in opposition to digital ID. It would have been easy enough, given my own personal level of comfort with digital ID, to have let today’s debate pass me by. As my constituents will know, this …
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
2 December 2025
2 contributions
Budget Resolutions
Does the right hon. Member care to remind us how much the NHS strikes cost under his Government’s watch?
On the subject of today’s debate—investment and renewal—may I express my delight at the establishment of a local, publicly owned investment fund for Cornwall? It is only by investing in the SMEs and supply chains that underlie our most promising industries that we will ensure that the benefits of gr…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 December 2025
Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts
Does my right hon. Friend agree that some of the real-world and market impacts we saw last week underscore the importance of following proper process with the OBR? We saw the evidence to the contrary just three years ago, when the then Government chose to ignore and bypass the OBR entirely, causing …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 November 2025
Critical Minerals Strategy
As chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on critical minerals, I greatly welcome the strategy released this weekend. Domestic supplies of critical minerals are of huge importance to our economic security and resilience in an ever more turbulent world. They are also a potential source of jobs…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Migration: Settlement Pathway
I welcome the Home Secretary’s statement, the care and fairness with which she has crafted the proposals, and the incentives that they instil. In my work on the International Development Committee, I have seen the immense negative impact of global displacement and the loss of over $20 billion of eco…
Commons
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
2 contributions
Transport System: Economic Growth
18. What steps she is taking to help ensure that the transport system supports economic growth.
I am grateful to the Secretary of State for the recent boost to the local transport grant for my constituents in mid-Cornwall, but one of the barriers to more transformative rail investment in Cornwall remains a lack of shovel-ready projects to proceed with, which I have been talking about with resi…
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
Energy
The hon. Member is making a spirited speech that gets to the heart of what we are all trying to address. There are fiscal levers that we can pull to ensure that we bring down bills. Does he share my sense of disbelief about the irony in the Conservatives’ earlier motion suggesting that there should …
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
2 contributions
Taxes
The hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) makes a fair point. When raising public revenue, one should at least expect a decent return on that spend, whether it be a social return or otherwise. Does the right hon. Member not consider investing in our NHS to be such a decent return?
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for giving way again. Will he acknowledge the massive dead-weight loss caused by the strikes that were going on, unbelievably, under the previous Government, and the negative returns as a result of the previous Government’s actions?
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Rural Railway Stations: Step Free Access
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) for securing this important debate. Accessibility on our railways is not simply a question of engineering and infrastructure development; it speaks to the kind of society that we wan…
I certainly agree that the Department for Transport and Network Rail must look where there are gaps in funding those schemes to see what can be done to help plug those gaps. As we have heard from hon. Members across the Chamber, the Access for All scheme has sadly come to represent the kind of pork …
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Business Rates: Affordability for SMEs
Despite representing only around 9% of the UK’s economic output, the retail and hospitality sectors contribute around a third of all business rates paid. Does the Minister agree that high streets such as that in St Austell are public goods, and will he ensure that independent small businesses such a…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Official Development Assistance Reductions
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond.
Official development assistance is changing. Just two weeks ago in Nigeria, one of the UK’s largest development partners, my colleagues and I from the International Development Committee had a glimpse of the future. Although the FCDO r…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
3 November 2025
2 contributions
Defence Sector Innovation
16. What steps he is taking to increase innovation in the defence sector.
While I greatly welcome the focus on innovation, cyber-warfare remains one of the areas in which the lines of responsibility may at least appear to be less clear. Given the threats that are proliferating—both abroad, for instance from Russia and the Sahel, and closer to home, even in many of our own…
Commons
Debate
30 October 2025
Property Service Charges
While we have heard countless examples of grievances about property service charges today, for many residents, this ultimately boils down to one fundamental issue: disparity. Far be it from me to play devil’s advocate for a broken sector—a market failure—but some residents do face affordable service…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Business of the House
The Leader of the House may have heard my question earlier today to the Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade, my hon. Friend the Member for East Renfrewshire (Blair McDougall), regarding the financing of Cornwall’s industrial potential. Will he meet me and Cornish MPs to discuss how we ca…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
30 October 2025
2 contributions
Industrial Strategy
9. What recent progress he has made on implementing the industrial strategy.
Cornwall has a huge role to play in making Britain a clean energy superpower. As Ministers will be aware, much thought has already gone into the making of an industrial strategy for Cornwall. The crucial piece now is to unlock the funding needed for industrial and economic development, particularly …
Commons
Proceedings
29 October 2025
Gaza and Hamas
Both in Gaza, where grassroots peacebuilders will face the immense task of reconciliation, and here at home, where debate has become dangerously polarised, the peace plan and the two-state solution remain the only credible path forward, and we must all be absolutely clear in condemning Hamas, who ha…
Commons
Westminster Hall
27 October 2025
Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay
When we talk about maternity and paternity pay, we are also talking about crucial economic infrastructure—the systems that underpin participation, equality, productivity and, crucially, growth. As my hon. Friend the Member for Burton and Uttoxeter (Jacob Collier) put it, it is a public good, not a p…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
2 contributions
Grassroots Sports Facilities
9. What steps her Department plans to take to help increase access to grassroots sport facilities.
Access to sport is vital for not only our public health, but fostering a sense of community and reducing antisocial behaviour. Yet in St Austell, many of the astroturf facilities, such as the great one at Penrice school, cannot be used after dark because they lack floodlights. Will the Minister look…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
15 September 2025
Topical Questions
Last week, our US allies pulled back from the Global Engagement Centre their international effort to tackle cyber-threats. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that our democracy is protected from foreign interference, cyber-threats and misinformation?
Commons
Oral Questions
4 September 2025
Bathing Waters: Pollution
I welcome the fact that the rolling reporting of dry-day spills has become mandatory under our Government, but it has unfortunately laid bare the track record of South West Water, which is among the worst offenders on dry-day spills. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that companies such as…