Commons
Westminster Hall
14 January 2026
Horse and Rider Road Safety
I apologise for intervening so soon, but it is important to emphasise how significant this debate is. It is not a niche issue. During my career as a horse vet, I have stitched up and euthanised more horses that have been hit by cars than I can remember—they get broken legs and their owners are injur…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 January 2026
2 contributions
Science and Discovery Centres
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I congratulate the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden) on securing the debate. His absolutely fantastic speech got everyone really enthusiastic, riled up and excited about supporting science.
One reason I am here i…
I completely agree with the hon. Member. We are not here to support science centres just for themselves, just for the tourist industry or just for the economy. Some of the biggest challenges facing civilisation at the moment—global challenges such as climate change, antimicrobial resistance, risk of…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 January 2026
Ukraine and Wider Operational Update
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. It is really reaffirming to see the whole House express its unwavering support for Ukraine, and we hope our Ukrainian friends take heart from it. We have discussed this evening the heartbreaking situation of over 20,000 Ukrainian children abducted by…
Commons
Debate
7 January 2026
Rural Communities
One of the best things about the boundary changes at the last general election is that Winchester is now 60% rural. I spent many happy years driving around the countryside of the Meon valley treating horses. It is very obvious that the communities—the towns and the villages—in rural areas are cut of…
Commons
Debate
7 January 2026
Jury Trials
I have been contacted by so many KCs and criminal barristers in Winchester, one of whom is Rosemary Burns. The collective confusion is about why we are removing such a fundamental, entrenched constitutional principle, rather than focusing on crumbling courtrooms and courtrooms sitting empty due to t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Energy Costs: Businesses
2. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of supporting businesses with the cost of energy.
Small and medium-sized businesses are the absolute lifeblood of our economy. Many of them, including the amazing Bar Lento—a Spanish café in Winchester that I spend a lot of time in—are the beating hearts of our communities. The average electricity bill for a small business is now £240 a month, and …
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
5 January 2026
Rural Crime
Happy new year, Mr Speaker.
One crime that most concerns farmers in Hampshire and around the country is that of illegal meat imports. Last year, I visited the Port of Dover, where I was shown some of the illegal meat that had been seized. This is not only a public health issue; it puts the UK lives…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
15 December 2025
Topical Questions
The Army Training Regiment Winchester, which puts about 20% of new recruits through basic training, is due to be shut next July, but the replacement facility at Pirbright is not due to open until 2030 at the earliest, although apparently that might be delayed. We have corresponded on this briefly, b…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 December 2025
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. People will be hugely alarmed at the threat of more industrial action right before Christmas, and we cannot forget how we got here. We know that the previous Government under-resourced the NHS. It was overburdened, people felt underappreciated, and t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
AI Safety
On that point, I was alarmed to hear that one in three adults in the UK has relied on AI chatbots to get mental health advice and sometimes treatment. That is partly due to the long waiting lists and people looking for alternatives, but it is also due to a lack of regulation. These chatbots give pot…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 December 2025
Water Scarcity
This is the first time I have intervened on the hon. Member—it is normally the other way round. He mentioned climate change, and I was alarmed to read that last year Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service attended 197 outdoor fires and wildfires, which was one of the highest numbers in …
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
I thank Members across the House for the constructive way in which they have all contributed towards this long-awaited Bill. In the last 40 years, attitudes to mental health and the treatments available have changed significantly, so these reforms and updates are very much needed and very much suppo…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 December 2025
Terminal Illness: Mental Health Support
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I thank the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Rand) for securing this debate and for speaking so movingly and emotively.
I can only imagine the mixture of emotion someone feels when they receive a terminal diagnosis. We know t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 December 2025
Local Media
I want to give a big shout-out to the Hampshire Chronicle , which I write a monthly column for; that is one of the most vital ways to communicate with my constituents. I was speaking to the owner of the Meon Valley Times , which is a free service that anyone can access and is not behind a paywall. H…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
I, too, thank the Prime Minister for reaffirming his commitment to the Global Fund. I secured a Backbench Business debate about the fund last week, so we really do appreciate that.
The Army Training Regiment Winchester trains about 20% of new recruits, putting them through basic training. I was the…
Commons
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
Topical Questions
T3. Reports that one in three adults have been relying on chatbots and artificial intelligence tools for mental health advice and therapy are concerning, because those tools are currently unregulated and potentially dangerous. One reason why people are using them is that mental health waiting lists …
Commons
Debate
20 November 2025
Injury in Service Award
There has been a lot of discussion about police officers and other emergency service workers injured in the line of work, and there has been some mention of issues such as PTSD and other mental health issues. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to see those as being just as important? The experie…
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 November 2025
3 contributions
Suicide: Reducing the Stigma
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney) for securing this hugely important debate. I thank all the Members who have spoken today, especially the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury), who was vulnerable and h…
I will—the hon. Gentleman caught me two seconds before I finished.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
6 contributions
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Government support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. It is 2025, and we find ourselves discussing whether the United Kingdom will continue supporting an organisation tha…
The hon. Member is completely right about the work that voluntary and church groups do on global public health.
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
30 October 2025
2 contributions
Moles: Histological Testing
It is an honour to serve under your chairpersonship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Members for South Norfolk (Ben Goldsborough) and for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) on securing this debate. I wish the hon. Member for South Norfolk all the best in his treatment. I have to say, it was hugely …
I totally agree with those comments.
I will finish by paying tribute to one of my friends from vet school, Polly Birch. She was diagnosed with a melanoma in 2016 and had it removed, but in 2017, a few months after giving birth to her baby girl, Ada, she discovered it was metastatic, and she passed …
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
Support for Disabled Veterans
On the Mental Health Bill Committee, we spoke repeatedly about veterans experiencing mental ill health, often linked to trauma from their service. They often end up in a system that does not recognise their trauma and what they have been through. Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be a good ide…
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 October 2025
3 contributions
Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank the hon. Member for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) for securing this really important debate.
We have a lot of medical professionals in the room. It might surprise colleagues that, although I am a rudimentary vet, we treat fatty liver…
Fantastic. Hopefully it will improve people’s mental health—and if they leave halfway through, it will probably improve their physical health, too. That is a fantastic initiative.
Other Members have talked about the soaring rate of liver deaths, which has shot up in the last 20 years. The hon. Memb…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
27 October 2025
2 contributions
Carer’s Allowance
5. How many people are in receipt of carer’s allowance.
We all know that carers give everything to care for their loved ones—physically, emotionally and financially. The Government received the carer’s allowance report three months ago, and under Lib Dem pressure have agreed to publish it by the end of the year. Do we know how many carers will be unfairl…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
2 contributions
SEND Provision
5. What steps her Department is taking to help improve the SEND system.
In 2024, fewer than half of education, health and care plans were issued within the 20-week limit. Five months is a huge chunk of a child’s life, and parents of Winchester tell me every single week about how hard they have to fight to get the support that their child needs and is entitled to. What s…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Ukraine
Earlier this year, I joined a brilliant organisation called Mighty Convoy to drive some refurbished ambulances full of medical supplies to Ukraine. While we were there, we bumped into another organisation called FIRE AID that takes refurbished fire engines to Ukraine from the UK. That equipment is v…