Commons
Debate
14 July 2026
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Amendment)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to omit section 37 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; to provide that the Sovereign, the Royal Family, the Royal Household, the Royal Archives and the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster are public authorities for the purposes of that Act; an…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
Topical Questions
Many councils, especially Brighton and Hove, with hundreds of acquisitions since 2017, are doing their best to buy, as well as build, their supply of new council housing. More family homes can be provided, and the speed of the benefits gives it a different Treasury business case. Will the Secretary …
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
11 June 2026
2 contributions
Road Investment Strategy 3: Reducing Danger
9. What steps she is taking to reduce road danger through the third road investment strategy.
The Secretary of State’s new third road investment strategy requires a reduction of only 7.5% in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the strategic road network by 2031, yet meeting the 2035 target in the road safety strategy requires a reduction of about 55% across England’s roads by…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 June 2026
2 contributions
Progression of Bills through Parliament
Many thanks, Sir Edward, for your firm chairing today, which I now look forward to. I sincerely thank the petitioners, and particularly Sophie Blake for all the work she does and for a very well put petition. I also thank Nathaniel Dye, and I had the genuine honour of meeting him and seeing his work…
I quite agree. It was courageous of the House to take on this issue, consider it and then vote. We put our names to positions that we came to with some courage, I think, because we all knew there were people who felt very strongly the opposite way, whichever way we voted.
On the principle—on this a…
Commons
Debate
3 June 2026
General Strike Centenary Commemorations
Huge thanks go to the hon. Member for Birmingham Northfield (Laurence Turner) for leading this important debate with such an important speech. It is great to speak today. It is right that we honour our local struggles when we talk about the general strike and ensure that we cement them in our own lo…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
2 contributions
Press Malpractice
4. What steps her Department is taking to help protect the public from press malpractice.
Last month, a national newspaper intruded on the privacy of one of the families bereaved by the meningitis outbreak, publishing information that the family had asked to be kept private. In opposition, Labour promised independent regulation of the press to curb this awful behaviour, so when exactly w…
Commons
Committee Stage
14 April 2026
3 contributions
Courts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)
Tim Crosland’s point was that the Government are, in effect, abolishing the principle of jury equity. Can the Minister tell us that we cannot ever expect a judge to triage a case based on the fact that the true interests of justice might lie with a defendant relying on the principle of jury equity? …
The Minister has made many points about magistrates court hearings being as fair, but she seems to have forgotten the amount of evidence we heard during the oral evidence sessions. Witnesses acknowledged that magistrate court hearings were “rough and ready” and “rough around the edges”, that mistake…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
14 April 2026
4 contributions
Courts and Tribunals Bill (Third sitting)
It is great to see you in the Chair today, Ms Jardine. I oppose clause 1 and its many implications for justice. It takes away the defendant’s right to elect a trial by jury for all either-way offences, which, according to the Bill’s impact assessment, will reduce jury trials by half. That is no mino…
The Scottish Green party is a separate party from the Green party of England and Wales, so I cannot vouch for its policies. However, the Green party’s justice policies look in the round at what is effective in reducing crime, rehabilitating offenders and improving society, based on evidence. I am su…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
26 March 2026
Transport Accessibility for Disabled People
I thank the Select Committtee Chair sincerely for the “Access denied” report, which painted a bleak picture of legislative loopholes and lacklustre political will from consecutive Governments when it comes to addressing the huge list of barriers faced by disabled people when accessing public transpo…
Commons
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
2 contributions
Visa Brake: Chevening Scholars
14. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the introduction of the visa brake on Chevening scholars.
Including prestigious Chevening scholarships in the Government’s clampdown on certain study visas is devastating for those who have been shortlisted, including students who are set to join our world-leading programmes at Sussex University. It raises questions about the value that the Government put …
Commons
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
2 contributions
Air Pollution
3. What steps she is taking to help reduce air pollution.
I published the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill, also known as Ella’s law, this month alongside the Ella Roberta Foundation, Mums for Lungs, Clean Air in London, Asthma and Lung UK and Global Action Plan. Together, we affirmed that the right to breathe clean air is a fundamental human right. Does the …
Commons
Debate
18 March 2026
9 contributions
Fuel Duty
Our current and persistent reliance on oil for transport, rising costs as a result of instability in the middle east, and the ongoing fuel duty freeze, all have consequences for people who use any form of transport in their daily lives. I agree with the Government—and with the many Back Benchers who…
My speech will continue to put the case for alternative interventions that will help everybody in every family in the constituencies mentioned.
Campaign for Better Transport has pointed out to the Chancellor that the total cost of cancelling all the planned increases to fuel duty in line with the r…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
10 March 2026
Courts and Tribunals Bill
It was a privilege to be here for the powerful and effective speech from the hon. Member for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols).
When literally thousands of venerable members of the legal profession are saying so clearly that jury trial restrictions will not be effective or practical and may be c…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 March 2026
Spring Forecast
The result in Gorton and Denton shows that voters want bolder action from politicians against sky-high privatised bills and rents and want no families to be left struggling in poverty. Will the Chancellor listen and scrap her dysfunctional fiscal rules, starting with scrapping the overall family ben…
Commons
Debate
24 February 2026
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
I pay tribute to all the young women who have risked so much to stand up and push for justice in relation to the vile and corrupt web around the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, and to the crimes and abuse that they suffered as children.
Let me turn to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Transparency …
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
3 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
The Government should have brought this Bill forward as soon as they were elected 19 months ago, but they failed to do so. They could have listened to the families and children—with more than 200,000 children affected—enduring the overall benefit cap before making their final plans, but they failed …
I thank the right hon. Gentleman sincerely for that intervention. When I raised this matter on Second Reading, Ministers gave answers that echoed, rather horribly, the prejudicial, stereotypical arguments that we heard moments ago from the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for South West Devo…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 February 2026
Standards in Public Life
A Government in thrall to men and corporations drunk on power is the rot at the centre of the Mandelson scandal. When people operate in the shadows, they think they can act with impunity. Of all seven Nolan principles, openness can help to build back the most trust. Does the Chief Secretary to the P…
Commons
Oral Questions
Science, Innovation and Technology
4 February 2026
Topical Questions
T4. Despite all that President Trump is doing to wreck global stability, our Government still spend billions a year on digital technology contracts, including with US tech giants. Will the Secretary of State immediately put together a UK digital sovereignty strategy to build our resilience and secur…
Commons
Debate
3 February 2026
3 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
The Government have drawn this Bill too narrowly. It will, as Members have mentioned several times, leave at least 150,000 children in larger families with no extra help at all. For example, Maryam, highlighted by the Z2K charity, is a lone parent of three. She fled from domestic abuse and relies on…
I thank the hon. Member for pointing out yet again that some of us in this House voted to move on this issue many, many months ago, and it is about time that the Government caught up.
I utterly reject the racist agenda of Reform’s objections. The fact is that the Bill is not wrong, but it fails to …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
3 February 2026
2 contributions
Protest-related Offences: Remand
11. If he will take steps to reduce the length of time people are held on remand for protest-related offences.
I am disappointed that the Minister has not acknowledged the real harm and suffering that is going on, which is an obvious consequence of the escalation by Ministers of the number of crimes with which people taking protest action are being charged. Does he not agree that incarcerating people for lon…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 January 2026
Police Reform White Paper
Will the Home Secretary give us some clarity on the bespoke legal framework on police AI, please? Will its scope be commendably narrow, getting police use of facial recognition under control while clearly outlawing other uses, which would match the EU’s AI Act, or will it be too narrow, leaving othe…
Commons
Debate
8 January 2026
High Street Gambling Reform
I give huge thanks to the hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) for proposing the motion. I was pleased to support the application for the debate. We have just heard an excellent case for action and some really clear examples of the harm that gambling causes. I am also a member of the APPG on gam…
Commons
Debate
7 January 2026
Jury Trials
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I am also grateful for the motion and for the opportunity to object, cross-party, to the restrictions on our important rights to a trial by jury. I was, however, hoping that the Conservatives would, in this debate, admit some real responsibility fo…
Commons
Debate
9 December 2025
2 contributions
Railways Bill
The Green party welcomes the Bill. It is right in principle to end the failed, long experiment in surrendering public services to the private market.
We are pleased to see an extended role for the passenger watchdog set out in the Bill, and clear requirements for business plans and strategies to be…
To the credit of those on the Conservative Front Bench, one line in the reasoned amendment mentions the need for a duty to grow passenger numbers. A number of hon. Members across the House have mentioned that today. Will the Minister come back to the House on the question of a duty to raise passenge…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 December 2025
3 contributions
Digital ID
Thank you for your excellent chairing, Sir Edward. I hope the Government have been given serious pause by the 2.9 million signatures on this petition, over 5,000 of which were from constituents in Brighton Pavilion. So many people are right to be so concerned, because such a scheme carries extreme r…
People might have heard the Government claiming that other countries have had digital ID for many years and then heard about the security flaws in the Estonian system or the hackers in Estonia, India, Norway and Poland who have created enormous data breaches. I have dwelled a lot on state power, but…
+1 more contribution in this session