Commons
Westminster Hall
29 October 2025
Vehicle Headlight Glare Standards
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I join other hon. Members in commending the hon. Member for Crawley (Peter Lamb) for bringing this very important topic to Westminster Hall and, indeed, for his impressive efforts in getting media coverage before the debate had even occurre…
Commons
Westminster Hall
29 October 2025
6 contributions
International Baccalaureate: Funding in State Schools
I beg to move,
That this House has considered funding for the International Baccalaureate in state schools.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger. The international baccalaureate—which I will henceforth refer to as the IB, but I hate acronyms, so I wanted to say it properly to …
My hon. Friend makes a valuable point and articulately summarises the wide range of choice in schools that there is separately from the IB. He is right to mention the Europa School in Culham in my constituency; I will say more about that school later and explain why it is so important to the Governm…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 October 2025
Connected and Automated Vehicles
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank the hon. Member for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes) for bringing up this very important topic, which as a species we have been grappling with for a couple of decades, so that we can talk about how to deal with it in the UK. It was interes…
Commons
Westminster Hall
27 October 2025
3 contributions
Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I commend the hon. Member for Burton and Uttoxeter (Jacob Collier) for his eloquent and emotionally intelligent speech. Just over a year ago, the campaign group The Dad Shift came the Parliament. I was grilled by teachers and students fro…
My hon. Friend makes the very liberal point that we should always remember that everyone’s individual and family circumstances are different; it is important that the British state recognises that individuality, rather than expecting everyone to fit on a convenient spreadsheet.
To make some of the …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 October 2025
Heathrow: National Airports Review
I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, which made the Government’s intent of supporting the proposed third runway at Heathrow very clear. It was good to hear her recognise the complexity of all that will be needed to deliver it, including major diversionary works on two of the country’s b…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
2 contributions
Patient Access to GPs
11. What recent steps he has taken to increase access to GP appointments.
Great Western Park has added 3,000 homes to Didcot, in my Oxfordshire constituency, and Valley Park, which is under construction, will add 4,000 more. However, the new GP surgery promised in 2008 remains a barren patch of land and existing facilities cannot cope. The integrated care board is support…
Commons
Debate
15 October 2025
5 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Global demand for aviation continues to grow; it is projected to be two or three times bigger by 2050. In 2024, there was a record rate of increase in carbon emissions, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, and there was a new daily record for global aviation emissions in July 2025. Ne…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
3 contributions
International Rail Services: Ashford
Given what the hon. Gentleman says about the decision to sell off the stake in Eurostar, does he feel that his own party—now very much in government—should reverse it and directly invest in international rail services?
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I commend the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) for securing this important debate. She, along with nearly everybody in the room, rightly made clear the pride they take in Kent and East Sussex. She rightly highlighted the…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
3 September 2025
Engagements
Q11. On a recent visit to the UK Space Agency, based in my Oxfordshire constituency, I learned of the huge value created by our space sector, generating more than £7 for every £1 invested. Given the Government’s decision to scrap the UKSA as an executive agency, will the Prime Minister guarantee its…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 September 2025
Pavement Parking
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire) for securing this important debate, which builds on some themes that were discussed in a Westminster Hall debate a few months ago on the subject of walking and cyclin…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
West Coast Main Line
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I commend the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Connor Naismith) for securing the debate and for his wide-ranging introductory speech.
The hon. Member told us that 70 million passengers a year and 40% of freight use the west coast main …
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 July 2025
Northern Ireland Veterans: Prosecution
I join the hon. Member in paying tribute to our armed forces. He has made some very good points, but does he not accept that the Act that he is defending, and that the Government are committed to repealing, has been opposed by all major political parties in Northern Ireland? Is it not important, whe…
Commons
Proceedings
3 July 2025
Phone Theft
I thank the hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) for securing this debate and the Backbench Business Committee for granting it. Along with the hon. Members for Dewsbury and Batley (Iqbal Mohamed) and for Stratford and Bow (Uma Kumaran), she spoke eloquently of the emotional impact of a stolen ph…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
NHS 10-Year Plan
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement and his previous answer on dentistry, but I will push him a little further. My constituency, along with all of Oxfordshire, is an NHS dental desert. Having met with dental providers, they say that the key to changing that is reforming the NHS dental c…
Commons
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
Topical Questions
T4. I recently visited the Cornermen project in my Oxfordshire constituency. Based at South Moreton boxing club, it provides professional mental health support for men in a sporting environment. Does the Minister agree that sports and leisure can open the door to mental health provision? What more c…
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
3 contributions
Department for Transport
I praise and thank the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) for her wide-ranging opening speech to this important debate. I also thank the Backbench Business Committee for giving time for it.
There is much to welcome in the spending review announcements for transport, particularly…
My hon. Friend is quite correct. Having previously worked on this subject in my past life, modelling of acceleration shows that electrically hauled freight is transformative compared with diesel, and it enables more to be hauled, making the most of the limited capacity that we have.
Let me give an …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
12 June 2025
Long-term Medical Conditions
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I follow other hon. Members in congratulating the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley) on bringing this vital topic to the House and sharing his insight from his many decades of medical practice as well as the trib…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
10 June 2025
2 contributions
Grid Capacity
13. What steps he is taking to increase grid capacity
In my Oxfordshire constituency of Didcot and Wantage, sites at Culham, Harwell campus and Milton Park host a growing range of scientific and high-tech businesses, including a proposed artificial intelligence growth zone at Culham. Major housing growth also continues, and the new Valley Park developm…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 June 2025
2 contributions
Police Presence on High Streets
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss—for the first time, in my case. I pay sincere and warm tribute to the hon. Member for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton) for her passionate speech and her huge dedication to the great work that has gone on in her constituency to tackle…
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention— [ Interruption. ] Well, I will answer in good time. Of course it would not be a debate in this place without him having a pop at the Liberal Democrats in Government. As he will appreciate from the many councils where Labour is in coalition with the Li…
Commons
Debate
2 June 2025
Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords]
It is great to see this Bill come to the Commons. I applaud its desire to improve the quality and availability of bus services. Buses are at the core of our public transport system and are often wrongly neglected in favour of what some—although definitely not me—would describe as sexier and more all…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
2 June 2025
2 contributions
Qualifying Period for Settlement
15. Whether her proposal to increase the standard qualifying period for settlement to 10 years would apply retrospectively.
Kamala moved to the UK in 2021 as a skilled worker in my Oxfordshire constituency. They worked to discover novel drugs for diseases with no current treatment. They are an additional rate taxpayer and have made many professional and personal ties here. The sudden increase to the qualifying period fro…
Commons
Oral Questions
22 May 2025
2 contributions
Sports Facilities: Areas of Housing Growth
8. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the provision of sporting facilities in areas of housing growth.
In my Oxfordshire constituency, local authorities want to support the provision of major leisure facilities for our growing population, including in the new estates in north-east Didcot, Valley Park and Wantage Kingsgrove. However, they have not found it possible to secure enough funding from develo…
Commons
Committee Stage
13 May 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill (Sixth sitting)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I thank the Minister for speaking to this clause, and I am pleased to say that the Liberal Democrat Benches are keen to support it. I am also pleased to agree with the Conservative spokesperson on this, although I was disappointed to hear t…
I am conscious that we are reaching that time in the afternoon when we may be feeling a little fatigued, so I shall attempt to keep my remarks concise. First, it is important to bear in mind in this discussion that the Minister’s and the Government’s desire to take action to increase our ability to …
Commons
Debate
8 May 2025
St George’s Day and English Affairs
Allow me to start by thanking the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) for proposing this debate and congratulating him on his excellent introductory speech. He talked about the importance of seeing the flag of St George as a positive, and avoiding the temptation in some quarters to dem…
Commons
Proceedings
8 May 2025
Environmental Audit Committee
I commend the hon. Member for the quality of the Committee’s first report of this Parliament. The National Trust has warned that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is a “licence to kill nature” and the Office for Environmental Protection has advised the Government that it is a “regression” in envi…