Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 December 2025
National Plan to End Homelessness
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing forward this welcome strategy, to which I know she is personally committed. There is a long-term ambition in the strategy to reduce the number of days of school missed by children in temporary accommodation, but is there a specific target for that? On data transpa…
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
10 December 2025
Topical Questions
T5. There is a massive problem with childcare for mothers doing PhDs. Even if they are fully funded for their university research, essentially by the Government, they will not be eligible for free childcare hours and that affects both parents. The average PhD stipend is just £15,000 a year, but the …
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
3 contributions
AI Safety
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Butler. I thank the hon. Member for Dewsbury and Batley (Iqbal Mohamed) for securing this debate.
There are two problems—maybe three—with AI. The first is that we do not distinguish very well between what is and is not AI. Although AI and tech are…
Does the hon. Lady agree that we should be looking hard at the EU’s regulation in this area, and considering alignment and whether there might be points on which we would like to go further?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
Child Poverty Strategy
Some 174,000 children live in temporary accommodation, at a cost of £2.2 billion, so I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to reducing those numbers. However, even if they were reduced dramatically, a lot of children would still face safeguarding problems. Eighty children died while living i…
Commons
Proceedings
4 December 2025
Business of the House
The No Tier Snooker Society in Congleton has brought joy to those living with early onset dementia and a supportive circle for their families. It is played with revised rules—hence the name—and is a model for initiatives in other areas. It was set up by Ian, with help from nurse Denise Parr, and I a…
Commons
Petition
3 December 2025
Sunday rail services in Congleton
I rise to present a petition on Sunday rail services in Congleton. In presenting this petition, I thank councillors from the progressive coalition on Congleton town council, Richard Eadie and the Congleton Sustainable Travel group for acquiring the relevant signatures.
The petitioners request the H…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 December 2025
Criminal Court Reform
I have immense sympathy for the difficult position that the Lord Chancellor and the many victims of crime in this country are in. There is, however, a category of offences relating to the right to protest—a right that has been restricted by multiple Governments over time. It is very important that w…
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
2 contributions
Budget Resolutions
Will the hon. Member give way?
My constituents may recall that I once started a speech in this place with the words “Potholes, potholes, potholes”—I thank the hon. Member for North Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller) for that glance of recognition. No one will be more delighted than the people of Congleton with the Chancellor’s announc…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 November 2025
Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations
Does my hon. Friend agree that journalists must also be given free access to Gaza and that it is important that international reporting resumes immediately?
Commons
Debate
20 November 2025
International Men’s Day
First, let me say an enormous thank you to my hon. Friends the Members for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) and for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) for talking so movingly about their own experiences. They are role models for us all.
Speaking of role models, if one saw what was on the television and on so…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Reoffending: Rehabilitation in Prisons
There is an epidemic of violence against women and girls in this country, and the Government have a stated aim of reducing that by 50%. In that context, it is critical that our prisons play their role in rehabilitation. Does the Chair of the Select Committee agree that with 70% of people being relea…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Migration: Settlement Pathway
I entirely agree that we need control of our borders in this country. In respect of transitional arrangements, over the next 12 years there will be an 83% increase in the number of over-80s in my constituency. Health and care visa workers are currently providing critical services to many of my const…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Asylum Policy
I thank the Home Secretary for her statement. There is currently a loophole in UK employment law that means that people who are self-employed are not subject to right-to-work checks, which means that many people work illegally in the gig economy, with no potential risk to their “non-employer”. Will …
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
We must of course solve the immediate problem of accidental releases, which are a huge issue. However, for longer-term planning, we have a very high vacancy rate in our prisons. I understand what the Secretary of State has said about the work on bringing that down, but will he look at the Justice Co…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 November 2025
3 contributions
Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights
Will my hon. Friend give way?
The only other country that has willingly left the ECHR is Greece, under the fascist military dictatorship in 1969. Of course, once the dictatorship was overthrown, it rejoined. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that that is not company that we wish to be in?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
2 contributions
Economic Growth: Congleton
3. What steps she is taking to help increase economic growth in Congleton constituency.
I thank the Chancellor for her answer. In my constituency, Dane Valley Community Energy, a marvellous group of volunteers, has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for solar panels on schools and other local buildings, including Daneside theatre and Havannah primary school. Unfortunately, recent G…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
3 November 2025
2 contributions
Defence Industrial Base
1. What steps he is taking to help strengthen the defence industrial base.
I recently visited Avocet, an innovative manufacturing company based in Holmes Chapel in my constituency. It is looking to grow its business by diversifying into supplying components and materials for drone battery production. However, it has expressed to me the potential for improved support and gu…
Commons
Westminster Hall
27 October 2025
5 contributions
Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay
Lots of people in the room will have heard me speak before about the fact that statutory paternity pay is so low that men commonly do not take it, and that shared parental leave is failing in that men do not take it up at all, particularly outside London. The result is that female work and participa…
I would like to add my voice to my hon. Friend’s call for Hugh’s law and ask him if Edie was okay.
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
21 October 2025
7 contributions
Sentencing Bill
I thank the hon. Member for Huntington (Ben Obese-Jecty) for speaking to his new clause, although I do not support it because the minimum needed to cause death by careless driving is a momentary lapse of concentration. Of course, he was talking about a death, and I am not suggesting for a moment tha…
I broadly agree with the hon. Member on the overall topic: we should look at whether those offences are dealt with with sufficient severity. I also agree that the impact on people’s families cannot be overstated.
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
21 October 2025
Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry
Ellie Reynolds has said that financial dependency has made people stay silent when they should speak, and also alleged that people on the panel were isolated by having contact with each other discouraged. The Minister has been extremely clear that this is a fully independent process and has not had …
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 October 2025
Ada Lovelace Day
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) so much for securing this important debate.
Other hon. Members have already outlined some fantastic initiatives to encourage women and girls in STEM. Such in…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 October 2025
Health and Social Care Committee
The statistics in this report and everything they reflect are completely shocking. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton) for bringing it forward on behalf of the Committee. Records at Leighton, my local hospital, show that work has been done on improving expe…
Commons
Debate
15 October 2025
Work for Serving Prisoners
My local women’s prison is HMP Styal, and my hon. Friend will be aware of the Clink Charity, which does work in developing people’s skills in hospitality. Its ability to operate in HMP Styal collapsed completely because, as there was such a shortage of prison officers, the women were locked up for s…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
2 contributions
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
I thank the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for opening this important debate, as well as everyone who signed the petition and those who filled in my survey on SEND matters this summer. The level of distress that the current system is causing to both children and their parents is difficu…
I agree with my hon. Friend; in fact, that is a matter I will come on to. The distress I see within this system is staggering. I see parents making decisions about taking their children to school, when they suspect that the school place might be damaging for their child, but they also strongly suspe…
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
Regional Transport Inequality
I was quite tempted to stand up this afternoon and just say the word “pothole” over and over again for three solid minutes, as the peculiarity of such an approach might really bring home to the Minister, who I know has been doing his best on these matters, quite how strongly my constituents feel abo…