Commons
Westminster Hall
11 November 2025
Alcohol Duty: UK Wine Sector
The hon. Member is making a fantastic speech, and I agree with everything that he is saying. West Dorset is blessed with 11 fantastic small vineyards. For most of them, the primary route to market is through local shops and rural pubs. Does he agree that unless we raise the threshold to create equal…
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
5 November 2025
Topical Questions
T2. Due to the rural nature of West Dorset, SEND children face difficulty accessing education. I have casework of a young girl with a stroke whose transport was withdrawn two days beforehand. Will the Minister work with other Departments to solve the problem of SEND children accessing education in r…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 November 2025
Fresh and Nutritious Food: Inequality of Access
I wonder whether the root of the solution is for local authorities and schools to have mandatory minimum purchases from local producers, thereby giving local farmers a supply chain into the local area and providing fresh food for children.
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
Supporting High Streets
On business rates, coastal communities such as West Dorset are heavily reliant on hospitality for providing jobs—over 6,000 locally—and it is vital to our tourism economy. The George in West Bay has seen its business rates go from £8,000 to £27,000, which basically ends any chance of its making a pr…
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Topical Questions
T2. In her speech this morning, the Chancellor said that she must make necessary choices ahead of the Budget. Will those choices once again come at the expense of rural communities such as West Dorset, or will she commit to reviewing the funding model to ensure that rurality is a funding metric, alo…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. He mentioned the importance of investing in funds to protect our security. He will know better than anyone that malign-influence powers such as Russia and China are eager to step into the void that we leave when we withdraw our aid. Do…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 November 2025
6 contributions
Official Development Assistance Reductions
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the impact of planned reductions in Official Development Assistance on international development.
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this important debate, and my co-sponsor…
I thank the hon. Member, who is my colleague on the Foreign Affairs Committee. His background and expertise in this area is unrivalled, and I agree 100% with his sentiment; it is money badly spent when we do not invest in conflict prevention. The decision to cut our official development assistance f…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
29 October 2025
Independent Lifeboats: Government Support
I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this important debate. He is being uncharacteristically modest in downplaying his involvement in setting up NILA; I congratulate him on that, too. He mentioned the volunteers. I wanted to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the volunteers in Lyme Regis …
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 October 2025
Connected and Automated Vehicles
Many moons ago, I was listening to a futurologist on the radio, a job that seems to involve mainly sitting on beanbags. He was talking about autonomous vehicles and was asked, “Is there anything that you think people should be thinking about on autonomous vehicles?” He said, “We’ve got to get used t…
Commons
Debate
15 October 2025
4 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
Sustainable aviation fuel offers us a route to decarbonise one of the most carbon-intensive industries and to secure the future of our aviation sector in a way that is compatible with our net zero goals. Climate change remains the greatest challenge of our time. It is an existential threat to us, ou…
I thank the hon. Member for her intervention. She managed to make a detailed speech sound like a backhanded compliment. I do not disagree with her point that we have several reporting standards, and my only counter-argument would be that I do not believe there can be too much transparency. If that r…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
15 October 2025
2 contributions
Jhoots Pharmacy
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care if he will make a statement on the adequacy of Jhoots as a pharmacy provider.
I would be grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker, if you could pass on my thanks to Mr Speaker for granting this urgent question. I thank the Minister for his response.
The collapse of service provision in some places, the constant closures in others and the general governance at Jhoots pharmacy, which op…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 October 2025
Community Helipads: Rural Access
I thank my hon. Friend for giving way and I want to use this opportunity to beg a favour of him, although I appreciate that the issue I want to address might not be the responsibility of this Minister. My hon. Friend has rightly highlighted the issue of the collection of patients. However, there is …
Commons
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
2 contributions
Housing Development Statutory Consultees: Water Companies
5. What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of requiring water companies to be statutory consultees for new housing developments.
Outdated sewer systems mix clean rainwater with sewage, polluting rivers and placing strains on outdated infrastructure. If the Government are intent on not making water companies statutory consultees, a national rainwater management strategy mandating rainwater harvesting on new homes and major ren…
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 October 2025
Bovine Tuberculosis Control and Badger Culling
I thank my hon. Friend for raising one of the most important points that is often lost in this debate: the enormous toll that this process takes on our farming community. That toll may be the constant culling or, more accurately, the constant cycle of testing, which is hugely expensive for farmers. …
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
Sentencing Bill
I cannot deny that clause 4 of the sentencing Bill is a step forward for victims, but I believe it can go further by specifically mentioning physical and psychological harm. Clause 4 amends the statutory purposes of sentencing to specifically include the protection of victims of crime, a measure rec…
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
3 contributions
Ambassador to the United States
The right hon. Gentleman mentioned that the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team produced a report that was presumably handed to the Prime Minister, and that was certainly done prior to the announcement. Does he agree that the Minister must tell us whether the Prime Minister read that report, an…
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
4 September 2025
2 contributions
International Law: Compliance
12. What steps she is taking to help ensure that the UK upholds international law.
By the end of September, more than 640,000 Gazans are projected to face catastrophic food insecurity, while the integrated food security phase classification predicts that a further 43,000 Palestinian children will be at severe risk of death from malnutrition by next year. The Government will have r…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 September 2025
Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund
I thank my hon. Friend for giving way, and for the passion with which she speaks about this subject.
I wanted to raise the case of my constituent, Jean, an adoptive mother who cared for a son who has foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and developmenta…
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
Property Taxes
Over half of UK farms have a net value of over £1.5 million. Farmers are already worried about the family farm tax and are now looking at the potential tax rises that the Government are floating for the upcoming Budget, including increased rates of inheritance tax and other forms of property taxes. …
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Use of Drones in Defence
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this important debate. Yesterday afternoon, we were in this Chamber discussing the battle of Britain, and we spoke at length about the reforms made prior to the second world war to the British military—especially to the Royal Air Force, including the use…
The hon. Member is right to point out the rapid change in drone technology in the field in Ukraine. We have also seen the deployment of artificial intelligence such that where drones are being jammed, the AI can take over and continue to lock on and have something in the region of a 70% success rate…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
2 contributions
Official Development Assistance Budget
1. What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of reductions to the official development assistance budget on UK-supported humanitarian and development programmes overseas.
Natural disasters like the earthquake in Jalalabad, recent wildfires and floods are becoming more and more frequent as a result of climate change. Support for Ukraine and for Gaza have survived the disastrous cuts to ODA, but what assessments has the Department made of the impact of ODA reductions o…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 September 2025
The Battle of Britain
In a similar vein, I pay tribute to the brave radio operators around the country, one of whom, in my constituency, was awarded the George Medal for staying at her post in the Sherborne post office, even after it was hit. It was thanks to the bravery of civilians such as Maude Steele that we were abl…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Middle East
The Foreign Secretary, in his statement, outlined all the steps that this Government have taken against the Netanyahu Government. He has also repeatedly said that the UK has done everything it can. In my mind, both are tacit admittances of defeat, as we have seen the Netanyahu Government increase th…
Commons
Oral Questions
1 September 2025
2 contributions
Remote PIP Assessments
15. If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the number of remote personal independence payment assessments on claimants in West Dorset constituency.
Many West Dorset constituents have written to me with deep anxiety about the assessment for personal independence payments, and especially the use of remote assessments. One constituent, despite previously being awarded enhanced PIP, has endured months of repeated phone assessments, which have trigg…
Commons
Proceedings
22 July 2025
Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery
The closure of Prax Lindsey oil refinery is deeply troubling, with up to 1,000 jobs at risk across the supply chain. It is a devastating blow to workers, their families and the communities that rely on the refinery. We need a clear strategy to support those whose livelihood is in jeopardy. That mean…