Commons
Debate
5 November 2025
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill
Everyone accepts that we need to keep a handle on fraud, but the powers being taken in the Bill, including DWP access to people’s private bank accounts, go much further than anything we have seen in the past. Can we trust the DWP to exercise these sweeping new powers in a fair and responsible way? U…
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
Victims and Courts Bill
This Bill’s support for domestic abuse survivors is very welcome, but it is only half the story. In Horsham, one of my constituents arrived at court to see her abuser stand trial, only to be told at the courthouse door that the case had been pulled due to a lack of capacity. That trial was delayed f…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 October 2025
Asylum Seekers: Support and Accommodation
We would all like to see an end to the use of hotels, which is both wasteful and very unpopular in local communities. However, would the hon. and learned Member agree that the long-term solution to that, releasing pressure across the entire system, is a proper returns agreement with as many countrie…
Commons
Debate
15 October 2025
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
As my hon. Friend says, sustainable aviation fuels are being used by the Government to justify major airport expansions. One such expansion would be at Gatwick, adjacent to my constituency. A target of 10% SAF by 2030 is optimistic in the extreme, as the Climate Change Committee said. If the Governm…
Commons
Debate
13 October 2025
3 contributions
Baby Loss
I pay tribute to all the moving speeches we have heard so far tonight.
There are few losses in life more devastating than that of a child—it is every parent’s greatest fear—but when a baby dies just as life is beginning, at the very moment when joy and expectation are at their highest, the pain is …
I thank my hon. Friend and fellow Sussex MP for her intervention, and I very much agree with her. Donna is a midwife herself, and she has been personally involved with the families in Sussex.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
2 contributions
New Housing Developments: Infrastructure
4. What steps he plans to take to ensure that new housing developments have adequate access to infrastructure.
In my constituency, we have seen promises of new schools and clinics repeatedly broken, but in every case it was not the developer or local council that let people down but national bodies such as the Department for Education and integrated care boards. They do it to save money by cramming more kids…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
My hon. Friend is right to point out all the problems. We are going to hear a lot about problems; there are also solutions. In my constituency, we have a wonderful school called Muntham House, which teaches high-needs autistic boys, 40% of whom go on to hold down a job and to be able to sustain them…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
2 contributions
Pavement Parking
12. What recent progress she has made on the development of policy on pavement parking.
Will the Minister assure us that any enforcement powers will be extended to local authorities, not just the police, in order to make any regulations effective? Alongside that, will he reassure us that local authorities will have the power to make exceptions in areas where such restrictions would be …
Commons
Debate
10 September 2025
Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords]
I will speak mainly to new clauses 32 and 33 in my name.
There is a lot to like in the Bill, but it is at its weakest where it touches on rural areas. That is a great shame, because if we could solve transport, we could also solve the rural productivity problem. Economic inactivity is nearly two-an…
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
Hospitality Sector
This morning I received a letter from Kelly Mariner, the manager of an independent coffee shop in my constituency of Horsham. She said:
“Since the last Budget I have been unable to hire new staff and cannot grow my business. I am spending every day doing the job I love in front of the customers, bu…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
SEND Provision: South-east England
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. Since my election last year, I have visited most of the schools in my constituency. That has been one of the nicest parts of my new job, but it has been less nice to hear about the tremendous pressure that schools face in coping with the ev…
Commons
Debate
9 July 2025
3 contributions
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
I rise to speak in support of amendment 36. Over the past weeks, I have met numerous disability organisations, from Parkinson’s UK to Action for ME, and heard directly from those living with complex fluctuating conditions. I have also seen the impact at first hand as an employer of people with long-…
I cannot agree with the hon. Member, and I will partly explain why in a moment.
We need a more honest assessment of the overall financial situation that is being used to justify these drastic cuts, because the wrong diagnosis leads to the wrong solutions. The dramatic rise in PIP claimants is at le…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 July 2025
6 contributions
Neighbourhood Plans: Planning Decisions
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I thank the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) for drawing attention to this often-neglected area. For many years, planning has been the subject of intense argument and dispute, both locally and nationally. Part of that argument…
Not entirely, although I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. The standard method was intended as an objective way to calculate local housing targets. It is objective in the sense that it is mathematical. However, the question has to be asked: does it give appropriate targets? I would say it …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
8 July 2025
2 contributions
Court Backlog and Pre-trial Waiting Times
14. What steps she is taking to tackle the backlog in the courts.
In my constituency of Horsham, I have been asked to support a woman left in limbo regarding the trial of her ex-partner on a domestic abuse charge. When she was finally given a date, the trial was pulled as a result of an administrative error as she sat waiting in the courtroom. A new date was set f…
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
I have great respect for the experience and intelligence of the Ministers behind the Bill, but what we have left in front of us today is no more than a clumsy salvage operation. How on earth did we end up here? The Government say that the cost of disability benefit is spiralling out of control. They…
Commons
Debate
26 June 2025
Armed Forces Day
We owe a huge debt of thanks to the whole of the world war two generation, but I would like to pay special tribute to a remarkable local hero from my constituency, Jack Dark, the last surviving member of the Pathfinder squadron. The Pathfinders played a crucial role in world war two, flying ahead of…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
2 contributions
Recognition of the State of Palestine
13. What assessment he has made of the potential merits of recognising the state of Palestine.
What is happening in Gaza is hard enough to watch, but if we are to prevent the west bank from going the same way in a few years’ time, we must act today. Does the Minister agree that recognising the principle of a Palestinian state, without making any judgment for the moment on its borders, is the …
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
23 June 2025
Topical Questions
In her March Green Paper, the Secretary of State promised to provide an additional £1 billion in funding to help benefit claimants back into work, but only £400 million has actually been allocated, and even that will not come until 2028-29. We have heard some talk of efficiency savings, which is pra…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
23 June 2025
Personal Independence Payment
Recently I met Kathryn from my constituency who had to give up a £90,000-a-year job in order to care for her husband. With 150,000 carers set to lose their allowance due to PIP eligibility reforms, some of our country’s most hard-pressed households face losing £8,000 a year. Will the Minister confir…
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
18 June 2025
2 contributions
Banning Conversion Practices
15. When she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to ban conversion therapy.
Previous Governments have promised to bring forward legislation to ban conversion therapy, but it has not happened yet. Eris, one of my constituents in Horsham, tells me that recent headlines have created fear and uncertainty within the trans community, increasing their sense of isolation. Will the …
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 June 2025
Businesses in Rural Areas
It is good news that the rural prosperity fund has been extended for another year, but it has been reduced to £33 million this year. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need a firm, long-term commitment to solving the challenges of rural infrastructure provision?
Commons
Debate
12 June 2025
SEND Funding
SEND provision in our schools is in a state of deep and growing crisis. In my area, West Sussex county council is already struggling with a £130 million SEND deficit this year—a figure likely to rise to £224 million by next year. That huge figure is one of the worst in the country, but what is truly…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 June 2025
Spending Review 2025
I welcome the Government’s decision to widen access to free school meals—a long-standing Liberal Democrat policy—but Castlewood primary school in my constituency tells me that it is currently losing 56p for every single meal it provides. Will the Chancellor undertake to fully fund school meals, or e…
Commons
Debate
9 June 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I wish to speak about my new clauses 46 to 48.
The Bill concentrates entirely on removing perceived barriers to development. Unfortunately, in the Government’s view those turn out to be nature and the general public, and to that end the Bill proposes a huge reduction in the ability of local residen…
Commons
Debate
5 June 2025
5 contributions
Battery Energy Storage Sites: Safety Regulations
I beg to move,
That this House recognises the unique challenges posed by lithium-ion fires in battery energy storage sites; and calls on the Government to bring forward enforceable national regulations for their design and construction.
I have asked for this debate in order to highlight important …
I appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s intervention. I agree that such sites can be in remote locations where there are fewer resources. As I will say later in my remarks, fire officer training is very much part of what I am recommending.
There is a strong case for mandating water-based suppressio…
+3 more contributions in this session