Commons
Westminster Hall
14 April 2026
6 contributions
Ground-mounted Solar Panels: Alternatives
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the matter of alternatives to ground mounted solar panels.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I sensed the people coming into the Chamber in the last couple of minutes and I felt a quickening. It was like energy coming togethe…
I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that point. I hope other Members will come forward with their own preferred alternatives to land-based systems, because there are others.
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
13 April 2026
SEND Provision and Reform
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford) on securing this debate. We have heard varying views on the question of demand, with some people saying that it has not gone up at all and that others saying it has. I have relied on the House of Commons Library to te…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 April 2026
North Atlantic Submarine Activity
The Prime Minister said, I think about three weeks ago, that the Royal Navy would go after sanctioned Russian tankers. Yet, if the press reports are to be believed, those very same sanctioned Russian tankers have sailed with impunity through the English channel. My question is this: why have we not …
Commons
Debate
13 April 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
I thank the Minister for his statement. There have been many discussions over the amount of money that was going to be paid, and the methodology and how it was reached. I am prepared to park those discussions on the basis that provision has indeed been made in the Government’s budget lines to pay fo…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 April 2026
Middle East
Will the defence investment plan be signed before the local elections on 7 May?
Commons
Debate
26 March 2026
Business of the House
The Government have designated April the Month of the Military Child to recognise the unique demands and pressures on the children of service personnel, particularly in times of heightened international tension and when we have military personnel deployed on operations overseas. Will the Leader of t…
Commons
Debate
26 March 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
In answer to my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk (James Wild), the Minister referred to the importance of local identities. As she knows, in the local government reorganisation, my Spelthorne constituency will be subsumed into something called “West Surrey”. I am very much looking forwa…
Commons
Oral Questions
26 March 2026
Pothole Repairs: Strategic Road Network
The scourge of potholes is pretty universal, but will the Minister join me in encouraging all my Spelthorne residents who have a complaint about a pothole to report it via the Surrey county council website? Reporting potholes is the only way to get them sorted.
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
25 March 2026
2 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles: Legacy and Reconciliation
1. What steps he is taking to replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
I associate myself with your comments, Mr Speaker, about the Table Clerk and I wish him happiness in his next steps. I also wish the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) many happy returns.
Second Reading of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill took place on 18 November, and the remedial order, w…
Commons
Proceedings
24 March 2026
4 contributions
Defence
I am grateful to the Liberal Democrat spokesman for giving way. I think he is warming up to his leader’s new Dr Strangelove plot to have his own independent nuclear weapon. Could he tell us how much it is going to cost the UK?
With the points the hon. Member has just made, it seems he has forgotten that a year ago his own party suspended seven of its Back Benchers for voting with an SNP proposal to lift the two-child benefit cap. If he is going to be quite so forthright in his criticism of us, could he explain why his Gov…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 March 2026
4 contributions
Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I thank the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) for securing this debate. I also recognise my predecessor as the Member of Parliament for Spelthorne, Kwasi Kwarteng, who sponsored this debate back in 2023.
All Members have…
Will the hon. Member give way?
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
17 March 2026
Ministerial Salaries (Amendment) Bill
I am reminded of that great fictional character Sir Humphrey Appleby, who once observed that a party with 300 members gets to form a Government, but 100 are too young and too callow, and 100 are too old and too silly, so the Government pretty much select themselves. I congratulate the Minister on ma…
Commons
Debate
17 March 2026
Youth Unemployment
A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a student roundtable, with two pupils from my eight secondary schools and two from my further education college. I agree with the Secretary of State in that I was left incredibly excited for them and by their hopes and aspirations for the future. However, we also had …
Commons
Debate
17 March 2026
Middle East
I thank the Foreign Secretary for her statement. I am slightly struggling to see what it adds to the answer to the urgent question we had yesterday, but it is always nice to see the Foreign Secretary. When she asks the US Government to de-escalate, what do they say in response?
Commons
Oral Questions
17 March 2026
2 contributions
Jury Trials
13. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of his proposed changes to jury trials on the criminal justice system.
I think what the Health Secretary is actually doing at the moment is paying people to fudge the waiting lists. I want to be very clear, because there are slightly mixed messages from the Justice Secretary: are there any circumstances in which he would consider the reintroduction of jury trials for t…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
Strait of Hormuz
The Minister has come here to give us a pretty vague response of, “We’re in discussions with allies about making a plan,” and does not want to give us any more detail than that; I can potentially see why. When he has those discussions with allies, will he please remember that the British taxpayer ki…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
16 March 2026
Middle East: UK Armed Forces Personnel
Ministers were all over the airwaves this weekend saying two things: first, that they would like to see a de-escalation of the conflict in the middle east; and, secondly, that they would like to see the strait of Hormuz secured for shipping. Why on earth does the Secretary of State think that those …
Commons
Debate
12 March 2026
International Women’s Day
Let me start by paying huge tribute to the hon. Member for Gorton and Denton (Hannah Spencer) for her maiden speech. She spoke with grace, poise and purpose, and her constituents are very lucky to have her representing them here, whether they voted for her or not. Members on the Conservative Benches…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
12 March 2026
Business of the House
On Monday, my wife asked me what we were doing at work this week, and I said I was trying to support the British pub industry. She looked at me and said, “Trust me, you’re doing your bit already.” We probably will not agree on the reasons why the pub industry is suffering a bit, but does the Leader …
Commons
Debate
11 March 2026
2 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill
They’ve gone up in smoke! [Laughter.]
Could the Minister tell us when he last met a farmer?
Commons
Debate
10 March 2026
Courts and Tribunals Bill
May I begin by paying a huge tribute to the hon. Member for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols) for her testimony to the House today? It was a privilege to be here to hear it, and it will last long in the memory.
I do not have a huge amount of experience of jury trials; in fact, what I have experi…
Commons
Debate
9 March 2026
Middle East: Defence
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. At the same Dispatch Box about half an hour ago, the Chancellor of the Exchequer perhaps unwisely delved into the world of military strategy and said a couple of things that were slightly alarming. First, she upbraided the shadow Chancellor for not c…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 March 2026
2 contributions
Energy Markets
What about China?
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement, which I read and listened to very closely. Is it fair to summarise the Secretary of State’s statement by saying that he is not going to do anything differently as a result of the conflict in Iran? I listened to and read the statement very closely, an…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 March 2026
Consular Assistance
May I thank the Minister for his statement, and express a certain amount of sympathy? Like him, I ran evacuations under fire, and it is pretty chaotic. He and his officials will inevitably attract some criticism—that is the nature of the beast, as he knows.
At Prime Minister’s questions yesterday, …
Commons
Oral Questions
5 March 2026
Standards in Government
Why did the hon. Member for Makerfield (Josh Simons) resign as a Cabinet Office Minister at the weekend?