Commons
Committee Stage
3 February 2026
10 contributions
Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill (Second sitting)
Q One of my favourite aphorisms is, “Institutions get the behaviours they reward.” We had a cry from Amazon Web Services this morning about how, when a regulator deals with a company in the event of a cyber-security attack, please remember you are dealing with a victim.
I have dealt with the ICO be…
Q To come back to Dr Spencer’s original question about the scope of the legislation, the current situation, as I understand it, is that there is a carve-out for small and medium-sized enterprises because we do not want to put too much regulatory burden on them, but, under the new proposed legislatio…
+8 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
3 February 2026
3 contributions
Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill (First sitting)
Q On the question of closer alignment, can you give us a sense from the international picture of whether certain regulatory regimes raise the barrier to terrorists or criminals so high that they are left alone? Is that a national thing or a company-based thing? Where are the flow lines of attack and…
Q I appreciate that. My question was about where that leads them to attack, on the basis that they will take the route of least resistance. Where is that? Is that an international thing, a national thing or a corporate thing?
Stuart McKean: It is probably across all three, to be quite honest with y…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
2 February 2026
US Department of Justice Release of Files
When the Prime Minister sacked Lord Mandelson as the American ambassador, Ministers came to the Dispatch Box and I pointed out to them that for the whole time he was our ambassador he had been subject to politically fatal kompromat, which left him open to leverage—as it finally played out. I said th…
Commons
Debate
2 February 2026
China and Japan
I just want clarification on the Members of this House who were formally sanctioned. The Prime Minister said:
“President Xi said to me that means all parliamentarians are free to travel to China”.
Does that mean that they are no longer legally sanctioned, and did he get that in writing?
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
2 February 2026
Support for Veterans
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Whose job is it to protect and enhance the moral component of fighting power?
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
29 January 2026
Encouraging Exports
Defence and aerospace make up a huge element of our export business. As the Minister knows, plans without resources are hallucinations. The defence investment plan was promised to us in the autumn, and then by the end of the year, but it is still not there. When will the Government get their act tog…
Commons
Debate
28 January 2026
7 contributions
British Indian Ocean Territory
rose—
I listened to the criteria that the Minister expressed before ratification is possible. Is American agreement one of the criteria that she considers essential?
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 January 2026
Business of the House
The news has broken that overnight the first asylum seekers have been moved into Crowborough barracks in Sussex. The Minister for Border Security and Asylum stood at the Dispatch Box and told me that the Stanwell hotel in my constituency would not be kept open as an asylum hotel for a minute longer …
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 January 2026
International Day of Education
Thank you for that welcome, Ms Vaz. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I congratulate the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous), who is also the chair of the APPG on global education, on securing this debate and on his long-standing interest in this matter. I…
Commons
Debate
21 January 2026
15 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles: Legacy and Reconciliation
On that point, will the Secretary of State give way?
This is all getting quite technical, so I want to come back to the fundamentals of justice. If the Secretary of State were able to, would he like to give immunity to our veterans?
+13 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
20 January 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
Has my right hon. Friend noticed, like me, that all the military veterans in the Government and on the Labour Benches—with one notable exception—seem to have abandoned their post today? I have counted about nine veterans on our Benches. If more veterans had been on the Labour Benches, perhaps they c…
Commons
Proceedings
19 January 2026
Proposed Chinese Embassy
Can the Minister not hear herself, and not see how absurd it is for the Government to insist that they should treat the decision on the embassy as a quasi-judicial, independent planning question? It is not a planning question; it is a question of national security, and if the Prime Minister had any …
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
14 January 2026
2 contributions
Engagements
Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 14 January.
I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks, particularly about Iran.
Visiting schools in my Spelthorne constituency is one of the great joys of this job, so I was, frankly, appalled to hear that the Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol North East (Damien Egan) was prevented from visiti…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
12 January 2026
2 contributions
New Homes
3. What recent progress his Department has made on delivering 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament.
In my Spelthorne constituency, as a result of action taken by the independent, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green-led borough council, we have not had a local plan for a couple of years. It was finally submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on 25 November, but there has been a planning wild west in …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 January 2026
Ukraine and Wider Operational Update
May I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement this evening? I hope it is heard widely across the world, and I hope it is heard in Moscow and Washington. I hope it is heard particularly in Kyiv and across Ukraine, because I want the people of that country to understand that this House is totally u…
Commons
Debate
7 January 2026
2 contributions
Rural Communities
Announced!
You’ve announced them.
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
Northern Ireland Troubles Bill: Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention
As the shadow Defence Secretary was reading out the letter from the squadron leaders and warrant officers that was published over the Christmas break, I looked across the Chamber, and was very surprised to see the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and two Defence Ministers shaking their head. …
Commons
Debate
17 December 2025
2 contributions
National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill
Will the Minister give way?
The Minister seems to have co-opted the amount of money spent on the Royal Air Force into his argument. Is he aware that absent the defence investment plan—it was promised in the autumn, and the House rises tomorrow—we have no idea about the size, shape and cost of the Royal Air Force, because the G…
Commons
Oral Questions
17 December 2025
2 contributions
Digital ID System
rose—
Last night in the Strangers Bar, I bumped into a very influential Labour Back Bencher who told me with great authority that digital ID simply is not going to happen. That is good news, of course, because it is going to 1.8 billion quid we have not got, and it is deeply unpopular in the country. Why …
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
15 December 2025
Topical Questions
The Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry said that we would have the defence investment plan in the autumn. The Secretary of State has now told us that they are working flat-out to get it to us by the end of the year. When I was in the Army, we had a saying that two minutes early is three min…
Commons
Debate
11 December 2025
Foreign Interference
The Minister mentioned the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister, of course, appointed Lord Mandelson to be our ambassador in America. For those seven months, someone had politically fatal kompromat on Lord Mandelson. I am not asking the Minister to give away any secrets, but could he tell us that he h…
Commons
Proceedings
11 December 2025
Business of the House
I welcome the Leader of the House’s opening remarks about charities. Spelthorne Dementia Support does outstanding work throughout my constituency, so I was delighted when it was given the King’s award for voluntary service in the recent list. It occurred to me that all hon. Members will have similar…
Commons
Proceedings
11 December 2025
US National Security Strategy
I spent about five years, on and off, working in the Ministry of Defence, and we had a saying: plans without resources are hallucinations. On 8 September, the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry told my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) that the Defence investment plan …
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
11 December 2025
Topical Questions
The Minister’s magnificent waistcoat reminds me that last night I was at the grand opening of Tulip Treasures Florist on Shepperton high street in my constituency. Will the Minister wish young Rhiannon, who is taking that brave step, every success in her endeavours?