Commons
Ministerial Statement
17 December 2025
UK-EU Common Understanding Negotiations
This deal will not give back the futures that were stolen from so many young people by Boris Johnson’s Government, but it does offer such futures to people going forward. It is good work. That said, small, medium-sized and large businesses in Tewkesbury and the economy at large need the Government t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 December 2025
2 contributions
Neurodiversity in the Workplace
Does the hon. Member agree that, in the workplace, the way that neurodiverse traits are observed and received can vary between men and women? Women can suffer the consequences of unconscious bias. As my constituent Zaphira recently explained, decisiveness and spontaneity in men can be viewed as emot…
I have spoken before about how neurodiversity is still an opportunity to be fully exploited by the workplace and that it is significantly inhibited by the education system. Does the hon. Lady agree that the Disabled Children’s Partnership “Fight for Ordinary” campaign presents an opportunity to crea…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 December 2025
3 contributions
Housing Development: Cumulative Impacts
The cumulative impact of development in Tewkesbury is nothing less than a threat to the continuing viability of Tewkesbury as a permanent settlement. The Environmental Audit Committee recently produced a report on flood resilience in England. Would my hon. Friend join me in asking the Government if …
How many was that?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 December 2025
Ajax Armoured Vehicle
Under the last Government, the Conservatives signed a contract for £1.5 billion with Boeing to order five E-7 Wedgetail aircraft. The order reportedly circumvented the MOD’s established procurement system, and the RAF is still without an operational platform. The Ajax scandal has dragged on for even…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 December 2025
Digital ID
Does the hon. Gentleman share my concerns that the scheme could put constituents’ most sensitive data into the hands of private, perhaps overseas, individuals who might have neither our constituents’ nor our country’s interests at heart?
Commons
Debate
3 December 2025
Pension Schemes Bill
My hon. Friend speaks well about what is good in the Bill, but there is room for improvement. A number of my Gloucestershire constituents were employees of Gulf Oil before its merger with Chevron. Following the merger, they were moved on to the Chevron pension scheme. Between them, they have hundred…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 December 2025
Gambling: Regulatory Reform
In the absence of my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon), I thank you, Sir Desmond. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Charlie Maynard) for securing this important debate.
As a teenaged boy, every morning on my way to school I would stop off at the home of my friend M and…
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
2 contributions
SEND Pupils: Suspensions and Exclusions
8. What recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of suspensions and exclusions among pupils with SEND.
While the suspension rate for pupils without identified special educational needs declined by 75% in the 2024 autumn term, suspensions for pupils with an education, health and care plan increased, according to the Department for Education’s own data. I have previously urged the Government to tackle …
Commons
Proceedings
19 November 2025
Flooding: Monmouthshire
There are few around the country better equipped to empathise with the people of Monmouthshire than my people in Tewkesbury in north Gloucestershire. Will the Minister join me in thanking the volunteers of the Severn Area Rescue Association who were called out this weekend, as they so often are? Wil…
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 November 2025
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
I thank my hon. Friend for giving way, and for securing this important debate. According to at least one survey, about 66% of sufferers require some form of social care and, as is the case for some of my constituents, it is their own families who put their life on hold to provide that care. Will my …
Commons
Debate
18 November 2025
2 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles Bill
I have the honour of being, in 107 years of the Royal Air Force police, the first of its veterans to be elected to this House.
Our armed forces are revered worldwide because they train for and execute one thing to a higher standard than anyone else, namely the moral component—discipline, and the wi…
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point, and he is absolutely right. We went to Northern Ireland to secure peace against terrorists, and the law should always recognise the difference between the actions of our soldiers and those of the terrorists they stood against. I always knew that I had t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
12 November 2025
Typhoon Fighter Sovereign Capability
It is, as always, an honour to speak under your chairship, Sir Christopher. I thank the hon. Member for Fylde (Mr Snowden) for bringing forward this important debate. I hope the House will join me in recognising my friend Ryan, who is currently coming to the end of his training pipeline, flying solo…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Remembrance Day: Armed Forces
This Sunday past, remembrance ceremonies and parades were held in Winchcombe and Bishops Cleeve, joined by Scout groups, cadet forces, armed forces personnel, veterans and members of our various branches of the Royal British Legion. It makes me particularly proud to see so many children of all ages …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 November 2025
Curriculum and Assessment Review
The Secretary of State rightly points to the challenge of disinformation—a challenge that democracy is losing. I would welcome her agreement that education is our greatest weapon against disinformation. Which of her changes will ensure that those voting in future general elections are better prepare…
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
Supporting High Streets
For 30 years, MJ’s Gym has been central to the Northway and Tewkesbury communities. It is one of those gritty local gyms with a playlist 10,000 songs long, where men and women of all ages train out a hard day’s work. I met Chris for the first time a few months back. He tries to keep MJ’s running in …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
29 October 2025
UK-Türkiye Typhoon Export Deal
For over 20 years, the Eurofighter Typhoon has showcased the merits of European co-operation and the marvel of UK aerospace engineering. I commend the Government on this deal with our Turkish allies, which will secure British jobs, maintain our expertise in this field and park a squadron of multi-ro…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
Support for Disabled Veterans
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. I recently spoke with Gloucestershire resident and British Army veteran Chris, who has been confined to a wheelchair since a jungle warfare training accident in 1998. He spoke of the obstacle of pride, and of how too many personnel decline t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
27 October 2025
Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay
I will not be the only parent in this House who regrets every day that they are not going to spend with their children. One of my constituents is a PhD student studying paternity, and she has found that men’s mental health is particularly vulnerable at the point of childbirth and the point of return…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
You are looking as suave as ever, Sir Desmond. On behalf of many of my Gloucestershire residents, I thank the hon. Member for bringing forward this debate. She will know that PoTS UK reports that it takes an average of seven years to get a diagnosis, and that half of those people are initially misdi…
Between young people unable to finish education and adults unable to cope with the strains of the workplace, the economic impact of PoTS is undeniable. The Minister speaks clearly about the pressure her Department will put on NHS England, but will she also put pressure on the Treasury with regards t…
Commons
Debate
9 September 2025
2 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
It is rare that I find myself aligned with the Conservative party, but I share its concerns for the structure and veracity of this deal. That being said, does the hon. Member share my bewilderment that the Conservative party has chosen this particular hill to die on, given that the Bill is as much a…
I am not yet on the Chinese Communist party’s sanctions list, but perhaps I will be shortly. Does the right hon. Member share my concern about the 99-year lease of the islands, given that some of our adversaries across the world plan and strategise over the very long term, and 99 years is actually a…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
9 September 2025
Topical Questions
T3. The 52 pubs in my constituency provide vital community spaces, yet they tell me that this Government have hit them disproportionately hard with their increases in employer national insurance contributions, on top of soaring energy prices and as yet unfulfilled promises on business rates. Ahead o…
Commons
Proceedings
8 September 2025
Palestine Action: Proscription and Protests
Our free speech is protected under the European convention on human rights, and we should view with great suspicion anybody who would remove the United Kingdom’s signature from that convention. This Government’s proscription of Palestine Action has led to the arrest of more than 1,000 peaceful prote…
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Hospitality Sector
We have heard a lot from those on the Government Benches about how they are improving the experience of businesses across the country. I come in peace; I hope they will take me sincerely when I say that that is absolutely not the feedback I am getting from my hospitality sector, and certainly not fr…
I do not doubt that. I am sure Luton is second only to Tewkesbury.
Over the summer recess, a friend of mine reached out, told me who Dale and Holly were and asked me to meet them. I did so when they visited Tewkesbury. I sat down with both of them at the Bell Inn, outside Tewkesbury abbey. They and…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
2 September 2025
2 contributions
Russia: Economic Sanctions
13. What steps his Department is taking to increase economic sanctions on Russia.
Vladimir Putin is in Beijing this week, where he has hailed the unprecedented levels of ties between China and Russia. For once I hope that the Government will actually take him at his word before China builds the super-embassy in our capital.
China has ceased exports of drone components to Ukraine…