Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
8 July 2026
Manufacturing Supply Chain
Ministers from the Northern Ireland Office talk rather glibly about these matters, but the lived reality of the supply chain is very different: a full international customs border that is now inflicting damage on the import of steel; tightening import control system 2 checks; a parcels border; a pla…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
6 July 2026
Topical Questions
Today the Department confirmed to me in a written answer that over the years 2018 and 2019, the Ministry of Defence paid almost £12,000 to Jeffrey Donaldson in respect of a peacekeeping consultancy for the Cameroons. How common is it that sitting Members of Parliament are paid consultancy fees, and …
Commons
Proceedings
30 June 2026
2 contributions
Steel Tariffs: Northern Ireland
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to make a statement on steel tariffs in relation to Northern Ireland.
I am grateful to the Minister for coming to the House. I have to say, there is an inherent absurdity, and indeed a constitutional offence, in having to come to the sovereign Parliament of the United Kingdom to ask whether there will be any tariff arrangements on moving steel from one part of the Uni…
Commons
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Prisoner Early Release
Surely the Minister must agree that sustaining and instilling confidence in victims is essential to securing and sustaining prosecutions, and therefore any indication that there could be early release of such a person is bound to undermine a victim’s confidence. Last week in Northern Ireland, throug…
Commons
Debate
29 June 2026
Northern Ireland Office
In introducing the debate, the hon. Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), the Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, lamented the failure of the Northern Ireland Executive to agree a budget; indeed, for any of the parties in the Northern Ireland Executive to even agree with their own party …
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 June 2026
Border Security: UK-Ireland Co-operation
Is the hon. Lady surprised by the misrepresentation from the Secretary of State about what the common travel area means? It means simply that there is common travel for those who are legally in the country, not those who are illegally in the country. Is she also surprised that, for all the Governmen…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
17 June 2026
Customs (Tariff and Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 2026
I strongly support the points made by the Opposition. This is a rushed and ill-conceived piece of delegated legislation, and I have major concerns about its impact on Northern Ireland and the specialised steel in our defence sector, which is quite significant to the whole nation. There is real conce…
Commons
Proceedings
9 June 2026
North Belfast: Violent Attack
We are all shocked by the sheer savagery of this attack. Indeed, the only bright spot in this orgy of violence was the brave intervention of local citizens, whose courage we salute. What I want to know, and what I know that my constituents want to hear, is what will be done to stop the importation o…
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
3 June 2026
Supreme Court Dillon Judgment: Policy Implications
I welcome the rebuff in the Dillon judgment for the article 2 expansionist demands of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. Does the Secretary of State accept that rights in Northern Ireland must evolve according to United Kingdom law, not …
Commons
Debate
2 June 2026
Armed Forces Bill
The amendment to bring the Greater London Authority within scope of the covenant duty focuses my mind on the fact that this Bill applies the covenant to all local authorities in all parts of the United Kingdom, except the district councils in Northern Ireland. Why is it that the only councils exclud…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
2 June 2026
2 contributions
Draft Energy Prices Act 2022 (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2026
Apart from the fact that, because we are in effect under the EU-controlled single electricity market, our prices are so much higher than those in GB, I am particularly intrigued to understand the thinking behind a point made in the explanatory notes. It indicates that the extensions apply only so lo…
I certainly am not going to object to consumers—my constituents—having a £30 bill reduction per annum, though I recognise that that is within the context of Northern Ireland electricity consumers paying excessively more than is paid in Great Britain, because we are held within the single electricity…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
1 June 2026
Topical Questions
Tomorrow is the 32nd anniversary of the Chinook disaster, when we lost so many of our high-ranking anti-terror and security experts. Yet the families of those individuals still crave the truth. We had a saga, with the Department claiming for years that it was pilot error, only to have then to revers…
Commons
Debate
27 April 2026
2 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles Bill (Carry-over)
rose —
The Member refers to the absence of publication of any amendments by the Secretary of State—promised, but not delivered. Might that be because this Secretary of State, who has embarrassingly shown himself to be wholly beholden to the Dublin Government, has not yet got their approval for those amendm…
Commons
Debate
27 April 2026
Dunmurry Police Station Attack
Following two car bomb attacks in one month, what my constituents want to know is what will be done to snuff out this terrorist threat before it develops further—and that must include dealing with the underfunding and the understaffing of the PSNI. Today the Chief Constable of the Police Service of …
Commons
Debate
22 April 2026
Government Procurement Strategy
Is there an expectation that the procurement principles enunciated today will be followed through with local authorities? If so, can we expect to see an end to the scandal of bodies such as Transport for London buying Chinese buses, rather than British-made buses? Are we going to do anything about t…
Commons
Debate
21 April 2026
Peter Mandelson: Government Appointment
Yesterday, the focus of many Members was to ask the Prime Minister why he never thought to ask whether Mandelson had security clearance. There was great reticence about asking that question, but today we discovered that there was no such reticence in No. 10 when it came to trying to meddle in this p…
Commons
Debate
20 April 2026
Security Vetting
This House and the country are being asked to believe that, although the right hon. and learned Gentleman is the Prime Minister, and provoked a raging controversy while making the United Kingdom’s most critical diplomatic appointment, he never asked if his nominee had been security vetted. Is that n…
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
Strategic Defence Review: Funding
As I said earlier in the week, Northern Ireland’s geographical position means that it increasingly occupies a key geo-security location, particularly in the light of the threat to our transatlantic underground cables. In that context, will the strategic review deal with the situation that was reveal…
Commons
Debate
14 April 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
The right hon. Member makes a very valid point. Does he agree that defeating terrorism is about not just the physical defeat of terrorism but ensuring that, through its glorification, the narrative of terrorism is not allowed to radicalise other people? Does that not point to the inadequacy of the T…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 April 2026
2 contributions
“For Women Scotland” Court Ruling: First Anniversary
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Stringer. I commend the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) on raising this debate in a timely manner, as we approach the anniversary of the Supreme Court judgment that biological sex is the determinant in matters of the Equality Act. That very ju…
I do not think that was ever common sense, and if that is the depths to which the hon. Member has to stoop to try and find an argument, it is a very ineloquent commentary upon herself.
I have concerns that we could arrive at a situation where the Supreme Court ruling, which is emphatic and clear, m…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 April 2026
North Atlantic Submarine Activity
Given Northern Ireland’s geographical position, it occupies a geo-security location of increasing significance, particularly with regard to transatlantic undersea cables. I am disappointed, then, that there are still only five Royal Navy personnel based in Northern Ireland. Last month, there was a m…
Commons
Debate
13 April 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
The Minister was asked a very precise question by the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare). That question was this: outside of any monetary obligations under the treaty, will a single penny be paid to Mauritius going forward? It is a very simple question. It is nothing to do with the treaty; t…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 April 2026
Middle East
The Prime Minister knows that his Government’s coffers have been swollen by hundreds of millions by the extra tax take, particularly VAT, on rising fuel prices. Would it therefore be unreasonable to expect a socialist Government to practise some redistribution of wealth from Government to hard-press…
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
25 March 2026
Good Friday Agreement
As the Secretary of State talks up the Belfast agreement, he of course ignores the fact that its primary pledge of no constitutional change without consent has been trashed by the Windsor framework, in that article six of our Acts of Union, no less, has been suspended, and in 300 areas Northern Irel…