Commons
Westminster Hall
4 February 2026
Armed Conflict: Children
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Hyndburn (Sarah Smith) for securing this important debate.
There is no period of greater importance than childhood. Every child deserves dignity, protection and the support needed to give them the best possible…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
2 February 2026
2 contributions
Military Independence from US
5. Whether he is taking steps to increase the UK’s level of military independence from the US.
Will the Minister and the Secretary of State consider diverting defence spending away from programmes that do not truly protect the British people? Our nuclear deterrent now consumes nearly a third of the defence budget through Trident, a system that cannot be launched without US approval. In pursui…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 February 2026
3 contributions
Indefinite Leave to Remain
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. I represent a constituency that is proud of its diversity, and I see at first hand how welcoming talented, hard-working people from around the world enriches our society. That is why the Government’s proposed changes to indefinite leave …
I totally agree. These changes are simply unfair—not just unfair, but economically short-sighted. They risk driving away the very people our country depends on—highly skilled professionals who make up a small group of fewer than 70 specialist occupations, yet who are critical to productivity, innova…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 January 2026
Warm Homes Plan
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. I especially welcome the fact that the plan will now ensure a degree of localisation and devolution when it comes to decision making, and hopefully it will get rid of the problems we saw with the previous Government’s scheme. Thousands of residents in my…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 January 2026
2 contributions
Waste Collection: Birmingham and the West Midlands
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I thank the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton), who is an ardent and extremely consistent advocate for Birmingham despite not being a Member of Parliament for the city. Her constituency borders Birmingham, and she has hig…
Does the hon. Member agree that the issue is not just the lack of green and recyclable waste collections, but that communities who live in inner-city areas, where more individuals live in a particular home and that home is terraced, suffer most?
Commons
Debate
14 January 2026
2 contributions
West Midlands Police
This is truly a sad day for British politics. Despite all the rhetoric in this House, Brummies know the truth: this is nothing but a witch hunt and the chief constable is being thrown under the bus. The Home Secretary knows all too well that West Midlands police have a reputation for working with al…
The police did their job and now they are being punished for it, so I ask the Home Secretary: is it worth throwing our chief constable under the bus just to show that the words of the right-wing media and Dutch officials, under pressure from Amsterdam city hall, matter more than our British police?
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
12 January 2026
Topical Questions
Birmingham residents have just marked the first anniversary of the bin strikes. We have spent more than £15 million on agency staff. Will the Minister personally intervene to help broker a deal between the trade unions and Birmingham city council?
Commons
Debate
7 January 2026
4 contributions
Jury Trials
A very valid point was raised earlier about triaging whether a case should have a jury trial. If a judge decides that the sentence would be less than three years, but after a trial in the absence of a jury it is decided that the defendant should get five or six years, do they have a right to appeal …
Will the hon. Lady give way?
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
Middle East and North Africa
Deep down we all know that there is no real ceasefire. How can it be a ceasefire when more than 500 civilian Palestinians have been murdered, approximately 100 of them children? We all celebrated the new year with family and friends with fireworks, while Israel Defence Forces soldiers celebrated new…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
Absent international rules-based order leads to chaos. We all know that within chaos there is order; sadly, that order is one in which the strongest survive and the most vulnerable and weak die. That is neither just nor morally right. How can we be champions of and advocates for the international ru…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 December 2025
Housing Development: Cumulative Impacts
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) for securing this debate.
We have heard several contributions about the cumulative impacts, which is an important term. Although the impacts come within the planning remit, t…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
Sudan: Humanitarian Situation
As well as the atrocious mass murders, the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan only worsens. It is vital that we commit ourselves not only to giving aid, but to delivering it in a way that reaches as many people as possible. Recently, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact highlighted how our Sudan…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
Violence against Women and Girls Strategy
Alarmingly, in Birmingham Perry Barr—and, I suspect, in Birmingham generally—some women who have been the subject of domestic violence are thinking about moving back in with the perpetrators not because they want to rekindle the relationship but because of the inadequacy of their temporary housing. …
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
NHS: Winter Preparedness
We are told that the NHS is adequately funded, but in Birmingham and my constituency, the ambulance service does not respond. People dialling 999 are informed that they ought to catch a taxi to the hospital, because there are no ambulances. There is not just corridor care; ambulances are also being …
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
AI Safety
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I thank the hon. Member for Dewsbury and Batley (Iqbal Mohamed) for securing this crucial debate.
Many aspects of democratic life are under immense pressure, but when we look at developments that threaten to dislodge society on a mass scale…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 December 2025
3 contributions
Kashmir: Self-determination
Thank you, Sir Roger. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I thank the hon. Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) for his passionate statement and for securing the debate.
We speak about a valley that has carried the weight of unfulfilled promises for generations. Kashmir is not a …
Will the hon. Member give way?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
3 December 2025
Pension Schemes Bill
I hope to devote a large portion of my speech to new clause 36, which stands in my name, but let me first swiftly acknowledge the new clauses tabled by the hon. Member for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan), the right hon. Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North (Liam Byrne), the hon. Member for…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 December 2025
Criminal Court Reform
I declare an interest as a practising criminal barrister. Before the Justice Secretary tears up clause 39 of Magna Carta, which guaranteed that no free person shall be imprisoned except by the lawful judgment of their peers, I ask him to consider that, when I was in the Crown court in Birmingham onl…
Commons
Oral Questions
2 December 2025
Gaza: Humanitarian Situation
The hindrances to the provision of humanitarian aid are not just to do with supplies and the trickle of access into Gaza, but the safety and security of the aid agencies operating in Gaza. We recently witnessed two individuals being gunned down in broad daylight by Israeli soldiers. Does the Secreta…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 December 2025
2 contributions
Homelessness: Funding
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for securing this debate, which is important for the country and, indeed, for Birmingham.
In Birmingham, more than 25,000 families are currently on the housing register, and shockin…
The Minister is making some powerful points in recognition of the challenges that we face. On the Budget, it will always be difficult to balance the books and maintain the status quo. Does she accept that the mammoth task of addressing homelessness can be achieved only with the substantial amount of…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 December 2025
Pandemics: Support for People with Autism
I thank the hon. Member for the powerful and persuasive argument he is making in relation to his constituent, Ivan. Neuro- divergent children who went through the trauma of the pandemic are finding it very difficult to establish themselves in schools. It is already the case in Birmingham, certainly …
Commons
Proceedings
1 December 2025
Budget Resolutions
In my constituency, child poverty is at some 50%, so I certainly welcome the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap. Does the hon. Member agree that a wealth tax is the only way that we can resolve the underlying issue, which is the cost of living?
Commons
Proceedings
17 November 2025
Illegal Waste: Organised Crime
We have a serious fly-tipping issue in my constituency, but it is not just an issue in Birmingham Perry Barr; all of Birmingham has this issue because of the bin strikes. Residents are calling for CCTV cameras, but the city council says it has no funding available. I have two questions for the Minis…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
2 contributions
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
Will the Prime Minister give way?
I thank the Prime Minister for giving way. Does he agree that one of the most powerful lessons from Hillsborough, and indeed from the Grenfell Tower and Post Office scandals, is that truth delayed is justice denied? And does he agree that, while this Bill rightly places a duty of candour upon public…
Commons
Proceedings
22 October 2025
Points of Order
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. On Monday the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport told the House, in relation to the Maccabi Tel Aviv match, that the risk assessment was based
“in no small part on the risk posed to fans attending to support Maccabi Tel Aviv because they are Israeli and…