Commons
Proceedings
16 July 2025
Sudan
Will the Minister explain to the House what, in practical terms, the Security Council could do, even if all its members were neutral on the question of backing one side over the other? If two sides are determined to fight one another and neither is dependent on outside military assistance to pursue …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 July 2025
Afghanistan
What worries me more than the lifting of this super-injunction is the fact that we have closed down all the Afghan schemes at the very time that undocumented Afghans who felt it necessary to flee to Iran and Pakistan are being rounded up for forcible repatriation to an Afghanistan led by the Taliban…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 July 2025
State of Climate and Nature
I agree with the Secretary of state that it is very important that other countries follow our example. Of the five countries that are the worst emitters of greenhouse gases, emitting over 50% in total—the USA, Russia, Brazil, India and of course China—can he tell us how many have adopted similar leg…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 July 2025
6 contributions
Northern Ireland Veterans: Prosecution
Will the hon. Lady give way?
I am thankful to the hon. Lady for her service. She has not yet mentioned the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998, which precludes anybody who has been found guilty, even of murder, from serving more than two years in jail, whether they are a veteran or whether they are a terrorist. Does she accep…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
2 contributions
Disabled Bus Passes
I have been waiting with bated breath to see if the hon. Gentleman would come on to companion bus passes. I thank him for the leadership he has shown on this issue and for co-tabling—with me, the hon. Members for York Central (Rachael Maskell) and for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire), and the inimita…
The Minister, I think, has conceded a key point: he has admitted that some duties are discretionary to councils, and some are statutory. The point about companion bus passes for those disabled people who cannot use a bus without a companion is, as early-day motion 1638 makes abundantly clear, that i…
Commons
Debate
9 July 2025
2 contributions
Birmingham Pub Bombings
I am very glad that the Minister has concentrated on the truth and justice aspect of the legacy Act. Can he reassure the House that in their proposals to repeal the legacy Act, the Government are not going to lose the opportunity of having the trade-off, as it were, between immunity from prosecution…
It is kind of the Minister to give way one more time. I urge Ministers not to be blinded by what political parties in Northern Ireland say, because the truth of the matter is that they have to take certain positions—usually ones that favour their side and disfavour the other side—and the prospect of…
Commons
Proceedings
9 July 2025
Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions
Does the Minister agree that one of the worst features of the US justice system is the extreme process of plea bargaining, which gives such a huge differential if somebody pleads guilty that it creates a perverse incentive to do so, even if they are innocent but not confident that they will be acqui…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 July 2025
LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme
I congratulate the hon. Lady on bringing this subject to the Chamber. Is she as mystified as I am by the fact that, when serving in the armed forces was at its most dangerous and there was conscription—namely during the second world war—people were only too happy for warriors of any sexuality to par…
Commons
Proceedings
8 July 2025
Points of Order
Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I met Lord Tebbit only shortly after he had stepped down from this House, but even at that stage of his career he still had the inherent kindness and commitment to come to my constituency to support a relatively new Member of this House. Courage …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Post Office Horizon Inquiry: Volume 1
The Post Office Horizon scandal has often been compared with the contaminated blood disaster. By coincidence, this very afternoon the relevant all-party parliamentary group, led by the hon. Member for Eltham and Chislehurst (Clive Efford), has been having a meeting with the Infected Blood Compensati…
Commons
Debate
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
I am extremely grateful to the Minister for taking my intervention and for the very helpful letter he sent me on 30 June about schemes of this sort, and in particular the ExxonMobil pension scheme. His letter encouragingly states:
“Following our reforms, trustees will continue to consider the corre…
What if it is the other way round?
Commons
Proceedings
7 July 2025
Actions of Iranian Regime: UK Response
May I help the Minister share a little information with the House by asking him whether the Government know of any purpose for refining uranium-235 to 60% purity other than to build a nuclear weapon?
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Small Boat Crossings
16. What steps her Department is taking to stop small boat crossings.
I agree with the Home Secretary that that would be a major step forward. Does she agree with me that, on average, well over 1,000 people have been crossing the channel each week this year, and that there is no way any form of court procedures can keep pace with that? Does she therefore agree that no…
Commons
Debate
3 July 2025
4 contributions
Women’s State Pension Age: Financial Redress
It is often said in times of financial crisis that some institutions are too big to fail. Unfortunately, in this case it is a question of some campaigns being seen as being too big to succeed. I am quite sure that the real reason why the Department for Work and Pensions is so resistant to this cause…
I do indeed. Of course, in any event, the women realise that they will not get anything like full compensation, but they want the symbolic acceptance and acknowledgement of the injustice that they have received. As we have heard from those on both sides of the House, this resistance puts at stake th…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
British Film and High-end Television
I congratulate my hon. Friend on the ingenuity of her statement. I am tempted to ask her if she is offering a prize to the first person to identify all the film titles she smuggled into it. Could she perhaps enlarge a bit on one of the more disappointing responses, as negative as it was, from the Go…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
NHS 10-Year Plan
Does the NHS 10-year plan include an assisted dying scheme? If the present private Member’s Bill runs out of time at the end of this parliamentary Session, and thus falls, will the Secretary of State reintroduce the legislation as a Government Bill in the next parliamentary Session?
Commons
Debate
2 July 2025
Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism
I must say that I never thought the day would arise when I as a non-lawyer would be advising a Government of lawyers that they need to be sure of the legal basis for what they are doing. As I said in an intervention on this subject on 23 June,
“it would do the country and the Government no favours …
Commons
Debate
2 July 2025
2 contributions
Defence
Whenever my right hon. Friend and other members of the Conservative shadow defence team bring up the question of reopening this lawfare against our veterans, Government Ministers say, “We will be sure to give veterans maximum support.” To me, that implies not protecting them from the lawfare, but su…
On the point about not enjoying community support, when we were having these debates in great detail, the highly divided communities would always stand up and say how this was unacceptable and that was unacceptable, and then their representatives would quietly come up to us and say, “For goodness’ s…
Commons
Debate
30 June 2025
3 contributions
Deprivation of Citizenship Orders (Effect during Appeal) Bill
I have come to this debate without any prior knowledge of what is proposed, so I am making this point as a result of what I have heard so far. Am I right in thinking that what the Minister particularly has in mind is people with dual citizenship who might, for example, have gone abroad to fight for …
I have some sympathy with my right hon. Friend’s argument, but surely the effect of this change will kick in only if, in the end, the Government’s appeal succeeds. Therefore, it will be the case that the court previously was wrong; otherwise, the Government’s appeal against its decision will not suc…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Welfare Reform
Does the Secretary of State agree that, while necessary at the time of covid, the removal of the requirement for face-to-face assessments was an opening of the door to potential abuse? If so, will she commit in principle to the reinstatement of face-to-face assessments?
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
30 June 2025
UK Military Bases: Security
Almost by definition, RAF sites have to have very long perimeter fences, so it is understandable that they could be overcome at one point or another. Why were they apparently not fitted with sensors, at least, so that any intrusion would have sounded the alarm?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 June 2025
G7 and NATO Summits
After a worrying start, President Trump has now strengthened NATO, both by extracting promises of more money and with the positive comments he made at the end of the summit. Has the Prime Minister had a chance to assess whether that means that President Trump’s love affair with Vladimir Putin is beg…
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 June 2025
BBC World Service Funding
Thank you, Sir Jeremy, for calling me to speak, and it is a pleasure to endorse so much of what has been said today in such a unified way across party boundaries.
The value of BBC broadcasting is to be measured by the risks that people are prepared to take in order to listen to it, ranging from peo…
Commons
Proceedings
25 June 2025
Nuclear-certified Aircraft Procurement
May I encourage the Government not to be at all bashful about the fact that the decision on whether one of these weapons will be used—heaven forbid—will be an American one? There is a long tradition of American nuclear weapons being based in NATO countries, not least the Cruise and Pershing missiles…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 June 2025
China Audit
In his statement, the Foreign Secretary says that
“our approach will always be guided by the UK’s long-term economic growth priorities”.
As an example of that, he refers to our universities’ second largest source of international students being China, yet the Intelligence and Security Committee st…