Contributions
187 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Business of the HouseFirst, I associate myself with the comments made by the Leader of the House about the fire in Hong Kong. I have many constituents from Hong Kong who will be thinking about their…27 Nov 2025HANSARD Pension Investment in UK EquitiesI thank the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) for securing this debate. We are colleagues on the Treasury Committee, and I always find his contributions extremely…25 Nov 2025HANSARDMinisterial CodeIt seems that the urgent question has been in part fuelled by rampant pre-Budget briefing, but I would argue that it is a symptom of wider dysfunction in our Budget scrutiny…24 Nov 2025HANSARD Business of the HouseI join the Leader of the House in thanking Mr Speaker for the seriousness with which he is taking Chinese interference in our democracy. I represent many Hongkongers in my…20 Nov 2025HANSARD Migration: Settlement PathwayI thank the Home Secretary for her confirmation about the five-year pathway for Hongkongers—that is a promise kept to them. The statement was otherwise a series of push measures.…20 Nov 2025HANSARD Illegal Waste: Organised CrimeResidents in the Woodcote area of my constituency have been living with the misery of being opposite an illegal waste dump for years. Despite all the photographic and video…17 Nov 2025HANSARDBudget: Press BriefingsThe Minister is right to point out that speculation ahead of a Budget is not abnormal, but we have had speculation throughout most of this year. I wonder whether he will accept…17 Nov 2025HANSARD Business of the HouseThank you, Mr Speaker. May I join the Leader of the House and the shadow Leader of the House in thanking you and all the staff for playing a role in organising the remembrance…13 Nov 2025HANSARDOfficial Development Assistance ReductionsI declare an interest in that my wife works for Save the Children. Indeed, I met her while working in the sector almost 11 years ago to this day. I start by setting out some…04 Nov 2025HANSARDOfficial Development Assistance ReductionsThe right hon. Lady is making an excellent case for international aid and is talking about the need for it to evolve and to be better and bigger in some ways. Why therefore is her…04 Nov 2025HANSARD Business of the HouseI associate myself with the comments about hurricane victims and, indeed, with the comments about Prunella Scales. Earlier this week, we were treated to the delight of a…30 Oct 2025HANSARD Business of the HouseMoving on to fraud—speaking of— I would like to focus on how fraud destroys lives. It eradicates people’s savings, it plunges people into debt and it diminishes people’s faith in…30 Oct 2025HANSARD Israel-Palestine Conflict: Government ResponseI thank the Chair for her Committee’s report. She mentioned the possible determination of genocide and said that, in her personal view, that is what has taken place. Of course, a…30 Oct 2025HANSARDProperty Service ChargesThe hon. Lady is making some excellent points. I really think it is the radical solutions that we need to consider. I should probably declare an interest as a director of a…30 Oct 2025HANSARDStamp Duty Land TaxAsk any economist, or indeed most Members in the Chamber today, and they would say that stamp duty is a bad tax. It creates friction in the market, whether we are talking about…28 Oct 2025HANSARDStamp Duty Land TaxI think the hon. Member will find that across the country there will be opposition politicians opposing developments. In Sutton council in my borough, where we are in control, we…28 Oct 2025HANSARDStamp Duty Land TaxSurprise, surprise, I do not. I will come on to the reasons why. Mortgage companies will lend around four times someone’s income, so we can see how big the problem is. A couple…28 Oct 2025HANSARDStamp Duty Land TaxI thank the hon. Member for bringing me on to my next point early. I want to address this proposed £47 billion in public spending cuts. If the Conservatives were to hand over that…28 Oct 2025HANSARDStamp Duty Land TaxWhen the hon. Gentleman refers to covid, I think he is referring to total debt, which has increased. We are talking specifically about why the civil service has increased in size.…28 Oct 2025HANSARDStamp Duty Land TaxI wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. I made the point earlier that the welfare bill went up on the Conservative Government’s watch, not least because they cut back NHS…28 Oct 2025