Contributions
1,077 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) BillMadam Chair, it is a great honour to speak to this packed Chamber on my amendments, and it was good of you to call me so soon—there are so many people ready to speak. I rise to…23 Feb 2026HANSARD Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) BillWhat!23 Feb 2026HANSARDSchools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and ThrivingI welcome the right hon. Lady’s ambition, but where in all this will she retain the power to do something about councils that simply fail completely? An Ofsted report of my local…23 Feb 2026HANSARD Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) BillI understand what the Minister is saying very clearly, but a couple of the examples I gave where things had slipped through the net show that the system is not perfect. Does he…23 Feb 2026HANSARDJimmy Lai: Prison Sentence(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs if she will make a statement on the 20-year sentence imposed on our brave…09 Feb 2026HANSARD Standards in Public LifeI do not doubt the right hon. Gentleman’s desire to put things right. What I slightly doubt today is this: everything is about the Prime Minister’s judgment right now, and this…09 Feb 2026HANSARDJimmy Lai: Prison SentenceI am grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question. Today, as the Minister said, Jimmy Lai, a British citizen, has been sentenced to a further 20 years in prison.…09 Feb 2026HANSARDUkraine: Non-recognition of Russian-occupied TerritoriesI congratulate the hon. Member on his work on Ukraine and on securing the debate. He is talking about the occupied territories, and I want to raise an issue that we have…29 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryMy right hon. Friend is making an excellent start to this attack on the Government, but I will ask her a simple question. Should we not also dig a little deeper on the links…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryThis is a really important point, because the Government say that they have cleared this with the Office for Budget Responsibility, but the actuaries have been clear that we…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryI made this point to the Minister earlier, but perhaps my right hon. Friend might also explain it. The Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius made it clear as recently as yesterday…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryFurther to the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis), I understand that the Prime Minister of Mauritius made it clear yesterday that…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryI ran the Department for Work and Pensions, which spent the whole time looking at net present value. The key problem is that we do not use net present value when dealing with a…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryI will try to keep my words brief, because so much of this has already been laid out by my colleagues, although I see no reason why I cannot repeat it. In essence, this whole…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryOn that point, will the hon. Lady take an intervention?28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryMy right hon. Friend is absolutely right, as he normally is. The reality is that the treaty to which he refers is very clear that its signatories cannot modify it; they must…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryMy hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I fundamentally agree with him. In a way, I am sorry that the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) is not here—that…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryIndeed. In fact, rather than us winning the argument, the Government have simply lost the argument. That is even more powerful, because they are making no effort to explain it. I…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryI will come on to that, but my right hon. Friend is right. I just wanted to provide the background information on what the problem is. The problem is China. Remember that China…28 Jan 2026HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryI completely and utterly opposed my Government when they started this, categorically— [ Interruption. ] Oh, I did. I have been in opposition no matter who is in government. I have…28 Jan 2026