Contributions
1,746 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDWelfare SpendingI spoke earlier about F. E. Smith, who spoke about all having prizes who had “stout hearts and sharp swords”. The stout hearts drive us to do the best for those in the greatest…15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare SpendingMy hon. Friend is right about the cost of benefits, but he is also right to suggest that they need to be directed to those in the greatest need—the most deserving. That is what we…15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare Spendingrose—15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare SpendingI am proud to be a member of the party of Wilberforce, Shaftesbury and Disraeli, who all understood that it is essential to free people from need, and that in that effort the…15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare SpendingI am mindful of two of her predecessors in Birkenhead. The first is F. E. Smith, the great Tory, who talked about “all must have prizes”. Sometimes, in our modern Britain, it…15 Jul 2025HANSARDUK-France Migration: Co-operationThis is about principle and practice. The principle is that every country has the right and indeed the duty to secure its borders, and in practice ours have become porous. I agree…14 Jul 2025HANSARDEducational Attainment of BoysI will praise the hon. Gentleman again. He is absolutely right about really valuing practical learning. I come from a similar background to him; I was not clever enough to be…10 Jul 2025HANSARD Children’s Social CareI am immensely grateful to the Chair of the Education Committee for the way she has introduced the report and the work she has done. I am particularly moved by what she said about…10 Jul 2025HANSARD Points of OrderOn a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. You will not know this, but I have learned that independent experts have advised that Lincolnshire police are now at real risk of having…10 Jul 2025HANSARD Resident Doctors: Industrial ActionI have known the Secretary of State a long time. I knew him before he was an important man—although he was always important to me, of course. He will know that as a Minister, I…10 Jul 2025HANSARDEducational Attainment of BoysI had not intended to contribute to this debate, but the hon. Gentleman has provoked me to do so by the character of his insight. It is brave and right of him to deconstruct the…10 Jul 2025HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: Financial RedressThe Minister is right to say that no party—indeed, no previous Government—can be excused in this respect, because this matter covers the time in office of several Governments. The…03 Jul 2025HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: Financial RedressI do agree with that. It was a case powerfully made by the hon. Member for Salford that this case is very much about the relationship between the ombudsman and Government, and…03 Jul 2025HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: Financial RedressThe purpose of this place is, of course, to make laws, to amend them and sometimes, if we are in opposition, to stop laws being made. But it has another purpose: to hold those…03 Jul 2025HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: Financial RedressI pay tribute to the hon. Lady for her leadership of this campaign. The situation is worse still than she paints it to be, for the ombudsman made clear that the “DWP has clearly…03 Jul 2025HANSARD Corporate Businesses and Franchisees: Regulatory EnvironmentI am again grateful to the hon. Gentleman. It seems to me that there is a mood across the House tonight that more must be done. This Minister, as an experienced Member of the…02 Jul 2025HANSARD Corporate Businesses and Franchisees: Regulatory EnvironmentBecause I am a long-standing friend of the hon. Gentleman, I will certainly give way to him, but then I must make progress.02 Jul 2025HANSARD Corporate Businesses and Franchisees: Regulatory EnvironmentI am grateful to my right hon. Friend, who takes a great interest in these matters, and that is precisely why I posed the earlier question to the Minister about how closely he and…02 Jul 2025HANSARD Corporate Businesses and Franchisees: Regulatory EnvironmentI will give way once more and then will make a little more progress.02 Jul 2025HANSARD Corporate Businesses and Franchisees: Regulatory EnvironmentI will give way to the hon. Member for North Durham (Luke Akehurst) and then to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith).02 Jul 2025