UK Parliament - Page 12

When people asked me on July 5th whether the incoming Labour Government would do anything to derail the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, pointing out that its most important clauses weren’t due to be commenced until August 1st, I assured

Lord Collins, the new FCDO Minister has had a long-standing commitment to the people of Africa, and he will bring expertise and humanity to the many challenges he now faces – the most urgent of which is the catastrophic war in Sudan.

The Government might be able to ignore my request for a meeting to discuss their disastrous decision to impose VAT on independent school fees, but they won’t be able to ignore my Westminster Hall debate. I warned at the election, and I’ve

A year has passed since the former Chancellor imposed a staggering 10.1% increase in excise duty on Scotch whisky and other spirits. This was the largest such tax hike in over four decades, and the result has been nothing short of disastrous

Caring is a universal experience. Almost everybody will find themselves being an unpaid carer for their loved ones at some point or being cared for by their loved ones in turn. We talk about record waiting times for illness’ but for every

The new government has no shortage of challenges to tackle when it comes to housing. Homelessness more than double what it was in 2010; the slow progress of post-Grenfell cladding removal works; years of delays on leasehold reform and renter’s rights; and

It was the youff that did it in the end. Bangladesh, a nation that’s only existed since 1971 had a founding constitution stressing democracy, secularism and socialism. In recent years it’s been synonymous with authoritarianism and repression. Weeks before the UK’s own

Short-Term Lets are an acute issue in central London, and many other tourist and visitor destinations across the country. The issues are on multiple fronts – 13,000 short-term lets advertised in Westminster alone at a time when there are over 3,000 households

We face a looming cliff edge for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) at the end of March next year when existing funding runs out. Last week I held an adjournment debate in the House of Commons to highlight the risk this

The topic of baby loss is arguably one that many people feel uncomfortable discussing, given its sensitive nature. We often avoid talking about it for fear of upsetting the families directly affected and being unable to speak about it in a way

Oswestry is a town in North Shropshire with a proud market trading heritage – a place where people have long come to visit from a large rural hinterland that stretches across the countryside and over into Wales. Yet when I read the

Rishi Sunak turned up the heat on his successor Sir Keir Starmer over his party’s decision to scrap winter fuel payments to millions of pensions. In a heated exchange during PMQs, the former Prime Minister challenged the Labour Government to publish “the

I was happy to bring this debate to Parliament last week as the SEND system is failing some of the country’s most vulnerable children. My inbox is full to the brim with parents who are concerned about the wellbeing of their child

The debate around the taxation of Independent Schools all too often produces an argument centred on the money the Government hopes to raise from imposing VAT. Those in favour argue that it could raise up to £1.5 billion, while others dismiss this

Despite not featuring in the King’s Speech, the government still plans to introduce a mandatory retirement age of 80 for House of Lords members. This follows the introduction of legislation on Thursday to expel the 92 remaining hereditary peers by the end

The UK government has outlined plans to abolish the remaining hereditary peers in the House of Lords, marking the most significant reform of Parliament in 25 years. The proposal aims to eliminate the 92 seats reserved for hereditary peers—individuals who inherit their

In less than two months since being elected, Keir Starmer’s government has passed its first major reform in public services. The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill has cleared all stages in the Commons, paving the way for the renationalisation of Britain’s

Every four years, the Summer Olympics comes around and grips the nation. Like many others, I was hooked to Paris 2024. I was gripped to the drama of the Men’s Mountain Bike, where Tom Pidcock overtook the french rider after a dramatic puncture and

David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has turned up the heat on Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government as he announces a ban on 30 arms exports licenses to Israel, however critics say the decision doesn’t go far enough. The Labour Minister made the announcement in

After the 1997 election, our party spent 13 years in the wilderness before regaining the trust of the British public. Today, we face an even worse prospect. We have fewer MPs and face a deeper well of public anger than we did

When 365 of my conservative colleagues entered Parliament in 2019, no one predicted that only 121 of us would return almost five years later. In 2019, we put forward a bold, positive vision for the future which promised to tackle the priorities

Conservative values matter. They are more than platitudes. They matter because of their enduring power to transform lives. The ladders they provide for those who want to make something of themselves. The hope they give as they lift people up based on

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is currently facing significant scrutiny regarding the appointment of Ian Corfield, a notable Labour Party donor, to a senior position within the Treasury. Corfield, a former banker, was reportedly brought in to assist with the upcoming international investment summit

In a surprising twist within the Scottish Conservative Party, allegations have emerged that Douglas Ross, the current leader, plotted to resign over a year ago, intending to install his close ally Russell Findlay as his successor. Senior party figures have recounted a

In the forty-plus years I have been a member of the Conservative Party, the night of the 9th of April 1992 will always be ingrained on my memory. Polls had closed for the general election, and as the results came in, it

In a decisive move to address the recent wave of riots across the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has cancelled his planned holiday, opting instead to remain engaged with ongoing efforts to restore order and public safety. This decision comes in the

The Conservative Party do not want to be in Opposition. But we recognise that if we can effectively hold the Government to account, we can begin to rebuild trust with an electorate who have stopped listening to us. I am standing to

When did you last receive an invoice from a bee for pollination services? When did the forest last invoice us for its flood protection? Yet a decline in our forest cover can result in the destruction of our homes, — a decline

The Health, Sport and Social Care Committee of the Scottish Parliament has called for evidence on Liam McArthur MSP’s ‘Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill’. In the meantime, in the House of Lords, Lord Falconer has drawn second place in

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shocked the political landscape by announcing a general election scheduled for July 4, a date much earlier than many had anticipated. This significant move comes on the heels of the prorogation of Parliament on May 24, which allowed

An area of policy conspicuously missing from the campaigns of the major parties in this General Election is marriage. So far, Nigel Farage, while happily admitting failures in his own private life, seems to have grasped just how important marriage is, telling

On Tuesday, 4th June, a highly anticipated TV debate aired on ITV, featuring Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer. The debate marked a crucial moment ahead of the upcoming General Election on 4th July, where voters

The UK Parliament was officially dissolved on Thursday, 30 May 2024, marking the conclusion of all parliamentary activity in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This dissolution initiates the lead-up to the general election scheduled for 4 July

I have lost count of the debates on bank closures, with politicians valiantly fighting for the survival of their local community branch. The impact on older people, on disabled people, on small businesses is raised, correctly. The need for choice, for access

Dementia is a monumental health and social care challenge and will be the defining test of our system in the decades to come— but it is simply unacceptable that there are such inequalities in both diagnosis rates and in post-diagnostic care across

How did we get to a situation where a child pretends to eat out of an empty lunchbox because they did not qualify for free school meals and did not want their friends to know there was no food at home? Where

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that UK services export volumes have risen nine times faster than goods since 2010. The UK is already the second largest exporter of services in the world, after the USA, and has world

There is no doubt about the importance of the role that the under-10-metre fishing fleet plays nationally and locally. According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the fleet represents around 80% of the UK’s total fishing vessels and lands

The discovery and development of vaccinations is one of the most significant and impactful achievements in human history. Vaccines have proved to be one of the most successful public health measures to control, and in many cases eliminate entirely, deadly and infectious

“The role of the independent sector has been associated with significant challenges which pose an increasing risk to the sustainability of comprehensive eye care services in the NHS.” That is the view of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB); ministers

North Devon is blessed with a beautiful stretch of coastline, and people travel from across our United Kingdom to surf in our bathing waters. However, the risk of sewage is causing people to avoid the water entirely. This isn’t helped by unclear

A frequent complaint MPs hear from their constituents is that modern car headlights are far too bright, causing discomforting glare for motorists and potentially increasing accidents. While complaints are frequent, action by government has been sadly lacking, therefore, I decided to raise

Seven months on since the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7th the conflict between Israel and Gaza continues to dominate MPs’ mailbags and is a popular choice of topic that members of the public are raising e-petitions on. The most recent e-petition

Virtually every business, charity and public sector organisation is, in some way, digital. As high-profile incidents have shown, however, cyber-attacks exploiting this digitalisation have left citizens and businesses vulnerable and exposed to hostile actors as they move more and more of their

Transport is key to our local economy, to levelling up, and to people’s opportunity literally to get on their bikes and better themselves—something that we Conservatives believe in strongly, in line with our best traditions and values. Every time I am out