Alistair Strathern
MP for Hitchin · Labour · United Kingdom
“The Muster Point, a local veterans support group, does fantastic and vital work supporting veterans across my community. This winter, it is teaming up with the inspirational Chicksands and Henlow military wives choir to release a single “We’re Still Here” to raise funds to support that vital work.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Consideration of eastern access at Hitchin station has been stalled for far too long. I am delighted that, having worked with Ministers and our councils, we have finally been able to get it moving forward, and yesterday’s announcement of £5.6 million in new growth funding for Hertfordshire provides a fantastic opportunity to go further an…”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I echo the hon. Gentleman’s praise for the former Prime Minister’s tireless campaigning on this issue. I have been deeply moved by many of my constituents whose lives were saved by early screening; all too often, though, that was the result of charity initiatives, because it was not available on the NHS. The hon.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We inherited a situation in which gangs were profiting from our out-of-control borders and hotel operators were ripping us off, making the most of a backlog that had built up far too high. We have taken some welcome steps, but it is clear that more needs to be done. Returning people with no right to be here is a crucial part of that.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my hon. Friend for being such a powerful champion for kinship carers across the country. Those crucial early moments are vital for any parent but, unlike with traditional parental leave, kinship carers often have to understand the caring responsibilities they are taking on at incredibly short notice, and likely against a much more…”
House of Commons20 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I think most of us or our friends and family will be familiar with the really personal, emotional, financial and, frankly, human cost of our broken system. It is a cost resulting from successive generations of politicians’ failure to face into the difficult choices and act, and I hold my own party as accountable as any other in that.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“The recent horrific stories about Grok and other AI-enabled abuse have highlighted a trend with which far too many women are very familiar. The online world, for all its benefits, has also brought new opportunities for them to experience exactly the same degrading abuse that they are all too familiar with in day-to-day life. There are three really important lessons for us all to take from the Grok case. First, given the platform's consistent inability to act on its own before being pushed, we need to continue to be proactive in taking on tech firms. Secondly, the fact that we were able to deliver such fantastic action so quickly teaches us that when tools can be delivered robustly and with confidence, change is possible.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This is an historic day for leaseholders, many of whom were let down by a lack of action from the previous Government, which left them on the hook for exploitative levels of ground rent. One 90-year-old constituent of mine was hit with a 9,000% increase in his ground rent—that cannot be right. I am really glad that the Minister has shown such leadership to ensure that we put that right today. I know he agree that we need to go further on unadopted estates, too, so will he meet me to ensure that we bring those protections forward as swiftly and effectively as possible?”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I wonder if the Secretary of State shares my residents’ utter disbelief that the last Government created a system where thousands of UK medical graduates, educated at the cost of billions to the UK taxpayer, were suddenly forced to compete with overseas students, pushing many abroad for their careers and losing a big talent pool that should be powering our NHS and getting it back on its feet.”
House of Commons27 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Energy Secretary for the leadership he has shown with this record-breaking step forward for renewable power, which underlines our commitment to delivering the clean, secure energy our country is crying out for. It is important to note that the scale of energy secured—at a 40% lower cost than new gas—was only possible because of reforms to the auction market design. We did not tolerate the mechanisms that failed under the previous Government; we innovated to deliver better value. Will the Energy Secretary ensure that we do not rest on our laurels, but continue to innovate in auction design to ensure that we get the best possible value for money and the biggest possible capacity outcomes from future auctions, too?”
House of Commons14 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Together, we can start to turn the tide on the managed decline and broken political settlement that we have tolerated for far too long in this country.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Although I cannot promise that I agree with the petitioners on that urgent ask, I can promise them that, along with all my colleagues, I will work to tackle not only those individual issues but the wider cause of disillusionment that caused them to sign this petition every day that I am lucky enough to serve here. I will not get everything right, and I am sure that I alone will make plenty more mistakes, however many years I have left in this place, but I will always look to deliver on the intent of restoring faith in politics and the public services that my constituents rely on, and show them that this Labour Government will deliver the change that they voted for and take decisions every day that will make a tangible difference to their lives over the years to come.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do not want to pretend for one second that any of those choices or individual changes have touched the lives of everyone in my constituency yet. They will not have completely delivered the scale of change that we need to show by the next general election, but they are down payments on the promise we made at the last election and on the causes that I, on behalf of my constituents, will continue to campaign on every day that I am lucky enough to serve in this place. I do not know when the next general election might be, but I am pretty confident that it is unlikely to be this year.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In my area, I know that we are making a real difference to the people who have already been seen. We are investing in extra nursery provision and free breakfast provision, and making sure that we invest in the expanded SEND places that my community needs. Families’ lives have already been touched for the better by the changes that this Government have introduced, from the record investment that we are putting into fixing some of our broken roads, to the greater devolved transport powers over buses that we have given to Hertfordshire county council. Too many constituents have had issues with transport, public transport and driving for too long now. We are starting to invest in things that will show them over time that politics can be a force for good for their priorities again.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We needed to invest in the things that were starting to show people right across my constituency that the state was not working, whether that meant putting more money into special educational needs and disabilities provision, investing to fix crumbling schools or offering a record settlement for repairing roads. We have started to fix, thread by thread, the fabric of the broken Britain that we inherited. Hopefully, between now and the next general election, we can start to demonstrate to people that politics can be a force for good yet again. I am incredibly proud of many individual things that we have delivered over the last year. We invested in my local hospital to create new and expanded GP surgery places, meaning that we can deliver more appointments and deliver some of the fastest falls in waiting lists across the country.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Faced with all of that, we have had to start doing things that go beyond what we originally intended in our last manifesto. That is not an easy thing to have to do as a politician, but it is the right and brave thing to do when the circumstances dictate big and difficult choices to step up and meet the needs of those moments. We could not shy away from the fact that, if we were not going to find ways to invest billions more into the NHS, a situation that was already too difficult for too many of my constituents was only going to get worse.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do not want to spend my time talking about challenges; I want to spend my time talking about solutions. If we are serious about putting right so many of the failings we inherited as a Government, we have to start by being frank with the public about the mess we inherited, and face up to the big and difficult choices needed to put right many of the challenges that the previous Government ducked for far too long—right up to calling the general election. Only the last Prime Minister will know why he chose to go the country early, but I do not think that anyone in this room can credibly claim that it was because he believed that things were only going to get better in his remaining time in office. That is a damning indictment of the trajectory of the country that we inherited.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There is no getting away from the scale of some of the challenges that we have had to grapple with. The NHS, which was already on its knees, was looking at cutting appointments further just at the time they needed to be put back up, as was revealed to the Health Secretary just weeks into office. Our prisons were about to spill over; that fact was known to the previous Government but not revealed to the public at the last general election, if we are talking about transparency going into elections. The public finances were in an even tighter space than had been shared previously, as validated by the feedback from the Office for Budget Responsibility. Those are all incredibly difficult circumstances to inherit. They make me very angry, and it makes the public understandably frustrated to hear about them, and I hear that frustration.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Those pressures were not down to any failings of their own; it was not about a lack of hard work on their part, but about successive failures of the previous Government to drive down the cost of things that really impacted their lives. It got to the point where, even on the very basics—whether that was secure borders or the ability to keep the roads in a fit state—my constituents were losing faith in the ability of politics to deliver on the things that touched their lives. None of us should be comfortable with that and, as the party now in government, we must feel the responsibility of putting it right particularly acutely. It is right that, at moments such as this, both the public and Opposition parties represented in the Chamber today have the chance to hold us to account for how we have dealt with the many challenges we inherited.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It was not even the first election in which I stood to be an MP, given that I had the opportunity a little bit earlier thanks to Nadine Dorries standing down during the previous Parliament. It was probably the one where the stakes felt highest and where the urgency of people’s concerns about the challenges they were facing across our communities and their growing disillusionment about politicians’ ability to affect them felt most acute. I spoke to constituents whose health had deteriorated far too poorly because of a long wait to see the NHS; to families who were fighting to access affordable childcare or the right support for their child at school under a broken settlement, both at early years and in education; and to people whose lives had been narrowed far too much by cost of living and growing interest rate pressures.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Although I am sure I might disagree with some of the signatories on a great many things about politics and policy, fundamentally we probably share a concern that, for a long time and under successive parties, people have begun to worry that politicians have not always done a good enough job of serving them and their priorities, and have not shown themselves to be sufficiently capable of delivering the change they are looking to see. Not a single Member in this House should feel comfortable with the trend we have been seeing, over decades, in public attitudes to politicians as a force for good and disillusionment with politics generally. The general election of over 18 months ago was not the first general election campaign I took part in.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. It is now just over two years since I was first elected to represent the community I live in. There is really no greater privilege than getting to be here and stand up for our constituents’ concerns, particularly at a time when the stakes feel so high. In that spirit, I want to start by thanking everyone who engaged with the petition and brought the debate to the House of Commons today. As my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) pointed out, petitions are an incredibly valuable way of ensuring that the public can continue setting the agenda in this place.”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If I heard the hon. Gentleman right, he criticised us for the £280 tax burden that basic rate taxpayers face because of the threshold freeze that is in effect this year. He knows, of course, that that threshold freeze was in his Government’s manifesto going into the general election and part of their last Budget settlement. Did he criticise it at the time?”
House of Commons12 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is fantastic to see the toolkit coming into effect. We now need to make it a reality for every family and every child with healthcare needs right across the country.”
House of Commons6 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I spoke to young people who had had trauma eased that could easily have lasted far longer than the condition they were being treated for; to parents who, at some of the most difficult and traumatic moments of their child’s early life, were still able to find moments of joy and solace in the smiles they saw in the play area working with those fantastic therapists; and to wider health professionals who were able to deliver far more effective and often more cost-effective care because of the fantastic collaborative work they had with the therapeutic play provision team who are well embedded into the Lister hospital. Those parents and families are really lucky. Working with Starlight, I know many other families across the country have got to be equally lucky, but far too often families face a postcode lottery in provision.”
House of Commons6 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr Bailey) not just for securing the debate, but for continuing to live up to his true legend status by being so generous with interventions and speaking time. Therapeutic play can all too often be seen as a nice-to-have in children’s healthcare, rather than as a fundamental part of doing paediatric care well. I had the privilege recently of joining fantastic play therapists such as Christina at my local hospital and seeing the transformative impact that therapeutic play, done well, can have on outcomes for young people.”
House of Commons6 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am delighted that we are investing in more rooftop solar. GB Energy supports the deployment of rooftop solar on schools and hospitals in my constituency, and the Government are taking up my proposal that it be a requirement to have it on all new housing, but how can we make sure that we are not missing out on the opportunity to use other rooftops, from those on car parks to those on commercial warehouses?”
House of Commons6 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I welcome the Government’s commitment to tackling misogyny, but I am sure that Ministers will be as disgusted as I am by reports over recent weeks of users of the social media platform X being able to create sexualised images of women, including children, through its AI tool, Grok. What conversations are Ministers having across Government to ensure that we clamp down on that vile practice, which should simply not be tolerated on social media sites?”
House of Commons5 January 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Whatever one’s view of Brexit, leaving the Erasmus scheme was unambiguously an act of self-harm, denying the opportunity for thousands of young people across the country to study and learn abroad. I congratulate the Minister on re-securing those benefits, but they cannot just be the preserve of a narrow few. How can we ensure that a far wider group of young people in my constituency are able to benefit from the new scheme?”
House of Commons17 December 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I welcome the news that the Deputy Prime Minister has been appointed to lead a national summit to discuss the issues affecting men and boys, but given that those in politics—including, let us face it, progressive politics—all too often fail to see and speak about some of the specific challenges faced by men and young boys growing up in Britain today, how can we make the most of the summit, which could be a truly catalysing moment to start to put that right?”
House of Commons16 December 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The people of the Stotfold Good Neighbour Group have been far more than just good friends for lots of people in their community; they go above and beyond to be a crucial lifeline for many who would otherwise be isolated, helping with trips to the doctor and hospitals and crucial shopping trips. With the group having completed more than 15,000 connections for the town, will the Leader of the House join me in thanking all the volunteers who make it possible? Will he also join me in celebrating the very welcome news that they are being recognised with the King’s award for voluntary service?”
House of Commons4 December 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I know the Minister will share my concerns about some of the rise in regressive attitudes to sex, relationships and women among some subsets of young men, but far from being the drivers of that problem, young men should be the solution. Fantastic groups such as Beyond Equality show that at their heart, by giving young men spaces to explore their own sense of self, manhood, and healthy relationships on their own terms, they can have incredible and transformative impacts on gender attitudes to sex and a wider relationship ethos. How can we ensure that as part of our reforms we create more opportunities for those spaces at the heart of every young child’s education?”
House of Commons1 December 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I welcome the Government’s commitment to a strategy for palliative care, which is as overdue as it is important, but it will mean nothing for hospices that are not able to last out until it comes into effect. Garden House hospice in my constituency is facing a crucial funding shortfall, and although the capital funding from the Government that came through earlier this year is incredibly welcome, it is still just short of filling the cash-flow gap it needs to fill to secure its operations. Would the Minister meet me to see what further work the integrated care board may be able to do to protect this vital hospice serving my constituents?”
House of Commons25 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If it comes forward, Tempsford new town would offer an opportunity to get infrastructure right while building the homes we crucially need, in stark contrast to the chaotic approach to development seen by far too many of my Bedfordshire towns and villages. If it does proceed, will the Minister meet me to ensure we engage on how we can maximise the infrastructure benefits, not just for Tempsford but for my existing communities that are already feeling the strain?”
House of Commons24 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The fact that this strategy was the first of its kind speaks to a wider problem in our politics—that at times we shy away from being confident in speaking to the challenges that affect men particularly and specifically. As progressives, this should be our fight. We should be making sure that society is there for vulnerable lads at school and dads and mums going through vulnerable births. We should make sure that we are there for men at the darkest moments of their lives. These are big progressive causes, and we should be comfortable taking them on and being loud and proud about speaking to them. At the end of the day, men’s issues are issues not just for men but for everyone. We all have men and women in our lives, and we should all be passionate about policies that tackle the challenges they face.”
House of Commons20 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“While all I can do to thank Joe, George and Alex is put their names on the record and forever associate them with me—a dubious privilege I am not sure they will be so grateful for—I want to highlight the importance of making sure that no man should ever be in the position of having to go through such a challenge alone. I am lucky to have great groups in my constituency such as For Men to Talk in Hitchin, Stotfold’s men’s health walking group, and the great group in Shefford, where I live, run by Steve Coxon. They are there to ensure that men have spaces where they can reach out. That is why it is so important to see investment in these groups and a wider community approach to men’s health front and centre in the strategy. We know that we need to do far more.”
House of Commons20 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As was identified in yesterday’s landmark announcement, men’s mental health, its issues and strategies have not been forensically focused on in this place for far too long. I know about that from my own challenges, after a bad concussion left me out of work for the best part of six months. I was unable to comprehend and struggled to read at times—some Members might be wondering what has changed. While I can joke about it now, it was no laughing matter at the time. I was lucky that I had friends who pointed out the fact that my symptoms went well beyond concussion; I was getting quite deeply depressed. They ensured that I got the right support and guidance to get back to work and feel comfortable and confident in myself again.”
House of Commons20 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I have seen mums with high-risk pregnancies along with dads struggling to see whether they will be able to take off enough time before the birth—let alone after—to be there to support them. New mums have told me heartbreaking stories of how they have had to go through caesarean recoveries alone after the dads had to return to work. That cannot be good enough. As progressives, the statutory paternity leave offer, which is so narrow and tight that only some of the wealthiest in society can really take it up, should not be good enough for us. We have to do far better. I really hope that we will make the most of the upcoming paternity and parental leave review to put that right. As so many have already said, that is not the only issue failing men today.”
House of Commons20 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Last week, I went to the Library—I do not know why in this place, but I wanted to find a book on paranoia. I went up to the librarian, tapped her on the shoulder and asked her where I might be able to find one. She leaned over to me and whispered, “I am afraid, sir, they’re all right behind you.” [Hon. Members: “Oh.”] That is as good a reaction as my jokes get in this place—it is great to see everyone else lowering themselves to my level for one day. The point behind the campaign is a really important one: paternity leave in this country is a bit of a joke. When I have held events with new mums, new dads and new parents across my constituency, it has been heartbreaking to hear about the impact that the challenge of paternity leave has on them.”
House of Commons20 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I start with a thank you to my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for the incredible way in which he opened the debate. Securing it was important enough, but the bravery that he has shown today, as well as the leadership that he has shown on so many of the issues he spoke to in his speech, will perhaps serve men right across the country far better in the future than politics has managed to do in the past. It is a day after International Men’s Day, but I cannot think of a better model of a modern, strong man than the vision of himself that he set out today, in being so brave in sharing that deeply personal experience with us all. As my hon. Friend finished, I want to start with a dad joke—as we know, all good jokes need some forewarning.”
House of Commons20 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Solar energy is an important part of securing clean, cheaper energy for our country, but one way to reduce its pressure on land use is to ensure that we are making better use of rooftops. It is fantastic that after my campaigning, we are going to be much tougher in requiring new homes to come with solar panels, but all too often car parks and commercial properties are still not making full use of the technology. How can we do far more to make use of those rooftops too, in order to generate the clean, cheap power that we all need?”
House of Commons18 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Last week I had the privilege of visiting Hitchin boys’ school to listen to pupils across the year groups debating how we could do more to protect them from online harm, and I think we could probably learn some things from their thoughtful, considerate and informed approach. The debate was informed by some deep and troubling testimony about the risks they have been exposed to online. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating the pupils on having such a fantastic discussion on this important topic, and could we have a debate here about what more the Government can do to protect young people right across the country?”
House of Commons13 November 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my hon. Friend for the way in which he has tirelessly championed young people and their mental health since entering Parliament. Over the summer I held a number of workshops with young people and families with special educational needs, as well as schools, to understand their concerns about the ways the current system is failing young people. If the Government are to succeed in their worthy ambition of delivering more inclusive mainstream education—which we know is in every young person’s best interest, if we can deliver it well—would he agree that it is vital that we get our reforms to assessment right, and speak to it in an integrated way, to ensure that every young person can be set up to succeed and thrive at school?”
House of Commons15 October 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Like the National Farmers Union, I welcome the protections for the agriculture budget in the recent spending review, including crucial funding for sustainable farming. On visits to farmers in my constituency, the difference this is making is clear: it is investing in our countryside and supporting nature-based farming. However, far too many farmers on small and medium-sized farms tell me that the scheme is far too difficult for them to access at the moment. Those are exactly the farmers who are also likely to be locked out of private nature-based financing options, so how can we work with those farmers to reform the scheme and ensure that more of those small and medium-sized farms can benefit from this crucial funding?”
House of Commons4 September 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Alongside the failure to go after some of the evil perpetrators of these crimes without fear or favour, another devastating failing of the grooming gangs scandal was the criminalisation of some of the young people involved by a system that all too often failed to see them as children and victims first. How is the Solicitor General working with colleagues right across Government to ensure that we can disregard those convictions as quickly as possible, and so that such key failings cannot happen again?”
House of Commons4 September 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I share many of my constituents’ despair and anger about the intolerable suffering in Gaza. Last year, I had the privilege of meeting one of my constituents, Becky, to hear about her heartbreaking experience of delivering medical aid in Palestine. Devastatingly, a year on, the situation is much worse, with Gaza now the child amputee capital of the world and thousands more families pushed to starvation. There have been some welcome moves from the Government in recent months, but clearly not enough has yet been done—nothing can be until the suffering has stopped. What further urgent action can we take to finally secure access to the aid that Gaza desperately needs, and end this intolerable suffering?”
House of Commons2 September 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“May I seek confirmation that we will not shy away from further clarification, like the clarification she gave today, where the ECHR is getting in the way of the action that we know we need to take to provide the border security that our country is crying out for?”
House of Commons1 September 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The European convention on human rights is an important bedrock, protecting not only vulnerable people’s rights here in the UK, but also our strong international relationships, which were crucial to securing the returns deal with France, and co-operation with Germany and other European partners on finally clamping down on the scourge of the people smuggling gangs that we inherited. Leaving the ECHR fully cannot be a solution to our problems, but that does not mean that every aspect of it works in the right way, and it is clear that it stands in the way of our taking some actions that we need to take if we are to deal with this issue seriously. I welcome the Home Secretary’s clarification of how we will take forward interpretation of article 8.”
House of Commons1 September 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Many of my constituents share my utter disgust at the way in which water companies have been able to profit from degrading our rivers and chalk streams. It is fantastic to see bonuses already banned at polluting Anglian Water and to see that we are following up by taking action and sacking regulators that were asleep at the wheel. As we start on really ambitious reforms to halve sewage spills over the coming years, how can we ensure that we are tightening up some of those monitoring procedures so that my constituents can see clearly and transparently whether we are feeling the benefits locally?”
House of Commons21 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“One way to drive down energy costs, including for energy-intensive industries, could be to help cut curtailment costs by encouraging the co-location of new energy-intensive industry sectors with some of the renewable sectors that we are currently having to pay to switch off. As we start to roll out more data centres across the country, what conversations have Ministers had about how such centres could be optimally located to help reduce our energy bills at the same time?”
House of Commons15 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“What assurances can the Secretary of State give my constituents that we will not shy away from tackling climate change at source, and that we will invest in mitigation schemes to tackle the issues that we are already facing right across our towns and villages?”
House of Commons14 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I had the real pleasure of visiting York Road nursery school in my constituency this morning to celebrate its securing Eco-Schools green flag status—with distinction no less. As well as being a sobering reminder of my inability to hold the attention of four-year-olds for very long, it was a powerful reminder that future generations will bear the brunt of our failure to take this crisis seriously. The truth is that we do not have to look to the future to see the cost—my local farmers are beset by flooding, for example. We in Hitchin are already feeling the pain of the failure to take climate change and the nature crisis seriously and to tackle them head-on.”
House of Commons14 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Given the importance of family hubs, I know the Secretary of State shares my disappointment that neither Central Bedfordshire nor Hertfordshire previously received a single penny of family hub funding. It was vulnerable families in the towns and villages in those areas of my constituency who were paying the price, so I am delighted that we are putting that right today. One of the shortcomings that led to is not enough young people with special educational needs having those needs identified early with support being put in place at an early age when, as we all know, the evidence tells us it is most effective. As we roll out more Best Start hubs, how can we ensure that tackling SEND challenges and providing support at the earliest possible opportunity are at the heart of the Government’s plan?”
House of Commons7 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That cannot be right, so can I invite the Minister to Hitchin to have a pint and speak to local parents about the impact that this review could have on cases such as this?”
House of Commons1 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Having raised with the Minister the need to do more on paternity and kinship leave in particular, I very much welcome today’s statement and the upcoming landmark review. I recently had the pleasure of hosting a number of parents at the Victoria pub in Hitchin to talk about the challenges caused by the current paternity leave framework. It was particularly heartbreaking to hear one man’s story. He was an expectant father and he talked about the impact it was already starting to have on him. Ahead of the birth, his wife was a high-risk case, so he was already having to take significant leave in advance of the birth. He was worried that this would deprive him of his ability to be there in those crucial days after the birth—with the family, with his child and with that new mum who would desperately need his support.”
House of Commons1 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will speak about a growing issue that is threatening to undercut that very principle for far too many homeowners in Hitchin, in the other towns and villages I represent, and in far too many communities right across the country. That is the growing scandal of fleeceholds, as well as the challenges with unadopted estates and the issues that the families left in them have to face.”
House of Commons24 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗