September 2025

There is an extremely high bar for proscribing any organisation, and that decision was not taken lightly. It was taken on very strong advice about the activities of Palestine Action. Those activities were increasingly severe and, with increasing frequency, incredibly damaging. That is not to say that people cannot peacefully protest in support of Palestine or in support of many other organisations that support the Palestinian cause. As I said earlier, I strongly support recognition of Palestine

I thank my hon. Friend and a number of other colleagues for continuing to campaign on and raise these important issues. As parents and constituency MPs, we all see the damage that social media and unmitigated use of smartphones can cause to teenagers. He is absolutely right to highlight that schools already have the power to confiscate smartphones, and I am really pleased to hear that a couple of schools in his constituency have done so. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the guida

I share the frustration, concern and indeed anger in many parts about the huge use of asylum hotels, and now HMOs, in dealing with the asylum backlog, which was left by the hon. Gentleman’s party after it was in power. Indeed, I remember the shadow Home Secretary and the shadow Justice Secretary going round the country opening these hotels and allowing this to happen. They left us with a huge backlog. We need to take all necessary steps to bring down illegal migration, deal with these issues and

I thank the hon. Lady for reminding me about the brilliant Lionesses’ triumph in the Euros earlier in the summer. I take this opportunity to congratulate them on that. The hon. Lady raises the important issue of neighbourhood policing. Community policing has been hugely diminished over the last 10 to 15 years, and we are determined to fix it. The nature of how policing is done has changed, but we are providing the funding and the additional police officers for community and neighbourhood policin

My hon. Friend rightly raises a really important issue, which she has explained better than I could, about the challenges of DNRs, particularly for vulnerable people, and I hope that those involved will have listened to her question. I will ensure that she gets a full ministerial response and that the issue is looked at.

I am very happy to have an ice cream, but I am not sure that the hon. Member’s constituents are quite ready to see me in a swimming costume just yet. I am pleased to hear that Kirkham baths has been saved and will now be refurbished. That is exactly why we have put the money into grassroots sport, but it is also why we have given local government such a big settlement, because things such as Kirkham baths are so important to our communities.

I thank the hon. Member once again for her bravery and her powerful testimony. I know many of us continue to be appalled by the experiences she has had over a number of years in the campaign brought by her abusive ex-husband and what he has tried to do in undermining her capacity to be an effective Member of Parliament, which she continues to be. I hear her calls today for the steps that need to be taken to ensure that this cannot happen again, and particularly that it cannot happen again to her

I think we all remember when the previous Government gave the contract for our passport production to a French company in the post-Brexit era. We all found it rather strange at the time. This Government are committed to buying British and to British procurement, and we will bring forward legislation and other means of ensuring that that can better happen.

Absolutely, and I thank my hon. Friend for raising that awful case today. As he says, the Government take hate crime incredibly seriously. No one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their race or religion. We need to combat and stand up to rhetoric and campaigns that can make people feel insecure in their communities, and I look forward to working with him to that end.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue again. It is not the first time that I have heard of problems in the Environment Agency and about its not following through on the commitments that it has given. I will ensure that he gets a ministerial response, but we are determined that the Environment Agency and others should be held to account for the actions they take, and that they should take more responsibility for prevention.

My hon. Friend is right to say that bringing rail back into public ownership and our Employment Rights Bill are flagship policies of this Government, and I am particularly proud of them. We will ensure that as we take rail back into public ownership, it is done in the best interests of passengers and ensures that staff are well looked after and do not take industrial action, as they did under the previous Government.

I thank the hon. Lady for raising another important issue on behalf of her constituents. That Bill is currently on the Committee corridor; when it returns to this Chamber, she will be able to raise those important matters. In the meantime, I will ensure that she gets a ministerial response.

First, I congratulate my hon. Friend on becoming a new dad earlier this summer. I thank him once again for being such a brilliant champion for proper investment in our northern rail and connectivity, which is absolutely vital to the rebirth of our regions.

I am sorry to hear about the response the hon. Gentleman has had. We are working with telecommunications companies to reduce poor mobile signal—particularly in rural areas, which is not an easy task—and we have the shared rural network deal. However, I will ensure that he gets a better ministerial response to his questions.

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important issue, which is raised with me all the time in business questions. I know that there is nothing more concerning to a local community than the closure of a bank or post office on the high street or in the town centre, knowing what that will mean for accessing cash. I will ensure that my she gets a full response about the roll-out of banking hubs.

The rise in Islamophobia, which we have all seen in our constituencies—I know I have seen it in mine—is absolutely unacceptable. Hate crime itself is unacceptable, and we need to call it out and root it out. We have the independent working group, which is soon to advise Ministers on the definition of Islamophobia, and we have a wider action plan to tackle the issues. The hon. Member is right to say that we should all be mindful of the language we use and the impact it might have.

I am really sorry to hear that the beaches in the hon. Member’s constituency have been closed. It is unacceptable that sewage has been flowing into the sea around her constituency. As she says, the Scottish Government are responsible for Scottish Water. They should get their act together and follow what we have been doing in England.

The hon. Member is right to highlight that, as the climate changes rapidly, unfortunately we are going to see more wildfires in the summer and more flooding in the winter. We are funding a national resilience wildfire adviser and looking at how we can work with stakeholders and everybody else to tackle this issue and build our resilience.

I am happy to join my hon. Friend in telling Staffordshire county council—which I hear a lot of complaints about in business questions, I have to say—to get its act together and get this new GP surgery open so it can serve his constituents.

I thank the hon. Member for raising the issue of step-free access at her local station—this issue is raised with me all the time at business questions. I am sure that a debate on the topic would be very well subscribed, if she wanted one, but I will ensure that she gets a ministerial response. I am pleased to hear about her written question.