The 10th Westminster Book Awards were celebrated on 4 February 2026 in the Cholmondeley and Terrace Pavilion in Parliament. As Chair of the APPG on Publishing, I opened the event and you can read my full speech below. I introduced Dan Conway, CEO of the Publishers Association and we heard  from Fleur Sinclair, President of the

On Wednesday 11 February 2026, I was pleased to support the Local Government Finance Settlement. 

Local government provides the services people rely on every day – from social care and housing to road maintenance and tackling homelessness. This settlement will give councils the security they need to rebuild local services and strengthen our communities for

I attended a meeting on on 10 February 2026, the launch of a report, "Brave New World?" and on the panel was Independent Society of Musicians,(ISM), the Society of Authors, the Association of Illustrators, Equity and the Association of Photographers, a roundtable discussion to discuss the findings of the report, Brave New World?

The panel for

I was pleased to host the IKEA Annual Retail Reception in the Jubilee Room in the House of Commons on 10 February 2026 supported by Total Politics.MPs were invited and were able to talk to IKEA co-workers from around the country. 

Welcome everyone especially those MPs with IKEA in your constituency and those who want one

Adam Davy, The Director of the Walsall FC Foundation invited me on Saturday 7 February 2026 to the Club to see the programmes he is developing at the Club. One is the men's walking football. Adam has been at the club for 30 years and recently won a long service award. Teams take part in

Walsall FC and Foundation set up a stall at the Pallett Track Stadium and when I visited the Stadium on 7 February 2026, I signed a card for Amelia Kolpa, a girl from Rowley Regis in the Black Country who has neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that starts in a type of nerve cell called a

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) published the findings of its investigation into the way State Pension ages (SPA) were communicated to 1950s-born women in March 2024. Whilst the investigation did not concern the principle of SPA equalisation, which successive administrations have supported, but the way in which this was conveyed to those women

As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Classical Music, I was delighted to visit the Southbank Centre for 'Classical Mixtape: A Live Takeover' on Thursday 5 February 2026.The multi-venue event, a mixtape brought to life, featured classical music favourites and film soundtracks, performed by all six of the Southbank Centre's resident orchestras: Orchestra of the