2021

There was an excellent display of the work that will undertaken for the Restoration and Renewal of the Parliamentary Estate. I was pleased to meet up with the Serjeant at Arms,  Ugbena Oyet to highlight the work that will take place. More importantly one of the displays, below, showed how the R and R team are enhancing the Jobs and skills oppostunities which will support and benefit UK wide heritage industries. This was something I was very keen on during the R and R debate in the Commons. The UK has fantastic skills and it is vital they are recognized , enhanced and the next generation are trained in these skills. Moreover the supply chain will involve hundreds of UK wide businesses.    

I visited Richard Ratcliffe on Thursday 4 November 2021 who is on day 12 of his second hunger strike. This time Richard is outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Richard is the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.  Nazanin is a British-Iranian woman who has been arbitrarily detained in Iran since April 2016 after visiting family with their young daughter Gabriella. 

Happy Diwali to everyone celebrating the Festival of Lights in Britain, and to Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities all over the world.

On Tuesday 2 November 2021, the House of Commons voted on Resolutions to the Autumn Budget.

On Tuesday 2 November 2021 I spoke at the Budget Resolutions in the Commons to present my concerns regarding the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget. I pointed out that the Budget is a missed opportunity that does not focus on the challenges facing children, the environment and our local communities.