2023 March

At Justice Questions on 28 March 2023 I asked a question to the Minister about HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s (HMCTS) paused court Reform Program. The National Audit Office published its report “Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme” on 23 February 2023. 

The House voted on amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill. The Illegal Migration Bill aims to deter people from crossing the English Channel in small boats by preventing those that do so from claiming asylum in the UK, detaining and removing them from the UK. 

Serious violent crime has increased in Walsall. I met with the Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster and Chief Superintendent Phil Dolby on 17 March to discuss the recent murders and crime on Milton Street. Jack Lowe, who was 18, Bailey Atkinson and Akeem Francis-Kerr were murdered in and around the town centre.

On Sunday 26 March 2023, I was a guest on BBC Politics Midlands with Conservative MP for Mid Worcestershire Nigel Huddleston. There were a number of topics for discussion including the National Express bus drivers’ strike in the West Midlands. I said “strikes are a last resort and there should be dialogue, dialogue, dialogue.”

The House voted on the Lords Amendments 6B to 6F to the Public Order Bill on Wednesday 22 March 2023. The Bill provides the police with greater powers to respond to disruptive protests.  The Lords amendments would limit powers to stop and search based on a senior police officer’s view that an offence related to protesting may be committed in a certain area for a maximum of 24 hours.