It was good to meet with the Co-Chair of Walsall FC, Leigh Pomlett, at an event held by the English Football League EFL on Monday 20 January 2025.This was a well supported event, to hear about the progress of the Football Governance Bill now in the House of Lords. The culture secretary Lisa Nandy MP

January marks Tamil Heritage Month, and I attended the Thai Pongal celebration in Parliament on 15 January 2025, hosted by the British Tamils Forum.

Thai Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated in colourful fashion- we were treated to folk dances, musical performances and Tamil traditional food, including the sweet pongal dish- rice boiled with milk

The House met on 14 January 2025 to debate on the third reading of the Renters' Rights Bill. The bill aims, amongst many other improvements, to: Abolish Section 21 ‘no fault evictions’-increasing tenant security, strengthen tenants’ rights to challenge unreasonable rent rises and rental bidding, and apply a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented

I chaired another session of the Employment Rights Bill Committee on Tuesday 14 January 2025. The House of Commons appoints committees to consider proposed legislation in detail, line by line.

The Employment Right Bill seeks to: ensure that jobs provide a baseline of security for workers, prioritise fairness, equality and wellbeing of workers, ensure workers get fair

Together with other MPs and Peers I signed Tonia Antoniazzi MP's letter to the England and Wales Cricket Board calling for the Men's team to consider a boycott of next month's ICC Champion's Trophy group stage match against Afghanistan.

The EWCB has taken action in 2024 confirming that as long as Afghanistan maintain their ban on

The second reading of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill  was debated on 8 January 2025. This Bill  aims to improve the  welfare of children through the education and care systems. An amendment was tabled, seeking to reject the bill altogether. The result of the division was: Ayes: 111, Noes: 364

Regarding the amendment on Child sexual

I was delighted to meet with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Shri Om Birla who was elected as the Speaker in the Parliament of India.

Shri Om Birla met with MPs and Peers and along with Speaker Rt Hon Sir Lindsey Hoyle MP spoke about the special connection between our 2 countries and how this