Bob Blackman MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 25 Feb 2026 · Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory · Hansard source

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  Reports suggest that Foreign Office officials have been instructed to act as if the treaty is in full operation. That is important, because we may be days, or even hours, away from military action against Iran. The key question is whether the US has to inform the UK and then Mauritius about wanting to use the base as a site for military operations. If it does, have the American Government approached the UK about such use?

• 12 Feb 2026 · Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address Motion · Hansard source

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  Earlier this week, the Health Secretary released the WhatsApp messages and emails that he had exchanged with Lord Mandelson. Can the Minister update the House on what instruction has been given to Cabinet Ministers to follow—or not follow—the initiative by the Health Secretary?

• 12 Feb 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank the Leader of the House for mentioning the stabbing at Kingsbury high school. The good news is that the two children who were stabbed are in a stable condition, and the suspect has now been charged with multiple charges, including attempted murder. The police investigation is clearly ongoing, and we cannot comment on it any further. I thank the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) for stepping into the breach at very short notice when the previous debate that the Backbench Business Committee had allocated for Thursday 26 February was withdrawn. As the Leader of the House has mentioned, estimates day debates are coming up on 4 March. We are open for business for applications by a week tomorrow; we will then decide which debates will be allocated time. When we return, the business in Westminster Hall will be as follows. On 24 February, there will be a debate on Government support for healthcare systems in Gaza. On Thursday 26 February, there will be a debate on Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2026, followed by a debate on the impact of VAT on independent faith schools. On 3 March, there will be a debate on strengthening community cohesion. On 5 March, there will be a debate on the importance of local museums, followed by a debate on World Book Day. When we return on 23 February, it will be the third anniversary of the hunger strike by Vahid Beheshti outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. He has had terrible privations as a result of this hunger strike, and no Foreign Office Minister in either the previous Government or the current Government has even had the courtesy to visit him. Given the circumstances in Iran, with more than 30,000 civilians being murdered by the tyrannical regime, Vahid has been calling for the proscription of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for the last three years. Can the Leader of the House arrange for a Minister to at least meet Vahid so that he can convey his reasons for carrying out this hunger strike?

• 11 Feb 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for raising the stabbing at Kingsbury high school yesterday. It is absolutely right that we allow the police to get on with their job of investigating this terrible atrocity; indeed, the police are out there now, providing reassurance to parents and people in the community. I am sure I speak for the whole House when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and those who witnessed the atrocity. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] Will the Prime Minister now look at what needs to be done to combat knife crime across the country? It is absolutely wrong that people are carrying knives in the first place—they do not need to—and that they are drawn into such terrible atrocities. We owe it to the victims to ensure that that happens.

• 9 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T6. Over the last two and a half years, our Jewish population have had to put up with hate marches starting outside synagogues. Jewish businesses have suffered hate demonstrations outside. Now shops that store kosher goods have been targeted by demonstrators. What action can the Home Secretary take to make sure that our Jewish population are protected and these evil perpetrators are brought to justice?

• 5 Feb 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In addition to the business that the Leader of the House has announced, on Monday the Procedure Committee is due to give a statement on its report on call lists. As that is not a day for Backbench Business debates, a motion from the Leader of the House will apparently be required to allow the statement to take place, and I hope that he will enable that to happen. On Thursday 12 February, there will be a Select Committee statement on behalf of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on its recent report. On Thursday 26 February, if we are given the day, there will be a debate on St David’s day and Welsh affairs. In addition, the business in Westminster Hall next week will include, on Tuesday, a report on the Independent Water Commission’s final report and, on Thursday 12 February, a Select Committee statement on behalf of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, followed by a debate on Government support for healthy relationships—just in advance of Valentine’s day—and a debate on onshoring in the fashion and textiles industry. On Tuesday 24 February, when we return from recess, there will be a debate on Government support for the healthcare system in Gaza, and on Thursday 26 February, there will be a debate on Eating Disorders Awareness Week, followed by a debate on the impact of VAT on independent faith schools. Eagle-eyed individuals who follow the Order Paper will know that there will be no second debate in Westminster Hall this afternoon, and I should explain why. The hon. Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) was granted that debate three weeks ago, and the Government were given notice that it was being held. On Tuesday, however, the Minister with responsibility for public health, the hon. Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton), apparently informed the hon. Member that she would not be available to answer the debate. As the Leader of the House will know, it is not acceptable for the Government to determine that only one Minister can answer a debate. Another Minister, or even a health Whip, could have answered. We must give the Government 48 hours’ notice of debates, and we offered the slot to five individuals, but unfortunately they could not change their plans for this afternoon. I am sure that Members will want to defend the right of Back Benchers to hold the Government to account. Fly-tipping in Harrow has been a scourge for most local residents. I am pleased that the council has taken many steps to combat it, including fly-tips being reported within 24 hours, free bulky waste collection, enabling multiple trips to the waste recycling centre and CCTV at fly-tipping hotspots. Recently, though, an illegal waste dump was set up on private land. Harrow council officers have been through that waste, and they have been able to identify it as the waste of 40 individuals, who have been issued with fixed penalty notices for giving their waste to illegal waste collectors. This is a warning that people should not do that. However, there is now a problem across the country with illegal waste collectors using private land to carry out these criminal actions. Can a relevant Minister make a statement on what action the Government will take to support local authorities in opposing these waste collectors, and warn individuals that they should not use them?

• 5 Feb 2026 · Sudan · Hansard source

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  Over the last two-and-a-half years, there has hardly been a week when we have not had an urgent question, statement or debate on the situation in Gaza, yet the situation in Sudan has often been overlooked, despite the fact that at least three times as many people have been killed in Sudan as in Gaza. I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement, but the key here is to ensure that an arms embargo exists across the world. Can she update the House on how many of our allies have agreed to such an arms embargo? What action will be taken against those who are frankly not our allies to try to prevent those arms from getting into Sudan?

• 3 Feb 2026 · Court Backlog · Hansard source

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  One of the areas causing the delays is the lack of defence barristers. It will clearly take time to train new barristers, but what incentives can the Minister offer to those qualifying in law to become defence barristers, rather than seeking other avenues in the law?

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  The IRGC and the so-called morality police have murdered 30,000 people on the streets of Iran. They pursued the wounded to their home, or to hospital, and murdered them. Given the length of time we have had to consider the proscription of the IRGC in its entirety, and given that we now have clear evidence of our own allies proscribing the IRGC in its entirety, why are the Government are not bringing forward such a proscription? Just before the weekend, I contributed to a cross-party letter to the Prime Minister, in which Members offered to support the fast-tracking of legislation through both Houses. The will is there on both sides of the House. Obviously the Minister cannot answer this at the Dispatch Box now, but will he go back to the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, and ensure that this gets done?

• 3 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T5. To discourage ex-offenders from reoffending, it is crucial that on leaving prison they have a stable home, the opportunity of a job, and a stable network around them to stop them reoffending. However, with the advent of early release, there is a risk that those leaving prison are not given that support before they leave the prison gates. What action will the Minister take to ensure that those leaving prison after completing their sentences actually do not reoffend?

• 29 Jan 2026 · Holocaust Memorial Day · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to follow an excellent opening speech from the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley). I congratulate him on the way he has introduced this debate. I declare my interests as the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on the Holocaust memorial and education centre, co-chairman of the APPG on Israel and sponsor of this year’s Holocaust memorial reception in Portcullis House, on behalf of the Holocaust Educational Trust. We gather today to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on 27 January 1945. That moment exposed to the world the full horror of the Nazi regime’s systematic murder of 6 million Jewish men, women and children—for the benefit of the BBC, I say Jewish men, women and children. However, Holocaust Memorial Day is also a moment to remember the millions of others who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis, such as the Roma, disabled people, political dissidents and others. We remember not only to honour the victims, but to understand how such an atrocity became possible and how we must never allow it to happen again. The Holocaust did not begin with the gas chambers and the death camps, and too often we forget the context. In the decades before, hatred was allowed to grow in Germany; prejudice became normalised; and language, institutions and social norms were slowly corroded. In the great war, Germany was defeated, and afterwards it was economically shattered. The treaty of Versailles imposed territorial losses, military restrictions and severe reparations, the burden of which fell heavily on ordinary people in Germany. The Weimar republic, although democratic in structure, was fragile, and economic catastrophe soon followed. In fact, hyperinflation in the early 1920s left Germans burning paper money to keep warm, because the currency’s value had fallen away. Widespread poverty took hold, and in times of despair, many people searched for simple explanations—and for scapegoats. It was in that climate that the Nazi party rose to prominence. Hitler and his supporters offered simplistic answers to complex problems. They promised national revival, strength and unity, while identifying enemies within. Jews were portrayed not as fellow citizens, but as outsiders. They were dehumanised and blamed for Germany’s defeat, its economic hardships and the perceived decline of society. Hatred was not accidental; it was systematic, deliberate and relentlessly reinforced. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, antisemitism became state policy. Just imagine that: it was state policy to outlaw a particular religion. Persecution began not with mass violence, but with exclusion. Jewish civil servants were dismissed, Jewish businesses were boycotted and Jewish professionals were barred from practising law and medicine, and from teaching. Those measures were designed to isolate, humiliate and impoverish an entire community. It is important to stress that while most people did not actively participate in persecution, most chose to look away while it happened. Silence, passivity and indifference allowed injustice to become embedded and, ultimately, unstoppable. Persecution soon escalated. The Nuremberg laws of 1935 stripped Jews of citizenship and basic rights, reducing them from equal members of society to subjects of the state. Violence became overt. In November 1938, Kristallnacht marked a decisive turning point. Synagogues were destroyed, Jewish homes and businesses were attacked, and thousands were arrested by the state—not by mobs acting alone, but by authority itself. With the outbreak of the second world war, persecution turned into annihilation. Jews were forced into ghettos, and we will no doubt hear about harrowing testimonies of overcrowding, hunger, disease and despair. From 1941 onwards, death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka and Sobibor were constructed for one purpose alone—mass murder. Trains arrived from across Europe, and people were selected, exploited and killed on an industrial scale. There were some who resisted, often at immense personal risk, and they remind us that choices are always possible, but they were the exception, not the norm.

• 29 Jan 2026 · Holocaust Memorial Day · Hansard source

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  Indeed, I condemn that action, and all actions that seek in some way, shape or form to glorify or justify the Holocaust. The lesson matters profoundly today. Holocaust Memorial Day plays a vital part in educating the public on the dangers of prejudice, discrimination and hatred—dangers that, if left unchecked, can escalate once again into violence and even genocide. It honours survivors and preserves their testimony, particularly now that the number of first-hand witnesses is sadly diminishing—a point to which the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket alluded. The theme for this year, “Bridging Generations”, is therefore a powerful call to action. The responsibility for remembrance does not end with the survivors. It must be passed on to their children, grandchildren and all of us, so that memory becomes responsibility. That matters, because antisemitism in the UK remains at alarmingly high levels. Following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, antisemitic incidents surged dramatically. According to the Community Security Trust, 1,521 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the first half of 2025 alone—the second highest total ever recorded for that period. Although that is lower than the number in the record year of 2024, that still represents a sustained and deeply troubling level of hostility that is far above the pre-October 7 averages.

• 29 Jan 2026 · Holocaust Memorial Day · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman, my constituency neighbour, for that intervention. The sad reality is that following my question to the Deputy Prime Minister yesterday, my social media accounts were loaded with antisemitic tropes. It is a disgrace, and Ofcom has to take action. It is our duty to ensure that hate speech is never allowed to continue. I believe in free speech, but I do not believe in preaching hatred to one another, regardless of religion, and action has to be taken on that. Greater London and Greater Manchester remain hotspots of antisemitism; there was an attack on the synagogue in Manchester during Yom Kippur. Online antisemitism, to which the hon. Member for Harrow West (Gareth Thomas) just referred, now accounts for well more than a third of all incidents. Holocaust-related abuse appears with disturbing frequency, and there has been a sharp rise in the glorification of the Holocaust. Behind these statistics lies a chilling reality: many Jewish people in Britain feel unsafe, unwelcome or forced to hide their identity in public. Surveys suggest that around half have considered leaving the UK due to antisemitism. That should trouble every one of us. We must be honest about the ways in which contemporary antisemitism often disguises itself. Increasingly, anti-Israel activism functions as a Trojan horse for antisemitism, allowing ancient prejudice to re-enter public discourse under the cover of political critique. Legitimate criticism of any Government is entirely valid, but when Israel becomes uniquely demonised, Zionism is used as a slur and Jewish institutions and individuals are targeted, regardless of their views, we are no longer in the realm of political debate. CST data shows that a significant proportion of antisemitic incidents now blend anti-Zionist language with classic antisemitic tropes: claims of secret control, collective guilt or global conspiracy. On campuses and online platforms, and in public demonstrations such as yesterday’s, Jewish students and citizens are increasingly made to feel responsible simply for who they are. That not only undermines free speech; it poisons it. We must confront the disturbing rise of Holocaust inversion: the grotesque distortion that portrays Jews or Israel as the new Nazis. That is not merely offensive rhetoric; it threatens and trivialises the Shoah, inverts reality, and inflicts profound harm on survivors and their families. Equating the Star of David with the swastika or accusing the Jewish state of genocide is not historical analysis; it is antisemitism. We must be clear and unequivocal in condemning it. On Holocaust Memorial Day, we should acknowledge the historical link between the Holocaust and the modern state of Israel. Zionism long predates the second world war, but the genocide of European Jewry underscored with devastating clarity the need for a Jewish homeland—a place of refuge and self-determination. Many Holocaust survivors helped build that nation, carrying the scars of the camps with them. Attempts to de-legitimise Israel ignore that history and risk erasing the fundamental lesson of “never again”. Finally, I want to turn to the future. Last week, the Holocaust Memorial Act 2026 received Royal Assent, paving the way for the national Holocaust memorial and learning centre to be built in Victoria Tower Gardens, beside this very Parliament. Proposed by a cross-party commission more than a decade ago, the memorial will honour the victims and educate generations to come. The proposal was started by Lord Cameron and was supported cross-party. As the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket said, we must get that memorial built before the last of the survivors is no longer with us. Its location matters. It will stand as a permanent reminder, at the heart of our democracy, of where hatred can lead when left unchallenged. As we remember the victims today, we also reaffirm our responsibility to challenge antisemitism wherever it appears, defend democratic values and human dignity, and ensure that history is neither forgotten nor distorted. When we see demonstrations and attempts to blockade Jewish businesses, restaurants and synagogues, we must call it out for what it is: antisemitism, pure and simple. Remembrance is not only about the past; it is a warning for the present, and a duty that we owe to future generations. I and, I believe, the whole House will recommit to carrying out that duty.

• 29 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In addition to the business that the Leader of the House announced, on Monday 9 February there will be a Select Committee statement from the Procedure Committee, the subject of which is secret. That should encourage Members to come along and listen to what is being said. It is secret because the Committee has not yet published its report. On Thursday 26 February—if we are allocated that date—we have offered a St David’s day and Welsh affairs debate, so I am sure the Leader of the House will not want to upset the Welsh. In Westminster Hall, on 3 February there will be a debate on town and city centre safety. On Thursday 5 February, there will be a Select Committee statement on behalf of the Scottish Affairs Committee, followed by a debate on sustainable drainage systems and a debate on secondary breast cancer. On 10 February, there will be a debate on the Independent Water Commission final report. On Thursday 12 February, there will be a debate on onshoring in the fashion and textiles industry, and a debate on which we are waiting for confirmation. On 24 February, there will be a debate on Government support for the healthcare system in Gaza. The Leader of the House and I had a very good meeting on Monday. I look forward to the necessary changes to the Standing Orders coming forward to assist the Backbench Business Committee in doing its work. The Mayor of London is wrestling with a £260 million gap in the finances. There are proposals to close police counters across London to save about £6 million a year. Since 6 October 2023, hate marches across London have cost the Metropolitan police £82 million, and officers have been dragged in from all over London to police them. Council tax payers of London are outraged about having to pay to police those marches. Will the Leader of the House ensure that the Minister who responds to the debate on the police grant tells us how the Government will make sure that the organisers of such demonstrations—rather than the council tax payers of London—bear the cost of policing them?

• 28 Jan 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q15. I join the Deputy Prime Minister in commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day. Unbelievably, the organisation Palestine Pulse planned a protest outside Parliament today entitled, “Confront Power at Parliament: Anti-Zionist Rally”. The Jewish population of our country have had to put up with weekly protests in our towns and cities since 7 October 2023. Now we have protests outside Jewish businesses and restaurants, trying to close them down. The chants are antisemitic, the meaning behind them is antisemitic and we see where it leads: the massacre on Bondi Beach, what happened in the United States, and, unbelievably, two of our Jewish population murdered in Manchester. Lord Macdonald’s review will look at the issue, but the Jewish population of this country do not have two years to wait before this hatred is extinguished. Will the Deputy Prime Minister take concrete steps to ensure that antisemitism is driven out of our country?

• 26 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  People who come to this country and make it their home are welcome to work and pay their taxes. However, Ministers may have seen reports over the weekend of foreign career criminals who have been spared prison now claiming universal credit. Taxpayers are going to be outraged by this fact, so what action will the Minister take to ensure that only people who are entitled to receive universal credit do so, and that career criminals do not?

• 22 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  As you will know, Mr Speaker, reform occasionally moves very slowly in this House, so I thank the Leader of the House for confirming that the experiment on dealing with estimates day debates, which started in 2018, will now be confirmed going forward. I would be grateful if he could give us early warning of when the estimates day debates will take place this year, so that we can begin the process of allocating the debates. In addition to the business that the Leader of the House has announced, there will be a Westminster Hall debate next Tuesday on UK bus manufacturing. On Thursday, there will be a debate on non-recognition of Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, followed by a debate on protecting and restoring river habitats. On Tuesday 3 February, there will be a Westminster Hall debate on town and city centre safety. On Thursday 5 February, there will be a debate on secondary breast cancer and a further debate, which we will announce next week. We now have a queue of debates for the Chamber, which will take us to the summer recess. We have a queue of Westminster Hall debates for Tuesdays, which will take us to the Whitsun recess, and we are processing those debates as fast as we can. We will fill any time that the Leader of the House can allocate to us. It has been drawn to my attention this week that a company called Al-Masirah has been operating a TV channel in this country for 10 years. It is owned by the Houthis, a proscribed organisation in the United States, and there is a risk that these people are using the opportunity to avoid our visa system, to launder money and to encourage terrorist activities in this country. This is obviously a serious concern for national security. I ask the Leader of the House to encourage the Security Minister to come and give us a statement on what action will be taken to make sure that the company is in compliance with our rules and regulations. If it is not, it should be removed from the UK so that our country is made safe.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Gaza and the West Bank: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  The Secretary of State will well know that the terrorist group Hamas refuse to disarm—in fact, they have forced their brutal rule on the Palestinian people. Equally, aid trucks that are desperately needed in Gaza are looted by Hamas terrorists. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to make sure that the international aid that we all want to see given to the Palestinians is not looted and diverted to Hamas?

• 15 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I join the Leader of the House in congratulating Lord Forsyth on his election in the other place. In addition to the business that the Leader of the House has announced, next Thursday there will be a Select Committee statement from the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee on its report, “Tackling the energy cost crisis.” On Thursday 29 January, there will be a Select Committee statement from the Health and Social Care Committee on the first 1,000 days of life. In Westminster Hall next Tuesday, there will be a debate on the role of the NHS in preventing domestic homicides and domestic abuse-related deaths. On Thursday 22 January, there will be a debate on transport connectivity in the midlands and north Wales, followed by a debate on the International Day of Education. On 27 January, there will be a debate in Westminster Hall on UK bus manufacturing. On 29 January, there will be a debate on non-recognition of Russian occupied territories of Ukraine, followed by a debate on protecting and restoring river habitats. I advise the Leader of the House that a large number of time-sensitive debates have been requested for both February and March, so early warning of what dates we will get would be helpful for us to allocate those debates accordingly. At the pre-recess Adjournment debate, I raised the situation in Bangladesh, and the Leader of the House quite rightly wrote to the Foreign Secretary about the disastrous situation there. Hindu men are being murdered on the streets; their houses are being burned; the temples are being burned; and other religious minorities are suffering similar fates. Next month, there are due to be so-called free and fair elections. The Awami League, which is a major political party in Bangladesh, is banned from competing in those elections, despite its commanding about 30% in the opinion polls. Equally, the Islamic extremists have called for a referendum which would change the constitution of Bangladesh forever. Could we have a statement from the Foreign Secretary next week on what action the Government will take to ensure that there are free, fair and inclusive elections and that minorities are protected?

• 14 Jan 2026 · West Midlands Police · Hansard source

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  I welcome the tone and content of the Home Secretary’s statement. She will be well aware that when Maccabi were drawn to play at Villa Park, there were attempts by extremist elements in the community to prevent the fixture from taking place at all. When those attempts failed, they moved on to trying to get fans banned because the club comes from Israel and the fans are Jewish. I have been to Villa Park on multiple occasions. It would have been perfectly possible for those fans to be escorted by coach from the airport to right outside the ground, and then away from the ground immediately afterwards. It was clear that Aston Villa fans were not going to attack Maccabi fans, but extremists elements in the community were. It is clear, then, that the police concocted evidence to support that case. Although I completely agree with the Home Secretary about the chief constable, the senior leadership of West Midlands police also have questions to answer about who fabricated that evidence and whether it was done under orders. If the chief constable has to go, surely they have to go as well.

• 13 Jan 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  Right now, peaceful protesters who are unarmed are being gunned down on the streets not just of Tehran, but of every city and town in Iran. They are being hunted down to hospitals if they are injured, or hunted down to where they live. The difference between 2022 and now is that this is a nationwide protest calling for regime change. What people desperately want to hear—I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement—is not more words, but action. We are told repeatedly that the Home Office and the Foreign Office cannot agree on proscription of the IRGC, but could the Foreign Secretary go away, speak to the Home Secretary and get that organised now as a demonstration that we will not tolerate this, and that we will stand four-square behind those brave people of Iran who just want liberty and freedom?

• 13 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I completely understand that the Government will want to move business around given the circumstances they are under. However, as the Backbench Business Committee will be meeting this afternoon, will the Leader of the House update the House on whether we will be allocated Thursday 22 January for debates—hopefully we will decide that this afternoon—as well as 29 January? On Monday, the Lords amendments to the Holocaust Memorial Bill will not be debated. From a personal perspective, as I chaired the all-party parliamentary group on holocaust memorial, it would be helpful to know when those amendments will be debated so that we can be ready for the discussion.

• 8 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Happy new year, Mr Speaker. At this time of year, sadly we often have to report on deaths, including those of Martin Chivers and Terry Yorath. Indeed, Kevin Keegan is facing a fight against stomach cancer. I am sure the whole House will wish their families a long life, and Kevin Keegan a swift recovery. In addition to the business that the Leader of the House has announced, there will be a statement next Thursday from the Justice Committee on drugs in prison and what action needs to be taken. The Leader of the House did not announce whether the Backbench Business Committee will be getting time on 22 January, so we have not allocated any business for that day as yet. If we are given Thursday 29 January, there will be a full day’s debate on Holocaust Memorial Day. On Tuesday in Westminster Hall next week there will be a debate on a statutory duty of care for universities, and on Thursday a debate on the impact of food inflation on the cost of living, followed by a debate on the impact of gambling harms on children and young people. On Tuesday 20 January in Westminster Hall, there will be a debate on the role of the NHS in preventing homicides and domestic violence, and on Thursday 22 January a debate on transport connectivity in the midlands and north Wales, followed by a debate on the International Day of Education. The whole House will be well aware of the outrageous crimes of David Carrick and Cliff Mitchell. This morning a report has been published about the Metropolitan police and the way it has recruited police officers and staff. Between 2018 and 2023, because of the need to recruit more police officers, normal vetting procedures were completely ignored and 5,073 individuals were recruited without vetting. Some 4,528 had no special branch approval, and 431 had no Ministry of Defence approval. Even more scandalously, 114 of those who were vetted and refused were allowed on appeal to join the Metropolitan police. The estimate is that 1,200 officers and staff who would have been refused were recruited to the Metropolitan police. The vast majority of police officers—the overwhelming majority—do a brilliant job on our behalf and keep us safe. However, this is a clear scandal where vetting was not carried out, and it creates a crisis of confidence in the police. It also casts doubt on the police themselves, who want to see the bad apples removed and indeed prevented from coming into the police force in the first place. There is concern that this may have happened in other police forces across the country, so could we have a statement from the Home Secretary—I know she has condemned the position—about what action will be taken to prevent such things from happening?

• 8 Jan 2026 · Transport for London: Commuter Services · Hansard source

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  18. What recent discussions she has had with the Mayor of London on the extension of the management of commuter services by Transport for London.

• 8 Jan 2026 · Transport for London: Commuter Services · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. She will well know, as a former deputy mayor for transport in London, that the confusing picture of the use of the underground and of Overground services has been a problem for Londoners and for the mayor. However, it would be very controversial to introduce such a measure for all the Overground services and National Rail services for commuters into London. Are the ongoing conversations about the entirety of the network, or are they limited to just one service?