Cameron Thomas MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 14 Oct 2025 · Postural Tachycardia Syndrome · Hansard source

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  Between young people unable to finish education and adults unable to cope with the strains of the workplace, the economic impact of PoTS is undeniable. The Minister speaks clearly about the pressure her Department will put on NHS England, but will she also put pressure on the Treasury with regards to its economic obligations?

• 9 Sept 2025 · Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill · Hansard source

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  It is rare that I find myself aligned with the Conservative party, but I share its concerns for the structure and veracity of this deal. That being said, does the hon. Member share my bewilderment that the Conservative party has chosen this particular hill to die on, given that the Bill is as much a product of its work as it is of Labour’s?

• 9 Sept 2025 · Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill · Hansard source

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  I am not yet on the Chinese Communist party’s sanctions list, but perhaps I will be shortly. Does the right hon. Member share my concern about the 99-year lease of the islands, given that some of our adversaries across the world plan and strategise over the very long term, and 99 years is actually a short period of time?

• 9 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T3. The 52 pubs in my constituency provide vital community spaces, yet they tell me that this Government have hit them disproportionately hard with their increases in employer national insurance contributions, on top of soaring energy prices and as yet unfulfilled promises on business rates. Ahead of the autumn Budget, will the Chancellor say what measures she will take to protect our local independent pubs and small businesses?

• 8 Sept 2025 · Palestine Action: Proscription and Protests · Hansard source

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  Our free speech is protected under the European convention on human rights, and we should view with great suspicion anybody who would remove the United Kingdom’s signature from that convention. This Government’s proscription of Palestine Action has led to the arrest of more than 1,000 peaceful protesters—another assault on freedom of expression. I urge the Government to review these powers, which also risk undermining our anti-terrorism laws.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Hospitality Sector · Hansard source

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  We have heard a lot from those on the Government Benches about how they are improving the experience of businesses across the country. I come in peace; I hope they will take me sincerely when I say that that is absolutely not the feedback I am getting from my hospitality sector, and certainly not from my publicans. I represent 52 pubs and three breweries in my constituency, and please take me at my word: I am trying to get to all of them. The House may have heard of a cult YouTube channel and Facebook page entitled “The Great British Pub Crawl”, which is run by Dale and Holly and has a combined online followership of over 200,000 subscribers. Their mission is to highlight the state of the hospitality sector across the UK by having a drink at every pub in the country. I wish them every success and a responsible alcohol intake.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Hospitality Sector · Hansard source

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  I do not doubt that. I am sure Luton is second only to Tewkesbury. Over the summer recess, a friend of mine reached out, told me who Dale and Holly were and asked me to meet them. I did so when they visited Tewkesbury. I sat down with both of them at the Bell Inn, outside Tewkesbury abbey. They and I have very different occupations, but the great thing about pubs is that people often meet others from different backgrounds. We get to know other people and, without knowing it, our social skills and ability to speak and listen to others develop along the way. I got on really well with Dale and Holly. We discussed how our pubs are far more than just drinking spaces; they are as synonymous with British culture as drinking tea, complaining about the weather and even queuing. For 800 years, pubs like the Black Bear in Tewkesbury have provided places to work and to tackle loneliness. I love to visit the King Teddy in Longlevens so that I can watch Tottenham Hotspur play—it is very convenient when I need to drown my sorrows afterwards—and I hosted a surgery there over the recess. Dale and I agree that these vital spaces are under great threat, partly because of actions that this Government have taken. Beer duty costs patrons and puts venues under strain, and the Government must recognise the need to further reduce it. The rise in national insurance contributions disproportionately affects the hospitality sector. I do hope—and I say this in good faith—that the Government will change direction quickly.

• 2 Sept 2025 · Eating Disorders: Prevention of Deaths · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) for securing this important debate. My constituent Katie is mother to a daughter who, at the age of 14, became unwell from anorexia in the aftermath of the covid pandemic. She identified the warning signs early, but when she sought help, early intervention was unavailable. She describes how her daughter was eventually admitted to a hospital, only to be put on a waiting list. Her health would crash, she would go back to another facility and of course the cycle continued. Katie described how her whole family now lives with the eating disorder. I hope that she will take some measure of comfort from the fact that her experiences and those of her family have been echoed so consistently across this House, but that also speaks to the prevalence of eating disorders. It is astonishing that there is no reference to or strategy on them at all in the Government’s 10-year health plan, and I hope that the Minister will put that right this afternoon.

• 2 Sept 2025 · The Battle of Britain · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member speaks acutely to the point of this debate, which is that we must not forget what this country both suffered and achieved, and that we must support our current generation in the challenges it faces. One toils to resolve any other historic snapshot that so well encapsulates the British mindset: the gradual withdrawal of liberty across western Europe before, on this small outpost, those forces—British, Belgian, Czechoslovakian, French, Irish, Polish, Commonwealth and even a handful of Americans—came together for Europe’s final stand to halt the fascist advance in its tracks and set the stage to push the Nazis back across Europe. The iconic airframes of the battle of Britain memorial flight remain the most celebrated of fly-pasts at air shows and ceremonies throughout the year. I love a Eurofighter Typhoon as much as anybody, but, respectfully, I am really waiting to hear the Hurricane, Lancaster and Spitfire. I recall waiting for Iron Maiden to take the stage at Download festival in 2013, when the audience roared for the Spitfire fly-past, which Bruce Dickinson had squared away through his friends at the BBMF. Even at a festival where I had seen Motörhead and Queens of the Stone Age for the first time, the Spitfire remains the standout memory. Through those historic exploits of the Royal Air Force, air power is today one of Britain’s most recognised and celebrated brands. On the shoulders of the Hurricane and Spitfire, the Hawks of the Red Arrows spearhead British soft power across the globe, not just a display team but a diplomatic force all their own. In commemorating the battle of Britain, the greatest tribute we can pay to its victors is to apply those lessons that can be learned from it. The stage is already set. As they did following the interwar years of the 1920s and 1930s, our armed forces, following years of diminishment, once more face the likelihood of a kinetic war against a battle-hardened and well-resourced aggressor. By July 1940, despite popular belief to the contrary, the RAF had ramped up production to such an extent that RAF Fighter Command was more than a match for the Luftwaffe, and held a minor numerical advantage.

• 2 Sept 2025 · The Battle of Britain · Hansard source

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  What a wonderful intervention. I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman made it. We must never take for granted the sacrifice that so many made so that we may today live in peace. I would like to contextualise the battle of Britain alongside Britain’s near future. Today, in 2025, we understand with absolute certainty that the Geneva convention will not be adhered to by the Russian military, nor by its unbadged operators of the hybrid war that it has been conducting against our country for over a decade. I remind the House that Putin deployed a chemical weapon on the streets of Salisbury. We must not blind ourselves to the significant likelihood that this hybrid war will go kinetic within the coming decade. To our adversary, civil infrastructure will be viewed as a viable target. In Ukraine, Russia has deliberately and consistently targeted energy infrastructure in a bid to break Ukrainian morale and undermine its ability to replenish its armaments. The Russians have failed to recognise a lesson learned by Hitler in 1940 that trying to bomb a population into submission only strengthens its resolve. Nevertheless, Britain must be ready to face such tactics in the near future. Just as redundancy ensured the resilience of the Dowding system, Britain can build redundancy into its energy infrastructure and industrial capacity by increasing our production of renewables and ramping up the installation of that technology to reduce reliance on the national grid. The introduction of peer-to-peer energy sharing within localities would be a game changer for UK energy resilience, public services and bill payers. Once more, I thank you, Sir Desmond, and I look forward to welcoming the contributions of Members from across the House.

• 2 Sept 2025 · The Battle of Britain · Hansard source

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  In his 1941 report on the battle of Britain, then Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding wrote that the other commands, the Commonwealth countries and four allies contributed unstintingly to meet the emergency, but “Had it not been for the magnificent material contributed by the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry, I hesitate to say that the outcome of the battle would have been the same.”

• 2 Sept 2025 · The Battle of Britain · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is an excellent ambassador for his constituency and its heritage. We absolutely should celebrate the achievement of those brave pilots and the nation that supported them. I have a question for the Minister on preparedness. If the Russian war in Ukraine breaks out into Europe within five years, will the RAF be so well equipped? If we strip away some of the folklore that has been built on the battle of Britain, the fact is that a British victory was almost inevitable. Crucial to the outcome was the Chain Home radar and the Dowding system within which it operated, delivering early detection of Luftwaffe aircraft to Sir Hugh Dowding’s Fighter Command. Three factors ensured the resilience and continuing serviceability of the Dowding system: redundancy, misdirection and interconnectivity. Thanks to that system, the Luftwaffe would routinely reach Britain with just enough fuel remaining for a few minutes’ flight time, only to be met every time by Fighter Command, which had seen them coming 100 miles from the coast: numbers, formations and direction. Furthermore, every Luftwaffe pilot or crew shot down over Britain became a casualty or a prisoner. Every RAF pilot downed simply knocked on the nearest front door and returned to circulation. The picture from the Führer bunker in Berlin, now under a nondescript car park on which I have proudly scuffed my shoes, was hopeless. I have too often seen Hitler unduly recognised as a strong leader; he was anything but. He was superstitious, paranoid, vengeful and feared by his officers, who were afraid to report their losses upward. His war in Europe was ultimately doomed by his leadership and that of his cabinet, comprising obsequious pleasers and party loyalists. The Nazis could never have won on or over British soil. Churchill knew that, as would have any rational leader. That inevitability of British victory takes nothing away from the exploits of our courageous aircrew, the genius of our codebreakers and the resilience of the British people. What was achieved was a heroic, decisive national victory of liberty over fascism, and it needs no exaggeration. Britain’s victory is best commemorated with due recognition of the contribution of over 500 foreign pilots under Sir Hugh Dowding’s Fighter Command. In fact, that evidences my assertion that Britain is at its best not standing alone but when it leads in Europe, and that Europe is strongest with Britain at its centre. I will shortly conclude.

• 2 Sept 2025 · The Battle of Britain · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) spoke bravely of the dangers that nationalism might replace patriotism today, as it did in Europe throughout the 1920s and ’30s. The right hon. and gallant Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) spoke passionately about his father’s extraordinary service. I am so glad that the House was able to hear that. I also thank him for the astonishing rallying cry with which he concluded. The hon. Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) ensured that in remembrance we do not forget those who served on the ground, nor our gallant allies who fought for freedom alongside us; my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) well represented Devonshire’s refusal to bow to Hitler; and the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) spoke well of his righteous pride in representing the home of Sir Hugh Dowding. The hon. and gallant Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) spoke eloquently of the importance of continuing to reflect on past conflicts, and of supporting our veterans and saluting their personal sacrifices. I am grateful that the contribution of Northern Ireland to the battle of Britain was included in our debate. My hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire), a fellow retired military police officer, ensured that today we honoured the many who so diligently enabled the few. She also spoke of the importance of telling the local stories as well as the national legend. The right hon. and gallant shadow Minister is a self-described aviation devotee, and I hope he will take it sincerely when I say that there is nobody I would rather have had at the Opposition Dispatch Box today. I wish his constituents well in their refurbishment of a Hurricane. I hope that one day he will inform me that tail number Zulu-5134 has seen completion. He spoke glowingly of the genius of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, who used his assets sparingly, often outnumbered three to one, which itself led the Luftwaffe to underestimate the strength of Fighter Command. I thank the gallant Minister for Veterans and People, who spoke sincerely of the threat recognised and faced by Britain—a threat that, through tireless resilience, innovation and courage, was defeated by the Royal Air Force, the world’s oldest independent air force and the most celebrated. As the Government look to the defence industry for growth, I hope they will look at Tewkesbury and at Gloucestershire to contribute. Once more, thank you so much for chairing this debate, Sir Desmond. Question put and agreed to. Resolved , That this House has considered the matter of commemorating the Battle of Britain.

• 2 Sept 2025 · The Battle of Britain · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered the matter of commemorating the Battle of Britain. Thank you for chairing this debate, Sir Desmond; it is an honour to serve under your chairship. I thank all those who will contribute to this debate and the Veterans Minister, whose presence is always greatly appreciated. In 1940, the six-week battle of France saw British soldiers, including those of the Gloucestershire Regiment, fighting side by side with Belgian, Dutch, French and Polish soldiers against the advancing Nazis. Eventually pushed back to the edge of the western front to the beaches at Dunkirk, British troops were evacuated alongside their valiant but defeated allies to Britain over the 10 days to 4 June. With France lost to the Nazis, Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill declared on 18 June 1940 that “the ‘Battle of France’ is over. I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin.” He continued: “The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war.” —[ Official Report , 18 June 1940; Vol. 362, c. 60.] Within weeks, this very Hall had been struck by German bombs, as had the Elizabeth Tower and the House of Lords, while the House of Commons lay in ruins. Over the almost four months of the battle of Britain, this island suffered sustained bombardment as the Nazis, through the Luftwaffe, desperately—and in vain—tried to destroy the Royal Air Force and break British morale. They failed, and the battle of Britain stands proudly alongside the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo among our greatest military successes, but it is so much more. Every day across these isles, the legacy of the battle of Britain is lived. Modern culture and, to a significant degree, our national identity have been built on it.

• 2 Sept 2025 · Russia: Economic Sanctions · Hansard source

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  Vladimir Putin is in Beijing this week, where he has hailed the unprecedented levels of ties between China and Russia. For once I hope that the Government will actually take him at his word before China builds the super-embassy in our capital. China has ceased exports of drone components to Ukraine, and both Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un are propping up Putin economically. I commend the Prime Minister for uniting a coalition of the willing, but what tangible action is it taking to ensure that Ukraine wins against three adversaries?

• 2 Sept 2025 · Russia: Economic Sanctions · Hansard source

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  13. What steps his Department is taking to increase economic sanctions on Russia.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Borders and Asylum · Hansard source

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  Our country should be proud of the fact that in the 1930s we welcomed 10,000 Jewish children from Europe on the Kindertransport. Alas, our predecessors would not countenance bringing across those children’s parents, and we know that the cost of that decision was the massacre of those parents in the Holocaust. There has always been vocal opposition to migration in this country, but I remind the Government that responsibility lies with them. Across our country today, thousands of vulnerable refugees are afraid; they are afraid of the rise in right-wing activity and in right-wing rhetoric—rhetoric that this Government have flirted with. I invite the Government not to follow the Conservative party or Reform UK into the abyss and to treat this issue with the compassion it deserves.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Extending the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for bringing forward this debate. Only last month I had a resident in my constituency office desperate to renew urgently the visa of the Ukrainian she was hosting. I am sure my hon. Friend will join me in saying that while the heroes of Ukraine fight Putin, for us as much as for them, we should stand guard over their families.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  Since 2023, the Israel Defence Forces have killed a record number of journalists and killed a record number of humanitarian workers. They continually murder starving children as they queue for aid. An Israeli soldier outed his commanders for their illegal orders to arbitrarily kill civilians. That is not a sequence of coincidences, but war crime after war crime and a clear message to the world: do not intervene and do not observe what we are doing to the Palestinians. The Foreign Secretary has said that he wants a two-state solution. He can take a giant leap in that direction right now with a one-word answer. Does the Foreign Secretary recognise the state of Palestine?

• 21 Jul 2025 · Asylum Hotels: Migrant Criminal Activity · Hansard source

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  I look forward to the swift deportation of anybody who takes advantage of our hospitality by breaking our laws and attacking women and young girls. In July 2024, I warned my constituents not to throw away their futures, as the far-right lynch mobs threatened to spread to Gloucestershire. Once again this thuggery has flared up, this time in Epping. What actions are the Government taking to support authorities in the prosecution of those who whip up this furore, both online and in positions of influence?

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  My constituent campaigners at SafeAvon and Tewkesbury Friends of the Earth will be delighted to see that, at length, the Government have implemented a core Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge: the abolition of Ofwat. Will the Secretary of State now go further and implement a second pledge to put those campaigners on the board of Severn Trent so that they can hold the water company to account, and continue to show my constituents that Liberal Democrat pressure pays off?

• 21 Jul 2025 · Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source

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  For the avoidance of doubt, this speech comes from a place of deep appreciation for post-war Japan and for the enrichment it has given so many of us through its automotive and technological innovations and through global cultural phenomena such as “Godzilla”. It is starkly different from the Japan fought by our greatest generation. Less than a decade after the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, “Godzilla” was created as a metaphor for nuclear weapons and their destructive power, but 2023’s “Godzilla Minus One”—greater and more destructive still—was also a metaphor for national guilt. For everything we love about Japan today, it has never undertaken the societal reckoning with its past that Germany did following the fall of the Nazis. Across Germany stand the horrifying relics of the Holocaust. In Hiroshima, the A-bomb dome is a memorial to the victims of the atomic bomb. In the land of the rising sun, it is far more difficult to find such an open recognition of its wartime torture of prisoners of war or its atrocities against civilians, such as by Unit 731. In 1936, under the direction of senior army surgeon Ishii Shiro, Japan focused on making disease a silent ally through human experiments and the study of biological and chemical weapons. Prisoners were kidnapped men, women—including pregnant women—children and even babies born of rape by staff within the compounds. They included political prisoners and anybody who had expressed to any degree anti-Japanese sentiment. Victims were predominantly Chinese, but included a significant minority of Russians. Experiments included withdrawal of half a litre of blood every two or three days until death. Some prisoners were frozen to death in experiments into frostbite or had limbs frozen and then shattered. Vivisection was regularly carried out to harvest organs from live victims, including pregnant women, who had been exposed to diseases and bacteria, sometimes under the guise of vaccination. Tens of thousands more were killed through engineered epidemics, with pathogens dropped over Chinese cities by Japanese aircraft. That is the context, Madam Deputy Speaker. On this coming anniversary of Victory over Japan Day, let us consider the path that led to war and review the actions that led to its conclusion. Let us lament the terrible loss of life through the strategic bombing, firebombing and atomic bombing of Japan. But we owe it to our finest generation to do so in the full context. Perhaps someday our Japanese friends can finally lay Godzilla to rest.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source

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  As a Member of Parliament who benefits from the contribution of 300 or 400 Gurkhas and Nepalese people, can I just say that I am very much enjoying the hon. Lady’s speech and I cannot wait to hear the rest?

• 16 Jul 2025 · RAF E-7 Wedgetail Programme · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Member. It left us with a gap in our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability. I accept that that was a coalition issue, but I am glad to hear that there is consensus in this room on the importance of ISR capability.

• 16 Jul 2025 · RAF E-7 Wedgetail Programme · Hansard source

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  To their credit, the Conservatives have been quite open in lamenting the drawdown of the Wedgetail project, but will my hon. Friend join me in asking the Government how committed they are to the Wedgetail programme and to the initial order of five?