Cameron Thomas MP: speeches

Speeches

• 19 Mar 2026 · Banking Services: Accessibility · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship for the first time, Mr Western. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George) for introducing this debate on a subject that is so important to his constituents and those of so many other Members. Lloyds Banking Group recently informed me, with only four months’ notice, that it is set to close its Tewkesbury branch alongside 94 others across the UK. Members who represent rural constituencies similar to mine will understand just how hard that will be for residents, not only of Tewkesbury but of the smaller settlements around it. The closure of Lloyds is only the latest in a sorry pattern that we have faced in recent years. In Tewkesbury town alone, the Barclays branch was shuttered in 2025, following the closure of Halifax only a few years previously. In Bishop’s Cleeve, NatWest and TSB have perished, as has the Lloyds mobile banking service. Winchcombe has not had a bank branch since 2018, and had lost face-to-face banking altogether for a brief but painful period until the post office was reopened in 2025. I take this opportunity to thank Councillor Gemma Madle for her excellent work in securing the reopening of that branch, and indeed to thank the Post Office for providing that lifeline. As I said, such bank closures are prohibitive for residents in rural communities, particularly the elderly, the digitally excluded and those who fear the transition to digital banking due to the threat of criminal exploitation, but they are damaging in other ways too. For our high street businesses, a bank closure means the added administrative burden of closing their account or moving it to a bank with a continuing presence, if one remains. It means that the footfall that would otherwise occur on Tewkesbury high street, from people who live in outlying villages and bank with Lloyds, might now benefit the high street in Cheltenham or Evesham. It means another empty front on a historic high street and another signal from the bank that it will no longer justify serving its customers face to face. I cannot make this case without also stating that these closures are occurring while Tewkesbury borough continues to develop as the fastest-growing borough outside London. How can it be sustainable that, as the local population grows so quickly, the services on our high street continue to diminish? On 13 February, I wrote to Lloyds Banking Group with my concerns. I have yet to receive a response. I echo the criticism that my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives made of Lloyds Banking Group’s communication. Like his constituents, mine were not consulted; neither were my local businesses, and I certainly was not. It is a continuing pattern, which I experienced as a Lloyds customer until I ended my association with the bank, several years ago. The Government have pledged to open 350 new banking hubs across the country by the end of this Parliament. I am glad for those communities that now feature one. Sadly, there is not a single banking hub within the Gloucestershire local authority, and I understand that Tewkesbury will not qualify for one until its final bank branch closes. With only TSB remaining on Tewkesbury high street, will the Government support my residents with a banking hub now, or must they wait until they have no access at all? This paints a picture to me that we need more than the 350 hubs pledged.

• 9 Feb 2026 · Russian Influence on UK Politics and Democracy · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree, and I look forward to the Rycroft review hopefully making some recommendations along those very lines. The case of Bradshaw and others v . the United Kingdom at the European Court of Human Rights judged in 2025 that the UK’s decision to leave the European Union was subject to Russian interference, but neither MI5 nor MI6 has ever properly explained its dereliction of duty in failing to inform Parliament of that activity. Last year, I asked the Security Minister to release the full, unredacted Russia report, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson suppressed in 2019 against the advice of those security services. The Minister declined, but did not elaborate on his reasoning. I recalled that interaction last week, after Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein were linked to Putin’s friend, oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Mandelson was also a non-executive director at the Russian company Sistema. Last week, the leader of the Liberal Democrats called for a full inquiry into Mandelson’s links to Russia. That is the same inquiry that the petitioners are asking for. Ours is an era in which war rages in Europe, the great partnerships of NATO and the European Union have been ruptured, and Russian hybrid warfare has targeted every aspect of UK statehood, from the Ministry of Defence to the NHS and the BBC. Disinformation has for years been interwoven with news to undermine public trust in UK politics—disinformation that now feeds artificial intelligence algorithms distorting the truth that will inform tomorrow. I have scratched the surface, but there is simply too little time, in any number of Back-Bench debates, to lay out the case for this inquiry. This issue transcends political allegiance. The breadth and depth of Russian influence is so vast and so dangerous to our democracy that no single political party has either the credibility or capacity to fully investigate it. Only a judge-led statutory public inquiry will suffice. The Government have the responsibility to deliver; the future of our democracy requires that they do so.

• 9 Feb 2026 · Russian Influence on UK Politics and Democracy · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) has described a gentleman, George Cottrell, as “like a son” to him, despite that individual being a convicted money launderer. Does my hon. Friend share my suspicion? What does she make of the potential connection between money laundering and cryptocurrency?

• 9 Feb 2026 · Russian Influence on UK Politics and Democracy · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I hope that the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) enjoyed the email that I sent him this afternoon. Carl von Clausewitz described war as a continuation of politics by other means. In the Kremlin, the reverse is true and every lever of statehood is a machine of war. Vladimir Putin has been prosecuting that war against the United Kingdom and our allies for 26 years—whether or not we understand that. NATO and the European Union are two major barriers to Putin’s ambition for expansion and the UK is a crucial partner to both. In November 2025, Nathan Gill, Reform UK’s erstwhile leader in Wales, was convicted of taking Russian bribes in return for favourable statements in the European Parliament. The hon. Member for Clacton, and leader of Reform UK, described his once close associate as a “bad apple”, but I suspect that the real rot is at the heart of the orchard. The hon. Member for Clacton also made pro-Kremlin statements as a Member of the European Parliament, most notably in 2014, the year that Russia first invaded Ukraine, when he spoke of Europe poking “the Russian bear with a stick”. The previous year, he had met the Russian ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko, at the Russian embassy in London. He later denied that that meeting took place, but a photograph of the pair betrays the falsehood. Arron Banks also met Yakovenko on at least four occasions between 2015 and 2016, a period within which he donated at least £8 million to a campaign to leave the European Union. He has subsequently given conflicting accounts as to the origin of that donation. Banks is known to have explored the possibility of raising foreign donations through an email copied to Steve Bannon in 2015, and in 2025, Reform UK received a donation of £9 million from the co-owner of cryptocurrency Tether, Christopher Harborne. Tether is understood by the National Crime Agency to be used by the Kremlin to launder its money, evading international sanctions and keeping its war machine running.

• 4 Feb 2026 · Lord Mandelson · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to you for allowing me to continue, Madam Speaker. The hon. Member for Great Yarmouth declined in his intervention to declare his interest: he is, in fact, bought and paid for by Elon Musk.

• 4 Feb 2026 · Lord Mandelson · Hansard source

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  Madam Deputy Speaker, I withdraw the remark that the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth was bought and paid for. I regret the tone that I used.

• 4 Feb 2026 · Lord Mandelson · Hansard source

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  On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. We have heard this evening from the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe), who celebrated Elon Musk—rather tactlessly, I believe—in this debate. Notwithstanding the fact that like Mandelson, Musk had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and in fact was found to have been practically begging for a visit to his island, the hon. Member declined to include—

• 4 Feb 2026 · Civil Service Pension Scheme: Administration · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is probably quite right to note that there were significant failings by the previous provider. Does he accept that there were clear failings by the previous Government?

• 4 Feb 2026 · Civil Service Pension Scheme: Administration · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. All credit to the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood (Lorraine Beavers) for securing this important debate. She can so often be found calling out injustice. As is clearly the case for many MPs, recent weeks have brought forth an abundance of correspondence from constituents frustrated by unsatisfactory communication from Capita, with the anxiety borne of missed pension payments. Many of those who have experienced missed pension payments have given years or even decades of their lives to public service across key Departments, not least the Ministry of Defence and Crown Prosecution Service. One such constituent of mine expressed that she had completed her MyCSP application in July 2025, but had then received no further communication until discovering in November that the portal had closed. Having then created a Capita account in December, she has sent three messages via the portal and attempted to call the hotline four times—to date, all without a response. Another is a retired Ministry of Defence civil servant who had worked at RAF Innsworth, now Imjin barracks, home to the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre. She told me that she submitted all her documentation as required, but at the end of November all telephone lines were ceased, her emails bounced back undelivered and the portal was closed. She said that her experience only worsened when Capita reopened the portal, which was apparently untested and did not allow her to log in at all. The absence of meaningful communication significantly compounded my constituent’s stress. Those affected still have no timeline for seeing their pensions paid. Capita’s initial explanation—that these symptoms were merely teething troubles—should do nothing to convince any of us that the organisation fully understands the implications of the missed payments. It has more recently admitted to serious issues: the true scale is apparently a backlog of 86,000 cases. None of that should surprise the Government or anybody else here. I recall significant delays in the armed forces recruitment process during a period in which Capita mismanaged medical assessments. Issues similar to those faced currently were reported in the administration of the teachers’ pension scheme, again by Capita. In October 2025, the Public Accounts Committee warned the Government of a clear risk that Capita would not be ready to take on full administration in December, and it called on the Cabinet Office to explain how it would ensure sufficient staffing and resourcing. At the heart of this issue are 1.7 million current and former civil servants who just want peace of mind from knowing that the pensions they have earned through years of public service will be handled fairly, with dignity and, if at all possible, with a base level of competence. The Liberal Democrats therefore have questions for the Minister and the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood). I hope that in their closing speeches, they will answer some of the following. In the light of this situation, what steps are the Government taking to support individuals who have mortgages to pay, families to feed and all manner of expenses for which they are currently being denied payment? Perhaps the shadow Minister will tell us how his Government assessed Capita’s role in the administration of the teachers’ pension scheme, where similar issues were reported. Will he explain whether Capita’s role in the administration of the teachers’ pension scheme factored in the awarding of this contract? Capita claims that the backlog it inherited was more than twice the size that it anticipated. Will the Minister tell us who is responsible for that—MyCSP, Capita, this Government or the last one? Perhaps the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire, the solitary Conservative representative, will answer the following. The value of the contract is £239 million over seven years. Given Capita’s history of mismanagement, by what metrics was it determined to have won the contract? Could the Minister answer this question? Hauntingly, the contract includes an option to extend it from seven to 10 years. Will this mismanagement factor into the Government’s determination about whether to extend it? My final question is for the Government. We can all sit here, empathise and complain about Capita, but we must learn the lessons. What lessons will the Government take from this fiasco?

• 2 Feb 2026 · Nuclear Deterrent · Hansard source

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  14. What steps he is taking to ensure the autonomy of the UK’s nuclear deterrent.

• 2 Feb 2026 · Nuclear Deterrent · Hansard source

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  If the Government want to make inroads into the EU Security Action for Europe fund via Emmanuel Macron, they could do worse than recognise the foresight of Charles de Gaulle, whose suspicion of the United States has been fully vindicated by Washington’s national security strategy. The French nuclear deterrent is the only truly independent nuclear deterrent. What steps are the Government taking to minimise the UK’s reliance on the US for nuclear deterrent servicing?

• 2 Feb 2026 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Gentleman give way on the point of fairness?

• 2 Feb 2026 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 2 Feb 2026 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. Let me begin by thanking my constituent, Pulasthi, whose petition has led in part to this important debate. I believe that when we make a deal with somebody, we honour it. We are honour-bound to keep it. Ayana does not understand politics, nor should she have to. She began her education at nursery here in the UK, where she began to learn how to interact and play with others, and she made her first friends in that nursery. Almost four years since her father made a deal with the UK to uplift his family and come here to work, Ayana now has many friends at school, where English is one of her strongest subjects. Everything that Ayana has come to learn about the world, she learnt here in the UK. She has no meaningful connection anywhere else. Like any other child, she imagines growing up together with her friends and completing her GCSEs. When she grows up, she wants to be a dancer or a lawyer, as is the nature of childhood. Almost five years ago, Ayana’s father made a deal with the UK: the five-year route to indefinite leave to remain gave him enough certainty to justify bringing his family here, plan their futures and guarantee stability in Ayana’s formative years. I am glad that she is yet unburdened by the instability that her father now feels. The changes to indefinite leave to remain announced by the Home Secretary in November 2025 have caused unnecessary stress to many who have already lived here for several years, and who have paid visa fees, the immigration health surcharge, income tax and national insurance. On 2 September 2025, I invited the Government to demonstrate true leadership over the issue of immigration, rather than follow the Conservative party and Reform UK into the abyss. If the Government have the moral courage to navigate this sensitive issue with compassion, they must honour the deal they made with families such as Ayana’s before the goalposts were moved. Regardless of whatever else changes, will the Government honour the timeline to indefinite leave to remain, as was promised to those who are already here?

• 21 Jan 2026 · Water White Paper · Hansard source

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  I was supposed to meet representatives of Severn Trent at a local treatment works in my constituency in December. That meeting was cancelled at short notice after heavy rainfall. They said they did not want me to get my feet wet. I smell a cover-up. The Government’s well-intentioned White Paper is doomed to fail, though, if they do not mandate water companies to measure their sewage outflows by volume. Are the Government going to do that?

• 14 Jan 2026 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right that the world should know and be in no doubt about the UK’s position on Ukraine, and nor should we be in doubt about Putin’s ambitions. He described as a geopolitical catastrophe the falling apart of the Soviet Union, and Russia’s 800-year most modern history is one of almost relentless expansion. Does he agree, therefore, that anybody who denies Putin’s ambitions for territorial expansion is denying both that statement by Putin and Russian history?

• 13 Jan 2026 · Chinese Embassy · Hansard source

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  Whatever statements have been made publicly, the unredacted plans for this super-embassy will fill our security services with dread, as well they should. The Chinese Communist party is not a friend to the United Kingdom, and nowhere is that more evident than in its consistent espionage—including on this very estate—and frequent cyber-attacks against national infrastructure. Given that the Minister’s Department is responsible for the final decision in this case, can he tell the House whether he will do the right thing by national security and pull the plug?

• 8 Jan 2026 · Passenger Rail Services · Hansard source

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  5. What steps she is taking to improve railway services for passengers.

• 8 Jan 2026 · Passenger Rail Services · Hansard source

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  Good morning, Mr Speaker. In the early days after the election, I did not always cover myself in glory with the type of language I used to describe the state of GWR services between Paddington and Gloucestershire. Nevertheless, a year down the line, I still regularly have to stand in a corridor or aisle for hours on end, if I am able to board at all, and I know that my constituents have the same issues. Can the Minister tell me when we can expect things to get better?

• 7 Jan 2026 · Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  We have heard an awful lot of criticism of the Government’s policies on farming from the Conservatives, but very little mention of the trade deals that they secured with Australia and New Zealand, which have made things so much harder for farmers—we will undoubtedly hear a lot about those from Labour Members. Will my hon. Friend join me in asking the Government to commit to rejecting chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef from the United States?

• 7 Jan 2026 · Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  Ahead of the election in Tewkesbury, considering my defence background, I recognised that I did not fully understand the experiences nor the lifestyles that come with rurality, so I began reaching out. I made visits; I spoke with people, listened to them and heard them. If someone wants to represent people or is likely to make decisions that will directly impact people, they should first exercise their due diligence. I am not convinced that this Government fully understood farmers, publicans or hoteliers prior to announcing their economic plans for the country, though if the Conservative party does understand rurality, its legacy is every bit as damning. Following more than a year of consistent lobbying, the Government recently made some, to be fair, pretty significant concessions to farmers, and I credit Gloucestershire NFU and my local farmers, including Charles Day, for the part they played. Gloucestershire publicans and hoteliers, who are still reeling from the 2024 autumn Budget, feel no better off following the last Budget. I would not suggest that banning Labour MPs from their pubs is the right way to go about changing that, so I will make a suggestion shortly. My publicans do not have tractors that they can drive through Parliament Square, so to better understand the experience of Tewkesbury’s hospitality sector, I would welcome a Government Minister joining me for lunch in any one of my 52 pubs. I guarantee that they will be made to feel most welcome. To date when I have raised the pressures on hospitality with Ministers and the Chancellor herself, I have not felt listened to. When challenging some of Labour’s most damaging taxes, such as the hike in employer national insurance contributions or unsustainable business rates, my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I are frequently challenged to offer financial alternatives to Labour’s most damaging taxes—which we do. For one, we could undo an awful lot of this by having a customs union with the EU. Alongside consistent pressure from my colleagues, I have personally called in this very Chamber for increases in the digital services tax to raise money from some of the most profitable businesses in this country, rather than from the most desperate ones.

• 6 Jan 2026 · BBC Charter Renewal · Hansard source

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  One thing I learned recently on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee is that one way the BBC provides value for money is by being one of the only sources—if not the only source—of income for children’s content creators. Without that income, we would not get quality content for our children. There is a way of looking at this not purely from an individual perspective, but as an investment in the future. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree with that?

• 6 Jan 2026 · Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member speaks of the cyber-attacks on Jaguar Land Rover and the Co-op. Those who pay council tax to Gloucester city council have concerns that following a Russian cyber-attack in 2021, that council recently discovered a £17.5 million deficit. Will the hon. Member recognise that too?

• 6 Jan 2026 · Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is making a really important point about Elon Musk’s Starlink system, but will she go a little further and recognise that not only has Elon Musk switched off Starlink in Ukraine at will, but he has done so on occasions that might have turned the tide of the war?

• 5 Jan 2026 · Venezuela · Hansard source

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  President Maduro was illegitimate, but Donald Trump’s illegal incursion into Venezuela puts him in the company of Vladimir Putin and will embolden President Xi in his ambitions for Taiwan. More pressing for the UK is the fact that an occupation of Greenland, which has been repeatedly threatened, would see Putin’s ambition for NATO’s disintegration come to pass. Given that there are numerous US assets in the UK, what discussions have the Government had with our European counterparts, including the Danes, to prepare European security against the threat now posed and explicitly stated by the President of the United States?