Yesterday I had the honour of chairing the Science and Technology Committee, as an interim co-chair. Our former chair, Greg Clark MP, has returned to Cabinet and so cannot also be a Select Committee chair.
Postmasters have been terribly impacted by the issues with the Post Office’s Horizon IT system that began over 20 years ago, with many wrongfully convicted (now overturned) or bankrupted by the scandal.
Currently, the Northern Ireland protocol is failing to deliver what it was designed to do and this is putting the Good Friday Agreement under strain and peace in Northern Ireland at risk.
Our human rights laws need reform. Under the current system those convicted of hurting their own partners and children have evaded deportation by claiming it would breach their right to family life.
The generosity of the British people, including many in Newcastle, in providing help to those Ukrainians in need has been outstanding. People have donated money, belongings and offered their homes to vulnerable Ukrainians fleeing war.
Today at Home Office Questions, I was pleased to ask Rachel Maclean MP, the Minister for Safeguarding, about the Government's Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, which rightly cracks down on the perpetrators of this destructive and devastating crime.