News

The Government extended the parliamentary session to Spring 2026. This had been announced in Parliament in September 2025. Therefore this is the second Finance Bill of the 2024-26 session. On 11 March 2026, the Bill was debated in the House of Commons. There were three votes:  New Clause 11, which would require the Chancellor to

I attended the Libraries Alliance event on 11 March 2026 which brought together a wide ranging group of people who support our Libraries both local and national and as a networking event.   Richard Ovenden who is Bodley’s Librarian at the University of Oxford gave a speech and highlighted the importance of Libraries. He said there

The House of Commons met on 10 March 2026 to debate and vote on the Bill, which follows recommendations from Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, to reduce the Crown Court caseload, improve timely access to justice, and allocate resources more proportionately. It changes how cases are allocated between magistrates’ courts and

I chaired the following two debates on 10 March 2026 in Westminster Hall: “That this House has considered Government support for English rugby.” The motion was moved by Edward Morello MP and responded to by Ian Murray MP, who is the Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts. The second motion, “That this House has

There was a meeting Arab ambassadors on Tuesday 10 March 2026 to hear from the Ambassadors  about the situation in the Middle East. Present at the meeting was the Ambassador for Jordan, Dr Manar Al Dabbas, who said that there was a comprehensive annexation of the West Bank. The Ambassador for Palestine, Dr Husum Zomlot