I chaired the Fifth Delegated Legislation Committee on 10 December 2025. This considered the Draft Building Safety Regulator (Establishment of New Body and Transfer of Functions etc.) Regulations 2026. 

The Building Saftey Regulator (BSR) establishes a new body separate from the Health and Safety Executive. Since the new leadership took over at the BSR, progress has been significant. For example, between September and 24 November 2025, a record 40 new build applications were processed from the previous model caseload, with the majority approved, allowing construction to begin on 10,000 homes since September 2025. Overall performance continues to improve, with a record 578 cases closed since August 2025.

The new leadership has removed significant risk from the system and placed residents at the heart of house building. The Regulator is an important and non-negotiable part of our built environment, particularly as the Regulator delivers 1.5 million new safe homes and accelerate the remediation of unsafe buildings. 

The Draft Regulations will make sure that the BSR continues to deliver its statutory functions under the Building Safety Act 2022, while leading it into a new era. This will provide the foundation for a stronger, more accountable system that prioritises safety while supporting innovation across the built environment.

 

 

 

At the Drop-In of the Royal Mail Christmas Reception 'Send a little love this Christmas' on 10 December, I met Richard Kesterton from Shrewsbury. ( Main picture). 

Richard has been given the title "Postie of the Year".  Richard does not only do his day to day of job of delivering our mail in Shrewsbury but also mentors new recruits at Royal Mail. 

I also took part in Royal Mail's 'Send a little love this Christmas' event. We were supplied with Christmas cards and a second class stamp to send a letter to someone special. For every letter that is sent, Royal Mail are going to send £10 to British Heart Foundations who are their charity partner. They are using this campaign to raise £3million to fund defibrillators for communities across the UK. I was pleased to post my postcard through the temporary postbox that was situated in Dining Room A. 

Congratulations to Richard and thank you to all the postal workers who work so hard over this very busy period. 

10 December is Human Right's Day. Amnesty International held their  Annual Human Rights Day Parliamentary Reception, in celebration of International Human Rights Day.  
 Fabian Hamilton MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights opened the event and introduced the  other speakers including Baroness Helena Kennedy, member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and Monica Harding MP, (Lib Dem) who is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights (pictured above l-r).
Amnesty International reminded us of their recommendations on progressive foreign policy, urging the UK government to: 

Demonstrate consistency with international law - in particular the UK's obligations under international human rights, humanitarian, refugee and criminal law. For example, the UK consistently opposes the death penalty as a matter of principle but has not been a consistent supporter of international justice mechanisms to address mass atrocities
Uphold principles of non-discrimination and equality - for instance, countering attacks on gender equality.
Ensure there is meaningful participation and inclusion, with individuals and communities properly involved in decisions that affect their human rights.
Ensure human rights accountability for policy and action, such as requiring human rights impact assessments prior to any trade agreements,
Protect human rights at home in order to promote human rights abroad with credibility.

The Bill, first introduced to the House of Commons on 5 November 2025, was debated on 9 December 2025.

After the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 brought train services back into public ownership, this Bill aims to  enable the creation of Great British Railways (GBR), a new publicly owned body which will take responsibility for the railway infrastructure (e.g. tracks, bridges, tunnels and stations) and most passenger train services.

The current system suffers from unreliable services, low customer satisfaction and poor value for money, caused by a model which is overly fragmented, lacks
accountability, and contains perverse incentives and irregularities, such as different operators selling different tickets and charging different prices for the same journey.

An amendment to the Bill in the name of Richard Holden MP (Conservative) was rejected (Ayes 170 Noes 332), the Bill passed with the result: Ayes 329 Noes 173.

It will now be scrutinised line-by-line in a Public Bill Committee, a date for which is yet to be announced.

As I chaired the Bill Committee I was unable to vote on any divisions after Second Reading and therefore on these amendments. 

The Employment Rights Bill amendments returned to the Commons on 8 December 2025 :
The Government motion to insist on disagreement to Lords Amendment 1B but to propose Government amendments (a) and (b) in lieu of Lords Amendment 1B







Ayes: 327   Noes 96




Employment Rights Bill: Government motion to insist on disagreement to LA23 and LA106 to LA120, not to insist on Commons Amendment 120C, 120D and 120E but to propose Gov (a) to (f) in lieu of LA23 and LA106 to LA120  : Ayes:  300 Noes 96











Employment Rights Bill: Government motion to insist on disagreement to Lords Amendment 48B but to propose Government amendment (a) and (b) in lieu of LA48B




Ayes 395  Noes 98










Employment Rights Bill: Government motion not to insist on Commons Amendment 72C but to disagree with LA72D to LA72H and to propose Gov (a) and (b) in lieu of LA72D to LA72H   Ayes : 326   Noes 162

















Employment Rights Bill: Government motion to insist on disagreement to LA62 but not to insist on Commons Amendment 62C and to propose Gov (a) in lieu of LA62  Ayes : 327  Noes  162:




The Bill will now return to the House of Lords for further consideration on 10 December 2025.