On 12 March 2025 Amnesty International UK (AIUK) organised a drop-in to brief MPs on their work to fight Islamaphobia. The U.N. General Assembly established the International Day to Combat Islamophobia in 2022, designating March 15 as the day of the celebration. The UK also marks Islamophobia Awareness Month in November, to raise awareness and take collective responsibility to prevent acts of Islamophobia, both locally and globally.

There was a briefing on the human rights impacts of the Prevent Strategy. In their 2023 report 'This is the Thought Police', AIUK concludes that "Prevent violates fundamental human rights - including the right to freedom of expression; freedom of thoughts; and critically, the right to equality and non-discrimination - with significant impact of Muslims, children and neurodiverse people", going on to propose key recommendations to:

Abolish the Prevent duty, leaving professionals to use ordinary safeguarding processes to refer individuals at risk of harm.
Withdraw the Prevent strategy and refrain from associating non-violent groups with terrorism.
Refrain from attempts to delegitimise criticisms of the Prevent strategy by journalists, academics and civil society.
Establish and implement alternatives to the criminal justice system for children accused of terrorism offences.
Ensure victims of human rights violations under the Prevent strategy have access to an effective remedy.

 

As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Portugal, I was delighted to host His Excellency Nuno Brito,  Ambassador for Portugal to the UK in  Parliament for a meeting with MPs , Lords and members of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce.

Ambassador Brito has an impressive career in diplomacy, starting at the age of 24 in Portugal's Foreign Office. He has served as Ambassador to the US in Washington DC, Ambassador to the European Union during challenging times such as Covid and Brexit. HE Nuno Brito was appointed as Ambassador to the UK in April 2022.




In times of increasing global uncertainty, it is important to strengthen international ties. The UK and Portugal have shared a 639-year-old diplomatic relationship, and 20 per cent of all tourists to Portugal are from the UK. Around 450,000 Portuguese people live and work in the UK. there are 8,000 students currently in the UK.

The Ambassador spoke on the unique diplomatic relationship between Portugal and the UK, pointing out mutual aims of economic growth, protecting and defending common values and building on trade relations.




Taking questions from Lords and MPs, the Ambassador responded on a wide range of issues, including the war in Ukraine, European political trends, and the upcoming elections in Portugal. It was an important  conversation and we look forward to welcoming the Ambassador back to Parliament in the future.

As I chaired the Bill Committee I was unable to vote on the Bill. These are my comments on the Bill.

Our economy is blighted by insecure work, low pay and poor productivity. I therefore welcome that this Bill will deliver the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation and make work pay. It will end exploitative zero-hours contracts by introducing rights to reasonable notice of shifts and to be offered a contract with guaranteed hours, reflecting hours regularly worked. It will end fire and rehire, making it automatically unfair to dismiss workers because they refuse to agree to a variation of contract. It will establish day one rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave for millions of workers. And it will strengthen statutory sick pay by making employees eligible from the first day of illness or injury and removing the lower earnings limit test. The Bill will also require employers to justify the refusal of flexible working requests, expand employers’ duties to prevent harassment of staff and give employees protection from unfair dismissal from day one, subject to a potential probationary period. It also repeals the anti-union legislation put in place by the previous Government and strengthens the voice of working people by making it easier for trade unions to get recognised, giving them the right of access to workplaces and making sure they have enough time to represent their members.

In addition, the Bill will establish a fair pay agreements process in the adult social care sector and re-instate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body to improve terms and conditions for school support staff. I believe this Bill will benefit not only working people but also employers, by helping to keep people in work and levelling the playing field on enforcement. I welcome that the new Government is calling time on the previous administration’s scorched earth approach to industrial relations, which led to the worst strikes chaos in decades. A new partnership between trade unions, employers and government will ensure we benefit from more cooperation and less disruption, as we raise the floor on workplace rights to deliver a stronger, fairer and brighter future for workers in the UK. The Bill has passed all stages. 

On Tuesday 4 March 2025  MPs and Peers at a meeting chaired by Debbie Abrahams MP,  heard from the Ambassadors, H E Manar Dabbas, , Ambassador at the Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ambassador Husam S. Zomlot Head of the Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom, Ambassador for Saudi Arabia Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud who also serves as the Saudi Arabian Minister of Defence and the Ambassador for Egypt Nasser Kamel with the Deputy Ambassador for Qatar. 

The Ambassadors explained that there had been an Arab Summit where over £50 billion was committed to rebuild Gaza as an alternative to the US plan to remove the Palestinian people form Gaza to Jordan and Egypt. The Ambassadors spoke with a united message.   

 
 

World Book Day has been celebrated on the first Thursday in March since 1998 in the UK. This year Parliament marked World Book Day  on Tuesday 4 March 2025.

As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Publishing, I was pleased to see that there were many MPs who dropped in to collect the books for £1 to give to their schools.

The evidence shows that reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child's future success, however:

Only 1 in 3 children enjoy reading
Reading for pleasure is at its lowest level since 2005
1 million children don't have a book of their own
1 in 6 parents of primary school children say they don't have enough age-appropriate books at home
1 in 7 state primary schools does not have a dedicated library or reading space



World Book Day helps children make the choices for themselves: what to read, when to read and where to read, increasing enjoyment in reading.

You can visit their website for resources aimed at families and educators, including their 'World of Stories' audiobook range, with books for all levels of reader from beginner to independent.