Valerie voted against proposed increases in the EU budget on Wednesday 31 October 2012. Valerie said: "I voted against the proposed 2% increase in the EU budget because it is not the time to increase budgets in Europe when the Government is pursuing an austerity budget at home that is affecting hardworking individuals and their families."There needs to be reform within the EU rather than an increase in the budget to get the best deal for taxpayers. Savings in areas such as the Common Agricultural Policy could reduce UK contributions, enabling a real term reduction that would be beneficial to the UK and other EU nations. You can read the full debate here.

A motion to stop the badger cull was debated in the Commons on Thursday 25 October 2012. Valerie voted against the badger cull. Valerie said:

On Wednesday 24 October 2012 Valerie met with UK Feminista Lobby on Parliament Square to discuss the issue of gender equality.

On Thursday 25 October 2012, at Departmemt for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Defra, Questions, Valerie asked the Secretary of State what recent assessment he has made of the effect on families of recent trends in food prices.