On Monday this week the House of Commons debated the government’s new Illegal Immigration Bill. This follows the recent announcement by the Home Secretary of the new measures to be put in place, in order to stop the migrant boat crossings in the English Channel. The UK is rightly proud of the fair way in […]
On 1 March I met with the Environment Agency to discuss the sea water quality at St Mary’s Bay, on the Hythe Bay coast. It has recently been reported that, according to the Agency, the water quality there is ‘poor’ and the advice is not to swim. This is a localised problem, and the sea […]
On 8 February, Parliament was honoured by the surprise visit of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine. Making only his second international trip from Ukraine since the Russian invasion a year ago, he arrived in London, visiting The King and the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as well as addressing both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. […]
We can all agree that we want to see a reduction in the discharge of waste water and sewage at sea, and that’s why we have launched our most ambitious plan yet to achieve this. Our plan will require water companies to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in water company history, costing over £56 billion […]
Folkestone last week received a multi-million pound regeneration boost from the government’s Levelling Up fund. Following a successful bid from Folkestone and Hythe District Council, we will receive an over £19million grant from the government which will be invested in improving the town centre. Over the past decade we have seen a tremendous regeneration of […]
0935hrs (CET) Friday 2 December 2022, At the Representation of the European Commission in Germany, Unter den Linden 78, Berlin. Thank you to Dr Pencho Kuzev and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for inviting me to speak at this European Data Summit. I have been pleased to attend numerous meetings organised by the Foundation in my […]
Wednesday 27 April 2022 The UK has a proud history of welcoming those in desperate need of help. We are a fundamentally generous nation recognised as a beacon of humanity, openness, and opportunity around the world. You only need to look at the enthusiastic response to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme to see that we […]
Article written with Sean Casten and Phumzile Van Damme for the Independent - published 13 April 2022 Recent revelations have laid bare Facebook 's continued neglect of contract content moderators around the world. As the Online Safety Bill and other legislation is enacted, we are calling on lawmakers all over to seize this golden opportunity and set minimum standards for […]
Article written for The Times - published 11 April 2022 On April 19, the day the House of Commons returns after the Easter recess, we will debate and vote on the Online Safety Bill. This is a world-leading piece of legislation, that will set mandatory minimum safety standards for social media platforms, and create an […]
Article written for the Daily Telegraph published 17 March 2022 The future is digital. Hybrid working, speaking to loved ones far away, community organising to send supplies to Ukraine: the internet has made this all so much easier. But so far, we’ve struggled to rein in the wild west of the internet, where abuse, crime, and […]