Party roles
As of 28 March 2023, I am the Shadow SNP Spokesperson for Home Affairs in the House of Commons. This means that my work in Parliament includes and focuses on scrutiny of UK Government policy under the purview of the Home Office, including immigration law, drugs, policing, the security services, and counter-terrorism.
In the past I have also served in a number of other spokesperson roles, including as Shadow SNP Treasury Spokesperson (20 June 2017 to 12 December 2022), Shadow SNP Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government (1 July 2018 – 7 January 2020) and Shadow SNP Spokesperson for Cities (20 May 2015 – 1 July 2018)
Committees
As the SNP Westminster spokesperson for Home Affairs, I currently sit on the Home Affairs Committee, as well as the bill committees for the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill and the Finance (No.2) Bill. You may find out more about the work of these committees on the pages linked below:
- Home Affairs Committee
- Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill Committee
- Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee
Speeches and questions
You may find transcripts of all my contributions in Parliament on the hansard.parliament.uk website, or recordings on Parliament TV.
An inexaustive rolling feed of my contributions can also be found below, courtesy of TheyWorkForYou.com.
- Sabir Zazai, the chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, has said: “For every Afghan person who arrived in the UK on a resettlement scheme in the year ending March 2023, almost 90…
- Avanti manufacturing director, Andy Mellors, told the Transport Committee that Avanti would be cutting staff at Glasgow Central station by more than a third and closing its ticket office. Why…
- My constituent Lee Haywood is on a communal heat network, and he and his neighbours saw their price per kWh double last winter. What protection can the Minister give as we come into the next…
- On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. At 12 noon tomorrow, we will see the publication of the long-awaited Brook House inquiry, and I wondered whether the Home Office had been in touch with…
- I am glad to hear what the drugs Minister says. The Home Affairs Committee’s report on drugs highlighted good practice in Scotland, in particular with the naloxone roll-out and the…
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Paragraph E-ECP.3.3 of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules, if she will bring forward proposals to ensure that people…
- To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions have been made for the illegitimate supply of nitrous oxide under the The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Scotland at Scotland Questions, Official Report on 13 September 2023,…
- OpenDemocracy recently revealed the extent of self-harm and suicide in immigration removal centres—in particular, Harmondsworth and Colnbrook, where 24 self-harm incidents occurred in…
- I am glad to follow the right hon. Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), and I agree entirely with what he said. Many people in this House have for some time been calling for the proscription of…
- I strongly very much with what the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill) said. Let us just agree with the Lords. Let us get on with this. Let us do this legislation, and do…
- That is a legitimate question and a legitimate risk, but I do not see it in the Government’s impact assessment. There is also nothing about the preventive actions that the ACMD talks about…
- That is not how the market works. We have had the Misuse of Drugs Act for 50 years and it has not stopped anybody from taking heroin, cocaine or anything else. Those drugs are quite moreish and…
- It is pretty unusual that I come to a debate entitled “Dangerous Drugs” where I have direct experience of having taken some of those dangerous drugs, because I live a very quiet life….
- To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what (a) value and (b) number of fines have been issued against Scottish Limited Partnerships for failing to register a Person of Significant…
- To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential effect of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 on access to justice for asylum seekers.
- To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many qualifying Scottish Limited partnerships have not registered a person of significant control in each year since the requirement to…
- I have a number of constituents whose asylum appeals were allowed by courts and tribunals service, but have now been thrust into limbo while the case goes back to the Home Office for approval….
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unexplained wealth orders have been used since the scheme was revised.
- To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the value of fines (a) issued and (b) paid for non compliance with the requirements of the Register of of Overseas Entities was as of 4…