Cameron Thomas MP: speeches

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Speeches

16 Jul 2025 · RAF E-7 Wedgetail Programme · Hansard source
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To their credit, the Conservatives have been quite open in lamenting the drawdown of the Wedgetail project, but will my hon. Friend join me in asking the Government how committed they are to the Wedgetail programme and to the initial order of five?
16 Jul 2025 · RAF E-7 Wedgetail Programme · Hansard source
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The reduction in the number of Wedgetails, which seems to have been a mistake, feels very reminiscent of the coalition Government’s cutting of the Nimrod programme despite having already spent billions of pounds on it. That left us without a maritime patrol aircraft, and we had to go cap in hand to the French and the Americans for our—
16 Jul 2025 · RAF E-7 Wedgetail Programme · Hansard source
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The hon. Member mentions the battlefields of Ukraine, which are key because the RAF has a large fleet of aircraft that covers all the fundamental air power roles, but our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability is particularly important to NATO. Does he recognise as I do that this gap is therefore particularly acute?
15 Jul 2025 · Welfare Spending · Hansard source
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Two weeks ago, the House came together to watch the Labour party tear itself apart over to what extent it would remove welfare support from some of the most vulnerable in society, including, but not limited to, those with Parkinson’s and dementia. It is not all bad news, though. Jeff got married in the same week, so congratulations to Jeff. He got married in Venice. By most accounts, it was a lovely and private affair. Although it cost him approximately $50 million, he probably would not have noticed, because he is worth $328 billion. Like most very wealthy people, his wealth has almost doubled in the past two years. For context, it would take an MP earning only their salary, which is almost three times the average UK salary, 2.5 million years to accrue that kind of wealth. Clearly the Government will not be taxing Jeff, whose wealth lies offshore, although he does own a modest UK-based delivery business with an annual turnover of £30 billion. It paid less than 3% in cumulative tax on that figure last year. Labour did promise that those with the broadest shoulders should carry the heaviest burden. I am sure that enough wealth exists within our own borders to keep our most vulnerable citizens supported. Will the Government therefore commit themselves to both keeping and increasing digital service tax, so that big tech pays its fair share?
9 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source
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Tewkesbury is not a coastal constituency, although once a year at least it feels as though it is, but my hon. Friend’s constituency shares a lot of the issues faced by my rural constituency. What he is getting at—and this is why I will be voting against the Bill—is that it does not present the means to get people back into work. Transport is one of the most significant barriers to that, as I hope he agrees.
9 Jul 2025 · Early Years Providers: Government Support · Hansard source
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The Liberal Democrats welcome investment in early years. One way in which I hope the Government will ensure that children with SEND and neurodiversity requirements are not left behind is by implementing systems in early years provision that enable SEND and neurodiversity to be identified and addressed sooner rather than later. Will the hon. Member join me in asking the Government to do that?
9 Jul 2025 · Early Years Providers: Government Support · Hansard source
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I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. Does she have any thoughts on how we could attract more men to the industry?
9 Jul 2025 · Early Years Providers: Government Support · Hansard source
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I was a very nervous father when I handed my daughter to the childminder in her early years setting. She was an absolutely fantastic lady called Jade Bamford in Oxfordshire. When calling for SEND training for early years staff, would my hon. Friend call on the Government to incorporate childminders within that?
9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Q14. Following a week of internal conflict, the Prime Minister will be well prepared if he wants to join me this weekend at the Tewkesbury medieval festival, which includes Europe’s largest re-enactment, or perhaps next weekend he will don his leather jacket and turn it up to 11 at the Tewkesbury Live music festival hosted by hospitality venues across the town. Regardless of that, will he join me in thanking the volunteers and the hospitality venues that make Tewkesbury the unsung nucleus of Gloucestershire’s culture?
8 Jul 2025 · Road and Rail Projects · Hansard source
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Improved rail links are vital to support the planned developments around Ashchurch and Northway in my constituency, including a garden community and an outlet centre that opens next week. Current services to Ashchurch for Tewkesbury station are limited and unreliable, with the nearest arterial road routinely gridlocked. I welcome the funding for the midlands rail hub, but my constituents will be eager to learn whether funding for improvements at Ashchurch for Tewkesbury will be incorporated in that funding.
1 Jul 2025 · Supporting Economic Growth · Hansard source
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20. What steps she is taking to help increase economic growth in north Gloucestershire.
1 Jul 2025 · Supporting Economic Growth · Hansard source
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North Gloucestershire is ready to jump-start economic growth, with its existing advanced engineering and defence industries ready to drive the UK toward economic and defence objectives. Babcock, GE Aerospace, Moog and Safran are already developing world-leading technologies, and the Garden Town project includes a further 100 hectares of employment area. Will the Minister join me in Gloucestershire so we can demonstrate this expertise and the potential for growth on the ground?
30 Jun 2025 · Welfare Reform · Hansard source
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Welcome back, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Government’s recent compromise with their own MPs secures PIP for existing claimants, but not for those who come hereafter—a distinction born not of compassion, nor apparently of economics, but to secure the Government’s own political footing. If I am wrong, will the Secretary of State describe the moral foundation for this distinction between those who suffer today and those who will suffer in the future?
30 Jun 2025 · Defence Spending: Cross-party Talks · Hansard source
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There is a great deal of experience across these Benches, and most of us recognise the imminence of the need to hit 3%. My expertise is in force protection, and I know, among other things, that Brize Norton cannot draw support from the Military Provost Guard Service under the land top level budget, such as at nearby Dalton barracks and South Cerney. That is more acute still at RAF Lossiemouth. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the command structure of the MPGS and bring our experience to the table to find that 3% of GDP imminently?
30 Jun 2025 · Defence Spending: Cross-party Talks · Hansard source
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10. If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of holding cross-party talks on increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030.
25 Jun 2025 · Controlled Drugs (Procedure for Specification) Bill · Hansard source
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I support the Bill in the context of my liberalism. For years, the Liberal Democrats have campaigned for better access to medicinal cannabis for those who rely on it to manage their symptoms. The current system is too restrictive and necessitates a more compassionate, patient-centred approach to ensure that nobody is left to suffer unnecessarily. The Government should investigate the merits of permitting general practice to prescribe cannabis-based products. That said, this retired military police officer does not find his liberal values to be at odds with the Bill. In fact, the Bill increases protections for citizens from dangerous substances and simplifies and shortens the control systems set out in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
25 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Q4. In 1957, my constituent Ronald Clark was among 22,000 UK personnel exposed to nuclear testing on Christmas Island. Those veterans and their descendants have suffered various cancers, crippling illnesses and deformities, but the Ministry of Defence has never accepted liability. I note the Deputy Prime Minister’s response to the hon. Member for Salford (Rebecca Long Bailey), but it does not go quite far enough. Time is running out. Will the Deputy Prime Minister meet me, my constituent and those veterans to determine appropriate compensation?
24 Jun 2025 · National Security Strategy · Hansard source
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I echo the comments made by the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) about the Chinese Communist party. The national security strategy recognises that UK security is tied to that of our allies. Do the Government acknowledge that lasting peace in Europe means terminating Putin’s European ambitions in Ukraine, and if so, how will the Government get that through to the US Administration?
24 Jun 2025 · Department for Education · Hansard source
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I am afraid I will not. This is a growing, nationwide crisis being experienced by schools and families, and it has secondary effects on the Department for Work and Pensions and the Treasury. Responsibility for SEND provision currently falls to local authorities, but councils across the country are struggling to balance their resources between looking after their people and maintaining their infrastructure. I do not accept that those councils are all at fault—that simply cannot be. In fact, I empathise with those councils that observed this month’s spending review with their heads in their hands. Last month, I held a Westminster Hall debate where I pointed out that Gloucestershire is among the lowest-funded councils for education in England. I am delighted that the Minister for School Standards announced a review of the national funding formula for 2026-27, and I very much hope that Gloucestershire will be firmly in the Government’s mind when it takes place. I ask the Government to acknowledge that they must address the growing demand for SEND provision and not leave it to local authorities or kick it down the road until 2030. I ask that the Government investigate and address the root causes of this growing problem and implement systems and processes in the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Until they do, local authorities will continue to buckle under demand, our teachers will continue to break and our constituents across the country will continue to suffer.
24 Jun 2025 · Department for Education · Hansard source
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Parents with SEND children across Tewkesbury represent one of the demographics who most consistently contact me. I regularly hold surgeries with desperate parents who feel that they have nowhere left to turn. I have spoken with parents whose children have missed years of education and whose ability to work has been diluted by the need to care for and teach their children outside the school environment. Many others have spent years awaiting diagnoses and years more acquiring an EHCP, viewing an EHCP as a kind of silver bullet, only to get their children enrolled in a school that simply does not have the additional resources to support them.
23 Jun 2025 · Middle East · Hansard source
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I thank the Foreign Secretary for the gravity with which he is treating this important topic. One week ago, he told me that he had “huge confidence” in our ability to defend our middle eastern assets from Iranian strikes, but within two days, two strategic assets were vandalised by a couple of civilians on e-scooters at RAF Brize Norton. Does he recognise that the UK must not follow Trump into Netanyahu’s war with Iran, when force protection is inadequately resourced at home?
23 Jun 2025 · UK Military Base Protection · Hansard source
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I am not sure that this question is appropriate any more, Mr Deputy Speaker. Ironically, on Saturday the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice) demonstrated his ignorance of RAF force protection by tweeting that Group Captain Louise Henton’s background in human resources led to last week’s infiltration of RAF Brize Norton. It was a disgusting attack on a senior officer—my previous squadron commander—who has dedicated her career to armed forces service and to bettering the lives and lived experience of our personnel. Will the Minister therefore join me in thanking all members of the armed forces and in condemning the remarks of the deputy leader of Reform?
17 Jun 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman is making very important points, in particular on the Jehovah’s Witnesses cult. One of the methods Jehovah’s Witnesses use to ensure that issues like this do not escape from the organisation is threatening individuals with the act of disfellowshipping—being cut off from all communication with their own family. I wonder whether he will go a little further in recognising that, too.
17 Jun 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source
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Let me say, in the spirit of openness, that as a young man I perhaps did not always drive as responsibly as I do now. Although the hon. Lady is making an important point, there is an educational component to this. Will she join me in commending the work of the Under 17 Car Club and its Pathfinder initiative, which teaches young drivers about the dangers of driving in that fashion?
17 Jun 2025 · Under-18s Sunbed Ban · Hansard source
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Until his recent death, my constituent Luke Webster had lived with alternating hemiplegia of childhood. His life was short and he spent much of it being moved between different care facilities, to the frustration of his family. At one such facility, Luke was abused. Will the Minister meet me and Luke’s mother to discuss improved safeguards—

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