Speeches by Slade.

“I always value the interventions of the hon. Member. As the aunt of a young GP, Bethan, who has more than £100,000-worth of debt, I think it is ridiculous that our young people are being saddled with this situation. I have constituents who have deliberately gone to study in Wales so that they are able to get that benef…”

“I will be honest and say that, not having been to university, I do not know the details of the different groups. My students are all very recent graduates, so they went in knowing that they would have enormous debt and recognising that they would be more than £50,000 in debt, with probably no prospect of ever paying it…”

“I completely recognise that the extension of the frozen tax threshold will not be felt immediately. We are all here worrying about it, but most of our residents will not see the difference probably until the next general election. However, it is on us to resolve this issue once and for all. In the Minister’s opening sp…”

“I thank the hon. Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) for his passionate pitch for his area. I welcome the Government’s announcement of the competition for the town of culture 2028. The nature of a community is defined by three things: its landscape and architecture, its hospitality and retail sector, and—mostly—its c…”

“I thank the hon. and learned Gentleman for raising that. Speaking of towns with incredible historical ports, much of the training for the D-day landings took place from Poole harbour. We now have the incredible Lighthouse cultural venue in Poole, where residents have mapped the town’s history, its links to Canada and i…”

“President Trump is supposed to be working on a peace deal for Ukraine, but he has been so much more focused on invading Venezuela and making threats against Greenland. What assurance can the Secretary of State give to the House on the US’s continued commitment to getting a deal in Ukraine? What contingencies are in pla…”

“Wessex Internet, which was founded by the late James Gibson Fleming, has done some great work in Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Somerset, but the vouchers that are given out to areas that are not included are not available in Dorset. We have challenged that many times with the Ministry. Would the Minister mind seeing…”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a slight confusion? The Minister consistently referenced the importance of this review and how independent and important it was, but then has thrown out the central tenet of it, which was to introduce a court that has a judge and two magistrates. That would provide three heads ra…”

“Yes, if you don’t mind. I am sorry to go back to it, but I am concerned, particularly with some things that you said, Rohini, about access to justice for people who are working versus people who are on universal credit. Linsey and I have both discussed a couple of cases that we have had where there has been custody and…”

“Thank you.”

“Hello. I am Vikki Slade, the Member of Parliament for Mid Dorset and North Poole. My interests are as per the register, but I have no relevant interests.”

“I am fascinated and happy to hear what is being proposed. Will it be possible for members of the public to check an online database for that permit? When somebody picks something up from a house and shows their permit, people can feel quite vulnerable. Being able to go online and check the permit against the local auth…”

“T5. My constituents welcome the £150 saving on energy bills, particularly as it is now snowing, but Andrew from Arrow Energy Solutions is worried. Some 35% of his heat pump and solar installations were through the energy company obligation. Although he says it needed reform, he is worried about what comes next. I welco…”

“I thank the hon. Member for Southport (Patrick Hurley) for that really moving account. We know that cancer affects us all. In my family it claimed my mum Lin; my sister-in-law Lisa and my stepmum Sally have both beaten it, and now my dad Ray is living with terminal cancer. One of my team is also undergoing treatment fo…”

“I am disappointed to hear that the Minister is not looking at a common certificate of sponsorship. Has he made a decision, with his colleagues, on whether care workers will be considered in the same group as NHS workers in relation to the faster route? Otherwise, we are going to end up with a massive hole in our servic…”

“Thank you, Mr Speaker—what a lovely birthday present. Last week I met my constituent Kevin, the programme lead for TESTBED Dorset. He told me that although life sciences is one of the key sectors in the modern industrial strategy, none of the seven projects is in the south-west, and there is not a single reference to D…”

“I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I welcome the Government’s announcement of a cap on social care placements, but some special schools are making unreasonable charges. One school in my area that is offering places to neurodiverse children who are struggling in mainstream edu…”

“When this Government came into office in July 2024, magistrates were dealing with cases that had a potential sentence of up to six months, but that has now gone up to 12 months and by next year it could be two years. There is already a backlog of 361,000 cases in the magistrates courts. In my meeting with the Law Socie…”

“Good afternoon. I am Vikki Slade, the MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole. My interests are as declared, but none is relevant; I am just here as a person who has been involved with the justice system—on the right side!”

“There are two things there. We said earlier that it is going to take some time for these reforms to make a change. There are 17,500 people currently in the system. I do not get the impression that those people are going to really benefit from the changes, because even those who have been there for a year will eventuall…”