Speeches by Minns.

“I took the opportunity a little earlier to wish you a merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. May I echo your thanks to all the House staff for everything they do all year round to guide us and keep us safe? I recently visited St James Carlisle Guides and Brownies. I was reminded then, as I was by the recent death of my 100-year-…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I sincerely congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Luke Murphy) for securing this debate. To take a quote from my favourite Austen novel, “Persuasion”: “I wish nature had made such hearts…more common”. I am also delighted to see the Minister…”

“My hon. Friend makes an important point about indoor cricket, which is particularly vital in Cumbria because our weather requires slightly more cover-ups than cover drives. I recently learned that, through the Super 1s programme, Cumbria Cricket is now offering table cricket to young disabled people in a number of scho…”

“Women and girls must have confidence both in the strategy and that the perpetrators of the violence against them will be brought to book. However, when I asked the Crown Prosecution Service to review a decision not to prosecute a case of violent assault against one of my constituents, it pushed back its own deadline fo…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker—today is indeed my birthday. I thank my Scottish colleagues for letting me, as an English Member, crash this debate on St Andrew’s day. I have the great privilege of representing the great border city of Carlisle, the only city in the United Kingdom to have been governed by both the Scot…”

“Indeed, and my hon. Friend makes an excellent point. I was just about to mention Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 300 Jacobite soldiers he left in Carlisle castle after riding into Carlisle, standing on the steps of our historic market cross and claiming the city again for the Stuart Crown, and then riding south to do bat…”

“On the hon. Gentleman’s point about risk, I want to highlight another area that has been brought to my attention by the British sign language community, which is concerned that the design of AI BSL is not necessarily including BSL users. In a visual language that relies on expression, tone and gestures, the risk of mis…”

“The hon. Member makes a point about a modern solution. I have felt for some time that our supermarkets, with the installation of bi-directional chargers, could offer consumers the opportunity to bring their mobile energy source—their EV—as a power supply during peak times for supermarkets; in return, consumers could be…”

“Tomorrow marks the 10-year anniversary of Storm Desmond and the flooding of the city of Carlisle that forced thousands of my constituents from their homes. As we remember the horror of 2015, we also celebrate the incredible people of Carlisle who came together to support their friends and neighbours at that time. One g…”

“Q14. Over the summer, large quantities of illegal cigarettes were seized in shops in my constituency. However, many of those shops were reopened the very next day. Does the Prime Minister agree that we have to make it easier to shut these shops down permanently so that we put these criminal networks out of business for…”

“My hon. Friend touches on an important point about early warning. My constituency experienced devastating flooding in 2005 and 2015. Last week, despite flood warnings, we mercifully escaped—though parts of the city were affected —when what had been forecast was not what transpired. The Environment Agency appears to lac…”

“My hon. Friend and I share not only Gilsland but Hadrian’s wall. Members may not be aware that it is only in the last eight years that Hadrian’s wall has yielded its long-kept secret that the largest structure is to be found at Carlisle cricket club, thanks to a fantastic dig that is going on there. Does my hon. Friend…”

“I am sure that Members from across the House will want to thank volunteers and members of the Royal British Legion for their exemplary work in recent weeks. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking Keith Richardson, and members of the Carlisle and Stanwix branch of the Royal British Legion, for organising an in…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this important debate. One of my constituents was ripped off to the tune of £19,000 when the builder walked off the job part-way through. However, when they went to trading standards and the police, they were told that, because the work had begun, it was a civil and not a crimina…”

“Does the Secretary of State agree that rather than obstructing and delaying the work of the Independent Football Regulator, the Opposition need to do right by the fans and let David Kogan get on with the job? May I also request—slightly selfishly, as a Carlisle United fan—that one of the first things he does is press t…”

“Our constituents deserve a prison system that they can have confidence in, yet prisoner releases in error increased every year since 2021. Despite that, there was no call for an investigation and there were no reforms. Can the Justice Secretary therefore reassure my Carlisle constituents that it is this Government who …”

“Over the past year, my office and I have supported a depressing number of constituents who have been failed—failed by the police and social services for not listening to reports of coercive control; failed by the family court for not recognising who the victim is; and failed by the Crown Prosecution Service for not pro…”

“2. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship Mr Dowd. I congratulate the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick) on securing this important debate. As the Member of Parliament for Carlisle and north Cumbria, I represent a region where the realities of geography often challenge the neat lines that…”

“My hon. Friend makes a very powerful point about the obstruction that families and individuals still face. A family in my constituency have for the last 18 months methodically uncovered failings in the care of their father in hospital. He sadly died, yet the failings that they uncovered were ignored by the medical exam…”