Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Douglas McAllister and Shabana Mahmood

Monday 8th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

The employment statistics that the hon. Lady has just used run from January 2020 to December 2025, so I congratulate her on exposing the track record of the Tory Government.

[Douglas McAllister (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab)]

2. What discussions she has had with the Metropolitan police on the policing of the Unite the Kingdom rally on 16 May 2026.

Independent Sentencing Review

Debate between Douglas McAllister and Shabana Mahmood

Thursday 22nd May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Douglas McAllister (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab)]

I welcome the fact that this Government are getting on with building the largest prison expansion programme since the Victorians. That is a Labour Government in action, fixing the Tory prison crisis once and for all. Can I ask the Secretary of State to learn from the SNP Scottish Government’s abject failure with the new Barlinnie prison project in Glasgow? It has been delayed again, and now will not be ready until 2028, which is nine years late. The cost has soared from £100 million to a staggering £1 billion for one prison. Will we learn lessons from the SNP failure?

[Shabana Mahmood]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Let me tell him that we have already learned the lessons of the Tory party’s failure, and I am very sorry to hear about the situation he describes in Scotland. The Conservatives’ failure on prison building stemmed from two things: they could not get it past their own Back Benchers, so the planning delays added billions to the cost of prison place expansion; and they did not make certain and available the amount needed to stimulate funding at the rate required. We have reversed both those things: we have made £4.7 billion available and we have made it very clear that planning will not get in the way of prison building.