Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Starmer and Marie Tidball

Wednesday 14th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising this, because the situation is clearly totally unacceptable. He will want to know that Ministers have chaired daily emergency meetings to hold the company to account to deliver on the change that is urgently needed in all the areas that he mentioned. We have also doubled the compensation rates for individuals and businesses and we are absolutely clear that the company must urgently invest in infrastructure. We will publish the water White Paper in due course, but we are holding those daily meetings to hold the company to account.

[Dr Marie Tidball (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

Q5. I am delighted by today’s Northern Powerhouse Rail announcement—a downpayment on the north of England’s future. Fulfilling Lord Blunkett’s rail plan for Yorkshire also included upgrades to the Penistone line train, the spine that connects South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, coursing through eight constituencies and serving half a million people. When I was growing up, my dad opened Silkstone Common station as a Dodworth councillor. I want my legacy to be “Two trains an hour Tidball” for our Penistone line. Will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss how we can secure funding for the second phase of the Penistone line upgrade scheme to achieve two services an hour?

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend as a dedicated campaigner on this and so many other issues. I am delighted that today we are announcing a transformation in journeys across the north. Of course, this was promised many times by the Conservatives but never delivered. We are taking action and delivering. We are working with Kirklees council to prepare the business case for the first phase of upgrading the line, and I know that the Transport Secretary will be happy to discuss the details of that with my hon. Friend.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Starmer and Marie Tidball

Wednesday 5th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dr Marie Tidball (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

Forty-eight children that we know of have been killed by known domestically abusive parents during court-permitted contact visits, including Paul and Jack Sykes, who were tragically murdered at the hands of their father in a house fire. Their mother, and my constituent, Claire Throssell has campaigned against the presumption of contact, which allows such abusers to have unsupervised contact with their children. Will the Prime Minister meet Claire and me to discuss the urgent need to remove the presumption of contact in law?

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Josh Fenton-Glynn), who have both raised this critical issue. I particularly pay tribute to Claire. Her courage and strength are outstanding. Family courts must never be a tool that domestic abusers can use to continue their appalling abuse. We are expanding a number of Pathfinder courts to protect the welfare of children and are reviewing the presumption of involvement that she raises.