Business of the House

Martin Wrigley Excerpts

Thursday 22nd January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important issue and for his campaign to save Melvin Hall by keeping it in community hands. Its work supporting adults with learning disabilities and their families is admirable, and I congratulate it on that. It is a good opportunity to remind the House that I often criticise the lack of support from Reform councils for local communities, but we must not forget the often dreadful records of Conservative councils. Our new community right to buy, introduced through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, will give communities stronger powers to take ownership of their vital assets, but I wish my hon. Friend and his campaigners all the very best in his campaign.

[Martin Wrigley (Newton Abbot) (LD)]

We hear an awful lot from the Government about building sovereign digital capabilities in the UK, and this morning we heard about Britain becoming Britain’s biggest customer, yet Government procurement contracts continue to go to giant American providers—in the Ministry of Defence, in the NHS and even in the Cabinet Office. Will the Leader of the House make available Government time in the Chamber for us to debate the meaning of a sovereign AI capability? How might we change Government procurement to enable British firms to bid for these intensely important elements of Government mechanisms?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I encourage the hon. Gentleman to apply for an Adjournment debate, to hear from the Minister directly. I expect he would find that the Government share his ambition for contracts and work to go to British companies. That is at the heart of our industrial strategy.