Business of the House

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 22nd January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

As you will know, Mr Speaker, reform occasionally moves very slowly in this House, so I thank the Leader of the House for confirming that the experiment on dealing with estimates day debates, which started in 2018, will now be confirmed going forward. I would be grateful if he could give us early warning of when the estimates day debates will take place this year, so that we can begin the process of allocating the debates.

In addition to the business that the Leader of the House has announced, there will be a Westminster Hall debate next Tuesday on UK bus manufacturing. On Thursday, there will be a debate on non-recognition of Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, followed by a debate on protecting and restoring river habitats. On Tuesday 3 February, there will be a Westminster Hall debate on town and city centre safety. On Thursday 5 February, there will be a debate on secondary breast cancer and a further debate, which we will announce next week.

We now have a queue of debates for the Chamber, which will take us to the summer recess. We have a queue of Westminster Hall debates for Tuesdays, which will take us to the Whitsun recess, and we are processing those debates as fast as we can. We will fill any time that the Leader of the House can allocate to us.

It has been drawn to my attention this week that a company called Al-Masirah has been operating a TV channel in this country for 10 years. It is owned by the Houthis, a proscribed organisation in the United States, and there is a risk that these people are using the opportunity to avoid our visa system, to launder money and to encourage terrorist activities in this country. This is obviously a serious concern for national security. I ask the Leader of the House to encourage the Security Minister to come and give us a statement on what action will be taken to make sure that the company is in compliance with our rules and regulations. If it is not, it should be removed from the UK so that our country is made safe.

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his update and for the work of his Committee. I will confirm the estimates days as soon as I can, and I have heard his request for more time. As he knows, we endeavour to comply with such requests as best we can.

On the issue of the Al-Masirah TV channel, we keep all evidence and potential designations under close review. We will consider targets, guided by the objectives of the relevant sanctions regime and the evidence that is provided. We do not presently proscribe the Houthis as a terrorist organisation, but the situation remains under constant review, and we continue to use our full diplomatic toolkit, including sanctions, to constrain their activities. I will make sure that the relevant Minister hears the hon. Gentleman’s concern and that he gets a response.