Business of the House

Lee Dillon Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson—congratulations on your promotion.

[Mr Lee Dillon (Newbury) (LD)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Can I associate the Liberal Democrats with the Leader of the House’s remarks about the attack in Poland and about our remembrance events? I look forward to settling into this new role and working with colleagues across the House, especially as we look to modernise.

On Tuesday, my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) introduced a ten-minute rule Bill to update the census questions so that they better reflect how constituents see themselves. No one objected—no one—and the Bill has support from across the House, including from the right hon. Members for Tottenham (Mr Lammy) and for Braintree (Sir James Cleverly). Since then, however, the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe), who was in the Chamber on Tuesday and who did not object, has tabled an early-day motion that would seek to undo this cross-party work if it was followed through.

The Liberal Democrats were pleased to hear at Prime Minister’s questions that the Prime Minister is open to a discussion and supportive of the principle, and I am grateful that his office is arranging a meeting with my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne. People should be able to describe their own Englishness in their own words, not have it defined to them by those who want to divide us. Will the Leader of the House join me in backing that principle, and will he tell us what Government time can be found so that the Bill can make progress?

While talking about Englishness, given that Harry Kane will become the record cap holder later today, does the Leader of the House agree that it is surely time for him to become Sir Harry Kane?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place. I look forward to working with him on a range of matters, not least modernisation of this place. I want to put on the record my thanks to his predecessor, the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean), and wish him well in his new role.

Let me deal with the last point first. If Harry Kane has reached that point and it is felt that he should be recognised in that way, I am sure the usual channels—not in this place but elsewhere—will consider that for the future.

I turn to the main point about the ten-minute rule Bill, which has been introduced. As the Prime Minister said yesterday,

“We must move on from a decade of division”

and

“bring people back together”.—[Official Report, 11 November 2026; Vol. 793, c. 165.]

We will work in a cross-party way with the hon. Member for Eastbourne. With regard to the early-day motion, of course, not everyone shares that ambition for our country. The hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe) is perfectly entitled to put down an early-day motion and put his side of this issue, if that is what he seeks to do. I do not think there is anything disorderly about that in any way, shape or form, but I have to say that people outside will judge him for that.

As for what will happen with the Bill, it would not be fair for the Government to give priority to this Bill because that would be unfair to other Bills in the process. We will have to see how it goes in the future, but what I would point out to the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon) is that this is an important beginning to a process. Sometimes these issues take quite a while to get there, but the Government are prepared, as he has said, to work as far as we can with the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) on these matters.