What did MP Freddie van Mierlo do last week?

Week beginning 1st September 2026

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 21:24 +0100

It can be hard to judge if our MP, Freddie van Mierlo, is doing a good job - this is a summary of what he did in the last week. It will also include broader details on what parliament has done.

Tuesday 1st September 2026

The week began on a Tuesday - the first day back from recess. There were no votes and Freddie van Mierlo didn't speak in parliament.

The day began with a speech by our new prime minister Andy Burnham followed by 125 questions from MPs. Many raised local issues to Burnham from ferry prices to re-industrialisation.

There was a debate on the decision to release some criminals earlier to prevent prisons from running out of space. Afterwards a bill to require councils to make road safety plans for schools was read.

There was also a debate on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation - lawsuits designed to stop journalists and others from criticising those with the money to fight them in court.

Wednesday 2nd September 2026

Most of Wednesday was dedicated to the third reading of the Representation of the People Bill. This was the last reading of the bill before it was sent to the Lords.

Freddie van Mierlo used this as an opportunity to stand up for overseas voters. These are British citizens (or Irish citizens registered to vote in Northern Ireland) who move abroad and can continue to vote in general elections if they renew every 3 years. They notably include our overseas armed forces.

Overseas voters have reported issues with elections, including ballot papers arriving after election day so he introduced an amendment, to (conduct a feasibility study to decide how to) improve voting arrangements for these overseas voters

Van Mierlo also challenged Dame Thornbury (Lab)'s proposal that overseas voters should not be able to donate to political parties at all. Under the current version of the bill, overseas donations will be capped at £100,000.

Neither his nor Thornbury's amendments were put to vote however a very similar amendment to his for a independent review of the experience of overseas voters (NC65) was. He voted Aye (yes) to this amendment but it failed with Labour opposing it.

He voted No to an amendment supported by the Tories and Reform to outlaw campaign material in languages that are native to any other country with an exception for English (NC67). This also failed with the Conservatives the only major party voting for it.

He voted Aye for a commission into political donations and campaign spending (NC88) that would recommend a cap on donations. This was supported by every left-of-centre party except Labour causing it to fail.

With voting on amendments over, the house voted on the entire bill. Van Mierlo voted Aye and the bill passed. The bill has now continued to the Lords.

Thursday 3rd September 2026

On Thursday there were again no votes and van Mierlo did not speak in parliament.

Parliament debated whether the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil fields should be drilled. There was also a debate on house building, community renewal and rough sleeping. The government says they will give local governments power to stop new betting and vape shops, offer everyone sleeping rough a route off the streets and set house building targets backed by new funding for social housing and changes to planning permission.

Westminster hall, where MPs can raise concerns to a minister, saw a debate on the falling vaccination rates of children.

Friday 4th September 2026

Freddie van Mierlo did not speak on Friday and there were no votes.

Much of Friday was dedicated to the Infants, Parents and Carers Bill which proposes creating a "Best Start" support for parents and carers and their children that will be similar to the Sure Start programme of the last period of Labour government. All the MPs who spoke, including those from the Conservative and LibDem parties that killed Sure Start, supported the bill.

Despite little disagreement, debate on this bill continued into the afternoon. In fact many MPs who wanted to voice their support for the bill didn't have a chance.

The last debate of the week was the Northern Ireland Troubles (Criminal Investigations etc) Bill. If passed, prosecutions of police for their actions in the Troubles would not be allowed unless "new and compelling" comes to light since the last enquiry or investigation (etc.) was conducted. The debate was adjourned soon after it started due to lack of time - it will be resumed next week.

Endnote

Hopefully you will also return next week. If you know anyone who might find this interesting please share it with them.

If you are interested in writing or proofreading for Last Week (this), send me an email. I would also be interested in sponsorship from local businesses.

-- Tom Brandis

Week beginning 7th September 2026

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:31 +0100

Welcome back to a second week! What did our MP do last week?

A note: when I refer to "votes" I mean formal divisions of the house. Parliament often decides on questions by near-unanimous verbal approval however it is hard to know if van Mierlo was in the house at the time and if he verbally supported it or not. Somewhat surprisingly there doesn't seem to be a record of when MPs are present in parliament.

Monday 7th September 2026

Monday began with the secretary of state answering questions about the planning system and the ambitious targets that the government has set for house building.

Next Angela Rayner had to announce that local government reorganisation cannot go ahead as planned due to legal advice that the government had received. This reorganisation would have lead to Oxfordshire County Council and each of the five district councils (including South Oxfordshire District Council) being replaced by just three unitary authorities which would be responsible for all local government functions. Henley and Thame would be in Ridgeway district which would consist of what is currently West Berkshire and most of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse.

The government would not share their legal advise that lead to them pausing the reorganisation however the tories have accused them of gerrymandering in the drawing of the new boundaries.

There was a debate on the protests over the weekend.

Westminster hall saw a petition created by a student sabbatical officer to make misogyny a hate crime. Sex is one of three protected characteristics not currently covered by hate crime legislation (the others being pregnancy/maternity and marriage/civil partnership). If misogyny was made a hate crime it would act as an aggravating factor to a crime leading to more severe offence. It would also mean that it would be centrally monitored.

Tuesday 8th September 2026

Tuesday started with two foreign policy debates - Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands and sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank of Palestine.

Van Mierlo highlighted the petition created by the Aston Rowant CofE Primary School in Thame advocating for Palestinian children's right to education. Nearly all the schools in Gaza have been damaged in the war according to Unicef.

There was a debate about government plans to stop children taking naked images on their phones at the operating system level. This is aimed at stopping self generated CSAM that are used for blackmail and extortion. Adults would have to provide ID to Apple/Google in order to take naked photos.

The Health Bill which would remove the NHS England organisation and make the government directly responsible for many of its functions was read. It will also create a single patient record, a new system to store health information in a way that can be accessed by patients other health care workers. Currently patient information is stored by each organisation separately.

There is concern that the single patient record could be outsourced to Palantir, an American company who also provide surveillance and military technology to customers including ICE, who's CEO has said that American tech companies have an obligation to defend America and who seem interested in gaining soft power in other countries. Palantir already provide the Federated Data System, a similar system to a single patient record, however the contract expires in 2027.

Freddie van Mierlo supported many amendments, mostly related to increased reporting of specific issues in the NHS such as medicinal cannabis and radiotherapy. He proposed amendments that would make the government produce a strategy for access to speech therapy, a report on dementia care, a independent body for oversight of funeral services and better early access to medicines for those with serious or life threatening conditions.

There was then voting on some amendments. Van Mierlo voted Aye for a inquiry into corridor care and Aye for an amendment that opposed the merging of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body into the Care Quality Commission. He did not vote on an amendment, obviously targeted at trans health care workers, that would legislate for single sex spaces in various areas for NHS staff. These amendments all failed due to Labour opposing them.

He voted No for an amendment to ban puberty blocker use for transgender children even in clinical trials. This failed with every major party left of centre opposing it except a single LibDem.

Lastly, there was a debate on retirement homes taking advantage of their older customers with unexplained price rises. Cognatum Estates, which runs Remenham Row in Henley (over the river from Hobbs, just upstream of the bridge), was singled out for this practice.

Wednesday 9th September 2026

Plans for the NHS in the summer as temperatures increase were debated. The government has allocated a £6.75 billion investment in NHS buildings and facilities over multiple years. £1.5 billion will be invested now, with Wycome Hospital among those benefiting.

A bill from the Lords to allow the government to strengthen consumer protections around air travel was read. In particularly it will allow to government to remove the cap on compensation for damage to accessibility equipment like wheelchairs.

Thursday 10th September 2026

On Thursday, van Mierlo spoke on a question about national resilience to the cabinet, asking how the government will support parish councils in developing resilience to fire.

The air traffic control issues that occurred on Tuesday and Ukraine were debated.

The Social Housing Bill was read. This would restrict "right to buy" in a few ways - it would stop tenants of social housing from buying their house until they had lived there for ten years (up from three), reduce the discount that they receive on the house and stop tenants in rural areas from buying at all. This is aimed at stopping the decrease in social housing that has occurred since the policy was introduced.

The bill would also introduce protections for tenants who are victims of domestic abuse so that the abuser has to leave rather then the victim.

The tories introduced an amendment to kill the bill because they objected to the restriction of the right to buy policy and also because they wanted social housing to be reserved for British citizens. Currently everyone who is legally resident in the UK is eligible but those here without permission (such as asylum seekers) are not. This amendment failed with every other major party voting against it - van Mierlo did not vote.

Finally water management was debated, with a suggestion that new builds should collect rainwater rather than adding it to sewage pipes.

Friday 11th September 2026

On Friday, parliament debated the assisted dying bill. This would have allowed adults with mental capacity and a terminal illness that gave them less than six months left to live to chose to die in a clinical setting.

A similar bill has passed the house of commons before with more MPs voting for it than against it however the house of lords used procedural methods such as filing an unprecedented 1,200 amendments to delay the passing of the bill until it ran out of time.

Parliament voted again on assisted dying with the vote splitting parties - van Mierlo voted Aye but it failed with 286 noes against 270 ayes.

Parliament also marked the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Endnote

Thank you for reading the second edition of Last Week! I hope you will return next week to find out what our MP is up to.

If you are interested in writing for this, email me.

-- Tom Brandis

Week beginning 14th September 2026

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 18:42 +0100

This was a short week before the start of conference recess, when the parties will hold their annual conferences.

Monday 14th September 2026

Monday began with the announcing of the plan to nationalise Speciality Steel, a steel plant.

The sovereign grant, money given to the crown, was debated. The amount is decreasing due to the conclusion of renovation of Buckingham Palace.

Parliament recognised the 90th anniversary of the battle of Cable Street, when Jewish people, socialists and trade union members worked together to stop fascists from marching through Jewish neighbourhoods in east London by forming a blockade, despite violence initiated by both the fascists and police.

Tuesday 15th September 2026

Parliament debated a bill that would allow strategic authorities, such as mayoralities, to decide to levy a tourism tax for overnight stays in the area. The details of the tax and what it is spent on would be decided by each strategic authorities who would hold a consultation.

Freddie van Mierlo used this to opportunity to ask the government to decrease the VAT on hospitality.

A total ban on fracking was debated. Fracking, where liquid is injected into rock at high pressure in order to fracture it and release natural gas, is currently subject to a moratorium due to the risk of contamination of the water supply and earthquakes. The moratorium only applies to fracking with high volumes of liquid and a total ban would ensure that lower volume fracking doesn't take place.

Reform's Tice attacked the idea of a ban, going as far as saying that it would be "probably of a criminal order" to not further test fracking techniques despite low public support for shale gas fracking.

The government said that their commitment to no new oil and gas extraction licenses and the current moratorium on high volume fracking for existing extraction is enough to ensure that shale gas fracking does not occur in England.

Endnote

Parliament is now in recess and will return on the Monday 12th October. Last Week will return after that week.

If you find this interesting, I love to receive your emails!

-- Tom Brandis

Week beginning 12th October 2026

Sun, 18 Oct 2026 09:03 +0100

Parliament is back and so is Last Week! Welcome to issue 4, in which I attempt to use a semicolon.

Over the recess, Freddie van Mierlo met with the Fire Brigade Union boss to discuss the need for PPE for firefighters in Henley and better equipment for fighting wildfires.

Monday 12th October 2026

A new banking hub opened in Henley library. It will allow customers of all banks to do basic banking tasks and bankers from a few major banks will be available on specific days - check the hub website to see the timetable. Talking to the Henley Standard, van Mierlo said that "I know just how important face-to-face banking is for many people in the community and I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to deliver on it."

Tuesday 13th October 2026

On Tuesday there was a debate on the plan to change the state pension triple lock to a double lock in 2030, uncoupling the state pension from average wage increase so that it would rise by price inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher.

The government say that they will use savings from this to fund a new National Care Service, a free at point of need care service.

Brian Leishman, a Labour MP with a history of defying Labour leadership spoke against the changes to the state pension, arguing that the NCS should instead be funded by wealth taxes on "multimillionaires and billionaires".

There was a debate on the Court and Tribunals Bill which would, in some cases, remove the right to choose a jury trial if accused of a either way offence - crimes that are usually tried without a jury in a Magistrates court but that accused can currently choose to be tried in a Crown court with a jury. The bill would also allow the government to increase the maximum sentence in a Magistrates court from one year to two years.

The government say that this is necessary in order to deal with the backlog of court cases that leave some victims and suspects waiting for years for cases to be concluded. They have backed down from plans to remove jury trials from some Crown court cases, after criticism.

Freddie van Mierlo voted Aye to an amendment that would make the restriction on the right to a jury expire after the backlog has been reduced to pre-pandemic levels. However with most Labour MPs opposed to the amendment, it failed.

He also voted Aye to an amendment to give as much legal aid funding to suspects facing over a year in prison and tried without a jury as the amount given to suspects tried with a jury. This failed with most Labour MPs voting against it.

Van Mierlo then voted No on the bill overall, which was opposed by every major opposition party and passed on Labour votes.

Wednesday 14th October 2026

A private members bill was read that would stop wet wipes being marketed as flushable unless the manufacturer has proven that they break down in water, in an attempt to stop clogging of sewage pipes which can cause sewage spills.

Then it was opposition day, when the Conservative party got to set the agenda. They used this to argue for withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights in order to deport immigrants in circumstances that that the convention does not allow, such as when there is a risk of torture in the country that they are sent to. They also argued against housing of immigrants and asylum seekers in Bicester.

The Tories also argued for scrapping inheritance tax. Labour said that this would benefit only the 5% most wealthy people, as most people don't pay any inheritance tax. A Conservative MP pointed out that this wouldn't be a tax cut for the richest 5% because the most wealthy people avoid paying tax through mechanisms like trusts.

Unsurprisingly, none of the Conservative bills passed.

There were a few deferred divisions, votes that take place throughout the day without debate, including one on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS), brought in under Boris Johnson, UK businesses in some sectors have to buy carbon emission permits for the CO₂ they emit. These are issued by the government and then traded on an open market.

The CBAM would create a new tax on importing carbon-intensive materials into the UK to put UK businesses on a level playing field with international competitors and prevent emissions being shifted to other countries.

Freddie van Mierlo did not vote on the CBAM but it passed easily due to Labour votes. Green MPs also voted for it - Tory and Reform MPs voted against it.

Thursday 15th October 2026

There was a debate on the Sustainable Farming Incentive, a scheme introduced by the Conservative government that pays farmers for changes that protect the environment and soil.

The scheme operates on a first-come-first-serve basis with a fixed total amount that the government will pay out. The last application window was massively oversubscribed and the £253 million on offer was allocated within a matter of hours. The Tories say that it was chaotic and mishandled with many farmers that wanted to participate in the scheme missing out. Next year it will be reworked to use a different allocation method.

Parliament then debated the Highways (Financing) Bill, which would allow the government to license a private company to build, maintain and charge a toll for a new or existing road. These private road companies (called Strategic Highway Companies) would be overseen by a new independent regulator. As the Lib Dems point out, this is the same idea that was applied to the water companies, leading to regulatory capture, unaccountability to the public and mismanagement.

Freddie van Mierlo asked the government about a £146 million cut over the next four years to the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) that is leading to a £162 million shortfall in funding. The cut will impact the Diamond Light Source facility and ISIS Neutron and Muon Source facility which are both research facilities located near Didcot. Research at the facilities has lead to scientific achievements ranging from reading ancient texts without opening them (so that they are not damaged) to developing modern anti-histamine drugs. Diamond is one of the most advanced synchrotrons in the world and the only operational synchotron in the UK.

Van Mierlo asked if the facilities will remain open through 2028; in response, the government said that the budget for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was cut to fund the new defence package and that they are still "committed to science".

Friday 16th October 2026

On Friday there was an update about the drought in England. 80% of England is now in drought conditions with reservoirs running exceptionally low. Some areas in the south west England (Wimbleball, Ardingly, Roadford and Colliford) and west Cornwall are now classified as severe drought with the Environment Agency instructed break the environmental rules if necessary in these areas in order to keep water in reservoirs.

Endnote

That's all folks! See you next week. -- Tom Brandis

Week beginning 19th October 2026

Mon, 26 Oct 2026 22:22 +0000

Welcome to Last Week.

Much of Monday and Tuesday was spent on the Northern Ireland Troubles bill. This is obviously important, however I don't think I am knowledgeable enough about it to adequately cover it.

Wednesday 21st October 2026

The government announced that they will be allowing drilling in the Jackdaw gas field. The government was criticised by the Speaker for their approach to the announcement, with it leaking to the press the day before and the Energy Secretary announcing it in Aberdeen rather than in parliament.

The Jackdaw gas field will produce gas that will create 35 million tonnes of CO₂e when burnt, equivalent to nearly a years worth of emissions from UK electricity supply. The government has said that the field will generate few jobs and won't impact energy prices.

The government has also allowed any new drilling that if it is near existing oil or gas fields (called tie-backs). This could possibly lead to another 19 million tonnes CO₂e emitted.

The government said in their speech that they expect the country to rely on oil and gas for "decades". On the same day the UN environmental programme issued a report that says that even in a best-case scenario, the world warm by more than the 1.5°C target set in the Paris agreement. If current policies continue worldwide, it says that there could be warming of 2.8°C within this century.

After a historically hot summer, the Burnham has warned that we are entering a "winter of greater flooding" - the likelihood of both drought and flooding has been increased by carbon emissions.

The government has promised that a new £2 billion fund will be used to invest clean energy technologies, however this fund is not dependent on the approval of the gas field - unlike Norway, the oil and gas sector in the UK is privately owned and the entire North sea oil and gas sector is expected to provide just £100 million (£0.1 billion) per year in tax over the next few years.

A bill was read for increasing financial transparency and limiting expenditure of multi-academy trusts. Multi-academy trusts run multiple academy schools and provide centralised services such as admin and IT. Gillotts in Henley has been run by the River Learning Trust since last year.

The bill comes after an multi-academy trust in the West Midlands had a £8 million deficit and was asking schools for up to 25% of their budget for the trust. Last year the River Learning Trust took 4.9% from its secondary schools for central running costs, just £125,000 from Gillotts.

Thursday 22nd October 2026

Parliament marked black history month.

There was a debate on deploying RAF aircraft to defend Saudi Arabia and provide refuelling support for their strikes in Yemen. Saudi Arabia opposes the Houthi movement, who govern much of Yemen.

The Houthi's are a nationalist, populist and antisemitic fundamentalist Muslim movement. They have been accused of discriminating against Sunni Muslim and Jewish people in Yemen and using child soldiers. They have also attacked civilian areas within the country, amongst other human rights abuses. They have targeted civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, particularly airports and oil and energy infrastructure as well as attacked Saudi ships in the Red Sea.

However, Saudi Arabia, which is a monarchy, has also struck civilian infrastructure including hospitals (including those run by Médecins Sans Frontières), a prison, funerals and internet infrastructure in Yemen and killed what appear to be surrendered soldiers. Their ongoing naval blockade since 2015 has contributed to the famine in Yemen which has killed over a hundred thousand people.

Yemen also has substantial oil and gas deposits that Saudi Arabia, which has an economy reliant on oil and gas, might be interested in an allied government having control over.

Parliament did not sit on Friday.

Endnote

Thank you for reading Last Week. This one was a bit shorter, mostly because I didn't have time to anything longer. It was also unexpectedly oil and gas themed.

Until next week.

-- Tom Brandis