Week beginning 1st September 2026

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

Link to share this page: https://last-week.tombrandis.uk/week/2026-09-01/

If you spot a mistake or want to tell me anything email me at tom@tombrandis.uk.

For further infomation see Hansard (the official parliament report).

To contact Freddie van Mierlo email freddie.vanmierlo.mp@parliament.uk. You can follow him on Bluesky.

Read previous weeks in the archive. To subscribe in a feed reader use the RSS feed.