Mary Glindon

Party affiliation

Parliament's party history for this member: Labour (6 May 2010 – present).

Register of interests

Register on Parliament's site

Latest on this tracker 92

1. 2 Nov 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

   Budget Resolutions

   I welcome the positives in the Chancellor’s Budget, some of which include the freeze on fuel duty, increases in the minimum and national living wage and the small business rate relief threshold for retail, hospitality and leisure properties. There is also the fact that almost 56,000 households in my constituency will benefit from the £100 payment for properties in council tax bands A to D. However, I must advise the Chancellor that there will not be good growth in NE6 and NE28 postcodes unless Ministers pull every lever at their disposal to support industry on the Tyne. The overhead electric cables are a constraint on investment, as they prevent the movement of large structures used in the offshore energy sector. News that the project to underground the cables is now effectively paused will push the 2034 completion date even further into the future. International yards are already capitalising on our offshore wind leasing rounds. Fixed-bottom assets are increasing in size and investment in floating offshore wind, which will see integrated units towed to sea, is set to overtake fixed-bottom by the early 2030s. My constituency has the skills and infrastructure to sit at the forefront of the UK’s green future. It is home to a cluster of offshore supply chain firms and an expanding energy skills academy, and it is less than 100 nautical miles from the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Ofgem, National Grid and Ministers must act decisively, so that Tyneside can seize the opportunities that the green transition offers.

   Hansard source
2. 22 Oct 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

   Business of the House

   If undiagnosed in young babies, metachromatic leukodystrophy becomes a cruel life-limiting disease, but there is no screening for the condition in the UK. <span id="1303" class="column-number" data-column-number="1303"></span>Will the Leader of the House help me to request a meeting between the Minister responsible and patient representatives to discuss opportunities for making urgent progress in this area to prevent needless loss of life and the UK falling behind international comparators?

   Hansard source
3. 15 Oct 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

   Smoke-free UK

   It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and to my previous role as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for responsible vaping. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) and the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) on securing this debate, and on their hard work and commitment to ensure that we move towards a smoke-free UK. Throughout the passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, I have been a strong advocate for vaping, because giving smokers choice in how to stop smoking is far more successful than telling them they should stop altogether. Giving smokers a safer way to stop is a choice worth protecting. The goal of a smoke-free UK is worth backing. The Act ensures young people will avoid ever falling into the trap of addiction. It is now on the statute book, and the test for its success is its delivery. Rules only work if they are enforced on our high streets, not just written on paper, and the biggest threat to this goal is the illicit market.<span id="247WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="247WH"></span> Illicit tobacco and vapes are untested and untracked, with no age checks and no control on what is in them. The adult who wants the ability to choose an alternative to cigarettes cannot know what they are buying and, even worse, children can get hold of these products. Responsible retailers, including specialist vape shops, are undercut by rogue traders who face no meaningful consequences. The stakes could not be higher. Only last Tuesday, Lord Bichard, chair of National Trading Standards, told the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee that the illegal tobacco trade is directly funding child abuse. That shocks us, and should shock every Member of this House. We can no longer treat this as a sideline issue. It should be the focus of Government attention and the sequencing of Government priorities matters. We must protect our good retailers before we come for their products. The alternative will only tighten the grip that organised crime has on our high streets. The NHS says that nicotine vaping is less harmful than smoking, and that it is one of the most effective tools for quitting. Smokers using nicotine vapes are roughly twice as likely to quit as those used in traditional non-nicotine replacement products such as patches or gum. Around 5.5 million adults vape in this country, including around 3.3 million former smokers. Some 52% of adult smokers incorrectly believe that vaping is harmful or more harmful than smoking. Vaping is not harmless, but smoking and vaping are not equivalent. The Government must ensure that communication and regulation maintain that distinction and protect the right for vapes to be sold and to be more appealing to adult smokers than cigarettes. Specialist vape shops are fundamentally different from corner shops, petrol stations and rogue retailers that simply sell vapes alongside other goods. Just as a petrol station selling alcohol is not a specialist alcohol retailer, these businesses should not be regulated as if they were the same. Doing that is pointless and harmful to the responsible industry while rogue retailers continue to sell illegal products to our children. No retailer should sell vape products to a child. There should be rigorous age verification in shops and online, supported by Challenge 25 trained staff, refusal registers, reliable digital checks and regular test purchasing, rather than sweeping restrictions for responsible retailers. Parliament has already legislated for a retail licensing scheme. A scheme that separates good retailers from bad is the most effective way to take dangerous illicit products off our streets. It gives councils the ability to identify who is selling these products and act against repeat offenders. But the Government have said that the consultation on licensing scheme will be considered “in due course”. Our high streets cannot afford for the issue to be kicked down the road. My constituents want to know when the consultation will be open, and they want it to be as soon as possible. That is my message to our Minister. A comprehensive retail and distributor licensing scheme is essential, and the UK Vaping Industry Association has produced a framework called the UKVIA licensing framework. A licence would identify who is selling vaping products, set minimum standards and make repeat offenders lose the right to trade. The UKVIA has proposed penalties of up to £10,000 for retailers selling <span id="248WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="248WH"></span>to children or supplying illicit and non-compliant products, with the proceeds used to strengthen trading standards’ enforcement. Nearly 390,000 illicit or non-compliant products were identified through research covering 17 councils, but the reported fines for vape offences totalled only £10,700. Small penalties risk becoming a cost of doing business rather than a genuine deterrent. The message should be simple: comply with age verification, product and licensing rules or face penalties of up to £10,000, licence suspension and, for persistent offenders, removal from the market. Only once we have got to grips with illicit trade should we turn to packaging, appearance and display. If rogue traders ignore the rules we have, tougher new ones will be ignored, too, and it is honest retailers and adults who simply want a legal, safe alternative to cigarettes who will suffer. We all want fewer people smoking, but the fastest way to get there is by backing the legal market—backing adults who are trying to quit and going after the criminals who profit from the illicit trade. We must not make cigarettes comparatively more attractive. The new vaping products duty is charged at £2.20 per 10 ml of vaping liquid. The Government say that vaping remains less harmful than smoking and helps adult smokers to quit, but the new duty risks undermining that objective. A new report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates that the duty could increase average vape prices by 44% compared with an estimated 4% increase in cigarette prices. Its central model suggests that 946,000 vapers and dual users could move exclusively to smoking, resulting in 1.5 billion additional cigarettes being consumed each year. The same modelling estimates an additional £300 million a year in healthcare and productivity costs, comprising £94 million in healthcare costs and £211 million in lost productivity. Those are modelled outcomes rather than certain forecasts, but they present a serious warning about unintended consequences. The Government should monitor smoking relapse and quitting rates and illicit market activity closely, and be prepared to revisit the duty if it is pushing adults back towards cigarettes. We can protect children and non-smokers without punishing adults who have quit smoking. Make age verification non-negotiable. Introduce effective licensing and impose penalties of up to £10,000 on rogue retailers while preserving vaping as a vital quitting tool for adult smokers, and help us move towards a smoke-free UK.

   Hansard source
4. 14 Sep 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

   Topical Questions

   <Question HRSContentId="{F7E55858-5BE6-4FA4-861E-D8F03BC9A4BD}">T7. <QuestionText HRSContentId="{04EF5559-5F5D-4465-A7C7-56816A519AA2}"></QuestionText>Earlier this year, Ravenswood primary school in Newcastle applied to the school rebuilding programme as surveys had deemed the school building to be beyond repair. A subsequent visit promised by the Department has not materialised. Can the Secretary of State expedite a meeting with the Department, the school and Newcastle city council’s cabinet member to discuss the current status of the application?</Question>

   Hansard source
5. 16 Jul 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

   Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment

   I am sure we are all aware of the importance of the role played by civil servants across the whole country. People often devote their whole working lives to these roles, so the least they deserve is to get the pensions they have paid for on time, and for their loved ones to receive their entitlements following bereavement. Sadly, the disastrous performance of Capita saw the backlog rocket to 120,000 in the first four weeks of it commencing work on the contract. I hope the Government manage to get the scheme sorted out as quickly as possible, and suspend payment and all future contract awards to Capita pending a full review. The decision to award Synergy the contract for payroll services across four Government Departments flies in the face of our Government’s commitment to delivering the biggest wave of insourcing for a generation. Could we hit pause and review its ability to deliver before civil servants start to go unpaid, too? Today, civil servants from the Public and Commercial Services Union are starting strike action at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in a dispute over staff restructuring. We appreciate that internal reorganisation is sometimes required, but too often there has been a failure to consult, including over planned closures to civil service offices, including the Department for Education office in Newcastle. I know other Members will have experienced similar situations with regard to other departmental offices across the country. I hope the Cabinet Office ensures that all Departments have proper discussions with the trade unions representing members affected by changes, especially where the closure of offices would be damaging to local economies and communities. An economic impact assessment really should be conducted before such plans go ahead. Could we also please extend a vote of thanks to all our hard-working civil servants and agree to listen to their concerns? Doing so could have helped to avoid many of the problems in the case of Capita. Sir David Amess frequently raised the issue of hepatitis, as he was the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on liver health. World Hepatitis Day is on 28 July, and the UK has committed to achieving the World Health Organisation’s goal of eliminating hepatitis C as a public health concern by 2030. The virus disproportionately affects disadvantaged and marginalised communities. It is preventable and curable. Left undetected, it can cause fatal cirrhosis and liver cancer. I am sure the House will join me in commending the efforts of our NHS, the Hepatitis C Trust, and harm reduction services, which have had considerable success in finding, engaging, testing and treating people who are at risk. Thanks to them, the UK is within reach of meeting the World Health Organisation’s target of hepatitis C elimination by 2030.<span id="1147" class="column-number" data-column-number="1147"></span> Another concern of Sir David’s that I share, as my north-east region is the worst affected in the country, is alcohol harms. I pay tribute to the organisation Balance, which has done excellent work in the north-east to raise awareness that alcohol causes seven types of cancer, including bowel cancer and breast cancer. Last year the drugs, alcohol and justice APPG, which Sir David supported and I formerly chaired, published a paper reminding us that although alcohol misuse costs our NHS an estimate £3.5 billion, there has been no alcohol strategy since 2012. As we await a new PM and a new senior team to start work, I want to take this moment to congratulate the Minister for Equalities, Bridget Phillipson, for this week completing orders to enact the updated Equality and Human Rights Commission code of practice on services, public functions and associations, which will come into force on 5 August. There are now no more excuses. All service providers, local authorities and organisations, including our Government Departments, must bring their policies into line with the Equality Act 2010, so that women-only services and spaces are exactly that—for biological women only.

   Hansard source
6. 15 Jul 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

   A1: North Northumberland

   I am not a Northumberland MP, but I really want to press the Minister on a couple of things. The fact is that this road is important not just to Northumberland and Scotland, but to the whole region. While Hadrian’s Wall is not on the A1, people travel to Housesteads and Vindolanda on the A1. That is a worldwide heritage attraction and centre, and it has that status. However, I am concerned. The Minister is saying some brilliant things about the north-east, but does he agree that we need urgency? The number of fatalities continues to make this issue a priority. The north-east loses out—Manchester is the south-west to us. I am really concerned that fatalities are not higher up the list.

   Hansard source
7. 24 Jun 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

   North Sea Oil and Gas

   Yesterday we had the AGM of the all-party parliamentary group for the British offshore energy industry, of which the hon. Lady is a member, and I hope that the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Douglas Lumsden) will join us on it. Does she agree that the effect of these job losses is nationwide—not just in Scotland but across the whole of the UK, including the north-east—and the people of Aberdeen have amplified how people feel across the country? Does she also agree that if the very biggest companies pull out of the North sea altogether, as they are looking at doing, that would have an even more devastating effect?

   Hansard source
8. 18 Jun 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

   Business of the House

   My constituent Abdul faced three on-the-day cancellations of his asylum interview because of challenges securing an interpreter. He then had a fourth interview, in his second language, in which he is not proficient. He is now appealing his decision on the basis that he was unable to answer questions to the best of his ability. With his appeal date next month, he faces his fifth trip to London without an interpreter being present. Will the Leader of the House ask the relevant Minister to make a statement on what steps the Government are taking to tackle interpreter-related interview cancellations for people like Abdul?

   Hansard source
9. 18 Jun 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

   Regional Innovation and Growth

   I thank my constituency neighbour for her statement. Does she agree with me that devolved authorities, such as the North East combined authority, have the local knowledge to inspire, support, drive and encourage innovation and growth in places such as our very own Tyneside?

   Hansard source
10. 11 Jun 2026·Parliament·Mary Glindon

    Business of the House

    The north-east has the highest number of young people not in education, employment or training anywhere in the country—64,000 in total. I recently joined the Centre for Social Justice and Fenwick Newcastle for a “Big Listen”, with 120 employers and frontline charities all committed to tackling the crisis. The CSJ will publish its findings later in the year, alongside the Milburn review, so will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on youth inactivity, and ensure the House has an opportunity to consider the recommendations?

    Hansard source

2024 General Election: Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend

Election result on Parliament's site

Parliamentary career

Career on Parliament's site

Published contact details

Only the details Parliament publishes for this member. Contact page on Parliament's site