As many of you know, I chair the Joint Committee for the National Security Strategy and we have done a lot of work on subsea cables and their security.

These cables carry a staggering 99 percent of the UK's telecommunications and international data and lie on the sea floor. They are our commercial and social lifelines. However, they have become a new front in a hybrid war with some state powers and their proxies targeting this critical underwater infrastructure which can be cut by something as basic as an anchor dragged along the seabed.

The news over the weekend that the Government is working with our AUKUS partners (The US, UK and Australia military alliance) to develop drone technology to protect our subsea cables and boost our defence, is extremely welcome. These cables are crucial and we are right to take further measures to protect them.

Earlier this week, I asked a question to the Minister during Defence questions in the Chamber about sovereign capability. In an increasingly uncertain world, it is of paramount importance that we strengthen our sovereign capability and do all we can to source from our domestic suppliers. We must be backing British firms, it is good for our defence, good for our economy and as a result, good for the many they will employ in cities and towns across our country.

I was pleased to see that the Chancellor has instructed cabinet colleagues to buy British wherever possible in four key industries: shipbuilding, steel-making, energy and artificial intelligence. A key step to take to ensure we are supporting British companies, the staff they employ across our country and what they add to our economy. A good step.

Finally, there are some really important measures in the Social Housing Bill which returned to Parliament for its Second Reading this week, which I wanted to share with you.

For years, we have seen a decline in social housing with so many being sold off and never replaced and leaving over a million families on waiting lists, and without a home. Between 2012 and 2025, around 133,000 council homes were sold against just 51,000 replacements. New measures mean that social housing tenants will have to wait ten years rather than three before they are able to buy their home from a council or housing association, finding an important balance between keeping the ability for home ownership but not depleting our social housing stock at the unsustainable rate we've seen.

There are also really crucial measures to protect victims of domestic violence. Currently, landlords can only evict a perpetrator after the victim has already left the home, and in joint tenancies, the only option for the victim is to end the tenancy entirely – potentially leaving them homeless. Last year, around 15,000 households in England were forced to find a new social home because of domestic abuse. A really awful statistic.

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Under new protections, landlords and courts will be able to evict perpetrators of domestic abuse from social housing – without the victim having to leave first. An incredibly important step forward.

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any issues or concerns you would like to raise with me. I can be reached at [email protected] or on 01926 882006.