Bridget Phillipson MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 20 Oct 2025 · Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy · Hansard source

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  It is a real shame that the right hon. Lady cannot bring herself to welcome anything that we have announced today. It is par for the course; that is how she likes to do things. In government, the Conservatives talked about how they valued post-16 education. Their record was very different, of course. The difference between record and rhetoric is the difference between our parties, and it is clear for all to see. We are investing £800 million more in further education, while colleges were cut to the bone under the Tories. We are putting a real focus on vocational education and FE, restoring their esteem, giving them proper respect and simplifying the qualification landscape that the Tories made even more muddled, and we are securing the future of our world-renowned universities. I did not hear whether the right hon. Lady accepted, disagreed, welcomed or did not support what I have set out today about university funding. If she does not support it, I would like to know how she intends to safeguard our world-leading universities into the future. As usual, we heard plenty from the right hon. Lady about debt-trap degrees. We often hear a lot of talk about low-value courses or Mickey Mouse degrees, with an answer never given as to which young people should not be going to university, which courses that applies to or which institutions she has in mind when she makes sweeping generalisations of that kind. It is always working-class kids and other people’s children who will lose out from the snobbery that comes from saying that education is not for people like them. This Labour Government will deliver a world-leading university system alongside brilliant technical and vocational routes so that all our young people have access to brilliant careers and training opportunities, including throughout their lives. This is about choice for young people and finding the route and the path that is best for them. This Labour Government say to young people, “Further study is important; it is for you. It matters to us, and it should matter to you as well.” That is why we are bringing changes to the qualifications landscape. In answer to the right hon. Lady’s question, we believe that T-levels were a welcome and important addition to the qualifications landscape. They provide high-quality technical qualifications, with strong work placements alongside them, and sit alongside well-established A-levels, but the rest of the system alongside that is missing. We are making sure that we have good, strong routes through V-levels that young people will be able to combine with A-level study. That is for those young people who are not quite so clear at the age of 16 whether they want to specialise in one particular area. As the right hon. Lady will know, a T-level is the equivalent of three A-levels, and it requires young people at the age of 16 to make a definitive choice about the future of their career. We want to ensure that there is a range of high-quality options so that those 900 qualifications will move towards becoming part of the new V-level system. We will launch a consultation on how we deliver that, and we are keen to hear from businesses as a part of that. The right hon. Lady asked about GCSEs and English and maths resits, and she criticised our plans to get more young people through their English and maths GCSEs. In order to do that, there has to be a stepping stone to making it happen. An endless cycle of unnecessary resits is not the way to support more young people, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to get English or maths GCSEs. She and her party were happy to consign a generation of young people to failure, endless resits and a sense of desperation. We want to ensure that they make progress and master the basics then move on to getting that good, strong GCSE pass. This Government will ensure that all our young people have the opportunities and chances that they need to get on. The Conservatives might be determined to ensure that fewer young people have the chance to go on to university and that our businesses do not have the skills they need, but this Labour Government will ensure that apprenticeship starts are there, with good, strong FE options alongside our world-leading universities. That is what this White Paper is all about.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his questions. V-levels will replace around 900 qualifications for 16 to 19-year-olds at level 3. The current system is fragmented, with a vast array of qualifications that are too difficult for employers and young people to navigate, so we will introduce new V-levels. That is a new vocational option that will sit alongside A-levels and T-levels at level 3, to make sure we have the right qualification mix available for young people. We will keep funding for most existing qualifications in place until new V-levels and other qualifications come in, but funding for all qualifications in other T-level areas under review will continue on the current timeline. We will confirm the list of qualifications that will have funding removed soon. Turning to the lifelong learning entitlement, this is an important change that will transform the student finance system in England. It will broaden access to high-quality, flexible education, including for adults who want to go back into education. It will launch in academic year 2026-27 for learners studying courses that start on or after 1 January 2027. This will allow learners to use the new entitlement more flexibly than ever before to fund individual modules, as well as full courses, at levels 4 to 6, regardless of whether they are provided by a college, university or independent provider. The hon. Gentleman asked about international students and the international student levy. To be clear, international students make an important contribution to our country, our communities, our towns and cities, and our society. However, I do think it is right that with the contribution we are seeking through the international student levy, we will be able to reinvest in new targeted maintenance grants for domestic students. While I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s support for the introduction of such new grants, the Liberal Democrats will have to set out how they intend to pay for them.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy · Hansard source

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  I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend, and I am delighted that North Kent College will be one of our first 10 new technical excellence colleges. That will give young people in her community and beyond the chance to obtain a well-paid, secure job in one of the Government’s key areas as we seek to build more homes. I would be happy to discuss further with her the reforms that we intend to introduce, and there will be a full consultation in which people will be able to take part.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  It is absolutely nothing of the sort. What we inherited was a systematic failure of white working-class kids and children with special educational needs and disabilities in our country. I read the right hon. Lady’s conference speech with great care, and I looked out in that speech for any mention of children with SEND, of children with additional needs or, indeed, of some of the groups she has been talking about this afternoon. She had nothing to say on the topic. It is the usual confected outrage that has become the right hon. Lady’s hallmark.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  If the hon. Lady would be so kind as to provide me with some information and more details, I will happily ensure that she gets a proper response.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am very grateful for that question. Here in England, we are investing more in brilliant further education colleges. It is such a shame that in Scotland the SNP Government are cutting that support. I have heard directly from my Scottish Labour counterpart, Pam Duncan-Glancy, about the devastating impact that is having on young people across Scotland.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The launch of Labour’s best start in life campaign last week marked a watershed moment. The Conservatives slashed family services, leaving children and families across our country without support, but Labour is building back that support, reviving Sure Start for a new generation. It is more than just the Best Start adverts that people have seen on the telly and heard on the radio; it is bricks and mortar, too. From Derbyshire to Darlington, and from Staffordshire to Swindon, Labour is giving local authorities the funding they need to open Best Start family hubs, so that community services are truly nationwide once again. Labour demands the best start in life for children growing up in our country. That is how we will get a record share of children school-ready. That is the difference that a Labour Government make.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Conservatives had 14 years. We take this issue seriously, because we know that far too many children in our country from white working-class communities do not get the outcomes they deserve. A little humility on the Conservatives’ part would go a long way.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I join my hon. Friend in congratulating the fantastic team at North Kent college on all their hard work, and congratulate him on his championing of great vocational and technical routes for our young people. The Government have committed £80 million of capital funding to construction technical excellence colleges. We will also be investing a further £375 million over four years to provide additional places for 16 to 19-year-olds. I will be saying more on that shortly, and I am happy to discuss it further with my hon. Friend.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I do not know how the right hon. Lady has the brass neck. For 14 years, we saw groups in our— [ Interruption. ]

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I will happily answer the hon. Gentleman’s question directly, but he is a little confused about the question he is asking. The code of practice from the EHRC is about adults; it is not about schools. On the particular question of the code of practice from the EHRC, we received it at the start of September. It is a 300-page-plus document. We are considering it carefully. I required further material from the EHRC, which was provided only last week. It is utterly baseless to suggest that there is any going slow on what is a sensitive and important area that we must get right. As someone who used to run a women’s refuge, I know how important single-sex spaces are. I also know it is important that trans people continue to receive protection under the Equality Act 2010, free from prejudice, harassment and discrimination.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I too have met Esther Ghey, and heard from her about the incredible work that she has been leading in the face of profound personal tragedy following the loss of her daughter. I pay tribute to her for her campaigning efforts. Phones should not be out in schools—it is as simple as that. Schools have the powers, and headteachers have the powers, to enforce restrictions on their use, and in doing so they have my full backing. We can have no distractions when it comes to mobile phone use in our schools.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Higher-level Learning Target · Hansard source

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  I know how passionate my hon. Friend is about securing better life chances and more opportunities for children across her constituency, and I would be more than happy to meet her to discuss that, whether it is through the expanded work that we are delivering in our schools to raise standards, opportunities for young people to get into vocational or technical education, or further measures in the White Paper that I will be setting out later this afternoon.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Higher-level Learning Target · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right, and I know he has championed this cause for many years to ensure there are strong vocational and technical routes, including into areas such as construction. Around 5,000 more construction apprenticeship places will be made available each year, thanks to our £140 million investment, but that investment comes with reform, such as new foundation apprenticeships to equip young people with the skills they need, and construction technical excellence colleges in every region, working together with business, to ensure that we are training the plasterers, the electricians and the bricklayers of the future. Those are fantastic careers with great prospects, and we must ensure that they are available to more young people, including in my hon. Friend’s community.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Higher-level Learning Target · Hansard source

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  Let me be absolutely clear: there is no place on our university campuses, in our schools or anywhere in our society for antisemitism, and I send that message loud and clear. That is the message that I have extended to university vice-chancellors, who should be in no doubt that we expect to see action on campus on this very serious issue. That is why we are putting more funding into training and support, including in our universities where we expect to see action, because there can be no excuse for Jewish students feeling unsafe on campus. Freedom of speech does not mean people have a right to harass or intimidate Jewish students, and university vice-chancellors should be in no doubt that they have a responsibility to act to safeguard the wellbeing of all students.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Higher-level Learning Target · Hansard source

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  That is fantastic to hear, not least given the challenges that we still see with quite high levels across our country of young people who are not in employment, education or training. I and the Work and Pensions Secretary are determined to take action on that, and I would be more than happy to do my best to honour my hon. Friend’s request.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Higher-level Learning Target · Hansard source

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  Through the spending review, from next year we are investing £800 million in 16-to-19 funding. That funding will run alongside the many commitments in the White Paper that I will set out, around more foundation apprenticeships, new V-levels and better routes into technical and vocational opportunities for our young people, working closely with businesses in key areas such as defence, construction and engineering—but there is more to come.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Higher-level Learning Target · Hansard source

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  Later today I will make a statement on our post-16 education and skills White Paper, which sets out measures to support this learning ambition. For too long, skills have not been taken seriously, and that stops with Labour. Our long-term plan for national renewal will unlock opportunity for our young people, and drive growth for our country with clearer pathways, stronger alignment, and a renewed partnership between Government and business.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Higher-level Learning Target · Hansard source

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  In my statement later today on the White Paper I will be setting out the action that we will be taking to ensure that the regulator, the Office for Students, has the power to ensure high-quality courses and good outcomes for young people going to university. The policy that the hon. Gentleman has just outlined was in the Conservative manifesto, which was roundly rejected by the British people and ridiculed for being financially illiterate, because the funding system simply does not work in that way. The message that I want to come across loud and clear from this Dispatch Box is that if young people have got what it takes and they have the qualifications to go to university, that is a good route for them. [ Interruption. ] They should not have their prospects and opportunities dismissed in such a casual and snobbish way by the Conservative party.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Higher-level Learning Target · Hansard source

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  Yes, that is one area. We are refocusing our target to ensure that there are strong technical and vocational routes for our young people, as well as the opportunity to go to university. Going to university remains a strong option for many young people who want that chance—I know Conservative Members have always been keen to do down our fantastic universities—but the big gap that we have as a country is around level 4 and level 5, especially in technical and vocational education. The right hon. Gentleman spent a long time in the Department for Education looking at that issue; this Government will tackle it.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Free School Meals: Eligibility Criteria · Hansard source

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  As Secretary of State, I have secured free school meals for half a million more children and we are set to lift 100,000 children out of poverty and put £500 back into families’ pockets. Alongside our roll-out of free breakfast clubs, 30 hours of Government-funded childcare and Best Start family hubs, I am acting to deliver Labour’s moral mission on tackling child poverty.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Free School Meals: Eligibility Criteria · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman was very imaginative with his question there, and I credit him for that. Of course, we have to take decisions about school placement and school places overall, across the whole system, but if he would like to provide me with more information, I will happily provide him with an update.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Free School Meals: Eligibility Criteria · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for everything he does to champion children and families across his constituency. It is fantastic to hear how many children in Slough will benefit from the expansion of free school meals. It is a policy that is pro-learning, anti-poverty and properly Labour. Of course, we want as many families as possible to benefit from it, and to that end we are working with schools, local authorities and the wider sector to notify families about the changes that are coming into effect.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Free School Meals: Eligibility Criteria · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for drawing attention to the fantastic Labour policies that this Government are rolling out. We are expanding free school meals to half a million more children, backed up with an extra £1 billion of funding through the spending review. That is the difference that a Labour Government are making. I am delighted that we now have 750 new free breakfast clubs, and that from April next year another 2,000 will open, reaching half a million more children, lifting children out of poverty and backing families. That is the difference a Labour Government make.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Support for Trans People · Hansard source

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  The results of the previous Government’s call for input showed that, although the law was being followed in the majority of cases, a small number of examples were identified that seemed to have misinterpreted how the single-sex exemptions of the Equality Act operate. As the hon. Lady will appreciate, it is for the independent regulator, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, to follow up on these issues through the appropriate processes. It is doing so in more detail and will work with organisations to put that right.