Carolyn Harris MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 16 Oct 2025 · World Menopause Day · Hansard source

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  As with any occasion when I spend time with my hon. Friend, that occasion is etched in my memory forever. Like other organisations, Tesco is doing some wonderful work for women. It is also important to recognise the work of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers and the GMB, which play a huge part in promoting workplace policies for menopausal women. When next year we implement the plans for employers with more than 250 employees to have a menopause policy or framework in the workplace, a key measure of success will be the Department ensuring that we are monitoring those plans, so that they do not just get left in a cupboard to gather dust. This will be mandatory only for employers with more than 250 staff, and I welcome the changes, but from the correspondence I have received it is clear that thousands of women working for smaller companies want to know whether they will be supported. We are not talking about big changes: flexible working hours, breathable uniforms and comfortable working environments are small adjustments, but they make a huge difference. Employers in every sector rely on occupational health specialists to support the physical, mental and social wellbeing of their staff. They need to be given specialist menopause training. Imagine the number of women in their 40s, 50s and 60s that that would have helped. They might not have left work. They may return to work, or even stay and thrive in work.

• 14 Oct 2025 · COP30: Food System Transformation · Hansard source

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  Order. Would you not speak from a sedentary position? I call the shadow Minister.

• 14 Oct 2025 · COP30: Food System Transformation · Hansard source

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  Order. I remind Members that interventions need to be short, not a speech.

• 14 Oct 2025 · COP30: Food System Transformation · Hansard source

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  Order. I remind hon. Members that this is an hour-long debate. The hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire has already been very generous in allowing interventions, which has limited the time that Back Benchers have left to speak. We will start the Front-Bench speeches at 5.08 pm, so Back-Bench speeches are now limited to two and a half minutes. The Opposition party Front Benchers will have five minutes each and the Minister will have 10 minutes. Anyone who takes interventions is likely to upset colleagues.

• 15 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Last year, a report by the charity Justice and Care highlighted that a lack of regulation allows unscrupulous business owners to exploit vulnerable people. Nottingham Trent University showed that 90% of hand car wash businesses operate in a way that makes them high risk for forced or compulsory labour. Will the Government consider licensing sectors such as hand car washes to improve compliance and prevent illegal workers and modern slavery?

• 17 Jul 2025 · Freedom of Religion or Belief: UK Foreign Policy · Hansard source

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  I call David Smith to quickly wind up.

• 17 Jul 2025 · Freedom of Religion or Belief: UK Foreign Policy · Hansard source

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  I remind Members that they need to bob if they wish to make a speech. When making speeches and interventions, Members should be aware that I will start the wind-ups at 2.28 pm. I call the Father of the House.

• 16 Jul 2025 · Spending Review 2025 · Hansard source

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  As a result of the UK Government’s half a billion pound investment in the future of steel in Port Talbot, construction has now begun on the new electric arc furnace. Will the Secretary of State share what this fantastic news means for Port Talbot and the surrounding communities, like my own of Neath and Swansea East?

• 11 Jul 2025 · Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill · Hansard source

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  indicated dissent.

• 11 Jul 2025 · Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman will correct me if I am wrong, but is he saying that the safety of those attending football matches and the likelihood of them being hurt and, in some cases, killed is a trivial matter?

• 10 Jul 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Last night, I was delighted to host the Lost Mothers project in Parliament to share its report and the consequences for female offenders who experience pregnancy and give birth in prison. The project was joined by the Clean Break theatre company, whose play based on the findings of the report dramatises the struggle and trauma caused by maternal separation. Will the Leader of the House encourage Ministry of Justice colleagues to read and consider the findings of the Lost Mothers report when making changes to sentencing guidelines?

• 10 Jul 2025 · Victims of Terrorism: State Support · Hansard source

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  No need.

• 30 Jun 2025 · Driven Grouse Shooting · Hansard source

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  Order. Mr Hollinrake, you were asked to raise only issues connected to your own constituency.

• 30 Jun 2025 · Driven Grouse Shooting · Hansard source

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  Order. I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to speak.

• 30 Jun 2025 · Driven Grouse Shooting · Hansard source

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  Order.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Just this week, we have seen further media reports of dangerous and unregulated cosmetic procedures ending in tragedy. In July 2021, the beauty and wellbeing all-party parliamentary group, which I chair, presented a report to the Government recommending an evidence-based policy framework to prevent such incidents occurring. Will the Leader of the House encourage colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to do what the previous Government failed to do, and act now to take control of these dangerous practices?

• 22 May 2025 · Lower League Football Clubs: Funding · Hansard source

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  7. What discussions she has had with the Premier League on the distribution of funding to lower league football clubs.

• 22 May 2025 · Lower League Football Clubs: Funding · Hansard source

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  English Football League clubs like my local team, Swansea City, are struggling. In fact, according to the accounts for EFL championship clubs covering the season ending May 2024, all but four clubs were making a loss, with an average loss of £17.5 million for the period. What more can we do to speed up a deal between the Premier League and lower-league clubs to ensure that funds are fairly distributed, and to help so many local teams survive?

• 22 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Over the last few days, the Welsh Rugby Union has announced plans to introduce a disproportionate funding formula that will disadvantage both the Ospreys and the Scarlets rugby union teams. Will the Leader of the House ask colleagues at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to add their voices to a group of cross-party Welsh MPs who are asking the WRU to find a way to protect and support all four equally important regional Welsh rugby teams?

• 20 May 2025 · Adoption and Kinship Placements · Hansard source

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  I am concerned that there are a lot more Members present than on the speaking list. If you have not put in to speak, it is unlikely you will be called. I intend to call the Front-Bench spokespeople at 3.28 pm, so I am allowing each Member three minutes in which to speak.

• 1 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Fit, Fed, Fun camps are a Welsh Rugby Union project to keep children active, healthy and fed in school holidays. At Easter, Ospreys in the Community delivered the scheme in partnership with the WRU, and over 600 children across 12 local rugby clubs in the region benefited. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking Bidfood, Castell Howell, Tesco Llansamlet and High Street Car Boot Sale for providing the food, and congratulate the wonderful teams at the Ospreys and the WRU for their commitment and enthusiasm in delivering those really successful projects?

• 1 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T6. Can the Minister assure the steel communities of south Wales that they will receive a substantial share of the £2.5 billion steel fund?

• 1 May 2025 · Trade Agreements · Hansard source

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  I declare an interest as the trade envoy to New Zealand. What conversations has the Secretary of State had recently with his New Zealand counterparts on the implementation of the UK-New Zealand free trade agreement?

• 30 Apr 2025 · Family Farms: Impact of Spring Statement · Hansard source

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  The Welsh Government’s budget contained over £300 million to support Welsh farmers. Is it not the case that Plaid Cymru and the Tories put Welsh farmers’ livelihoods at risk by voting against the Welsh Government’s recent budget?

• 23 Apr 2025 · Intellectual Property: Artificial Intelligence · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. Is he aware of the Society of Authors’ petition, which has 50,000 signatures so far, calling for action following Meta’s use of 7.5 million pirated books from the illegal LibGen database to train its Llama 3 AI? That is a blatant infringement of the authors’ copyright.