Christine Jardine MP: speeches

Speeches

• 14 Sept 2026 · Young People not in Education, Employment or Training · Hansard source

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  I associate myself with your comments, Mr Speaker, and those of the Secretary of State. Figures quoted today by the BBC suggest that as many as one in five young people in education may not be attending college courses regularly, so the situation may be even worse than outlined in the Milburn report. While I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to a fundamental encouragement of technical education, does she think we are approaching a crisis and that we need to rethink exactly what it is that will engage our young people in education, because they are not getting from it what they need to feel prepared for their future life? If so, how will she go about that?

• 14 Sept 2026 · Young People not in Education, Employment or Training · Hansard source

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  2. What steps she is taking to support young people not in education, employment or training.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood (Lauren Edwards) for reintroducing this Bill and giving us another chance to debate the issue—although part of me regrets, as I will explain, that we have that chance. I respect everyone who has taken the responsibility of coming here today to debate this again, and I particularly respect those who have shared their very moving personal stories with us all. Most of all, though, I respect and I would like to apologise to those who are again going through the trauma of waiting to find out whether they will have the choice. I have huge sympathy for them, because they believed when we originally passed this Bill and sent it to the other place that, if they needed it, in four years’ time they would have the choice. It would be in their hands. That hope has been snatched away from them—and not by us. We fulfilled our responsibility to the electorate. We spent hundreds of hours in Committee, in private discussions, in debates and on Report, going over this Bill in minute detail until we could, with confidence, send to the other place the best Bill we thought possible. Of course, we thought that it would amend it and bring things back, but we had fulfilled our role and respected the will of the British public. Unfortunately, when the Bill went to the other place, that was not what happened. A handful of peers blocked it.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  Sorry, I will not take interventions. Those peers did not show the same respect for the repeatedly expressed will of those who face the end of their lives.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I completely agree, and it did the other place no credit at all that they did that. There is something interesting and noticeable about all the experiences we have heard today. I have personal experience, which I admit influences my view. I saw my mother go through a very painful death and wished that she had had the choice. I do not know what she would have done, but I wished that she had had the choice. What is interesting is that we have all taken different things from those experiences. Some of us have said that we cannot do it because of that experience, and others have said that we must do it because of that experience, because we have all made decisions. We all have the right to make decisions for ourselves, and that can surely be no more important than when we face the final decision that we will face. It is for that reason—to respect that choice, to respect a decision that has already been made in this place, to respect the will of the British people—that I ask the House to send this Bill back to the Lords for approval.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I do, but they are each one individual, and each of the professional organisations is neutral, and believe me, I envy them on that. We have the responsibility to make the decision. The majority of us have already said that this is the best Bill we can produce. We—the majority of us—have made that decision once already, and we sent it to the other place. If we do that again today, I hope that those in the other place listen and take that on board and that the handful of peers who blocked it—

• 10 Sept 2026 · Air Traffic Control Disruption · Hansard source

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  I apologise for the earlier slip, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I echo the comments about the fantastic job done safeguarding the British public by the staff at NATS? Just recently, I visited air traffic control in our control tower at Edinburgh airport, and I saw at first hand the amount of work that goes into keeping the public safe. However, through the airport, I am acutely aware that there is dissatisfaction with the delays in the new airspace management programme. We have not made progress in Scotland; in fact, we fear that this will be put aside for yet another year. That all feeds into a lack of confidence among the British public and air passengers in our transport system. Can the Minister assure me that steps will be taken to speed up the management, and to ensure that our air passengers get the improved system that they deserve?

• 10 Sept 2026 · Ukraine and Russia · Hansard source

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  I welcome everything that the Defence Secretary has said. I was particularly taken by what he said about learning from Ukraine. It is not just about learning how warfare has developed; we also have to learn from Ukrainian society. I organised an event here with a Ukrainian organisation called Still We Love, and I am holding another in Edinburgh next month. That organisation is made up of the loved ones and partners of those who are at the front—people who have been left at home and are trying to build resilience in society. Does the Defence Secretary agree that we have to look at building our social resilience as well as our defences? We need to ensure that our fire service, police service and NHS are ready in case of Russian aggression.

• 10 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I hate to take the Minister back to Capita, but unfortunately, I have a number of constituents who have been through the many stages already explained by the Minister. Capita is not working, and I accept that you are doing all these things in government, but it is not making a blind bit of difference. I have people who cannot pay their mortgages and who have been waiting for more than a year for a settlement sum. Something more needs to be done, and it is very depressing for these people when they read in the papers that Capita is getting more Government contracts, so what more can the Government do?

• 9 Sept 2026 · Social Cohesion · Hansard source

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  In June, an individual went on an anti-Muslim rampage at sites in Edinburgh, and since then we have seen a surge in incidents, such as individuals using Nazi salutes at protests. When I spoke to the representatives of one of the mosques affected by the incidents, they said they fear there has been a catastrophic collapse in community cohesion in parts of the country. What are the Government doing on community cohesion? Does she agree that this is not a local problem just for local authorities or regional authorities to deal with, and that we must deal with it on a national scale?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I also welcome not just the substance of the Foreign Secretary’s remarks today, but the tone, responsibility and commitment to a two-state solution. I know that that welcome will be reflected in my constituency among people of all faiths and none who have been profoundly affected both by what they have seen in the middle east over the past few years and by the tension they have felt rising in this country, which we have to address. What steps will the Foreign Secretary take to allow UK banks and corporate institutions to audit their own customer base to ensure that the supply chains are being dealt with properly?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Fuel Duty: Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  6. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of reducing fuel duty on the cost of living for working families.

• 8 Sept 2026 · Fuel Duty: Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  I appreciate what the Minister has said about the fuel duty freeze, but the Liberal Democrats have called for an emergency cut of 10p per litre, which would make a difference of 12 per litre at the pump for ordinary families. For my hard-pressed constituents in Edinburgh West this winter, that could make a big difference not only to their travel costs, but to the cost of food and other services. Will the Government consider that emergency cut in the forthcoming Budget?

• 8 Jul 2026 · Maritime and Coastguard Agency · Hansard source

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  I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) for bringing forward this urgent question. My constituents in South Queensferry, where we have a lifeboat, have written to me in great numbers to say that they are concerned about the coastguard service. The service in South Queensferry is unlike many of the others that have been mentioned. It is not rural or in the highlands; it is largely suburban. It patrols an area under three very large bridges, and the CROs have to deal with a lot of tragic incidents. The coastguards there have told me that they are concerned about what might happen as a result of the changes. Will the Minister come to my constituency to hear what they and the community have to say as we hit peak tourist season?

• 7 Jul 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Government have stressed the importance of energy independence, sovereignty and security. How concerned are they that it is difficult to pin down, as we have tried to do, exactly how many, and what percentage, of the wind turbines in this country are produced in China, considering that a thousand of them were recently discovered to have been manufactured using asbestos?

• 6 Jul 2026 · Civil Service Pensions · Hansard source

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  I welcome the statement, and whenever we have come to the Government, they have reacted quickly. Capita appeared to be moving quickly, but this week a woman I have been representing since March, and who has been pursuing Capita for more than a year over her husband’s death in service benefits, told me this week that—this is a doozy—it is refusing to accept a Scottish extract of divorce and is demanding that she get an decree absolute, according to the English and Welsh courts. She is prepared to do that, but it would take so long that it will take her past the deadline after which her children will have to pay tax on the death in service benefits. Can the Government give her some reassurance that she will not be pursued for tax, and that something will be done to tell Capita that a Scottish extract of divorce is actually valid?