Christine Jardine MP: speeches

217 published records · newest first.

Speeches

3 Jul 2025 · Women’s State Pension Age: Financial Redress · Hansard source
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One of the first constituents who came to me eight years ago was a WASPI woman. Does the hon. Lady agree that, after so many years, so much compromise and so much willingness to talk to the Government, one of the things that matters most to these women is not so much the amount of money but the actuality and significance of being compensated?
2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review 2025: Scotland · Hansard source
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No, sorry. I am running out of time. It would be churlish of me not to recognise that there have been benefits from the spending review for my constituents. I welcome the £750 million investment in the exascale supercomputer, because a lot of my constituents work at the University of Edinburgh. The investment in defence spending will help my constituents who work in the defence industries in Edinburgh. I hope that the £9.1 billion—or however much—that will be invested in Scotland over the next few years helps by investing in the projects that the Liberal Democrats in Scotland have managed to get into the budget for the coming years. The investment in the Princess Alexandra eye pavilion in Edinburgh is one that is particularly close to my heart, because my constituents have suffered from the SNP’s lack of investment there. In brief, we welcome a lot of the aspects of the spending review in Scotland. We welcome the extra funding, but we view with frustration and some trepidation how the Scottish Government might waste it.
2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review 2025: Scotland · Hansard source
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No, I do not, actually. I agree fundamentally that the UK Government, whether Conservative or Labour, have not got everything right. But the Scottish Government have done nothing to mitigate any of the, if you like, failings of Westminster. They have done nothing to mitigate them, and have exacerbated every problem in Scotland. There is not a single area of the Scottish economy, or of Scottish education, health, or public services that one can look at, over the past two decades, and say, “Wow, didn’t the Scottish Government make a good job of that? Didn’t they spend the money well?” Just ask the constituents who I spoke to on Sunday night in Edinburgh West, who told me that they are sick to the back teeth of the SNP wasting their money—two decades they have had of it.
2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review 2025: Scotland · Hansard source
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It is an honour to serve with you in the chair, Sir John. I congratulate the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on securing this debate. I apologise to you, Sir John, because I appreciate that it is frustrating that every debate about Scotland, and about this or the previous Government’s spending in Scotland, comes back to the Scottish Government. The debate is rarely about the Scottish people—about my constituents in Edinburgh West, or our constituents across Scotland. It always comes back to the Scottish Government. That is not necessarily the fault of the Labour party, the Conservative party or the SNP, but it does not seem to matter how much money the UK Government invest in Scotland, what projects they undertake, what the spending review promises or how much money there is in Barnett consequentials—it gets squandered. As my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) said, it never seems to reach the people of Scotland. It never seems to do anything about our crumbling NHS, our schools, which are in trouble, and the housing crisis that we face. Although the specific subject under discussion is the spending review announced by the Labour Government, for us in Scotland the debate is about the frustration that we may not get the benefit that any UK Government intend for Scotland, with any policy, because it gets blocked in Holyrood. I hate to mention that again, but £9.1 billion, however one might contest it—it might not be quite £9.1 billion—is a lot of money for the SNP Government to squander, because squander it they will. We have only to look at the evidence of the infamous and now even later ferries, which seem to fail at every turn. The money wasted by the SNP on that fiasco could have paid for around 11,000 nurses or 3,000 GPs in our NHS. That is why we are so frustrated, and why we turn again and again to the Scottish Government, and their failure to use the resources given them by Westminster. The hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins) says that this place continues to have a huge impact—so it should, but that impact is undermined at every turn by the Scottish Government.
24 Jun 2025 · China Audit · Hansard source
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The Foreign Secretary has referred to protections in terms of energy companies, but when it comes to Mingyang and Orient Cable in the highlands and the North sea, the concern is not their ability to produce but their ability to switch off and on the network and our energy security and, as a result, national security. Can he tell us what mitigating measures will be put in place if those contracts are won?
24 Jun 2025 · National Security Strategy · Hansard source
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As the MP for Edinburgh West, I welcome the Government’s continued commitment to the defence industries in which so many of my constituents work in the city. As the Liberal Democrat Scotland spokesperson, however, I also welcome what the Minister himself describes as a “critical” investment in the supercomputer at Edinburgh university. Will there be discussions with the Scottish Government to ensure that not just the national security implications but the educational and economic growth opportunities are achieved for the whole country, so that the whole country benefits?
20 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source
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We all, I believe, come to this place every day determined to improve not just our society, but the lives of those who live in it—our constituents. We want to give them more choice and opportunity, but we also have a responsibility to protect the vulnerable and alleviate suffering. I do not believe that that responsibility has ever weighed more heavily on any of us, or been more present in our thoughts and our debate than it has today. We have debated this a number of times, and the Bill has been through the scrutiny of Committee. I thank the hon. Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) for all her work, and the Committee for its work, in coming back with a Bill that I firmly believe will provide the choice that those people who are suffering at the end of life not only deserve but are calling out for us to give them. I would like to reassure all of those in the disabled community and those perhaps suffering from an eating disorder or a mental health issue that they are not in any way put at risk by the Bill. The Committee went to extreme lengths to ensure safeguards, and those people will not be eligible for an assisted death because they do not have a terminal illness. This has been difficult road for all of us. We have shared personal experiences and those of our constituents. I do not think that any of us will go through the Lobby without having had some doubts, and without having examined our own conscience and our own responsibility, but I believe that the Committee and the House have come up with a Bill that does what the people of this country want. It offers choice to adults with a terminal illness, with the safeguards that we need. I ask all Members to support the Bill.
19 Jun 2025 · Public Sector Pensions: McCloud Remedy · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman raises a very good point. This issue has affected all our constituents, in a different way. His is exactly the sort of point that I hope the Minister may be able to address. All the cases that we have mentioned show the impact that the remedy process has had on people who have dedicated their lives to serving our communities. It is unfair and must be tackled. In written answers to myself and other hon. Members, Ministers have said that it is up to individual pension schemes and their managers to implement the remedy rather than the relevant Government Department, but that seems to allow the schemes to delay, or leaves them without the resources and support that they need to process claims at pace. Will the Minister outline how the Government work with these authorities to ensure rapid delivery of remedial pay? What steps will the Government take to ensure that pension authorities can also deliver RSS notices to speed up the process of calculating and awarding remedial pay? That is particularly important for police pensions, as there appears to be a severe backlog in issuing those notices to retired officers to allow them to make their choice under the law. That is leaving my constituents in Edinburgh West and others facing years of further uncertainty on their finances, as the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) referenced, and losing out on money that they are entitled to for their work. As policing is devolved in both Scotland and, as the hon. Gentleman knows, in Northern Ireland, how are the Government working with the devolved Administrations on these pension schemes to share best practice across Departments, provide increased resource and finally give these public servants, who have served our communities, taught our children and kept us safe for so long, the safety, security and financial stability that they deserve for their retirement? Surely that is what they are entitled to.
19 Jun 2025 · Public Sector Pensions: McCloud Remedy · Hansard source
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As I say, these delays are having a significant impact on people’s lives.
19 Jun 2025 · Public Sector Pensions: McCloud Remedy · Hansard source
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I rise today to discuss an issue that I am sure affects not just my constituents in Edinburgh West but many of our constituents across the United Kingdom. Since 2018, thousands of civil servants, teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers and firefighters have been waiting for the compensation they are entitled to through the McCloud remedy, after the judgment in the Court of Appeal which ruled that changes to public sector pensions unlawfully discriminated against younger workers. That impacted a huge number of dedicated public servants, including at least 400,000 civil servants and more than half a million teachers. In Scotland, more than 13,000 police officers were impacted and are due remediation, as are around 90,000 NHS workers, according to figures produced by the Scottish Government. It is understandable that, with so many people needing remediation, there could be delays, particularly for more complex cases or older cases that need to be examined manually, but these are having a significant impact on people’s lives.
19 Jun 2025 · Public Sector Pensions: McCloud Remedy · Hansard source
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I thank the hon. Member for raising a very good point, which I will come to later. I agree completely; this has been particularly difficult for many people in the light of the crises we have faced in recent years, with the soaring cost of living and sky-high energy bills. This is what has happened to my constituents in Edinburgh West who have come to me with their issues with the administration of the remedy—not the remedy, but the administration of it—and the possible future impact on other pension schemes. One of my constituents who was affected is a retired police officer who served 25 years. His pension scheme was forcibly changed in 2017 to the CARE—career average revalued earnings—scheme, which was found to be discriminatory. He retired in February 2023 with his 25% lump sum, on the assumption that the remedial scheme would be in place by October that year. He estimates that he is now owed more than £30,000 in terms of both his commuted lump sum from the new scheme and the lower monthly pension. He is also one of thousands of immediate detriment officers still waiting for their remediation letter from the pension authorities, despite claims that the number of retired officers receiving these has accelerated, including in Scotland. Another constituent started working for Lothian and Borders police, as it was, in 1996 and retired in 2022, knowing he would only receive his pension for his service between 1996 and 2015, while the remedy was calculated. He was told at the time that he would receive his remediable service statement by April 2025, three years after his retirement. He also estimates a loss in pension income of more than £30,000, given that seven years of his service to our community was not counted when he first retired. A third constituent of mine has raised a possible issue that he faces when retiring with an NHS pension. The Government’s approach to NHS pension remedies means that pension growth will be calculated under an older scheme from 2008, even if he believes this rollback leaves those in the middle of their careers vulnerable to artificial breaches of the annual pension allowance and significant income tax charges because of the set-up of the 2008 scheme used for calculation.
18 Jun 2025 · Banning Conversion Practices · Hansard source
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As Liberal Democrats, we have been concerned about the lack of a draft Bill on conversion practices, so I am relieved to hear what the Minister has said today. However, given the amount of fear and anxiety that there is among the trans community in this country, can she reassure the House that when the Bill comes forward, it will be UK-wide to overcome the Scottish Government’s withdrawal of their proposals? Further, will the Government consider whether we need fresh legislation to deal with all the issues in the Equality Act that have been raised by the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s interim guidance and the Supreme Court judgment?
17 Jun 2025 · Disabled People in Poverty · Hansard source
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I am sorry, but as we are now very short of time, I have to ask everybody to keep to a minute.
17 Jun 2025 · Disabled People in Poverty · Hansard source
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I am sorry, but we have to put the Question quickly. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered Government support for disabled people in poverty.
17 Jun 2025 · Disabled People in Poverty · Hansard source
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Order. I urge Members to keep as close to a minute as they can.
17 Jun 2025 · Disabled People in Poverty · Hansard source
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Order. I remind Members that if they wish to speak in the debate, they should bob. We have only 20 minutes before we have to move to the Front Benchers at 6.6 pm, so please keep speeches very brief or go for an intervention instead.
17 Jun 2025 · Genocide Convention: UK Compliance · Hansard source
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The Question is— [ Interruption. ] Order. The Member in charge does not have the right to wind up a 30-minute debate. Question put and agreed to.
17 Jun 2025 · Genocide Convention: UK Compliance · Hansard source
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The Parliamentary Private Secretary is here, and the Minister has just arrived.
17 Jun 2025 · Genocide Convention: UK Compliance · Hansard source
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Order. There is a Division in the House on the Crime and Policing Bill—the first of a number. We will suspend the sitting for 45 minutes.
16 Jun 2025 · Iran-Israel Conflict · Hansard source
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I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement and welcome in particular the measures about bolstering our consular support. He has also made reference to our assets and the hundreds of thousands of British citizens in the wider region. What reassurance can he give us that their wellbeing is being thought about and that preparations are being made, should the conflict escalate further?
13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source
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On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I do not think it matters how one is going to vote on this issue; a lot of us are finding it very frustrating that some Members seem to be deliberately hanging about in the Lobbies to delay the process. In order to get the Bill through and for the public to see that we are respecting their wishes, can something be done to appeal to the better natures of those Members? It really looks petty and childish. Could they please abstain from doing it the next time?
13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source
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Will my hon. Friend give way?
13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. I share with him concerns about the level and quality of palliative care in this country. However, I do not agree that giving people the choice to end their life, if they are terminally ill and have been diagnosed as dying shortly, in any way undermines our ability as a House to insist on an improvement in palliative care. What is more, statistics from other jurisdictions show that once given that choice, people often turn to palliative care.
10 Jun 2025 · Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme: Capital Disregard · Hansard source
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I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. I should also mention there is likely to be a vote shortly, at which point we will suspend the sitting for 15 minutes to allow Members to vote.
10 Jun 2025 · Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme: Capital Disregard · Hansard source
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The new finish time will be 4.12 pm.

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