Emily Darlington MP: speeches

Speeches

• 21 Oct 2025 · Mandatory Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I think the right hon. Member will find there is a split in the community because there is a lack of detail.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Mandatory Digital ID · Hansard source

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  It is interesting that my hon. Friend talks about the Estonian experience, as I often hear my constituents’ frustration that they do not know what the Government are doing with their data, and how they even have trouble accessing it. Does my hon. Friend think that a scheme like Estonia’s would help the citizen to be in charge?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Mandatory Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I agree, but there is a lack of detail. When we are at the beginning of the conversation and going out to consultation, which is exactly what we are doing, we have to ask the public what they want. Do they want either of the two scenarios that my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw and I presented, or do they not want access to their Government data in a way that enables them to know what is happening, and so that they can prove who they are without having to pay for a passport or driver’s licence?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making a fantastic speech. Does she agree that supporting people from rough sleeping into solo accommodation involves a continuum of support from the charity and public sectors? That creates the system that holds people up and supports them, with trauma-based support at its heart.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Alleged Spying Case: Home Office Involvement · Hansard source

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  Mr Speaker, I share your frustration at the collapse of the case. Two questions remain top of mind for Members of the House and for people in my constituency. First, what is the Minister’s assessment of the risk of spying on MPs in this House? Secondly, what is his assessment of the ongoing transnational repression of British national overseas passport holders in Milton Keynes and elsewhere across the country? Does it not show a pattern of Chinese Government activity right across the UK, which is a risk to us?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Minister’s clarity on tackling the threats that China poses, including the transnational repression of Hongkongers in the UK. That will be a real reassurance to the many British nationals overseas who live in Milton Keynes. I would like him to go into further detail, particularly in the context of the Intelligence and Security Committee’s report on Russia’s interference in Brexit and the Nathan Gill case that has just completed, with eight counts of bribery coming from Russia. At the time of taking those bribes, he was a close colleague of some MPs on the other side of the House. How will the new elections Bill stop interference through political funding, which we are seeing gaining more and more ground here in the UK, creating a real threat to our democracy?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Homelessness · Hansard source

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  As the Minister may know, Milton Keynes used to be called “tent city”. We reduced the number of rough sleepers down to 16 when I was deputy leader at the council. We were able to do that because we understood that rough sleeping was more than just a housing issue; it was a whole-person issue. Is she willing to meet me and the other officers of the all-party parliamentary group on rough sleeping, as well as Back-Bench Members who have experience in this area, while shaping and delivering the rough sleeping strategy?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Homelessness · Hansard source

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  20. What recent progress the inter-ministerial group on homelessness and rough sleeping has made on the development of a cross-Government strategy to end homelessness.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I think that many Members have fundamentally misunderstood the proposal. It is actually about putting power in the hands of the citizen, not the state. The state already holds this information; digital ID will allow citizens to access it. On fraud, £11.4 billion was lost in scams last year, and £1.8 billion per year is lost due to identity theft. Does the Secretary of State see a role for digital ID in cracking down on the growing problem of fraud and identity theft?

• 15 Sept 2025 · Children with SEND: Assessments and Support · Hansard source

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  Milton Keynes has more than 15,000 specialist school places, but there has been a 114% increase in children with EHCPs. Even with the level of specialist provision that the council has been able to provide, it still cannot meet the demand. How should we square that circle?

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that the Hong Kong community’s contribution to Milton Keynes, to our diversity and strength as an economic powerhouse in the UK, should not go unseen by the Minister and this Government? The reality is that we made the Hongkongers a promise, and we should keep it.

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree we should be clear that when we say BNO, it stands for British national overseas? We are not talking about Hongkongers or Chinese people; we are talking about people we literally recognise as British nationals overseas, because of our historical relationship. Does he think we should be much clearer about that when it comes to how we treat them in our immigration system?

• 3 Sept 2025 · Property Taxes · Hansard source

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  I appreciate the opportunity to speak in this debate. I want to take on the challenge set by the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride), so let us talk about how we got to this point, and the devastating consequences. Under the last Government, despite 27 tax rises, Government debt rose from 60% of GDP to 100.5%. They were borrowing for day-to-day spending. The shadow Chancellor talks about unfunded commitments; he knows about those, because the last Government left a £22 billion black hole of unfunded commitments. He says he cares about property ownership, but the last Government were responsible for a 6% fall in home ownership among people aged between 25 and 34. That was on his watch. This Government are building 1.5 million new homes, including record numbers of council homes and social properties. We also have renters’ rights reform, and we are looking into mortgage reform. That is about ensuring a fair and more affordable housing mix for all. What drove that fall in young people owning homes? We have to look to inflation, which peaked at 11.1% under the last Conservative Government, almost hitting Margaret Thatcher’s record of 17%. The Conservatives seem to be comfortable with high interest rates; in 2022, food inflation hit a 45-year high. In 2023, the UK recorded the highest inflation rate in western Europe; it was the only country to have double-digit inflation. Under this Government, we have had five interest rate cuts in only a year. The real cost of high interest rates can be found in the number of children living in poverty. There was a 20% increase in child poverty between 2014 and 2024. Food bank demand rose by 3,772% under the Conservative Government. In 2010, approximately 2.3% of children were living in relative poverty. In 2024, the figure was 4.5%, and that is shameful. It was the biggest fall in living standards on record, but under this Government, wages are finally rising faster than prices. We have seen the results of cuts in spending, particularly on youth services, which had a 73% real-terms cut under the last Government. This Government are putting £88 million back into youth clubs. Is that what the Conservatives want to cut? Finally, I want to talk about businesses. The shadow Chancellor said that nobody on this side of the House had experience of starting, running and growing a business. I, for one, have done that, as have many others on the Government Benches. He should get to know his colleagues before he makes those assertions.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Property Taxes · Hansard source

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  What the right hon. Gentleman has said is not a fact. The reality in my region is that Milton Keynes, the Labour-run local authority, has lower taxes than all the surrounding Tory authorities, including in Northamptonshire, which has failed over and over again. Two Conservative and now Reform councils have failed, as has Buckinghamshire, while Milton Keynes has been labelled by the Local Government Association as one of the best-run councils. It still delivers lower council tax than all those Tory-run authorities.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Property Taxes · Hansard source

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  rose —

• 2 Sept 2025 · Sudan · Hansard source

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  Given the devastation of the United States Agency for International Development, the temporary cuts in official development assistance and the growing desperate situation in areas of Africa, is the Foreign Secretary willing to meet me and colleagues who have worked in and care about the region, to understand our long-term strategy, particularly against China and Russia, which are moving in to fill that void?

• 1 Sept 2025 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  Happy birthday, Madam Deputy Speaker. I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s comments about recognition of Palestine, which, of course, is absolutely what all Labour Members stood on in our manifesto. I would like to raise specifically the devastation and starvation of people in Gaza and the numerous reports that the IDF are targeting doctors. Will he tell the House about UK efforts to evacuate people with family links to the UK, including Dr Radi, whose case I have raised many times in the House and with Ministers?

• 1 Sept 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  I want to share with the House the deepest solidarity from the Ukraine Appeal and the Sunflower Ukrainian supplementary school in my constituency of Milton Keynes about the recent attacks in Kyiv and on the British Council. The British Council’s vital cultural initiatives have supported peace and created community cohesion around the world. It is in that spirit that the Ukraine Appeal has created an exhibition, “Faces of Ukrainian Dream”, by the children who go to its Sunflower school. That exhibition will be touring Milton Keynes, including Bletchley Park. Will the Defence Secretary join me in expressing our solidarity to the Ukrainian families in Milton Keynes and across the UK, and those still in Ukraine? Slava Ukraini.