Emily Darlington MP: speeches

Speeches

• 25 Jun 2025 · Health Science and Innovation · Hansard source

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  As the Minister will know, Gavi and the Global Fund not only provide a global vaccine programmes and programmes on saving lives from malaria and HIV, but provide us with biosecurity and jobs in the UK, not least over 500 research and development jobs and funding for the institute of tropical medicine. What assessment has he made of whether the UK is to reduce our efforts in that regard?

• 17 Jun 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

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  In the interests of time, I will skip through the many amendments I want to support, but there are a few that will really make a difference to people in Milton Keynes Central. First, I reiterate what my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (Jo White) said on street racing. Unfortunately, we had a Formula 1 driver who said that his success was based on practising on the grid roads of Milton Keynes, which really encouraged loads of people to decide to race there. In terms of stalking and spiking, the most egregious bit of spiking for me is the premeditation—sourcing the materials, bringing them to the venue then using them on a person. That is not a crime done on the spur of the moment: significant premeditation comes into it. One of the major issues we have had in Milton Keynes is organised begging outside our shopping centre. It is organised by gangs. People often look like they are homeless, or they are assumed to be homeless by caring residents in Milton Keynes, but in reality they are housed by the council, and they are exploited. They have a rota for which corner or which shop they can each sit in front of during which period of time, and the majority of the proceeds that people donate go to an organised crime network. Those individuals are being exploited in other ways as well. New clause 53 is so important in addressing this issue as the real, true crime that it is—not the crime of the people begging but of those organising the begging. I also rise in support of new clause 55, which is on special measures for witnesses, particularly around youth justice. That is very important. As we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Sam Carling), many people who experience sexual abuse do not come forward for years and years, so new clause 59, which would remove limitations, is really important. Let me address a couple of other things in the Bill. My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton North East (Kirith Entwistle) made such an important speech considering domestic abuse, and she explained it very well. New clause 71 is about barred persons not having employment in law enforcement. We must recognise that, following the case of Sarah Everard, confidence in law enforcement is at an all-time low. When people call law enforcement because they have experienced domestic abuse, sexual harassment, rape or stalking, they are at their most vulnerable and they need to know that the people responding to those incidents—no matter which law enforcement service—will treat them according to the law, and not with some of their own natural biases, as we have seen. That brings me to my final point. In terms of confidence in policing, we need to ensure that all law enforcement is done with clarity of law, not because of particular campaigning, as we have seen with the enforcement of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which we will debate later.

• 20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source

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  It never ceases to surprise me how little the Opposition understand about making trade deals. Perhaps that is why they never made a good one. We do not need to explain that to the 19,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in my constituency; they have been choked by the red tape agreed by the Conservatives. Those businesses agree with the Federation of Small Businesses that this deal will finally reduce and get rid of the bottleneck. Can the Prime Minister tell the businesses in my constituency and across the country when we can finally be relieved of the Tories’ red tape that is crushing our small businesses?

• 15 May 2025 · Gavi and the Global Fund · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is through such programmes that we developed the expertise and the ability to rapidly create mRNA-based vaccines, which led to the creation of our own vaccines here in the UK and allowed us not only to protect our own population but to contribute to protecting biosecurity globally, by ensuring the fast spread of those vaccines. Similarly, 18 million doses of the RTS,S malaria vaccine created here in the UK have been allocated to 12 African countries. We have administered the vaccine to over 1.7 million children in pilot countries and consequently we have been able to reduce malaria cases. We know that malaria is moving north as climate change hits, so this is not just about protecting children in those countries; it is also about protecting children here at home. I want to share some of the quotes that were sent to me when scientists at AstraZeneca and elsewhere heard that I had secured this debate. They wanted to send a clear message. Sandy Douglas at the University of Oxford, one of the six scientists who created the covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca, said: “Gavi brings Britain’s scientific leadership to the world, and this brings investment back into the UK’s world-leading research, generating a virtuous cycle of innovation.” GSK also reached out because it wanted its voice to be heard in the debate. It said: “UK life sciences are a critical economic driver to improve health outcomes and transform lives in the UK and around the world, including in the Global South. Scientific innovation underpins national and global health security and economic prosperity at a time of growing uncertainty. GSK and its HIV business…are proud of the contribution we make to deliver these priorities.” Most importantly, it said: “The UK’s 2025 investment in Gavi and the Global Fund will be critical in building long-term sustainable access to health technologies at scale.” This is not just about what we are doing in the global south and in other countries that need our partnership; it is also about what we are doing to build economic growth, which is the single most important mission of this Government. The reality is that this mission is not over. I could go through many of the numbers, but I know that my hon. Friends will pick up some of them. What I will say is that across the US, the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, which provide 90% of the HIV funding response, there could be cuts of between 8%—if we do our job well—and 70%. Modelling by the Burnet Institute estimates that such cuts would result in between 4.4 million and 10.8 million additional HIV cases, and between 770,000 and 2.9 million HIV-related deaths in children and adults, by 2030.

• 15 May 2025 · Gavi and the Global Fund · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairpersonship, Dr Huq. I do not have much time to wind up, so I will not respond to each and every intervention, but let me say a huge thank you to Members. I am so pleased to hear that we continue to have a cross-party alliance and support for our work on the Global Fund and Gavi. The reason for that support, as we have heard, is that this is about our health, global health, and our growth in this country. We are world leaders. Given that the Prime Minister has said that, in the light of the cuts, we will work to increase the ODA budget as soon as possible, I do not want us to make decisions today that put at risk not only our global leadership, but the lives of millions of people. That is something echoed by the 150 scientists who signed a letter published this week, by UK companies that support the jobs in the UK on this, and by the various interventions that we have had, including by the Minister and the ambassador from Botswana, who I have also had the pleasure to meet. This is an opportunity for us to decide: are we going to continue to be a UK that looks out, understands that we live in a global world and puts biosecurity, the health of our population and the health of the world at the heart of our strategy? Or are we going to step back from that global leadership? I hope that we will be at the forefront of this debate and show leadership, ensuring not only that our contribution stays the same, but that each and every other country’s does, as well as those of other donors. I thank the Minister for responding today; I know how much he agrees with many of the comments made, and I look forward to us continuing to work together. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered funding for GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund.

• 15 May 2025 · Gavi and the Global Fund · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree. That reminds me of something my gran always said to me: “If you don’t have your health, what do you have?” I know this issue sounds quite niche, but health is something we all understand. If we do not have our health, we cannot talk about improving the economies of countries around the world and improving global security. That is why this is such a crucial initiative. These diseases cross borders. Milton Keynes’s HIV rate is among the highest in the UK, so this is also about protecting our constituents. If we can reach the levels that we need to reach on HIV transmission, we will be protecting the UK population too. I am really encouraged by the UK’s commitment to co-host the Global Fund’s eighth replenishment, alongside the Government of South Africa, and by the Prime Minister’s statement that, although we are cutting official development assistance, we will continue to support global health. These partnerships are the best and most efficient way of getting money to the ground. They bring an estimated £530 million of investment into research and development in the UK, and they balance investment by ensuring that the countries that can contribute to the programmes do so. This is not charity, but true partnership. It is about us working together to build capacity. These programmes have public support. Various polls show that about three quarters of the British public support using our R&D and our expertise in life sciences to save lives here and abroad. I will conclude, because a lot of other Members want to speak. This year is pivotal. Gavi, the Global Fund, Unitaid and others are requesting partnership money, but it is about not just cash but the partnership and leadership that the UK Government provide. I say to the Government and the Minister, who cares a lot about this issue, that, despite the short-term cuts—the Prime Minister said that it is one of the most difficult decisions he has had to make, and that we will look to increase funding in the future—we must not use the fact that the replenishment comes at a time when our budget is at its lowest not at least to match what we have pledged in the past.

• 23 Apr 2025 · Hospitals · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) for introducing the debate. We will be talking a lot about Milton Keynes, because if you wait for a speech about its hospital, you get two at once. For me, the story about Milton Keynes hospital is really personal, as it involves my family and my in-laws. Unfortunately, I lost both my in-laws in the years leading up to my being elected to this place. What I would like to say about the care my family, my in-laws and my children have had is that the team at Milton Keynes hospital—the staff from the chief executive to the consultants, the doctors, the nurses and the porters—are all so professional. I am sure everyone in this House would want to join me in thanking them for their absolute persistence in the work they have had to do just to keep the NHS going over the last 14 years. I worked closely with the hospital in my constituency for many years as deputy leader of Milton Keynes council, and the council had to step in when the Government did not. It was with funding from the council that we were able to build the new cancer centre and the new radiotherapy unit that will open very soon. It is because of the close working relationship with the council that the hospital has some of the lowest bed blocking waits in the country. With our teams integrated into the hospital, we make sure that the people who are able to go home go home with a care package as soon as possible, because it is our belief in Milton Keynes, and it was my belief as deputy leader, that people want to be in their homes. Despite all that work, Milton Keynes hospital has had some of the longest waiting lists in the country. That is partly due to the 14 years of underfunding of Milton Keynes. When there are over 30,000 people waiting for non-urgent elective operations, with 1,762 of them having been waiting for more than a year, these do not feel like non-urgent cases, because those people are not allowed to live a proper life, to play with their grandchildren or to go back to work as fast as they should. There is both a social cost and an economic cost. I am pleased to say that, with the investment by this Government to reduce waiting times, we have seen waiting times go down, but they are still too long. Unlike a lot of other hospitals we will talk about today, much of the issue for Milton Keynes is that it serves the fastest growing area in our region. In fact, it is growing at double the rate of anywhere else in the greater south-east. That means that our population is set to double to 410,000 people by 2050. On average, 11 people move to Milton Keynes every single day. That is not new in Milton Keynes, because we have been developing communities, homes and businesses for quite some time under the leadership of the Labour council. What has failed time and again in Milton Keynes is the investment that we need in our local hospitals, but this Government and these Milton Keynes MPs will actually deliver what was promised over and over again but never delivered by the Conservative party.

• 1 Apr 2025 · Official Development Assistance: Infectious Diseases · Hansard source

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  Gavi was created very much with the UK as a driving force. It is one of the proudest achievements of the previous Labour Government. It has immunised almost 2 billion people in the world, and not only is it saving lives but it is important for jobs and work here in the UK in our fantastic life sciences sector. Will the Minister give a commitment that we will continue to be a leading force in Gavi at the replenishment in June?

• 31 Mar 2025 · Political Donations · Hansard source

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  That is a very good foray into my last point. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to mention unincorporated companies or LLCs that are not transparent about where their money comes from. I have to ask why businesses are the ones giving money in the first place. I always think: what is the reward? I understand it better when it comes from a trade union that represents millions of workers. The trade union pulls together donations. Its members are asked whether they want to donate. Under the current legislation, they are asked whether they are happy to pay their dues and make political donations. Those individuals work and pay tax here in this country. But when there is a lack of transparency and the public cannot see how much money the company is making and then donating—the Carlton Club may fit into that; I have never been there, but I hear it is pretty lavish—that is the final loophole that I ask the Minister to consider. I end my comments there because I know that many colleagues want to speak. I ask the Minister to consider my points and take action.

• 31 Mar 2025 · Political Donations · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairwomanship, Mrs Harris. In the interests of transparency, I would like to declare that I have received no donations from business, but I have received donations from UK citizens, including via the trade union GMB, of which I am a member, and through fundraising dinners and quizzes in my constituency, which anyone is welcome to attend. I would like to thank Mr Stone for starting this petition and having such great success in raising the issue with the public right across the country. We cannot be complacent in protecting our democratic rights, and we must take heed of what has happened elsewhere. When the US relaxed funding laws, it changed the course of election costs. In 1990, the average cost of a successful campaign to the House of Representatives was $981,000, while a successful Senate race cost an average of $9.3 million. In 2022, after the relaxation of the political donations legislation, the average cost of a successful campaign for the House of Representatives was $3 million, while the average cost of a successful Senate campaign was $28.5 million. We cannot afford to let that happen within the UK. Standing for Parliament is an honour and a privilege, but not only for those who can afford it or have rich friends; it is for those who come from all walks of life. One of the big loopholes that I perceive within our campaign finance rules—I hope that the Minister will consider it in fulfilling the campaign pledge in our manifesto to clean up political donations—is the rules for political party spending and the long and the short campaign. Although we have rules for the short campaign that are adhered to in the final few weeks, we do not have a consistent set of rules for the 55 months when political parties of any sort are campaigning. The rise of online spend is much more difficult to track and understand. As the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) mentioned, there are ways of supporting political parties that are not always about straight donations, but that can be done through algorithms and other online activity. I will not mention any particular Member, but I will mention the behaviour of two parties when it comes to donations received. We have people with backgrounds very much linked to tax havens, such as the billionaire property developer Nick Candy, who is one of the main fundraisers for the Reform party. He is also a link between the Reform party and Trump and Elon Musk. He was very clear when he told The New York Times , “We are going to have fund-raisers all over the world, in every part of the world where there are British nationals”— not necessarily British taxpayers. He went on: “We will have fund-raisers in the US, in Monaco, and we will have huge fund-raisers in the UAE, where we have an expat community there who are unhappy with the amount of regulation and tax in the UK.” To be clear, he is the UK treasurer for the Reform party. We need to close the loophole, as my hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and Solway (Markus Campbell-Savours) said earlier. If someone is not a UK taxpayer, they should not be funding a political party in order to create outcomes around regulation and tax. There are other examples I could point to, and I am sure many will.

• 21 Jan 2025 · Official Development Assistance · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for protecting the level of ODA given the fiscal situation we inherited, but there are more wars going on in the world than at any time since world war two. Will he review the fiscal formula, which he and the Chancellor rightly voted against when put forward by the previous Government, put the ODA budget on a long-term settlement, and meet me to discuss how we can improve UK safety through the ODA budget?

• 13 Jan 2025 · Sudan: US Determination of Genocide · Hansard source

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  Sexual violence is growing as a weapon of war and oppression, as was discussed last Thursday in Westminster Hall. Can the Minister reassure the House that despite the previous Government’s cuts to the aid budget, she will do as much as she can to protect the women and girls in Sudan, seeking additional funds from the Treasury if necessary?

• 18 Dec 2024 · Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement · Hansard source

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  May I, too, welcome the multi-year certainty given by the statement today? As a former deputy leader of Milton Keynes council, I can say that it is the kind of certainty we ask for, rather than getting a letter—on Christmas Eve, usually—setting out what the funding might be, already halfway through our budget-setting process. I also welcome the fact that Milton Keynes is getting more than £7 million to prevent homelessness. I welcome the fact that there will be transparency, but can the Minister give reassurances to Milton Keynes that with the loss of the new homes bonus, additional funding will be given to Milton Keynes to make up for that difference?

• 2 Dec 2024 · Grenfell Tower Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Member’s Financial Interests. First of all, I thank the Deputy Prime Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell), plus all the London MPs who have brought home what Grenfell meant in their constituencies. However, the consequences of Grenfell are felt right across the country, and they have gone on for far too long for the residents of my constituency. Had the previous Government proceeded at pace with the confidence to take on developers with legal obligations and severe penalties, my residents would not still be stuck in buildings that have not had the remediation required. Each year since Grenfell, thousands of people in Milton Keynes have been left worse off, impacting their financial and mental health. A woman in my constituency—we will call her Angie—bought her flat with her husband in order to downsize, and be mortgage free and financially secure in their retirement. Unfortunately, she lost her husband, and with her single pension she cannot afford the 600% increase in insurance costs that she has seen in the past seven years. She is accumulating debt that she will never be able to pay, and she cannot sell her flat to prevent further debt. Her plan for a secure retirement has turned into a nightmare that she cannot get out of. That is why I welcome the Government’s announcement today to challenge that practice by the insurance industry, and to promise to act if the insurance industry does not. Has the Deputy Prime Minister had discussions with the industry about any retrospective reductions for those who have been affected by those huge insurance hikes? The Grenfell report rightly identifies the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for its many failings, but not all local authorities were slow to respond, such as my own in Milton Keynes Central where two council housing tower blocks were dealt with within a year of the tragedy—well within the guidelines that the Government recommended, and with no financial support from the Government. I would welcome the Deputy Prime Minister’s views on whether the councils that took action, at huge cost to their housing revenue account, should be rewarded for their proactive attention with help to build more council homes. I welcome the Government’s commitment to putting local authorities at the heart of the solution, but developments are still being put forward that might not meet building control requirements, especially the permitted development of office conversions to flats. That is not currently a material consideration, so local planning committees have no choice but to pass it. Will the Secretary of State review the planning rules so that no building, new or converted, is unsafe for its residents? Will she also consider whether building control should be fully in the hands of local authorities, so that developers can no longer use their favourite private building control to sign off developments? The privatised BRE and its role in ensuring new materials has been brought up by many. Will the Minister consider renationalising the BRE, so that there can be no question of any company influence over the safety of new building products? Finally, it is not just tall buildings that have been affected. For far too long, those in buildings like Backus Lodge in my constituency, which has been rated B2 under the EWS1 framework since March 2022—

• 14 Nov 2024 · Council Tax · Hansard source

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  I am a former local government leader. Does the Minister agree that we should thank local authority leaders, especially Labour leaders such as Pete Marland at Milton Keynes city council, for keeping services during 14 years of austerity? Milton Keynes city council has kept weekly bin collections, kept children’s centres open and reduced rough sleeping, while keeping council tax lower than in its neighbouring Tory authorities. Does the Minister agree that instead of using local authority leaders to make cheap political points, the Conservative party should thank them and apologise for 14 years of austerity?

• 13 Nov 2024 · Educational Opportunities · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Pritchard. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) for bringing forward this really important debate. Education is the best way in the world to bring peace and prosperity, and for people in my constituency of Milton Keynes to get better jobs and have better lives. In the 1960s, Harold Wilson dreamed of a university of the air. Jennie Lee made that a reality through the Open University, which she chose to base in Milton Keynes—I am very lucky in that. The OU is so important for educational opportunity, because it makes no distinction based on someone’s formal educational qualifications. In fact, it actively encourages those without formal qualifications to come forward and be everything that they can be. It is absolutely crucial for social mobility. More than a quarter of the undergraduates live in the most deprived areas across the UK, and more than 37,000 students last year had some kind of disability, particularly those who had been failed by the current school system and wanted the opportunity to make the most of their lives. The most important thing about the OU is its flexible learning model, which has been taken forward by many colleges and universities right across the UK and the world, including the Russell Group. At the heart of any ambitious Labour Government is education, education, education for everyone. Being for everyone means that it has to be at the heart of our universities, colleges and schools, and so far this generation is not seeing that investment. I ask the Minister: how will we transform those opportunities for people in Milton Keynes and for my daughters, who are currently going through school?

• 4 Nov 2024 · Income Tax (Charge) · Hansard source

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  First, I would like to congratulate those who made their maiden speeches, representing fantastic places right across the UK. Given today’s theme of protecting working people, I thought it would be worth reminding Conservative Members of the real impact of the last 14 years of failure: 3 million people using food banks, more than 700,000 children plunged into poverty, mortgage costs nearly doubled, the worst pay rises since the 1950s, disabled people committing suicide due to reforms to their benefits, mental health worse than at any time on record, more people sleeping rough and more families without their own home. The Conservative party continues to deny, to justify and to refuse to apologise to those people right across the country and in my constituency of Milton Keynes Central. It is time for a new deal for the people of the UK. In fact, that is what they voted for, and just as new deals have historically pulled countries out of darkness, this Budget aims to do the same. President Roosevelt said: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” Like FDR’s plan, that is what this Budget does. It immediately gives economic relief by increasing the minimum wage, raising carer’s allowance thresholds, making the benefit system more understanding of individual circumstances and allocating £1 billion to those with special educational needs. It also makes sure that we are funding our recovery, as well as funding and prioritising science and innovation, further education, infrastructure, affordable housing, lowering energy costs and expanding childcare. And it also promises to build back better, with reform to our public services. After 14 years of failure under the Conservative opposite, this Budget will provide ambition, hope and stability for Britain and its people.

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Does my right hon. Friend recall that the previous Labour Government oversaw the fastest economic recovery from the international incident? The economy was back in growth by the time of the election because of investments like over £20 billion for research and development, so our economy could compete in the race to the top, not the race to the bottom that we saw under the previous Government?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  In Lincolnshire, nearly six out of 10 people faced wait times exceeding four hours to be seen in A&E in 2023. That is a 42% increase. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the investments made today will help reduce those waiting times in Lincolnshire?

• 28 Oct 2024 · Fiscal Rules · Hansard source

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  Constituents in Milton Keynes voted for change because they see the consequences of the Conservative economic policy. They are suffering from the cost of living crisis and have seen this in their crumbling schools, the lack of GP appointments and the use of food banks just to make ends meet. Will the Chief Secretary reassure me and my constituents that we will end the Conservative use of payday loans just to keep the lights on and instead invest in new schools, new hospitals and new infrastructure, alongside making work pay, so that my constituents see their lives improve?

• 24 Oct 2024 · Government’s Five Missions · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the Government on trying to use the missions to stop the siloed working between Departments in order to achieve the change that the country needs. On the housing mission, it is important that we link in the Treasury and the Departments for Health and Social Care, for Transport, for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and for Energy Security and Net Zero, to ensure that we build the 1.5 million homes that we need. In Milton Keynes, we have seen how house building can create opportunities, but public support is lost when the necessary vital public services and infra- structure do not come alongside new houses. How is the Cabinet Office bringing together all those Departments so that we can achieve our housing mission?

• 21 Oct 2024 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  As someone who has started and run a business, I should like to know the hon. Gentleman’s opinion of the views of the former Business Secretary, the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), that the minimum wage is a burden, that statutory maternity pay is excessive, and that equal pay protection in respect of race and disability is akin to segregation policies in South Africa—or does he want to distance his party from her comments?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As Departments are preparing their spending review submissions, will the Chancellor and her team consider allowing the international development budget to be on the same footing as the research and development budget, and looked at over 10 years, so that we can get back to the 0.7% figure? Will she be willing to meet me and a delegation to discuss the benefits of that approach to such an important budget?

• 2 Sept 2024 · Technology in Public Services · Hansard source

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  I congratulate those on the Front Bench on their speeches tonight. Does the Minister agree that councils are very important in this area? When I was the cabinet member for health, my council signed an agreement with the Open University to become the first dementia-friendly city, which involves not only medical technology, AI and the first robot that can identify when somebody with dementia has not drunk enough and bring them a bottle of water, but social innovation around using colours in wayfinding—whether it is in our shopping centres or play parks. Does the Minister agree that the partnership needs to expand to include business, start-ups, councils and the Government, as well as our other public sector partners, in order to create the behaviour changes, innovation and advancements that we are all looking for?

• 24 Jul 2024 · Relations with Ireland · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his position, and I hope that he will be able to rebuild those relations that were strained through the Brexit process. Small and medium-sized business in Milton Keynes Central have gone under because of the additional paperwork and restrictions caused by our strained relations with the EU. Will he confirm that he is talking to the Irish Government and others about how to reduce those barriers to trade?