Jessica Toale MP: speeches

Speeches

• 10 Dec 2025 · Tackling Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  8. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Creative Education · Hansard source

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  SoundStorm is a multi-award winning lead partner in the music hub in my constituency. It has helped more than half a million young people since being founded in 2002, but like any publicly funded body, it is worried about future funding, so I welcome the Education Secretary’s commitment to working through music hubs. Does my hon. Friend agree that we must continue to support music hubs in their work to teach teachers and get music into schools, so that kids at all ages can have a great music education?

• 9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for joining me at Branksome depot in my constituency to launch Great British Railways. It was welcomed by engineers, passengers, railway operators and local schools. I have a very different experience from that of the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson), so will my right hon. Friend tell us how the Bill will benefit constituents and passengers across the rail network?

• 2 Dec 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Gentleman reflect on the OBR saying that a decade of austerity and the impact of Brexit have had a much more pernicious effect on productivity than we believed before?

• 2 Dec 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Although he is not in his place, I thank my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary for the investment in local hospitals, the 11 GPs across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, the 13,000 emergency dental appointments that we have had across Dorset, and the £1.3 million that my constituency of Bournemouth West has received to reopen the Winton health centre, which closed under the last Government. This is the difference that a Government who prioritise investment can make. Before I was elected, I met a couple whom I will never forget. He was a refuse collector for the local authority who was at risk of being fired and rehired on less pay, and with less job security, for the very same job that he had been doing for a decade. She was a teacher at an independent school, and they had two young children in our primary schools. They told me with absolute honesty what it felt like for them—the cost of food rising, energy bills creeping higher, the dread of their fixed-term mortgage coming to an end, and not having the time or money that they could use to treat their children. They were doing everything that society asks of them—working hard, raising children and contributing to their communities—yet they felt that they were slipping backwards. Let me enlighten any hon. Member who asks, “How is that family better off under this Budget?”, because they are at the forefront of my mind. They will be better off because of the £150 cut to their energy bills, because of the freeze on fuel duty, prescription charges and rail fares, because of the bus service subsidies that we are maintaining, and because the national living wage has been raised. In fact, wages have gone up more in one year under this Government than they went up in the previous decade under the Conservatives. Interest rates have come down five times, which will help with the family’s mortgage. Inflation will be down because of this Budget, and these changes come alongside major investments in our energy infrastructure. Last week I visited a school that is one of the first to have public investment in solar panels, which will save it £8,500 a year. For our roads, my local authority is getting £38 million, double what it got last year. There is investment in our NHS and cultural values. No Budget sits in isolation. This Budget comes alongside a wider programme, including a new EU-UK deal to stabilise prices and support jobs, renters’ rights and employment rights, extending free school meals and free breakfast clubs, and reforming the planning system, along with investment in house building, to deliver the affordable homes that we so desperately need. Why have we focused so much in this Budget on cutting the cost of living? Because when households feel pressure, our whole economy feels it: local hospitality businesses have fewer customers, bus companies have fewer passengers, and our creative venues suffer when families can no longer justify the cost of tickets. As we have heard so powerfully, poverty also has a knock-on effect on children’s ability to learn, their behaviour, their health and their life chances. Some 2,000 children in my constituency will benefit from the removal of the two-child limit. Tackling the cost of living is an investment in people, their quality of life and their opportunity to contribute to our communities and economy.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  I am sure that the Chancellor appreciates the hon. Gentleman’s input into the Budget, given that the public roundly rejected your approach to our economy just a year and a half ago.

• 1 Dec 2025 · National Curriculum Reform · Hansard source

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  6. What steps she is taking to reform the national curriculum.

• 1 Dec 2025 · National Curriculum Reform · Hansard source

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  Last week during UK Parliament Week, I visited LEAF Studio, a specialist sports and performing arts school and sixth form in my Bournemouth West constituency. While all schools have welcomed the curriculum modernisation, I have a specific question from Mr Jones at LEAF Studio: will drama be made more accessible for children in the curriculum?

• 19 Nov 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Based on their reaction today, Conservative Members may not care or remember, but every day I see the cost to my constituents in Bournemouth West of years of cuts to public services—youth services gone, neighbourhood policing decimated and no NHS dentist appointments. Can the Prime Minister confirm that there will be no return to austerity under this Labour Government?

• 18 Nov 2025 · Northern Ireland Troubles Bill · Hansard source

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  I have spoken to many veterans in my constituency who are understandably concerned about the repeal of that law, and the vacuum that it leaves. Can the Secretary of State set out how the Bill supports our veterans?

• 13 Nov 2025 · Police Reform · Hansard source

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  I associate myself with the Minister’s comments on recognising the commitment of PCCs across the country. Despite being from different parties, the Dorset PCC David Sidwick and I have always worked constructively together, and he has been a doughty advocate for the funding we need to police the county effectively. On that note about funding, can I ask the Minister to look again at the police funding formula? Not only does it fail on rurality, as the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) says, but it also fails on the summer seasonal pressures facing my constituency, where upwards of 10 million people visit every summer.

• 3 Nov 2025 · Public Office (Accountability) Bill · Hansard source

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  I would like to start by paying tribute to the many hon. Members and campaigners who have never stopped fighting for truth and accountability. We have heard many powerful contributions today, outlining a painful litany of cover-ups and scandals, where individuals and families have been betrayed by the very institutions that were meant to protect them. This Bill is also for those who are suffering, but who only now we are beginning to see and to recognise. My constituent, Jan Hall, is a diethylstilbestrol—DES—daughter. DES was an anti-miscarriage drug invested here in Britain and prescribed between 1939 and the late 1970s. It was marketed as a wonder drug, but even as evidence that the drug caused harm emerged in the 1950s and after it was linked to cancer in the 1970s, it continued to be prescribed to women. This is potentially one of the biggest pharmaceutical scandals in British history, and something upon which this Bill will, no doubt, shine a light. Jan’s mum, Rita, was prescribed DES. She died of breast cancer at the age of 32, when Jan was still a toddler. Jan has suffered from health problems for her whole life, including cervical cancer, and now her daughters, Beth and Hannah, have had a series of gynaecological problems. We know that women who took DES face around 30% higher risk of breast of cancer. Their daughters who were exposed to the drug have 40 times the risk of rare vaginal and cervical cancers, and also face infertility issues. On top of that, their sons show increased risk of genital abnormalities and infertility. This is an intergenerational issue and we are now seeing grandchildren, like Beth and Hannah, suffering from complications, with research only beginning to uncover the scale of the inherited harm. These women have fought for decades for the recognition and justice that they deserve, but for too long they have been ignored. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has admitted that it misled the public for more than a decade. Imagine if a duty of candour had existed for DES victims. Imagine if the MHRA, the Department of Health and pharmaceutical companies had been compelled to disclose what they knew and when they knew it: generations of women might have been spared devastating illnesses, families would have been spared grief, and trust in our institutions might have been preserved. The Hillsborough law is not only a matter of legal reform, but a matter of trust. If the public cannot trust the state to tell the truth when things go wrong, then the social contract is broken. The Hillsborough law gives us a way to rebuild it. I welcome the Prime Minister’s personal commitment to the issue and the reaffirmation that he will not water down the principles that give the Bill life. To all the families still waiting for justice—this Bill is for you. Let the Hillsborough law mark the moment when we say, finally and decisively, that justice delayed must never be justice denied.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Asylum Seekers: MOD Housing · Hansard source

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  The Conservatives left our asylum system in an absolute mess, and now they claim to care about consultation and community impact. Where was that when my community got two asylum hotels more than 10 years ago? This Government, by contrast, are bringing the number down while increasing the number of people with no right to be in the country who are returned, which shows how seriously we take the issue. Can the Minister please tell my constituents what more the Government are doing to close every single asylum hotel?

• 23 Oct 2025 · Strengthening National Security · Hansard source

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  Later today, my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton) and I will meet small and medium-sized enterprises in the defence sector and skills training providers to discuss how we in Dorset can benefit from the Government’s defence industrial strategy. Can the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster tell me how this Government’s commitment to increasing defence spending to 2.5% by 2027 will create jobs and growth in my constituency of Bournemouth West?

• 23 Oct 2025 · Strengthening National Security · Hansard source

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  12. What recent progress his Department has made on strengthening national security.

• 20 Oct 2025 · Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy · Hansard source

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  My constituency is blessed with two world-class universities and an excellent further education college that provide a range of degrees, apprenticeships and qualifications. I recently met the Samee charity, which provides a structured training programme for young people with learning difficulties to get into self-employment. Can the Secretary of State tell me how this White Paper supports those types of training programmes and supports those young people to thrive?

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Last week I visited Oak academy’s new building—a net zero, solar-powered, inspiring environment for young people. I would love young people across my constituency, and across the rest of the country, to have the opportunity to learn in such environments, so can the Secretary of State tell me what her Department is doing to improve the environmental performance of our schools?

• 16 Oct 2025 · Community Relations: Impact of Church Leaders · Hansard source

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  Bournemouth has been made richer by its diversity and the communities that have chosen to make it their home, yet tensions rose over the summer due to protests about asylum seekers. I pay tribute to our local churches, particularly Lansdowne church and Gateway church, for the vital work they do to welcome asylum seekers and build community connection between our many communities. How can we do more to support those churches and the vital work they do?

• 16 Oct 2025 · Community Relations: Impact of Church Leaders · Hansard source

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  4. What assessment the Church of England has made of the potential impact of church leaders on community relations.

• 4 Sept 2025 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  Opposition Members seem to want lots of reassurances for the people who feel they are born to rule. Can the Minister tell me what reassurances the Government can give my constituents and young people in Kinson and West Howe that they will have equal right to be part of this legislative body?

• 4 Sept 2025 · Early Education and Childcare · Hansard source

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  I recently visited Leaps and Bounds nursery in Winton, and it was clear that the women who work there strive to create a safe and enriching environment for all the young people, so that they are ready to start school when they go. Can the Minister tell me how this Labour Government are making early years education—this critical time in a young person’s life—more accessible and affordable for parents in Bournemouth West?

• 1 Sept 2025 · Borders and Asylum · Hansard source

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  This summer, my community has been deeply divided by misinformation about asylum hotels and local crime rates. This has been exploited by parts of the national media and, frankly, Conservative and Reform politicians and local activist groups seeking simply to stoke fear. Like everyone on the Labour Benches, I stood on a manifesto to end hotel use, so can I thank the Home Secretary for getting on with the job of restoring order to our asylum system to address the chaos left by the previous Government? Can she reassure my constituents that we remain committed to tackling the vile organised crime gangs that drive the boats, to clearing the asylum backlog to give those who are seeking asylum the chance to restore their lives here and give them certainty, and to ending hotel use in communities like mine and across the country?

• 21 Jul 2025 · Infected Blood Inquiry: Additional Report · Hansard source

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  The Minister knows that I have raised the case of my affected constituent Ronan, whose mother Jane died from hepatitis C after a blood transfusion she was recommended following an ectopic pregnancy. I welcome the announcement on the affected estates, but when will the affected, particularly parents and partners, be invited to start their claims? Many have been waiting decades for justice and are concerned that they will not see it in their lifetime.

• 21 Jul 2025 · Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to the father of my constituent Sally Hedges Greenwood, Lance Sergeant Frank Jeremy Hedges, who served in the 135th Field Regiment. He was captured at the fall of Singapore and served on the infamous Burma railway. While the nation celebrated VE Day and continues to do so every year, Sally’s family and many others like them feel forgotten. Does the Minister agree that these VJ Day celebrations will give those men and women and their families the honour they deserve?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Women and Girls with Autism: Mental Health Support · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. There are now more than 2,000 people with learning disabilities and/or autism detained across the UK in in-patient units similar to the one that Lauren was held in. They are often far from home, cut off from their families and placed in highly restrictive environments that frequently do more harm than good. Lauren’s case is heartbreaking, but it must also be a turning point, which is why Lindsey is campaigning for Lolly’s law and why I am bringing this campaign to the House today. Lolly’s law proposes four urgent reforms that could prevent future tragedies. The first is mandatory retraining for psychiatric professionals and support staff so that they have a proper understanding of how autism presents in girls and women. Too often those young women are misdiagnosed with personality disorders or wrongly pathologised.