Jo White MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 10 Jun 2025 · Nuclear Power: Investment · Hansard source

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  I, too, wish you a happy birthday, Mr Speaker. I very much welcome the statement, which is about the future-visioning and future-proofing of our energy security and production. I particularly welcome the £2.5 billion investment in fusion, including for the STEP—spherical tomahawk for energy production —programme at West Burton in north Nottinghamshire. I thank Ministers for their work to secure that, which is very welcome indeed. The process has already started, with the tender outcomes for the construction and the design and technology to be announced later this year. I am championing British companies, which are very much part of that process. I am excited about the thousands of jobs and skills in new infrastructure that will be developed because of this programme. The work has already started on the skills partnership, which is stretching right across regions including the east midlands, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire. That partnership is working with our further education colleges, our universities and the advanced manufacturing centre in Rotherham. Does the Secretary of State agree that left-behind, red wall areas such as mine are where we need investment to revise our energy production and our industry? This is where we start, and I want to see more.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a valuable point, and I hope that the Minister has taken heed of it.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution and agree that it is worrying that only half of the trusts in England are meeting the national target of 70% of eligible women going for their screening, but next year we hit a milestone in that it is estimated that almost 1 million women will be invited for screening. I welcome the fact that NHS England is actively encouraging more women to book and attend their screening. Will the Minister provide more detail on that? To be honest, in Bassetlaw I cannot wait for a national operation to kick in. Last month I launched the “Bassetlaw love your boobs, get them checked” campaign, supporting local women and encouraging women to go for their breast screening. I pay tribute to the wonderful Bassetlaw women who have been active in the campaign—women such as Liz Rew and Maria Charlesworth, who found lumps in their breasts and went for their screening. Barbara Baldwin and Claire Previn joined my campaign as they have had friends taken too soon by breast cancer; I do not want anyone else to have to go through that. Lynn Dixon from Bassetlaw had breast cancer in her family and was first diagnosed at the age of 36 after finding a lump, and she has just recently found another lump and was screened. This week she is facing further treatment for breast cancer. My thoughts and love are with Lynn right now. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] Jenny Bailey is a former NHS nurse and midwife in Bassetlaw who had her breast cancer identified following routine screening. The women from Bassetlaw are amazing, using their life experiences to join the fighting spirit, encouraging their friends, family and neighbours to get screened.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw · Hansard source

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  The first known descriptions of breast cancer date back to beyond 3,000 BC. Hippocrates described the progressive stages of breast cancer in 400 BC, when he outlined his theory for its cause. Although breast cancer mortality rates have been decreasing since the 1970s, approximately 11,400 women and 85 men die of breast cancer every year. That is 32 deaths from breast cancer every single day of the week. We all know someone who has been impacted by breast cancer—a mother, a sister, a granny, a daughter, a colleague or a friend. For me that was my nan, the matriarch of the family, a character, fit and healthy, who went out daily to clean other people’s houses. We lost her when I was 19 years old. She was too embarrassed to show her breast to her doctor, and explained away her lump as an injury caused by falling off a window ledge when cleaning windows. By the time she finally went to the doctor, it was too late, and she died months later. We lost her too soon. Perhaps it was also fear that kept her away; two of her sisters were also taken by breast cancer. That is such a familiar story. So many women being treated for breast cancer tell of family members—aunts, sisters, mothers, grandmothers—who have been through the same experiences. My nan was of Jewish descent. It is now known that Jewish people of Ashkenazi heritage have a one in 40 chance of carrying the BRCA gene mutation, which means a much higher chance of developing breast cancer—a one in two chance before the age of 70. For the sake of my family, I am currently having genetic screening to check that, if it was the familial cause, it has not been passed down. I urge every woman of Jewish heritage to do the same. Screening is provided free by the NHS and can be done in the home.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his contribution and I agree with him. In Bassetlaw, we have a single unit, but there are mobile units in rural areas that might encourage a better take-up rate. The misconception that only women can get breast cancer is far too common. Almost 400 men get breast cancer every year, including my constituent Danny Emmerson from Worksop, who found some lumps in his armpits while he was sitting watching TV. He went to his GP to get checked and was quickly diagnosed with breast cancer. I thank Danny for joining my campaign to raise awareness that men get breast cancer too. My ask today is that everyone in the Chamber, man or woman, checks themselves, and encourages their wives, partners, daughters, granddaughters, sisters and all the women in their lives to attend their breast cancer screening appointments. This debate is not the end of my campaign. On 29 June, I will be running the Race for Life in my constituency and visiting the Bassetlaw Princess Diana mammography unit to help tell the story of how easy it is for people to get their breasts screened. I welcome the fact that my hon. Friends the Members for Doncaster Central (Sally Jameson) and for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher) are in their places. The data for Doncaster and Bassetlaw hospitals covers all of our constituencies. While I understand that we can presume that there are lower attendance levels by those who live in our more deprived wards, will the Minister provide advice on what more the Department can do to ensure that we can get hospital-specific data for breast cancer screening uptake?

• 9 Jun 2025 · Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his comments, and I agree with him. Bawtry is just across the border from my constituency, and it has a very strong community. When I go to through these towns, I see how many people come out on to the street to support one another, so I am sure that the campaign he mentions is very strong. I have come across many charities and organisations working on this issue in my constituency; they often involve people who have had breast cancer, and who want to educate other women and encourage them to be screened. They are very important to the work that we are doing. Since the beginning of breast screening checks in 1988, there has been a cut-off age of 70. My campaign includes women who are above the age threshold for being invited in for screening. My nan was over 70 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Why do women over 70 have to rely on memory and a phone call to get their screening appointment? All women can get breast cancer; it does not discriminate by age or background. I thank Bassetlaw women Sue Shaw and Barbara Baldwin, who are both over 70 and are now missing out. They argue that the cost of treatment for breast cancer far outweighs the costs of screening. Early prevention not only saves lives, but saves the NHS money. They are calling for the threshold to be eradicated—that is their ask and mine of the Minister. As we have heard, early diagnosis of breast cancer can save lives, and I am doing everything that I can locally to encourage women to attend their screenings when they are invited. My Bassetlaw message is: love your boobs, and get them checked.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw · Hansard source

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  I welcome the hon. Member’s contribution. Women in Bassetlaw have to travel all the way to Sheffield once they have been diagnosed to have treatment and radiotherapy. That is a long journey and it would be better if the cancer could be treated in Bassetlaw. I wait to hear how that can be achieved in future years, because it is so important for people to be treated close to home.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend. We have data, but we remain unsure where the lowest uptake is. I would like to go to the wards in my area where uptake is low and knock on doors to encourage women to go to their screenings, so it would helpful to have precise data from the two hospitals in the Doncaster and Bassetlaw hospitals trust. Several organisations across Bassetlaw support people with cancer, and I wish to highlight the work of Aurora in Worksop, which offers support to people during and after cancer treatment. From exercise spaces to beauty treatments, emotional support or even just a cup of tea with a friendly face and a listening ear, organisations like Aurora in our constituencies are the unsung heroes for people going through the challenge that is cancer treatment.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Breast Cancer Screening: Bassetlaw · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that point. I have sympathy for her experiences and hope that she is now fully recovered. Yes, we must be conscious that women of all ages could have breast cancer, and awareness must be raised so that women continue to check their breasts for it. What I do know is this: breast cancer screening and early detection save lives. The earlier that breast cancer is detected, the simpler and more effective the treatment is likely to be. Between the ages of 50 and 70, on a three-year cycle, women will get a letter in the post inviting them in for screening. A chance conversation last autumn with a local GP alerted me to his concern that the number of women attending Bassetlaw hospital for screening appointments had dropped dramatically. I asked the chief executive of our local hospital trust to investigate that, and he quickly came back with some worrying figures showing that attendance had dropped in recent times to below 50% of women invited for screening. This was either due to an appointment cancellation or a no-show on the day. NHS England data shows that prior to the coronavirus pandemic 78% of women in Bassetlaw and Doncaster were going for screening. The decline is dramatic and is not unique to Bassetlaw.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Disadvantaged Communities · Hansard source

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  I welcome my hon. Friend’s call for a project of national renewal; I think that is absolutely excellent. I also welcome her comment that these communities are special—they are, and we need to focus our attention on them. Does she agree that the closure of Sure Start centres, including in my constituency, had a significant impact? They changed people’s lives. We have heard from so many people who have done well as a consequence of having access to those services, so it is essential that we revitalise them.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Regional Growth · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Minister’s statement. There is a shift from focusing funding on areas where it is easy to deliver in London and the south to focusing it on the midlands and the north, where there are left-behind areas like my constituency. I very much welcome that local mayors will take that decision. Some £2 billion has been given to my mayor to invest in the east midlands, which is absolutely welcome. I also welcome the Trent Arc proposal and the freedom that the mayor has to spend money in our area, such as in Bassetlaw. I am already in discussions with her about how that money can best be spent. My ask of the Minister is that that money is used to help to deliver the STEP—spherical tokamak for energy production—programme in Bassetlaw, which will change lives, create jobs and put us on the energy-efficiency agenda that we need for the future.

• 22 May 2025 · Independent Sentencing Review · Hansard source

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  When a previous Government fail to take responsibility for the crisis they have caused, they deserve a life sentence on the Opposition Benches. I welcome the construction of a new wing at Ranby prison in my constituency by Worksop-based Laing O’Rourke, a specialist in modern methods of construction that is involved in many other construction projects across the country. If the Minister is seeking more sites for new prisons, could I propose the Crown-owned land across the road from HMP Ranby? We would very much welcome a new prison there.

• 21 May 2025 · Immigration · Hansard source

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  There was a court case yesterday where a people smuggler, known as “Captain Ahmed”, was jailed for his part in co-ordinating and managing the small boat crossings of more than 3,000 people. He is a ruthless man who treated human life as rubbish, ordering the murder of migrants and happily bribing officials to pursue his financial objectives. This man was smuggling across the Mediterranean, but his methods mirror that of the criminal gangs bringing people across the English channel. My question to the Opposition is: why was he here living in asylum accommodation when he was arrested in 2023? He had previously served a prison sentence in Italy for drug smuggling, and yet he was never deported. That is why I welcome the borders Bill.

• 21 May 2025 · Immigration · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for making that key point. The British people were let down by the Opposition when they were in government. I welcome the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which gives us the powers to pursue those people not only here in our country, but across borders to their origins. In government, we will never allow people with criminal records to be considered for asylum. The last Government allowed the backlog of asylum seekers to rise to over 80,000, housing them in hotels across the country and, when that became too embarrassing, trying to hide them away by putting them on a disease-ridden barge, buying disused Army bases at huge expense, and setting up a dispersal process with houses being purchased across the country. It is only this Government who have tackled the problem head-on. More than 24,000 people have now been returned, and 23 hotels have been closed down—but I want more, my constituents demand more, and I will keep coming to the House to ensure that we get more. We must get the borders Bill into law, and smashing the gangs is critical. Reform and the Tories keep voting against the Bill, while repeatedly offering no viable alternatives. There is only one party that can be trusted to secure our border, and I will back the Government.

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

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  I congratulate the Prime Minister on this deal, which will benefit so many of my constituents; it is exactly what businesses in my constituency asked for when they sent me to Parliament. The youth mobility scheme will benefit local farmers, but I want to know how young people in my area will also benefit from it opening up experiences and opportunities that they would never have otherwise dreamed of. The scheme must not just benefit middle-class kids on their gap year.

• 12 May 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill · Hansard source

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  I wonder whether the shadow Home Secretary could comment on the views of his colleague the hon. Member for Stockton West (Matt Vickers), who said during the Public Bill Committee that “immigration is too high. Previous Governments have failed to solve it.” –– [ Official Report, Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Public Bill Committee, 18 March 2025; c. 347.] I wonder whether he could also comment on the remarks of the hon. Member for Weald of Kent (Katie Lam), who said in Committee: “The system is broken. It has been broken for many decades, and that is now plain to see.” –– [ Official Report, Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Public Bill Committee, 18 March 2025; c. 335.]

• 12 May 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill · Hansard source

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  Thank you for calling me, Madam Deputy Speaker. “People started dying. People were screaming. It is very painful when someone is dying inside the water. The way they die—they cannot breathe...it is very difficult. I never thought I would experience such a thing… It is a harrowing experience I do not want to remember. I was holding on to what remained of the boat and people were screaming. It is something I will not forget.” This is the witness testimony of Mohammed Omar when he spoke at the Cranston inquiry, which is investigating the UK’s worst small boat disaster. On 27 November 2021, it is believed that 31 people lost their lives. Mohammed said that he was told that 33 people would be aboard the dinghy, but more were added, including children. Those gang members whose sole focus is on the billions of pounds that their horrific trade generates, who overload boats that are not fit to go into the ocean, who treat human life as having no value, willing to put lives at risk for huge profits must experience the full force of the law. This Bill gives Border Command the powers to pursue, arrest and prosecute those people. Breaking and destroying the gangs is critical to bringing an end to the small boat crossings. Mohammed’s witness evidence underlines how important it is to achieve that. The Bill not only gives the power and authority to work with our international partners to track down and break up the gangs, with the powers to seize and interrogate mobile phones and laptops to collect data and evidence, but the new amendment will introduce enhanced illegal working checks, putting a stop to those delivery drivers bringing meals or parcels to our doorsteps who cannot speak a word of English, potentially using IDs that have been borrowed or purchased from legitimate employees. I welcome the raids on the businesses, such as the nail bars, barbers and restaurants employing illegal workers, potentially in slave labour conditions. In January there were 131 raids in my area of the midlands, with 106 arrests. The amendment will mean that those arrested will now face fines of up to £60,000 per worker and prison sentences of up to five years. The French have said that people want to come to the UK because it is all too easy to be swept into the black economy and work illegally. The heavy disincentives of fines and prison sentences have the power to put a brake on the demand for the illegal trafficking of people. I welcome this Bill. As I said in February, “crack on with the job, give us a running commentary of every success, publicise the return flights and the jailing of criminals, clear up the Conservatives’ mess, secure our borders, close down the use of hotels and stop the small boats.” —[ Official Report , 10 February 2025; Vol. 762, c. 124.] Today is the next step forward.

• 12 May 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill · Hansard source

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  Will the right hon. Member give way?

• 12 May 2025 · Immigration System · Hansard source

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  With net migration at 1.7 million over the last two years of the previous Government, people in Bassetlaw tell me that they are fed up with the pressures that uncontrolled immigration has put on our local infrastructure. The Prime Minister has recognised this today, with a clear commitment to reduce net migration and take back control of our borders. I congratulate my right hon. Friend on this landmark cross-Government White Paper, which will fix the mess left by the Conservative party. Does she agree that we need to stop the reliance on imported workers from abroad and focus on properly training British people instead?

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Last week, I visited Papa’s fish and chip restaurant in Worksop, where I met the owner, Nick. He told me about his reconnect campaign, which encourages people to come off their screens and spend time in good company over a first-class plate of fish and chips. He also showed me the safe space he has created for SEND families. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking Nick for running such a thoughtful and caring campaign?

• 25 Mar 2025 · Asylum Hotels and Illegal Channel Crossings · Hansard source

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  The shadow Home Secretary can complain all he wants, but while he was in the Home Office, 75,000 people crossed the channel, with thousands housed in hundreds of hotels across the country. A failed Rwanda scheme and a complete freeze on asylum decision making is the reason that the cost of hotels rose to £9 million a day; everything stopped just to send four volunteers to Rwanda, and the shadow Home Secretary is responsible for the chaos. Does my hon. Friend agree that the only party in this House that voted for the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will be the party that sorts this chaos out?

• 18 Mar 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source

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  I am really trying to get my head around the new clause. Why would decision making in public be different from decision making in private?

• 18 Mar 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. We should never be surprised by the audacity of the Conservative party, which now exists in a state of amnesia following the previous 14 years of failure, collapse and chaos. Let me take a moment to remind Opposition Members of their failed promises. A good place to start is the general election campaign of 2010, when David Cameron said that his Government would reduce net migration to the tens of thousands. At that point, net migration stood at 252,000. In 2011, he went further, saying that his target would be achieved by the 2015 general election—“No ifs. No buts.” But when the ballot boxes were opened in that election, numbers had risen to 379,000. Then along came Theresa May. At the snap 2017 general election, net migration stood at 270,000, and she had an election pledge to get net migration down to the tens of thousands, but by 2019 the number had risen to 275,000.

• 13 Mar 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Ninth sitting) · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Dagenham and Rainham and I welcome the new clause. British citizens must be safe, and they need a Government who act to protect them. I believe that the new clause will give them reassurance that we have the ability to impose tight controls and monitoring of an individual if it is deemed necessary by the authorities. We must have legislation that puts the security of our country at the top of the agenda, and the new clause gives the police the powers to impose electronic monitoring, curfews and movement bans on people who are perceived to be a threat when ECHR obligations are protecting them.

• 12 Mar 2025 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I refer Members to my declaration of interests, which clearly states my positive relationship with the trade union movement. I am a member of Community and the GMB, and that is where I want to begin my contribution. My father, a proud USDAW member, recruited me to his union the very first day that I had a proper job, aged 16, drawing a real wage with a pay packet and a pay slip. I had stepped into the grown-up world, and joining a union was part of my graduation. I was brought up to believe that a union has our backs and can help with issues like unfair dismissal, discrimination, harassment and bullying. As an MP, when I am approached by a constituent with a problem at work, my first question is, “Are you a member of a trade union?” In Bassetlaw, good companies and organisations like Cargill, Schutz, Cinch Connectors, Cerealto, Autism East Midlands and Bassetlaw hospital have good partnerships with unions like the GMB, and I welcome that. As a small business woman, I served for 10 years on the national executive of the long ago merged Manufacturing, Science and Finance union. That is where I reinforced my values and belief that a trade union is a force for good in the workplace, where partnership working with the employer serves to increase productivity, pride and shared understanding. Such partnerships mean that many of the key employment measures in the Employment Rights Bill have already been adopted by many major employers, who regard good employee relations as a key element for their competitive success in the markets in which they operate. When people go to work but have no certainty about the hours that they will work or what their weekly income will be, it is unfair. When they go to work with the fear that they may be sacked tomorrow for no reason, it is unfair. When they are paid below the minimum wage for a day’s work, it is unfair. And when they are ill and face three days without pay, it is unfair. This Bill is about putting fairness back into work and putting pride into our workplaces. We need to end the zero-hour contracts and the trickery of fire and rehire; deliver day one protections from unfair dismissal; and extend rights to sick pay to 1.3 million people.