Jonathan Hinder MP: speeches

Speeches

• 23 Mar 2026 · Puberty Blockers Clinical Trial · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. The proposed puberty blockers trial on children is not just badly designed; it is profoundly unethical. It proposes that vulnerable children who are struggling with their identity, but medically healthy, be given drugs that risk permanent damage. We know that this group of children is deeply vulnerable. They deserve proper care and treatment. The medicalising of gender identity risks underlying conditions being overlooked, meaning that children will not get the support they really need. Children in this trial would be at what is called Tanner stage 2 of puberty. For children at Tanner stage 2 who proceed to cross-sex hormones—basically, all of them—infertility is not a risk, but an expected outcome. I repeat: once they are locked into this medicalised pathway, infertility is expected. Let us be absolutely clear that this trial would mean the British state sterilising healthy little children in plain sight—not by accident, but consciously and deliberately. How could we do that to children? It would be the most appalling state scandal imaginable. These medically healthy children need love, compassion and support. They should not be given powerful drugs to stop their body from developing as normal. The truth is that puberty can be very distressing for any child, not least those who do not conform to aggressive gender stereotypes or who will grow up to be same-sex attracted. Puberty is a natural and essential part of becoming a fully grown human being. I say to those children: you are perfect just the way you are and you do not need to be somehow corrected with these drugs. Children of primary school age cannot possibly give consent to these life-changing decisions. When they become adults, many of them will look back on what was done to them and ask, “How did this happen to me? How did the Government do this to me?”

• 26 Jan 2026 · Police Reform White Paper · Hansard source

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  Policing needs a stronger national centre, modern IT systems that actually work and can talk to each other, and much better mental health support for officers who are exposed to so much trauma. These reforms could deliver that, so I welcome those elements. However, I am sceptical about the licence to practise and the value that it might add, although I approach it with an open mind. Although I believe in having different routes into policing, I am sceptical about direct entry at inspector rank specifically, given that it is such a crucial operational rank—and one that I myself have held. This has, after all, been tried unsuccessfully by the previous Government. If policing reform is to be a success, it will be down to the implementation on the frontline—that is what really matters to the public—so the voices of those on the frontline must be a key part, and that cannot be possible through the rotten Police Federation, which only today was found to have unlawfully suspended elected officers for speaking up. Will the Home Secretary guarantee that she will take the voices of the frontline into account before making final decisions, and will she meet me to discuss the proposals?

• 13 Jan 2026 · Puberty Suppressants · Hansard source

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  The Government were right to bring in the indefinite ban on puberty blockers due to concerns over the past 15 years about the gender services treatment that was being given. Over that time, 2,000 children who were questioning their gender identity have been given puberty blockers, so could the Minister explain why we are not following up on their long-term outcomes before we administer these powerful drugs to 200 more children?

• 17 Dec 2025 · Puberty Suppressants Trial · Hansard source

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  We are talking here about physically healthy primary school-age children being injected with drugs to stop them growing up. There is nothing medically wrong with these children; what they need is love, support and compassion to help them to accept their healthy bodies. They are perfect just the way they are. The Health Secretary says that he is “uncomfortable” with this experiment, and his instincts are correct. In the haunting words of Keira Bell, a courageous young woman and a victim of the Tavistock scandal: “I was an unhappy girl who needed help. Instead, I was treated like an experiment.” When these children who are now going to be experimented on become adults, they will want to know who did this to them. This time, the truth will be that this was state-sanctioned, out in the open and—I am afraid to say—at the Health Secretary’s say-so. I am begging the Health Secretary to use his power as the politician in charge to do what he must know is right and stop this.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Government’s deal to build 20 new Typhoons for NATO member Turkey is welcome news for jobs in Lancashire, including for my Pendle and Clitheroe constituents who work at BAE’s Samlesbury site. I am sure that the Minister will agree that, in this geopolitical environment, we need sovereign capability more than ever, so can he give us some more good news, back British workers and put in a domestic order for Typhoons?

• 17 Nov 2025 · Asylum Policy · Hansard source

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  Having gangsters control who comes into our country is intolerable. It is not fair, humane or socialist. My constituents say to me that they just want control. They want the politicians they send to this Chamber to make the decisions on who comes into this country, not the gangsters. Can the Home Secretary reassure my constituents that she will not rest until every migrant, refugee or otherwise, comes to this country through a safe and legal route?

• 17 Nov 2025 · Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Power Station: Wylfa · Hansard source

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  I am delighted to see this Labour Government cracking on with new nuclear in the form of small modular reactors. When the Rolls-Royce site in Barnoldswick in my constituency was saved from closure during the pandemic, future SMR manufacturing work was specifically referenced in the dispute resolution agreement negotiated by my own trade union, Unite. As this Government are committed to creating clean jobs in all parts of the country, will the Minister and other relevant Ministers impress on Rolls-Royce SMR that some of the jobs created by this project must come to Barnoldswick?

• 13 Nov 2025 · Police Reform · Hansard source

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  I welcome this decision and think that the abolition of PCCs is sensible. The role was ill defined and poorly understood by the public, as the Minister has mentioned, and it failed to add sufficient tangible value to justify its existence. However, I echo the Minister’s comments about the individuals who have served, particularly Clive Grunshaw, who is the current police and crime commissioner for Lancashire, and indeed the hon. Member for Fylde (Mr Snowden), who is not in his place but who served as the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Lancashire. As the Minister mentioned, the introduction of PCCs had an effect on the recruitment of chief constables. Their one-on-one relationships were too fraught, and it meant that a small falling-out could lead to chief constables being fired. Can she talk about how we can get more high-quality candidates to apply to become chief constables, and about how their relationship with the deputy mayors might operate?

• 29 Oct 2025 · UK-Türkiye Typhoon Export Deal · Hansard source

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  Many of my constituents in Pendle and Clitheroe work at the BAE site in Samlesbury, and they are delighted at this news, so I thank the Minister for his work and everyone who has worked on the deal. This deal is good for our national security, high-skilled jobs and local economies such as mine in Lancashire. Will the Minister outline what these contracts mean for opportunities for apprenticeships for young people?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  I am going to finish. Property taxes in this country do need radical reform—on that, I hope I can find allies on all sides of this House. We need a more proportional property tax, but the Tories’ hare-brained idea to scrap stamp duty—a big tax cut for the better-off in the south-east—with no plan to pay for it, while leaving the regressive council tax untouched, is just not serious.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Stamp Duty Land Tax · Hansard source

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  Let us get straight to the point: what we are discussing today is a Tory plan for tax cuts for the better off, with no plan to pay for it. That is what the Tories have chosen to spend their Opposition day on. My constituents are frustrated by the stark regional inequality in our country that means that London and the south-east are, economically speaking, another country all together. They lament the lack of public investment in transport, infrastructure and skills that this Labour Government are seeking to put right, so it is staggering that the Tories have chosen to propose tax cuts for people buying expensive homes in London and the south-east, further entrenching that regional inequality. In the north-west, the average house price is about £200,000; in London, it is over £550,000. That means that 95% of first-time buyers in the north-west of England do not pay stamp duty, whereas 80% of them in London do. These are, let us be clear, the priorities of the same old Conservative party we have always known: the protection of wealth in the south-east above the concerns of constituents such as mine. Where would their supposed spending cuts fall? The motion does not tell us, so we can only assume that they would fall on public services in areas such as Pendle and Clitheroe. The funny thing is that I am a strong advocate for serious property tax reform, but the Tories are not proposing to address the most unfair, regressive tax in Britain, which is council tax. Our council tax system punishes working-class people in the north precisely because they live in a poorer area. Can you believe, Madam Deputy Speaker, that someone living in a £1 million London townhouse will pay £1,000 less per year in council tax than a constituent of mine living in a house worth £250,000? It bears repeating—£1,000 less for someone who lives in a £1 million London townhouse than for someone who lives in a £250,000 house. That is outrageous, and if the Conservatives were still a serious party, perhaps they would focus on council tax, which is so emblematic of the regional inequalities I have just mentioned. Those inequalities have condemned once-prosperous regions of the country to steady economic decline. The Conservatives will not do so, though, because they quite literally no longer represent regions such as mine. Looking across the Chamber, I cannot see a north-west Conservative MP, but that is not surprising, because there are now only three—they are a rare species, just as Conservative MPs are in many other regions outside the south-east. The Conservatives’ answer remains the same as it has always been: that growth in the south-east will lift up constituencies such as mine. “Make those with wealth wealthier and everyone else will benefit”, they say, but that economic thinking has failed time and again.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Local Government Funding: North-west England · Hansard source

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  I am pleased that the hon. Member is leading this debate and glad that he is raising the point of regional inequality. Does he agree that council tax is the most unfair, regressive tax in Britain, and that it is long overdue a proper overhaul to link property values to the amount of tax paid, as is not the case at the moment?

• 15 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to my former colleagues for the way that they professionally policed the protests over the weekend, and I wish those who were injured a speedy recovery. Police officers cannot join a union and they have only one staff association—the Police Federation—to choose from, the chief executive of which reportedly took home over £600,000 last year. Will the new ministerial team commit to reviewing whether that monopoly can really serve the interests of our brave police officers?

• 8 Jul 2025 · Deporting Foreign Offenders: Prison Capacity · Hansard source

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  Will the Lord Chancellor update the House on the conversation she had with international partners on the European convention on human rights during her recent visit to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg?

• 7 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The chair of the Met Police Federation, Rick Prior, and the chair of the West Midlands Police Federation, Rich Cooke, have both been removed by the unelected chief executive of the Police Federation after speaking up for the officers they were elected to represent. Is the Home Secretary as concerned as I am that the only staff association that police officers are legally allowed to join is no longer fit for purpose?

• 3 Jul 2025 · Sports Governing Bodies: Supreme Court Judgment · Hansard source

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  More than two months after the Supreme Court clarified the law, there remains a long list of sporting bodies that are denying fairness to women and girls, including Parkrun and, remarkably, sports such as weightlifting and wrestling—the mind boggles. Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is no need to wait for further guidance and that these bodies should take the advice of the Prime Minister and get on with it?

• 3 Jul 2025 · Sports Governing Bodies: Supreme Court Judgment · Hansard source

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  9. What discussions she has had with sports governing bodies on ensuring that they are compliant with the Supreme Court judgment in the case of For Women Scotland v . The Scottish Ministers.

• 26 Jun 2025 · IVF Egg Donation: Young Women · Hansard source

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  Whatever we think about the motivations of the women involved, we can agree that private companies are concerned with profit, and they are the ones that are in many cases running such adverts. Does the hon. Lady agree that it is unethical to make profit out of the practice?

• 26 Jun 2025 · IVF Egg Donation: Young Women · Hansard source

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  I am talking about egg donation.

• 26 Jun 2025 · IVF Egg Donation: Young Women · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Lady not think that the fact that payments are given, whether they are badged as compensation or fees, means that we cannot actually say at the moment that donations are being given for purely altruistic reasons?

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

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  I am delighted that Rolls-Royce has been selected to deliver SMRs in the UK. It really is time for us to stop delaying the new fleet of nuclear power stations more broadly. The Secretary of State will remember that he came to my constituency before the election, to the Barnoldswick Rolls-Royce site, and heard that it now supports 400 jobs, whereas pre-pandemic it was 900. This is a huge opportunity for us to create good skilled jobs in all parts of the country, so will he reassure me that the Government as the customer of Rolls-Royce will demand that those jobs go to places such as Barnoldswick and all over the UK and that we stop the offshoring of manufacturing?

• 22 May 2025 · Independent Sentencing Review · Hansard source

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  This is a day of shame for the Conservative party. One of their own has laid bare the scale of its failure, leaving us with nowhere to put the prisoners. Conservatives used to call themselves the party of law and order. Take it from this former police inspector: they lost that label long ago and they are never getting it back. Moving forward, the criminal justice system is just that—a system. Decisions taken on policing, courts, probation and prisons all affect one another, so will the Lord Chancellor assure me that the implications for policing and the enforcement of sentences are being taken into account when we roll out the changes?

• 22 Apr 2025 · “For Women Scotland” Supreme Court Ruling · Hansard source

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  We have made so much progress as a society in breaking down sexist stereotyping. The stereotypes that said women had set roles and should look and act in a certain way were being broken down, exposed as the fake construct they really are. Sex is the only factor that distinguishes men from women. Beyond that, we should be able to live without conforming to those stereotypes. Then a movement came along that argued that all those feminine, girly things and those sexist stereotypes we had been fighting to break down were, in fact, the things that make a woman, and not sex. That is regressive, backward and nonsensical. Will the Minister join me in saluting those courageous women who stood up and pointed out the absurdity of that argument, and commit to rooting out that ideology from our public institutions?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Sentencing Council Guidelines · Hansard source

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  I join colleagues in paying tribute to the Lord Chancellor for her decisive leadership and for the thoughtful way in which she has answered questions today. [Laughter.] I welcome, as will my constituents in Pendle and Clitheroe, her confirmation that equality before the law will remain, and I look forward to seeing the Bill that she proposes. I can see the Tories railing against the justice system that they left us, but we on the Government Benches really are mad about it: we had a backlog of 70,000 Crown court cases, there were no prison places left and neighbourhood policing was hollowed out. Is it any wonder that voters so comprehensively rejected the Tories?

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

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  I thank the Minister and her colleagues in the Department for the work that they are doing to tackle illegal immigration, especially the enforcement against the gangs who put vulnerable lives at risk. My constituents want illegal immigration stopped, and the chaotic huffing and puffing from the Conservatives is one of the reasons they were booted out on this issue at the general election. It is important to restoring faith in politics that we deliver on it. Does the Minister believe that the existing legal framework on asylum and returns will allow us to do so?