Katie White MP: speeches

Speeches

• 23 Jun 2025 · Pride Month · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism for opening this important debate and giving us this opportunity, and for doing it in such a poignant yet joyful way. I am also honoured to be sharing the Chamber with both of my predecessors; I think that shows that this is an area where we do have more in common. From boxing champion and sporting legend Nicola Adams to beloved playwright Alan Bennett and award-winning composer Angela Morley, Leeds has produced countless trailblazers who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. In true Yorkshire fashion, we don’t do things by halves. Leeds boasts one of the biggest LGBTQ+ communities in the UK. From The Bookish Type, an independent bookshop, to the Leeds Queer Film Festival in our city centre, represented by my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel), Leeds has so much to offer, thanks to our vibrant community. In my constituency of Leeds North West, many local businesses are celebrating and showing their support with vibrant rainbow flags and Pride-themed window displays, such as Courtyard Creativities in Horsforth. There is so much to celebrate, but there is still work to be done. The community, as we have discussed already— I am sure more will come—still faces discrimination and last year, sadly, 10,000 hate crimes were reported to West Yorkshire police. I am proud that we are leading the charge, committing to strengthening our hate crimes legislation until everyone is free to live and express themselves without fear.

• 15 May 2025 · Youth Services · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon East (Natasha Irons) for securing this important debate. The long-term funding of youth services is not just an issue of public spending; we are talking about an investment in the next generation, and in building a future in which all young people can thrive. As colleagues have said, we face a mental health crisis. According to recent NHS data, one in five children now has a probable mental health condition. I was really saddened to read the latest UNICEF data, which places the UK near the bottom of the league table of high-income countries for the wellbeing of children and the happiness of teenagers. The UK ranked 27th out of 36 on child mental health, and British teenagers were joint second from last for overall happiness. The economic consequences are stark, too. According to the Government’s “Keep Britain Working” report, young people with mental health conditions are nearly five times more likely to be economically inactive. Since 2015, there has been a surge in the number of young people with work-limiting health conditions to 1.2 million, and more than half a million of those cases come down to poor mental health. Although there has been welcome progress from this Government—they have launched the national youth strategy, committed to ensuring more mental health support teams in schools, and increased investment in early intervention—the pressures on young people continue to grow. Young people face challenges that were never encountered by previous generations, including the impact of smartphones and social media, which bring increased social pressures. However, over the past decade, local services have been decimated; they have lost more than £1 billion since 2010. In my constituency, I recently met Tahlia, who attended one of my surgeries to talk about the lack of support for her children with special educational needs, and the lack of youth services in our community. Rather than wait for action, Tahlia took it upon herself to connect with organisations to explore how best to support the youth of Horsforth. She is working with others to transform a derelict building into a community hub for young people, with a focus on supporting neurodiverse needs. That is a powerful example not only of community leadership, but of unmet need. I would like us to do more to support meaningful local consultation. We should bring together young people, parents, schools and community groups to ensure that long-term funding is targeted at youth services where they are needed most. The investment should align with the Government’s goal of improving mental health support in schools, not as a stand-alone fix, but as a broader part of our strategy. My questions for the Minister are: how can we better support community-wide, wraparound services, ensure direct funding, and bring together schools, parents, youth workers and local organisations to meet that need? What further steps can we take to limit the negative impacts of smartphones and social media on young people’s mental health, beyond supporting the ban on phones in schools and raising the digital age of consent? If we want a prosperous and productive future, the most powerful investment that we can make is in the opportunities, wellbeing and potential of our young people today.

• 7 Mar 2025 · Protection of Children (Digital Safety and Data Protection) Bill · Hansard source

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  May I start, like others, by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister) for bringing forward this private Member’s Bill? There have been many plaudits for him, and I would like to add that it is my understanding that he is grounded in evidence-based policymaking. He has focused on issues that are perceived as being very tricky, but which will have an outsized impact. I have been really warmed by this cross-party debate. We have heard from the hon. Members for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) and for Reigate (Rebecca Paul), my hon. Friends the Members for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) and for Lowestoft (Jess Asato), and the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds). Many of us have travelled to and from our constituencies, some making long journeys—I know that some have been on the sleeper train—to make this incredibly important debate. I have received twice as much correspondence on this Bill as on any other issue this year. I want to thank the people of Leeds North West, including the schoolchildren, teachers and parents who have shared their experiences with me, and to make special mention of Bramhope primary school, Benton Park school, Ralph Thoresby school and Rawdon St Peter’s primary school, which shared their stories and are showing leadership. There are a few key issues, and I will try not to repeat them because I know many other Members want to get in. The key issue is the profound mental health crisis among our children, and we can see a clear correlation. NHS England found that 20.3% of eight to 16-year-olds had a probable mental disorder in 2023. Poor mental health among our older teenagers aged 16 and 17 has increased by more than a quarter since 2017. Research by University College London and the Sutton Trust found that almost half—44%—of young people were above the threshold for probable mental illness, so we need to look for solutions and fast. Teachers and parents alike have shared their concerns, and wellbeing teachers that have been put in place spend much of their time adjudicating battles that are out of their control on WhatsApp. The other thing I found when I spoke to parents, teachers and pupils was the sense of overwhelm—all of them are overwhelmed. Parents and certainly teachers want to play their full role, but they are completely overwhelmed. Parents feel huge pressure from peers and networks to get it right, and many of us who watched the Channel 4 documentary with Emma Willis saw and felt that sense of overwhelm in trying to navigate this situation. I agreed with much of what the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire (Kit Malthouse) said, but the lack of clear guidance is clear from the fact that people are navigating the issue in different ways, so I do think the recommendation in the Bill will be helpful. Schools in my constituency have said that while they are willing to act, they are responsible for the children for only 20% of the time, so they cannot control everything. It needs to involve all of us; we all need to play our part. What really hits me is the opportunity cost of what else those children could be doing. Screen time has rocketed. In 2009, five to 15-year-olds averaged nine hours on screens per week. That has jumped to between six and nine hours a day. Screen time has replaced critical childhood activities, as has been said, such as outdoor play, social interactions and hobbies, and learning those essential motor and social skills. Benton Park school in my constituency recently introduced a phone-free policy during the school day. When I asked the teachers what happened, they said that the view of the playground is completely different. Where it used to be all heads down, the pupils were now talking, laughing and playing. The World Health Organisation recommends that children aged two to five should have no more than one hour of screen time a day. New research on excessive screen time looks at the impacts on the prefrontal cortex, the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe. Fundamental shifts are happening in the brain development of our children. My constituent Stevie talked about children arriving at school with weaker motor and social skills, and struggling with basic physical and communication tasks, such as holding a pencil, using scissors and social negotiation. That is not to mention the exposure to harmful content that colleagues have referred to. Many of us were shocked by last week’s Bertin review and the many dangers it noted, which we have also heard about in our constituencies. On a possibly less damaging level, I have seen the impact of the beauty industry targeting young girls on YouTube. Young girls now want these ridiculous skincare regimes. High-strength retinols and hyaluronic acids are being marketed to them. I have not even started using those—perhaps I should—so why on earth are eight-year-olds using them? The need for better regulation of online content aimed at children is absolutely clear. To echo the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington, I find the argument that the genie is out of the bottle infuriating. Many of us have noticed that a lot of the tech giants do not allow their children to access online media. When other addictive products were introduced to the market and we subsequently realised their harm, like my hon. Friend said about smoking, did we do nothing? No. We are here to solve problems, not to bury our head in the sand and accept the consequences. We already have some of the answers. As my hon. Friend said, there is good, reliable age-verification technology—platforms like Yoti—that will make this work, and that is why other countries are introducing restrictions with confidence. In fact, we will implement that soon with the Online Safety Act. Finally, to the Bill. I strongly welcome the role of the UK chief medical officers—who doesn’t want more Chris Whitty in their life? Schools and parents are crying out for more top-down guidance, so I applaud this effort. We have to make sure that an evidence base is at the heart of what we do, and I applaud the Government for bringing this Bill forward, but I urge them to make it the first step in our actions. Would the Minister consider giving us some sort of interim update by the summer? This is a crucial moment, and while I appreciate that this process will take place over a 12-month period, an update by the summer would be very helpful. Taking any opportunity we can to increase the length of childhood for all our children would be beneficial to all of our constituents and to the country.

• 21 Jan 2025 · Marine Protected Areas (Bottom Trawling) (England) · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to prohibit the practice of bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas in England, and for connected purposes. It is a privilege to speak on a topic that has cross-party support and builds on the excellent work led by my right hon. and hon. Friends the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Ministers to put nature on the road to recovery and address the climate crisis. This Government and this Parliament are the greenest of my lifetime, and I am proud to be a Member for a party with such a distinguished history of leading on environmental protection. This Bill offers an opportunity for a fairer, greener future, and I am grateful for support for the Bill from colleagues across the House. It is important to remember that protecting our oceans and marine protected areas is not only a Labour legacy, but a Yorkshire one. In 2009, my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds South (Hilary Benn), the then Environment Secretary, spearheaded the passage of the Marine and Coastal Access Act, a landmark Act that established a network of marine protected areas to safeguard vital marine habitats, species and ecosystems. Fifteen years later, with a new Labour Government in place, we have the opportunity to strengthen protections for these areas even further. Before I lay out my case to the House, I must address the obvious question: why is the MP for Leeds North West, a landlocked constituency in the heart of west Yorkshire, bringing forward a ten-minute rule Bill to ban bottom trawling in our marine protected areas? It is a fair question; after all, up in Leeds our closest encounters with marine life might be spotting a trout in the River Wharfe or enjoying fish and chips on the drive back from Whitby. Yet the health of our seas is not just an issue for coastal constituencies; it is a national responsibility. The ecosystems in our waters play a crucial role in regulating the planet’s climate, absorbing carbon dioxide, and supporting biodiversity that impacts life far beyond our shores. From sheltered sea lochs to wild open waters, from seaweed beds to deepwater coral, the UK’s coasts and seas are extraordinary. They are home to an astonishing variety of wildlife, including dolphins, whales, sharks, seals, puffins and deep-sea coral reefs. They are also vital to our economy and communities, particularly our essential fishing industry, as well as our tourism, shipping and the growing renewable energy sectors. We are an island nation and we are never more than 70 miles from the sea here in the UK. Whether it is pollution, habitat destruction or the impact of climate change, we Brits are deeply connected to our coastal heritage. But while our seas work hard for us, they face growing pressures, and bottom trawling is one of the most destructive practices of all. For Members unfamiliar with destructive bottom trawling, it involves dragging heavy nets and metalwork across our seabed, destroying fragile ecosystems and habitats that take decades or even centuries to recover. As a fellow Member so aptly put it to me, it is like ripping up an orchard to pick an apple. Just one or two trawls over an area can decimate the seabed for up to five years. Alarmingly, this is happening right now across our marine protected areas—zones specifically designated to safeguard and recover biodiversity. My Bill builds on previous work to ban this destructive practice. Currently, only 5% of the UK’s marine protected areas have a ban on it. My argument in support of the Bill is threefold: first, the British public overwhelmingly expects a ban; secondly, our small fishing businesses are suffering without a ban; and thirdly, it is crucial for the ongoing health of ecosystems in marine protected areas and the broader protection of the environment, and the natural world in which we, in Britain, take great pride. On public support, research from Oceana shows that the measure has significant backing, with eight in 10 UK adults in favour of banning destructive bottom trawling in marine protected areas. What is particularly striking is the level of misunderstanding around the issue. When surveyed, the vast majority of people-—around 64%—mistakenly believe such a ban is already in place. Many of the individuals I have spoken to in recent weeks share this misconception and, frankly, it is no surprise: the term “protected” in marine protected areas naturally leads people to assume that harmful activities such as destructive bottom trawling are prohibited. The reality, however, is quite the opposite: these fragile ecosystems remain exposed to one of the most destructive forms of industrial fishing, which devastates habitats and wildlife. Secondly, on our hard-working British fishermen and women, especially the small-scale fisheries that have been at the heart of our coastal communities for generations, let us be clear: they are not the ones dragging heavy nets across the seabed, destroying delicate ecosystems. The culprits are industrial-scale operations and supertrawlers that prioritise profit over sustainability, leaving our own small-scale fishers to bear the brunt of their actions. This is David versus Goliath—a fight to protect the lifeblood of our coastal communities from the destructive might of industrial fishing giants. In 2023 just 10 fishing vessels over 20 metres in length were responsible for more than a quarter of the destructive bottom trawling. None of the 10 vessels were from the UK. I will not pretend to be an expert on the fishing industry, but Bally Philp, a fisherman with decades of experience, puts it best: he describes how “small-scale fishers are under a lot of pressure everywhere, mostly from industrial fisheries”. He says that one of the things that impacts quite heavily on small-scale fishers is a highly degraded ecosystem, because many small fishers are only viable in a healthy, productive ecosystem. Bally Philp speaks for many in our fisheries who want stronger protections that ensure their livelihoods are not sacrificed for the short-term gains of large industrial operators. Protecting our 178 English marine protected areas from destructive bottom trawling is not only about safeguarding marine life; it is about securing a sustainable future for the communities who depend on our seas for their way of life. Lastly, and most importantly, we need to protect and restore our marine protected areas for both climate and nature. Bottom trawling is not just destructive and emissions-heavy; it reduces carbon sequestration. Our oceans are unsung climate heroes. A series of recent reports from the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and Wildlife Trusts has found that the UK’s seabeds play a quiet yet crucial role in carbon sequestration, storing up to 13 million tonnes, nearly three times the amount captured by UK forests. This is not inevitable in England, and we do not need to imagine the positive impact of the Bill. We have already seen the benefits of banning bottom trawling in some of our marine protected areas, such as Lyme bay on England’s south coast. In 2008, a partial ban on destructive fishing practices was introduced. This was later expanded to 312 sq km—about 120 square miles—through overlapping conservation efforts. The results have been extraordinary. The seabed has begun to recover, with coral reefs like pink sea fans regrowing, scallop numbers increasing, and species such as black bream returning to the area. Within just a decade, the number of species in the protected zone increased by almost 40%, compared with a 5% decline outside it. Local fishermen, such as Matt Toms, have witnessed these changes at first hand. Since destructive bottom trawling was banned, he has observed a lot more fish in the area, including black bream breeding in the bay once again. This is proof that protecting our marine ecosystems benefits not only the environment but also the communities who rely on it. Lyme bay is living evidence that with the right action, recovery is possible, and this and every other measure should be guided by the science. Sometimes people fail to act because they cannot see what is going on beneath the ocean. That cannot be said of our national hero Sir David Attenborough and I thank him for his years of service documenting our planet. I am excited to hear that he is premiering a new film that draws attention to the damage we have caused and the opportunities to humanity, in particular fishing communities, of well managed and protected oceans. I also thank the Blue Marine Foundation, Oceana, WWF and many other activists across the country for their work. To close, as I have said previously, I came into politics from a background in climate and nature. I proudly campaigned for the Climate Change Act in 2008, a landmark Act brought in by the last Labour Government. It taught me from the outset of my career what could be achieved through a sustained, steadfast commitment to a cause. That Act has succeeded because of its pragmatism and cross-party consensus. For that reason, I am proud of the cross-party nature of this Bill and its co-signatories. The implementation of this Bill is a matter of common sense: for the small fisheries of this country; for the wildlife in our marine protected areas; and for all of us who depend on a healthy planet. This Bill is about real action on climate and nature, and I hope colleagues will join me in seizing this opportunity. Question put and agreed to . Ordered, That Katie White, Anna Gelderd, Mr Toby Perkins, Ms Polly Billington, Alistair Strathern, Luke Murphy, Sarah Champion, Aphra Brandreth, Mr Andrew Mitchell, Wera Hobhouse and Carla Denyer present the Bill. Katie White accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June, and to be printed (Bill 165) . Arbitration Bill [ Lords ] Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standin Order No. 5 9( 2 )), That the Arbitration Bill [Lords] shall no longer stand referred to a Second Reading Committee.— ( Martin McCluskey.) Question agreed to.

• 13 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  My constituent’s daughter, Bethany Rae Fields, was brutally murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2019, despite raising multiple alarms of her abuse to the police. This week, Bethany’s mother Pauline travelled down to Parliament to bring her case to the Minister. Does the Prime Minister agree with Pauline that more needs to be done to shift the culture towards believing victims and reacting fast when they sound the alarm of concern, as one way to reduce violence against women and girls?