Kirsty Blackman MP: speeches

Speeches

• 30 Jun 2025 · Welfare Reform · Hansard source

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  If this is what Labour thinks people voted for and what people wanted when they voted in July last year, why was it not in the Labour manifesto? Why did Labour not put in its manifesto that it was going to cut the winter fuel payment, keep the two-child cap and push 150,000 more disabled people into poverty? Is it perhaps because the Secretary of State realised how deeply unpopular and wrong these changes would be?

• 23 Jun 2025 · Pride Month · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Member on taking this opportunity to say what she has said. It is not easy to say something like that in a Chamber like this. Having done something similar not that long ago, I absolutely respect her, and I join her in celebrating Pride month.

• 21 May 2025 · Points of Order · Hansard source

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  On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance on how I can get a response from the Department for Work and Pensions. I have written to the Secretary of State in relation to one of my constituents, who was told by a first-tier tribunal that the DWP must make payments to him backdated to January 2020. The tribunal decision was in February and we have been chasing the Department for a response for over a month. Will you advise me on how I can get a response?

• 19 May 2025 · Gender Self-identification · Hansard source

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  When the Minister encourages the hon. Member for Llanelli to update us on the timelines, will she encourage her to update us with information on what the scrutiny process will be? I might have missed it, but I do not know whether it is subject to the negative or the affirmative procedure. If a statement could be made to the House explaining both those things, that would be helpful for all of us.

• 19 May 2025 · Gender Self-identification · Hansard source

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  If a trans person has to out themselves every time they go to the toilet, does the hon. Member believe, like me, that that fundamentally conflicts with the right to privacy under the European convention on human rights?

• 19 May 2025 · Gender Self-identification · Hansard source

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  The shadow Minister is making the case that biological sex is incredibly important for things such as medical procedures—absolutely. However, I am not sure how she thinks that the marker on someone’s passport has any relationship with that. If, as has been argued, biological sex is immutable and cannot be changed, surely it does not matter what someone’s passport, driving licence or even birth certificate says? There is, apparently, some magical way of ascertaining people’s biological sex that nobody has yet told me about, unless it is a DNA test. Why does biological sex matter on a passport if, as a number of people have said, it is immutable and cannot be changed anyway?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Welfare Cap · Hansard source

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  People go to food banks because work does not pay and the two-child cap, for example, means that they do not have enough money to live on or to support their families. Why is the hon. Member supporting a welfare cap that bakes in the two-child limit?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Welfare Cap · Hansard source

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  I am not sure how long the Minister has left in her speech, but I have a question about the welfare cap. We are being asked to make two decisions: to approve the welfare cap, and to note the breach. She has made the case for how the Government are trying to get Britain working and why the breach has happened this year, but so far she has not made the case for why they are putting in a welfare cap this year and why we parliamentarians should agree to it.

• 22 Jan 2025 · Support for Women Pensioners · Hansard source

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  7. What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the adequacy of Government support for women pensioners in Scotland.

• 22 Jan 2025 · Support for Women Pensioners · Hansard source

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  Do the Minister and the Secretary of State agree with Labour MSPs that WASPI women deserve compensation?

• 18 Dec 2024 · Future Earnings: Impact of Socioeconomic Disadvantage · Hansard source

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  Low-earning women are far less likely to have sufficient private pensions than their male counterparts. Is that why the Secretary of State decided that governmental responsibility ends when working age ends?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Government have made a number of commitments on the implementation of the Cass review. Will they commit themselves to ensuring that trans people do have access to the healthcare that they need, and to ensuring that waiting lists are brought down as soon as possible?

• 2 Sept 2024 · Infected Blood Compensation Scheme · Hansard source

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  The communication with representatives of the Scottish Government is welcome, but can the Minister reassure us that representatives of the infected and affected in Scotland will be listened to as well? Can all payments be excluded, as far as possible, from income when it comes to benefits eligibility? On the administrative point, if people do not respond quickly enough to the data protection query—this is a very big, overwhelming thing to deal with—will they be given support? Can the Minister confirm that they will not be sent just one letter, and will not be left out and not given compensation if they do not respond? They should be given every encouragement and support in making their application, particularly if they find that difficult.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  Given the likely breakdown, does the Leader of the House understand that only three parties will be represented on the Committee? It would be possible to flex that slightly, and have voices from more than just three parties on the Committee, while still keeping it relatively small.