Lola McEvoy MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 17 Dec 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q4. Merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker, and all your fantastic staff. The year 2025 has been momentous for Darlington—Britain’s best town—but there is much more to do. I met a lovely woman when I was out door-knocking recently, who works 12-hour night shifts at a care home in the town. Her colleagues are on minimum wage and many care workers across the town are not even paid time and a half for working on Christmas day. Like so many in her profession, she wants the system fixed not for herself, but for her residents. I believe that starts with radical improvements to care workers’ terms and conditions. This workforce of mostly women do essential, skilled and exhausting work without fuss, fanfare and—still—fair pay. They deserve better. What can I tell the Darlington care workers will have improved for them by next Christmas?

• 16 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Earlier this year, a man was convicted by a jury of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13. This vile perpetrator was given a suspended sentence, with his mental health cited as the reason. He was spared prison and, crucially, his mental health had no impact on his culpability for this horrible crime. My constituents have sought justice, and I agree with them that the sentence is outrageously lenient. Will the Secretary of State please write to the Sentencing Council to stress that this Government believe that those found guilty of sexual crimes against children should go to prison, and that suspended sentences must only be granted in the rarest and most extreme mitigating circumstances?

• 15 Dec 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Repeal · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making a clear and coherent speech. I surveyed 1,000 young people in my constituency, and the forum leads of my online safety forum said that they had found graphic and disturbing content, which they had never searched for, regularly fed to them through the algorithms. Does the hon. Member agree that that is robbing children of their childhood and that age verification needs to be stronger, not weaker, as a result of the 2023 Act?

• 15 Dec 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Repeal · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for giving way and for being so generous with his time. Can we also pass on to the Minister that, going forward, there is a possibility to brand bots? That would require the Online Safety Act to be amended to make sure that any profile that is a bot—generated by AI—is explicitly marketed as such, which would protect users as AI advances.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Repeal · Hansard source

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  The Government launched the youth strategy last week, the first in over two decades. It was on the back of stark research that found that one in four children growing up today do not have a trusted adult they can reach out to. Does the hon. Lady agree that functioning AI could be put to good use in the NHS? It could support signposting and make sure that children can get to the charities doing great work to support them, rather than giving them algorithm-based advice?

• 26 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Member that the child maintenance system needs reforming. Does he agree that, in 2010, it was wrong of the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition to introduce a £50 access fee for people who were trying to get the money that the absent parent of their child was refusing to pay? Was that a bad decision by his Government at the time?

• 26 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Member therefore agree on the point in this Budget around investing £16 million in a cutting-edge science, technology, engineering and maths centre in my constituency to enable us to repair the post-Conservative scarring that we felt as a community, as we saw the hollowing out of our manufacturing sector?

• 27 Oct 2025 · Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay · Hansard source

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  I have raised many times in this Chamber the inequality of paternity rights when it comes to unfair dismissal. Addressing that would not cost the taxpayer or businesses anything, because protection is already in place for those who take shared parental leave, maternity leave and adoption leave. Will the Minister reflect that point in the review as well? He did not mention paternity when he gave us his overview of the review’s purpose, but I think that all Members here agree about the importance that dads feel they can take time off, especially when they are eligible to do so.

• 27 Oct 2025 · Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 27 Oct 2025 · Victims and Courts Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for giving way in a crucial part of her speech. In the work that she is doing, I implore her to remember my constituent, whose sister Rita Roberts was brutally murdered in 1992 and not formally identified until 2023. Rita has still not had justice, as she was murdered abroad, and her family are desperate for any support that the Minister can give.

• 16 Oct 2025 · Small Churches in Rural Constituencies · Hansard source

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  St John’s church in Darlington, an iconic church that makes up the skyline of our great town, has recently been put up for sale. Will the Commissioner meet me to discuss exactly what criteria the community needs to meet to ensure that we can repurpose the church as a building of social value?

• 15 Sept 2025 · Children with SEND: Assessments and Support · Hansard source

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  The system facing children with additional needs and their parents is badly broken. I have heard truly horrific stories of deep failures of duty to vulnerable children. Many hon. Members have covered the same points, so I will use my limited time to outline the reforms that parents at my Darlington SEND surgeries want, and which I support. First, we should educate all school staff to improve the understanding of children’s needs by everyone who supports them. Secondly, we should improve physical environments in all schools—it is cheap, hurts no one, and dramatically improves some children’s ability to attend mainstream. Thirdly, we should stagger play times and break times, increase exercise, and stagger start and finish times. Fourthly, we should introduce a statutory SENCO-to-child ratio. SENCOs need to be full time. It is for the birds that somebody can go back into the classroom, cover supply, and also do the role of a SENCO in the current conditions. Some schools need more than one; it needs to be a SENCO-to-child ratio based on need. Fifthly, mainstream with some easy estate improvements works really well at primary level. Mount Pleasant school in Darlington is a great example where all pupils are excelling because of an inclusive mainstream provision and culture. Sixthly, the transition between primary and secondary is in desperate, acute need of attention. It is where children who survived or thrived in primary are hitting crisis and dropping out of school altogether. Seventhly, this is not just about children; many parents are having to drop out of the workforce as a consequence of having to meet their children’s needs. They are exhausted and burnt out as a result of an adversarial, burden-laden system that is failing them. I cannot finish the rest of my list because of time.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Leader of the House to his new role and hope to see him being as generous with Government time as he was with his own time in his previous role. As he knows well, this month our country will celebrate 200 years since the world’s first passenger railway journey took place on the Stockton to Darlington railway. This momentous innovation changed the world and led to a huge industrial boom for our region. Hundreds of thousands of skilled workers have been employed in manufacturing and engineering roles over the past 200 years, but those jobs have declined recently due to the last Government’s neglect of British industry and manufacturing. Given how vital the ambitions of our region are for the industrial strategy, will he grant Government time to debate how this Government will back British workers, back British industry and get our region booming again?

• 9 Sept 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions: Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  This month, we see an expansion of childcare that will benefit families in my constituency to the tune of £7 million, which will go back into their pockets. What assessment has the Minister made of how that spending power will benefit growth across the economy and productivity?

• 3 Sept 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q10. Prime Minister, last year, my online safety forum of children and young people from every secondary school and college in Darlington found that 71% of our year 10s and 12s had been contacted by a stranger online, a shocking failure that our Online Safety Act will hopefully prevent going forward. Will he join me in calling on the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), and all opposed to this vital Act, to pick a side? Are they with us, parents and child protectors, or are they with the predators harming our children online?

• 7 Jul 2025 · Government Performance against Fiscal Rules · Hansard source

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  Does the Chief Secretary agree that without the fiscal rules we would not have seen four interest rate cuts, which have benefited thousands of constituents across the country?

• 1 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is giving a passionate speech about our region. Does he agree that although lots of people would like to contribute, for too long the workplace has not been disability-friendly? My experience as a trade unionist is of seeing time and again people who really needed support and wanted to be in work being managed out of the workplace, despite that being illegal. They have told me that they were bullied out of the workplace because of the weak reasonable adjustments clause.

• 25 Jun 2025 · Armed Forces Recruitment: North-east England · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech on this crucial issue. Does he agree that the system used to apply to join the armed forces is outdated and often cumbersome? I am very happy to say that a constituent of mine has successfully been able to submit an application, but this was after finding that she did not get a notification to say that she had missed some bits of her original application, so she had been waiting indefinitely. She is a keen young person from Darlington who really wants to serve the country, and we absolutely need to take advantage of having people like that.

• 25 Jun 2025 · Armed Forces Recruitment: North-east England · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for his interesting outline of the differences in what is going on in Northern Ireland. On his point about good things happening, does he agree that this Government have taken direct action in their first year, with the Armed Forces Commissioner, to tackle some of the institutional problems that have put people off joining the forces? Add to that the biggest pay rise in a generation, and those good things should hopefully see a boost in our numbers.

• 25 Jun 2025 · Armed Forces Recruitment: North-east England · Hansard source

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  As it is fresh in my mind, I wanted to mention that I was recently at park run in Darlington where two young men won in record time—unbelievably, intimidatingly quickly—and it turned out that they were armed forces personnel who were stationed at Catterick. They were great adverts for the health benefits and discipline of being a member of the armed forces. Does my hon. Friend agree that that level of fitness has wider mental health impacts?

• 25 Jun 2025 · Armed Forces Recruitment: North-east England · Hansard source

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  What does my hon. Friend think are the causes of the drop in recruitment in our area? I frequently speak to veterans and the aftercare for people coming out of the forces has been really poor. Does he agree that the Labour Government have an opportunity to show not only that we are proud of people when they are serving, but that when they leave, they need to be looked after properly?

• 25 Jun 2025 · Armed Forces Recruitment: North-east England · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for being so generous with his time. He is making an excellent speech in Armed Forces Week. Does he agree that the important incentives for joining the forces include not just pride in the country but a secure career afterwards? Does he also agree that the work the Government are doing to ensure people have decent careers in sectors that really need those with resilience, excellent teamwork, good discipline and grit is a great way to ensure that people think about joining the armed forces, as well as about what they do afterwards?

• 23 Jun 2025 · UK Modern Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  This is mint for British industry. In my region, we have a proud history of making world-class products and exports. We make trains, and this Government have secured the future of Hitachi at Aycliffe. We make cars, and this Government have negotiated a tariff deal to protect the Nissan plant in Sunderland. We make hugely advanced bioindustry products, such as the covid-19 vaccine, at the Centre for Process Innovation in my constituency in Darlington. As the chair of the APPG on industrial strategy, I know that the finance solutions and energy subsidies will be roundly welcomed by business up and down the country. Will the Secretary of State outline how this strategy will lead to more highly paid, highly skilled job opportunities for workers in constituencies such as mine who have seen more plants shut than saved over the last 14 years?

• 20 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) and celebrate her courage and kindness throughout this whole process. I agree with many in the House that the status quo is unacceptable—that is why most of us are here—and I urge colleagues who, like me, are in favour of the principle of choice at the end of life to vote today not on the principle, but on how the Bill will work in practice. This is not an opinion poll, and there are very real trade-offs. Without palliative care parity across the UK, this new way to die offers a replacement, not a real choice. I am pleased to have the support of the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Gordon Brown, as well as a huge number of medical professionals, on these arguments. I was brought up around death, and I am still smiling. I know about good palliative care because my dad would take me to the hospice to meet his patients that he had grown to love. As a child, I remember him getting promoted to a new nurse consultant role. They were experts in their field of nursing and were promoted to fill the gap in expertise in making decisions on crucial palliative care and pain relief. My dad’s positional and relational power to give confidence around decision making and to support less experienced but more senior staff in essential decisions around life and death meant that those decisions could ease a lot of people’s passing. When decisions are delayed, the patient suffers unnecessarily, and we have heard that happen in the stories and many cases of poor palliative care that have shaped this debate today. In the interests of time, I will skip to my final point. The practical reality of what we see today is that, without radical improvements to palliative care, a joined-up digital system, and clear recorded centralised data on when and how we talk to patients about the treatment they are getting, and about what that means—not just for the length of their life, but for the quality of their life—we will continue to have a postcode lottery. With a finite number of experts in our NHS, this decision to bring in this new way of dying will simply deprioritise addressing the gaps in the provision of good-quality palliative care, which will affect most of us, in favour of offering a new option to the minority of people who will be eligible. That is not in line with my values, and that is why I cannot vote for it.

• 19 Jun 2025 · UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chief Secretary for his excellent work on this strategy, which will turbocharge confidence in the investment community while improving the lives, incomes and opportunities of my constituents in Darlington, which is exactly what I was elected to do. It will not surprise him to hear me ask politely for him to outline more detail on his ambition for the place-based approach, the Green Book reforms and the pilots that he has mentioned. Can we have one in Darlington, the home of many of his Treasury colleagues?