Rachel Taylor MP: speeches

Speeches

• 30 Jun 2025 · Welfare Reform · Hansard source

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  Last week, I spoke to one of my constituents, Mike, a disabled person who speaks on behalf of many disabled constituents across Warwickshire. He is really pleased that he will have the right to try work, and he is also really pleased that disabled people will be treated with dignity and will be part of the co-production of the new proposals. However, he is still fearful that these changes may mean losses and difficult situations for disabled people like him. Can the Secretary of State reassure Mike that one of her Ministers will meet him to discuss these changes? In particular, how will we look at fluctuating conditions such as ME and MS, which my partner suffers from, so that such people do not lose out and so that we make the changes positive for every disabled person up and down the country?

• 25 Jun 2025 · Haemochromatosis Screening · Hansard source

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  I am a member of the all-party parliamentary group on genetic haemochromatosis, and my constituent Lorraine asked me to attend the debate. She suffers from the disease, and has found a way to manage it by donating blood regularly. She is pleased that genetic testing enabled her to know about her condition so she did not suffer severe organ damage, which can affect many people with the disease. Does my hon. Friend agree that genetic testing for those who are more likely to be diagnosed is essential if we are to help people lead healthy lives without the need for medical intervention?

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

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  This morning, I visited Horiba Mira, which employs thousands of people across the west midlands. It was a privilege to visit with the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State and the Chancellor. I am sure that the Secretary of State will agree that one of the highlights of that visit was the excitement on the apprentices’ faces. After 14 years of low investment in the west midlands under the Conservatives, does he agree that this industrial strategy will deliver opportunities for young people and the manufacturing industries in North Warwickshire and Bedworth?

• 23 Jun 2025 · Pride Month · Hansard source

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  I just want to say how proud I am that my hon. Friend is here in this Chamber as an LGBT MP. Does he share my pride in everyone who is here taking part in the debate this evening?

• 23 Jun 2025 · Pride Month · Hansard source

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  It is unfortunate that there are not more Conservative Members here this evening taking part in this debate. That speaks volumes. I welcome the hon. Lady’s warm words and the warm words of her colleague in his opening remarks, but those words will sound hollow unless they start challenging their leader to do what is right for LGBT people up and down this country.

• 23 Jun 2025 · Pride Month · Hansard source

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  I would like to put on record that I have never enjoyed a cigar, although I would dispute the fact that most lesbians do not enjoy tennis.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Swimming Facilities · Hansard source

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  The swimming pool in Atherstone, in my constituency, opened in 1969, and is where I learned to swim. Today it closes regularly because of boiler problems, and despite the swimming pool support fund, it is reaching the end of its life. If it closes and is rebuilt, it will inevitably be closed for around 18 months. There is a waiting list of more than two years for children to learn to swim. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is the legacy that the last Government left in terms of investment in swimming facilities, not the picture painted by the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East (Joe Robertson) in his opening remarks?

• 24 Apr 2025 · Lesbian Visibility Week · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. Like her, my first political activism was campaigning against section 28; that is what made me join our wonderful party. I feel truly supported by her and by my other lesbian colleagues in this place. It was that rhetoric, and comments that our relationships and families were somehow pretend family relationships, that was so hurtful. Does she agree that we now need to safeguard against the risks of the rhetoric about trans people doing the same sort of harm to them as it did to us in the 1980s?

• 20 Mar 2025 · British Sign Language Week · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree that there is still a long way to go to make BSL accessible for everyone who needs it and that it is important that deaf people not only are included in the conversations, but lead them? Does he share my delight in seeing BSL interpreters here today in Westminster Hall, which sends a message to deaf people that they are welcome here?

• 20 Mar 2025 · British Sign Language Week · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for securing this debate. When I worked at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People 25 years ago, I learned how important BSL is as a means of communication for deaf people.

• 20 Mar 2025 · Coastal Communities · Hansard source

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  My constituency could not be further from the sea. However, I have spent many happy holidays in Cromer and Sheringham, and I am delighted that he has been returned to the House as the representative of those wonderful communities. Will he tell me how wonderful Cromer, Sheringham and the North Norfolk coast are? I prefer to swim in the sea in Sheringham rather than Cromer—does he agree?

• 18 Mar 2025 · Stations: Step-free Access · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?

• 6 Feb 2025 · Coalfield Communities · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?

• 30 Jan 2025 · Women’s Health Strategy · Hansard source

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  Under the last Government, five times more research went into erectile dysfunction, which affects 19% of men, than went into premenstrual syndrome, which affects 90% of women. Women are waiting more than eight years for endometriosis diagnoses. GPs are not required to undertake a gynaecological rotation within their training. Women’s health must be put at the head of our agenda. Will the Minister assure women in this country that things will change under this Government?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  This week, I heard a story from an elderly resident in Bedworth. Kolin Basra phoned the GP surgery to make an appointment for his elderly wife and was told that no appointments would be available for three months. Does the Prime Minister agree that that is utterly shocking and horrifying, and a direct result of 14 years of neglect by the Conservative party?

• 28 Jan 2025 · Extremism Review · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Security Minister for his words today. He has successfully exposed the reports about the leak as the nonsense they are. But there are serious issues here, including around how we respond to the rising level of youth violence and extremism and the increasing availability of online material that fuels that obsession with violence and death. Will he tell us how the intelligence services are approaching this challenge and what more the Government can do to stop young people disappearing into this dangerous abyss?

• 9 Jan 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend, who is my colleague on the Women and Equalities Committee, for everything he does to set an example to young men. Does he agree that we should call upon all our male colleagues to do the same in their constituencies?

• 21 Nov 2024 · Condition of Local Roads · Hansard source

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  13. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the condition of local roads.

• 14 Nov 2024 · Fly-tipping · Hansard source

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  2. What steps he plans to take to help tackle fly-tipping.

• 12 Nov 2024 · Tackling Image-based Abuse · Hansard source

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  My apologies, Mr Vickers.

• 10 Sept 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  You say that our Chancellor and the Prime Minister are not here on the Government Benches, but where are your leader and your shadow Chancellor? They are not here either. You talk about means-testing being right: we have a difficult financial situation and difficult decisions that we have to take, so the right hon. Gentleman seems to agree with us on that.