Rosie Duffield MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 2 Mar 2026 · SEND Provision: Kent · Hansard source

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  I recently hosted a constituency SEND roundtable with education leaders and officials from the Department, where teachers stressed yet again that years of underfunding and diminished support services had left schools on their knees, often unable to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children. Unfortunately, the Government’s funding announcement in their White Paper is just a drop in the ocean compared with what is needed to radically improve SEND services in east Kent. Can the Minister tell me what other steps she will take to deliver urgently needed improvements in SEND provision in my constituency, as the funding looks likely to equate to only a few thousand pounds extra per school?

• 24 Feb 2026 · EU Membership Referendum: Impact on the UK · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I thank the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins) for securing this debate. Almost a decade since we held that fateful referendum, let us look back and count the many and varied so-called “Brexit benefits” that some promised us. As we bask in the glorious position that the UK now enjoys on the world stage, admired and envied by nations that remain tethered to the huge co-operative trading bloc—with its equal standards, paperless flow of goods, shorter passport queues, easier travel, investment infrastructure, tourism, shared intelligence, movement for students and those in shortage occupations, shared research and development, and art and music projects—the stark reality, 10 years on from the infamous and baseless bus slogans, is not really freedom at all. It is not freedom for those of us whose constituencies have so many ties with our continental neighbours—ties that go back centuries and are embedded in this nation’s social, political, industrial, legal, creative and academic history. My constituency’s very soul—our magnificent cathedral, heritage, people and institutions—are not only British but European. We are practically joined to France. A few days ago, we welcomed the French ambassador and other dignitaries to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the signing of the channel tunnel treaty by Mrs Thatcher and President Mitterrand, in a cathedral built mostly of French stone. Kent is essentially Britain’s front door to European travellers. Thankfully, as a UNESCO world heritage site, it will always be a thriving and popular destination, but that is despite Brexit. Our easy relationship with the neighbours who could just pop over from next door has changed dramatically. Our economy is based on tourism, agriculture, produce, and our trading relationship. Whitstable oysters supply French restaurants, but that once seamless transaction involved 72 pieces of paper and multiple checks after Brexit. Our farms and local food businesses—

• 19 Jan 2026 · Gender Questioning: Guidance in Schools · Hansard source

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  12. What recent progress she has made on publishing guidance for gender-questioning children in schools.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Gender Questioning: Guidance in Schools · Hansard source

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  The Secretary of State told the House that the guidance for schools would be published by the end of 2025, yet here we still are without the guidance anywhere to be seen. There is immense pressure on schools, colleges, children’s homes and other settings to socially transition children, often irrespective of parents’ wishes, with the obvious potential risks of long-term psychological harm to the children, many of whom, like Keira Bell and some taking part in the upcoming puberty blockers trial, will go on to change their minds over time. When can schools expect the guidance?

• 13 Jan 2026 · Puberty Suppressants · Hansard source

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  3. What discussions he has had with King’s College London on the compliance of the PATHWAYS puberty blocker trial with the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004.

• 13 Jan 2026 · Puberty Suppressants · Hansard source

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  The United States Department of Health and Human Services’ peer-reviewed report found that harms from paediatric medical transition are significant, long term and too often ignored and inadequately tracked, as testified by Keira Bell, who is here in Parliament today. What is the Government’s rationale behind medicalising yet more vulnerable children, given that we have no evidence of any benefit to this approach and, in fact, plenty of evidence of harm?