Rosie Wrighting MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 10 Sept 2026 · Jobs in AI · Hansard source

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  8. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support the creation of new jobs in the AI industry.

• 10 Sept 2026 · Jobs in AI · Hansard source

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  I welcome my right hon. Friend to his place—I am so pleased to see him become the first Minister for AI at the Cabinet table. In order for AI productivity gains to be felt in every postcode and in areas such as Kettering, we need to reduce the barriers to entry for small and medium-sized businesses. What is his Department doing to ensure that it is as easy as possible for SMEs to upskill their workers and access this new technology, so that its impact is not restricted to a few large companies?

• 9 Sept 2026 · Education and Skills Reform · Hansard source

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  I was at my old school, Montsaye academy, on GSCE results day, and it was heartwarming to see the students receive their results after going through a journey of improvement at the school. I received my results there not that long ago and then went on to study creative subjects. The number of students studying creative arts is now down 47% since 2010. Will the Secretary of State say what more her Department can do to develop the skills of the UK’s next generation of creatives?

• 9 Sept 2026 · Summer Health and Resilience · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Secretary of State to her place. I also thank all staff across the NHS, particularly those at Kettering general hospital, who worked throughout the summer in very tough conditions. Under this Government, we have seen investment in Kettering general hospital, with new solar panels and construction starting on a new energy centre, but we still await construction on the main building, particularly the maternity ward. One local midwife told me: “The building is deteriorating badly, we are worried about the safety of everyone who relies on this service. As midwives we come to work every day to provide safe, compassionate care but it is becoming difficult to do so in a building falling into disrepair.” Will the Secretary of State meet me and my constituent to discuss the building’s urgent challenges?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  In recent weeks, the fast fashion online retailer Shein has been valued at a fraction of its price when it listed in Hong Kong, in part due to the treatment of low-value imports in the US and Europe. With that in mind, I welcome the Government’s decision to end the £135 de minimis relief by October 2028, but what more can be done before then to level the playing field for British retailers?

• 30 Jun 2026 · Financial Inclusion: Young People · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is an incredible advocate for young people in his constituency, but also across the country. What is his opinion of a lot of young people getting financial education from social media or AI chatbots? The Government need to regulate that but also, ahead of the social media ban, ensure that we are bringing financial education into schools and other real-life forums, so that young people do not miss out.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for coming to the House and showing her commitment to domestic food production. Supporting farmers should not just matter to those of us in this House who represent rural or semi-rural constituencies; it should matter to everyone, because it is so crucial for our national security. With that in mind, what support can we give to our farmers to ensure that they can buy equipment such as tractors from UK manufacturers and not have to rely on production elsewhere?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Role of Big Tech in Society · Hansard source

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  On cyber-security, in recent weeks the US Government have decided to block Claude’s new AI software, Fable 5. What are my hon. Friend’s thoughts on new AI software and cyber-security?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Role of Big Tech in Society · Hansard source

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  Does the right hon. Member share my concern that because of the speed at which big tech moves, we in this House as legislators always seem to be five steps behind where the technology is? How are we going to be able to regulate for a world that is faster paced than we are in this building?

• 22 Jun 2026 · East Midlands Railway Collision · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State and her Department for their constant communication over the weekend, and the emergency services, which responded so quickly. My hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough and Rushden (Gen Kitchen) is no longer on the Front Bench, but we have been in constant communication about how we can support our constituencies over the last few days. My thoughts are with everyone affected and the loved ones of the driver who so tragically lost his life. This crash has been felt acutely in Kettering. Both trains stopped in Kettering before the collision, and it feels as though everyone knows someone who has been impacted. To add the real human element of this tragedy’s impact, I want to mention the story of one of my constituents, who was injured with a broken nose and extensive injuries to her back and neck. Following the crash, she and her friends had to walk through a hedge and over fields and then arrange private transport to Kettering general hospital. Understandably, it was a traumatic experience, and she has shown great strength since. Can the Secretary of State reassure those involved, such as my constituents, that the Government will work with the Department of Health to offer them support following this tragic event?

• 15 Jun 2026 · Social Media Ban for Under-16s · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State and the Minister for online safety, the hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Kanishka Narayan), for their engagement and conversations on this issue. I had social media before I was 16. I deeply understand the concerns, and have experienced the bad, but I also know the value, particularly for working-class kids, of seeing a world outside one’s own—the value for the boy who is growing up without a father and learns to shave from YouTube, for the young person who teaches themselves to code and shapes their career, or for the LGBT community. How is the Department working directly with DFE and DCMS to ensure that we identify these areas of need?

• 15 Jun 2026 · Housing Developers: Accountability · Hansard source

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  Little Stanion in my constituency is a brilliant community with lots of first-time buyers who moved there to put down roots, but they have been let down time and again. The developer went into administration and the management agency connected to the developer continues to ask for more money, with no transparency in how it is spent. When the roads fall apart, they have no one to turn to; when the community centre still looks like a building site, they get no update; and when the play equipment starts to break, the Little Stanion Farm Management Company becomes hostile. Will the Secretary of State outline what more we can do for new build areas such as Little Stanion, so that they do not keep getting let down?

• 23 Apr 2026 · UK-EU Relations · Hansard source

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  I thank the Government for the grown-up approach they have taken to improving our relations with our friends and neighbours in the EU. In contrast—as we can see today—the Conservative party is still playing politics with our closest allies, and my generation has paid the price. With that in mind, will the Minister set out what steps are being taken to ensure that young people in Kettering and across the country take up the opportunity to study in the EU, now that we have rejoined the Erasmus scheme?

• 16 Apr 2026 · British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme · Hansard source

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  I start by declaring that before coming to this place, I worked in the head office of a retail business that sells internationally. I know from my experience there and from businesses in Kettering that when British businesses export, they grow, become more productive and create good, well-paid jobs. Can the Secretary of State outline how the measures he has announced today will support businesses to sell their goods around the world?

• 18 Mar 2026 · Student Loans · Hansard source

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  I do not think it has been talked about enough in this debate, or in the debate more widely, just how much is added on for students who have to take out a large maintenance loan because they come from a low-income family. I thank my hon. Friend for raising that. When maintenance grants were scrapped by the Conservatives, that cost did not disappear.

• 18 Mar 2026 · Student Loans · Hansard source

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  I have a creative arts degree. Not only did it give me the opportunity to meet people, importantly, it enabled me to access the fashion industry as somebody growing up outside of London. Does the Minister share my concern that removing those degrees would create London-centric creative industries?

• 18 Mar 2026 · Student Loans · Hansard source

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  I was born in 1997, so the hon. Lady will forgive me if I cannot recollect that. I do not think that graduates are arguing that we should not pay. There is an understanding that graduates should pay for their degrees; it is the scale and fairness within the system that I want to highlight. When maintenance grants were scrapped, the cost did not disappear; it was simply shifted. It was shifted on to students and turned into debt, and the burden was put on those from the lowest-income families. The very policy that enabled working-class kids to go to university gave us the highest debt as soon as we left. That is not fairness, and that is not opportunity. It is generational inequality designed into a system that disproportionately impacts people who do not have a savings account waiting for them when they turn 18, who do not have the money for a house deposit, and who cannot ask for help for childcare. That is why I welcome this Government taking steps to strengthen maintenance support, including through the return of maintenance grants. If the Conservatives truly cared about those students, I would have expected them to welcome that.

• 18 Mar 2026 · Student Loans · Hansard source

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  There are many levers that this Government can pull to make life better for graduates. I understand that, given the economic situation, some of those levers are easier to pull than others. I am glad that measures such as the Renters’ Rights Act 2026 are coming forward and making a difference for my generation every single day. I have voiced my view that the system is not fair and that I would like my Government to look at it, and I think that that has been heard. Let me return to what I was saying. We want to be able to live in a home that we are not worried we will get kicked out of, and even one day not to have to live with strangers or parents. We want to be able to make the choice to have a child if that is right, and to decide to go on holiday without maxing out our credit cards. I do not think that that is asking too much. That is hope and aspiration. I want to live in a country where it is reasonable for ordinary young people to want those things and, more importantly, to think that they are achievable. Of all the damage that the Conservatives did, one of the worst things for me was the damage to hope. I started university in 2016. My tuition fees were £9,000 a year, but my maintenance loan was £12,000 a year. I am now paying back more not because my education cost more, but because I came from a low-income family and needed that support to live.

• 18 Mar 2026 · Student Loans · Hansard source

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  Eighteen months ago, my constituents in Kettering chose to elect a 26-year-old as their MP. I believe they did so because they wanted a Labour Government, but also because young people in my constituency, and their parents and grandparents, wanted me to speak of my own experience of how tough it has been for my generation. One of the tasks we navigate as MPs is how best to use our privileged position in this building to influence change. As often one of the only young people in the Chamber, and almost always the only young woman— [Interruption.] Okay, depending on what we define as young. [Interruption.] Okay, let me say as one of the only women in their 20s in this Chamber, I try to share the perspective of a younger person. I often felt that that was missing in debates when I watched politics as I was growing up. I shall share that perspective in this debate using my own experience, and in doing so I hope to highlight the generational inequalities that have turned into deep-felt frustration—a frustration that made me join a political party, that made me campaign for a change in Government and that drives me in this place every single day. I declare the fact that I have a plan 2 student loan close to £90,000. Before getting elected to this place, I was working full time for years, just watching my student loan grow. In Kettering, I grew up in a single-parent household. My mum, who is a youth worker, raised me by herself. At school, like so many others, I struggled to work out what I wanted to do and what I wanted my career path to look like. What I knew more than anything else was that I wanted to work hard enough to give myself a better life. It was so clearly communicated to me at school that that route to a better life was going to university. On reflection, I wish someone had spoken to me about apprenticeships and other options. In the desire that many young people have to build themselves a better life, I and people around me did the things that we were told to do: we worked hard, we went to uni, and we got a degree. There is a lot said about what Gen Z expect from life, but ordinary hope and ordinary aspiration, despite what social media tells us, is not to live in Dubai, or to buy avocados and an iced matcha every day; it is to live in a home that we are not worried we will be kicked out of.

• 18 Mar 2026 · Student Loans · Hansard source

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  The previous Conservative Member who intervened asked me about 1997, so there is some looking back going on. I would welcome the Conservatives reflecting on their time in power, but unfortunately that is not what I have seen today and it is not the tone of the conversation that I hear coming from the party. The Tories are calling on the Government to change the plan 2 repayment system, when they designed plan 2 student loans; to end repayment thresholds, when they froze them; and to create more apprenticeships, when they left one in eight young people not earning or learning. When we hear the Conservative party now proposing to cut interest rates on student loans, we have to ask: where was this concern when they were in government? Where was this concern for the thousands of young people—my peers, my friends, people around me—facing high student loan payments today? The reality is that what Opposition Front Benchers are proposing would disproportionately benefit the highest earners—those most likely to pay off their loans in full—do little for the majority of graduates, and do almost nothing for those from low-income backgrounds, who are less likely ever to clear their debts. It is the same Conservative party. I feel strongly that we now have a chance to say something to young people about their future, because after years of broken promises what we see is frustration, and something more dangerous than that: a loss of belief that working hard will mean people will get on. When that belief goes, opportunity goes with it. The real legacy of the last 14 years is not just high debt but diminished hope. I genuinely believe that it is only Labour that offers the chance to restore fairness between generations—not headline-grabbing tweets—and we are starting to do that by strengthening support for renters, delivering the youth guarantee, expanding childcare and taking steps to ensure that maintenance support works for students, not against them. It is only Labour that can do something bigger and restore to an entire generation the belief that if you work hard, whether at school, at work, at university or through an apprenticeship, you can build a better life. That is a real life, with a secure home, the ability to start a family and confidence that efforts will be rewarded with opportunity. When my mum encouraged me to pursue education, she believed that she was giving me a better life. That is what young people deserve today: not just to be able to hope for a better future, but to have that within their reach.

• 18 Mar 2026 · Student Loans · Hansard source

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  I appreciate that it is a start. I welcome our introduction of £1,000, but I do think there is more to do. I also acknowledge that we are in a tough economic environment and this is what the Government have chosen to prioritise. It is not by accident that my generation have it so hard. Make no mistake: these decisions were taken by the Conservative party when they were in government. They asked my generation to do more with less, to bear a heavier burden, and then left us behind. The Tories calling this debate today, pretending that they have the answers to fix the system that they broke, is insulting to young people across this country.

• 17 Mar 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

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  My generation has faced deep generational inequalities over the last decade. That did not happen by accident; it was the result of years of decision making in which the Conservatives chose austerity over investment into future generations. Nowhere is that clearer than in the fact that one in eight young people are not in education, employment or work—a generation lost. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that his Department and the Government are hearing directly from young people so that we can fully understand the barriers they face when entering work?

• 12 Mar 2026 · Start-ups and Scale-ups: Access to New Markets · Hansard source

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  British fashion is recognised globally for its creativity. At the London Fashion Week just gone, designers such as Erdem, Tolu Coker and Simone Rocha showcased the very best of British talent. With international buyers up by 17%, we showed that we have not only the raw talent here, but the business minds to commercialise it internationally. What steps is the Department taking to help emerging British fashion brands translate that creativity into export growth and scale internationally?

• 12 Mar 2026 · Start-ups and Scale-ups: Access to New Markets · Hansard source

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  6. What steps he is taking to help start-ups and scale-ups access new markets.

• 3 Mar 2026 · Spring Forecast · Hansard source

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  I was a young person while the Tories were in power, and the reality is that they locked my generation out of home ownership, living standards were worse than those of our parents, and the public services we relied on growing up were cut because of decisions made by their Government. I remember the mini-Budget, which meant that I saw interest rates on my student loan rise—a student loan that is so high because of the plan introduced by the coalition Government and because they changed maintenance grants to loans. Does my right hon. Friend agree that only the Labour party can change this country for young people, who finally have a Government that will match their ambition?