Tracy Gilbert MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 23 Jun 2025 · Child Poverty · Hansard source

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  As is the case for my hon. Friends the Members for Livingston (Gregor Poynton) and for Gloucester (Alex McIntyre), a number of my constituents are affected by the two-child cap, with the latest statistics showing that 330 households in my constituency are impacted. I absolutely agree with a number of charities that removing the cap alone is not a silver bullet to tackle child poverty, but it will make a difference. Can my right hon. Friend confirm whether the child poverty taskforce is considering the removal of the two-child cap?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Young people from the Citadel youth centre in my constituency have been shortlisted for an Into Film award for their animation “Can we talk about Mental Health?”. The group will be here in London next week for the award ceremony, and I will be pleased to welcome them to Parliament. Will the Leader of the House join me in wishing the group good luck, and will she schedule a ministerial statement on supporting young people from across the UK to get involved in the creative industries?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  UK flour millers, including ADM in my constituency, are already contributing to our food security. However, there are fears in the industry that trade deals could curtail that progress. Will the Minister outline the steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that the welcome trade deals struck by the Government do not undermine our food security?

• 17 Jun 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 16 Jun 2025 · Iran-Israel Conflict · Hansard source

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  I am sure the whole House is behind the diplomatic efforts of the Prime Minister and the Government to avoid any further escalation of this conflict, and I thank my right hon. Friend for the reassurances he has given about not taking his eye off the horrors that continue to unfold in Gaza. Can he give a guarantee today that if there were to be an escalation that would drag the UK into any conflict, a vote in this House would be held first, before our armed forces were deployed?

• 11 Jun 2025 · Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill · Hansard source

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  It is my pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I was very happy about the unanimous support the Bill received on Second Reading, and look forward to examining it in detail today. The health of our democracy depends on ensuring that all electors are able to participate in the process to choose who represents them. While many people vote in person, there are those who face challenges that make that difficult or impossible, so absent voting arrangements—the option to vote via post or proxy—are vital. In October 2023, the online absent vote application service was introduced, allowing voters to apply online for postal or proxy voting arrangements for the first time. It offered a digital alternative alongside the traditional paper application process. The online service is already available to electors in Great Britain for UK parliamentary elections, and for police and crime commissioner elections in England and Wales. In England, the service is also available for all local elections. However, voters in Scotland and Wales are currently at a disadvantage. At devolved elections—that is, elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd Cymru and local councils—electors must still complete and submit paper forms to apply for postal or proxy votes. The Bill aims to address that disparity. The benefits of the new online service were made evident during the 2024 general election. Government data shows that over 1.5 million people in Great Britain applied for a postal or proxy vote in the lead-up to the election, and between the announcement of the election on 22 May 2024 and the absent vote application deadline, 84% of postal vote applications and 93% of proxy vote applications were submitted online. The Bill’s purpose is to extend the same digital application options to voters in Scotland and Wales for devolved elections, thereby ensuring consistency across Great Britain. In particular, the Bill seeks to provide that consistency in time for the May 2026 devolved elections. To be clear, the Bill does not remove the paper application route; it simply gives voters an additional, more convenient option to apply online, should they choose. Respect for devolution is central to the proposals in the Bill, which has been carefully drafted to ensure that the powers of the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru are upheld. The proposals have been discussed with Ministers in both the Scottish and Welsh Governments, who have agreed to all elements of the Bill. By passing this legislation, we can remove unnecessary barriers and make it easier for voters in Scotland and Wales to participate in our democracy, by providing an online absent voting application option. Clause 1 will enable regulations to be made that will allow electors in Scotland and Wales to make and submit applications online for absent voting arrangements for local elections through the UK digital service. Currently, electors in Scotland and Wales can make an application for an absent voting arrangement using the UK digital service only for reserved elections, such as a general election. The provisions in the clause will change UK Government legislation to allow Scottish and Welsh electors to make and submit applications online for devolved local elections as well. To support the integration of the service, the clause enables regulations to be made to apply to devolved absent voting applications the same identity-check requirements as are used in reserved absent voting applications. A national insurance number check will be added to devolved absent voting applications, as is already the case for absent voting applications for reserved elections. The clause will also enable regulations to capture the signature required for postal and proxy vote applications digitally. The addition of the identity check will make the requirements to apply for a postal or proxy vote the same for all types of election in Scotland and Wales. That will reduce the risk of electors becoming confused about what arrangements they have in place for different types of election, and will give them confidence in the ongoing security of the electoral system by ensuring that postal and proxy votes are applied for only by the voter whose name will be on the ballot. The clause also provides a route for any elector who is unable to provide a national insurance number to submit documentary evidence to confirm their identity. Clause 1 also amends the time for which postal voting arrangements for local elections remain valid in Scotland and Wales. Currently, postal voting arrangements are potentially indefinite, with a signature refresh required every five years for local and devolved parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales. The clause will set a maximum time of three years, to align the period with UK arrangements. That is important for electors, who might find it confusing and inconvenient to have different postal voting arrangement lengths for different types of election. A more frequent opportunity to review their voting method, combined with the ease of being able to apply online, supports the elector in ensuring that their arrangements remain the best option for them. Amendments 1 and 2 are technical amendments that will enable Scottish and Welsh Government Ministers to make transitional provisions for proxy voting arrangements for devolved local government elections. As the Bill currently stands, the power to make transitional provisions for proxy voting arrangements sits with UK Government Ministers. The amendments transfer that power to devolved Government Ministers. The adjustment is proposed to maintain consistency with existing electoral legislation, in which it is standard for such powers to reside with devolved Government Ministers and to be scrutinised by devolved legislatures. Allowing transitional provisions for proxy arrangements to be made through Cardiff Bay and Holyrood will mean that provisions related to devolved local government elections will be made in the appropriate devolved Parliament. In addition to ensuring consistency, the amendments will provide a practical benefit. As many hon. Members noted on Second Reading, a key aim of the Bill is to deliver the changes in time for the May 2026 Senedd Cymru and Scottish Parliament elections. There is a lot to do between now and then to achieve that aim, and this approach will be helpful and appropriate to maximise the chances of delivering the changes in time for those elections. The Bill allows the devolved Governments to move swiftly to implement the changes needed to enable online absent voting applications, and the amendments provide for them to make transitional proxy voting arrangements through their own Parliaments. To achieve the desired effect, the amendments will amend proposed new paragraph 5ZB(1) of schedule 2 to the Representation of the People Act 1983, so that the devolved Governments may provide for the expiry of some or all devolved election proxy voting appointments as part of transitional arrangements. Clause 2 will enable regulations to be made to allow electors in Scotland to make and submit applications online for absent voting arrangements for Scottish parliamentary elections through the UK digital service. It includes provisions to amend the Scotland Act 1998 for the same purpose of supporting the online journey described in clause 1, but with regard to Scottish parliamentary elections rather than local elections. As the UK digital service is reserved to the UK Government, the provisions also ensure that Scottish Ministers may not make regulations under the clause without the agreement of a Minister of the Crown, where those provisions relate to the UK digital service. Clause 3 will enable regulations to be made to allow electors in Wales to make and submit applications online for absent voting arrangements for Senedd Cymru elections through the UK digital service. Currently, electors in Wales can make an application for an absent voting arrangement using the UK digital service only for reserved elections, such as UK Parliament or police and crime commissioner elections. Clause 3 includes provisions that amend the Government of Wales Act 2006 for the same purpose as described in clause 1, but with regard to the Senedd Cymru elections rather than local elections. As outlined previously, as the UK digital service is reserved to the UK Government, the provisions ensure that Welsh Ministers may not make regulations under the clause without the agreement of a Minister of the Crown, where those provisions relate to the UK digital service. Clause 4 will provide for commencement and insert a power to make transitional or saving provision. The transitional power allows provision to be made to align the expiry dates of a person’s postal voting arrangements where they already hold a postal vote for both a UK parliamentary and a devolved election. The clause also provides for the ending of existing postal and proxy voting entitlements for devolved elections. In some limited cases, it may be necessary to end existing postal and proxy voting arrangements for devolved elections to enable the implementation of the three-year maximum period for postal voting arrangements, to resolve operational difficulties arising from unaligned absent voting arrangements held by the same elector, and potentially to ensure that absent voting arrangements are held by electors whose identity has been properly verified. Amendments 3 and 4 are technical amendments that are consequential on amendment 1. Clause 5 provides the Bill’s short title and explains the territorial extent of the various clauses. The Bill extends to England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. I look forward to Members’ contributions to the discussion on this important Bill, and I commend the provisions to the Committee.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank you, Mrs Hobhouse, and all Committee members, for your time today. I also thank all the officials who drafted the Bill and have supported me through the process thus far—I greatly appreciate it. If the Bill passes, it will help tens of thousands of voters in Scotland and Wales to exercise their democratic right. Once again, I commend its clauses, and the minor amendments to them, to the Committee. Amendment 1 agreed to. Amendment made: 2, in clause 1, page 2, line 15, at end insert— “‘devolved election proxy appointment’ means the appointment of a person as a proxy to vote for another person at local government elections in Wales or Scotland, where the appointment was made before a date specified in the regulations on an application under paragraph 6(7) of Schedule 4 to the Representation of the People Act 2000;”.— (Tracy Gilbert.) This amendment is consequential on Amendment 1. Clause 1, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause s 2 and 3 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 4 Commencement and transitional provision Amendments made: 3, in clause 4, page 6, line 8, leave out from “entitlements” to the end of line 9. This amendment is consequential on Amendment 1. Amendment 4, in clause 4, page 6, leave out lines 22 to 26.— (Tracy Gilbert.) This amendment is consequential on Amendment 1. Clause 4, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 5 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Bill, as amended, to be reported .

• 11 Jun 2025 · Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill · Hansard source

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  I beg to move amendment 1, in clause 1, page 2, line 12, at end insert— “(4A) Regulations under this paragraph may, in connection with provision under sub-paragraph (1), include transitional provision under section 201(3) which makes provision for, or in connection with, the expiry of some or all devolved election proxy appointments.” This amendment enables regulations made under new paragraph 5ZB(1) of Schedule 2 to the Representation of the People Act 1983 to include transitional provision which makes provision for the expiry of proxy appointments relating to local government elections in Scotland or Wales.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  I welcome the sanctions outlined by my hon. Friend today, and I thank him for all the work he has done. I know his commitment to the Palestinian people and the concerns he has, which he shares with us on a regular basis. Action has been required for some time. The up and coming UN conference on a two-state solution is an opportunity to work with allies or alone to recognise the Palestinian state. May I add my voice to that request and ask my hon. Friend: if not then, when?

• 10 Jun 2025 · Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered the matter of tackling demand for prostitution and sex trafficking. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. There is a group of people who do not get talked about enough in Parliament. In fact, they are rarely mentioned in public at all. We seldom hear from them directly, and we rarely knowingly encounter them on our screens or in person. It is almost as if they are invisible. I suspect that that is how they would like to remain, because if we heard what they said and saw what they did, we would want to stop them. This group of people is men who pay for sex. Sex buyers rely on being unseen while they ruin lives, leaving us as a society and the individual women to pick up the pieces of the carnage they cause. The demand from men who pay for sex fuels a brutal prostitution and sex trafficking trade. It funds predatory websites that make millions of pounds advertising women for sexual exploitation every day and causes untold trauma to some of society’s most vulnerable women while undermining equality for all women. This debate is an opportunity to bring the demand for sex and sex trafficking out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Who are the men who create this demand? To answer that, I will read their own words, written on a website on which men anonymously rate and review women who they have paid for sex: “No smile, her atrocious English made the interactions even more impossible.” “I asked for OW” —oral without a condom— “which she did reluctantly...This was a very sub-standard service from someone who is not interested in providing customer satisfaction.” “She basically just laid back, shut her eyes and let me get on with it. She made no noises. I put up with about 5 minutes of her lying there-like a side of beef before sitting up.” “Bad attitude. Everything was off limits.” “Finally, I got her to lay there, but it’s like shagging a dead fish.” I am sure we can all agree that those remarks are sickening. Men who buy sex review women as if they are reviewing an Xbox game. Those comments prove that men who pay for sex treat women as subordinate sex objects whose role is to service their sexual desires, and they represent just a handful of the approximately 28,000 reviews left on one sex buyers website. Researcher Alessia Tranchese found that the most misogynistic reviews were posted about women disrupting buyers’ fantasies, such as failing to adequately pretend that they wanted to have sex with these men. Negative reviews of women were used as a tool to control their behaviour—publicly punishing resistance while rewarding compliance with their sexual demands. Sex buyers may delude themselves into thinking that paying money absolves them of responsibility for subjecting vulnerable women to unwanted sex, but the opposite is true. It is not possible to commodify sexual consent; the money is coercion. As the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and girls states: “prostitution is intrinsically linked to different forms of violence against women and girls and constitutes a form of violence in and of itself.”

• 10 Jun 2025 · Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand · Hansard source

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  I will come to that later, and yes, I do agree with those comments. The most recent research into the scale of paying for sex found that 3.6% of men in the UK report having paid for sex in the previous five years. Men who are most likely to have paid for sex are single, aged from 25 to 34, in managerial or professional occupations, and report high numbers of sexual partners. Shockingly, but not surprisingly, it was revealed last month that multiple members of the Scottish Parliament have paid for sex. We can only predict that Members or former Members of this House have too. Demand is not inevitable, and the law plays a pivotal role in whether this minority of men choose to pay for sex. In one UK study, researchers asked over 1,200 sex buyers whether they would change their behaviour if a law was introduced that made paying for sex a crime. Over half said that they would definitely, probably or possibly change their behaviour. While sex buyers are driven by male sexual entitlement, ultimately, they do it because they can. The law is not just failing to stop these men; it is making it easy. Not only is paying for sex legal in England, Wales and Scotland, so are the pimping websites advertising thousands of women each day for sex buyers to choose from.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand · Hansard source

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  These websites function as massive online brothels. They are the go-to place for traffickers to advertise their victims. I have said it before and I will say it again: pimping websites are making it as easy to order a room and to sexually exploit as it is to order a takeaway. I want to talk about the women who face the devastating consequences of prostitution and sex trafficking for the rest of their lives. In a 2016 inquiry, the Home Affairs Committee found that a number of prostitutes were in a vulnerable position. Evidence from St Mungo’s showed that one in four women living in its housing services was a current or former prostitute. Its evidence also showed that, of its residents who had experienced rough sleeping, one in three was a current or former prostitute. In 2022, Beyond the Streets published a report by Grayce Collis and Dr Katie Thorlby that found that 78% of women actively seeking support to leave prostitution needed support with their mental health, while 71% needed support with their relationships with friends and family, which are often broken, and 63% needed support to access employment and education. Tragically, a database managed by National Ugly Mugs recorded 180 murders of prostitutes across the UK between 1990 and 2016. Evidence from Agenda to the Home Affairs Committee inquiry stated that “Women in prostitution are 18 times more likely to be murdered than the general female population.” Behind those statistics are vulnerable women, who all too often feel there is no escape from the exploitation they face. Fiona Broadfoot told Sky News in 2018 that she was physically abused and exploited by her pimp from the age of 15. She detailed how she was introduced into prostitution within two weeks of first meeting him. She was arrested; her pimp was not. Her criminal convictions have followed her out of prostitution, resulting in employment and education opportunities being snatched from her. Operation Fasthold, a joint operation between Police Scotland and the Home Office, showed that women are trafficked into the UK to meet this demand. In that case, it was mainly women from east Asia, uprooted and coerced into prostitution, afterwards finding themselves at the mercy of our asylum process, stuck in low-paid work or at the hands of another criminal gang. In Edinburgh, over this weekend, 142 women were advertised for prostitution on one website alone. Five of the top 10 adverts are explicitly posted by so-called agencies, so the site does not even try to hide the organised nature of this exploitation. The devastation and exploitation of women continues, and something has to change. The law must deter demand for prostitution and sex trafficking, and reflect the reality that prostitution is violence against women by holding perpetrators and profiteers to account and, crucially, by supporting victims. A growing number of countries and states have adopted this approach: outlawing paying for sex and profiteering from the prostitution of others, while decriminalising victims of sexual exploitation and providing support and exit services. Those countries include France, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. Their experiences show that demand for sex buyers and the trafficking of women to meet that demand can and must be deterred.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention; I will come back to that point later in my speech. Sweden was the first country to criminalise paying for sex while decriminalising victims of sexual exploitation. The more than two decades since the introduction of its 1999 Sex Purchase Act have provided evidence of its effectiveness. Since that pioneering Act was introduced, demand has dropped significantly, public attitudes have been transformed and traffickers are being deterred. An analysis by the European Commission concluded that the Act, coupled with proactive policing, “has created a less conducive context for trafficking.” In Ireland, an evaluation by researchers at University College Dublin reported that, under the country’s demand-reduction legislation, there was “an increased willingness amongst women” in prostitution “to report crimes committed against them and in their improved relationship with Gardaí overall.” In France, there is strong public support for the demand-reduction laws, which is significant given the importance of changing public attitudes and deterring sex buying. An Ipsos survey found that 78% of the French public support the legislation on prostitution, and 74% think that prostitution is violence. Demand for prostitution and trafficking is not inevitable, and the law has a critical role to play in deterring it. As my hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride and Strathaven (Joani Reid) mentioned, I welcome the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, introduced to the Scottish Parliament by Ash Regan MSP, which looks to replicate the lessons learned from other European countries. I hope that all Members of Scottish Parliament will consider the legislation carefully and support it as it makes its way through Parliament. I am keen to hear from the Minister whether UK Government will be looking to bring forward similar legislation. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on commercial sexual exploitation and has tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to outlaw pimping and paying for sex, and to decriminalise victims of sexual exploitation by removing sanctions for soliciting. I am proud to be among the more than 50 Members of Parliament who are signatories to those amendments. The proposed reforms are backed by survivors and best-practice frontline support services, such as the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance in Scotland, nia, Women@TheWell and Kairos, whose representatives I recently met and heard from. These vital amendments will help the Government to meet our manifesto commitment to halve violence against women and girls by reducing the demand for prostitution. I urge Ministers to accept the amendments, and I am keen to hear the Minister’s views on which amendments may be accepted.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand · Hansard source

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  I agree. One piece of misinformation surrounding the actions that I have proposed is that outlawing pimping websites would simply displace trafficking to the dark web, making no impact on the scale of sexual exploitation. That claim lacks both logic and evidence. Advertising victims of sex trafficking on the dark web carries multiple disadvantages and barriers for both traffickers and sex buyers. It requires technical expertise from the traffickers to post the adverts and from sex buyers to locate and access the adverts. Advertising on the dark web would substantially restrict the customer base that traffickers could access via their adverts, as well as making it harder to advertise victims in the first place. A similar myth is that outlawing paying for sex would just drive prostitution underground, making it harder to identify victims and perpetrators, and have no impact on the scale of offending. There is a logical fallacy underlying that claim: men who pay for sex must be able to locate women to sexually exploit. Police officers’ support services can look at exactly the same adverts as sex buyers to locate victims and perpetrators. In short, if sex buyers can find the women being exploited, so can the police. Perhaps the most destructive myth of all is that being paid to perform sex acts is work, making the men who pay women for sex ordinary consumers. We need to be absolutely clear as policymakers and as a Parliament that there is no such thing as sex work. Giving someone money, accommodation, food or other goods or services in exchange for a sex act is sexual exploitation and abuse. It is never acceptable, and our laws must reflect that. I thank hon. Members for making the time to attend today’s debate. I hope that, together, we can start to end this exploitation of women. I conclude with the words of Mia de Faoite, a survivor of prostitution, who said that demand reduction legislation that criminalises sex buyers and decriminalises victims works because it puts sex buyers “at risk of bringing what they do in the dark into who they are in the day.”

• 20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. Last month, Firth Ports officially opened the Charles Hammond berth at the port of Leith, in a £100 million private investment to create Scotland’s largest renewables hub. Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming that investment in Leith and set out how she is working with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that green manufacturing and supply chain jobs are created in Scotland?

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

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. In 2016, the Scottish Government announced their intention to reform the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland and to introduce self-ID. Years followed, and Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in 2022. Since then, according to statistics that started to be published in 2023, waiting times for gender identity clinic appointments have been increasing. In June that year, 5,273 people were waiting for an appointment, with 45 people waiting longer than five years. At 31 March 2024, that had increased to 5,640, with 184 people waiting longer than five years. Transgender identity-aggravated crime charges have also doubled, from approximately 40 in 2016-17 to more than 80 in most years since 2021, which is unacceptable and must be acted on and improved. The Bill is not improving the lives of transgender people. Many people have faced abuse, intimidation and threats for expressing any concerns about or opposition to self-identification. I know people whose careers have suffered, or who have been cancelled or dismissed, and respected academics who have been targeted. I have witnessed placards inciting violence, and sexually aggressive language towards women. We currently have the terrible situation of nurses being taken to employment tribunals for standing up for their rights, which are provided for in the Equality Act 2010. Those threats and that intimidation are almost always targeted at women. During the passage of the Bill, Scottish Ministers repeatedly said it was the most consulted-on Bill in the history of devolution. However, consultation is only meaningful if the feedback is listened to. One of the areas ignored by Scottish Ministers was prison placements. Self-ID was already being implemented in the prison estate across the UK. The issue was raised in the House in February 2019 after a woman was sexually assaulted in HMP New Hall. The then UK Government ordered a policy review; the Scottish Government did nothing. That is just one example where the Scottish Government ignored warnings, leaving them to defend the indefensible. In the Supreme Court case brought by For Women Scotland, Scottish Ministers argued that, for the purpose of sex under the Equality Act, a woman would be a biological woman, a person who had a gender recognition certificate identifying as a woman, or a person who self-identified as a woman. Had the Scottish Ministers won, it would have meant that the rights of one protected characteristic would prevail over the rights of another—again, a concern raised during the consultation that was not listened to and that has been borne out in practice. In one example from March this year, councillors who strongly support self-ID attempted to defund Edinburgh Women’s Aid. Their reason for doing so was that it provided some services that did not include trans people. That women’s project provides single-sex services, refuge and support for women, and a lawful exemption is provided for in the Equality Act.

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

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  I appreciate the hon. Member’s giving way on that point. When she talks about vulnerable categories, does she include women, lesbians and gay men?

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

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that trans women and trans men should have services and provision on that basis, and that sex and gender are two very separate things?

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

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  Absolutely, and I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. Were those councillors really saying that trans people wanted to see vital support for women fleeing violence and abuse withdrawn? Those politicians do not represent the views of any trans person I have met. Self-identification has an impact on a number of protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010. Of course we must do more to help and support trans people to live healthy, happy and fulfilling lives, and we must bring respect and dignity to all. Trans men and women remain protected by the Equality Act 2010, proudly introduced by the last Labour Government, and they must have appropriate services and protections from discrimination in the workplace—but those should never come at the expense of other protected groups. We all know from the Sullivan review that data has not been collected accurately and that institutions continue to blur the lines between sex and gender, which is leading to gaps in provision for all people across communities. Replacing sex with gender identity erases biological difference, which is critically important for medical and health issues, criminal justice, education, sport and the rights of lesbians and gay men, to name but a few areas. In conclusion, it is vital that we have open communication with trans people to move this conversation forward. We all have a responsibility to remove the toxicity from this debate. This is not about winning or losing; it is about how we provide trans people with services and help them to live dignified lives, but with the understanding that sex is not an identity, and gender and sex are not the same thing.

• 15 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Overnight, the Israeli Government have issued one of the largest evacuation orders seen in the last 20 months. The Minister with responsibility for the middle east, my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer), has appeared before this House to make statements and respond to questions on numerous occasions. However, it is clear that Members on both sides of the House are increasingly alarmed by the Israeli Government’s actions. Will the Leader of the House schedule an urgent debate in Government time on the UK’s response to the conflict and recognition of the Palestinian state?

• 12 May 2025 · Immigration System · Hansard source

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  A report on the economic impact of the University of Edinburgh found that its education exports alone amounted to £1.8 billion in the 2021-22 academic year. What engagement will my right hon. Friend have with the university to ensure that the proposals brought forward today do not have any adverse impact on our world-class universities and their local economic impacts?

• 6 May 2025 · Middle East Update · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his statement following yet another appalling turn of events towards Gaza by the Israeli Government. In a Westminster Hall debate in February, I said I feared that “if the occupation continues, it will become increasingly difficult to apply international law to the situation on the ground.” —[ Official Report, 12 February 2025; Vol. 762, c. 198WH.] I now fear that if we do not recognise a Palestinian state, there will be no Palestinian state that includes Gaza left to recognise. Will the UK Government take immediate steps to recognise the state of Palestine?

• 30 Apr 2025 · Gender Incongruence: Puberty Suppressing Hormones · Hansard source

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  Are the Liberal Democrats supportive of the views in the Cass review? I do not think that that has been stated on the public record as yet.

• 30 Apr 2025 · Gender Incongruence: Puberty Suppressing Hormones · Hansard source

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  Dr Cass was clear in her review that the model of care for people with gender incongruence, and particularly for children and young people, needs to be changed to take into account their holistic care needs. Will the Minister update us on her Department’s progress in implementing those findings?

• 23 Apr 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Licences: Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is an opportunity for significant economic growth in Scotland from getting right a just transition from oil and gas to clean power? In my constituency, the landing space at the port of Leith previously used by the oil and gas sector has been transformed by investment from Forth Ports into the largest renewable hub in Scotland. Will he join me in welcoming this investment in Leith, and will he outline how his Department will help secure every job possible in the transition from oil and gas?