Wendy Chamberlain MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 14 Apr 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Twenty-two people a day are diagnosed with lobular breast cancer, including my colleague Councillor Fiona Corps in North East Fife, but many more are living with it, because researchers and clinicians know so little about it. In advance of vigils next week, can we ensure funding for the Moon Shot Project, to give these women hope?

• 26 Mar 2026 · Transport Accessibility for Disabled People · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the Chair of the Transport Committee, the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury), and my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) on securing this debate. I am conscious that transport is devolved, but what I have already heard in the debate tells me that there are a lot of similar themes. My constituency of North East Fife is quite a rural one, and in recent weeks I have spent a couple of days travelling around it on the bus with those who use wheelchairs to understand better the challenges they face. One reason why they use public transport is that other options are limited. There is a distinct lack of accessible taxis in North East Fife and beyond—that is a licensing and economic issue—and we find that a lot of the taxis are used for school contracts, which means that members of the public wanting to use them cannot access them. That is a real challenge. As the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth pointed out, getting to the bus stop in the first place is a challenge, because of the pavements, dropped kerbs and street furniture. When I was out with a constituent the other week, we actually had to move road signs from the interminable roadworks in Guardbridge for her to get to the bus stop in the first instance. There is also the fact that, in most cases, there is space on the bus for only one wheelchair, so if a wheelchair user is friends with somebody else who uses a wheelchair, they cannot go to things together. There is already a real impact on people’s lives in that regard. There are different types of buses, and we experienced them all during our days out in North East Fife. For some services, people have to give two hours’ notice that they have a wheelchair and want to use the bus, so that the provider can ensure that it provides a bus they can use. I just find it bizarre that we are in such a situation. Also, in some cases, a wheelchair user can have people leaning across them to pay their fare, which is such an invasion of their privacy. Another challenge in a rural constituency where we have had ongoing changes and reductions in bus services is that multiple buses are sometimes required to get between population centres. I have a constituent who lives in Guardbridge and works in Cupar, but now has to go to St Andrews and then to Cupar to get to her place of employment. That does not feel like a real choice for wheelchair users. Finally—I am sure we are all aware of this through our casework—for wheelchair users, in particular, to use public transport, the access allowing them to get on to the bus needs to work. I was with a constituent last week when the ramp did not work. The bus was therefore put out of order, everybody on the bus had to get off, and nobody who was looking to get on the bus after my constituent could get on. That was highly embarrassing for that individual, because she felt responsible for inconveniencing the other passengers, and it is simply not good enough. I want to talk about Access for All, which is reserved—the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth also highlighted it. Leuchars is the nearest railway station to St Andrews, which is hopefully known to all Members, because I have mentioned it here in the Chamber a lot; if they like golf, they will know St Andrews well. There is no lift at the station, and we have been trying to get funding for a new bridge for six years—my Scottish Liberal Democrat colleagues on Fife council have been trying for even longer. The gradient of the ramp up to the bridge is 1:12, or just over 8%. For a ramp of over 10 metres, the British Standards Institution recommends a gradient of no more than 1:20, or 5%. That is simply not the case at Leuchars, where the ramp is not short; it is many metres. It is a real challenge for those using wheelchairs and prams, and the first thing that visitors to St Andrews have to do, rather than being able to access a lift, is humph their cases up the ramp and down again. It is completely unfair on local people, because they are often excluded from using public transport, and they tell me that they do not use the train as a result. Last year, ScotRail hosted a roundtable on the future of train services in Fife, and it listed Leuchars as being lower priority. I cannot get my head around that classification and, accordingly, I am waiting for a meeting. Access for All is an example of where devolved and reserved do not work together very well. Much like the infamous Spiderman meme, the answers to my queries five years ago involved the UK Government pointing to the Scottish Government, who pointed right back at them. I know I am not the only Member of this House to be extremely frustrated by the scheme effectively slowing to a halt. In a written statement in January, the Government downgraded, and indeed halted, some proposed work on projects under Access for All. I would be interested in the Minister’s explanation of how that squares with reporting by Disability Rights UK in 2024 that Access for All had actually been underspending prior to that. The statement went on to say that there might be some funding available in the next spending review, but that means we are not expecting any announcements for another three years, at which point we will be heading into a general election. Are we seriously saying that there will be no Access for All spending rounds in the whole remainder of this Parliament? Finally—this is less about funding, but directly relevant to what our constituents can expect—I would like to hear whether the Government will be publishing any outcomes from the review of design standards for accessible railway stations. Using public transport should not be a luxury; it is something we should be trying to encourage our constituents to do at every opportunity. Putting disability considerations to one side, if we are talking about economic inactivity and how we enable access for people to get to work, and indeed for those with disabilities into work, this should be an absolute priority for our public services.

• 26 Mar 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My office has seen an increase in my constituents coming to me because of an uptick in visa processing delays—visas for which they are often paying an increased fee. I really do worry about the sustainability of the Home Office’s processes, particularly in the light of the immigration reforms that this Government are making. Will the Leader of the House ensure that there is an update from the Department about what it is doing to address those delays?

• 24 Mar 2026 · Middle East: Economic Update · Hansard source

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  The Chancellor has mentioned several times that households will benefit from £150 off their energy bills, but I had a constituent on the phone this morning who has been told that his energy bills are still rising and will not see the savings that the Chancellor is talking about. What conversations is she having with energy companies to make sure that people do actually benefit from the fall in bills that she is so keen to talk about?

• 12 Mar 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  It was good that the Government hosted a session on heating oil. In rural constituencies, such as North East Fife, almost 15% of people rely on heating oil, so it is really important that the Government are debating this issue. As the Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael), has said, red diesel is also an issue. The rural impacts of the conflict in Iran go beyond heating oil; fertiliser is another challenge, with reports of a 40% increase in the cost. Given that food security is becoming even more vital, will the Leader of the House ensure that we have a statement from the Environment Secretary on the rural impacts of the conflict?

• 12 Mar 2026 · International Women’s Day · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman has made me remember something very important. When Sarah Everard was murdered, a number of us were lighting candles, and I remember having a conversation with my son and my daughter, during which my daughter, who was 15, told her brother about all the times that she had been cat-called and harassed on the street. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that it is important that the issue is not just about educating girls or educating boys—it is about educating the human beings that we are raising. Does he agree?

• 12 Mar 2026 · International Women’s Day · Hansard source

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  In this International Women’s Day debate, I rise to say a few words about the women and girls in Afghanistan, as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Afghan women and girls. I note that the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Ms Oppong-Asare) also referred to their experiences. I saw comments in the Telegraph at the weekend saying that the fact International Women’s Day is marked in Afghanistan shows that the day is meaningless. I beg to differ, particularly given the number of us who are here on a Thursday afternoon. Factually, it is not listed as a holiday in Afghanistan, and we are not seeing celebrations, protests, debates or marketing based on the day itself there, simply because that is not possible for women and girls in Afghanistan. Afghanistan remains a member of the UN, which marks the day, but we do not need to formally ban something to effectively do so—not when women cannot gather and cannot speak, even in their own homes if they can be heard outside them. None the less, there is value to International Women’s Day, and I believe that even in the darkest of circumstances, there is still value in this day to the women of Afghanistan. As we are hearing in this debate, International Women’s Day is about so many struggles but also celebrations. The women of Afghanistan’s struggles and the celebration of their resilience have equal value today. When they cannot speak for themselves, those of us with voices internationally can do so. Indeed, elevating the voices of Afghan women is what the APPG was set up to do. There is no sugarcoating it: it is bleak in Afghanistan. A new penal code was introduced in January that has effectively legalised domestic violence, including sexual assault within marriages. Husbands are explicitly authorised to discipline their wives for non-specified transgressions. The only crime on the books is a husband beating his wife with a stick, causing severe injury such as a broken bone. The burden of proof for that offence lies on the woman, and the punishment if proven is just 15 days in prison. Injuring animals carries a greater penalty in Afghanistan. I doubt we will ever see a prosecution under that law, given that gathering the proof would require the husband who has committed the assault chaperoning his wife to hospital to get the evidential X-ray required. On the other hand, if a woman tries to leave a marriage by visiting her father or relatives and does so without her husband’s consent or refuses to return—we can imagine circumstances where somebody would look to do that, to escape domestic violence in their house—she can go to prison for three months. If a woman is found to have abandoned Islam—and I believe we are talking here about the Taliban’s interpretation of the faith, which many disagree with—she can be jailed indefinitely, with 10 lashes daily until she chooses to return to the religion. There are severe restrictions on working, to which the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead referred. Some organisations in some areas have negotiated the right for women to keep their jobs. Women can still provide healthcare, though increasingly women are being denied the right to have healthcare training, and we can easily see what that means for the future of maternal and female care in Afghanistan. We are certainly a long way away from there being freedom to work, and financial autonomy is simply not a reality. The future for the next generation is even bleaker. Girls are growing up without completing their education, and with women being unable to have medical training, there will come a point when there are no women left to provide healthcare. The reality is that in a country at war, at the forefront of the climate crisis, where 17 million people faced acute hunger this winter, and with millions of displaced people returning from its neighbours, including Iran, it is women who are bearing the brunt of the desolation. I am aware that in setting out this reality, I am not elevating the experiences, feelings or voices of any one woman. There are 25 million women in Afghanistan, and each and every one of them should have the right to speak, to live freely and, indeed, to live at all. Prior to 2021, they were able to do so. On this International Women’s Day, I would like to see commitments from the Government to the women and girls of Afghanistan. I do not agree with the Government’s decision to close the door on the safe and legal routes for refuge or to study or work. I was told on Monday in the Chamber by the Minister for Border Security and Asylum, who was responding to the urgent question on the Government’s immigration policy, that this is about ensuring that universities are not making the decisions on who gets to stay here. But if there are no other ways for people to seek safe refuge here, it is not surprising that they take that opportunity, and if they no longer have that opportunity, it will not be surprising if they revert to irregular routes, by which I mean the small boats that we all say we want to prevent. Having made that decision, the Government must do more in Afghanistan—much more. In opening the debate, the Minister talked about the work the Government do overseas, but I beg to differ on that assessment. Afghanistan is not one of the countries the Government have ringfenced as they look to cut official development assistance spending, but Afghanistan is apparently a priority. I would like to understand what that means. It is important that we recognise the strength of Afghan women. The APPG has had the privilege of hearing from several Afghan women in the last year, as well as NGOs and academics who have spent time on the ground. We have heard a lot, unsurprisingly, about the loss of hope, but we have also heard about the unbelievable resilience. Afghan women live in unthinkable circumstances for any of us here, but they keep on. While this is a speech setting out terrible things, I am not asking people to pity women and girls in Afghanistan; in talking about them, I am asking for action. I know that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, were previously a member of the APPG in the last Parliament and know how supportive you were and continue to be. To end, I want to share the remarks that the APPG heard last year from a female medical practitioner on the ground. She said that she spoke to us as parliamentarians “as a witness to the quiet suffering and untold strength of Afghan women. These stories are not just tragic, they are powerful. And they must inform policy decisions and humanitarian priorities moving forward.” I urge the Government to heed those words.

• 12 Mar 2026 · International Women’s Day · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is rightly and powerfully talking about the testimony of survivors. I join him in thanking the Survivors Trust, which has given us such invaluable support as we navigate managing a very difficult APPG. I want to mention two amazing women: our researchers, Kathryn and Jessie, who keep us right, keep us grounded, and have done a huge power of work, while we establish how we will take the APPG and the secretariat forward.

• 11 Mar 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q2. This afternoon, the Mandelson papers, or the first tranche of them, will be released, bringing to light for the first time UK institutional knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein and those associated with him. But here in the UK, we have our own Epstein in Mohamed al-Fayed and the institutions that supported his crimes. As co-chair of the all-party group for the survivors of al-Fayed and Harrods along with the hon. Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson), we welcome the actions of the Metropolitan police in recent days, but we continue to call on them to describe those crimes as what they were, which was trafficking. Does the Prime Minister recognise that characterisation and will he meet the all-party group and survivors to hear their asks?

• 10 Mar 2026 · High Street Businesses: Tax Changes · Hansard source

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  6. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of tax changes on high street businesses.

• 10 Mar 2026 · High Street Businesses: Tax Changes · Hansard source

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  I recently hosted a hospitality roundtable in North East Fife. In an area that boasts such attractions as St Andrews and the East Neuk, one would expect to find an industry in rude health, but that was not the case. Indeed, one business could not attend because it was taking difficult decisions in relation to the business that day. The Minister has outlined a number of things that are in the purview of the devolved Government, and I will be taking those up with the Scottish Government. As a Scottish MP and a Scot representing Scottish businesses, however, I am looking for things that the Government can do on a UK level. The Liberal Democrats have been proposing an emergency VAT cut for hospitality businesses for some time, so why will the Government not consider that?

• 9 Mar 2026 · Immigration Policy · Hansard source

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  In Afghanistan, women and girls are being persecuted on grounds of their gender. They cannot work, they cannot study, and by law their husbands can punish them however they see fit. Last year the Home Office closed safe and legal routes for Afghan women to come to the UK, and last week it closed the door for both professionals and students. The work of the Linda Norgrove Foundation means that a number of female medical students are currently studying at Scottish universities, including St Andrews. What hope is there for others to complete their studies and support the maternal healthcare crisis that is under way in Afghanistan?

• 5 Mar 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  There are beautiful churches across my constituency, many of which are listed. Following the announcement that the listed places of worship scheme will be closed, I have been contacted by many church communities that are deeply concerned about what that means for them, as the scheme will no longer provide funding for Scotland, and there appears to have been little engagement with the Church of Scotland. Are there Barnett consequential arising from the new scheme, and what conversations have there been with the Scottish Government? Will the new scheme continue to offer a VAT rebate for church repairs, and, if so, will churches in Scotland be eligible? This is causing huge concern, so will the Leader of the House ensure that a Minister from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport comes to update the House?

• 4 Mar 2026 · Department for Business and Trade · Hansard source

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  I will make some brief remarks. I note that the Department’s estimates memorandum made specific reference to spending supporting the objectives to make the UK the best place in the world to do business, the best place to do business from, and to deliver great services to businesses. I will talk about a roundtable I held for hospitality businesses in my constituency last week. The organisations that attended varied hugely in size, turnover and business model—North East Fife is a place that generally people want to visit, and it caters for a number of visitors accordingly—but none of them thought that the Department for Business and Trade was making this the best place in the world to be operating. Part of the reason for the debate was because the Department has increased its budgets for the British Business Bank and the growth guarantee scheme, which the Chair of the Business and Trade Committee mentioned. There are other sectors in North East Fife—we have seen losses in manufacturing, largely due to our departure from the EU, and we have the University of St Andrews doing groundbreaking work and research—but we are largely a rural economy, with farmers across the constituency. Turning to hospitality, one of the issues raised at my business roundtable was the difficulty in accessing finance. Given that has already been raised by the Chair of the Committee, I hope that the Minister will address that point in particular. As has been already touched on, the feeling is that hospitality is being hammered from every direction at the moment—the question asked was: how much more can businesses take? Across the board, businesses understood the reasons behind the changes to national insurance contributions, and they were supportive of the national living wage. Part of that is because most leaders in hospitality have worked their way up within the sector, and they know that the hard work of the service industry deserves proper pay. But as business owners they are also acutely aware that their wage bills are going up unsustainably. A significant amount of hospitality businesses’ costs relate to staffing—some of them quoted 30% to 40%, or even higher. With the lower threshold for contributions dropping to £5,000, employees now pay national insurance on more of their employees’ earnings, which means that many part-time roles have been impacted and part-time recruitment is no longer happening. More full-time roles are being recruited, which stops young people, for example, from finding that first rung on the hospitality ladder. Business rates are also going up. As a Scottish MP, I appreciate that that problem lies squarely at the feet of the SNP Government in Scotland, who could pause this year’s re-evaluations but are refusing to do so. I am grateful to my colleagues in the Scottish Parliament, who have secured hospitality reliefs in our budget negotiations with them. Food inflation—especially with the impact of tariffs—is a real concern, and the only real lever to control soaring costs is to cut back on training, hours and staff: those things that the Chair of the Business and Trade Committee said are so critical to delivering some of the change that the Government want to see. The biggest ask that came from hospitality was to cut VAT from 20% to 15%, which is a move that the Liberal Democrats have been calling for for some time. I know that that is not in the gift of the Minister, but I urge him to make representations to the Treasury if we want this to be the best place in the world to do business. It is also a measure that would support hospitality across the UK, and I say that as a Scottish MP. Hospitality is important for so many reasons. Last September, there were 2.6 million jobs in the hospitality industry and it is estimated to be worth £70 billion to our economy. It is also part of our community. That came across very strongly in the roundtable. On the day that my son was born, our local pub was across the road from our house and I went there to wet his head, because why should I miss out on all the fun? Since then, it is the place he has worked in and the place where he had his 18th birthday. We need to support these hospitality industries.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Work Capability Assessment Timescales · Hansard source

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  Culture does seem to be part of the problem in these circumstances. My view is that my caseworkers work incredibly hard, but if systems, processes and institutions worked the way they were supposed to, the casework often would not come to us in the first instance. One of my caseworkers told me that, on the phone, someone can go from being completely fine and talking about their application and their health treatment to being in floods of tears and expressing suicidal thoughts with next to no warning. The DWP is not responsible for the underlying factors and histories of my constituents—let me make that clear—but it is here to provide a safety net. Leaving my constituents in limbo has made everything much worse. Mental and physical health are worse, and trauma responses are triggered. One of my constituents has been advised that there is no point pushing on with investigations and treatment for her pain while so many anxiety-inducing factors are ongoing, so recovery is being impacted too. Being unable to work without the additional health element of universal credit can make it incredibly difficult to make ends meet. As we all know, poverty and ill health is a terrible cycle. The constituents I am working with are trying their best, and I am grateful to the local agencies that offer support. I would like to highlight the work of Fife Women’s Aid and Square Start. The former offers invaluable trauma support and counselling, and the latter can help with all sorts of essential life skills. Many of my constituents have particularly benefited from help with budgeting and managing their finances. However, the reality is that we are all stuck in a holding pattern until the assessments are carried out and decisions are made. My constituents are not alone; they are in a cohort of 35,000 others. The Minister mentioned the steps the Government are taking to reduce the backlog in his letter to me last month. He will be unsurprised to know that I have some questions that I hope he will be able to address today. First, can he explain why his Department has prioritised new work capability assessments over applicants who have notified the DWP about a change in condition? I am not saying that existing claimants should be prioritised, but a “first come, first served” process, or some other type of prioritisation system, might be fairer. Can the Minister explain how the backlog has got so big? If it stems back from before the 2024 election, why is it taking so long to tackle it? What grounds does his Department use for considering expediting reassessment? My caseworkers, coincidentally, went to an information session run by Maximus yesterday, and they, with the 50 or so other staffers on the call, were told that the DWP has the power to approve reassessments being processed if it thinks there are reasonable grounds for doing so. That was news to my team and me, because DWP case handlers have consistently said that Maximus is independent and that it has no influence over its operations. However, we were told yesterday that Maximus is under instruction from DWP to prioritise all new applications, and to look at the backlog of reassessments only if it finds spare capacity. If we write to Maximus and make the case for a reassessment being prioritised, it can escalate it to DWP, and that is where the ultimate decision lies. I would be very keen to hear more about that and confirmation of what we were told yesterday from the Minister. On making things faster, will the Minister please give more details of what is entailed in rapidly expanding reassessment capacity and accelerating the recruitment of health professionals? That goes to the point made by the hon. Member for Strangford. Given work capability assessments are outsourced to companies such as Maximus, what conversations is the Department having with providers about increasing that capacity? How will that be carried out and how will it be allocated geographically? The DWP already carries out some PIP assessments in-house. Has the Department considered adding capacity to work capability assessments with in-house resource? The Minister said in his letter to me that health professionals are being encouraged to make recommendations based on the papers, rather than in person, where possible. What is he doing to make sure those decisions are being made correctly? I am aware, for example, that at least one of my constituents is stuck on a very long waiting list for PTSD and ADHD diagnoses. There are NHS backlogs everywhere, and Scotland, regrettably, is no exception. That leads me on to my next question: how does the Minister intend to ensure, with this rapid expansion, that the right decisions are being made overall? Rushing at this stage and getting it wrong will just push the backlog into mandatory reconsideration, which helps nobody, and will lead to more delays for our constituents and more administration costs for his Department. On a final note, although this is not why I secured this debate, I am aware that the Minister might be minded to mention the planned long-term reforms for work capability assessments. I make a plea for him to think very carefully about what assessments will be used for Scottish applicants, and how those systems will be linked with the DWP. As he knows, we have the adult disability payment under Social Security Scotland, and there are already so many problems that need fixing in how these two systems talk to each other—or do not, as the case may be. My caseworkers have to be experienced in both of these systems. At the moment, failing to fix those foundations and ensuring that the right conversations take place between the Scottish Government and the DWP would be unhelpful for everyone. To conclude, 35,000 people waiting sounds like just another number, but it is the size of a medium town in the UK, or just a little bit smaller than the population of Lichtenstein. There is a significant cost for every person left in limbo, to us as a population and to our wider economy. I hope I have demonstrated that today.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Work Capability Assessment Timescales · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered Work Capability Assessment timescales. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Western. I welcome the Minister to his place to discuss this important issue. I am grateful to him and his office for their recent engagement with my office on this issue. I am sure he has gathered from our recent correspondence that the focus of my remarks today will not be about the timescales for first-time applications for work capability assessments, but those for people who have requested a new assessment or a reassessment. There are lots of reasons why someone might need a new assessment. No health condition follows a set path. Although we hope that someone’s health might stay stable or improve, often that is not the way it works out. I do not know how many applicants are waiting for brand-new work capability assessments, but I know that the Minister wrote to me last month to tell me there was a backlog of 35,000 reassessments waiting to be seen. That is a lot of people struggling or unable to work and arguably not getting the support that they need. In response to recent parliamentary questions, I was told that the Department has no breakdown on that backlog, which I find quite concerning. I hope the Minister will take that away. I hope he will tell me in his remarks all the ways they are trying to fix the backlog, but I put it to him that we cannot add capacity if we do not know where to target, so we need a breakdown of that backlog.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Work Capability Assessment Timescales · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Member for his intervention. I will go on to talk about my own caseworkers’ experience. It is right that we recognise that they are the people dealing with the brunt of this. I am going to outline some of the challenges and what I hope the Minister might tell us he is doing to address those. There are different assessment providers across the UK. Maximus serves my constituency of North East Fife, whereas other assessment contracts sit with Capita, Serco and Ingeus. I would be grateful for more staffing near North East Fife, but the Department for Work and Pensions seems to have no knowledge of whether the problems are greater in Scotland or Skegness. When I talk about delays, I am not talking about a service standard being missed by a few weeks or even a few months. Like the hon. Member for Strangford, I have cases where wait times are 18 months or more. I want to talk about the impact of such delays on people on the waiting list. I hope the Minister and you, Mr Western, will understand that for the security and wellbeing of my constituents, I am not going to share individual details. There are common denominators across the cases that can paint a picture but, as most MPs know, the people we support are often vulnerable and have suffered considerably in their lifetimes, and it is important that we safeguard their welfare. The common denominators are backgrounds of serious abuse, sometimes back to childhood—abuse that is hard to imagine and has a serious impact on adult mental health and wellbeing; severe anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder; physical symptoms and pain, sometimes linked to external factors like car accidents and other times linked to past and ongoing trauma. I also have at least one case waiting for a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In general, there is extreme vulnerability across the board. Summer 2024 seems like a long time ago. There were 243 happy and optimistic newly elected Labour MPs filling the Palace, the Paris Olympics were just kicking off, London was full of Swifties for the Eras tour, and my constituents were taking the difficult decision that their health struggles were too much to manage to hold down a job and starting the process of requesting support from the DWP. That illustrates how long they have been waiting. These extended waits are absolutely debilitating. The not knowing is incredibly difficult. I think all MPs know from experience that these people worry to the point of obsessive hyper-fixation that their existing benefits will be taken away. That is added to by the stigma people feel for not being able to support themselves or their children, relying on the food bank and not being able to meet their basic needs for energy or clothes, and the anxiety of being judged by those around them. The hon. Member for Strangford mentioned his caseworkers. I spoke with my caseworkers in the run-up to this debate. I want to take a moment to appreciate our caseworkers, because we need to remember that they are not trained as benefit advisers, counsellors or welfare specialists, but they are the ones picking up the phones day in, day out, trying to unpick what has gone wrong and providing back-up to constituents who find themselves in crisis with nowhere else to go. That is true of all MPs’ offices.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is talking passionately about the impact of physical injuries on young people, but we also know that trauma recovery for children and young people will have to be a vital part of the long-term solution for Gaza. The International Centre for Child Trauma Prevention and Recovery has pioneered a capacity-building model of training to put as many counsellors on the ground as possible. I engaged with the ICCTPR’s co-director at a fundraising event in Ceres in my constituency. Does the hon. Member agree that when the UK Government are looking at providing funding and support, they also need to look at trauma recovery?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  I entirely agree with the Minister on the abhorrence of the comments made in the media back then. Does he agree that we still have a degree of that problem now, because often in the media we talk about “under-age girls” when actually we are talking about children, and we should ensure that when we talk about Epstein’s crimes, we talk about the children who were involved?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. I am conscious that she was close to concluding, but her words about the victims are powerful. I co-chair the all-party parliamentary group for the survivors of Fayed and Harrods. We have just started our work, but Members may have heard a powerful interview on the “World at One” a couple of weeks ago, which talked about the lack of acknowledgement of what had taken place and the fact that the police did not properly understand trafficking. The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Alex Burghart), described this as a global enterprise. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to do much more work around this and that it is not just about the victims of Epstein, but other trafficking victims, too?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  By sketching out that timeline, the hon. Gentleman brings to light the reason why we are calling in our Humble Address for information about the actual creation of the appointment, which, as the Minister rightly pointed out, was a unique role created for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Does the hon. Gentleman therefore agree that we are right not only to call out the creation of that role, but to ascertain whether Mandelson had any role in it?

• 28 Jan 2026 · British Indian Ocean Territory · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend talks about some of the key issues in relation to the US and its agreement. On remarks from the US, I remember being contacted by my friend on the morning her brother was injured severely in an improvised explosive device explosion in Afghanistan. I have also had many constituents get in touch with me who are deeply angry at President Trump’s remarks about our service personnel. Does my hon. Friend agree that the rowing back is not sufficient and that the President needs to give an apology to British service personnel?

• 28 Jan 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is highlighting two important things. The increases in on-costs for businesses mean that they are not taking on young people. More importantly, they are not then able to support the supervisory roles that give those young people the development they need, because they cannot make the differentiation in terms of salary. I am standing here as a Scottish MP. The Scottish Government did not pass on the business rate relief the last time. They have confirmed that they will do so for Barnett consequentials, but does she agree that the Scottish Government are simply not doing enough in this area and that, in fact, we are in a worse position than what is being debated today?

• 28 Jan 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is talking about further and vocational education, which is important. Another aspect of it is that it helps young people for whom school has not been a success. It is not just about the skills that they learn; it is about that arm that is put around them. Does she share my concern at the rural agricultural college in Cupar in my constituency of North East Fife effectively mothballing its building and moving a number of its courses online, meaning that young people studying animal care for, for example, are missing out on those arm-supporting opportunities that they desperately need?

• 27 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T9. I heard the Minister’s words to the hon. Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) about the energy company obligation 4 scheme, but the vague promise in the warm homes plan to put right poor-quality work under ECO4 seems like empty words to my constituents who are affected. Will the Treasury consider the only viable alternative to this disastrous scheme, which is redress?