Chi Onwurah MP: speeches

Speeches

• 20 Jan 2026 · Mobile Phones and Social Media: Use by Children · Hansard source

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  I welcome the consultation. We know that technology has changed childhood, we believe that it has changed child socialisation and we think that it may have changed brain development, perhaps even motor neurone skills, but there is little concrete evidence beyond the individual terrible stories and, of course, the profits of the big tech platforms. That is why my Committee will soon be launching a digital childhood inquiry to examine these issues, hopefully in time to respond to the consultation. May I, however, urge the Secretary of State not to assume that a ban will be the answer to the challenges that technology poses? We need to make tech work for all of us now. May I ask her to review her Department’s refusal to accept the recommendations of my Committee’s inquiry into social media and algorithms, particularly with regard to platform responsibility, user control, digital advertising and social media business models?

• 19 Jan 2026 · Iran: Protests · Hansard source

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  The brutal regime in Iran has destroyed so many lives, and as a woman and a feminist I want to pay particular tribute to the brave women of Iran fighting for their freedom against such odds. They were promised support by President Trump. Can the Minister say what form that support may take, and what involvement the UK may or may not have, and whether it is dependent on executions taking place? On the technical front, will he write to me in my role as Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee explaining exactly how the Iranian regime was able to turn off access to the internet? Do they have some switch somewhere? With our unique technical expertise, what is the UK doing to address that?

• 19 Jan 2026 · Arctic Security · Hansard source

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  Knocking on doors in Denton, Westerhope, Arthur’s Hill and Wingrove, I found that, for the first time in my 15 years as an MP, the No. 1 issue was global insecurity. President Trump has succeeded in uniting the British people against his unwarranted attack on a close ally. My right hon. Friend is right to be calm and diplomatic, but will she reassure us that given the current President’s volatility, she and her Government will ensure that our sovereignty is not dependent on US capability, and specifically that our technology procurement —both civil and defence—will reflect this?

• 14 Jan 2026 · Science and Discovery Centres · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this really important debate, and on his excellent and inspirational speech. The Centre for Life in Newcastle celebrated its 25th birthday last year. I have been inspired by its openness and how it supports young people from all backgrounds and different areas of the north-east to engage with life sciences. As an engineer from an impoverished background, knowing that the Centre for Life in Newcastle is opening up the huge universe of science and scientific curiosity is so reassuring.

• 14 Jan 2026 · Science and Discovery Centres · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for the passionate points that he is making. I want to support him by pointing out that the answer to a parliamentary question of mine in October stated that the Minister for Science, Lord Vallance, was following up “with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to explore a coordinated approach to supporting these centres.” Just before Christmas, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology wrote to me to say that “officials from across departments with an interest in SDCs are meeting to discuss options for sustainable support.” Does my hon. Friend agree that it is time we had an answer to the question of where sustainable support—which, as he said, DSIT should lead—would come from?

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  Unlike her shadow, the Secretary of State was rightly passionate when calling out these sexually abusive images. The libertarian tech bro lobby has to accept that consent counts online, too. In her letter to me today, the Secretary of State said that the Online Safety Act was designed to deal with this, but she is being overly generous to the previous Government. The Act was designed, or fudged, to give adults some protection from illegal content on certain services, and to protect children from harmful content more generally, but not including generative AI, and without making platforms responsible for content that they share. Will my right hon. Friend now accept my Committee’s recommendations. and do more to explicitly plug the gaps in the Act, particularly regarding generative AI, as well as tackling the social media business models that incentivise the content that we are talking about?

• 6 Jan 2026 · Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for the excellent points he is making on the importance of cyber-security and the cyber-security action plan. Can he say a little bit about how the success of the cyber-security action plan will be measured, monitored and communicated to the House? He is probably aware that only 33,000 cyber essentials certificates were issued in 2024, for example, so an increased take-up of cyber essentials and the guidance in the action plan are essential.

• 6 Jan 2026 · Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill · Hansard source

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  Happy new year to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, to all hon. Members and to the staff. It is appropriate that we begin 2026 by talking about an issue in the House that is of grave importance to all our constituents, but is not discussed enough either here or in the country: cyber-security. At the start of the millennium, only a quarter of the UK and 6% of the world were online. Today, almost 98% of the UK and 68% of the world use the internet. According to Ofcom, we each spend between three and six hours online every day, depending on our age and interests. For many—perhaps too many—life is lived online. Even when people are not online, the infrastructure of their lives is. Whether people use online banking or not, their bank account details will be stored in a cloud somewhere. The same is true of health records, electricity bills, children’s school records, the safety sensors of our nuclear power plants, Christmas Marks & Spencer orders and Uber ride details. The Prime Minister said that national security is the first duty of any Government. I hope that all hon. Members agree that the Government must ensure the security of the British people as we go about our increasingly online lives. Previous Governments have not taken that issue seriously enough or done enough to protect our citizens. That is why, as Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee and a self-confessed tech evangelist, I welcome the legislation. I am pleased to see other members of the Committee here. The Committee has not examined cyber-security in detail, but we have expressed significant concerns about public sector data management, for example, after the Afghan data breach came to light. As we have heard, the UK’s only cross-cutting cyber-security legislation is inherited from the EU. Since Brexit, the EU has updated those regulations, leaving the UK working in an outdated framework. Meanwhile, nationally significant cyber-incidents, as measured by the National Cyber Security Centre, more than doubled last year. The NCSC also warns that artificial intelligence will “almost certainly” increase both the scale and impact of attacks. When everyone can code, thanks to AI, everyone can hack, and we need to respond to that, because those attacks threaten not only our national security, but our economy. In November, the Bank of England cited, for the first time, a major cyber-attack—that on Jaguar Land Rover—as a factor in its decision to hold interest rates. The JLR breach is estimated to have cost the economy almost £2 billion. I welcome the Bill, which seeks to expand its scope to new sectors, to make regulators more effective, and to grant the Government additional powers to respond to the ever-evolving threat landscape. However, I must be clear that there is more to be done. My main concern relates to the scope of the legislation. The Bill rightly brings data centres, large load controllers and managed service providers within the scope of regulations, and grants competent authorities the power to designate critical suppliers that are vital to the service provided, yet some of our most economically significant sectors remain outside its core obligations. Retail is the UK’s largest private sector employer. It handles huge volumes of sensitive customer data, runs complex supply chains, and often relies on legacy IT systems, which make it a prime target for cyber-criminals, yet retail is outside the direct scope of the Bill. The legislation would therefore not have prevented the attacks on Marks & Spencer, the Co-op or Jaguar Land Rover, which affected our constituents so greatly. I welcome the Government’s plan to promote the new cyber governance code of practice to improve preparedness in sectors such as retail. However, even after high-profile breaches, cyber-security is still not prioritised at board level. A recent report by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association—ISACA—shows that only 56% of company boards take cyber-security seriously enough, and that is after JLR. The Minister, in his excellent speech, said that it was up to private sector companies to manage their cyber-security. I agree, but how will the Government assess whether that is happening? What will the Government do if there is evidence that companies are not managing their cyber-security effectively and that, as a result, our citizens are not adequately protected? Without a way of monitoring and enforcing governance standards, large parts of our economy remain exposed. ISACA recommends a statutory review of the uptake and effectiveness of the cyber governance code; powers for regulators to mandate periodic external resilience assessments, such as penetration testing and scenario-based exercises; and a requirement for organisations to appoint an accountable individual who meets defined competency standards. Government Departments, local administrations and public bodies, such as the BBC, are also outside the scope of the legislation. The Bill does nothing to address long-standing weaknesses in public sector data management, which the Select Committee highlighted. As the National Audit Office declared last year, the cyber-threat to the UK Government is “severe and advancing quickly”. The cyber-attack on the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in October is a clear example of how rapidly the attacks are escalating. We need greater rigour to prevent future attacks and build the public trust that is needed for the implementation of digital ID and other digital transformation projects. I have not been able to study in any detail the action plan that the Government published this morning, but I will look for clear measures of success when it comes to its implementation, and ways in which the cultural change that was mentioned in the debate, which is needed in the public sector as well as the private sector, has been achieved. The Secretary of State recently told my Committee that the Government would “assess the improvements the Cyber Security Bill brings to the UK’s cyber defences through post-implementation reviews, regular engagement with NIS regulators and industry, and monitoring the incidence and cost of any future cyber attacks.” I would welcome clarification of whether those commitments reflect the statutory requirements in clauses 20 to 22 or additional policy commitments, and how they will be funded. The Bill rightly focuses on critical national infrastructure, but as we all know, we are only as secure as our weakest link. The supply chains for our critical national infrastructure involve many small businesses, who may or may not be within the scope of the Bill, depending on their designation. How quickly does the Minister envisage businesses knowing whether they have been designated as critical suppliers? I support the Bill’s proposals for mandatory cyber-incident reporting and recognise the value of the Government’s collecting and publishing data on ransomware and other attacks. However, I share the concerns raised by the Association of British Insurers and others about the feasibility of small businesses meeting the proposed two-stage reporting requirement, and particularly the requirement to submit full reports to regulators and the NCSC within 72 hours. We have seen that the take-up of cyber essentials—the programme to help businesses, and particularly small businesses, achieve the cyber-security they need—is low among businesses. As I said, only 33,000 took it up in 2024. Cyber insurance take-up is also low among small businesses, leaving them vulnerable in terms of skills and protection. Can the Minister say a little about his plans to address that? If the Bill is to succeed, implementation must be done with industry, not to industry, so I echo techUK’s calls for clearer guidance on information sharing and for additional support to help small businesses meet compliance costs. I hope that the Minister will address the following points specifically. Will the Government consider extending the Bill to economically significant businesses outside its current scope, and empowering regulators to mandate stronger cyber governance and resilience assessments? Will the Government consider including direct measures to strengthen cyber-security and resilience in public administration, including local authorities and Government Departments? Will the Government clarify whether the post-implementation reviews, monitoring of cyber-incidents, and engagement with regulators and industry that the Secretary of State has outlined to my Committee reflect the existing statutory requirements in the Bill? Will the Minister ensure that the new cyber- incident reporting and information sharing requirements are implemented in a practical and proportionate way for small businesses? Will the Government take steps to support cyber insurance take-up? Finally, will they ensure that there is clear guidance on information sharing requirements, and provide additional support to help businesses meet compliance costs? We need to talk more about cyber-security. I have not touched on some of the national security implications, which the Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western) described very well, but this issue is only going to get more important from the perspective of national security, economic security, and personal safety and security. If we can get the implementation of this Bill right by extending it as necessary, working with industry, supporting smaller businesses, and supporting public trust and public security, then I hope we can build a nation that is not just cyber-secure today, but prepared for the many challenges that lie ahead.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Supply Chain Resilience · Hansard source

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  This afternoon, UKRI will publish its detailed funding allocations for programmes such as ReImagining Supply Chains. Does the Minister agree with the Office for Budget Responsibility that the bursting of the AI bubble presents a significant downside risk to the UK economy? What steps are his Department and UKRI taking to protect their investment in innovative companies that would undoubtedly be affected by an AI market correction?

• 11 Dec 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  When I am out across the constituency, whether it is in Elswick, Denton, Westerhope, Wingrove, Arthur’s Hill or Monument, too often the issue that people raise with me is litter. Some 14 years of austerity reduced Newcastle city council’s cleansing resources, but hourly cleansing would not be enough in some areas of the city. We need greater powers and greater enforcement. Can we have a debate in Government time about devolving additional powers to local authorities, such as the power to require fast food outlets to have larger bins or to require landlords to keep their properties clean?

• 11 Dec 2025 · US National Security Strategy · Hansard source

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  I am sure that my hon. Friend is far too discreet to set out honestly her assessment of President Trump’s contribution to civilisation, but can she reassure my constituents—be they angered, insulted or just plain bemused by the pronouncements in the US national security strategy—that although we celebrate our cultural and economic ties with the United States and our relationship with its people, our sovereignty is not dependent on the US? Specifically, can she confirm that any capability that is dependent on the United States—whether it is to do with artificial intelligence, quantum or defence—is not a sovereign capability?

• 10 Dec 2025 · AI Safety · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this really important debate. It is certainly the case that UK law applies to AI, just as it applies online. The question is whether AI requires new regulation specifically to address the threats and concerns surrounding AI. We refrained from regulating the internet—and I should declare an interest, having worked for Ofcom at the time—in order to support innovation. Under consecutive Conservative Governments, there was a desire not to intervene in the market. The internet has largely been taken over by large consolidated companies and does not have the diversity of innovation and creativity or the safety that we might want to see.

• 10 Dec 2025 · AI Safety · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman—a fellow engineer—for allowing this intervention. As the Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee—a number of fantastic Committee members are here—I would like to say that we have already looked at some of the challenges that AI presents to our regulatory infrastructure and our Government. Last week, we heard from the Secretary of State, who assured us that where there is a legislative need, she will bring forward legislation to address the threats posed by AI, although she did not commit to an AI Bill. We are determined to continue to hold her to account on that commitment.

• 10 Dec 2025 · AI Safety · Hansard source

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  Each of the Select Committees is looking at AI, including the Defence Committee, which has looked at AI in defence. AI impacts every single Department and security on cross-governmental issues. Although we are not talking about the process of scrutiny, we all agree that scrutiny is important.

• 8 Dec 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?

• 8 Dec 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  There are many who seek the right and the ability to identify themselves, but who do not have it as it stands. We all have constituents who are experiencing that. My Committee has seen evidence that the figure cited by the hon. Gentleman is not recognised by the Secretary of State; it has been put forward by the Office for Budget Responsibility. The Secretary of State will be writing to us to set out what costs she envisages and when they will be realised. It is also important to recognise that the level of digital hygiene across Government is not such that it could support a mandatory digital ID scheme, in my view.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Local Elections · Hansard source

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  The north-east has perhaps the strongest sense of regional identity in the country, and it benefits immensely from the brilliant Labour mayor, Kim McGuinness, who has the devolved powers and funding to make a real difference to the lives of the people in the north-east. I know that the Minister is working hard to devolve more powers and, critically, more funding. Does she agree it is critical that that sense of identity, the strong institutions, the funding and the powers are in place in order for mayors to be successful?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Technology: Productivity of MPs · Hansard source

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  Are we paying for it?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Technology: Productivity of MPs · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that response. My constituents expect me to spend their money and my time addressing their issues, not trying to manage an inbox flooded with lobbyist spam and by Russian and Chinese bots. Microsoft Copilot asks me if I want help writing emails to my constituents—I do not—but will not help me manage my inbox, despite repeated requests. Can my hon. Friend say whether this House is paying more money for Copilot functionality that we are not using, and if and when Microsoft Copilot will address the issues that I and other MPs face, rather than the ones that Microsoft thinks we should have?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Technology: Productivity of MPs · Hansard source

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  7. What steps the Commission is taking to provide technology to improve the productivity of hon. Members.

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Had our productivity grown at the same rate as media speculation, the UK would have been in a much stronger fiscal position ahead of the Budget. All the more credit is due, then, to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer for delivering a Budget for working people, lifting children out of poverty and equipping our economy to grow, at the same time as delivering a master class at the Dispatch Box. There was another performance that was, well, magical in its way: that of the Conservative Members. They have managed to forget their economic vandalism, their fiscal incompetence and their social sabotage, and pretend that the UK’s economic situation is nothing to do with them, even as the OBR downgraded its productivity forecasts to reflect their past productivity failures. It is like some Westminster edition of “The Bourne Identity” without Matt Damon—well, perhaps the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for North Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller), thinks he is Matt Damon—but with a whole political party that wakes up not knowing where it has been for the past 15 years. But the north remembers, and particularly the north-east. We are a great and vibrant region, and the engine of the industrial revolution. It was growing up in Newcastle, surrounded by the legacy of great Geordie engineers and inventors, in a culture that championed making and building things, that inspired me to become an engineer. But the wealth created by our region’s industrious workforce has not been enjoyed by us. Despite having world-leading companies and research institutions, the north-east now has the lowest GDP per head in the UK, at £28,000. Every region in the country is below the national average of £39,000, except the south-east at £41,000 and London at a whopping £69,000. The Conservatives responded to the global financial crisis with the economic equivalent of leeches, with sustained austerity resulting in the slow strangulation of the economy and my constituents’ wages. Annual earnings for full-time employees in the north-east fell during that time and, despite Tory talk of levelling up, we see the same regional disparities in labour productivity, which is also, indirectly, a measure of capital investment, both physical and human. If we could just lift the north-east’s per capita GDP to the national average, it would increase UK GDP by over 1%, which is almost the same GDP growth as we had for the entire country in 2024. That is why the Chancellor chose to turn her back on Conservative austerity and make the tough decisions necessary to invest. Let me focus on just two areas, science and social justice, which are the twin passions of my personal politics. As a Geordie and as Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, I am delighted to see the new £30 million facility in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Lola McEvoy), which will accelerate the development of novel RNA—ribonucleic acid—therapies from labs to market to tackle cancer, heart conditions and infectious diseases. I am also excited by the Budget measures to support innovative businesses to grow and investors to invest beyond the start-up phase. My Committee’s inquiry into regional innovation and growth heard wide-ranging evidence that disparities in investment, access to capital, skills, infrastructure and integration of universities and local economies all need to be addressed if we are to ensure that our regions benefit from Britain’s scientific strengths. Unfortunately, the inquiry also revealed an enduring complacency and lack of regional focus in many Whitehall Departments. I urge the Chancellor to go further to address the barriers to regional growth, and I particularly echo the hope of our regional mayor, Kim McGuinness, to see more infrastructure investments in the coming months. The last Government’s record on social justice stained our nation, with children growing up in households where heating and eating were daily sources of stress. Cutting £150 from the average household energy bill, extending the warm home discount to a further 3 million of the poorest households, expanding free school meals and breakfast clubs and improving nutrition will make a real difference to young lives and cut the cost of living for my constituents. The Chancellor’s high-value council tax surcharge will also go some way to righting the ridiculous situation of a family in a band D home in Newcastle paying more council tax than someone in a £10 million property in Westminster. Finally, the decision to scrap the two-child limit will change for the better the lives of 4,960 children in my constituency alone and put almost £7 million back in the pockets of local families. It is an honour and a privilege to support a Labour Chancellor delivering a Labour Budget in the interests of every region and of every working person in this country.

• 18 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. The north-east is a vital hub for clean energy supply chains, and my constituents in oil and gas want to be part of that transition, but years of under-investment by the Tories mean that many North sea ports cannot host modern turbine manufacturing. As the Government prepare their plan for the future of the north-east, will the Minister consider infrastructure investment to enable communities and workers in the north-east to better benefit from clean energy jobs?

• 17 Nov 2025 · Asylum Policy · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend is right to seek to bring order to the chaos at our borders—chaos instituted by the Tories—which undermines trust in our state and imposes such costs on communities. She is also right to address the pull factors that lure migrants to their deaths in our channel, with claims of cushy lives in five-star hotels. She is right to insist that our proposals must reflect British values and work in practice. On that, will she say a bit more about how reviewing refugee status every two years will work in practice, particularly in regard to Home Office capacity and in regard to integration?

• 12 Nov 2025 · Online Safety · Hansard source

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  The Minister says that the Government are looking deeply into this issue, but as part of my Committee’s inquiry into misinformation and algorithms, we heard conflicting evidence from Ministers and Ofcom as to whether generative artificial intelligence is covered by the Online Safety Act. The Government have refused to implement our call for legislation to bring generative AI under the same categorisation as other high-risk services. Under what circumstances is chatbot advice covered by the Online Safety Act, and will there be enforcement?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Incomes of Working Families: Newcastle · Hansard source

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  11. What fiscal steps she is taking to help increase the incomes of working families in Newcastle.