Jessica Toale MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I recently visited the jobcentre in Bournemouth town centre with my right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment, and we saw the great work it is doing to build skills and confidence in young people through work experience with organisations such as the National Trust. I am delighted that we are also getting a youth hub, but will the Minister please tell us how young people in my constituency will benefit from that?

• 1 Jun 2026 · Lord Mandelson Humble Address: Government Response · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister for his statement, and I associate myself with his comments about Epstein’s victims, who must be at the forefront of our minds. However, a significant amount of material in this tranche was reviewed by the Intelligence and Security Committee. Is the Chief Secretary able to tell the House what steps officials took to ensure that any documents relating to national security and our international relations have been shared with the ISC?

• 1 Jun 2026 · Equality Act 2010: Code of Practice · Hansard source

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  A number of my constituents have raised concerns about this draft code. One trans woman wrote to me to say that she and her partner are frightened for her safety and ability to take part in public life. She fears being forced to stay at home, rather than risk humiliation, confrontation or even being outed in public if she cannot use public facilities safely. Can the Minister reassure me and the House that as the code is considered, the Government will ensure that trans people are not effectively driven out of public life and remain able to participate safely, fully and with dignity?

• 1 Jun 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  In his opening remarks, the Health Secretary set out our record in office on waiting times, patient experience and investment. My local area has benefited from this record level of investment. The BEACH—births, emergency and critical care, children’s health—building at Bournemouth hospital opened in March 2025, improving maternity, children’s and emergency care services. Poole hospital will this year become the largest planned care hospital in the country. Over the past month, I have been to the opening of two new mental health facilities, representing a £70 million investment in the local area. One of them, the Seastone building, is a high-intensity unit for young people, the first of its kind in our region, and it will stop young people from being sent to Manchester or Newcastle from Dorset or the south-west. I am particularly proud of the commitment to get Winton health centre back open, and we have now secured £1.3 million in investment to do that. It will open in the summer and will bring care closer to my community and alleviate pressure on our local GPs. I have not met a person in the health system, in education or in the community who does not agree with the NHS 10-year plan’s ambition to move the health system from treatment to prevention and to get more care into the community. The Bill helps us to get closer to delivering this ambition for all people. I want to talk in particular about three often vulnerable communities. My hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) spoke eloquently about the experience of children with SEND and their parents, so I ask the Minister to reflect on how the Bill helps with joined-up services and access to specialist care for those young people. HealthBus, a local charity that I support, brings direct nurse-led care to people experiencing homelessness. Their core ask has been to have access to system 1 records and local NHS historical records to better help their patients. I am grateful to the civil servants who have been helping them to date, but I ask that particular attention is paid to ensuring that the single patient record is rolled out to benefit communities who struggle to engage and get support from existing structures. We must support our elderly population to get the care they need. I met staff at Lewis-Manning hospice care this week. They have done an incredible amount of work on the number of hospital admissions that people have in their last 12 years of life. They are proposing hospice at home hubs to ensure that up-front investment can help people to spend their last days in dignity. Will the Minister provide reassurance that any frontline services that become available are put into end-of-life care as well? Finally, when this Labour Government came into office, the fundamental promise of the NHS, that it would be there for us when we need it, had been broken by decades of under-investment, by bureaucracy and by ditching reforms that had been made under the last Labour Government. I am proud of the progress to date, and I support the Bill to improve the patient experience, to put more resources into frontline services and to deliver our NHS 10-year plan, getting care closer to the communities who need it.

• 1 Jun 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  I would not give the right hon. Gentleman’s political adviser a raise for their speechwriting abilities just yet. Why does he think we are having to talk about once-in-a-generation change to the NHS?

• 1 Jun 2026 · Coastal Communities: Government Support · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend and constituency neighbour is right to point out Poole’s history as a fishing and port town; like my constituency, however, it is also a tourism town. Bournemouth has millions of visitors every year; most of them come to spend a nice time, but some come to drink excessively, start fights and disrespect residents and our local area, putting excessive pressure on our police forces. Would my hon. Friend agree that, where those seasonal pressures are predictable, forces such as Dorset police should have a fair funding formula to reflect that?

• 21 May 2026 · Middle East: Economic Response · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the Chancellor on her skilful management of our economy in what are extremely difficult international circumstances. Growth is up, inflation is down and borrowing is down. I particularly welcome the great British summer savings scheme, which will make a huge difference to families and business in my constituency, but families will continue to worry about their day-to-day bills. Can she reassure my constituents that the fuel duty freeze, and the reduction in tariffs on foodstuffs, will be felt directly in their pockets?

• 19 May 2026 · Energy Security · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend. What he did not say is that we would very much welcome Ministers visiting Dorset to support the Dorset clean energy super cluster. Ultimately, this is why I support the King’s Speech: while others offer anger, division and easy answers—or simply change their minds about important issues—the Government are choosing a path that will deliver long-term reform, economic resilience and national renewal. That work will take time, but we cannot rebuild prosperity on short-termism. This King’s Speech is an important step towards building a more secure, more resilient and more hopeful future for communities like mine in Bournemouth West and across the country.

• 19 May 2026 · Energy Security · Hansard source

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  Last November, the Children’s Minister and I visited St Joseph’s Catholic primary school in Poole. We were there because the school was one of the first to benefit from the roll-out of solar panels under GB Energy. We met members of the Eco club, who excitedly showed us how much energy the panels were generating and how much energy the school was consuming. We joined a classroom lesson and jogged on the spot with the kids to generate CO 2 and monitor the levels so that they could practically learn about heating, cooling and ventilation. We watched them design new energy efficiency and greening measures, and they told us with pride how the solar panels enabled them to give back to their community by supplying power to EV chargers in the car park. Children care deeply about protecting our natural environment and preserving it for future generations. They understand the need for bold action to do so better than some of the adults in this Chamber. Not only were the solar panels a valuable learning tool inspiring them, but the school was saving money—about £8,500 a year—enabling it to plough resources back into teaching. That speaks to something wider. For many people, the promise that hard work delivers security, home ownership and a decent quality of life increasingly feels out of reach. That frustration is real, and we see that acutely on energy. Local residents and businesses in Bournemouth West tell me that heating their homes, fuelling their cars and sustaining their energy costs is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Families are tired of living at the mercy of global energy shocks that they cannot control. Every instance of international instability is felt in food bills, household bills and the anxiety that families feel when sitting around their kitchen table at the end of the month. That is why I am proud of the number of measures that we have taken as a Government. We have measures in the Budget to bring down bills by £150, the energy price cap, action on heating oil, a warm homes plan, which is bringing the biggest ever public investment in homes, and record investment in clean, home-grown power. We have the energy independence Bill—a cornerstone measure in the King’s Speech—to accelerate investment in clean, home-grown energy, strengthen consumer protections and bring down bills over the long term. Let me make a point clearly to Members on the Front Bench: towns such as Bournemouth and Poole stand ready to help to deliver that transition. It is an immense source of pride for me to represent a constituency that is full to the brim of extraordinary talent, creativity and innovation. We have outstanding colleges and universities and skilled workers. A great example of that is Bournemouth & Poole college’s green energy centre, which is building the skilled workforce of the future. We have natural assets on our coastline and communities eager for investment. There are huge opportunities through the Dorset clean energy super cluster, which is based in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton). The transition to clean energy must not simply happen to places such as Bournemouth and Poole; it must include them. Creating a new generation of skilled workers and the opportunity for well-paid jobs in areas that have for too long been overlooked for investment is about making an economy that works again for people who feel like it has stopped working for them.

• 19 May 2026 · Energy Security · Hansard source

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  I am actually quite jealous of my hon. Friend, because about four of his beaches were recently listed in Time Out among the top beaches. However, I visited Durdle Door with him to call for year-round water testing and for our waters to be cleaned up. Does he agree that this Bill will take further the action to clean up sewage spills that we have already taken?

• 28 Apr 2026 · Referral of Prime Minister to Committee of Privileges · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

• 16 Apr 2026 · Visual Effects Companies · Hansard source

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  As the Minister says, Outpost VFX is a world-leading VFX company based in my Bournemouth West constituency. It recently convened a meeting of sector leaders, and the message was clear: the UK faces significant competitive disadvantage because of our relatively low net value incentive rates and the 10% total spend rule. As a result, we are missing out on work to overseas facilities, and undermining job creation and skills retention here in the UK. Will the Minister commit to meeting Outpost VFX and other sector representatives to discuss their proposals to boost the UK’s competitiveness?

• 16 Apr 2026 · Visual Effects Companies · Hansard source

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  3. What steps her Department is taking to support visual effects companies.

• 16 Apr 2026 · Women’s Health Strategy · Hansard source

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  Ignored, humiliated and misdiagnosed—these are the experiences of far too many women, and far too often, those experiences have tragic consequences. There is no more depressing example of this than the women who were prescribed the banned anti-miscarriage drug diethylstilbestrol, or DES, and the struggle that they, their children and their grandchildren have had in accessing the care and support that they need and deserve. I welcome the steps this Government have taken to improve women’s health outcomes. Will the Minister consider meeting DES campaigners to ensure that their voices and experiences are part of this strategy?

• 14 Apr 2026 · Knife Crime · Hansard source

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  I welcome the serious action that this Government are taking to tackle knife crime. My constituent Tracy set up Changes Are Made following the fatal stabbing of her grandson Cameron. Tracy’s ambition is to get a youth hub set up in our local area, and she has already spoken to almost 1,000 young people in schools across Bournemouth and Poole. Some 62% of those young people have said that better education is the best way to prevent knife crime, so can the Minister please assure me that equipping young people with the knowledge they need is part of our strategy, and that areas such as my constituency will be part of our plan for support?

• 25 Mar 2026 · Good Friday Agreement · Hansard source

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  The Good Friday agreement was a landmark achievement of the last Labour Government, and it is a beacon of hope for conflict-affected states around the world. Before coming to this place, I had the privilege of witnessing and experiencing the leadership of Northern Ireland’s young people in this area as they shared their experiences and the lessons from the Good Friday agreement. With that in mind, what is the Secretary of State doing to share the UK’s expertise and ensure that others affected by conflict can benefit from it?

• 25 Mar 2026 · Good Friday Agreement · Hansard source

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  10. What steps he is taking to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday agreement.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The junction of Surrey Road and Prince of Wales Road; Wimborne Road, between Kinson library and Bear Cross; and Hankinson Road, around Winton rec—these are some of the more than 35 roads in Bournemouth West where residents have told me potholes are out of control. Lib Dem-led Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council has been given £7.5 million to maintain our roads and fix potholes. I will be writing to BCP council later today, but in the meantime, will the Minister join me in urging it to get its act together and finally fix our roads?

• 26 Feb 2026 · Deprived Communities · Hansard source

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  2. What steps the Church of England is taking to support deprived communities.

• 26 Feb 2026 · Deprived Communities · Hansard source

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  Over the last few weeks, I have visited Winton and Parkstone community pantry at the Winton Christadelphian church, which is supported by FareShare, and the sanctuary project at St Andrew’s church in Kinson, which has a food bank supported by the Trussell Trust. Both churches go out of their way to support our community members in need. Will the hon. Lady join me in paying tribute to the churches and their volunteers? Will she outline what more they can do to provide support with the cost of living and isolation in our communities?

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

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  As you know, Mr Speaker, the HealthBus Trust recently came from Bournemouth to Parliament and parked up its bus in Speaker’s Court. May I put on record my thanks to you for offering that opportunity? The HealthBus Trust provides direct, nurse-led care for people experiencing homelessness, but it needs access to local shared care records, including historical NHS records, to improve care and address complex needs. Will the Leader of the House join me in paying tribute to the HealthBus Trust’s trustees and volunteers? Will he ask Ministers to give due consideration to how we reach the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations in the ambition of our NHS 10-year plan to get more care into the community?

• 25 Feb 2026 · Post Office Green Paper · Hansard source

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  Last year, I ran a community campaign to save Westbourne post office, which mobilised thousands, and the post office was kept open. I also put pressure on Post Office Ltd to reopen a full service post office in Bournemouth town centre after the WH Smith closed, and one is opening in May. Residents should not have to fight so hard for their post offices. They provide a vital lifeline, especially for older and more vulnerable residents, allowing them to access government services, and for our local businesses, as we have heard. How will the Minister ensure that post offices remain a fixture on our high streets, and play a crucial role in revitalising our high streets and town centres?

• 25 Feb 2026 · Student Loan Repayment Plans · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) for securing this important debate. We have a fundamental question to answer: is our higher education system set up to give young people, regardless of background, a fair chance? In a constituency such as Bournemouth West, part of an area with three universities and tens of thousands of students, I have seen at first hand how multiple changes to higher education funding consistently fall on students from low-income backgrounds—constraining them not by ability but by financial anxiety. We know that plan 2 loans have interest rates that mean balances balloon, and some students will never pay them back, and that graduates feel that they were mis-sold, but we have not yet discussed the impact that this is having on the job market. It is distorting behaviour, with graduate applicants asking for salaries below the repayment threshold to not trigger deductions. That is not how we should be shaping an ambitious economy in the modern world. In letters and emails from students, they ask for three things: that there be no further real-terms freezes to the repayment threshold, that interest rates be linked to CPI, and that there be a more progressive pay structure. Young people are calling for a fair and predictable settlement that reflects the contribution that they will make to our economy and society for decades to come. The least we can offer them is that clarity. If we truly believe that every young person, regardless of background, should be able to pursue higher education, we need to build financial architecture that does not undermine but supports that ambition.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Town and City Centre Safety · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. Tackling crime and antisocial behaviour has been a priority in my constituency since my election. Countless residents have told me they feel unsafe. Bournemouth faces seasonal pressures, where millions of people visit our beaches and parks during the summer. Last year, we had a slew of negative headlines about chaos, decline and lawlessness, but the crime statistics show a completely different picture. Bournemouth is consistently in the top 20—if not top 10—safest cities, or large towns in our case. Yes, serious incidents occur, but they are trending downwards. Shoplifting is rife. I do not want to minimise that or people’s experience of it, but in my limited time I want to understand why fear feels so real for so many people when crime is relatively low. I recently met a resident who told me he does not let his 12 and 14-year-old daughters go out after 3 pm or 4 pm in Bournemouth. Yet when they went up to Regent Street he let them wander around and go off shopping on their own. Crime rates in Bournemouth are 16% lower than the national average. They are 130% higher in Westminster—an area that has 8% of London’s crime. I do not say that to minimise or to denigrate Westminster, but safety is not only about where the crime happens; it is also about whether the shops are filled and the streets busy, clean and looked after, and about confidence and pride, and feeling reassured and protected. Since my election I have been relentlessly focused on funding for our police, with £1 million for hotspot policing over the summer, 40 new officers for Dorset police, and it is why I relentlessly bang on to the Minister about the funding formula. Safety was a key theme of our Bournemouth town centre citizens’ panel. The panel called for four things: a co-ordinated women’s safety initiative, improved co-ordination of positive safety initiatives, awareness of CCTV effectiveness, and a lighting audit to highlight low and high lighting areas in the town. These sit alongside actions designed to improve the public realm, spur regeneration, fill our streets and restore civic pride. I will certainly be playing my part in all of these.

• 29 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Last Friday, we launched the Bournemouth town centre citizens’ panel action plan. This was the culmination of seven months of work by 50 local residents of all ages and backgrounds to set out a shared vision for our town and action points for the future. The citizens’ panel was an effective way to meaningfully centre residents’ voices in the future of our town. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking those residents, who put so much time and passion into the project, and will he assure me that the Government are giving due consideration to how we centre residents’ voices in our high street strategy?