Kate Osborne MP: speeches

Speeches

• 8 Sept 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  If I may begin on a personal note, just three weeks ago I had a second operation on my back, and I wish to put on record my sincere thanks to the staff who cared for me, from the clinicians who treated me to everyone involved in my care and recovery. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.] Too often our access to healthcare depends on our postcode. That postcode lottery is stark in a number of areas, but nowhere more so than with IVF. As chair of the APPG on fertility, I have raised this issue repeatedly with Ministers. I again invite Ministers to attend our fertility roundtable tomorrow and to commit to ensuring that every ICB follows, at the very least, the NICE guidelines on access to IVF and fertility treatment. We must strengthen the role of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in neighbourhood health planning and NHS commissioning. Voluntary organisations understand the barriers to care for hard-to-reach communities and often have trusted relationships with communities that statutory services struggle to reach. We see that particularly clearly in HIV and AIDS provision. Voluntary organisations have been fundamental to the UK’s response for decades, through prevention, testing, peer support, tackling stigma and supporting people living with HIV. I am extremely grateful to the National AIDS Trust for working with me on the new clauses, and I thank Ministers for their constructive engagement. Members of the LGBT+ community must have trust in healthcare providers, and community groups bridge that gap when needed. New clauses 142 and 143 would actively harm vitally needed healthcare. The provision in new clause 142 has already been rejected in Committee, and we see it for what it is: an opportunity to attack some of the most vulnerable in our society. Access to much-needed healthcare has already been paused in the UK, and if access to treatment for gender dysphoria is now to be dependent upon additional research, the pathways trial must go ahead without further delay. The provisions in new clause 143 were also rejected in Committee and are another attempt to vilify. The amendment fails to recognise the framework already in place to ensure that single-sex services are provided where they meet the requirements of the Equality Act. Neither the code nor the Supreme Court judgment mandate the provision of single-sex facilities. Providers must still consider whether the service falls within an exception within the Equality Act, whether single-sex provision is proportionate, what the impact might be on trans people, and what mitigation might be necessary. I welcome the 10-year health plan. We have made great strides in repairing the damage done to our NHS—

• 14 May 2026 · Getting Britain Working Again · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford West (Naz Shah) for her brilliant opening contribution to the debate on the Gracious Speech. I acknowledge that this Government have delivered—from renters’ rights and ending no-fault evictions to the new deal for workers, education, Great British Railways, bringing NHS waiting lists down, lifting children out of poverty, and work on violence against women and girls. All that good work deserves to be talked about and celebrated, but it must also be acknowledged that people need more. They are desperate for change following decades of neglect. Unfortunately, the measures in the King’s Speech, although they are in the main welcome, are not the bold moves that we need. We need a Government who will tackle extreme wealth inequality in the UK and deliver for communities, and we need to go back to giving people hope. We need to ensure that our Government have received the message from the local elections last week: people are unhappy with the direction we have taken and, as it stands, we do not have the trust of our communities. It was devastating to see the two councils from my constituency, South Tyneside council and Gateshead council, which Labour have held for 50 years, fall to Reform. We let those communities down, and we need to deal with that. We must build on the things that we have delivered, such as the new deal for workers, instead of focusing on divisive commitments such as the digital ID scheme and the removal of jury trials—two things I remain opposed to. When we move away from our Labour values, we let the country down, let our communities down and, scarily, leave a gap for the far right to move into and exploit people’s fears, desperations and legitimate need for jobs, housing and security. Housing, security and jobs are particularly needed in the north-east. My constituency of Jarrow and Gateshead East is commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Jarrow crusade—the march for jobs—yet my residents are facing the same problems as those marchers. For decades, successive Governments have neglected the north-east, and the north-east made its feelings clear last week. We need a Government who take action to improve our communities. The Labour party is the party of the people and the party of workers, and that is the Government we need to see now—a Government who deliver for people and who deliver change that communities can see. We need actions, not words. We need to drastically redistribute the wealth, so that it is invested in communities. We need to rebuild trust locally and nationally, with bold and ambitious policies and action. There are some highlights in the Gracious Speech, including the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill, the Hillsborough law, legislation to clean up the water industry, the nationalisation of steel, the £45 billion to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail, the legislation to support small businesses and stop late payments, and the licensing for private hires—all subjects that I have spoken about many times in this place and at events in Parliament. But we need to do much more than this tinkering at the edges. We need to legislate to bring water back into public ownership. We need to stop the scandal of water company bonuses. It is an absolute disgrace that they are profiting from the pollution they are dumping into our waters. It is also welcome to see proposals around education for all, but we must ensure that any reforms to special educational needs and disabilities do not push children into a one-size-fits-all approach. The SEND consultation ends next week, and we must listen to the views that are submitted. The consultation responses need to be read thoroughly, not filtered by AI. We must have a genuine consultation and ensure that the reforms do not harm SEND children with the most complex needs. Around 1.7 million children are now identified as having special educational needs. I know that MPs are all being inundated with correspondence from constituents, and many of us have held our own consultation meetings. In my constituency, I have 5% more children with SEND than the national average, and the same issues have been raised in every one of my local consultations. My constituents are worried about their loss of legal rights and their children being forced into mainstream schooling. Sense, the national disability charity, has said that while inclusive mainstream education should be strengthened, that must not come at the expense of specialist provision. Disabled children with complex needs must continue to have access to specialist settings where those are the most appropriate environments for them to thrive. I completely agree with Sense, and it is evident that many families are struggling to find adequate provision. I have held drop-ins in Parliament with people from across the political spectrum, and I want to thank Rory Bremner and Nick Ferrari for coming into Parliament to meet young people and their families and to listen to their stories. The last Government described the SEND system as broken, and of course they did a lot of the breaking with their destruction of local government budgets, but the system has been neglected for decades. It is in desperate need of reform and investment. We can and must get this right to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected. To that end, while I welcome the Gracious Speech, I will be bringing forward a simple amendment highlighting the difference that the right placement makes to a child with complex needs and the costs to families, life outcomes and the state when we get that placement wrong. We must ensure that those children with the most complex needs who cannot be placed into mainstream schools do not lose out with these reforms. I have written to the Secretary of State on this issue and would be happy to meet at any time to discuss it. I have an autism diagnosis, as do some of my family. It is something those close to me are aware of, but is something I have not spoken about publicly before. I know the impact it has when you are failed in school. This matters personally and politically to me and is something I care deeply about. I am hugely pleased to see in the Gracious Speech a commitment to bring forward a draft Bill banning abusive conversion practices. While it has appeared in many a Gracious Speech, I firmly believe that the Minister will bring forward a fully trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices as soon as possible.

• 14 May 2026 · Getting Britain Working Again · Hansard source

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  Yes, setting out a timeline would be most helpful. I recognise the work of the Minister for Equalities, my hon. Friend the Member for Reading West and Mid Berkshire (Olivia Bailey), and the time she has taken to speak to me over the last few months and even this morning, and she has committed to setting out a clear timeline as soon as possible. In every meeting I have had with the Minister on this issue, I have been impressed by her determination to finally deliver this legislation and by her understanding of the harm caused by continued delay. My one concern on the delay, which I have already raised, is that this is the only legislation in the King’s Speech where the promise is for a draft Bill rather than a Bill. We absolutely need to get this right, but we must not give people an excuse to delay and frustrate this vitally needed legislation. Earlier this year, I was proud to deliver a report at the Council of Europe calling on member states to ban conversion practices. I will continue to work with the Minister to take both the spirit and framework details of that report into consideration as the legislation is developed. Although I am happy with that particular commitment, we need bold, new, ambitious policies that people will feel in their pockets. People need to see change in their communities. People need action, not another year of delays and U-turns. Labour needs to do what it was elected to do: govern in the interests of workers and our communities and deal with the obscene levels of wealth inequality in the UK.

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

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) for securing this important debate. The debate is timely, as I have recently been working on a case for my constituent Melissa, who has come to Parliament today to hear the debate. When I posted on social media about Melissa’s case, with her permission, it caught a wave of people in similar situations. I have now been contacted by more than 700 individuals, all with similar horror stories about the level of debt they have on plan 2. Melissa left university with a debt of £37,000 and has been paying off her loan every month since 2022, yet despite four years of payments, the amount she owes has increased by tens of thousands, to £60,000. Melissa’s case is by no means the worst example that I have received. Another constituent, Lucy, left university with nearly £28,000 to pay back, and her debt now stands at a huge £54,000. Chloe—one of our brightest science, technology, engineering and maths students—attended Newcastle University to study physics, and then went straight into full-time employment, starting to pay off her student loans immediately. Despite that, the amount she owes has increased by £14,000. Education is a right, not a privilege. It is not okay that we are pricing people out of education. Quite frankly, the amount of interest being charged every year is a scandal and a rip-off. What will the Government do to help to eliminate student debt? Considering the thresholds is all very well, but I think we should just abolish tuition fees altogether, to boost social mobility and benefit society.

• 12 Feb 2026 · LGBT+ History Month · Hansard source

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  It is a huge honour to co-lead this debate with my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Nadia Whittome). We share many things, not least our proud queer identities and a deep commitment to equality, so I am pleased to have worked together to mark LGBT+ History Month. After years of progress, it feels to many of us as though we are going backwards on many of the rights that LGBTQ+ people have fought hard for and gained. Rights that were hard won are now being treated as optional. Protections that people fought for—often at great personal cost—are being chipped away, one argument, one dog whistle, one headline at a time. For our trans siblings in particular, this feels like a dark and dangerous time. That is why LGBT+ History Month matters. Our history shows us the patterns—progress, backlash, progress again—and now we face another backlash. That backlash is never without harm; it comes at significant human cost.

• 12 Feb 2026 · LGBT+ History Month · Hansard source

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  I share my hon. Friend’s concerns about the far right and others. While we celebrate the trailblazers—the organisers, artists and campaigners; the nurses and carers who held hands in hospital wards when families would not visit; the friends who became family; the people who marched when it was dangerous; and the people who stood up when they were told to sit down—we also learn from their courage. We also remember that our history includes Pride marches and community groups, as well as trade union solidarity and working-class organising. One of the strongest lessons in our LGBT+ history is this: when working people stand together, we win change that reaches far beyond the workplace. I declare an interest: I am a proud member of Unite the union. I take this opportunity to mention that, as well as LGBT History Month, this is Heart Unions Week. Trade unions are always at the heart of the fight for equality. They push employers to have policies on discrimination at work, and decades ago they brought about trans-inclusive policies. At a time when division is being weaponised, that lesson of solidarity is more important than ever. In my beautiful Jarrow and Gateshead East constituency, I am proud of the work done by Out North East, particularly Drew Dalton and Peter Darrant, and their fantastic community work with youth groups and older LGBT people. Just last week, they opened new, bigger premises for the One Centre, the first LGBT media and business centre in the UK—and it is in my constituency. The location is a brand new LGBTQ+ inclusive space, and its facilities are incredible. When I visited, I was honoured and moved to realise that I was featured on the icons wall, alongside Bowie, and that there was a room named after me and another after the wonderful Lord Cashman from the other place. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] I am proud to have led the debate at the Council of Europe, and I am pleased to say that my report on banning conversion practices passed with support from across the political spectrum and across Europe. The report contains a framework for legislation that each of the 46 countries is expected to adopt in its own Parliament. Our Government should now adopt that framework, because conversion practices do not just happen in theory; they happen to real people, in real life. They happen under the guise of “therapy”, “guidance”, “deliverance” or “counselling”. Their message is always the same: “You are broken. You are wrong. And you need to be fixed.” Well, I am here to say that I am a lesbian, and nothing about me needs to be fixed, thank you. I am afraid that, instead of learning from the stigma and prejudice of the past, here we are marginalising, discriminating, preventing vital lifesaving healthcare and support, and excluding trans and non-binary people from sport, spaces and society. There is not a shred of doubt in my mind that future MPs, Ministers and possibly Prime Ministers will stand where we are right now to dish out the kind of apologies, compensation and retribution for the wrongs of yesterday that we see happening all too often today. Why do we not save ourselves, and, most importantly, the trans community, by stepping up for them right now, instead of capitulating to a small band of very loud and well-funded bigots? Let us not make today’s discrimination tomorrow’s inquiry, public apology and compensation scheme—that is exactly where we are heading. Let me finish with a celebration of our history. We are here today in the gayest Parliament in the world—12% of this Chamber is LGBT—and I am delighted to be serving queer joy in Parliament for all Members to hear. To the homophobes who are still just about clinging on to their prejudices, I say: I have some queer joy for you, too. It is 2026; we are still here, we have always been here, we are out and proud, and there are more of us than ever before, so just get over it already. I am here to reaffirm my commitment to fighting for equality. As the new chair of the APPG on fertility, I will continue to fight for IVF for all. As the chair of the APPG on women’s football, I was pleased to be at the launch of the Premier League’s new “With Pride” campaign. It is great to see the rainbow flag flying across every football ground in the premier league. Football is a great unifier, and the north-east is renowned for being a hotbed of football. Perhaps that is why I loved it so much when I moved there back in 1989, and why I have never left. Football transcends borders and brings together people from diverse backgrounds. It is for everyone, so my message to the Football Association is this: let the dolls play football! I thank the Minister for her support, for the many productive conversations that we have had, and for her work to introduce a ban on conversion practices and make LGBT hate crime an aggravated offence.

• 4 Feb 2026 · Civil Service Pension Scheme: Administration · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood (Lorraine Beavers) for initiating this debate. I have been inundated with emails from constituents in Jarrow and Gateshead East regarding their civil service pensions and the unacceptable delays that people are facing. This is not just a delay on paperwork, but something that is causing huge detriment to the lives of many people in my constituency and across the UK. This issue could have been avoided. Indeed, I and others, including the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, the National Audit Office and the trade union PCS, all raised concerns ahead of the transfer to Capita. Unfortunately, we are now seeing those concerns play out. On 12 January I wrote to Ministers, highlighting this and asking a number of questions. I received a response just yesterday, ahead of this debate, but it did not answer all the questions, and directed me to tell constituents to email Capita, complaining about its system. Of course they had already done that, and I contacted Capita on behalf of constituents, but I have not had a response. Of course I am not surprised, as my constituents have been ignored and have been waiting for months. The response that I have received from the Minister says, “I hope constituents feel reassured,” but I can tell you, Ms Lewell, that they do not. It does not reassure my constituent Christine, who is 65 and retired on 2 December, but has not received her pension or a lump sum. Every time she contacts Capita, she is told that she will receive it in 10 days, yet it still has not arrived, leaving her without money for months, including over Christmas. It does not reassure my constituent Pauline, who retired back in July and has still not received anything. She is repeatedly being told that her case is with the finalisation team. It does not reassure my constituent Jackie, who took early retirement to care for her grandson and help her son, and should have started receiving payments in August but has received nothing, or Christopher, who is 60 and lives on his own, with no savings and no other income. He has now been three months without a pension payment. Another constituent, Carol, is 70 and does not know when she will get any money or even how much her monthly payment should be. None of my constituents, or many others who have been waiting for months, are reassured. These are real people, who have been waiting for months, so I ask these questions. Will the Minister instruct Capita to prioritise the people who have been without money for months, rather than continuing to process the volunteer exit scheme? Will the Minister commit to a compensation scheme covering these delays that does not force my constituents to apply through the scheme’s own laborious internal process?

• 8 Jul 2025 · Post Office Horizon Inquiry: Volume 1 · Hansard source

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  Sir Wyn rightly highlights the role Fujitsu must play in restorative justice. I remind the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for West Worcestershire (Dame Harriett Baldwin), and the House that I asked the previous Government to pause and review all Fujitsu contracts, which they refused to do. I thank the Minister for all his work on the matter and for the meetings he has kindly had with me. Does he agree with me and Sir Wyn that it is time that Fujitsu contributed to the compensation and that it is also time we stopped the billions of pounds of Government contracts that it continues to be awarded, including its bid for HMRC’s trader support service, which is worth £355 million alone? I look forward to a response from the Minister’s office to the letter I sent him highlighting this yesterday.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Lesbian Visibility Week · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree, and will touch on that later. As a community, we are always stronger when we are together, and we will always have T as part of the LGBT community. Given the global attacks on our LGBT+ community, we need to find that fighting spirit again. The attacks on our community did not just start happening again; they were driven by far-right money from America, hate in this country and globally, the media and—yes—politicians, who should know better, continuing to demonise the LGBT+ community. Last year, I spoke about the increase in the lesbophobia that I faced: from being called a rug-muncher to being called a nonce, and having pride flags in my home town of Hebburn ripped down. We have seen a rise in hate crime, and we must make active efforts to support our non-binary and trans community, who still face unique day-to-day challenges for simply being themselves and loving who they love. Under current hate crime legislation, hate crimes based on race or religion can attract a greater penalty because they are classified as aggravated offences. Our manifesto committed to ensuring that hate crime based on sexual orientation, gender identity and/or disability would also be classified as aggravated offences. I look forward to hearing from the Minister about moves towards that happening. I sit on the Council of Europe and its committee on equality and non-discrimination. Part of my brief is reporting on the ban on so-called conversion practices across Europe. As part of that, I visit and speak to people in other countries about their legislation. One country was Italy. Outrageously, the official visit request was rejected, and I was unofficially told that this was because they did not want more of our finger-wagging critique. Thankfully, the very nice Maltese Government have offered us a visit instead. Just last month, as I got off a train at King’s Cross, I was verbally abused by a man who shouted at me that I was obviously a lesbian, that I was a sexual deviant and that I was going to hell. I am frequently misgendered. I do not mean occasionally—it is a weekly occurrence. In January, I was misgendered three times during one two-hour train journey. I have been misgendered by staff of this House. I was misgendered while buying some jeans last week. This is genuinely a frequent issue for me and a number of my lesbian friends. I note that Ministers said yesterday that there will be guidance regarding the Supreme Court verdict. That decision will have a huge impact on my life, on many other cis lesbians and, indeed, on heterosexual women. I suspect that I will get challenged even more now when accessing facilities. The impact on my life will be problematic, but the impact on my trans siblings’ lives will be significantly worse.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Lesbian Visibility Week · Hansard source

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  Yes, I believe that only now, with a Labour Government, will we see the continued advancement of LGBT rights, as we have in the past. While we are on the topic of the judgment, let me say that it does not offer clarity. I believe that it has sown division and caused contradictions in legislation. The ruling was made without a single contribution from trans people and leaves them legally and practically at a huge disadvantage. I believe that the judgment raises many more questions than it answers, and I will be writing to the Secretary of State to set that out. As a woman, a lesbian, a feminist and a proud dyke, the Supreme Court judgment, for me, is a step backwards. The court should not be telling me what a lesbian is or is not or how I should identify. We need empathy in finding ways to support people and let everyone live their own lives. Of course, we need to protect single-sex spaces in the very limited situations that they are needed—which is, and was already, covered in legislation and has never been disputed—while maintaining clear protections for trans people, especially trans women. To see an already marginalised community attacked even more and the use of the law to increase discrimination, not prevent it, is deeply upsetting. Those celebrating the impact the decision has on trans women—that of curtailing their protections—should not be surprised when the same people that funded and supported their attacks then push for rights to be rolled back for all women. Research from Just Like Us clearly highlights that young lesbians are more supportive of the trans community than any other part of the LGBTQIA+ community. They are most likely to know a trans person—92%—and to say that they are supportive or very supportive of trans people—96%.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Lesbian Visibility Week · Hansard source

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  I thank all who spoke here and ensured that they did so with respect and care. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for sharing her proud lesbian mama status, and for her commitment to fight for equal access to IVF, and for highlighting the local impact of the postcode lottery in fertility treatment. I am sure we will continue to fight that together in this place. I do not have time to thank everybody as much as I would like to, but I would like to thank Opposition Members, especially the hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke), for highlighting the legend and legacy of Jackie Forster and her contribution on global hate crime and the stress that our communities face. Somehow we have never bumped into each other in any of those bars that you mentioned; we must try harder to do that. The hon. Member is quite right: we need more lesbian bars and lesbian spaces. I thank the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for East Grinstead and Uckfield (Mims Davies), for her words. My uncle Frank and my dad will be absolutely delighted that she mentioned them today. He wants recognition for his 50 years as a councillor, and I hope that this goes some way to doing that. I agree that we will all be looking very closely at the NICE guidelines when they are brought forward. This debate has indeed been a lot less heated, which is to be welcomed, and I hope that continues, going forward, and that politicians of all stripes stop using our community as a political football. I thank the Minister for all the work that she has done and continues to do, for her kind words, and for her commitment to take away the many asks from this debate. Thank you, Ms Butler, for your expert chairmanship, I hope to be here in front of you in the future. By our visibility and contributions today, we give hope and encouragement to lesbians who are not yet in a position to be out and proud, or who are at the start of their journey. Our hard-fought rights are under attack and we must defend them. I want to end by wishing all lesbians who work in this House, and all lesbians globally, a very happy Lesbian Visibility Week. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered Lesbian Visibility Week.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Lesbian Visibility Week · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered Lesbian Visibility Week. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Butler. In this debate we are considering that this House believes LGBTQIA+ women and non-binary people should be recognised for the work that they do and the joy that they bring. Lesbian Visibility Week originated in 1990, and has been given life and observed annually in the UK since 2019, enabled by my good friend and ex-publisher of DIVA magazine, Linda Riley. I am so pleased that we are once again acknowledging its importance in a Parliament that boasts the largest number of openly lesbian, bisexual and gay women MPs in history. Maureen Colquhoun, the first openly lesbian MP, was elected 51 years ago but was deselected by her local party the year she came out—a stark reminder of the struggles faced by lesbian politicians. It took 23 years for there to be another openly lesbian MP. Thankfully, there are now a lot more of us, including some of my brilliant colleagues who will be speaking in this debate. Lesbian and gay women face intersecting discrimination based on their gender and sexuality, and of course, people of colour and lesbians with disabilities also face unique challenges and discrimination due to intersecting identities. But while it is crucial to address those challenges, it is equally important to celebrate the significant contributions that lesbians make in fostering solidarity and sisterhood within their communities. Lesbian women have played, and will always play, a pivotal role in not only supporting each other but leading and strengthening the broader women’s and LGBT+ rights movements. For the past five years we have set aside this week in April to celebrate and uplift lesbians everywhere, from all backgrounds and all walks of life. We are a community that grows stronger each and every year for it. This year, the theme is celebrating rainbow families, focusing on LGBT+ women and non-binary people’s families and recognising the importance of all family structures. On Tuesday night I was proud to host the second annual parliamentary launch of Lesbian Visibility Week. At the event, London Women’s Clinic launched its new IVF equality manifesto. As a mum of two wonderful boys, one of whom was conceived through IVF, it is a subject close to my heart. Everyone deserves the chance to start a family, no matter their sexuality or gender identity. It was around 16 years ago that I started the IVF process as part of a same-sex couple. At that time we went through unnecessary procedures, a long waiting list and significant costs. But despite the hurdles it was achievable, and my wonderful youngest son is now 14. Since the IVF journey that I was part of, the hurdles that LGBT+ couples have to jump through have increased, with a fragmented NHS meaning a postcode lottery in provision, while the financial cost is significantly higher. The event was attended by many MPs and guests, and I thank everyone who came. I particularly thank the Minister for Equalities, my hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli (Dame Nia Griffith), for attending the event and speaking, and for responding to this debate, as well as DIVA ’s Linda Riley and Anya Sizer from the London Women’s Clinic for their speeches. It is disappointing that despite multiple promises there remain far too many unnecessary financial and practical barriers for same-sex couples, and a postcode lottery on IVF. I have written to the Secretary of State and Ministers on that on a number of occasions, and I will keep fighting until all barriers are removed. I have dedicated most of my political career to campaigning for LGBTQIA+ equality. My first political activism was campaigning against section 28 and highlighting the damage it did, and continues to do, to our community. Section 28 was intended to silence the discussion of lesbians and gays. It failed. It united and energised our communities.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Lesbian Visibility Week · Hansard source

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  In this as in so many other ways, young people can often teach us a lesson or two. I am pleased that my hon. Friend referenced Sue Sanders, as I did in my speech last year, and all the great work she has done over the years with Schools OUT, and indeed across the whole of our movement. Contrary to the narrative being heard at the moment, most heterosexual women agree with young lesbians. We need to be clear that lesbophobia, homophobia and transphobia are driven by attacks from a far-right, hateful minority. Feminism has to be intersectional, recognising that all women, including trans women, deserve the same rights, safety and respect. I thank the Minister for giving up her time today, and for all her work. Having an out lesbian Minister responding to a debate on Lesbian Visibility Week is something that we can all be very proud of.

• 13 Feb 2025 · LGBT+ History Month · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to speak in the main Chamber in this Parliament, which, as Mr Speaker told us the other night at his reception, is the gayest Parliament in the world. LGBT History Month has never been more needed, as politicians of all political stripes, here in the UK, in Europe and, of course, in America, try to tear down the few protections that LBGTQ+ people have, attack our rights and rewrite history. Our history and our activism need to be shouted about. We will not be silenced. We will not be erased. We will not be pushed back into the closet, and our history will be celebrated and remembered. We need people to continue to be brave enough to shout, “I am here.” I am a lesbian, and I am saying that in the mother of all Parliaments—and I will not stop shouting about it. Our diversity is what makes us wonderful; it gives us strength. “Dyke” is no longer an insult, but a badge that I wear with pride, just like my “she/her” pronoun badge. It has been 40 years since I came out. At the time, I would never have imagined that I would be an out lesbian Member of Parliament 40 years on. In those years, we have seen huge improvements, but we also still have a really long way to go. I would not have imagined that I would still be having the same slurs chucked at me now as I did then, in arguments that try to make out that LGBTQ+ people are a threat to kids. That is why LGBT History Month is so important, why our activism is so important, and why I always say that I am an activist first and a politician second. We must celebrate our history and remind people that we have always been here, and that trans people have always existed. We also have to remember the lessons of our activism. We have to remember and listen to those who lived those fights, and we have to learn from them in order to defend ourselves and our community from the latest wave of attacks. Over the last few years, I have repeatedly heard, “Why do we need LGBT History Month?”, “Surely Pride is not needed any more,” and “Hasn’t equality gone too far?”, but people are starting to understand why we still need those events. The fight to protect our rights never ends. Even this week, there are far too many people still making those types of comments, and too many people are woefully uneducated about LGBT history. On 28 June 1970, on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, the first Pride marches were held in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Pride will always be a protest. Pride events are where our community, in all our diversity, make ourselves visible and stand up for our rights, our identities and our very existence. It is where we use our voices, and where allies show up in solidarity. Pride events are needed for LGBTQ+ visibility and solidarity, to celebrate the milestones achieved in the fight for equality and to remind us of the struggles that remain. Last year, the town I live in, Hebburn, held its first ever local Pride, thanks to Peter Darrant from Out North East, who also runs the wonderful Pride Radio, which broadcasts nationally from my constituency of Jarrow and Gateshead East, and local business leaders such as Wendy Stead and many others. They faced a barrage of abuse. They had the flags ripped down, and the local paper removed the article about the event because of the thousands of abusive comments, and both Peter and I received horrific homophobic and lesbophobic abuse, online and in real life. I am proud to say that Peter, Wendy and the team are ensuring that the local Pride goes ahead again this year, and I will be there, but we need to see more solidarity from people in the face of such hatred, and we need to ensure that there are Pride events in every town and city. We must tackle the rise in LGBTQ+ hate crime and, in particular, the huge explosion in transphobic hate crime over the last few years. Those attacks reflect an increasingly hostile environment, exacerbated by negative media and political rhetoric, not just in the US, but in Europe and here in the UK. Just last week, a GB News host linked LGBTQ+ people to paedophilia. The Leader of the Opposition has referred to trans people as an epidemic, and as I have reminded her, the definition of that is a “widespread occurrence of an infectious disease”. It is no wonder, with language like that, that under the last Conservative Government, the number of hate crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation increased from around 4,000 in 2011-12 to nearly 23,000 in 2023-24. That is a disgrace, and I am pleased that our Government have promised to tackle LGBTQ+ hate crime by ensuring that it constitutes an aggravated offence. I must echo the words of the Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen): it is so disappointing to see not one Conservative MP on the Back Benches. Previous Labour Governments ensured that equality was at their heart, and I am so pleased that our first ever out lesbian Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle), continues that work as a Minister in this Government. I also pay tribute to the Minister for Equalities, who is leading today’s debate, for making sure that we had this debate in Government time, and for everything that she is doing to deliver a fully inclusive ban on so-called conversion practices. I am proud that our Government have been clear that such conversion practices are abuse. They are acts that aim to change people’s—mostly LGBT+ people’s—sexual orientation or gender identity, and we will ban them. I am proud that it was Labour that lifted the ban on lesbians, gay men and bi people serving in the armed forces, and introduced civil partnerships and laws to allow unmarried couples, including same-sex couples, to apply for joint adoption. I am proud that we are bringing forward a new HIV action plan. I was pleased to speak at an event jointly sponsored by the British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Elton John AIDS Foundation in Parliament earlier this week. I am also proud that, despite media reports to the contrary, we will bring forward action on our manifesto commitment to modernise, simplify and reform the intrusive and outdated Gender Recognition Act 2004 and remove indignities for trans people, as well as ensuring that all discrimination and financial barriers are removed when it comes to same-sex in-vitro fertilisation. However, I once again add a note of caution about our Government’s policy and rhetoric on puberty blockers. I believe that their decision is putting people’s health at risk. I am a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which has released a report that notes that the total withdrawal of access to puberty blockers outside a research trial in the UK may breach “the fundamental ethical principles governing research”. I urge Ministers to consider the report in detail. I thank Sue Sanders, the founder of LGBT History Month. We must remember our history, but also acknowledge those who continue to fight, such as Lord Cashman and Baroness Barker, Linda Riley from D IVA , Simon Blake from Stonewall, Shiv, who is organising the London Dyke March, Marty Davies, who does so much to ensure that trans history is recognised, and those who make things happen behind the scenes, such as Marshajane Thompson, who has done so much work in this space for decades. You are pushing for our history to be remembered, and for our rights to be defended, and it is you who will be remembered in future history books. Madam Deputy Speaker, I want to thank you for being such a great ally, for co-hosting the first all-trans panel with me in the previous Parliament, which gave trans people a voice, and for also co-hosting events with me during lesbian visibility week. Our collective efforts can, do, and will continue to make a difference. By standing together, advocating for change and supporting organisations that champion LGBTQ+ rights, we can create a more inclusive and just world for all.

• 18 Dec 2024 · Banning Conversion Practices · Hansard source

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  Last week, I held a meeting in Parliament with a panel of trans people talking about their experiences of so-called conversion therapy, and their evidence was harrowing. I thank the MPs and the Minister who attended that meeting to listen to them. I am leading on a report for the Council of Europe to ban those abhorrent practices across Europe, and I am pleased to hear from the Minister that we will soon be setting out the legislation. Will the legislation be fully inclusive, without any exceptions, so that we can refer to it as best practice for all countries to use?

• 18 Dec 2024 · Banning Conversion Practices · Hansard source

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  11. What steps she is taking to ban conversion practices.

• 11 Dec 2024 · Puberty-suppressing Hormones · Hansard source

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  I wrote to the Secretary of State this morning, before his statement was announced, to highlight that a Council of Europe report notes that gender-affirming hormone therapy for trans minors in the UK is almost impossible to access, and that the total withdrawal of access to healthcare outside of a research trial may breach the “fundamental ethical principles governing research”. The restrictions on puberty blockers remove the clinical expertise from medical decision making, which significantly impacts on young trans people and their families, and I am hugely disappointed by the content of the statement. Will he read that Council of Europe report, and will he agree to meet me, as a UK delegate, to discuss it?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Income Tax (Charge) · Hansard source

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  I congratulate all hon. Members making their maiden speeches today, especially my regional colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson). I am proud that, while making history as the first ever woman to deliver a Budget, our Chancellor honoured a true hero of my constituency: Jarrow’s “Red Ellen” Wilkinson. Ellen was a remarkable politician and trailblazer for women everywhere. It is about time that we had some recognition of women in this place, and I am pleased that the Chancellor has made a start on the artwork, with the fabulous picture of Ellen on the wall in 11 Downing Street. We need many more pictures of women trailblazers across Parliament. The Budget shows that we are a Government who will work for the people. There is a lot to celebrate, including the largest ever increase in carer’s allowance, closing inheritance tax loopholes, additional funding for further education, increasing the national minimum wage, investing in breakfast clubs, record investment in the NHS, ensuring that former mineworkers get the money that was kept from their pensions, which is hugely important to my constituents, and setting aside funding for the contaminated blood scandal, as well as for the victims of the Horizon scandal, for which I have long campaigned with my constituent Chris Head. I will continue to push for people to be held to account for their role in the Horizon scandal, and for a speedy resolution so that outstanding claims are paid in full. Nothing should stand in the way of victims finally getting justice. They should not have been left waiting decades by the Conservatives. Someone might think from the contributions of Conservative Members that the last 14 years had never happened, but our public services are at the point of collapse, no youth centres are left, school buildings are crumbling, the NHS is in crisis and the economy was crashed because of the Conservatives’ gross incompetence and deliberate mismanagement, as they put their cronies over the people of this country. Finally, we can move on from 14 years of Conservative destruction of our communities. In this Budget, the poorest households gain the most and the wealthiest pay the most. That shows the difference that a Labour Government can and will make. Of course, I wish we could have done much more. I wish the Budget had been able to lift the two-child benefit cap. I wish we had been able to right the injustice for women from the Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign. I wish we could have increased the pension credit threshold. I wish we could have invested more in our local authorities. However, let us be very clear: the fact that we cannot do any of that is entirely down to the Conservative party. As chair of the north-east all-party parliamentary group, I know that transport is one of our most important challenges, alongside employment opportunities and investment. Although I will celebrate the clear wins, I will continue to work with Government Front Benchers to ask for more investment to improve the lives of people in the north-east, particularly my Jarrow and Gateshead East constituents.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Leasehold Reform · Hansard source

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  14. What steps she plans to take to reform the leasehold system.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Leasehold Reform · Hansard source

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  My constituent David has reported that his service charge has tripled in the past few years, even though dangerous cladding has still not been removed, leaving him in a leasehold debt trap with an unsellable property. I thank the Minister for confirming our intention to abolish the whole feudal system of leasehold, but what more can be done in the meantime to help people to challenge unfair service charges?

• 9 Sept 2024 · Post Office Horizon: Redress · Hansard source

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  I welcome today’s statement on the appeals process, and thank Ministers for their engagement with me on this issue and in advance of the meetings we will have later this week. Horizon victims are understandably wary of Post Office involvement in the compensation schemes, so can the Secretary of State confirm that the appeals process he has announced today will be completely independent of the Post Office? As well as pushing for Horizon victims finally to get full compensation, what work is the Department undertaking to ensure that people are held to account for their roles in this scandal?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T10. Does the Minister share my concerns about reports of trade union victimisation at HMRC’s Benton Park View office in Newcastle, where three Public and Commercial Services Union reps have already been dismissed and more face live disciplinary proceedings? I am pleased to welcome those three reps to Parliament today. Will the Minister agree to meet them and the PCS about this worrying situation?

• 30 Jul 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  What steps are being taken to support peace and human rights in Colombia? The UK is the UN Security Council penholder for Colombia, so will the Minister say more about what steps the Government can take, or any new initiatives, to support the full implementation of the 2016 Colombian peace agreement?

• 30 Jul 2024 · Post Office Horizon · Hansard source

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  The Minister will be aware that I have long campaigned on this issue. He might not yet be aware of a letter I sent to his Department highlighting issues with the current compensation schemes, as well as calling attention to issues with the original 555 sub-postmasters, one of whom is my constituent Chris Head. Chris was one of the thousands of people impacted by the Horizon scandal, and he has still only been offered 17% of his verified claim. Will the Minister agree to meet me and Chris to discuss these issues?