Speeches by Jardine.

“Thank you very much. Thank you all for coming along. Dr Forbes, most witnesses point to the very low take-up of shared parental leave, and some describe it as a failed policy. What would our parental leave system lose if we did not have shared parental leave?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Hobhouse. I intend to speak very briefly because, although I do not disagree with some of the comments made by the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, it was agreed some time ago that this order should happen. While we may have reservations about how …”

“I thank the Paymaster General not only for his statement, but for the clarity and commitment in his answers. As he may remember from previous occasions in the Chamber, I have the personal experience of having lost a very close family friend in the 1990s who was a victim of this. His widow died without compensation, and…”

“It is a pleasure and an honour to follow the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen). I concur with everything she said about the work being done by the Women and Equalities Committee. It is important to recognise where we stand in history, because when we talk about LGBTQ rights, women’s rights or racial equality in …”

“Q13. Every 22 minutes, a child in this country loses a parent or a loved one. That is 40,000 children every year facing a trauma that many of us here know can last a lifetime. Charities such as Winston’s Wish do a fantastic job providing support for young people, particularly when schools are closed or there is no one …”

“Since the Budget, a lot of us have been approached by third sector organisations about the rise in national insurance contributions. I wonder if you could tell us what impact the Government are expecting the rise in NICs to have on third sector organisations that support minority groups and vulnerable people.”

“Was an equalities impact assessment done on what the impact might be on the work of third sector organisations such as Mencap and Rape Crisis and the people they support?”

“You mentioned the cost of supporting the third sector further. Was a cost analysis done on how much it would cost to exempt third sector charities from the national insurance rise, considering the potential extra pressure on the public sector if charities are not able to cope and reduce their services?”

“Considering how wide-ranging this change was and the impact it is already having, do you think it might have been an opportunity to assess and look at things differently, and perhaps to do this type of assessment that is not normally done but might have been appropriate in this case?”

“I thank the Minister for her comments and general reassurances, but there are specific concerns at the moment. China can produce what is useful to us for the development of renewables, particularly in the North sea, and we can benefit from those investments. China also needs access to our markets. However, security iss…”

“(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero if he will make a statement on the potential security implications of the involvement of Chinese companies, including Mingyang, in energy infrastructure projects.”

“T3. The charity that organised the campaign “The Darker Side of Pink” estimates that 31 women lose their battle against metastatic breast cancer every day, which means that more than 20,000 have died since I first raised this matter two years ago during Prime Minister’s Question Time. What will the Government do to inc…”

“I welcome the commitment that the Minister has given the House and the determination to show our opposition to Trump’s disgraceful approach, but I am disappointed that she does not see this as the ideal moment to commit to recognising the state of Palestine. What is being done across Government to reassure the communit…”

“If it is forthcoming, what would you say would be the key aspects of a strategy?”

“I apologise for being late. You have talked about the need for a social cohesion and democratic resilience body and a strategy and action plan. Have you had any indication at all as to whether such a strategy is forthcoming or is being considered?”

“Yes.”

“From everything you are saying, I am hearing that even if we are aware of where social cohesion is breaking down and the problems, we are not recognising our own role in that, if you like. Politicians are continuing to undermine democracy, not just by the culture wars but by the way we speak to each other and the attit…”

“We welcome the Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls, but a recent report from the National Audit Office makes grim reading, stating that one in 12 women are victims of violence every year and that there were more than 2 million victims in the year up to June 2024. It also suggests while there …”

“That is a fascinating point and actually, for my sins, as well as being a politician I am a former journalist. It sometimes seems to me that we have reached the point where the space is not available because what newspapers need, what the media needs, what it feeds on, is controversy. People are not interested in readi…”

“It is all right, we are used to it.”