Speeches by McCarthy.

“On Friday, I visited the Coexist Community Kitchen in my constituency, which does amazing work to get the community in. It runs cookery classes, is accessible and has affordable and healthy food, and sometimes it is free. Quite a lot of people go there on social prescriptions. On the issue of cross-departmental working…”

“It is not adequate for us to have to rely on a determination that someone is suffering from a disability because of mental health issues. In some cases, there will be a history, engagement and a diagnosis of a disorder, but in many others, it could be that the student suddenly feels themselves to be in that situation. …”

“As a Bristol MP, I very much appreciate the fact that my hon. Friend has taken up the case on behalf of Natasha’s parents. I have had conversations with the University of Bristol about Natasha’s case, and also with the University of the West of England. One issue that comes up is where parents fit in, because students …”

“My first job after graduating was in a magistrates court, which was just making the transition from writing court records in a huge ledger by hand to computerisation; I appreciate that it has modernised an awful lot since then. Let me pick up on the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westm…”

“As I mentioned, 10 years ago in this place there was a high-profile piece of campaigning particularly about testing on beagles, and I seem to remember that it got quite a lot of press coverage. Assurances were given then that we were on a journey to phasing that out, but we have no idea what has happened in that interi…”

“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Alec. I will start by talking briefly about the underlying issue of animal testing, before making more general comments about restrictions on the right to protest. I think I am right in saying that the only commitment made in the 1997 general election manifesto that was not…”

“Sarah Lewis was my constituent. I have here the prevention of future deaths report that was issued after the inquest. She took her own life, but was severely ill with ME. One thing that comes through very strongly is that she did not feel she was believed or taken seriously, or that her symptoms were recognised by the …”

“I agree about the need for a fairer asylum system in which the public can have confidence, but everything that the Home Secretary has proposed today is predicated on decent legal advice being available to people, and we know—I know from 20 years as a Member of Parliament—that that is simply not the case. Despite the be…”

“In the interests of time, I will focus only on new clause 2, which stands in my name, though I also support new clauses 1, 10 and 11, and I very much welcome Government new clause 14. I thank the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden) for originally tabling new clause 2. His subsequent elevation to t…”

“I agree with the right hon. Gentleman to an extent. It was reported in The Guardian that some of the footage was deemed too shocking to be shown. I do not know whether he has seen it, but what remains in the film is incredibly powerful. I have read about bottom trawling in the newspapers for a long time, so I knew abou…”

“Like others, I very much welcome the Bill, and I hope it swiftly passes into law so that we can play a full role at Ocean COP1 next year. If we look back beyond recent years, we had people such as John Kerry, and David Miliband as co-chair of the Global Ocean Commission, spearheading efforts on this front, but it then …”

“That was a brilliant speech. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Harris. I agree that the Prime Minister should go to COP. It was such an important moment last year in Baku when he announced an ambitious 81% NDC and demonstrated to the world that the UK was back in the business of global climate leadership. I…”

“I congratulate the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick) on securing a debate on this important issue on behalf of his constituents. As he has acknowledged, I am limited in what I can say about specific projects within the planning system, but before I move on to address some of the detail that he has mentioned…”

“I am pretty sure that my hon. Friend has raised that issue at Energy Security and Net Zero questions before. I will remind the Minister for Energy, my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen (Michael Shanks), to engage further with him about that. On clustering, and coming to the nub of the right hon. Gentleman’s speech,…”

“I appreciate my hon. Friend’s concerns. This is a matter for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, but I am happy to talk to colleagues as they bring forward their land use framework. Nature-based solutions to climate change are important, so we very much engage with our colleagues in DEFRA on these i…”

“I am happy to join the hon. Member in congratulating his local council. I visited the Local Government Association the week before last, I think, with the local net zero delivery group, on which we have representation from all areas of local government. I am keen to learn from the best and translate that into action fo…”

“Yesterday, the Secretary of State made an incredibly important statement to this House outlining the crises we face when it comes to climate change and the decline of nature. Tackling this starts with being honest about the science and what the experts are telling us. We know that we can only have climate security for …”

“We know that there is strong public support, and we are keen to engage more at a local level with groups like Bracknell Forest Community Climate Action. That is why we have set up the local net zero delivery group to work with councils and mayors, and why we will produce a public participation strategy later this year.…”

“The Climate Change Committee report made clear the progress we have made in the past 12 months on overturning the terrible legacy of the Conservatives, who turned their back on climate action. We know that clean power is the route to energy security, lower bills and good jobs. It is a shame that the Tories and Reform a…”

“Perhaps if the right hon. Member had been here yesterday, she would have been able to engage with the Secretary of State on this. The science is absolutely clear: every avoided fraction of a degree of warming makes a difference to the severity of climate impacts. That is why the Prime Minister went to the global leader…”