Speeches by Duffield.

“The Secretary of State mentioned following the advice of clinical experts, but has he sought any meetings with whistleblowers, former clinicians at the now closed Tavistock clinic, detransitioners and psychologists such as James Esses and Marcus and Sue Evans, who are all campaigning to stop this trial and the testing …”

“T8. Whitstable’s latest drought was a few weeks ago during a heatwave, leaving many residents and local businesses high and dry. South East Water tells me and my neighbours that it cannot guarantee meeting current demand, so it will be unable to guarantee meeting additional demand from new homes. Has the Secretary of S…”

“Finally, your predecessor told us that she and her staff were very intimidated one day, particularly when they were holed up in your building and people outside staged what they called a piss-in, peeing outside in bottles. Do you and your staff feel safe now?”

“For a number of years, women who have sought to protect our legal boundaries have been vilified and humiliated. The “punch a TERF” rhetoric has been frightening and very threatening to many women, many of whom are frequently in contact with me. What advice do you have for women as a body that protects minorities and pr…”

“We have seen a number of MPs—including several members of this Committee—signing EDM number 240, which was tabled by one of our members and which calls for the EHRC code to be disapproved. They have also made statements in public on their websites and on social media saying things like, “The code of practice furthers t…”

“Q5. This week, Tom Kerridge and UKHospitality launched their “VAT’s the Problem” campaign, and yesterday my neighbour the right hon. Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale) and I hosted industry bodies, chefs Matt Tebbutt and Thomasina Myers and hospitality leaders from Manchester, Liverpool, London and Kent…”

“I thank the Minister, who has been engaged on this issue for a long time—she talks to me and my neighbours, and I know she really cares. My neighbours and I spend far too much of our time talking about the latest water shortages. Heat seems to equate to a lack of water in the taps. Whitstable has been devastated yet ag…”

“That makes sense. To what extent are you concerned about the current levels of statutory support for parents being a barrier for women in comedy? In our last session we heard that caring responsibilities made a huge difference and really stopped women carrying on that career progression. Do you agree with that?”

“I want to talk mostly to Kirsten and Jess about the pay issue, which we have touched on a little. Kirsten, you said that low pay was the single biggest barrier to women. What steps could be taken to overcome the gender pay equality gap in your industry?”

“Finding childcare in the evenings is an issue as well, because that is when most gigs happen, isn’t it?”

“That is really interesting. The question we prepared on this section is whether we need more transparency on the pay difference, but you are saying it is more important to get those bookings. It is kind of a circular thing, isn’t it? If those women are on the bill, they will get the same pay and they will get as much p…”

“Does anyone else want to come in on any of these issues?”

“Rachael, you review all kinds of comedy. Do you ever hear that from men you know in the business?”

“What do any of you think could or should change to help this? Is there any policy that the Government could get involved in? We usually get a set amount of childcare, do we not? Would something more flexible for people in the arts help?”

“Ola, do you agree with that?”

“I heavily relate to everything you all said because before I got to Parliament I wrote comedy, or tried to. I was a single mum on benefits; my kids were young. All these things where you have to basically pay to do your job just to get recognised: go out in the evenings, beg your parents to babysit, and network at all …”

“Nina, do you think any of the organisations that you are involved with, such as Chortle or maybe even Equity, recognise any of this?”

“That is extraordinary, but we are talking about a country of 70 million-odd people, 51% of whom are women. The majority of people know what a man or a woman is. If one has a problem with that, that is a specific personal problem. That is a man; these are women. We all know. It is an absolute load of rubbish that we do …”

“That is exactly right. We are not talking about gender identity. We are talking about the law as it adheres to biological men and women.”

“For the very last time.”