Speeches by Duffield.

“I beg to move, That this House has considered gender critical beliefs and the Equality Act 2010. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. The Equality Act, passed by a Labour Government in 2010, protects people from discrimination based on nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassig…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman so much for raising that important point. Just for speaking up, I, a left-wing member of the Labour party, have been called a Reform member and all kinds of names, and it has been suggested that I join a right-wing party, yet an awful lot of the articles I read agreeing with me are in t…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his point. I agree that all of those beliefs should be—and are—protected under the law. Our desire to be kind, inclusive and accepting are worthy and valuable human traits, and it is the pursuit of tolerance that underpins our law on discrimination. They are essential values in a pluralistic…”

“T9. The University of Kent, which is the largest employer in my constituency, is making yet more redundancies due to the enormous debt it owes to international banks. Will the Secretary of State commit to holding crisis meetings with desperate universities and their creditors, to help secure more sustainable terms and …”

“How do members of affected communities tend to react to campaigns against FGM? I know that my friend Nimco Ali, for example, has had death threats.”

“Q13. Under his Labour Government, does the Prime Minister believe that the UK’s estimated 3 million millionaires should contribute more to our vital national security, or is it just the world’s poorest, by no longer benefiting from our international aid programmes, or the shameful almost 6 million children living in po…”

“We have heard about it being so prevalent around the world, and obviously it is not just black girls who experience this. From your experience, what would you say is the main driver? I hesitate to use that word because there is no excuse or reason—it is violence against women and girls—but would you say there is a comm…”

“How do people in communities react to people who are arguing against FGM? We heard from a survivor and it sounded as though it was a very dangerous thing to do.”

“Recent headlines about safeguarding failures have badly eroded trust in the Church. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, with whom I have had the pleasure of working closely, resigned his position in recognition of that so that the Church could move forward. I congratulate the Second Church Estates Commissioner on her …”

“11. What progress the Church has made on appointing a new Archbishop of Canterbury.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I congratulate the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) on securing this debate, which is one of only a handful to tackle women’s health in general. Since I came to this place, a big focus for me has been women’s health, whether it is the devastatin…”

“Thank you. What are your views on clarifying sex in the Equality Act, as called for by Sex Matters and the 100,000 people who have signed the petition?”

“You will also be familiar with the settlement reached last month—so it is no longer an ongoing case—between Eleanor Frances and two Government Departments. She was forced out of her career in the civil service because of her gender-critical views. These Departments, having spent six-figure sums of taxpayers’ money to r…”

“One tiny last question: Bridget, have you or any of the other Ministers engaged with the sex equality and equity network—the SEEN groups—across the civil service?”

“Anneliese, I am going to focus on employment law, which you have said is your area. Obviously, there is no way we can comment on current cases, but you will be aware of the tribunal involving nurse Sandie Peggie, and the Darlington nurses’ case. Do you agree that they have important implications for the operation of si…”

“Does the Minister believe that the NHS should expect biologically female nursing staff to get changed in front of biologically male colleagues who identify as female?”

“Yes, “Or to prevent those who hold beliefs that the law recognises as protected from expressing themselves.” What would your recommendation to those groups be, for them to be able to operate without other groups trying to ban them?”

“I want to move on to your work on freedom-restricting harassment. Could you just give a really brief summary or definition for those in the audience and at home who are not aware of what that means?”

“You mentioned NGOs, and in section 2.4 of your report you mentioned the case of Mermaids v. the Charity Commission and LGB Alliance. Basically, they did not agree with each other and essentially one charity was trying to ban the freedom of another. You said that there was, “No legal right to be free from criticism by t…”

“Earlier you touched on the Online Safety Act and you have mentioned the police. I get death threats—I would guess more than most people here—probably at least a few a year and I then have to turn to the police, but anyone can say anything they want about wanting to kill me on social media because they do not like my vi…”