Bridget Phillipson
MP for Houghton and Sunderland South · Labour · United Kingdom
“The hon. Lady is right: we must tackle prejudice, racism and intolerance in all its forms. I know that many of our Muslim communities have experienced unacceptable hatred and intimidation simply because they wish to go about their lives practising their religion and belief, as is at the cornerstone of everything that we as a nation should…”
“I welcome the hon. Lady to her place, and wish her predecessor, the right hon. Member for East Surrey (Claire Coutinho), all the very best—as I am sure we all do—as she heads off to welcome her new baby into the world.”
“I am proud to be standing here as the first ever stand-alone Cabinet Minister for Women and Equalities. The heart of this Government’s ambition is to bring hope back to communities.”
“I welcome the growing number of people who are recognising that Reform simply does not have the answers to the challenges facing our country and are inspired by this Labour Government’s message of hope and optimism. There can be no place for violence or intimidation of women, whether on the Reform conference floor or anywhere else.”
“My hon. Friend will know that the Government are neutral on the matter of assisted dying and the passage of the Bill. We have therefore not developed a detailed implementation plan; if the Bill were to pass, we would engage with all relevant people and partners to ensure safe and effective implementation. My hon.”
“I agree with the hon. Lady, and she will know that we have already taken action in this area to ensure that the law is strong and firm, but of course, there is always the question of enforcement running alongside it.”
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“There we are: the true face of the Tory party, describing people who are in work in that kind of way. We will always back working people. I would just point out to the hon. Gentleman that there are 329,000 more people in work than was the case a year ago. We are tackling poverty and supporting parents back into work, and we will reform our welfare system alongside that. He and the Conservative party should have the good grace and the humility to accept that their decisions have pushed hundreds of thousands of children into poverty, including in his community. Maybe he should go and speak to them and see what they say to him.”
“This is a UK wide-strategy, and we will continue to work with the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to bring down poverty in all of our four nations. My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the staggering and appalling record of the SNP Government in Scotland, particularly when it comes to homelessness, and to highlight the impact that temporary accommodation and homelessness have on children’s life chances. She will know as well as I do that this Labour Government in Westminster delivered a record settlement to the SNP Government in Scotland. They have choices about how they take this forward, but of course, if they fail to do so—if they fail to take the decisive action that people across Scotland need—perhaps it really is time for a new direction for Scotland with Anas Sarwar.”
“When the hon. Lady stood up, I thought she was about to congratulate the UK Government on lifting the two-child limit—something I have heard her talk about a lot in this House, and rightly, so where was the welcome for the change we are bringing today? Of course, the SNP Government could effectively abolish the two-child limit in Scotland, but they have sat on their hands and, sadly, all the evidence suggests that they are about to miss their child poverty targets.”
“Friend and others can continue to hold Ministers to account on the progress we want to make towards bringing down the number of children in poverty.”
“I am grateful to the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, who has long campaigned on the important relationship between poverty and health inequalities. Through the development of the strategy and through the taskforce, we took evidence from experts in this area. I give her the commitment that we will continue to consider the impact on health, including health inequalities, of poverty. We see the development and publication of the strategy as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change. The monitoring and evaluation framework that was published alongside the strategy sets out our plans to track progress. This will include a comprehensive programme of analysis, focusing on the drivers of child poverty and on the impact of specific interventions. We will continue to publish more data so that my hon.”
“I am grateful to the hon. Lady for the work she does in this important area. As she knows, parents will save up to £500 a year as a result of the plans we have set out for action on baby formula so that parents can make the right choices for themselves. Of course, we know that it is also important to put in place support for parents who wish to breastfeed, and that is why we have also extended and expanded the national breastfeeding helpline, which runs alongside support that will be available in Best Start family hubs to ensure that mothers have choices about the right approach for them to make. I will ensure that a Minister in the Department of Health and Social Care writes to the hon. Lady to update her on the issues she has asked about.”
“That will ensure that we reduce the longer-term impacts we see when parents do not have the support they need and when children have to wait too long for the support they deserve, and it will reduce all the devastation that has followed from that short-sighted decision taken back in 2010 by the previous Government to remove funding from Sure Start.”
“I agree with my hon. Friend, and I know from previous conversations that he worked in a Sure Start centre and was involved in the delivery of those services. Best Start family hubs will draw on what we know works from Sure Start. The evaluation evidence is incredibly clear about the impact they had on children’s life chances, on admissions to hospital and on the increase in exam grades that we saw of children who lived near to a centre. That is why we have committed to funding all local authorities to deliver Best Start family hubs, backed up by £500 million to help families in every part of the country. That roll-out will create 1,000 Best Start family hubs nationwide by the end of 2028, supporting parents and backing children.”
“It is a Labour Government who are lifting the two-child limit and who will ensure that children in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland get the support they deserve. The hon. Member references the benefit cap, which limits the total amount of benefits a working-age household can receive. Of course, that applies only to families in which there is not someone in work. It is right that we support people into work and ensure that we have incentives that back that, but alongside that in England we are delivering a big expansion in childcare, because we know it is important to support families. Of course, it was the Welsh Labour Government who first introduced free breakfast clubs—which I am proud to be introducing here in England.”
“I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that further. A key commitment that we made, through the development of this strategy, was to make the system of childcare support and early years education much simpler and more straightforward for families to access. We know that it is a complex system that has built up, changed and developed over time. I want to make it easier for families to get the support they need. We have already taken action on the expansion of the 30 hours of Government-funded childcare, on universal credit cost caps and on up-front childcare costs. I know that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is ensuring that work coaches in jobcentres can provide additional assistance for families on the support available.”
“I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has made his views known to Ministers at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, but I will ensure that they are passed along. Lifting the two-child limit, expanding access to childcare, expanding free school meals, increasing the national minimum wage and expanding rights at works are big changes that will make a real difference to children and families in his constituency.”
“We all know that, in a constrained environment with a tough set of circumstances around the public finances, we operate under challenges and constraints, but we have taken the decision, as a Labour Government, to prioritise investment in our children, in their futures, and in our economy.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right that poverty scars the life chances of children. It has always been the moral mission of the Labour party, and it always will be the moral mission of the Labour Government, to end child poverty and reduce the hardship and injustice that it brings—not just the long-term outcomes that children suffer, but the deep injustice and sense of hopelessness that poverty causes children and families. I am delighted that we have taken action to lift the two-child limit, which will benefit thousands of children in his constituency. Alongside that, in expanding free school meals to all families in receipt of universal credit from next September, we will lift 100,000 more children out of poverty.”
“I recognise that even in more seemingly affluent communities there can be pockets of deprivation, and many children can still be living in poverty. It is right that we tackle child poverty wherever it occurs. The measures that we are setting out, both in the child poverty strategy and in the Budget, will make a big difference to the hon. Lady’s constituency, be it by freezing rail fares, freezing prescription charges, increasing the national minimum wage, improving rights at work, providing 30 hours of Government-funded childcare, creating new free breakfast clubs, or providing free school meals for all families on universal credit. It is a very long list, and I could say a lot more about the difference that we are making, but I will leave it there.”
“I put on the record my particular thanks to Changing Realities, which worked with us to ensure that the views of parents and children living in poverty were heard during the development of the strategy. I am very grateful for all the support that it gave so that those at the sharp end of poverty were able to influence Government decision making and shape the strategy.”
“We are investing £500 million more to ensure that we expand Best Start family hubs to local authorities that do not have that provision. By the end of the Parliament, 1,000 hubs will have been rolled out. That will make a huge difference to children and families across our country. As my hon. Friend says, that runs alongside the holiday activities and food programme. We have confirmed over £600 million for that programme for the next three financial years. That multi-year settlement will give clubs and local authorities greater certainty so that they can plan. We heard directly from families during the development of the strategy about the challenges that they face during the holiday period.”
“In launching the first phase—the early adopter phase—of our plan for 750 free breakfast clubs, we wanted to ensure that we covered schools in a range of different communities and contexts with different cohorts of students. We have been able to learn from that in setting out how we will deliver funding for the next phase, from April 2026. We are making changes to the daily rate and the per-pupil rate, but I encourage the school in the hon. Lady’s constituency to share its views with the Department, because we are keen to learn from the experiences of staff on the ground. Views can also be shared through the peer network that we have established, so that schools can share experiences and good practice.”
“My hon. Friend is doing tremendous work in that area through the APPG. I would be more than happy to ensure that the Department—through officials or Ministers—continues to work with the APPG as we roll out Best Start family hubs and learn from the best evidence on how we can continue to support parents and families. Our new Best Start family hubs will offer universal open-access services for babies and children, with a real focus on the under-fives—we know that we can make the biggest difference to children’s life chances at that age. Best Start family hubs will be funded in every local authority and open to all families, but the focus will be on locating them in disadvantaged communities, where we know that the need for support is greatest.”
“The hon. Gentleman will know, as I have previously told him, that I also visited Northern Ireland through the work of the child poverty taskforce to meet campaigners, charities and parents to understand the challenges they face. Some of those challenges are shared, such as those of the social security system, and lifting the two-child limit will make a big difference in Northern Ireland. Of course, in some areas, these are questions of devolved policy, but while I was there I discussed with Ministers the education system, access to childcare and the developments led by the Northern Ireland Executive on child poverty, and we will continue that work through the taskforce and the strategy.”
“I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend. I know he has done an incredible amount to champion the life chances of children in his community, which covers many towns and villages and a big rural population. That presents some unique challenges, and perhaps we could discuss that further and how we can ensure that more of his constituents benefit from family support services. The lifting of the two-child limit will make a huge difference, alongside the wider measures on childcare.”
“Yes. Like my hon. Friend, I am always ambitious to do more to lift more children out of poverty and to create better conditions to tackle the root causes of poverty. This ambitious strategy is an incredibly strong start that will see the biggest reduction in child poverty numbers in any Parliament since records began. That shows the scale of our ambition, and this 10-year strategy will ensure that fewer children suffer the injustice and the deep moral scar of growing up in poverty, but there is, of course, always more to do.”
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has a long-standing commitment to tackling child poverty. It was clear through the strategy that lifting the two-child limit is the single most effective way to lift the greatest number of children out of poverty, alongside the wider measures we are taking to tackle the root causes of child poverty. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions intends to bring forward legislation in the new year.”
“Yes, of course I would be happy to discuss this further with my hon. Friend. She is absolutely right that child poverty does not just have a deep and lasting impact on the individual children and families concerned. There is a clear link to worklessness, poorer health outcomes and lower attainment at school, and that flows through into the very high numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training. That is why the measures we are taking are the right thing to do both for children and our society.”
“Yes. Through the strategy, we are taking action on the unacceptably high number of people living in temporary accommodation that we inherited from the party opposite. We have made progress in the last year, with numbers falling by over 40% since June, but there is more to do. That is why we are investing more in the local councils that see the biggest use of temporary accommodation such as B&Bs. That runs alongside the £39 billion of investment going into social and affordable housing to ensure all children have a secure roof over their head.”
“It was wonderful to visit a breakfast club in my hon. Friend’s constituency recently to see the difference it will make to children’s outcomes. The evidence is clear about the impact on educational outcomes, and on how it supports more parents to work the hours that suit them, and often to take on more hours, too. Child poverty has devastating long-term impacts for our economy and for society, and we know that the long-term impacts mean that children are more likely to end up workless, less likely to do well at school and more likely to have long-term health outcomes. That is something this Labour Government are determined to change.”
“I particularly pay tribute to the Child Poverty Action Group and Save the Children, which have provided enormous support in making the case that this is not just necessary for children’s life chances but essential for our society.”
“I am grateful for everything my hon. Friend has done over many years to campaign on both child poverty and housing. We have announced an ambition to cut the number of school days lost by children in temporary accommodation, because she is right that it often means children arrive at school late or not at all, which has a long-standing impact on their life chances. We are investing more in the local authorities that make the biggest use of B&B accommodation, and we are making progress on bringing down those numbers. Alongside that, we are investing in more social and affordable housing. I also thank the many campaigners, charities and others that have shaped this strategy by working with us to develop the best case for lifting children out of poverty.”
“We know that children who are hungry or living in temporary accommodation are not in a position to learn effectively, and that has a long-term impact, including on teachers and support staff. I am interested in some of the approaches that have been taken around poverty-proofing, including in my own region, the north-east. For example, we are bringing down costs for parents by capping the number of branded items that schools can insist on for students. Children should be smart at school, but that should not cost their parents the earth.”
“My hon. Friend has always stood up for children in his community. It is through his election to this place, and the election of a Labour Government, that by the end of this Parliament, we will see the biggest reduction in child poverty numbers since records began.”
“I agree absolutely. That is why we are taking action to bring those numbers down, to build more social and affordable homes, and to give parents and young people the skills that they need to get good, well paid jobs.”
“Important safeguards currently exist within the system to ensure that vulnerable migrant children are protected. I will ensure that my hon. Friend gets the meeting with the relevant Minister that she requests to discuss her concerns further.”
“I know that my hon. Friend cares passionately about ensuring that we have good routes into careers through technical and vocational education, and more apprenticeships for young people in Peterborough. I have been working with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South East (Pat McFadden), on our ambitious post-16 strategy, to ensure that young people, at the start of their careers, have great options when it comes to academic, technical and vocational routes, and today we have been setting out how we, as a Government, intend to deliver more apprenticeship opportunities for young people in Peterborough and beyond.”
“It is an investment in our children, their futures and our society and economy. The strategy addresses some of the big challenges that we see, and sets out the important ways that we will tackle the structural and root causes of why so many children in our country are growing up in poverty, whether that is skills, access to work or childcare, all of which we, as a Government, will take action on to support families.”
“By rolling out breakfast clubs, expanding free school meals, expanding childcare and much more besides, this Labour Government back families and back children to succeed. We will ensure that far fewer children are growing up in poverty at the end of this Parliament than there were at the start—the biggest reduction since records began.”
“My hon. Friend is right that too often children have been used as pawns in a political game, using political dividing lines, where the evidence simply does not back up what the Conservative party says. Children in poverty and their families do not lack ambition or aspiration. Those families want the best for their children and they want better life changes than they enjoyed themselves. This Labour Government will ensure that children in Redditch, and across our country, get those opportunities.”
“They should not have step in where Government fails, and that is why today’s publication of the strategy marks an important step forward in the Government’s responsibility to support children and families, working alongside our faith leaders and churches too.”
“Yes. The taskforce heard evidence from faith communities, churches and others about what they are seeking to do to support families. I commend the amazing volunteers and those who work in our communities to support children and families. I also heard loud and clear from many of them that if children and families were not enduring such hardship and poverty, those volunteers and community workers could dedicate more time to important projects around issues such as loneliness and support for residents who are experiencing real disadvantage. They would much prefer to focus their efforts on areas where they can make a big difference.”
“The Conservative party, as they have done over many years, since they introduced many of the punishing changes around social security, are using our children as pawns to make a political argument that is not borne out by the evidence. Children in my hon. Friend’s community will benefit from the difference that a Labour Government are making, whether through lifting the two-child limit, expanding free school meals or improved childcare for families. It is through his election to this place and through securing a Labour Government last July that we are seeing this difference.”
“This is an enormous challenge, as my hon. Friend identifies. We announced a clear pledge to prevent deaths caused by gaps in healthcare. We know some of the terrible outcomes for children caused by poor-quality accommodation. We are investing more and we are determined to bring that down. It will require a lot of us, right across Government, to work on this issue. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will shortly be setting out its homelessness strategy, with further measures to bring down the use of temporary accommodation and to support families.”
“We have worked with Governments rights across the UK in the development of the strategy, but my hon. Friend is right to highlight the shocking and appalling legacy of years of SNP failure. That is why it is time for a new direction for Scotland with Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour.”
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for all that he has done over many years to champion children’s life chances and to tackle child poverty. No child should suffer the consequences or the punishment of the two-child limit for decisions beyond their control, and I am pleased that those families in his constituency and at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic primary school will see a big difference to their life chances thanks to this Labour Government.”
“Yes, I give my hon. Friend that commitment. In paying tribute to the amazing people who volunteer in our food banks, community groups, churches and community organisations right across the country, let me say that I look forward to the day when, as a Labour MP, I visit a food bank not to open it, but to close it down.”
“Yes. We know that a stay in temporary accommodation is linked to worse outcomes for children’s health, education and futures. We will introduce a temporary accommodation notification system requiring local housing authorities to notify educational institutions, health visitors and GPs when a child is placed in temporary accommodation to ensure that families get the support that they need, but we need to go further in bringing down the numbers of people living in temporary accommodation. We have made progress, but there is more to do, and the homeless strategy will follow shortly.”
“Yes, we will address the short-term challenges we face, but we will also address the long-term structural challenges that have led us into the situation where so many children see their life chances blighted by avoidable poverty. We are investing in the future of our children. Some people and the Conservatives say that we cannot afford to act, but we must act now; the consequences and the cost to our society are just too great.”
“The defendant has now pleaded guilty to these sickening crimes and will be sentenced, but my thoughts this afternoon are not on him; they are with all the child victims of these vile and abhorrent crimes and their families, who are now trying to recover from the suffering and pain he has caused. My promise to them through these darkest of days, and my promise to Members in the Chamber today and to families across the country, is that not only will justice be served, but we will strengthen the ways in which we keep children safe. We will root out abuse wherever it hides, and we will never stop working to rid our society of this evil. I commend this statement to the House.”
“All of us owe it to our children to do the right thing. Keeping children safe is one of the most important duties of any society, and I thank our early years staff and wider children’s services workforce—those who work so hard, day in and day out, to give the children of this country the best start in life. I know that all committed early years and children’s services professionals will be just as horrified as we all are to hear about what has taken place, and just as distressed to think that something like this could happen in a place that should have been dedicated to keeping children safe and helping them thrive.”
“It is critical that local safeguarding partners can continue their investigations, but I will work closely with them, with the child safeguarding practice review panel and its chair Sir David Holmes, and with Home Office colleagues to make absolutely sure that we have the most robust safeguards possible in place. We must do everything in our power to protect children. I take my responsibilities as Secretary of State for not simply Education, but children, with the utmost seriousness. However, preventing cases like these requires everyone to believe in, and act on, the fundamental principle that safeguarding is everyone’s business. It is the duty of all of us right across our society to report abuse if we see it, and if we see or hear something that feels wrong, to question and challenge it.”
“That meant setting out a clear timeline of the events leading up to the incidents, the incidents themselves, the roles played by different agencies, and the safety of children at the nursery at each stage. Those initial findings are now being worked through quickly, but I can confirm to the House that the rapid review has concluded that a full local child safeguarding practice review is warranted. That wider review is being set up immediately. I am clear that it must shine the strongest possible light on these horrifying incidents, and that we must learn every lesson we can to make sure that crimes like this are guarded against at every step and every stage.”
“The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has been commissioned to set up a bespoke helpline as the first point of contact for anyone affected by these horrific acts. Details of the helpline can be found in communications from Camden council and the Metropolitan police. Specialist support is available for victims from the NSPCC helpline. People affected can be supported directly or referred to the right source of support to meet their needs, and the Government have provided funding to ensure there is sufficient capacity to support families. Following a notification of a serious incident, the police, the integrated care board and the local authority completed a rapid review to establish the facts.”
“On 8 September 2025, he was arrested after evidence was uncovered on devices seized in a previous police investigation and was charged with the 26 offences in question on 9 September. Yesterday, Vincent Chan entered a plea of guilty, and sentencing will take place on 23 January. In the meantime, the Metropolitan police have met families of all the children they have identified as victims of contact offences. In addition, the Met has written to the other families whose children attended the setting in question while the individual worked there to reassure them that where there is evidence of offences, the affected families have been contacted. Local children’s social care services are providing emotional and practical support to families and signposting them to specialist support services.”