Christine Jardine

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1. “It would be a welcome break, I thought, from the constant election messaging of the past few weeks, but they dragged me back here by asking quite clearly and categorically: “When are we doing something to get back into the European Union?” Leaving has been a disaster for them, for their businesses and for the country. “Closer” probably will not be enough for them. They want to know exactly what we will do, and how we will get back to the centre of Europe, to lead and work with our neighbours and build the trading links that are essential to economic recovery. What about the customs union and the single market—does being closer include being in them? While I agree that being closer to Europe will help our economic growth, it will not be enough on its own.”

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2. “If they landed in a safe European Union country, that was where they had to seek refuge. Not now. Now that we have left the European Union, that rule no longer applies to us. That is something that the Brexiteers omitted—perhaps forgot—to mention then in their campaign, and now in their immigration rants. That is why one part of the speech I welcome is the promise of closer links with the European Union. I am delighted to hear that we will, in the words of the King’s Speech, “strengthen ties”, but what exactly will that mean? At the weekend, I spent time with some non-political friends.”

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3. “It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell). As I listened to His Majesty the King today, there was one part in his speech that reminded me of the Queen’s Speech in 2017, when I was first elected. The then Government promised that their priority would be “to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union.” —[ Official Report , 21 June 2017; Vol. 626, c. 34.] That went well. Let us compare our economy then and now. Inflation and unemployment are now both higher. In 2017, we had the fifth-largest economy in the world. We have slipped to sixth since we left the EU. Outside this place, in 2017, people were concerned for the welfare of the refugees risking their lives on boats crossing the Mediterranean.”

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4. “While I agree with the hon. Member about young people’s routes into work, how does that sit with the way his SNP Government in Scotland have destroyed apprenticeships up there? As for the hospitality industry in Scotland, it pays business rates in Scotland—I hear complaints about them all the time. Is that perhaps why the SNP lost seats in the election that he is so busy congratulating himself on?”

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5. “Happy St George’s day. Yesterday, in the statement, the Paymaster General was kind enough to say that he would look into the case of one of my constituents who is afraid that she will lose her house because she has no income and cannot get access to her civil service pension. However, I have several other affected constituents, one who is still working full time and is a full-time carer. They were supposed to retire in January but cannot, because they cannot get access to their pension. Can I meet the Minister to discuss what is happening and how we can get Capita to pay attention to this issue and to look for a way forward?”

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6. “I am delighted to hear the determination with which the Minister intends to approach this and the messages he is sending to Capita, because like many others, I have a mailbox full of civil service pensioners unable to access their funds, many of them in hardship. One woman at the moment fears she may lose her home simply because she cannot get a response from Capita—I have asked for a meeting. Is the Minister aware of any plans to prioritise those in severe hardship, or has he asked Capita to do so, because there seems to be no attempt on its behalf to do that?”

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7. “It must be clear to the Prime Minister that many of us in this House are totally scunnered with this whole mess, although that is nothing compared with what I am being told on the doors in Scotland by voters who feel that they expected, and that they were right to expect, more from this Government after what they were promised. We have focused on process today, but the Prime Minister would not have had to come here and stand at the Dispatch Box to answer all these questions if he had not made the decision, which he accepts was wrong, to appoint Peter Mandelson. That is the root of this whole thing. Having accepted responsibility, what does the Prime Minister think the consequence should be for that, and how do we restore faith?”

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8. “As the Minister knows, the video games industry is huge in Scotland. In fact, it is huge worldwide—it is now bigger than the film and television industries put together. The Scottish industry is worth £188 million, but we have reached a point where we have identified a lack of business acumen among growing companies. We need something like business hubs specifically for video games, with centres of video game excellence, so will the Minister perhaps speak to the Scottish Government about how this can be achieved in order to continue the massive growth we have seen?”

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9. “A constituent recently contacted me to say that she is concerned that her son, who is a member of the armed forces, is finding it impossible to get a driving test. The well-documented concerns about delays are compounded by the fact that he is posted abroad, his timing is difficult to anticipate, and military personnel have been redeployed to support civilian instructors and testers. Can we have a statement, perhaps from either the Secretary of State for Defence or the Secretary of State for Transport, to clarify how we are going to get through the impasse that has been created?”

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10. “Does the Minister share my disappointment that my constituency of Edinburgh West was the only one in Edinburgh that was not considered for a Pride in Place programme, including areas like Drylaw and Stenhouse which have particular problems that could have been helped by this programme?”

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11. “I have been overwhelmed by the number of constituents who have written to me over the past two weeks about the situation in the Gulf. They are of course concerned about their energy bills and the cost of living, but overwhelmingly they are outraged at the actions of all the actors in this conflict—Iran, Israel and the United States. What they want from their Government is more and stronger leadership on the international stage to open the strait of Hormuz. Will the Prime Minister consider going to the United Nations Security Council with an emergency motion to get that done and to condemn the actions in the middle east?”

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12. “Edinburgh West may not seem like the most rural constituency, but we have several critical agricultural businesses in the seat, including the Royal Highland Centre in Ingliston and a number of businesses that are diversifying into agritourism. There is funding available, but it is often unclear how to get it or how to align it for, say, the conversion of buildings. Can the Minister commit to making it clearer how agricultural businesses that want to diversify can access the funding?”

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13. “Order. I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. Unfortunately, if they were not here at the start, I am not sure that I will be able to get them in.”

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14. “T6. A Ukrainian family that we managed to reunite visited my office on Friday. During the conversation, it became clear that they are concerned for the future of Ukraine, given the war in the middle east and the US now loosening the sanctions on Russia. What representations have been made to the American Government to underline the seriousness of that step and our commitment to Ukraine?”

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15. “May I associate myself with the remarks of the Leader of the House and the shadow Leader of the House about the anniversary of Dunblane? Many of us in this place have pensioner constituents abroad, and the 90% of them who are in the Commonwealth had their pensions frozen from the point at which they left. This is an issue of great concern not just to them, but increasingly to the Governments of Canada and Australia in particular, as it places a heavy burden on them. The annual regulations were recently passed by this House, but that happened without scrutiny because of the way in which they are passed. Is there a way to arrange a meeting with Ministers or a debate in the House so that we can examine this policy and see if there is a way to amend it to make it fairer both for those pensioners and for everyone else affected by it?”

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16. “It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec, for the first time. My hon. Friend has touched on training and the need for awareness. One issue is that very often even people with type 1 diabetes, because of the lack of awareness, are not aware of the symptoms as they begin to react or their insulin is very low. Does he agree that what we also need is a general awareness of type 1 diabetes among the public?”

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17. “Can the Minister tell us what modelling those in the Home Office have done in respect of whether these visa bans will actually affect the backlog of refugee and asylum seekers? Have they looked at the impact on local services in constituencies such as mine? People running care homes have told me that they are losing vital workforce members and may not be able to stay open.”

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18. “I appreciate everything the Minister has said and thank him for the information on this, but in his statement, he did not mention the many thousands of British citizens affected in places outwith the Gulf. I have constituents in Sri Lanka who cannot get home, and they have said that they cannot get any consular assistance at the moment because they are not vulnerable and are not in any danger. For people in other parts of the world who will now incur massive costs because this is an act of war and insurance companies may not cover them, will he tell us how the Government will support them through consular assistance and help them get home?”

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19. “Too many children today will face the trauma that we and hundreds of others have faced without support. An estimated 127 children go through it every day in this country. Every 20 minutes while we have been in this Chamber, someone has lost a parent. Above all else, those children ask us to ask them what they need, and then to make sure that the authorities, ourselves included, provide it. They want us to make sure that no child in this country feels alone, unsupported or lost without the friend, sibling or parent that they have lost. I ask the Government to make sure that they get that help.”

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20. “Meeting young people who faced losing someone close and felt that they did not have the support or the understanding that they needed has been both inspirational and heartbreaking—inspirational in seeing how they have coped and heartbreaking in knowing that they have lost an important emotional and economic anchor in their lives. Sometimes it is the only emotional anchor. No moment drove that home to me more than a meeting in Parliament where I met representatives of Winston’s Wish and some young people. One girl thanked me for everything I was doing and said, “But you understand, don’t you?” And I do, but I am not the only one. I also know that my sisters and I were very lucky. We may not have had the official support that we needed and that all young people deserve, but we did have support.”

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21. “They are more likely to have difficulty forming relationships, more likely to get into trouble and more likely to live in poverty. Various reports, including one by Sue Ryder, show that grief costs the UK economy an estimated £23 billion a year. We could help to mitigate that. We could take preventive measures that protect children and safeguard a healthy economy in the process. The situation has not been helped by the change in bereavement payments to families and the fact that they have been frozen for the past nine years. I ask the Government whether they will address that particular shortcoming. Will they fix it? When I started to get involved in this area a few years ago, one charity that works with adults bereaved as children warned me that I might be opening a can of worms. I did not think so, but now I am not so sure.”

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22. “How do we support you?” Given the critical role that schools play in children’s lives, the fact that we already acknowledge that they do so much work, and the fact that the answer is always to turn to those schools, what are the Government doing to improve the consistency and tailoring of bereavement support in educational establishments in support of pupils’ wellbeing and learning? Can we finally make sure that, after 20 years, grief education becomes a vital part of the national curriculum and attempts to get us over our national aversion to talking about grief? If we do not start talking about grief more openly and regularly, we will never begin to tackle the problems that it creates in society. We know that children who suffer bereavement and do not have support in coping with the trauma will likely have problems in later life.”

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23. “When they were asked by the UK Commission on Bereavement what they needed, half of the bereaved children and young people who shared their experiences said that they got only a little or no support from their education setting after their bereavement. The commission recommended that all educational establishments have a bereavement policy, including staff training and a process for supporting bereaved children and their families. What a difference that would make. Winston’s Wish, the charity, led the “Ask Me” education campaign, which takes this a step further by asking all schools to sign up to a manifesto to pledge to see each bereaved student as an individual and ask the simple but powerful question, “What do you need?”

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24. “Local data on the number of children and young people bereaved could be combined with activity data from local services to identify what proportion of children and young people are getting support. Data on which children and young people have been bereaved could be linked to other datasets such as those on the use of health services. The understanding of the impact of bereavement on children’s health and their futures could be much improved just by taking a note when someone dies. That knowledge of where children are, who needs help and what help they need would make such a difference. Of course, we also need to make sure that children are getting the right help.”

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25. “Even in areas that do have a service, there are long waiting lists or travel times, and services’ survival is precarious. The pandemic made it worse: waiting lists for child bereavement services were increasing, and there were already concerns about access, which the pandemic only exacerbated. We need to do more. That brings me back to how we know where there are children to help—the protocol and the process that I have called for. We do not collect data; we have no way of knowing. It would be simple: when someone dies, the registrar could just take a note if a child or children are affected. That would be a chance to signpost support to the family with relevant local information. We could give families the opportunity to opt in to a real-time referral pathway, similar to those for families bereaved by suicide.”

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26. “The campaign “Grief Matters for Children” has shown that children who are bereaved are at an increased risk of depression, anxiety and physical health problems, have lower academic attainment and are over-represented in the criminal justice system. Yes, GPs and schools are vital, but they are not there at weekends, at Christmas, during school holidays or late at night when children need someone to talk to. What if a child moves home? What if it is an estranged parent who dies, and the school does not know? One of the main issues is that where there is support, there is huge variation in the provision of services across the UK. Services have developed in an ad hoc way, and there are inequalities in provision. Many struggle for funding, and large areas of the country are still without services that support children.”

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27. “It is more than three years since I first raised this issue in the House and called for a protocol or a process to identify those young people at the point of their loved one dying. There is genuinely support across House, from individual MPs and from the all-party parliamentary group on grief support and the impact of death on society. We have had debates and I have had meetings with Ministers. Everyone is supportive—it is just the action that is missing. Too often, I have been told that schools and GPs are there to help. Yes, they are; they do a great job. However, bereavement affects every aspect of a child’s life, not just school.”

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28. “She pointed out that that was because before he died, we had never been on the radar of social services or needed support, so at that moment they did not know that we needed it. There was no support mechanism to help mum and to discuss the sort of emotional challenges we would face, because nobody was really aware of who we were and what we needed. In a lot of ways, it is exactly the same today. The organisations and charities are there and they want to help, but unless someone is on the radar of social services, those organisations and charities have no way of knowing who needs help, where they are and how to contact them. It is very difficult for families in distress to figure out exactly where to go and how.”

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29. “When my own daughter was eight, and then again when she was 13, I struggled with watching her with her dad, realising—probably for the first time—exactly what my sisters had lost and had been through, and what my mother had dealt with. Then—irony of ironies—when my daughter was the same age as I had been, almost to the day, her father died of a sudden, unpredicted heart attack. I saw that she was not quite an adult, and realised that neither had I been. In helping her cope, I saw yet another aspect of our family’s dynamic and challenges from a new perspective. The moment when it came home to me that something had to be done about this on a wider scale was when I talked to my youngest sister—the one who had been eight when dad died. She asked me if I remembered that we had not had any support from any organisations—from anyone.”

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30. “This is an issue that affects this country on many levels: the human, the personal, the social and the economic. I will come to the economic issue later. First, I will take a moment to explain how I came to this point and why this issue matters so much to me, and why I understand how it matters to others. My dad was just 44 when he collapsed one Saturday morning just before Christmas and died. It was a heart attack. Without any warning, our comfortable, happy, working-class family was plunged into uncertainty. My sisters were eight and 13. Having turned 20 just the week before, I thought I was an adult; it was only years later that I came to appreciate the impact it had on me, and, indeed, on all of us. I had instantly become not just the second adult in the household, but, in reality, the second parent.”

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31. “I beg to move, That this House has considered Government support for bereaved children. First, I thank the Backbench Business Committee and all those who supported my application for the debate, not just on my behalf because we have the opportunity to discuss this issue, but for many thousands of children and young people in this country who feel that their voices are not heard, that they are not being listened to, and that we are not hearing what help they need in what, for some, will be the darkest times they ever experience. I am grateful to this Government because, since they came to power, they have shown some appreciation of the problem—more than their predecessor—which is reflected in the fact that their strategy for young people mentions the need for support. However, there is so much more that needs to be done.”

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32. “If any children who are grieving are watching, they will hopefully think that we have taken a first step in listening to what they have been telling us and are moving towards what they need to support them. Question put and agreed to. Resolved , That this House has considered Government support for bereaved children.”

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33. “I thank everyone who has taken part in the debate and spoken so movingly and powerfully about their own experiences and the experiences of those they have spoken to. I also thank the Minister for laying out the steps that the Government are already taking to move towards the better understanding and support that we have all talked about. If I may say so, I think the shadow Secretary of State for Education, the right hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott), summed the debate up best. It is on occasions like this, when there are no party divisions and we talk to one another as individuals about a problem that affects us all and the people we know and represent, that we see the best of this House.”

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34. “Many of my constituents work in the Leonardo factory, which the Secretary of State mentioned. They contribute hugely to this economy, but they are concerned about the contradiction between what the UK Government say and what the Scottish Government say about defence spending. Can he detail exactly how the Government will support them going forward?”

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35. “The hon. Gentleman makes a good point in this important debate. Does he agree that there is an overwhelming level of concern among constituents across the country about the restrictions on international aid organisations such as Christian Aid? There is a genuine concern that after the war, people will still suffer because of restricted access.”

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36. “I tire sometimes of the hon. Member’s party in Scotland making this fuss about us not wanting to rejoin. If he looks back, he will see that the Liberal Democrats were the ones who desperately wanted not to leave. We campaigned for a second referendum. We want to create a new customs union. We desperately want to be closer to Europe, so, please, will the hon. Member kindly give the correct picture of the Liberal Democrat position?”

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37. “The hon. Gentleman is making a very important point. What concerns me deeply in this matter is the fact that my constituents and members of the public are increasingly concerned that what they see is the tendrils—as the hon. Gentleman referred to—reaching into government through this debate. In the handling of these papers and the release of information, we must at all times be aware of the reputational impact not just on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor or Lord Mandelson but on us in this place, as well as on previous and subsequent Governments and Parliaments. Would he agree?”

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38. “I am a former journalist and member of the NUJ, and I cannot sufficiently express my anger at hearing that a member of my former profession was investigated in this way in an attempt to intimidate them. The Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister has made great play of the fact that it was not the Government but Labour Together that investigated them, but in the mind of the public the two are now linked. Do the Government not need to take urgent action to distance themselves from this organisation, cut off links and make sure that there is some transparency about what exactly went on?”

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39. “This is the second statement or urgent question in a row that we have had about ethics, and where the tentacles of various organisations or individuals go within Government. Does the Minister accept that we need a statutory inquiry that looks closely at the links and interference of outside bodies in Government, and in the operation of government?”

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40. “We begin with a Select Committee statement. Mr Alistair Carmichael will speak on the publication of the fifth report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, HC 1661, “UK-EU agritrade: making an SPS agreement work”, for up to 10 minutes, during which no interventions may be taken. At the conclusion of his statement, I will call Members to put questions on the subject of it, and I will call Mr Alistair Carmichael to respond to those in turn. Questions should be brief, and Members may ask only one question each. I call Mr Alistair Carmichael, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.”

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41. “I thank the Minister for the measures she has outlined. In Edinburgh West this is a significant problem, and it seems to be a problem across the city. Young people, some of them graduates, cannot access driving tests, and then they cannot get jobs because they do not have a driving licence. They are facing long wait times and then sit repeated tests, which has an economic impact on them. Will the Department consider how it can support people who are facing economic impacts because of long wait times?”

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42. “I thank the Minister for his assurances today that these reports and publications will come forward as soon as possible. As I am sure he can pick up from the tenor of the House, many of us are concerned about public confidence in this place—in us—being undermined. Every day that we do not have the reports, there is more speculation and more doubt is heaped on all of us and on the Government. The Government need to be stronger. Will the Minister commit to keeping us up to date regularly and to giving us a date, as soon as he can, for when the public can expect to see these papers published?”

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43. “I cannot express how relieved the nearly 200 people who wrote to me were that another way might become possible for them. Some just wanted to thank me, as if no one had been thinking of them until that moment. Some laid out their CVs to prove they would be worthy of applying. Some told me they were visiting London and going to the US embassy to try to find more information. It was genuinely upsetting to tell those people that they could not apply, and that this is only an idea at the moment. There was such strength of feeling. For me, there was also the guilt that this is not entirely altruistic, because I firmly believe that those people have something vital that we need in our economy and that could be a benefit to our country.”

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44. “This time, part of the shock comes from the fact that that email is not from someone in a third-world country or a warzone, but from a citizen of the United States who is living in the United States. In April last year, I put a proposal to my Scottish party conference to offer skilled US workers a visa route to enable them to live and work in the United Kingdom. The proposal was accepted and became party policy, and that news—again, somewhat surprisingly—made it across the Atlantic. I was then inundated with messages from those in America who no longer wished to live under a Trump presidency. They wanted to feel safe and to contribute to a country much more in line with their values than the country they were born into increasingly is. Those people felt that a lifeline had been offered.”

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45. “I beg to move, That this House has considered the potential merits of fast-track visas for skilled US citizens. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. I would like to share an email I recently received: “All I’m asking for is a direction to march in, as I am in fact a refugee seeking asylum from a tyrannical, fascist administration which is utterly destroying the nation I once loved and protected. The feeling of turning my back on the democracy I swore an oath to defend feels much more as though I’m ending a long relationship with someone I still love, but am unable to live with anymore. America has broken our hearts and reconciliation is more fantastic than a Rudyard Kipling book.” I was elected eight years ago, but sometimes I am still taken aback by a reaction to something we say or do in this place.”

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46. “I completely agree. We need a system that allows people to come here—not just from the United States, but more generally. People in the United States have the skills we need in the industries that so much of our economy will be dependent on: artificial intelligence, cancer research, pharmacology, science and the growing space sector. In Edinburgh, we are working hard to create that sort of environment, so I completely agree.”

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47. “For me, it is also about creating a positive case for immigration; it is about looking up and out, and saying that for our country to be successful, we might need to encourage people to travel here from beyond our shores. That is not because I am doing this country down, but because I believe in our future and I know that that is the reality of the current situation. We are better when we work together and learn from our different experiences. Why not offer sanctuary to those who want to flee, if they can make our country a better, more prosperous place for our people in the process? As I said, I am a solutions person. For many, the American dream is now a nightmare, but we could turn that around and offer them a fresh dream.”

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48. “The second point was our skills shortage, and the way this Government are getting immigration under control: it will be much more difficult for people to come and stay here, to make their lives here and to feel confident, as the hon. Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) mentioned. They want to contribute to our economy, our public services and so many important sectors: space, education, oncology and science. So I thought, “Here’s an opportunity.” Those who know me would say that I am a solutions person, and I saw an opportunity. It is about not just saying there is a problem, but actually coming up with an idea that is beneficial to those people and to us—to both sides of the pond.”

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49. “People have told me that they fear for their family’s safety and for their children. We have to look at why this is happening, and how we can help people who are living in fear. The idea of fast-track visas was born of two issues. The first was the election of a President who does not represent my values or the values of so many in this place, and the consequences of that election for his own people. We have all seen the news and seen the unnecessary loss. For so many in the US, it is no longer the land of the free. According to official figures, there were more than 1,000 anti-LGBTQ incidents across 47 states and Washington DC in the past year—a 5% increase from the 984 incidents in 2024. Over half of those targeted transgender and non-conforming people specifically.”

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50. “We can only be the best representatives we can be if we listen, and I want to highlight something I was told by someone who wrote to me in this country. Speaking of their trans partner, they said: “I have to say, I’m glad someone is speaking up about this. I see the genuine fear and anxiety he has about being sent back to the States. He told me recently that he has his suicide plan all ready and goodbye letters to family already written, as he’s ‘never going back’.” It terrifies me that people should be so afraid of going back to the world’s largest democracy because of what it has become. That person went on to say: “Thank you for maybe finding a solution that saves US LBGTQI+ lives in our current political upheaval. They and any non-white male here are in terrible danger.” That came from someone from the United States.”

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