Christine Jardine
MP for Edinburgh West · Liberal Democrat · United Kingdom
“I associate myself with your comments, Mr Speaker, and those of the Secretary of State. Figures quoted today by the BBC suggest that as many as one in five young people in education may not be attending college courses regularly, so the situation may be even worse than outlined in the Milburn report.”
“I completely agree, and it did the other place no credit at all that they did that. There is something interesting and noticeable about all the experiences we have heard today. I have personal experience, which I admit influences my view. I saw my mother go through a very painful death and wished that she had had the choice.”
“I thank the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood (Lauren Edwards) for reintroducing this Bill and giving us another chance to debate the issue—although part of me regrets, as I will explain, that we have that chance.”
“That hope has been snatched away from them—and not by us. We fulfilled our responsibility to the electorate. We spent hundreds of hours in Committee, in private discussions, in debates and on Report, going over this Bill in minute detail until we could, with confidence, send to the other place the best Bill we thought possible.”
“I do, but they are each one individual, and each of the professional organisations is neutral, and believe me, I envy them on that. We have the responsibility to make the decision. The majority of us have already said that this is the best Bill we can produce.”
“I apologise for the earlier slip, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I echo the comments about the fantastic job done safeguarding the British public by the staff at NATS? Just recently, I visited air traffic control in our control tower at Edinburgh airport, and I saw at first hand the amount of work that goes into keeping the public safe.”
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“It is a pleasure and an honour to follow the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen). I concur with everything she said about the work being done by the Women and Equalities Committee. It is important to recognise where we stand in history, because when we talk about LGBTQ rights, women’s rights or racial equality in this place, we often talk about the journey that we have been on and what we have achieved. Yes, we have achieved a lot, but we face enormous challenges at this moment in our history. Our country’s LGBTQ community need to look at us today and know that we will stand up for them and that we will fight for their rights, including their right simply to be who they are. But we have faced challenges before, and we have overcome them. I think of Scotland, particularly my home city of Glasgow, where I was brought up.”
“Q13. Every 22 minutes, a child in this country loses a parent or a loved one. That is 40,000 children every year facing a trauma that many of us here know can last a lifetime. Charities such as Winston’s Wish do a fantastic job providing support for young people, particularly when schools are closed or there is no one else to turn to. However, at the moment there is no simple way for the children to know about those charities or for the charities to contact the children. Will the Government back my private Member’s Bill this summer to enable that to happen? Will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss how we can ensure that another generation of children will not have to face that trauma?”
“(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero if he will make a statement on the potential security implications of the involvement of Chinese companies, including Mingyang, in energy infrastructure projects.”
“How will Ministers work with the Scottish Government and Cabinet colleagues to ensure that offshore and undersea infrastructure is safe?”
“That is despite the European Union bringing anti-trust cases against China and the Norwegian Government blocking Mingyang from its green infrastructure projects. Will the Minister reassure the House that the Department will follow the same rigorous processes to assess those risks as the previous Government, which ultimately blocked Huawei from the 5G network? This must include an assessment of any opportunities for remote access to the turbines, as the software will normally remain in the control of the manufacturers even once commissioned, leaving them vulnerable to being switched off. We need local control. Will the Department reassure the House that discussions are ongoing with the Scottish Government to ensure that no public money is invested before this risk assessment has taken place?”
“I thank the Minister for her comments and general reassurances, but there are specific concerns at the moment. China can produce what is useful to us for the development of renewables, particularly in the North sea, and we can benefit from those investments. China also needs access to our markets. However, security issues involving companies working in offshore renewable development have become apparent in recent weeks and have been raised numerous times. It has been reported that the Chinese company Mingyang is interested in producing turbines for a new project in the North sea. Around £60 million of Scottish Government funding has been earmarked for a wind turbine factory near Inverness, in addition to a potential £27 million for Orient Cable to provide subsea cables for island communities.”
“T3. The charity that organised the campaign “The Darker Side of Pink” estimates that 31 women lose their battle against metastatic breast cancer every day, which means that more than 20,000 have died since I first raised this matter two years ago during Prime Minister’s Question Time. What will the Government do to increase awareness, understanding, the availability of drugs and screening for women facing this challenge?”
“I welcome the commitment that the Minister has given the House and the determination to show our opposition to Trump’s disgraceful approach, but I am disappointed that she does not see this as the ideal moment to commit to recognising the state of Palestine. What is being done across Government to reassure the communities in this country who have suffered outrageous abuse since 7 October 2023?”
“We welcome the Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls, but a recent report from the National Audit Office makes grim reading, stating that one in 12 women are victims of violence every year and that there were more than 2 million victims in the year up to June 2024. It also suggests while there is a welcome focus on victims, we are not doing enough in terms of prevention. How will the Minister ensure that this mission will focus on education and prevention in schools as well as seeking to support every survivor, and is she speaking to the Scottish Government about co-ordination?”
“Order. Before the hon. Member responds, I remind Members that a lot of people want to get in on this debate, and we need to keep questions much shorter in order to do that.”
“I remind Members to bob if they wish to be called in a debate. To get in all the speakers we have, please try to limit yourselves to three minutes. I call Peter Bedford—he is not here. Jim Shannon, please.”
“We are out of time. The hon. Member indicated at the start that he did not mind. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the value of apprenticeships and National Apprenticeships Week.”
“I will call Charlie Dewhirst to move the motion, and I will then call the Minister to respond. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates.”
“I am sure we all welcome the move to reduce waiting lists and recognise that the women’s health strategy is a 10-year plan. But given the enormous problems highlighted by the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen) and my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers), does the Minister appreciate that, to many women who are having trouble accessing often fragmented gynaecological services, it will seem like a vital facility is about to be lost and that the Government’s promises of “never again” will sound hollow? What will the Government do to reassure all the women who are concerned about this move?”
“Before I call the Minister, I ask him to ensure that we have two minutes at the end for the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) to wind up.”
“Order. I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. I ask them to limit their speeches to around four minutes.”
“Would the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) like to make some remarks? We will then move on to the Front Bench at eight minutes past.”
“I am sure that the Chief Secretary will correct me if I am wrong, but the only three words about Scotland in his statement are “Glasgow city region”. They are welcome, but does he appreciate that while the Scottish Government may have received its biggest settlement, every UK Government statement that has come out of this place since the general election has undermined support in Scotland for this Government? In my city of Edinburgh, we are concerned that every statement on investment in AI and research leaves us out. Down the line, expansion at Heathrow will mean more air traffic over our city, and there is no emissions management plan in place. Will the Chief Secretary reassure my constituents that there is something in this for Edinburgh?”
“The Minister has made a great deal of the position of my party on Heathrow airport. As he is such a fan of our Focus leaflets, I am sure he will know from my own that I have consistently raised airport noise, opposition to the expansion of Heathrow, sustainable aviation fuel and airspace management in this place. How will he make the airspace management plan fit with any forthcoming emissions and capacity management framework? We have yet to hear from the Government about that, but the Liberal Democrats consider it vital to the future sustainability of the air transport industry in this country.”
“4. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for artificial intelligence research and development in the higher education sector.”
“Many of my constituents and local academics have expressed concern about the cancellation last year, by this Government, of what would have been the UK’s only exascale computer, at Edinburgh University. That was not mentioned at all in the AI opportunities action plan. It would have been a major beneficial development in this sector. What discussions is the Secretary of State having with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that this takes place, and can she reassure the public that the benefits of AI will be spread to universities across the UK?”
“Let me echo others in thanking the emergency services and the power companies for the job that they have done over the past few days, certainly in my constituency. We lost power in some areas for a while, and school buildings have been damaged and are being looked at as we speak. I welcome the review that the Minister mentioned, but will he look at safeguards within the emergency alert system? The current system might not be ideal for domestic abuse victims or those suffering from hearing impairments.”
“The Minister talks about the ecosystem and bringing together all the sectors. There is no better example in this country—perhaps in the world—than the Edinburgh international festivals, which bring all the sectors together. Edinburgh is also a heartland of small venues. What will the Government do to help small venues, which have been suffering for five or six years, to cope with the national insurance changes, because they are employers and are being hit by them?”
“I welcome what the Government are saying about the need to address this issue, and it will be reassuring for the very many people who have raised the problem with their MPs. However, are they also going to look at whether there is a wider problem with insulation generally, as has been mentioned, and have they had discussions with the devolved Administrations about schemes in the wider UK?”
“I associate myself with the Secretary of State’s remarks about Denis Law, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing more than once in my previous career. I welcome the Government’s commitment to energy security as well as to green energy and net zero. This week, it has been reported that the Scottish Government could fund up to £60 million to both Mingyang, to build a wind turbine factory in the highlands, and Orient Cable to provide the undersea cables and connections for offshore wind. Given that those are both Chinese-owned companies, have the UK Government and the Secretary of State had any discussions with the Scottish Government to ensure that there are mitigating steps, such as ensuring local control and not using cellular modules, and have the security services been consulted?”
“I echo those who have thanked the Foreign Secretary for the tone that he has taken, and the way in which he has reflected the relief of the whole House that there is at last some hope for the families of the hostages, members of which are here today, and for the population of Gaza. He spoke of the need for a political process to ensure that the deal succeeds, and of the hope that needs to be part of eradicating extremism in the middle east. Does he agree that this is perhaps the appropriate time that he has talked about for holding out hope of a two-state solution, and that now might be the perfect time for the Government to recognise a state of Palestine?”
“We know that more is achieved when we work together. Would it not help if we had better and more accessible transport links for all of Scotland to all of the rest of the United Kingdom?”
“Good transport links are a vital part of people’s ability to maintain connections with family and friends and to get to work without being incredibly frustrated. By delivering infrastructure that works, we can deliver for so many the opportunity of a better quality of life. Infrastructure underpins almost everything about our day-to-day lives, but when talking about investing in cross-border infrastructure specifically, we need to remember that while it benefits the economy and contributes to reducing the impact of climate change, it also represents something more for all of us: the development and the cementing of our Union. Every UK Government, particularly this one, have a responsibility to every corner of the United Kingdom. People’s worlds might be getting smaller, but it is our job in this place to mitigate that.”
“Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael), air travel is a lifeline for people and businesses—although generally only as far as Edinburgh or Glasgow, and that is not good enough. Edinburgh airport is a major employer in my constituency and supports millions of pounds of investment into Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland through business, tourism and hospitality. It has made substantial progress in reducing its carbon emissions. It is continuing to work on increasing the use of sustainable aviation fuel, which benefits passengers flying across Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. That is part of the reason I believe that this is a timely debate. The Union connectivity review showed that there is a desire to travel more within the United Kingdom.”
“LNER’s Scottish routes are also its worst performing, and the TransPennine Express routes between Manchester and Glasgow and Edinburgh had the worst punctuality and most cancellations in the most recent performance period. The Liberal Democrats want to see a new railway agency—a public body that would help to join up the industry from track to train, put commuters first, hold train companies to account and bring in wholesale reform of the broken fare system for all of the United Kingdom. We should invest in research and development to make the UK the world leader in zero-carbon flights, and ensure that more domestic flights use alternative fuels. That is particularly important for communities across the highlands and islands, where, as pointed out by my right hon.”
“It would be much better for them to be able to go directly south to Carlisle, but unfortunately the Government have put on hold the £10 million feasibility study into extending that route because of their capital investment review. The Borders are not alone. The Government believe that putting a halt on infrastructure projects is part of the answer to dealing with the black hole that they never tire of telling us they inherited, and that they use as an excuse for all manner of things. I think they are being short-sighted. It is clear that our infrastructure needs investment. Our trunk roads are lamentable and our railways are little better. Of all the routes, Avanti’s London-Scotland west coast direct route has the highest percentage of trains arriving at their destination between 30 minutes and two hours late.”
“Our railway station, Haymarket, is one of Scotland’s busiest, and next door we have Waverley. We have the ability to travel west, north and south in Scotland, and down both coasts—east and west—to London. If only it were so for the rest of Scotland. Elsewhere does not share our easy access, and we desperately need investment. One of the frustrating things about investment is that the benefits are usually long term and not immediate, but we have only to look at the Borders rail link to see how important and invaluable it can be. Just last month, figures showed that the number of people using the Borders railway increased by more than 30% at some stations between 2023 and 2024. Many of them were coming north, but ultimately they were heading south.”
“It is a pleasure to speak on your first occasion as Chair, Mrs Lewell-Buck; I hope you have enjoyed it. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) for securing this debate. The variation of complaints we have heard shows how serious the issue is, and I sympathise. It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald), because I sympathise: I have spent much of my life travelling up and down the A82, and it has not got better in the five decades that I have been doing it. In fact, it has got worse in so many ways. I will say it quietly: I represent Edinburgh, and we are lucky because the airport in my constituency of Edinburgh West is the busiest in Scotland.”
“Q10. May I associate myself with the remarks of the Liberal Democrat leader and others today? I wish a happy new year to everyone, but 2025 is already proving a challenge for many of my constituents—pensioners, families, small businesses, the hospitality industry, GPs and social care providers, as others have said. They know that the SNP has failed to deliver for Scotland. They hear the Prime Minister when he says that the Conservatives left the economy in a mess, and they know that Governments have to make difficult decisions. But what they are asking me is: when will this Government do something positive for them to overcome the negative impacts that they are facing from the Budget?”
“I have been fortunate in my working life, and in those 60 years since the Equal Pay Act, and in the Equality Act 2010, which made a huge difference. I would like to see this Labour Government take this further and ensure that our country manages to achieve the equality that we have striven for. The hon. Member for Brent East says it is predicted to take another 40 years—I will not be here by then, but I would like to see it.”
“As well as improving that specific area, the Government have to look at improving diversity in the workplace and public life. I want to see large employers monitor and publish data on gender, ethnicity, disability and LGBT+ employment levels, pay gaps and progression, and publish five-year aspirational diversity targets. They should extend the use of name-blind recruitment processes in the public sector and encourage their use in the private sector. That is critical, because that is the first step to ensuring that employees are treated fairly. They have to improve diversity in public appointment by setting ambitious targets and requiring progress reports to Parliament, with explanations when targets are not met. As we have heard, we have to start to see heavy fines when that does not happen.”
“My mother had to give up work when she had me. When she had my sister seven years later, she had gone back to work, and had to give it up again. Then, when she had my youngest sister in 1972, almost 10 years after that equal pay legislation was passed, she still had to give up work—there was no option to go back to work—so it is critical that we address that. It should be a choice. Lack of access to affordable childcare is a key driver of the gender pay gap. Women lose ground when they do not go back to work after they have had children. I gave up a successful career in journalism not long after my daughter was born because it was simply too expensive, and that was in the 1990s. The progress that we had made by 1997, when I made that decision, was very limited. We have more to do.”
“Moving forward, this Government must tackle the specific economic barriers facing women, ethnic minorities, the disabled and LGBT by expanding access to flexible, affordable childcare, doubling statutory maternity pay and, critically, expanding shared parental leave, because— I agree with the hon. Member for Walthamstow about this—there is no point in making it about mothers. It has to be about parents, or we simply emphasise the difference, and keep that going. Flexible, affordable childcare and early years education are critical to our economic infrastructure, and help to close the attainment gap between the wealthy and the poor. They give parents more choice over how to organise their lives and help them to return to work if they want to. Back in 1963, that was not an option that women had.”
“In government, the Liberal Democrats were instrumental in pushing for large employers to be required to report on gender pay gaps in their organisations. That has led to some transparency and thrown light on some very serious issues, including high-profile, controversial revelations, particularly in the media sector, where we have seen massive disparities. That underlines how far we still have to go, particularly in tackling inequalities in terms of ethnicity, disability and LGBT, where pay gaps are still not published—we do need publication of those gaps.”
“I was a toddler— [Int erruption ] —yes, I was a toddler—and now here we are, when I can just see retirement appearing on the horizon, and we are still talking about equal pay for women, but also for ethnicity, disability and LGBT issues. It is sad that it has taken us so long. We have, of course, made progress, but so many of the statistics are frightening—none of them are encouraging reading. According to the Office for National Statistics, the median hourly pay for full-time employees is 7% less for women. It goes up to 13.1% when taken across all hourly paid employees. As the hon. Member for Brent East mentioned, we have, I fear, even more serious issues in terms of both ethnicity and disability, because they have not had the attention over the past 61 years that gender has had. As I say, we have made progress.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I wish you and everybody else a happy new year, and hope that in 2025 we do again make progress in this area. I thank the hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) for securing this debate because, for me and I am sure everybody in this room, closing the gender pay gap—and all the pay gaps—is fundamental to creating a more equal society. We cannot have true freedom and equality of opportunity, quality of life, standard of life or anything in this country if we do not have equality of pay. The hon. Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy) mentioned Barbara Castle, which made me think about the fact that the Equal Pay Act was actually passed in 1963.”
“However, it is sufficient to say that Scotland, which is already under pressure from mismanagement by the SNP, is now facing a far-from-positive impact from the new Westminster Government in which it put its faith.”
“If the predicted percentage of children dropping out of independent education into the state sector is true, the system will be stretched to breaking point. Sadly, introducing the change halfway through the school year is causing issues for many parents. I have already had representations from parents who cannot find places in local schools for the children they have taken out of the independent sector. I would have liked to touch on other issues, including the impact on the whisky industry—I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests—and the farming industry, which was touched on by the hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross).”
“After 17 years of mismanagement under the SNP and 14 years of the Conservatives, our GPs need support and investment, but everywhere we look in Scotland, the impact of this Budget is not positive. Another tax change that will have direct consequences for my city of Edinburgh is the Government’s decision to impose VAT on private school fees. It is not just because I do not support taxing education or reducing the choice of parents that I do not agree with the proposal and see it as negative, but because it will have a real impact on both the state and independent school sectors in Edinburgh. Edinburgh has the highest proportion of independently educated children in Scotland, at between 20% and 30% every year. According to the local Labour authority, 16 schools are expected to reach capacity before the end of this decade.”
“Some 40% of Scots now believe that more small and medium-sized enterprises will close in their communities as a direct result of this Government’s decisions. More than half of Scots believe that prices will have to go up. After the worst cost of living crisis in a decade, that is not what any of them needed. GPs and many social care providers are saying that they do not know how they are going to cope with the tax changes. Private contractors or operators, who will not be eligible for employment allowance, will have to take on those extra costs directly. Within days of the Budget, several GP practices contacted me and estimated that the changes will cost them more than £10,000 extra in the next year.”
“While I welcome the money in the Budget, we have heard repeatedly from the Chancellor and other Ministers —no doubt we will hear it again today—that the Government have had to take tough decisions since coming into office. Many of my constituents in Edinburgh West are beginning to say, “Yes, every Government have to make tough decisions, but did this one have to make these decisions?” Before Christmas I spoke to a number of businesses in Edinburgh West, and many of them were concerned about the negative impact that increases in employer national insurance contributions will have on them. Some are worried that they will have to make cuts to staff; others are trying to avoid putting up prices and passing the tax hikes on to the public. All of them are trying to find ways of making it work, and all of them are struggling.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under you as Chair, Ms Vaz. I congratulate the hon. Member for Livingston (Gregor Poynton) on securing this debate on the impact of the UK Budget on Scotland. I welcome the increase in investment for the NHS and the vital cash boost for Scotland, but with all due respect to the hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens (Dave Doogan), it cannot be underestimated how much we needed it, given the mess and chaos that the SNP Government have created in our public services over the past 17 years. Indeed, they have also created chaos in our ferries, as we heard today that the new Glen Sannox is being removed from service again. I agree with the comments from many Members, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), about the problems that we are facing.”
“Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. Violence against women and girls takes many forms—verbal, physical, emotional, financial—and at all ages, but one of the most insidious forms is online abuse. With technology developing faster than legislation can respond, the ways it is being used, such as deepfakes, are also developing faster than legislation can respond, and the use of generative AI to create fake intimate images leaves many women vulnerable. I know the Minister cares deeply about this, so can she tell us what steps the Government will take to ensure that it is tackled properly? Will she work with Cabinet colleagues to create a new online crime agency to deal with that threat?”
“One of the very first constituents who came to me after I was elected in 2017 was Helen, whose decision on her financial future was taken just before she received the letter, which came late—so it did have an impact on her. It also had an impact on the thousands of WASPI women in my constituency who have contacted me over the past seven and a half years. How does the Secretary of State think that any pensioner in this country, regardless of the triple lock, which was the creation of the Liberal Democrats with the Conservatives, can have faith in a Government who have taken away their winter fuel allowance and now do not respect the injustice done to them in not compensating the WASPI women?”
“We have the Chinese consulate in my Edinburgh West constituency, and I have, on more than one occasion, been personally chastised by the consul for expressing my views about Uyghur Muslims or for speaking up for Hong Kong residents in this country, so it is a serious problem. In fact, I was once filmed by a mysterious drone while speaking at a Hong Kong protest. We need robust action to clamp down on things like the police stations that we have heard exist in this country. The Government say they are seeking closer relationships with China, so how can the Minister reassure us that they will not weaken their stance or robustness against Chinese influence in this country, or on human rights and democracy in Taiwan and Hong Kong? How will they protect us all from China’s insidious approach?”