Labour MP for Edinburgh North and Leith
A year ago, my constituent John McNab was stabbed in Leith in the early hours of 2 September 2025, and was tragically pronounced dead near the scene shortly afterwards. John’s mum Lisa has gone to heroic efforts to see bleed kits rolled out across key places, and has campaigned tirelessly, including by bringing the knife angel—a 27-foot structure made of 100,000 knives and blades seized...
I want to pick up on the hon. Lady’s point about healthcare and situations in which women cannot carry a pregnancy. Is she aware of the health risks posed by women carrying embryos that are not their own, and the additional risks to surrogate mothers from being a surrogate?
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. In the years since the passage of the Surrogacy Arrangements Act, the number of babies born as a result of surrogacy has increased and the nature of surrogacy arrangements has evolved. As I look through Hansard it appears that, in spite of that change, surrogacy has seldom been debated in this place. I therefore welcome this...
I agree, and I will come to some of those matters shortly. It is estimated that the international surrogacy industry will be worth more than $200 billion by 2032. The decisions that we take about surrogacy in the UK can help protect vulnerable women and girls in war-torn countries such as Ukraine, as has been mentioned, and low-income countries such as Nigeria from being forced, coerced and...
I welcome the £14 million of funding released this month to create opportunities for young people in my constituency. The money will train them in jobs for construction in net zero sectors. Does my hon. Friend agree that the approach that the Government have taken to empowering and funding local stakeholders to grow local economies should be adopted by the SNP Scottish Government?
I congratulate the right hon. Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne) on coming first in the private Member’s Bill ballot and on promoting this Bill. In the previous Session, my private Member’s Bill was the first to pass through this place and the other place, so I wish the right hon. Gentleman similar success with his very important Bill. Having taken through a private...
I absolutely agree that the Scottish Government must take some action on this matter. In conclusion, I would be keen to see if there are areas where I can work with the right hon. Member for New Forest West to look at changing the law to ensure that babies born through a surrogacy arrangement and the women giving birth to them are no longer forgotten.
Too often, single mothers come to me for help because they are being failed by the Child Maintenance Service. I therefore welcome the Government’s commitment in the tackling child poverty strategy to bring forward legislation to overhaul the CMS. Can the Leader of the House advise me on what progress has been made on that legislation, and may I urge him to ensure that it is brought forward...
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of (a) UNISON’s 2026 NMC member survey on staff satisfaction and (b) its findings relating to (i) senior leadership, (ii) organisational culture and (iii) HR practices.
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on increasing skills in the net zero sector through the Local Growth Fund.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help increase skills in low carbon sectors in Edinburgh.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the membership is of the Adult Services Website Working Group.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the agenda, minutes and any other meeting papers of the Adult Services Website Working Group for each year it has operated.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of trends in levels of women who are being advertised for prostitution on websites advertising prostitution in the UK.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the funding her Department has provided to the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme (TOEX) for its referral pathway with Vivastreet for each year it has been in existence.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the funding her Department has provided to law enforcement agencies for the purpose of purchasing software licenses to obtain and analyse data from websites advertising prostitution since 2017.
