Oral Answers to Questions
Manuela Perteghella Excerpts(1 day, 11 hours ago)
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Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)
Mr Alex Barros-Curtis (Cardiff West) (Lab)
The Minister for Equalities (Olivia Bailey)
Conversion practices are abuse, they cause long-lasting harm, and they have no place in our society. We will bring our comprehensive, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices before the House as soon as possible.
Manuela Perteghella
LGBTQ rights campaigners have warned that the Government’s continued delay on banning conversion practices is dangerous and leaves vulnerable people without protection. Every month of delay leaves people exposed to practices that the Government themselves have said are abusive. Will the Minister now set out a clear timeline and give a firm commitment that the Government will not drag their heels on this any longer?
Olivia Bailey
As I have just said, conversion practices are abusive and we will ban them. All LGBT people deserve to live freely and without fear, shame or discrimination. This legislation is a priority for the Government, as set out in the King’s Speech.
Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)
The Minister for Women and Equalities (Bridget Phillipson)
This Government are reinforcing our commitment to championing the rights of disabled people. This month we celebrate Disability History Month, and we marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities last week. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. We will continue our work to boost opportunities for disabled people, including by developing our plan for disability, which will outline our priorities for removing barriers faced by disabled people.
Manuela Perteghella
Women in rural areas often have to travel long distances to reach a refuge, police station or basic support services. What assessment has the Secretary of State made of the impact that travelling those long distances has on the safety of victims of domestic abuse, and what action is being taken to close the rural support gap?
Bridget Phillipson
I do recognise that challenge. That is why in developing our violence against women and girls strategy we heard from victims in rural areas to understand what more is needed to ensure that they can access the services and support that they need.
Digital ID
Manuela Perteghella Excerpts(3 days, 11 hours ago)
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Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Rebecca Long Bailey (Salford) (Lab)
This is a watershed moment for our country, and not a good one. The argument for digital ID is that it will help tackle illegal working, but sadly the evidence does not stack up. Across Europe, nations with long-standing ID card systems—Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Greece—have not seen reductions in irregular migration as a result of ID cards. In fact, some have larger shadow economies than our own. Estonia, the poster child for digital ID, actually has a bigger underground economy than Britain. Assuming that this new system will somehow suddenly make rogue employers obey the law, when they have ignored the paper checks for some time, is for the birds.
That argument aside, the real fear here is that we will be building an infrastructure that can follow us, link our most sensitive information and expand state control over all our lives. The Minister must understand why people are concerned. This policy does not arrive in a vacuum. It sits alongside a worrying pattern: the accelerated roll-out of facial recognition, attempts to weaken end-to-end encryption, and data laws that strip away privacy protections.
We must remember that Britain has no constitutional right to privacy. Parliament can, in a single vote, grant or remove protections that people in other democracies take for granted. When we think of building a nationwide ID system capable of linking health records, education data, housing history and even information about crimes that people have suffered, we should stop, because once that architecture exists, any future Government could misuse it, and we would have very little power to stop them.
Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)
My constituents in Stratford-on-Avon are deeply concerned as well. Does the hon. Member agree that if millions of people need to rely on a Government-built identity tool to access work and services, the risks of data and privacy breaches and of errors will be considerable?
UK-EU Summit
Manuela Perteghella Excerpts(6 months, 3 weeks ago)
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The Prime Minister
I thank my hon. Friend for her important question. We will work as quickly as we can on that issue, because, whichever way people voted, they did not vote to stop creatives and sportspeople crossing national boundaries to showcase their talent—in whatever way that may be—so we do need to resolve it.
Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)
The impact of the Creative Europe programme between 2014 and 2019 on the UK arts, film, publishing and other creative sectors was hugely beneficial, and not just for practitioners and organisations but for the country as a whole. Will the Government look into the possibility of participating again in this creative programme to further boost the economic potential of our creative industries?
The Prime Minister
We set out yesterday the areas where we had reached agreement. We will now have annual summits, but we will approach that matter on a value-for-money basis.
European Union: UK Membership
Manuela Perteghella Excerpts(8 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I thank the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Paul Davies) for opening this debate and all those who signed the petition.
I will start by declaring an interest: I am a product of the European Union project—or the European Community, as it was called when I came to the UK at the age of 19 as a young student from Italy, just after John Major’s Government signed the Maastricht treaty. I am immensely proud to stand here today to represent my wonderful constituency of Stratford-on-Avon.
I worked as a lecturer for many years. I saw at first hand the importance of collaborative research projects with our colleagues in EU universities, as well as the positive impact of Horizon and of Erasmus+, which is the biggest programme of youth opportunities in the world.
Abtisam Mohamed (Sheffield Central) (Lab)
In Sheffield Central we have two large universities. The UK having left the European Union has had an impact on not only students coming to the UK, but the financial sustainability of universities. Does the hon. Member agree that the Turing and Erasmus schemes do not go far enough? To support our universities with more students from the EU, we should encourage a stronger relationship—better than Turing—perhaps through a youth mobility scheme.
Manuela Perteghella
I fully agree with the hon. Member. Turing is not the same as Erasmus, because it is not reciprocal. That is one of the things that limits the opportunities for our students. Erasmus+ is not just about university exchanges; it is a programme that includes opportunities for our disadvantaged young people. Joining Erasmus+ would allow those young people in disadvantaged areas to have better life opportunities through exchanges, volunteering, training and school links.
Brexit has brought nothing but barriers for my constituents and for people across the United Kingdom. Small businesses, including plant and horticultural businesses, are drowning in red tape and incurring new taxes and expenses. Farmers have been undercut by damaging trade deals and the ending of the sustainable farming incentives that were a key part of the post-Brexit payment scheme that replaced EU subsidies.
Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)
Does my hon. Friend agree that it is not only vets and farmers who are extremely proud that we have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world, but the British public? We should not compromise those farming standards and any trade deals that may occur in the future should not undermine them either.
Manuela Perteghella
Absolutely. The Government need to stand up for our British farmers, and that includes during the negotiation of trade deals—which, by the way, should be brought to Parliament to be fully scrutinised.
Young people have lost opportunities to study, live, travel, work and fall in love—as I myself did many years ago. Our creative industries, once thriving on European collaboration, now face restrictions and uncertainty, with artists, musicians and performers unable to tour their own continent. A priority must be not only to rejoin Erasmus+ but to create a youth mobility scheme, as many Members have discussed today.
We must have a credible roadmap to rebuild trust and ties with our European neighbours. We must start by deepening co-operation on climate, research, security and education, and we must then negotiate a new trade deal that includes a customs union to bring down the barriers holding our economy back. Ultimately, as Liberal Democrats, we want to rejoin the single market and restore the freedoms that our constituents deserve.
However, this is not just about trade; it is about values, opportunities, who we are and the role we choose to play in the world. With Trump and Putin now both a threat to our security, as already mentioned by my hon. Friends and other hon. Members, we must stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends in the European Union. As Europe rises to defend peace and democracy in the free world, the UK must not be a bystander. We must lead from the front, working with our European friends and allies to strengthen our shared economic prosperity and national security.
Infected Blood Compensation Scheme
Manuela Perteghella Excerpts(1 year, 1 month ago)
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Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)
I thank all Members for their moving contributions, especially those who have advocated for constituents impacted by this terrible injustice and shared their stories. I welcome the pledge to deliver this important payment scheme swiftly. However, I urge the Minister to look at the losses of those family members who provided care. In many cases, including that of my constituent Debra, who cared for many years for her husband Barrie, bereaved partners and family carers gave up careers, sacrificing pensions and facing many additional costs. Concerns about the care award have been expressed by organisations such as Tainted Blood, which was mentioned earlier. A just care award must take all those factors into account. Will the Minister ensure fair care costs for the bereaved?