Speeches by Ballinger.

“Professor Innes, we talked earlier about the UK’s response. Can you share some reflections on how effective our sanctions have been against RT and other agencies? How well do you think the Online Safety Act might prepare us for this information space?”

“I welcome the increased number of British officers now working with Europol. Will the Minister tell me more about how we will work with our European partners to tackle transactional crimes such as people smuggling and drug trafficking?”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention, and I wholeheartedly agree. Many European countries, as well as Australia, have put forward much stronger restrictions on gambling advertising, and it is very important for the protection of our children that we follow suit. It is also the same on social media: on X—formerly…”

“I am delighted that the right hon. Member raises this important point, and I agree with him wholeheartedly; I will come on to the levy in a moment. The public, too, are concerned about gambling advertising, with opinion polls consistently showing most people in the UK want a clampdown. As we have heard, we fall well be…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend and will come on to the statutory levy in a moment. It is particularly important that that fund is used not just for treatment, but for prevention; I will talk a little bit about that as I get through my speech. Last year, the Gordon Moody charity received 12,000 applications for its six-wee…”

“I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend that a population approach is appropriate in this case, particularly considering the number of people that are harmed and the NHS’s expertise in this area. As a country we are experiencing record levels of harm caused by gambling. The most recent statistics from the Gambling C…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered gambling harms. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner—your premier chairmanship, I might add. I want to begin this debate by sharing a heartbreaking story about a young man, who I will call Ben. Tragically, last year, Ben took his own life at the age …”

“Yes, I agree that it is important that prevention should work across the piece, but I think it is more important to reduce the ubiquity of advertising that our young people are exposed to. They do not need to learn too young about gambling, and prevention should take that into account. As I said, the changes to the lev…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention and I support her call. It is very concerning that those sites are concentrated around the most deprived areas in our society—arguably, the areas that need greater investment rather than money being extracted from their communities. The 2005 Act is an analogue law in a digita…”

“I start this winding-up speech by paying tribute to Liz and Charles from Gambling with Lives, who have done so much to support measures to protect people who are suffering from gambling harms, and have worked with so many Members across the House on this campaign for so many years. I thank them. Turning to the points r…”

“That is a concern. We might need another debate to talk about the effect of online games on children. I welcome the Minister’s comments and thank her for the work she has been doing on this issue, alongside the Minister for Gambling. More needs to be done. We need a stronger push on gambling marketing, sponsorship— Mot…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend that gambling companies are often preying on the most vulnerable in our society; those with the least and the most to lose. I wholeheartedly agree that stronger regulation is needed, and I will talk about that somewhat as I go. Children and young people are particularly at risk. Just last we…”

“I agree that the time to act is now—we need stronger regulations and stronger presence of the health system in our response.”

“I agree that balance is important, but the situations that hon. Members have described in this debate show that balance is not there at the moment. No one is suggesting banning traditional forms of gambling such as bookmakers, horseracing, lotteries and so on. However, pernicious advertising and harmful online gambling…”

“Freya, you said that it was very difficult to find any examples of sanction breaches, and the evidence of only one criminal sanction in the last year shows that they are hard to find. You also said that the system is very fragmented, with many different actors in it. You gave a good example of why we need a review, but…”

“Trump has famously been talking about introducing new sanctions on Russia as a way to force Putin to the negotiating table. I wondered whether Tom or others had any reflections on what those new sanctions might be, or how effective they might be.”

“I have one more question around deterrence. You mentioned that there are many cases that HMRC settles that are not made public. Why is that? Surely the Government would be incentivised to make these cases public to act as a deterrent. I do not understand it.”

“As we all know, the last Government were far too quick to write off people who wanted to work but who had health conditions or were suffering with disabilities. Many people in Halesowen tell me that they want to work, and with the right help and support, they can. This will also bring huge physical and mental health be…”

“18. What steps she is taking to support people with disabilities and long-term health conditions into work.”

“Does the hon. Member agree that the tobacco market’s estimates are not unbiased? It has form in exaggerating the scale of the illicit tobacco market in the UK.”