Speeches by Brewer.

“I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, and I absolutely agree. Let us be very clear: this generation of women faced discrimination at work—more discrimination than women today, with a larger gender pay gap, more glass ceilings, fewer promotion opportunities, lower pensions and lower savings. This generation of wo…”

“Ahead of International Women’s Day this Saturday, I want to celebrate women’s achievements. I start by congratulating the hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) on securing this important debate today, on being a trailblazer for this Parliament’s diversity, and on speaking so passionately. We have made the most amazi…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under you in the Chair, Ms McVey. Last week, one of my local farmers told me that in the last two years there have been fewer thefts on his farm. I was thrilled and asked him what had led to that—and he told me that everything worth taking had already been stolen. My constituency of North East…”

“Do you think the Government should consider changes to maternity entitlements—for instance, capping the first six weeks of maternity pay to make those necessary reforms more affordable?”

“This question is to everyone: in the long term, should the UK be looking to emulate some of the most generous paternity leave systems in Europe?”

“You would then have a double whammy as well.”

“A lot of the reasons people give for not taking this up are things like affordability and the application process. Do you think that simplifying the eligibility criteria and increasing the rate of statutory pay would contribute to some substantial change? If not, why not?”

“Do you think that families are finding men taking parental leave harder than women taking leave, in part because of a pre-existing gender pay gap?”

“It speaks volumes that you are saying that men are fearful of the same kind of discrimination that women have been experiencing for generations on this topic. I feel like that is exactly the point. Alex, if I can start with you, The Dad Shift says that the evidence is clear that shared parental leave cannot, on its own…”

“I have a very quick follow-up to that. You are absolutely right about that conversation. Is there an element there that to be feminine traditionally—whatever that looks like, with all the stereotypes about caring and so on—is seen by our society as “less than”, and is generally reflected in the pay gap and the discrimi…”

“Does anyone else have any thoughts on that?”

“Does anyone else have anything to add on that?”

“I have one more question, if I may. Alex, I am going to come back to you. You have talked about cultural changes that are needed to help drive uptake in paternal leave. Do you think the changes we have talked about, in terms of ring-fenced leave and a higher rate of pay, would be sufficient to drive those cultural chan…”

“Q15. Basingstoke hospital, which is used by residents of half of my North East Hampshire constituency, has had its rebuild delayed by 15 years, despite no ministerial visit to see the worsening conditions. It is estimated that maintaining the hospital for those 15 will cost almost as much as the rebuild itself. Will th…”

“How good you think the Government are at identifying and mitigating potential risks to community cohesion?”

“Is that the gap that you think could be filled with an office of social cohesion and democratic resilience that you have talked about? Is that where you see that fitting in?”

“Do you think mechanisms such as the national resilience framework, the National Risk Register and Defending Democracy Taskforce can be utilised to help identify and address threats to community cohesion?”

“Lucy, I am going to ask you first, and just for the record declare that we are distantly related. Could you tell me how well supported women are in the industry around maternity and returning to work after having a child?”

“This question is for everyone, and whoever would like to can go first. This might be a really long list. What steps could be taken to improve support for mothers in the music sector? Obviously, the classical sector from your experience, Lucy, but the other sectors as well.”

“I just want to follow up quickly on the language around, “Someone has to be pregnant or die,” and the finality of that. How much did that comparison with the end of a career weigh on you in terms of causing you to feel pressured in coming back to those early concerts soon after your baby was born?”