Speeches by Blackman.

“I am Kirsty Blackman, the MP for Aberdeen North. I am currently the SNP Chief Whip. I was on the Procedure Committee for a reasonable period of time in previous Parliaments, including over the time of covid, when we did a huge amount of work on call lists.”

“I was not Chief Whip at the time. I can’t tell you. I can tell you that they were flexible about proxy votes, for example, and did allow her to speak in the Chamber, after some significant negotiations, as well as to be on a proxy vote, but I don’t think it was easy to get that accommodation. Being in the Chamber for a…”

“I am in favour of the idea of published call lists. I am agnostic about exactly how they are published. As long as the Whips Offices have access to them, that would suit me, but as a Whip you would expect me to say that. Why am I in favour of a call list? We often have oversubscribed debates in which people do not get …”

“One of my constituents was domestically abused by someone on a dependant visa. She has been trying to obtain information from UK Visas and Immigration about whether that person is still in the United Kingdom, or still has a visa. Would the Minister consider a measure similar to Clare’s law, so that people have the righ…”

“Especially because of the size of our party right now and the fact that we don’t always get called in all of the debates, I think it is the case that people think, “I’ve got the choice. Will I be home for my constituents and my kids, and to care for my mother on that Thursday, or will I put in for that debate? If I put…”

“I am Kirsty Blackman, the MP for Aberdeen North. I am currently the SNP Chief Whip. I was on the Procedure Committee for a reasonable period of time in previous Parliaments, including over the time of covid, when we did a huge amount of work on call lists.”

“The pandemic was very, very messy in so many ways, for so many people. The Procedure Committee met a ridiculous amount during the pandemic; we met multiple times a week to try to sort out what was going to happen. A huge number of ad hoc decisions were made about things that had to be put in place incredibly quickly an…”

“I am still not exactly clear why the Minister disagrees with Lords amendment 84. I understand that he is saying that DWP agents will look at EVM information and everything else, but what happens in circumstances when they have only EVM and not much else by way of information? Is he unable to agree with Lords amendment …”

“I would not dare say such a thing. I think it depends on the debate and on the different calls on time for that debate. For example, in the Black History Month debate last week, we had a significant number of people speaking, from all different backgrounds, and it was brilliant. Whips are generally quite good at recogn…”

“I was not Chief Whip at the time. I can’t tell you. I can tell you that they were flexible about proxy votes, for example, and did allow her to speak in the Chamber, after some significant negotiations, as well as to be on a proxy vote, but I don’t think it was easy to get that accommodation. Being in the Chamber for a…”

“That would potentially be helpful. Generally, the Government Chief Whip takes responsibility for those parties beyond the fourth party. For example, the SNP do our own accommodation, whereas Government Whips do it for Plaid Cymru and the Greens. Quite often, I will go to the Chair to ask questions on behalf of the Gree…”

“No, thank you. What we should be doing in the Budget and in the child poverty strategy is talking about how the welfare system should support people and about how the welfare system fails to support people. I wish the Minister for Social Security and Disability well in his work co-producing his report, but the welfare …”

“It is interesting to hear what is being put forward, considering that this lot on the Conservative Benches created the welfare system that we currently have, and that lot on the Labour Benches are keeping it going. The reality is that the mini-Budget that massively changed house prices and meant mortgage interest rates…”

“Every single one of us has been criticising Government policy, not criticising Petrofac, the expertise and workers at Petrofac, or any of the workers in our oil and gas industry. The Minister says that he has been spending time in Aberdeen. Does he have any idea how it feels to be in Aberdeen just now, with another ham…”

“I could not agree more. People have had these racist thoughts and have kept quiet about them, but they are now emboldened to say them out loud because of people like the Reform MPs, and because of the racist narratives being brought forward. No one should be looking to chase policies such as mass deportation. None of u…”

“I was pleased to hear the hon. Member highlight some good practice. As a parent, you get slightly obsessive about your children’s health and tend to google what is going on with them. The NHS website—nhs.uk—has improved monumentally over the years. For instance, when it comes to rashes it says, “Rashes will present dif…”

“I absolutely agree. I have met the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers. Unfortunately, I did not realise it was having its conference next week, but I thank the hon. Member for letting me know. It is a fabulous organisation. There continues to be a very tough glass ceiling in engineering. We are getting…”

“It is quite scary to follow the hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) and the right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), who are both formidable advocates against injustice. I have done several debates with the hon. Member for Brent East, and I have so much respect for how she speaks to the…”

“I appreciate that the draft will be published in this Session, but when the Minister has more information on the timeline for its publication—before or, as is more likely, after Christmas, for example—will she update the House so that we can get ready to scrutinise it and assist with her work, which we very much suppor…”

“Does the Minister agree that not only do we need to be not racist, but we need to be anti-racist, in order to tackle the situation in society right now?”