Speeches by McEvoy.

“Will the shadow Minister give way?”

“I wholeheartedly welcome the Chancellor’s intervention at a time when the cost of living is increasingly putting pressure on working families in Darlington. This is a proper Labour intervention from a proper Labour Chancellor, and representation matters in this House. As I look around the Chamber, I can see Stoke and t…”

“The message from this Dispatch Box is clear: apprenticeships, apprenticeships, apprenticeships. This Government will meet the challenges that we face today with fantastic careers for the next generation, so thank you. SMEs in Darlington are huge engines of growth across the country. Many of the business owners came up …”

“I put on record my personal thanks to the Minister for the support that he has given to many Members of this House, including newly elected Members like me, and I welcome a newly elected female Member, the hon. Member for Gorton and Denton (Hannah Spencer), to the House today. Will the Minister elaborate on the work of…”

“The Minister is making a brilliant speech that lots of us will be feeling very emotional about. Does she agree with me and Members across the House that although increasing the minimum wage is really important, as it disproportionately affects female workers, we also need to restructure how we value women’s work and th…”

“I would like to put on the record that, despite testimony to the contrary, it is Darlington’s postal workers who are the best in the country. They deliver their service to the best of their abilities, and they also provide a social service; their visit is often the only one that residents get. I want to draw the Minist…”

“I am interested in the idea of licensing functionalities and new developments before they come into children’s lives, which is not happening at the moment—at the moment it is happening after they have been used for a long time. We are age-analysing and risk-assessing them retrospectively, which seems very backwards to …”

“I would like to talk to the social media element of the Lords amendments. The argument for stronger protections for children online has been won, not least because of the appalling harms that have come to so many children because of the lack of proper, functioning legislation. I will use my time, which is limited, on t…”

“I thank the Minister for all his work on this ever-changing situation. The Samuels and their two children, who are constituents of mine, are in Dubai at the moment. They are not able to get proper advice from the airlines about the options available to them. Will the Minister elaborate on the work he has been doing wit…”

“As the Secretary of State knows, Darlington Memorial hospital is part of the County Durham and Darlington NHS foundation trust, which has recently been marred by the scandal of over-operation in breast services. We know that many women came to harm as a result of those failures, but we are yet to find out how many and …”

“I wanted to ask the hon. Lady about the register and the ranking of age-appropriateness for content. We have sat opposite each other on many occasions discussing this matter. I have grave concerns about who will register those individual self-published bits of content and who will manage it and pay for it, and how it w…”

“The Minister is giving a brilliant speech to sum up this important debate. Will the work she mentions consider the link between the need for more speech and language therapy for early years and screen time pre-school?”

“My hon. Friend—my actual friend—is giving a brilliant speech. I pay tribute to him: he is a brilliant advocate for our generation of parents and also a wonderful dad. Does he agree that parents today are in desperate need of such guidance? I recently met Jonathan Haidt, the author of “The Anxious Generation”, and I ask…”

“As I said, my hon. Friend is giving a brilliant speech. Does he share my concern that relying solely on parental intervention in relation to this huge swathe of technological advances is not enough? We do not want children to start hiding things from their parents; we want to ensure that they are not exposed to it in t…”

“My hon. Friend is eloquently making a point about the funding given to the police to eradicate e-bike crime. Does he agree that we would be in a better position if we had more bobbies on bikes? Perhaps the Minister will talk about that in her speech.”

“If the hon. Member is paying £6 for a coffee, he should come to Darlington where it definitely is not £6. We also have the best plaices for fish and chips, with Yarm Road Fish and Chips and Cockerton Fisheries both winning awards. Please do consider a visit to Darlington to try some really pukka fish and chips.”

“My hon. Friend is making a great speech, outlining the need for more youth services. In Darlington, I have called for the council to apply a public spaces protection order, which would allow them to remove balaclava-wearing people who commit anti-social behaviour. We are seeing an escalation in such activity from young…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. The argument for urgent and robust regulation to protect girls online has been won, thanks in no small part to the grit and resilience of survivors who have spoken out, and of the Minister herself, who is a formidable force in this area. I began campaigning…”

“Does the hon. Member have any observations on the fact that technology has always outstripped legislation, and that this is actually about accountability and the enforcement of regulation?”

“My problem with the hon. Lady’s argument is that we have constantly said that our legislation is lagging behind technological advances, but the proposed solution is to name a number of platforms where there is evidence of exploitation, crime and damage. I agree that we need to do that, but is it not better to make ever…”