Speeches by McEvoy.

“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…”

“We on the Labour Benches are from the north and fight for the north, and this Labour Government will deliver the economic justice that we deserve in the north. As the Secretary of State will agree, I am sure, Darlington is the home of the railways, with our proud industrial history of British rail manufacturing. Will s…”

“I welcome the Secretary of State’s swift action—all power to her. Long before this Grok app was invented, I met a father whose daughter had taken her own life after an overly sexualised fake image was circulated of her at school. That is the impact of these unregulated actions by anonymous people. Will the Secretary of…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the really interesting and informed speech he is giving—he is giving it quickly, so I will be quick with my intervention. Does he agree that just as play is essential in hospitals, it is also really important for parents? Therapeutic play can have a large impact on post-natal depression and p…”

“Q4. Merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker, and all your fantastic staff. The year 2025 has been momentous for Darlington—Britain’s best town—but there is much more to do. I met a lovely woman when I was out door-knocking recently, who works 12-hour night shifts at a care home in the town. Her colleagues are on minimum wag…”

“Earlier this year, a man was convicted by a jury of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13. This vile perpetrator was given a suspended sentence, with his mental health cited as the reason. He was spared prison and, crucially, his mental health had no impact on his culpability for this horrible crime. My constit…”

“My hon. Friend is making a clear and coherent speech. I surveyed 1,000 young people in my constituency, and the forum leads of my online safety forum said that they had found graphic and disturbing content, which they had never searched for, regularly fed to them through the algorithms. Does the hon. Member agree that …”

“The Government launched the youth strategy last week, the first in over two decades. It was on the back of stark research that found that one in four children growing up today do not have a trusted adult they can reach out to. Does the hon. Lady agree that functioning AI could be put to good use in the NHS? It could su…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for giving way and for being so generous with his time. Can we also pass on to the Minister that, going forward, there is a possibility to brand bots? That would require the Online Safety Act to be amended to make sure that any profile that is a bot—generated by AI—is explicitly marketed as such,…”

“I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Member that the child maintenance system needs reforming. Does he agree that, in 2010, it was wrong of the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition to introduce a £50 access fee for people who were trying to get the money that the absent parent of their child was refusing to pay? Was that…”

“Does the hon. Member therefore agree on the point in this Budget around investing £16 million in a cutting-edge science, technology, engineering and maths centre in my constituency to enable us to repair the post-Conservative scarring that we felt as a community, as we saw the hollowing out of our manufacturing sector?”

“I have raised many times in this Chamber the inequality of paternity rights when it comes to unfair dismissal. Addressing that would not cost the taxpayer or businesses anything, because protection is already in place for those who take shared parental leave, maternity leave and adoption leave. Will the Minister reflec…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for giving way in a crucial part of her speech. In the work that she is doing, I implore her to remember my constituent, whose sister Rita Roberts was brutally murdered in 1992 and not formally identified until 2023. Rita has still not had justice, as she was murdered abroad, and her family are d…”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“St John’s church in Darlington, an iconic church that makes up the skyline of our great town, has recently been put up for sale. Will the Commissioner meet me to discuss exactly what criteria the community needs to meet to ensure that we can repurpose the church as a building of social value?”

“The system facing children with additional needs and their parents is badly broken. I have heard truly horrific stories of deep failures of duty to vulnerable children. Many hon. Members have covered the same points, so I will use my limited time to outline the reforms that parents at my Darlington SEND surgeries want,…”

“I welcome the Leader of the House to his new role and hope to see him being as generous with Government time as he was with his own time in his previous role. As he knows well, this month our country will celebrate 200 years since the world’s first passenger railway journey took place on the Stockton to Darlington rail…”

“In terms of the consumers today, if people were thinking about buying a car, do we think that this is done and dusted, and that it is a safe market now for people, or is there something that you would advise consumers to do today to make sure that they do not fall foul of this again?”

“Are there any big player firms that you think are going to be the majority of claims, or is it evenly spread? What are we talking about, just for the consumer’s benefit, if they know that they had an agreement with one of the firms that happens to be particularly affected by this?”

“Sorry if I have missed this already, but how many firms do you think are going to have to run a scheme such as this in this country?”