Puberty-suppressing Hormones

Kate Osborne Excerpts

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

It is important, particularly with this group of children and young people, that clinicians ask a range of questions to identify the nature of a child’s needs, and respond appropriately by providing holistic and evidence-based healthcare. That is the best way of turning around the horrendous statistics on the effects of gender dysphoria on children and young people, and it is how we will achieve better, healthier and happier outcomes for that cohort of patients.

[Kate Osborne (Jarrow and Gateshead East) (Lab)]

I wrote to the Secretary of State this morning, before his statement was announced, to highlight that a Council of Europe report notes that gender-affirming hormone therapy for trans minors in the UK is almost impossible to access, and that the total withdrawal of access to healthcare outside of a research trial may breach the

“fundamental ethical principles governing research”.

The restrictions on puberty blockers remove the clinical expertise from medical decision making, which significantly impacts on young trans people and their families, and I am hugely disappointed by the content of the statement. Will he read that Council of Europe report, and will he agree to meet me, as a UK delegate, to discuss it?

[Wes Streeting]

I am certainly happy to continue meeting my hon. Friend on this issue. With great respect to the Council of Europe and the authors of the report that she mentions, I have to take decisions about the welfare, wellbeing and safety of children in this country based on clinical evidence. When our own Commission on Human Medicines says that there is an “unacceptable safety risk” and an unsafe prescribing environment, I have to take that seriously. When one of our country’s leading paediatricians says that there is insufficient evidence about the long-term effects of the use of this particular drug for this particular purpose for this particular cohort of children and young people, I have to take that seriously.

I know there are people who will be deeply disappointed by this decision, including many trans people and their families. Thinking about some of the young people I have met in recent weeks and months, I have taken to heart what they have said, and I know this will be deeply upsetting to them. I do not take that lightly, but to anyone challenging me to do something else, I ask them quite sincerely whether if they were standing in my shoes as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, looking at recommendations from clinicians in our country—including the Commission on Human Medicines—saying that there is insufficient evidence for the use of medication in children and young people for this purpose and an unacceptable safety risk arising from the current prescribing environment, they would really take a different position.

Income Tax (Charge)

Kate Osborne Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Kate Osborne (Jarrow and Gateshead East) (Lab)]

I congratulate all hon. Members making their maiden speeches today, especially my regional colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson).

I am proud that, while making history as the first ever woman to deliver a Budget, our Chancellor honoured a true hero of my constituency: Jarrow’s “Red Ellen” Wilkinson. Ellen was a remarkable politician and trailblazer for women everywhere. It is about time that we had some recognition of women in this place, and I am pleased that the Chancellor has made a start on the artwork, with the fabulous picture of Ellen on the wall in 11 Downing Street. We need many more pictures of women trailblazers across Parliament.

The Budget shows that we are a Government who will work for the people. There is a lot to celebrate, including the largest ever increase in carer’s allowance, closing inheritance tax loopholes, additional funding for further education, increasing the national minimum wage, investing in breakfast clubs, record investment in the NHS, ensuring that former mineworkers get the money that was kept from their pensions, which is hugely important to my constituents, and setting aside funding for the contaminated blood scandal, as well as for the victims of the Horizon scandal, for which I have long campaigned with my constituent Chris Head.

I will continue to push for people to be held to account for their role in the Horizon scandal, and for a speedy resolution so that outstanding claims are paid in full. Nothing should stand in the way of victims finally getting justice. They should not have been left waiting decades by the Conservatives. Someone might think from the contributions of Conservative Members that the last 14 years had never happened, but our public services are at the point of collapse, no youth centres are left, school buildings are crumbling, the NHS is in crisis and the economy was crashed because of the Conservatives’ gross incompetence and deliberate mismanagement, as they put their cronies over the people of this country. Finally, we can move on from 14 years of Conservative destruction of our communities. In this Budget, the poorest households gain the most and the wealthiest pay the most. That shows the difference that a Labour Government can and will make.

Of course, I wish we could have done much more. I wish the Budget had been able to lift the two-child benefit cap. I wish we had been able to right the injustice for women from the Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign. I wish we could have increased the pension credit threshold. I wish we could have invested more in our local authorities. However, let us be very clear: the fact that we cannot do any of that is entirely down to the Conservative party.

As chair of the north-east all-party parliamentary group, I know that transport is one of our most important challenges, alongside employment opportunities and investment. Although I will celebrate the clear wins, I will continue to work with Government Front Benchers to ask for more investment to improve the lives of people in the north-east, particularly my Jarrow and Gateshead East constituents.