Oral Answers to Questions

Anneliese Midgley Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The victims of this scandal have suffered unspeakably. I am pleased that at the Budget we set aside £11.8 billion to compensate them for this appalling scandal. I gently point out that the Conservative party was committed, rightly, to the compensation but did not provide a single penny in the column to pay for it. The Infected Blood Compensation Authority has been established and it began to make payments last year, with over £1 billion of interim payments having been made. We remain completely committed to co-operating with the inquiry and acting on its recommendations.

[Anneliese Midgley (Knowsley) (Lab)]

Q11.   Everyone is talking about “Adolescence”, the series by Knowsley’s own Stephen Graham and Christine Tremarco, which highlights online male radicalisation and violence against girls. The creators of the show are calling for screenings in Parliament and schools to spark change. Will the Prime Minister back the campaign to counter toxic misogyny early and give young men the role models that they deserve?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. At home we are watching “Adolescence” with our children—I have a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl. It is a very good drama to watch. The violence carried out by young men, influenced by what they see online, is a real problem. It is abhorrent and we have to tackle it. We are putting in specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force and doing work on 999 calls, but this is also a matter of culture. It is important that, across the whole House, we tackle this emerging and growing problem.