Oral Answers to Questions

Gregor Poynton Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

From that question, I do not think you would know who had been in government for the past 14 years, Mr Speaker. The Conservatives had ample opportunity to clarify the position. The ruling of the Supreme Court was that Labour’s Equality Act 2010 was the basis for its judgment confirming that biological sex should be the basis for provision of single-sex services. Alongside that, the Court was also clear that everyone in our country deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and that trans people continue to receive protection in law. The Conservatives published guidance, in draft form, a matter of months of before the general election. It is right that we take this issue seriously and get it right. We do not need this shameless opportunism; this is about children’s wellbeing.

[Gregor Poynton (Livingston) (Lab)]

T2. The exam season is well under way in Scotland, and I think the whole House will join me in wishing pupils in Livingston and across Scotland luck over the coming weeks, and in thanking teachers for preparing during the academic year. Closing the attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils in Scotland was the SNP Government’s “defining mission”, but the latest statistics show that it is increasing year on year, and 1,351 pupils are leaving Scottish schools without any qualifications at all—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We have other Members to get in as well. I call the Secretary of State.