Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Highgate) (Lab)]

6. What steps she is taking to help end discrimination against ethnic minority people.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

14. What steps she is taking to help end discrimination against ethnic minority people.

[The Minister for Equalities (Seema Malhotra)]

This Government are clear that someone’s race or ethnicity should never be a barrier to success. As set out in the King’s Speech last July, we are committed to introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers; those measures will be part of the draft equality in race and disability Bill. Yesterday we published a consultation on those proposals, and announced that we have established a new race equality engagement group, which will partner with ethnic minority communities, stakeholders and delivery partners to help shape the Government’s work on race equality. I am delighted that Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon has agreed to chair that group.

--- Later in debate ---

[Seema Malhotra]

Fair and equal treatment at work is a right, not a privilege. Companies like Deloitte, which I visited recently, are reporting voluntarily on their ethnicity pay gaps, and I have attended roundtables chaired by organisations such as Change the Race Ratio and ShareAction, which promote the benefits of ethnicity pay gap reporting. There has been progress; last week, the Parker review showed that there is an increasing number of ethnic minority board members in our FTSE companies. I agree with my hon. Friend that pay gap reporting can help employers to identify and remove barriers to progression for their workforces, and unleash talent from all our communities, thereby supporting economic growth, and I thank her for her work on this.

[Mohammad Yasin]

I was pleased to see the Government’s announcement of the newly established race equality engagement group, chaired by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, a tireless campaigner against discrimination for many decades. What steps are the Government taking to recognise caste-based discrimination in law? Will that issue be the focus of the group’s work?

[Seema Malhotra]

My hon. Friend references the race equality engagement group, which we announced yesterday. The group will strengthen the Government’s links with ethnic minority communities, enabling effective two-way dialogue on the Government’s work to tackle race equalities, and engaging on all issues. We are considering our position on caste discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, and we will update the House in due course.

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[The Prime Minister]

We do have a proportional tax system, and we have raised tax on the wealthiest under this Government. The hon. Lady’s advice would count for a bit more if her party’s manifesto had not been a recipe for £80 billion of extra borrowing, which would have done exactly what Liz Truss did to the economy—that would not help any of the people she is claiming to support.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Q6. I welcome the Government’s ambitious growth plans for the Oxford-Cambridge arc, which promise to reverse years of decline and transform the eastern region by driving prosperity, creating jobs and delivering much-needed housing. Does the Prime Minister agree that the crowning achievement of these plans would be the establishment of a world-class theme park in Bedford borough, which would transform our local economy, create thousands of jobs and opportunities, and elevate Bedford as a national hub for leisure and tourism?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this important project, which we are working on. It is vital that we unleash the potential of the Oxford-Cambridge corridor—and, of course, Bedford—by generating growth, jobs and opportunities. We are doing that by speeding up the delivery of new infrastructure projects, slashing red tape and getting Britain building.

Anniversary of 7 October Attacks: Middle East

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Monday 7th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

No, there has been no stepping back of support for Israel. We have been absolutely robust in that support. I have expressed it many times in different places, including to the Prime Minister of Israel. We will continue to support Israel and we will continue to support Israel’s right to defend herself. The House is at its best when it speaks with once voice.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

It has been a year of profound suffering, darkness and trauma. Tens of thousands of innocent people have been killed and displaced, yet the world has learned nothing. The prospect of a two-state solution is a distant dream and the odds on all-out war in the middle east are growing by the day. The unimaginable devastation has to stop; the only hope is a diplomatic solution. Will the Prime Minister assure me that the Government are doing everything in their power to bring about an immediate and permanent ceasefire across the region?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, and we are not doing it alone. We are working with our allies in relation to it— last week, I spoke to G7 allies about it, and we speak constantly to the US about it—because we need to de-escalate across the region. We have seen escalation in recent days and weeks, and all sides need to pull back from the brink.