Diane Abbott
MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Lab
Questions Asked by This MP
Parliamentary questions and government responses.
Response classifications show how directly each question was answered.
Most Members of this House will be aware that the welfare system can be a nightmare to navigate and does, indeed, need reform, but could we have less of this rhetoric about the Prime Minister’s £5 billion package of disability benefit so-called reform being moral? There is nothing moral about cutting benefits for what may be up to a million people. This is not about morality; this is about the Treasury’s wish to balance the country’s books on the backs of the most vulnerable and poorest people in this society.
Context
The question addresses the Prime Minister's £5 billion package of disability benefit reforms, which is criticized as being detrimental to vulnerable individuals.
The Prime Minister
My right hon. Friend is a passionate advocate on this issue and has been for a long time, and I pay tribute to her for that. However, as she rightly acknowledges, the current system is broken. This is where I disagree with her: I think that one in eight young people not being in education or training—that is a million young people—is a moral issue. All the evidence suggests that someone in that situation at that stage of their life will find it incredibly difficult ever to get out of that level of dependency. That cuts across the opportunity and aspiration that are the root of my values, and Labour values, about how we take working people forward. I do see it as a moral issue and I will not turn away from that. I am genuinely shocked that a million young people are in that position, and I am not prepared to shrug my shoulders and walk past it.
Session: PMQs
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The WASPI women fought one of the most sustained and passionate campaigns for justice that I can remember, year in year out, and we did promise them that we would give them justice. I understand the issue of the cost, but does the Prime Minister really understand how let down they feel today?
Context
The MP highlighted the fight for justice by WASPI women.
Keir Starmer
I do understand the concern; of course I do. I have set out the history, but the research findings make it clear that 90% of those impacted did know about the change. In those circumstances the taxpayer simply cannot afford the burden of tens of billions of pounds of compensation, but, as I have said, I do understand the concern.
Assessment
The MP asked for an understanding of how disappointed WASPI women felt and why promises were broken, but the answerer only partially addressed this by acknowledging research findings on knowledge about changes.
Cannot Afford
Session: PMQs
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Will she give an assurance that in the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, we will give every possible help and support to the people of Jamaica?
Yvette Cooper
We have very strong links between our communities—between the people of Jamaica and the people of Britain. We discussed this matter in the crisis centre this morning, including what we might be able to deploy on request from the Jamaican Government. We stand ready to help and respond.
Session: Topical Questions
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My hon. Friend will be aware that there is a lot of interest in the relationship between the Church and the slave trade. Is she able to say over what period the Church made profits from the slave trade? Is she able to specify the names of the companies that the Church invested in, or even the names of the slave plantations? Is she able to quantify exactly how much money the Church made over the period when it was involved in the slave trade? And is she able to say whether the Church’s profit from the slave trade is still part of its income today?
Context
The forensic accounting research published in 2023 revealed that Queen Anne’s Bounty was linked with African chattel enslavement through investments in the South Sea Company and benefactions from individuals who profited from slavery. The Church Commissioners have been investigating these links since 2019.
Marsha De Cordova (Second Church Estates Commissioner)
I thank the Mother of the House for the seven or eight questions that she has asked—she will forgive me if I write to her in response to many of those points. To reiterate, the Church received benefaction from individuals who profited from enslavement and invested in the South Sea Company, which was deeply linked with the slave trade. The Church Commissioners have been investigating the Church’s historical links in this area since 2019, and published a full and transparent report in January 2023. I am happy for that document to be shared with my right hon. Friend and it can be placed in the House of Commons Library, if that is helpful. I will write to her, but I am also very happy to meet her, because she shows a keen interest in this area.
Session: Church Assets Historical Link to Slavery
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What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support people on the lowest incomes following the spring statement 2025. It is all very well for the Minister to talk about helping people into work, but is he aware of the many millions of people on personal independence payments who rely on them in order to work? Yet that PIP will be slashed as a consequence of the spring statement. Is he also aware that very many people would prefer the Government not to balance their books on the backs of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society? Why are the Government rejecting a tax of just 2% on people with assets of over £10 million, which would raise over £24 billion?
Context
Following the spring statement in 2025, Ms Abbott questions the government's approach to supporting individuals with low incomes.
James Murray (Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury)
At the autumn Budget last year, the Chancellor announced a series of reforms to fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible, and make sure that the wealthiest in society pay their share of tax. The welfare reforms announced in the spring statement are principled reforms to help get people back into work, because work is the best way out of poverty. The reforms also provide support for those who need it and make sure that the system is sustainable for the future.
Session: Lowest Incomes Support
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The Minister understands what a terrible problem this unsafe cladding is. A development in my constituency, Dalston Square, has unsafe cladding. The builders, Barratt, have put up scaffolding that has been there for two years without any resolution because of a dispute between the builders and contractors. Is there no way the Government can ensure that unsafe cladding is dealt with promptly so residents do not suffer?
Context
There is a development in Hackney, Dalston Square, with unsafe cladding. The builders, Barratt, have accepted responsibility but the scaffolding has been up for two years due to disputes between builders and contractors.
Lee Rowley
We need to resolve, mitigate and improve these properties in a way that works for leaseholders. I will be happy to receive information on the building mentioned; I visited a flat in Manchester with similar issues recently.
Session: Unsafe Cladding
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The Home Secretary insists that the agreement announced today represents a step forward, but is she able to tell the House whether it will mean fewer small boats crossing the channel?
Context
The MP questions the effectiveness of the Home Secretary's announcement without providing concrete evidence.
Suella Braverman
A large win from the agreement is that there will be more French gendarmes patrolling the French beaches. There is a 40% uplift to the number of personnel that the French are deploying. That must be a success, and I encourage the right hon. Lady to welcome it.
Session: Illegal Cross-channel Movements Discussions with French Counterpart
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At a time when there are so many skills shortages, what is the Secretary of State doing to ensure all our pupils achieve their potential?
Context
Black Caribbean pupils, particularly boys, continue to underperform despite the progress made by other ethnic minority groups. The issue is urgent considering current skills shortages.
Kit Malthouse
She is right, however, that there is underperformance by a number of black Caribbean pupils, mainly boys, and I certainly undertake to her to try to investigate why. However, I am sure she would agree that although external factors such as disadvantage can influence educational outcomes, the standard of the school and of the teaching that those pupils receive can often overcome many of those barriers.
Session: Educational Underachievement of Black Children
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The Government will be aware that, although many ethnic minority groups have narrowed the gap with white pupils, and in some cases overtaken them, some groups continue to underachieve, particularly black Caribbean boys. At a time when there are so many skills shortages, what is the Secretary of State doing to ensure all our pupils achieve their potential?
Context
Black Caribbean boys continue to underachieve despite efforts by some ethnic minority groups to narrow the gap with white pupils. The issue is pressing given current skills shortages.
Kit Malthouse
I am pleased to say that the right hon. Lady is right and a number of minority groups now outperform the average, not least the largest group of the black community, those who would identify themselves as black African, who outperform the average in a number of ways. She is right, however, that there is underperformance by a number of black Caribbean pupils, mainly boys, and I certainly undertake to her to try to investigate why.
Session: Educational Underachievement of Black Children
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The Minister claimed that the Rwanda scheme will be a way of diminishing the small boats crossing the channel, but he will be aware that at least one Member of this House does not support his scheme: the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), who is not only a former Prime Minister, but a former Home Secretary. Can he explain to the House why he disagrees with his colleague, and what makes him so sure that his scheme will not fall in the courts?
Context
The question arises from the disagreement between the Minister and a former Home Secretary, Mrs May, regarding the effectiveness of the Rwanda scheme in addressing small boat crossings.
Tom Pursglove
I have huge respect and admiration for my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May). The bottom line here is that there is no single intervention that will resolve the issue, but we must strain every sinew. We believe this is an important policy intervention that will shift the dynamic and help to preserve lives. That is a fundamental imperative and we cannot put a cost on it. I am convinced that this policy will deliver, along with the wider package of measures we are introducing. I encourage the right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) to be in the right Division Lobby this week and to pass the Nationality and Borders Bill into law.
Session: Illegal Immigration
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The Secretary of State spoke about a ladder of opportunity for children. Can we have one specifically for black children who often underachieve academically and are excluded at higher rates?
Context
Ethnic minority children show varying academic success, with black boys underachieving significantly.
Nadhim Zahawi
The White Paper aims to level up across the board. Hammersmith Academy, with 60% pupil premium and ethnic mix, shows support and stretching for all children.
Session: Topical Questions
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Will the Foreign Secretary speak to her colleague, the Home Secretary, about the cruel and chaotic way in which desperate Ukrainian refugees are being treated by the Home Office? It cannot be right that there is no visa application centre in Calais, with Ukrainian refugees who have travelled thousands of miles to Calais being redirected either to Paris or to Brussels. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that this brings the UK into disrepute?
Context
Ukrainian refugees are being treated cruelly by the Home Office, with no visa application centre in Calais.
Elizabeth Truss
The Home Office has placed staff in Poland and Hungary to help people, and the Home Secretary has announced a new pop-up application site in Lille. I can tell the right hon. Member that the Home Office has set up a surgery for MPs in Portcullis House, to which she will be very welcome to take any cases.
Session: Russia Sanctions
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Will the Secretary of State speak to his colleague the Home Secretary and make her aware that only issuing up until now 50 visas for Ukrainian refugees is quite wrong and brings shame upon this country?
Context
The Home Secretary has issued only 50 visas for Ukrainian refugees, which the questioner believes is wrong and brings shame upon this country.
Michael Gove
I talk to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary every day. The Home Secretary was in Poland at the border talking to those who were working with refugees: she was delivering while others, I am afraid, seek to make political points. We have a Home Secretary who is energetic, determined, on the job, talking to those on the frontline, making a difference, and I am afraid that when people want unity, purpose and delivery they will say to the right hon. Lady—
Session: Topical Questions
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Does the Minister appreciate that some are worried about proposals requiring certain grades for access to tuition fee funding, which may disproportionately affect poorer families?
Context
Concerns over the impact of proposed tuition fee funding criteria on poorer families' access to higher education.
Kemi Badenoch
The Department for Education has done an equalities impact assessment on any new policies. These assessments ensure that at-risk individuals are not prevented from pursuing education.
Session: Social Mobility
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Questions reports on offshore processing in countries like Gambia. Asks if such a country has agreed and acknowledges that distant processing might meet the letter but not spirit of obligations.
Context
MP questions reports about Government wanting to process asylum seekers offshore, asks if any country has agreed.
Priti Patel
Home Secretary disagrees with question. Government considers all options including outsourcing processing to remove those with no legal basis in the UK. Criticizes Labour's record on removals over decades as a mass failure.
Session: Small Boat Channel Crossings
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Will the Minister speak to Public Health England and ensure that local directors of public health make this information and other information in relation to specific cohorts available at a borough level to local MPs? He will be aware that the danger is that we could be hitting our vaccination targets overall, but certain groups are left behind. Many local MPs want to have some transparency about what is happening locally.
Context
Concerns are raised about the potential for some racial or ethnic groups being left behind in achieving overall vaccination targets. The MP seeks to ensure that directors of public health provide detailed, local-level information to MPs.
Nadhim Zahawi
I am grateful for the right hon. Lady's question. She and I visited the Hatzola first responders, who did an incredible job that Saturday night of vaccinating 364 people from not only the Haredi Hasidic Jewish community but the Muslim community as well. Our uptake plan has four key enablers: working in partnership with local government and directors of public health; removing barriers to access—in other words, access being available at the time and place that people need it; data and information, which we share with directors of public health, and we want to share it in more granular ways; and, of course, engagement, engagement, engagement.
Session: Covid-19 Vaccination Vulnerable Groups
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What estimate he has made of the level of covid-19 vaccination among (a) black and (b) white people in the most vulnerable groups?
Context
The question arises from concerns about disparities in vaccine uptake between black and white populations, particularly in vulnerable groups. The MP seeks specific estimates on these demographics to address potential health inequities.
Nadhim Zahawi
Overall, we are encouraged by the vaccine uptake in the most vulnerable groups, with more than 17.7 million people in the UK having now received their first vaccination. To date, black people, who account for around 3% of the population, make up 1.7% of those vaccinated, while white people, who account for 86% of the population, make up 82% of all those vaccinated in England.
Session: Covid-19 Vaccination Vulnerable Groups
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When can we expect an assurance on offering financial support to those who are not legally entitled to any kind of benefits?
Context
Concern about destitution facing people with no access to benefits due to immigration rules during the coronavirus crisis.
Priti Patel
Working across Government with Treasury, DWP; committed to providing support at all levels. Will come back on specific point in due course.
Session: Topical Questions
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Does the Home Secretary appreciate the widespread concern about the Jamaican deportation flight due tomorrow? Is she aware that Stephen Shaw, in his review of detention, suggested that we should not be deporting people who came here as children, but that many of the proposed deportees came here as children and have no memory of Jamaica? Does she accept that these deportations constitute double jeopardy, because the persons have already served an appropriate sentence for their crime? Is she aware that more than 170 Members of Parliament from all political parties have written to the Prime Minister calling for the deportation flight to be halted?
Context
Concern about the impending deportation flight, with specific concerns raised by Stephen Shaw's review.
Priti Patel
I am sure that the right hon. Lady is aware that under the UK Borders Act 2007 a deportation order must be made in respect of foreign criminals sentenced to 12 months or more in prison. Every person on the flight was convicted of a serious offence and received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more. That means that, under the Act, which was introduced by the Labour Government in 2007, a deportation order must be made.
Session: Topical Questions
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Other Parliamentary Activity
Debates led and petitions presented.
Personal Independence Payment: Disabled People
07 May 2025
Responding: Sir Stephen Timms
Main Concerns
['The Chancellor of the Exchequer raised a series of welfare cuts in her spring statement, including cutting the health element of universal credit by 50% for new claimants. The Office for Budget Responsibility has outlined that these planned cuts will reduce PIP for at least 800,000 claimants and cut health-related universal credit payments for 3 million families.']
Specific Asks
['The lead MP calls for an equality impact assessment before implementing the proposed welfare cuts, as it is concerning how these come on top of the cut to winter fuel allowance and the failure to raise the child benefit ceiling.']
Criminal Justice Reform
01 September 2026
Ministerial Statement
Contributed to this debate
Immigration and Asylum Bill
13 July 2026
Bill Debate
Contributed to this debate
The speaker has selected the reasoned amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition, but no specific opening argument is provided in this excerpt.
Death of Ann Widdecombe
13 July 2026
Ministerial Statement
Contributed to this debate
National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation
30 June 2026
Ministerial Statement
Contributed to this debate
Middle East
23 March 2026
Ministerial Statement
Contributed to this debate
Middle East
02 March 2026
Ministerial Statement
Contributed to this debate
Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving
23 February 2026
Ministerial Statement
Contributed to this debate
Venezuela 2026-01-05
05 January 2026
Ministerial Statement
Contributed to this debate
Criminal Court Reform 2025-12-02
02 December 2025
General Debate
Contributed to this debate
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice opened the debate by discussing the need for criminal court reform, highlighting a backlog of 78,000 cases. He mentioned the independent review c...
Black History Month 2025-10-23
23 October 2025
Ministerial Statement
Contributed to this debate
2
PMQs Asked
17
Ministerial Questions Asked
64
House of Commons Debates Involved
1
Westminster Hall Debates Led
0
Statements / Bills
0
Petitions Presented
0
Voting Record
Activity Compared to Peers
How does this MP's parliamentary activity compare to the national average across 1370 MPs?
Prime Minister's Questions
-45% below average
This MP:
2
Average:
3.7
Ministerial Questions
+27% above average
This MP:
17
Average:
13.4
Westminster Hall Debates Led
-60% below average
This MP:
1
Average:
2.5
Commons Chamber Debates
+1217% above average
This MP:
64
Average:
4.9
Statements / Bills Proposed
-100% below average
This MP:
0
Average:
9.5
Petitions Presented
-100% below average
This MP:
0
Average:
2.5
Important Context
- - Ministers answer questions rather than asking them, so have different activity patterns
- - Activity quantity doesn't measure quality or effectiveness of representation
- - Some MPs focus more on constituency work than parliamentary questions
- - Newly elected MPs will have less parliamentary history
About This Page
This page tracks Diane Abbott's parliamentary activity including questions asked, debates (Commons Chamber + Westminster Hall), statements/bills, and petitions presented.