Speeches

Diane Abbott reminds the House that after all the years that have passed since she stood down as leader of her party, there are still millions of people who felt themselves to be on the wrong side of the titanic battles that Margaret Thatcher fought.

In a House of Commons debate, Diane Abbott argues that the quality of our food is too important a matter to be left to private equity predators.

Keynote speech by Labour's shadow public health minister. The speech addresses a 'pornification' of popular British culture, the sexualisation of British adolescence and the rise of 'sexting' and 'slut-shaming' in schools.

Shadow Minister for Public Health Diane Abbott gave a speech to the Government Knowledge conference on mental health: 'Rethinking mental health for the 21st century' on the 16th October 2012 in Central London.

Diane Abbott MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, recently secured an adjournment debate on the issue of overseas aid and especially the relationship between DFID and UK based consultants. Here is a version of her speech.

Diane recently gave a speech at the 7th annual LGBT summit held in Canterbury in Kent. Here is an abridged version of the speech.

Diane Abbott spoke in a Westminster Hall on the many reasons as to why certain black and minority ethnic groups fare badly in terms of attainment in our education system.

The Shadow Health Minister tells Westminster that the Labour Party is not opposed to change, but that the NHS is not for sale

In her first big set-piece speech on public health, since being appointed to the role of shadow public health minister, Diane Abbott MP will redefine the Labour Party’s position on public health and children’s health. Now that figures reveal 19% of year-six pupils are obese, the Shadow Public Health Minister will call for a ‘revolution’ in approaches to public health and children’s health, calling time on what she refers to as the ‘chips and Playstation 3 culture’. Ms Abbott will use the speech to: outline her distinct philosophy to public health; make clear her intention to vastly raise the political profile of children’s health issues; and critique the thinking behind the government’s approaches on ‘nudging’ and ‘responsibility deals.’

Labour's Diane Abbott spoke about the "scourge" of the "proliferation" of betting shops, stating that in Hackney there were approximately 90 such shops, three times the national average. Hitting out at their "predatory nature", she said, they targeted the poorest areas with the highest levels of unemployment and poverty. Ms Abbott backed Ms Portas' recommendation that such shops, should be put in a separate use class of their own for planning decisions.