Webchat with Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips MP on Monday January 20 at 1pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips MP on Monday 20 January at 1pm.

Jess Phillips is Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley. Prior to being elected she worked for Women’s Aid, supporting victims of domestic violence. Her campaign says she is often described as the most “outspoken politician at Westminster”, having led campaigns against school cuts, immigration rights and better funding for women’s refuges.

In advance of her coming in, Jess has asked us to pass on the following: “if you share the aims and values of the Labour Party, you can have a vote on who should be Labour's next Leader if you join the Party by 5pm on Monday 20 January. You can join here and if you do it by 5pm on Monday you WILL have a vote in the contest. Find out more here.”

Please do join the chat on Monday at 1pm or if you can’t make it, leave a question here in advance.

We've invited and are hoping to have all of the contenders on over the next few weeks.

As always, please remember our webchat guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is dominating a thread, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. (And we’ll suspend the accounts of anyone who continues after we've posted to ask people to stop, so please take note.) Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Many thanks,
MNHQ

[JessPhillipsMP]

@NonHypotheticalLurkingParent

Hi Jess,

How do you think social media has changed the way politics is conducted?

if the last election was polled by a Twitter poll, then I think, Labour would have won a majority. Do you think social media played a part in the disconnect with the electorate and the issues that concern them?

Yes. We have to be really careful about our own perceived society through the lens of social media. However, it's not all bad news. I think that social media in lots of ways has improved our politics for the better. I love that I can talk directly to lots of people and have a genuine conversation. Politics should not just be about broadcasts but about conversationw. There is a real need for regulation in this area. For example, the news that Facebook will not stop fake news within political ads in the way that lying is not allowed in normal advertising (4/5 dentists ) is really dangerous. I have myself had horrendous fake news spread about me. Not just by unknown parties but by the Conservative party who put out misleading clips of me during the 2019 election campaign. If we want to have a fair and open democracy we will need a regulator who can deal with this new world and make it all upside.

[Miriel]

Thanks Miriel. I have in the last 5 years knocked thousands and thousands of doors in working class communities across our country. No one has ever mentioned this.

Interesting. Anyone I've spoken to in my community about it has reacted with utter disbelief. They find it hard to fathom that Labour politicians are claiming to actually believe that 'transwomen are women' and aren't just saying so to be polite, because it's so patently false.

I do wonder what reaction you'd have gotten had you raised the topic with these thousands of working-class people you've spoken to. As a previous poster said, silence doesn't mean consent.

[TheKrakening3]

Jess, do you actually believe you can change your sex? Cross your heart?

[mement0mori]

Freedom of speech is increasingly coming under attack especially in universities where speakers are being no platformed for having the wrong viewpoints. How do you propose to promote the importance of open debate and freedom of speech in general?

[JessPhillipsMP]

@DonPablo

Hi Jess,

I think you're great for politics. How de we encourage more people like you (a mother, relatively young, not public school educated) into politics?

Thanks for saying that I'm relatively young, as the youngest person in the race I'm not sure that I always look it.

One of the reasons that I always put myself forward and dare to be brave and keep climbing up is because I think it's important that others can see a young-ish mom with a regional accent being taken seriously in politics. We need to do much more to make our politics actually accessible to people because even in this contest it sometimes feels like a factory production line that has no bearing on how people in our country live their lives or what they consider to be leadership.

[MrsToddsShortcut]

Jess thanks for addressing Hazeyjanes questions - it's so
Important to so many of us and affects the day to day lives of our kids and us in a way that I can't adequately express.

While you're here, after you've gone, could you just read this thread? Please? It might explain why so many of us are asking about the same thing.

Peace and good luck with the Brum schools. My nephews school is closed every Friday afternoon and it's a dreadful thing. 😡

it down for me? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3145470-Break-it-down-for-mee*

[Tellingitlikeitisnt]

Jess why do we not allow male children over 13 into refuge with their mothers?

Is it because we appreciate male adult bodies are by their nature potentially distressing for women who have suffered abuse by men?

[SonicVersusGynaephobia]

Thanks Miriel. I have in the last 5 years knocked thousands and thousands of doors in working class communities across our country. No one has ever mentioned this.

Maybe they are asking it here Jess, rather than face-to-face. Have you ever considered that?

And this have rather changed a bit over the last 5 years

[Winesalot]

I have in the last 5 years knocked thousands and thousands of doors in working class communities across our country. No one has ever mentioned this.

Thanks Jess for your answers. Just to note, I had two other political parties door knock before GE but no Labour candidate. I discussed my concerns about self ID with both the Tory candidate who had teenaged daughters and was very much up to date with the impact and a lib dem volunteer who confessed they were concerned but felt the leadership had made decisions that did not represent his view on this.

Both honestly agreed that time was needed to understand the potential impacts unique to the UK and particularly concerning the generation that are now teens were needed.

[JessPhillipsMP]

@mement0mori

Freedom of speech is increasingly coming under attack especially in universities where speakers are being no platformed for having the wrong viewpoints. How do you propose to promote the importance of open debate and freedom of speech in general?

When I was at university there was a debate about no-platforming the ten leader of the youth wing of the BNP because he was also a student at the university. I remember a young BME man standing on the stage in the union arguing that this man should be allowed to be part of the debate and that we should beat him with our ideas. That stayed with me. Freedom of speech is of course deeply important but it cannot be used as a weapon when the only intention is to offend and incite hatred. There is a difference between genuine debate, regardless of whether you agree with either side, and aggravating hatred of any kind.

[Oblahdeeoblahdoe]

Maybe a lot of your constituents don't know what the hell is going on with the GRA but they soon will do when the rights of tiny minority of men supercede the rights of half the population i.e women

[QuentinWinters]

Very disappointed my question about porn hasn't been answered as I think it is having so many damaging effects. But it seems like we have to.pretend it's not.

[BovaryX]

What do you think about the police investigating hate incidents which are not crimes? Do you think that's a valid use of police resources?

[LangCleg]

Thanks for coming and for all the answers, Jess.

That said, you've confirmed to me that I, as a materialist leftist and feminist, with political priorities of women's rights and child safeguarding, cannot find a home in the Labour Party.

[BovaryX]

Who gets to decide what constitutes genuine debate? Do you think it is acceptable that Conservative students and academics feel unable to voice their political beliefs in universities?

[JessPhillipsMP]

@Gertrudesgarden

Like a previous poster, I too spoiled my ballot in December, as I couldn't find a single political party who gave a damn about me, a middle aged, self employed, biological woman. Nobody cares. Ive been swept aside by political correctness, alphabet soup and politicians prostrating themselves at the alter of woke.

How are you going to try to win my vote?

I'm going to try and win your vote by not expecting you to agree with me on everything. If you are waiting for a politician with whom you have no differing views or approaches you're going to wait forever. The truth is we have to address the issues people face in this country and we might not always agree but all I would hope to do is win your trust. That no policy would harm you and you'd have a chance at making your life better.

[StealthPolarBear]

Thanks for your responses Jess

[RaquelW1]

I discussed it in detail with the Lib Dem canvasser that knocked on my door - he had no idea what the policies of his party were on this issue. I'd have raised it with the Labour guys/Tories if I'd seen them. I'll be writing to my MP (again!).

[JessPhillipsMP]

I've got to go now, thanks for having me. We might not always agree but it's good to talk. As I haven't answered the biscuit question, it is for once because I do not have a definitive answer. I like all the biscuits except Hobnobs which taste like sawdust.

[mement0mori]

Freedom of speech is of course deeply important but...

Freedom of speech is of course deeply important but it cannot be used as a weapon...

I asked about open debate. Who gets to decide if speech is being weaponised? Do you not think there is a problem with no-platforming at the moment especially when people are trying to talk about women's issues?

[JustineMumsnet]

Thanks for all your contributions and of course to Jess for coming on. We're going to lock this thread now so it's easy for latecomers to see Jess's answers.