Biography
Baroness Hughes of Stretford engaged on maternity and child nutrition topics through three debate speeches in the Lords during 2025-26. She raised concerns about rising maternal mortality rates, highlighting that deaths increased by 20 per cent between 2009-11 and 2022-24 despite previous Conservative pledges to halve them, and emphasised the disproportionate impact on older women and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. She also addressed public health prevention in early childhood, questioning government action on nutritional standards for commercial baby foods in light of their high sugar content and links to childhood obesity.
Generated from their own Hansard record, below
“I thank my noble friend for that Answer. She will know that the Conservatives promised to halve maternity mortality by 2025. Instead, as the report shows, it has risen substantially, with stark disparities for older women and those from BME and disadvantaged backgrounds.”
Record by topic
- Maternity & neonatal220th of 4384.0
- Public health & prevention573rd of 6882.0
What they’ve said
“To ask His Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take in response to the finding in the MBRRACE-UK report Maternal mortality 2022–2024, published on 8 January, that the maternal death rate in pregnancy rose by 20 per cent between 2009–11 and 2022–24.”
Maternal Mortality · 2026-01-20 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…rly years that lifelong eating habits and tastes can become entrenched, and in view of the escalating crisis in childhood obesity, will the Government now regulate what is sold as baby food and how it is marketed to parents?…”
Baby Foods: Nutrition and Marketing · 2025-06-24 · Read on Hansard ↗
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