Business of the House

I welcome Thangam Debbonaire to the Front Bench as shadow Leader of the House.

Will the Leader of the House please give us the forthcoming business?

The business of the House will include:

Monday 17 May—Continuation of the debate on the Queen’s Speech on safe streets for all.

Tuesday 18 May—Continuation of the debate on the Queen’s Speech on affordable and safe housing for all.

Wednesday 19 May—Conclusion of the debate on the Queen’s Speech on a rescue plan for the NHS and social care.

Thursday 20 May—General debate on the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster.

Friday 21 May—The House will not be sitting.

The provisional business for the week commencing 24 May will include:

Monday 24 May—Remaining stages of the Finance Bill.

Tuesday 25 May—Remaining stages of the Telecommunications (Security) Bill.

Wednesday 26 May—Conclusion of remaining stages of the Environment Bill (day 2).

Thursday 27 May—General debate on dementia action week, followed by general debate on implementing the 2020 obesity strategy.

Both debates were previously recommended by the Backbench Business Committee.

Hon. and right hon. Members will also wish to be reminded that the House will rise for the Whitsun recess at the conclusion of business on Thursday 27 May and return on Monday 7 June.

I thank the Leader of the House for that, and, in this role, I look forward to working with him and with you, Mr Speaker, especially on making this world heritage site the most accessible it can be, and in particular autism-accessible in tribute to our late colleague, Cheryl Gillan.

The news and images from the middle east this morning are truly horrifying. We join the Government in urging calm. We ask them to do all they can to halt the terrifying attacks and loss of life and to work with allies to help restore a peace process.

My predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz), has a remarkable work ethic, championing colleagues and staff in this place and showing calmness in a crisis, and I thank her. She is a hard act to follow.

I was also pleased to see in recent elections the high regard that the people of North East Somerset—the Leader of the House’s constituents—have for their previous MP, his predecessor. They voted in large numbers for Labour’s Dan Norris as our metro mayor. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Dan on his successful election as the Mayor of the West of England? Will he support Dan’s call for a better deal for his own constituents from this Government?

I know that the Leader of the House prizes democracy, one of this country’s greatest exports, so will he agree that it does not deserve the treatment it was given in the Queen’s Speech? The Government propose to restrict the right to vote by requiring photo identification, yet a mere 0.000002%—I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Chris Elmore) for that figure—of the votes cast in 2019 were found to be fraudulent. The reason given for this attack on democracy is one conviction, out of more than 47 million votes. Ministers have said that as we have to provide ID to pick up a package, we should need it for voting, but 3.5 million people do not have photo ID. In any case, these Ministers are clearly not picking up their own parcels, as they would know that many forms of ID without photos are accepted. Will the Leader of the House please explain to his own constituents why they cannot vote by giving their name to a clerk and being counted by a teller, when that is how their own MP votes in this place—in normal times, at least? Will he join me in saluting the respect the British public have for democracy and reconsider the Government’s reckless, expensive and anti-democratic decision?