Business of the House

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

The business for next week includes:

Monday 17 July—Consideration of Lords message to the Illegal Migration Bill, followed by consideration of Lords message to the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill [Lords], followed by consideration of Lords message to the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, followed by motion relating to an appointment to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

Tuesday 18 July—If necessary, consideration of Lords message to the Illegal Migration Bill, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, followed by motions to approve the draft Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) (Amendment) Order 2023 and the draft Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2023 followed by, if necessary, consideration of Lords message.

Wednesday 19 July—If necessary, consideration of Lords message to the Illegal Migration Bill, followed by motion to approve the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2023 (SI, 2023 No. 713), followed by debate on the Committee on Standards’ report on all-party parliamentary groups, followed by, if necessary, consideration of Lords messages.

Thursday 20 July—The Sir David Amess summer adjournment debate. The subject for this debate was determined by the Backbench Business Committee.

The House will rise for the summer recess at the conclusion of business on Thursday 20 July and return on Monday 4 September.

I thank the Leader of the House for the forthcoming business.

The Leader of the House did not announce a date for the debate and vote on the House of Commons Commission’s proposal to introduce a new process for dealing with MPs accused of violent or sexual offences. We both agree this mechanism is needed to reduce the risk of harm to all those who work on and visit the parliamentary estate. Colleagues and staff need clarity and want to see progress. Given that our original plan was to get the motion through before the summer recess, could she give us a date for when the vote will happen? I know that, like me, she believes this is incredibly important. We have worked hard on it together, and I therefore hope she will sort this imminently.

Once again, the Government wasted another week of precious time in this House pushing their unworkable, immoral and illegal asylum Bill. They could have just accepted the common-sense, human rights-focused amendments from the Lords. I thank their lordships for, again, sitting so late last night to try to repair the damage that the Government are intent on causing.

Meanwhile, it is left to Labour to introduce proposals that will make a difference to the lives of working people. Yesterday, we set out our plan to accelerate the production of electric vehicles: our plan to create 80,000 jobs, power 2 million electric vehicles and add £30 billion to the UK’s economy. No wonder it passed unanimously. The Government have presided over a 37% fall in car production since 2010, with seemingly no ambition to reverse it. Instead of tearing down unnecessary trade barriers with our friends and neighbours in the EU, as Labour would do, they are happy to see the imposition of 10% tariffs. How will that help us to export more of our Great British cars? Our Opposition day motion was successful, not a single MP voted against it, so will the Leader of the House tell us what steps the Government will be taking to act on Labour’s motion and when? This is about growing our economy, bringing down the cost of living, creating quality jobs and tackling climate change. Labour has a plan. Where is the Tories’ plan? The next Labour Government will be on the side of everyone building the cars of the future in Britain.

First, let me deal with that last point. The hon. Lady will know that such matters that were raised at the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee are not ones for me, as the Leader of the Commons, or indeed for the Chief Whip—they are matters for the Cabinet Secretary. Standards and ethics are very important and they are important rules, but clearly there are some grey areas.

I very much enjoyed the hon. Lady’s painting a picture of Labour as guardians of our border security and champions of economic growth. Given her mention of automotive manufacturing, I am surprised that she did not welcome the £6 billion investment announced this week by Renault-Geely, which comes on top of the £17 billion investment from Japan; the UK is doing rather well on that front.

I take issue with the portrait the hon. Lady painted of her party, as we cannot rely on Labour for the things she said. We cannot rely on it to protect our borders. The Labour party has voted a total of 36 times to weaken our Illegal Migration Bill. We cannot rely on Labour for growth or to balance the books. I believe the current total is £48 billion of unfunded spending commitments and counting. We cannot rely on Labour to support the NHS. In Labour-run Wales, the only place in the UK where the NHS budget has been cut—not once, but three times—people are twice as likely to be waiting for treatment. This is an approach to our NHS that the Leader of the Opposition describes as a “blueprint” for health. And we cannot rely on Labour to defend this nation. While our Prime Minister was heading off to the NATO alliance to strengthen that alliance, 12 Labour Front Benchers were undermining it by supporting the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, which is incompatible with NATO membership—they included a shadow Defence Minister. So more debt, no growth, worse care, weaker defence and open borders is what we can rely on Labour to deliver.

Knife crime is a scourge on our society, as we all know in this place. In my constituency, the James Brindley Foundation is doing an amazing job, working to raise awareness of the need to take action to educate young people. Will my right hon. Friend join me in commending the work of the foundation and also the Conservative councillors at Walsall Council, who led a fantastic debate on Monday night to back the foundation’s campaign and petition to get the dangers of knife crime put on the school curriculum?

I thank my right hon. Friend for the work she is doing, alongside Andy Street, on tackling this issue. She will know that across the country we have a good record on these matters. Since 2010, violent crime in England and Wales has fallen by 41%, which is fantastic and a huge tribute to all working on the issue. However, the west midlands has the highest recorded rate of knife crime throughout England and Wales, and I know my right hon. Friend and hon. Friends from that area are holding the police and crime commissioner to account on that poor record. I congratulate her on what she is doing. I am sure that if she were to secure a debate on this issue, it would be well attended.

I call the spokesperson for the Scottish National party.

It is good to be back after a short absence on parliamentary business. First, I request a debate on conventions of this House. Normally, my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South (Stephen Flynn) would have responded to the Prime Minister’s statement on NATO, but as we were not given any advance notice of that important statement, unlike His Majesty’s loyal Opposition, he was unable to be in his place to respond. There is a conventional expectation to be notified of such statements beforehand, as we should be made aware to ensure that we can scrutinise the Government properly. Will the Leader of the House take that up with her Government?

While I was away, I notice the Leader of the House had a day trip to Scotland. I hope she received the kind of warm welcome we always give to people visiting from afar. On her very brief visit, she will have been in a nation where not a single day has been lost in the health service to strikes; where the Government and teachers got together and negotiated a deal; where there is no profit motive when people turn the tap on for water in their homes; where water quality is among the best in Europe; where social policies, such as the Scottish child payment, have been universally welcomed; where unemployment is lower than the UK as a whole and economic growth faster; and where we continue to attract levels of foreign direct investment second only to London.

On her return to this place, she, like me, was no doubt depressed to be back under a regime that has given Scots the catastrophe of Brexit against our will, a debt burden greater than our entire GDP, crippling increases in mortgages, rents and food prices, and the expectation of the highest tax burden in Britain since the second world war by 2027-28. What a great thing it is to be governed by people so incompetent they cannot spend £1.9 billion on desperately needed housing in England—by the way, I hope the devolved nations can keep their Barnettised share of that, as we will certainly use it—and apparently cannot tell the difference between decriminalisation and legalisation, as Scotland’s Government try to take action to address drug deaths. The current approach of criminalising users, advocated by her Government, is clearly not working.

Finally, could we have time for a debate on the Government’s progress on their five doomed pledges? As always, I ask the Leader of the House to answer the questions first, before she reads out her next leadership bid script.

I will be laser-focused on what the hon. Lady raises. First, let me point out that she is incorrect. There has been some incorrect reporting with regards to £1.9 billion being handed back to the Treasury by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The bulk of that spend still sits with that Department. The hon. Lady will know that we have delivered 2.3 million additional homes since 2010, the lion’s share of which are affordable homes. Our current build rate is up 108%, compared to when we first took power. It is important to point that out, and I thank her for allowing me to correct that incorrect line that has been running.

I think the hon. Lady is slightly delusional regarding the SNP’s record. She talks about trying to tackle drug deaths. The SNP has the worst record of managing this problem, the worst record of drug deaths in Europe and does not fare well with regard to water pollution. That may have been a reason the SNP put out a complaint about the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; it wanted her to go to Holyrood to be drilled by SNP colleagues there. But it is this House that will hold the Secretary of State to account. So her colleagues will have to enjoy their biscuits without “Coffey” in Holyrood, which makes for a nice change from their Westminster colleagues, who I understand have been having a lot of meetings with their Chief Whip—with coffee, but without biscuits.

On the hon. Lady’s final point on today’s statement, I shall look into that, because it is a courtesy and people should expect to be able to see statements in advance. She did a very good job of filling in for her colleague, who probably wanted to be here and I certainly would have liked to hear what questions they would have asked. After all, the SNP, which wishes to have an independent Scotland in NATO, does not realise that that is incompatible with its position on nuclear weapons, as stated by the former First Minister, and with the fudge on this issue that the current First Minister has proposed and that is in the SNP’s White Paper on the matter.

Can we have a debate on the House of Lords? We have had endless debates on whether they should be elected and there seems very little consensus—it is just creating gridlock between the two Houses—but the House of Lords should surely be a revising Chamber. That is its strength; it is full of experts. But we have seen with the Illegal Migration Bill their determination to amend a Government Bill to a huge extent: they virtually want to kill it off, rather than simply improve it. Can we try to achieve consensus on getting people in the House of Lords who actually want to be working peers and to improve legislation, and give power to the House of Lords Appointments Commission to consider the suitability of candidates, not just their propriety?

My right hon. Friend raises some very good points. I gave the Commons tally for the number of times that Labour had voted against our important Bill in this place. I think the tally in the Lords is 29 times. The House of Lords, as he will recognise, does an incredibly important job in scrutinising and, we hope, improving legislation. My hon. Friend the Chairman of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry into such matters. My right hon. Friend will also know that one of the most vocal set of voices for reform of the Lords does actually comes from the Lords itself.

I call the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee.

I know that we are just about to go into the last week of the parliamentary Session before the summer recess, but the Backbench Business Committee is still very much open for business. We still welcome applications for debates in the first two weeks of September, after the summer recess. There are a number of anniversaries in September to celebrate, so we could have debates about International Literacy Day, World Atopic Eczema Day, United Nations International Day of Peace, or International Day of Sign Language. If anyone is interested in those subjects, the anniversaries of which are in September, please bring forward an application.

I wonder whether the Leader of the House would be kind enough to give us early notice if she is at all considering giving the Backbench Business Committee any time in the week beginning 18 September, the two days before the conference recess. We would very much welcome early notice of that.

I think it was at the beginning of last week that the England and Wales Cricket Board received the report of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket, which sadly but not surprisingly found that there is institutional racism, sexism and class discrimination across the game of cricket—a much loved game and a much loved sport across the whole country. We have had a fan-led review of governance in football, the recommendations of which still need to be implemented, but can we now have a debate on the subject of a Government-sponsored fan-led review of governance in cricket? It looks like it is very much needed.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his regular advert for the Backbench Business Committee. I assure him that we will certainly give him early notice; I hope that is his experience of my office, as we understand why that is important.

On the substantive matter that the hon. Gentleman raised, I will make sure that his concerns and interest in this matter are noted by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whose next questions are on 20 July. The hon. Gentleman, of all people in this place, knows how to apply for a debate in the usual way.

This week I was delighted to host members of the Westminster Youth Council, led by the brilliant youth MPs Myra Soni and James Balloqui. I have worked with the Westminster Youth Council over the last 10 years or so, and every member I have met is highly eloquent, interested in improving their neighbourhoods and passionate about building a better future for all. Will the Leader of the House find Government time in which hon. Members can debate how we in this place can support and encourage organisations to bridge the gap between young people and policymakers?

I congratulate my hon. Friend on all the work she has been doing with the Westminster Youth Council, and I am sure the whole House would join her in praising the involvement of Myra and James. These are incredibly important structures that are enabling people from a diverse range of backgrounds to get experience, to participate and to raise their aspirations. I thank my hon. Friend for her work in this regard.

My Bath constituency has a vibrant night-time economy. More than 1 in 10 workers across the south-west work regularly on night shifts, but the health and wellbeing impacts of night-time working cost the UK economy and businesses over £50 billion a year because of absence, fatigue and lower productivity. My local hospital, the Royal United Hospital, has now agreed to look into support services for their night-time shift workers. Can we have a debate in Government time to discuss the challenges and health impacts of night-time working, and how we can support these vital working people?

I thank the hon. Lady for raising this important point. I think it is well understood that getting enough sleep and not having sleep stress is incredibly important to people’s personal health and wellbeing. We know that the pattern and lifestyle of shift workers in particular makes them vulnerable to certain health conditions. This would be an excellent topic for a debate. The hon. Lady will know how to apply for one, but I shall certainly make sure that the Health Secretary has heard her remarks.