- 11:17 am
- Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
- The business for the week commencing 15 May will include:Monday 15 May—Second Reading of the Victims and Prisoners Bill.Tuesday 16 May—Opposition day (15th allotted day). Debate in the name of the Scottish National party—subject to be announced.Wednesday 17 May—Second Reading of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill.Thursday 18 May—General debate on public access to nature, followed by a debate on a motion on access to psilocybin treatments. The subjects for these debates were determined by the Backbench Business Committee.Friday 19 May—The House will not be sitting.The provisional business for the week commencing 22 May includes:Monday 22 May—Committee of the whole House and remaining stages of the Non-Domestic Rating Bill.
- I thank the Leader of the House for the forthcoming business. Before I go any further, it is good to see the SNP spokesperson, the hon. Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Deidre Brock), back in her place.The Leader of the House did previously describe her resting face as“that of a bulldog chewing a wasp”—[Official Report, 13 October 2022; Vol. 720, c. 260.]But can I reassure her royal meme-ness that she looked nothing of the sort at the coronation? She was a symbol of solemnity and the first woman to have ever presented the Jewelled Sword of Offering to a British monarch. Her elegant outfit had nods to tradition, maternity and, as I understand it, her constituency. She diligently carried out her duty with grace and poise. She was a credit to this House as our representative. I wanted to start by making sure that was on the record, but now we will now get back to the jabs.It was an even bigger achievement given how long the Leader of the House must have been awake the previous night counting all those Tory losses. She must have been worn out, with more than 1,000 Tory councillors gone. It was a clear rejection of the Conservatives and this Prime Minister and his complete failure to focus on what really matters to voters. I am afraid it is time to resume the normal jab, thrust and parrying—a little swordplay thing, there—of business questions, as this Government have a lot to answer for.One whole year on from the Queen’s Speech, what do the Government have to show for it? People do not have to follow every twist and turn of the Government’s chaotic mishandling of legislation to know that the answer is next to nothing. The Hansard Society, which does detailed, independent research on the workings of Parliament, has said exactly which Bills are lurking down the back of Downing Street’s ever-expanding legislative sofa. Perhaps the Leader of the House could use her new-found swordsmanship to reach down the back of that sofa and hook some of that missing legislation out for us.
- Can I start by thanking the hon. Lady for her compliments? I very much wanted to be a Pen the king could rely on at the coronation, but I think congratulations should go to all of us across the nation, and huge thanks to all who took part and all who enabled it to be so successful and safe, including many staff of this House. The whole weekend was a celebration of service, duty and love, and the Big Help Out on Monday saw 6 million people volunteering at more than 55,000 events. I hope they had a wonderful day and will continue to volunteer for their community. I am very proud to have played my part alongside everyone else, and I know the whole House would want to send their good wishes to Their Majesties.Can I reciprocate and congratulate the hon. Lady, as I understand that her band, the Statutory Instruments, has topped a Twitter poll on musical parliamentarians? I have suggested to the Culture Secretary that this might be a back-up plan if Mae and her team are unable to perform at the Eurovision final.The hon. Lady mentioned our legislative programme. Last week, the Public Order Bill received Royal Assent, taking us to 19 Bills receiving Royal Assent so far in this Session, with 40 Bills introduced so far. The rented homes Bill is not delayed, and I look forward to the Opposition’s support. It will deliver the Government’s commitment to a fairer private rented sector for responsible tenants and good-faith landlords. The Bill will legislate to abolish section 21 no-fault evictions, among many other measures. I hope that all Members of this House will support it when it arrives, which will not be very long or far away.The hon. Lady spoke about local election statistics, and I have some of my own for Labour’s performance: mid-term and mid-recovery, zero change to vote share since 2019; zero gains in battleground seats; and, it appears, zero principles upon which to base a manifesto. Labour’s leader has flip-flopped 32 times, broken all of his leadership pledges and had to have 12—and counting—relaunch speeches. To borrow from Eurovision legends Bucks Fizz, he will soon find out that there comes a time for “Making Your Mind Up”.
- Did my right hon. Friend note that the Secretary of State for Business and Trade has just told the House, in answer to my urgent question, that despite the very serious constitutional implications that I explained—they were endorsed by many others after I asked the question—she will not be able to come to the European Scrutiny Committee because she will be in Switzerland? What this in effect means, according to the current timetable in the House of Lords, is that she will not be able to explain the implications I set out in my question before the Report stage of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill actually takes place. Would my right hon. Friend be good enough to approach her opposite number in the House of Lords, and indeed the appropriate authorities there, to defer the Report stage, which is scheduled for 15 and 17 May? That Report stage will have momentous consequences if it results in changes to this Bill, which was passed by this House by a substantial majority, which would then be being dealt with by the unelected House of Lords.
- I do understand my hon. Friend’s concerns. The Secretary of State wants to take a pragmatic approach, but I know that he will also have concerns about sovereignty and other such issues. I will certainly speak to business managers and the Secretary of State to ensure that there can be proper scrutiny of these matters, and I assure my hon. Friend that although there are differences on how we should approach these matters, the Secretary of State shares his aim that we should do this well and not miss the opportunities, having left the EU, to modernise our statute book and make sensible reforms. But I undertake to do as he has asked.
- Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)May I add my congratulations to the Leader of the House on her role at the coronation? There was tremendous upper body strength on show there, and with the added strain of having to remain silent virtually all afternoon—so well done, her. Maybe it was a “speak softly and carry a big sword” moment, because it appears that carrying a lethal weapon and wearing an imperial-style outfit now makes her favourite to be the next Tory leader—was it the sword of Damocles she was clutching? I am reminded of that old “Monty Python” skit, though—something about strange women distributing swords being no basis for a system of government.Did the Leader of the House’s somewhat authoritarian look on Saturday reflect the new and unnerving “Braverman law”, which apparently allows people to be arrested for even thinking about protesting? May we therefore have a debate on the thought police, and on whether guidance for that hastily delivered Act might be tightened up after those recent unfortunate arrests?Speaking of horrible Bills, I see that Labour, despite the urging of the Archbishop of Canterbury, continues to cleave to this Government’s nasty “hostile environment” policies. Is it any wonder that even after 13 years of perhaps the most incompetent and chaotic series of Tory Governments there has ever been, Labour seemingly still cannot win an outright majority? Yet Labour claims it will not entertain the idea of co-operation agreements with the SNP, despite the fact that we will speak to anyone progressive in order to lock the Tories out of No. 10.If we had a fair electoral system, parties would often have to work in partnership with each other, as they do in many other grown-up democracies across the world. So may we have a debate on proportional representation and fair voting, so that we can ask why the Tory and Labour parties support the antiquated first-past-the-post system, which prolongs the establishment duopoly we see year after dreary year in this place? Oops, I believe I have answered my own question there.That is probably just as well, because although we all enjoyed—really—the Leader of the House’s starring role at the weekend, I would once again gently remind her that her day job is to answer for the conduct of her own Government, not simply give her views on the Governments of other countries for use on social media. If she could stick to the day job in this, I would be very grateful.
- I thank the hon. Lady for her compliments, and it is good to see her back in her place. I am very aware that my most successful role in my career to date has been when I have been silent. That has not been lost on me.The hon. Lady raises the issue of protests. I say to all Members of this House that we make the laws in this place, and we have brought in new measures because we felt that the public need protection from particularly disruptive and dangerous protests, as we have seen in recent events and developments. But the police are operationally independent; they need to use their judgment, and sometimes they will make mistakes, and when they do, as we have seen, they apologise for them. I think all of that is incredibly reassuring, and I would like to place on record my thanks to the police for the difficult jobs they have done in recent weeks, particularly those who were standing for a considerably longer period than 51 minutes—I met a police officer involved in the coronation who was on their feet throughout a 13-hour shift. They do a tremendous job and we owe them a huge debt of thanks.It is no surprise at all that the hon. Lady should take exception to the result of another referendum we had, on voting systems. But I am genuinely delighted that the SNP has found some auditors. With nearly 2,000 accountancy and auditing firms in Scotland, I was interested to know who it would pick to do the job. Perhaps it would be someone from her constituency, given that Edinburgh is Europe’s second-largest financial centre, second only to the City of London. Yet the SNP had to go to Manchester to find someone willing to take on the task. Presumably she would view that as offshoring.Perhaps the SNP can now turn its attention to its dire mishandling of Scottish finances and the recommendations of Audit Scotland. I remind the House that the SNP has been forced to raise income tax after a £100 million budget overspend despite this year cutting public expenditure by £1.2 billion. The Scottish people deserve better than that. I know that the hon. Lady and her colleagues did not necessarily celebrate the coronation, but they can learn a lesson from it. Nothing can be achieved with division and hate; the only way forward is service, duty and love.
- I am sure that the whole House will wish to congratulate my right hon. Friend on her role in the coronation. She is an emblem of dignity, poise and girl power. Her bluey-green coronation dress is a worldwide sensation. King Charles III is revered around the world for his work on the environment, and the UK is a world leader on environmental issues—since 2010, we have cut carbon emissions by more than any other G7 country—so will she make space for a debate in Government time on what we have achieved on the environment and what work is in progress, so that people across the country know that while Conservatives may wear blue rosettes, we also deliver on green?
- I thank my right hon. Friend for raising this matter. She will know that the next questions to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are on 23 May. We were the first major economy to commit to a legally binding target on achieving net zero by 2050 and we fully stand behind that. We have cut emissions by 48% since 1990, decarbonising faster than any other G7 country while also growing our economy by 65%. In 2022, renewable electricity accounted for nearly 42% of our total generation, which is a fourfold increase since 2011. We will continue to make progress on this matter.
- I thank the Leader of the House for announcing the business and the Backbench Business debates for next Thursday. One thing we learned at the weekend is that we should not be easily drawn into literally crossing swords with her.The Backbench Business Committee is soon to celebrate its 13th birthday. I remind Members across the House that we are open for business. We receive, on average, 3.8 applications for Backbench Business debates per week, but over time we have developed into having five debating slots per week, so 3.8 applications is not enough. We therefore welcome more applications from Back Benchers across the House on a weekly basis.I am grateful that this week we had a bumper bundle of eight applications, so we exceeded the average. Upcoming Backbench Business debates are on: the cost of living for those with disabilities, which will be in Westminster Hall next Tuesday; reducing plastic pollution in our oceans, also in Westminster Hall, next Thursday; and shortcomings of planning in respect to short-term holiday lets, on Tuesday 23 May. We get a variety of applications, but we always welcome more.
- I thank the hon. Gentleman for the advertisement for future debates. I remind all Members of the House that this is an incredibly valuable tool that we have now been using for 13 years, and I hope that he will organise some suitable celebrations for that landmark birthday. There are many ways in which we can make change and improve things for our constituents. A lot can be done in business questions, but a lot can also be done in such debates when the will of the House is shown and there is cross-party concern and support for particular campaigns and issues. I encourage all Members to make use of this welcome innovation.
- I add my congratulations to my right hon. Friend on her performance at the coronation. The wait for the renters reform Bill seems never-ending. It is important that we get the Bill right, but we are running out of time in the Session, particularly given the queue of legislation in the House of Lords. The other eagerly awaited legislation is the leasehold reform Bill, which has been pressed for in this House for a long time. Could the Leader of the House give us an update on when that Bill will come before us?
- I thank my hon. Friend for his kind remarks. Although I will announce business in the usual way, he will not have long to wait for the renters reform Bill. This is an important issue, as are many of the issues covered by the leasehold reform work that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has been undertaking.
- I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Recent media reports inform us that Vodafone UK and Three are in advanced talks about a merger, but my trade union, Unite, is campaigning against it on two major grounds. First, it could pose a national security risk by giving a company whose controlling family collaborates with the Chinese state an even more influential role at the heart of our sensitive telecoms infrastructure. Secondly, the merger would fatally undermine competition by reducing the number of major providers in the British telecoms market, resulting in substantially higher prices for British consumers. As such, will the Leader of the House allocate Government time for a debate on the merger, as it will impact people in each and every constituency across the UK?
- The next opportunity for the hon. Gentleman to raise this issue with the Department for Business and Trade will be on 18 May, but I know that it will be a matter of concern to two other Departments, so I will write to all of three on his behalf and ask them to contact his office.
- I echo the congratulations to the Leader of the House. We will remember where we were during the coronation, but we will also remember where the Leader of the House was, as she proved herself to be the King’s most reliable Pen.May we have a debate on parking on yellow lines? Someone who parks around Westminster is charged £65, going up to £130. If they park in Bournemouth, it is capped at £35, going up to £70. We do not have the crane lorries to remove cars, and tourists— who are most welcome—have realised that paying £35 on a sunny day’s visit is worthwhile. That is affecting emergency services getting around and is raising concerns from residents. May we therefore have a debate or a statement on gaining parity so that Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council can raise its fines for parking on yellow lines?