HANSARDCommons17 Mar 202290 contributions

Business of the House

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Thangam Debbonaire (Bristol West) (Lab)
LabourLife peer
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
The Leader of the House of Commons (Mark Spencer)
ConservativeSherwood
It would be a pleasure. The business for the week commencing 21 March will include:
Monday 21 March—Opposition day (17th allotted day). Debate on a motion in the name of the official Opposition. Subject to be announced.
Tuesday 22 March—Consideration of Lords amendments to the Nationality and Borders Bill.
Wednesday 23 March—My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will deliver his spring statement, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill, followed by a motion to approve the draft Boiler Upgrade Scheme (England And Wales) Regulations 2022.
Thursday 24 March—Debate on a motion on war pensions and armed forces compensation scheme payments, followed by a general debate on the impact of long covid on the UK workforce. The subjects for these debates were determined by the Backbench Business Committee.
Friday 25 March—The House will not be sitting.
The provisional business for the week commencing 28 March will include:
Monday 28 March—Consideration of Lords amendments to the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [Lords], followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
Thangam Debbonaire
LabourLife peer
Well, there are lots of questions there. I start by thanking the Leader of the House for the forthcoming business and wishing everybody—all colleagues and beyond—a happy St Patrick’s Day.
I want to pick up comments from colleagues at Transport questions—in topicals, I think—about P&O and what looks like a real situation. I note, Mr Speaker, that you said that there might be a statement. Does the Leader of the House have any update for us on when there might be such a statement? I also echo the point the hon. Member for Hendon (Dr Offord) raised in his point of order: where has the COP15 debate gone? I note that the Leader of the House said he would mention it in his response.
It is a happy day in part at least because this morning Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori have come home. They have been reunited with their families after years of unjustified detention in Iran—it is a long time since I have felt able to smile at the Dispatch Box. In particular, I pay to tribute to my hon. Friends the Members for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) and for Lewisham East (Janet Daby) for fighting for their constituents.
However, we continue to see the devastating consequences of Putin’s illegal attack on Ukraine, with war crimes committed daily. The Labour party stands with our allies, including NATO and others. We must strengthen our unity and resolve. We stand in complete solidarity with the Ukrainian people, but there are also implications for our own national security, so can the Leader of the House confirm that the Government will not go ahead with the integrated review recommendation to cut 10,000 troops?
The hardest possible sanctions must of course be taken against all those linked to Putin. They must not live a Mayfair lifestyle in Moscow while committing atrocities in Ukraine. The sanctions package so far announced contains good measures, including the most recent on luxury items—pushed, I may say, by the Labour party—but questions remain about enforcement. The body responsible for dealing with this has issued just six fines in six years. I have already asked this but we have not had an answer, so could the Leader of the House again ask the Chancellor, who will be here next week, to tell us what he is doing to ensure sufficient resources are in place so that sanctions on dirty Russian money are properly enforced?

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