Contributions
4,038 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Participation in DebatesThe hon. Lady and I simply disagree on whether the House can operate effectively remotely. We have the experience to go on of May and June when it did not work effectively. The…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesThat will be a happy day, a day of jubilee and song, and I hope we do not have to wait until the platinum jubilee before it happens. But it will happen partly automatically,…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am in great agreement with my hon. Friend. It is important that we keep working here, and I would encourage those who can to come in. Indeed, I would go further and say that…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesIndeed. We all wish all hon. Members who are suffering from covid a speedy recovery and let us hope that those who are isolating have not caught the disease. I really would not…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy hon. Friend makes an important point. Perhaps it would be helpful for me to explain why the view is that this should cover the clinically extremely vulnerable, which is very…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI can certainly answer the last bit of the question first. I would always be delighted to meet my hon. Friend at any point, and we can do it virtually or simply by telephone, if…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesAs the hon. Gentleman says from a sedentary position, that was embarrassing—I happen to agree with him on this occasion.16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am not saying that anybody is shirking; I am simply saying that we are in the same position as other key workers, as I think is right and proper. On the issue of people…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am very sorry to hear that, but I did know that the hon. Gentleman had been suffering from long covid. I wish him extremely well—it sounds extraordinarily debilitating and…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesThe issue around Westminster Hall is what I am told by the House authorities, which seems to me to be a reasonably authoritative position. It is a question of resources. As I said…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am naturally grateful to my right hon. Friend. He is right that we do need to be here. I share his concern that we think we should do things differently from other people. That…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesThe hon. Gentleman stands up and says that what I am saying is something that he does not believe. At some point he made a little comment about the enormous enthusiasm with which…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. We ought to be assembling because we are not, as Edmund Burke put it, ambassadors representing countries —individual areas that are not as…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his typically reasonable and helpful question. Obviously, if there were to be an agreement with the European Union and votes and debates on…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am grateful for the opportunity to respond to this urgent question. Throughout this year, the pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to the everyday functioning of our…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy hon. Friend is enormously gracious in her thanks to the digital and broadcasting team, who have not only managed to introduce this new system since March, but have had to move…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI very much doubt that any of the right hon. Lady’s constituents would say that she does not represent them effectively. She has always been a powerful campaigner and an effective…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy right hon. Friend was momentarily interrupted, and that is one of the problems with remote participation; the quality of the audio is not invariably perfect. Although that…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI reiterate the point I made earlier: I am always willing to meet hon. and right hon. Members, in part because of what it says in “Erskine May” about the responsibilities of the…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy hon. Friend makes a very good point about the timeliness, and I am very keen to ensure that this motion is brought forward soon so that it can be decided by this House soon. He…16 Nov 2020