Engagements — House of Commons, 2019-06-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: Somerset has been helping to illustrate the huge national challenge that we face in social care through a powerful “Panorama” programme, the final part of which airs tonight. Will my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to all those in caring roles and commit to addressing their funding needs fully?; I know from personal experience what it takes to win a seat from the Labour party, and hold it. Does my right hon. Friend agree that every community in this country needs a strong voice in this place? The people of Peterborough have the opportunity tomorrow to elect Paul Bristow to give them that voice and to replace the failed Labour MP who ended up in jail.; I know the right hon. Gentleman is just a stand-in while the vultures circle, but what does he think of the legacy left by the Prime Minister? This is a deeply divided country in which 14 million people live in poverty, in which 130,000 preventable deaths have been caused by austerity since 2012, in which 17,000 people have died while waiting for disability benefits and in which homelessness is soaring and destitution is rife. A UN rapporteur has described Britain as defined by a “harsh and uncaring ethos.” I do not want to personalise this, because everyone on the Government Benches is responsible, but what kind of legacy is that?; Does my right hon. Friend think it acceptable that people with access to large sums of money are able to bring about private prosecutions in a way that undermines freedom of speech in this country?; Last weekend my constituency suffered yet more serious violent crime, some in the public domain and some not, including the murder of 18-year-old Fahad Mohamed Nur and a knife attack on the congregation leaving Dar Ul-Isra mosque following Ramadan prayers. Since 2010, under Liberal Democrat and Conservative Governments, South Wales police funding has been cut by nearly £61 million. Police officers in Cardiff are running on empty. What will it take for this shambles of a Government to accept responsibility for public safety and give South Wales police the funding it desperately needs?; The motor industry is vital to the economy of Rugby and the west midlands, so is my right hon. Friend concerned to see that UK manufacturing statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that in April production fell by 44% because of factory shutdowns for the expected uncertainty of a 29 March Brexit? Does he agree that this should act as a wake-up call to ensure that the same thing does not happen again on 31 October by leaving the EU with a deal that takes away the uncertainty that is so damaging to our manufacturers?;   Of the many collective challenges we face, none is more essential—more urgent—than climate breakdown. The legislation required to commit the UK to phasing out carbon emissions entirely by mid-century is simple and has almost certainly been drafted, and this House could pass it in a matter of days. This issue is simply too pressing to wait for later this year or a future Administration. We have the parliamentary time, so what possible reason can the Minister give for why the Government cannot commit to enshrine net zero emissions into law now?; Difficult times often call for new leadership and a new vision, so will my right hon. Friend join me in supporting Councillor David Greenhalgh’s vision for the regeneration of Bolton, his bids to the future high streets fund and the recovery of Bolton, after 40 years of Labour misrule?; My local NHS is cutting GP hours while it and NHS England are forced to subsidise a private company, Babylon GP at hand, which has sucked up more than 50,000 patients for its controversial app-based system, undermining GPs across London and beyond. Given that the Health Secretary is Babylon’s biggest cheerleader, why should my constituents trust this Government to keep the NHS public any more than they would trust Donald Trump?; Seventy-five years ago tonight, the first steps in the liberation of Europe were taken by the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, when they flew by glider to liberate Pegasus bridge. As the Dakotas over Normandy commemorate this feat, will my right hon. Friend join me in celebrating and commemorating all the ordinary and yet extraordinary men and women, from every corner of our country, who turned the tide of the war in freedom’s favour?; Far too many people in our uniformed public services are taking their own lives, but we do not know the true extent of the tragedies ass Ministers do not require the data to be collected. Does the Minister agree that the police, armed forces and prison services should follow the lead of the fire service and record the number of people in their service who take their own lives?; The US President said yesterday that the NHS would be on the table in any trade negotiation, and the Prime Minister did not intervene to stop him. The Lib Dems and Tories voted through the Health and Social Care Act 2012, which opened up the NHS to the US market, and 10% of it is already privatised. The Brexit party leader has no issue with US private healthcare insurance replacing our NHS. No party can be trusted with our NHS—except the Labour party. Is Labour now the only hope to save our NHS?; Pupils from St Gregory’s Primary School in my constituency recently wrote to me regarding the problem of plastic pollution in our environment. They rightly pointed out the damage that plastic waste causes to marine life and human life as it makes its way up the food chain. As a result, they are calling on the Government to introduce a deposit return scheme that will reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill and in our oceans. On this World Environment Day does the Minister agree with the pupils of St Gregory’s Primary School?
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman has partly achieved his objective by the ruse—and I will call it the ruse—of a point of order, which conceivably could have been the substitute for a question that he might have wanted to ask. If that was his objective, he has achieved it. I cannot speak for the House as a whole, but to judge from debates that have taken place in this Chamber in recent years, my strong sense is that his point will have struck a chord. The idea that such a march should not be able to take place within a safe space, with its participants’ physical security underpinned, offends very strongly against our instincts, so I hope that such measures as are necessary to be taken by Georgians will be taken More widely, if I heard the hon. Gentleman correctly, he made what struck me as a wholly uncontroversial observation about the record of the Russian state in human rights generally and, more particularly, the protection—or rather the non-protection—of the rights of LGBT people. That is a profoundly unsatisfactory state of affairs, and it is about time it became more civilised in these important matters. [Interruption.] It is always good to have the sedentary support of the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant), and I thank him for what he has said.