Engagements — House of Commons, 2018-07-18
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Thirty-one member countries of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance have an agreed definition of anti-Semitism. Does my right hon. Friend agree that all political parties should adopt that definition, and its examples, without amendments or omissions?; The Prime Minister’s proposals offer a practical and reasoned way to deliver Brexit. Does she agree that it is high time that Labour MPs, and, yes, some Conservatives, stop the fear-mongering, get behind their country and support the Prime Minister as she leads us out of the European Union?; Around the world Christians are facing a rising tide of persecution and violence. Does the Prime Minister share my concern at this trend and at particular cases such as those of Sunil Saleem, a Christian man who was beaten to death at a hospital in Lahore in Pakistan, or 33 women in Eritrea who were imprisoned simply for praying? In this country we rightly protect religious freedoms; will my right hon. Friend step up efforts to get other countries to similarly respect religious freedoms?; In view of the fact that schools in the Stroud constituency are telling me they are forced to use core funding to cover the additional requirements of special educational needs and that special schools in the constituency are having to meet considerable rising costs, will the Prime Minister look at the national funding formula with the aim of helping those schools, to make sure they are fully inclusive and that we help those who are most vulnerable because of their special needs?; The establishment of a spaceport in Scotland will give the UK the capability to launch satellites from British soil for the first time ever. Considering the opportunities presented by space and aerospace, will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss more investment for Scotland, in particular the Kinross aerospace centre in my constituency that is being proposed as part of the Tay cities deal?; The Bunny Hill and Washington urgent care centres in my constituency, and the Houghton urgent care centre in my neighbouring constituency, are under threat of closure by the Sunderland clinical commissioning group. It is not good enough for the Prime Minister just to say that these are simply local decisions, because local people certainly do not want those closures. What will she say to my constituents who rely on those vital urgent care centres, and to the staff at Sunderland Royal A&E who are going to have to deal with the aftermath of the closures?; I celebrated the 70th birthday of our NHS with patients and the fabulous staff at the Oakwood day mental health hospital in Nuneaton. Mental health has always been the Cinderella of the NHS. Will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking our doctors and nurses who work in mental health, and will she say what more we can do to improve mental health and what resources the Government will put into that?; My extraordinary constituents help to keep the nation’s lights on, and they keep us safe by building the Royal Navy’s submarines. They deserve a train service that is worthy of the name, so will the Prime Minister get a personal grip on this fiasco? Just this weekend, we saw 170 services cancelled across the Northern network because there was a World cup game on.
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my right hon. Friend for the work that he did as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. Secondly, as he knows, we have published the proposals that we have for the future trade relationship with the European Union. Of course, as we look through those negotiations, we will be looking to see where the European Union has entered into certain agreements with others in the past. Very often, the European Commission will say, "X can’t be done," only for us to say, "X was done with another country and therefore it is possible for it to be done with us." But what I want to see is not just an amalgam of those free trade agreements but an ambitious plan—which is what I believe we have produced—that will protect jobs in this country, deliver on the referendum result and, crucially, ensure that we have no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.