Engagements — House of Commons, 2019-10-02
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that legislation to establish a tough independent regulator of internet companies empowered to challenge the automatic right to anonymity online should be a priority for the Queen’s Speech?; On Saturday, I was out knocking on doors with my listening team, listening to the views of local people, as we do every week. The message to me, whether they were leave or remain voters, was crystal clear: get Brexit done by 31 October. Deputy Prime Minister, can you reassure my constituents that we will leave the European Union by the end of this month, come what may, no ifs, no buts?; Housing, I believe, is the first of the social services; without it, we cannot have education, productivity or health. The NHS has a diagnosis code for inadequate housing. The Department of Health wrote to me saying that poor housing costs the NHS £1.4 billion a year, but that figure is now four years old. Will the Secretary of State ensure that the Department of Health writes to me with the most up-to-date figures and places that information in the Library?; The Government update of the national planning policy framework published in July 2018 changed the policy we have had for generations of not building on the green belt. The policy now allows future development to be considered. Local planning authorities are coming under great pressure from developers who do not want to spend money to improve brownfield sites. Unspoilt areas such as the Seven Cornfields on the edge of my constituency are now under threat from inappropriate development by house builders who put profit above all else. We should not be building on such sites, especially at a time of concern for the environment. I ask the Prime Minister to review the green belt policy to protect areas such as the Seven Cornfields from developers.; On Monday, my constituent Richard should have been paid. It was the first time in his life that he was not. Richard, like many others whom I met with his union, Unite, was a dedicated employee of Thomas Cook. Given that the warning signs were there for months, if not years, will the Government use the extra parliamentary time that we now have to bring forward emergency legislation to stop a further airline collapse? Will the Government pledge now to expedite Richard’s redundancy pay and to recoup the millions taken by the directors in the past few months?; Can the First Secretary of State set out clearly and unambiguously for this House in what circumstances the Prime Minister will write to the EU Council President, as set out in the terms of the Benn Act?; My constituent Anne has an auto-immune condition and needs 20 tablets a day to control pain. This medicine is her lifeline, and without it she could die, but she has been warned that a no-deal Brexit will mean a severe risk to its supply. Can the Secretary of State say why his Government are willing to risk her life and many others by refusing to rule out no deal, choosing a policy of ruin over delay?; On 27 July in Manchester, the Prime Minister said he wanted to bring northern cities’ bus services up to the same level as London’s. Bus services are really important to my constituents. The problem is that, currently, Government funding for bus services is £75 a head in London but £5 a head in Sheffield. Although the Chancellor has announced a further £200 million for bus services, it would take half that money to bring Sheffield’s funding level alone up to London’s. Are the Government really going to fund the better bus services the Prime Minister promised for northern cities such as Sheffield, or have we again had a grand announcement from the Prime Minister that, on detailed examination, simply is not worth the paper it is written on?; This week I heard from my constituents Phil and Rachel Turner, whose five- year-old daughter Eliza has cystic fibrosis. They are planning to move to Scotland so she can receive the life-changing drug Orkambi on the NHS. Does the First Secretary of State agree that it is a tragedy that families should have to uproot their lives in that way? Can he confirm that funding will be found for children affected by this terrible disease so they can take up the treatment without delay? Furthermore, may I suggest that the Government should support Labour’s plan to set up a publicly owned generic drugs manufacturer that would supply medicines to the NHS at affordable rates?
Henry Bellingham (Conservative, Centre-right): May I ask the First Secretary of State to turn his attention to Hong Kong? Yesterday’s events were truly awful. Obviously, the people suffering most are the victims of violence on both sides, but now a number of UK companies with interests in Hong Kong are being adversely affected. As one of the guarantors of the Sino-British joint declaration supporting one country, two systems, is there now an argument for him to discuss Hong Kong with China in the UN Security Council? Perhaps the next six-monthly report on the declaration would be an opportunity to do that.