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Category: Parliament

  • Victoria Prentis – 2022 Statement on the Serious Fraud Office’s Handling of the Unaoil Case

    Victoria Prentis – 2022 Statement on the Serious Fraud Office’s Handling of the Unaoil Case

    The statement made by Victoria Prentis, the Attorney General, in the House of Commons on 29 November 2022.

    Following the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the Unaoil case, R v. Akle & Anor, in December 2021, the then Attorney General, the right hon. and learned Member for Fareham (Suella Braverman), commissioned Sir David Calvert-Smith to conduct an independent review into the Serious Fraud Office’s handling of the case.

    On 21 July 2022, in a written ministerial statement, the then Attorney General provided Parliament with the findings of Sir David’s review and a response to his recommendations. This also included a commitment to update Parliament on progress in delivering these recommendations in both November 2022 and February 2023. This WMS provides the first of these updates.

    Sir David’s review made 11 recommendations, which were accepted. These cover a range of matters, including record keeping and case assurance, compliance with policies, and resourcing. While many of the changes recommended by Sir David can be—and have been—made quickly, it will necessarily take longer to fully embed his recommendations and assess the effectiveness of changes made.

    Within this context, I am pleased to report that significant progress has been made in delivering Sir David’s recommendations. For nine of the 11 recommendations, the SFO has already implemented specific measures or steps to ensure their effective delivery. For the two remaining recommendations, work has commenced to make changes in response to Sir David’s proposals.

    A detailed update on progress will be published on www.gov.uk today and copies will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

    I would also like to take this opportunity to notify Parliament of a change to the timing of the second update on Sir David’s recommendations. This was originally planned for February 2023 but will now be provided by no later than May 2023. This is to allow the findings of an inspection of the SFO by His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate to be considered as part of the update. The inspection, a report of which will be published in April 2023, is examining case progression in the SFO with reference to relevant findings in Sir David’s review.

  • Lindsay Hoyle – 2022 Statement on Home Office Not Providing Copies of Statements to the Opposition

    Lindsay Hoyle – 2022 Statement on Home Office Not Providing Copies of Statements to the Opposition

    The statement made by Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, in the House on 28 November 2022.

    Before I call the Minister, I want to express my disappointment that copies of the statement were not given to the Opposition in good time. The rules of the House make it clear that copies should be supplied at least 45 minutes beforehand: 10 minutes before we start is not acceptable. I am also disappointed that the shadow Secretary of State will have to try to respond to a statement of which copies have not been provided in good time.

    There are no officials in the Box at present, but may I say, through the Minister, that officials need to recognise the rules of the House? If they do not understand the rules, we can help them with a training programme, but I say to the Minister now that I do not want to be disappointed again on behalf of the Opposition. I only received my copy of the statement 10 minutes ago as well, but that does not matter; I am more worried about the Opposition.

  • Lindsay Hoyle – 2022 Statement on John Nicolson MP

    Lindsay Hoyle – 2022 Statement on John Nicolson MP

    The statement made by Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, on 28 November 2022.

    Before we come to our next business, I wish to make a short statement. I have received a letter from the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) requesting that I give precedence to a matter as an issue of privilege. The procedure for dealing with such a request is set out in “Erskine May” at paragraph 15.32. The matter in question is the conduct of the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (John Nicolson) relating to private correspondence between him and my office. The House will recall that I gave the hon. Member an opportunity to apologise.

    While “Erskine May” is clear that the granting of applications for precedence is a matter for the Speaker, given that the subject relates to my office, I have consulted with the Deputy Speakers before making my decision. It is not for the Chair to decide whether a contempt has been committed, but instead whether there is an arguable case for the House to examine such.

    I have considered the issue, taking account of advice from the Deputy Speakers and the Clerks of the House. I have decided that this is a matter that I should allow the precedence accorded to issues of privilege. The right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden may therefore table a motion to be debated tomorrow. The motion will appear on tomorrow’s Order Paper, to be taken after any urgent questions or statements and before Government business. The motion will be available to Members once it has been tabled, which will be before the rise of the House today. If necessary, I will advise the House tomorrow on the usual conduct in debate on such motions. I hope that this is helpful to the House.

  • Dehenna Davison – 2022 Statement Confirming Standing Down at the Next General Election

    Dehenna Davison – 2022 Statement Confirming Standing Down at the Next General Election

    The statement made by Dehenna Davison, the Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland, on 25 November 2022.

    For my whole adult life, I’ve dedicated the vast majority of my time to politics, and to help make people’s lives better. But, to be frank, it has meant I haven’t had anything like a normal life for a twenty-something.

    I’ve worked on, managed, and stood in so many election campaigns, and, since being elected in 2019, I’ve given my all to being an MP. As well as supporting constituents with their individual challenges, I’ve fought hard to bring £70m of new Government investment to the Bishop Auckland constituency, to see plans put in place to breathe new life into our high streets and create new leisure facilities locally, and to finally get the much needed Toft Hill Bypass and Whorlton Bridge repairs in the pipeline. And I’ve campaigned on wider issues I feel passionately about, particularly on raising awareness of the dangers of one punch assaults.

    I will always be humbled to have had the opportunity to serve as a Member of Parliament. But now the time feels right for me to devote more of my attention to life outside politics – mainly to my family, and helping support them as they’ve helped support me.

    That’s why I won’t be standing in the next General Election.

    Just to reassure, until the election comes, I absolutely won’t be checking out. I will continue to serve my constituents with the same gusto and dedication right until the day when I hand the baton onto the next person who will have the honour of representing the amazing people of Bishop Auckland.

    I will always be grateful to the Conservative Party as a whole, and to all the individual members who have supported me, for giving a young, working class lass from Sheffield the opportunity to serve as an MP. And I will always be passionate about politics as a means to create meaningful, lasting and positive change.

    For now, I’m not sure what my future beyond MP life looks like, but, when the time comes, I’m really excited to find out.

  • Gary Streeter – 2022 Statement Confirming Standing Down at the Next General Election

    Gary Streeter – 2022 Statement Confirming Standing Down at the Next General Election

    The statement made by Gary Streeter on 25 November 2022.

    Today I’ve announced that I will not be seeking re-election at the next general election. It has been an honour and privilege to serve the people of South West Devon and I will continue to do so until the next election.

  • Michelle Mone – 2018 Comments on Twitter Calling an SNP MP a “Moron”

    Michelle Mone – 2018 Comments on Twitter Calling an SNP MP a “Moron”

    The comments made by Michelle Mone on Twitter on 30 January 2018.

    What are u talking about u SNP moron! I have voted over 78 times,not twice! I’m a global entrepreneur with 9 biz interests not a full time MP like u.

    The difference is I’m a Baroness for life, whereas u will be out of ur MP job in no time…

  • Angela Rayner – 2022 Comments on Link Between Michael Gove and Michelle Mone / PPE Medpro

    Angela Rayner – 2022 Comments on Link Between Michael Gove and Michelle Mone / PPE Medpro

    The comments made by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, on 24 November 2022.

    Michael Gove must urgently come clean with the public on his personal involvement in the award of contracts to PPE Medpro during his time as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster.

    The government must commit to publishing all the documents and correspondence relating to the award of taxpayer contracts to PPE Medpro out in the open.

  • Angela Rayner – 2022 Article on the Personal Conduct of Michelle Mone

    Angela Rayner – 2022 Article on the Personal Conduct of Michelle Mone

    Part of the article written by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, in the Guardian on 24 November 2022.

    We learn that PPE Medpro was given £203m to supply face masks and sterile surgical gowns at the height of the pandemic. Lady Mone, a Tory peer, referred PPE MedPro to the Cabinet Office in May 2020, five days before it was even registered as a company. She contacted the then ministers Michael Gove and fellow Conservative peer Lord Agnew, offering to supply PPE – for a price. Lord Agnew referred PPE Medpro to the “VIP lane”, fast-tracking the bid for public contracts.

    It now appears that tens of millions of pounds from those contracts ended up in offshore accounts connected to the individuals involved.

  • Ian Murray – 2022 Speech on the Supreme Court Decision on a Scottish Referendum

    Ian Murray – 2022 Speech on the Supreme Court Decision on a Scottish Referendum

    The speech made by Ian Murray, the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, in the House of Commons on 23 November 2022.

    I begin by thanking the Supreme Court for examining this case in detail, for reaching a unanimous decision and for doing so in a speedy manner. I also thank the Scottish Lord Advocate for referring this case to the Supreme Court. She was right not to allow it to be launched in the Scottish Parliament before seeking legal clarity on this matter, and we are all in a better place now for that clarity having been put forward. The Supreme Court’s ruling is absolutely clear and concise.

    The Leader of the SNP has just accused those who are against independence of “triumphalism”. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are deeply disappointed and angry that the politics in Scotland is paralysed by this constitutional grievance. It is now time for all of us in Scottish politics to focus on the problems facing our country, from rocketing bills to the crisis in the NHS, and I wish the SNP had such passion for doing that. I fear that that will not happen after the First Minister announced that she will turn the next general election into a de facto referendum. As an example, the SNP has made such a mess of our NHS that, earlier this week, it was reported that NHS chiefs have been discussing plans to privatise our health service—Labour’s and perhaps our country’s greatest achievement.

    There is not a majority in Scotland for a referendum or for independence, but neither is the majority for the status quo. There is a majority in Scotland, and across the UK, for change. This failing and incapable Tory Government are unfit to govern this country. They have crashed the economy and they are as big a threat to the Union as any nationalist. People in Scotland and across the UK are sick of watching their incompetence, our national standing falling in the world, and working people paying for their decisions, but change is coming. It is coming with a UK Labour Government that will bring economic growth, raise living standards and restore our nation’s place in the world.

    Does the Secretary of State agree that change is indeed coming and that Scottish voters will lead the way by kicking his Government out of office and helping to elect a UK Labour Government?

    Mr Jack

    No, I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman on his last point.

  • Ian Blackford – 2022 Speech on the Supreme Court Decision on a Scottish Referendum

    Ian Blackford – 2022 Speech on the Supreme Court Decision on a Scottish Referendum

    The speech made by Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, in the House of Commons on 23 November 2022.

    Thank you for granting this urgent question, Mr Speaker.

    It is right that the UK Government answer questions today, and answer them quickly, because this morning the Supreme Court dealt with a question of law; there is now a massive question of democracy. Some of the Westminster parties are already wildly celebrating this morning’s decision, but I think it is safe to say that their thoughtless triumphalism will not last very long, because this judgment raises profound and deeply uncomfortable questions about the basis of the future of the United Kingdom.

    The biggest question of all is how the Prime Minister can ever again repeat the myth that the United Kingdom is a voluntary union of nations. In 2014, the Smith Commission made it clear that

    “nothing in this report prevents Scotland becoming an independent country in the future should the people of Scotland so choose.”

    If that is true and if the Secretary of State’s Government are still committed to that promise, will he urgently amend the Scotland Act 1998 to ensure that the Scottish people have the right to choose our own future? If he fails to do that, is he deliberately choosing to deny democracy, because a so-called partnership in which one partner is denied the right to choose a different future, or even to ask itself the question, cannot be described in any way as a voluntary partnership, or even a partnership at all?

    Today’s decision casts focus on the democratic decisions of the Scottish people. Since 2014, the Scottish National party has won eight elections in a row. We have secured multiple mandates. The question is: how many times do people in Scotland have to vote for a referendum before they get it?

    The more contempt the Westminster establishment shows for Scottish democracy, the more certain it is that Scotland will vote yes when the choice comes to be made. Scotland did not vote for Brexit. We did not vote for a new age of Tory austerity. We did not vote for this Prime Minister, and we have not voted for the Tories in Scotland since 1955. What we did vote for was the choice of a different future. If Westminster keeps blocking our democratic decisions, lawfully and democratically Scotland will find a way out of this Union.

    Mr Jack

    This idea that a mandate was delivered in 2021 in the Holyrood elections is completely misleading. As the First Minister herself said very clearly in an interview in The Herald—this is when she thought that the former First Minister, the previous SNP leader Alex Salmond, was gaming the system with his party Alba—that parties should stand on both the list and first-past-the-post constituency systems. The Greens did not fulfil that and neither did Alba. Let us be clear: in the 2021 Holyrood elections—the so-called mandate—less than one third of the Scottish electorate voted for the SNP.