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Category: Parliament

  • Boris Johnson – 2021 Statement on the Covid-19 Inquiry Led by Baroness Heather Hallett

    Boris Johnson – 2021 Statement on the Covid-19 Inquiry Led by Baroness Heather Hallett

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on 15 December 2021.

    I am announcing today the appointment of the right hon. Baroness Heather Hallett DBE as chair of the forthcoming public inquiry into the covid-19 pandemic, which is set to begin its work in spring 2022. The inquiry will be established under the 2005 Inquiries Act, with full powers, including the power to compel the production of documents and to summon witnesses to give evidence on oath. The inquiry will be held in public. In consultation with Baroness Hallett, I intend to appoint additional panel members in the new year in order that the inquiry has access to the full range of expertise needed to complete its important work.

    Baroness Hallett retired from the Court of Appeal in 2019 and was made a crossbench life peer. She has conducted a range of high-profile and complex inquests, inquiries and reviews, including acting as coroner for the inquests into the deaths of the 52 victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings; as chair of the Iraq Fatalities Investigations; and as chair of the 2014 Hallett Review of the administrative scheme to deal with “on the runs” in Northern Ireland. Baroness Hallett’s appointment to this role follows a recommendation made by the Lord Chief Justice.

    Baroness Hallett is currently acting as coroner in the inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who died in July 2018 following exposure to the nerve agent Novichok. The Home Secretary announced on 18 November that a public inquiry would be established into these matters, and the inquest adjourned, in order to permit all relevant evidence to be heard. A new chair for that inquiry will be appointed early in the new year.

    The public inquiry into covid-19 will play a key role in examining the UK’s pandemic response and ensuring that we learn the right lessons for the future. In doing so, it must ensure that those most affected by the pandemic—including those who have sadly lost loved ones—can play their proper role in the process. I will now consult Baroness Hallett and ministers in the devolved Administrations on the terms of reference for the inquiry and will publish these in draft in the new year. Baroness Hallett has agreed to then take forward a process of public engagement and consultation—including with bereaved families and other affected groups—before the terms of reference are finalised. I will make a further statement when it is time for that process to begin.

  • Julian Smith – 2021 Comments on the Personal Conduct of John Redwood

    Julian Smith – 2021 Comments on the Personal Conduct of John Redwood

    The comments made by Julian Smith, the Conservative MP for Skipton and Ripon, on Twitter on 17 December 2021.

    Just heard you on @BBCr4today – wasn’t the BBC just deciding how to run its own show? ‘usual tricks’ is an unnecessary slur & just corrodes trust in another U.K. institution on the basis of no fact. You got on their show. What is the actual issue?

    [in response to John Redwood – BBC up to usual tricks. Invited me on for a live on Today at 7.10. I agreed. After hearing what I might say they cancelled and are talking about a pre record later! No surprise there.]

  • Julian Smith – 2021 Comments on Personal Conduct of Joy Morrissey After Attack on Public Servant

    Julian Smith – 2021 Comments on Personal Conduct of Joy Morrissey After Attack on Public Servant

    The comments made by Julian Smith, the Conservative MP for Skipton and Ripon, on Twitter on 16 December 2021.

    Personal attacks by any politician on members of the UK Civil Service are completely unacceptable. The UK Civil Service supports the government, works flat out and needs to be encouraged and defended in its role of offering impartial and confident advice.

  • Joy Morrissey – 2021 Comments Criticising Government’s Scientific Advisers

    Joy Morrissey – 2021 Comments Criticising Government’s Scientific Advisers

    The comments made by Joy Morrissey, the Conservative MP for Beaconsfield, on Twitter on 15 December 2021.

    Perhaps the unelected covid public health spokesperson should defer to what our elected Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister have decided.

    I know it’s difficult to remember but that’s how democracy works. This is not a public health socialist state.

  • Steve Reed – 2021 Comments on Personal Conduct of Joy Morrissey After Attack on Public Servant

    Steve Reed – 2021 Comments on Personal Conduct of Joy Morrissey After Attack on Public Servant

    The comments made by Steve Reed, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 16 December 2021.

    It is vital, especially during this pandemic, that our leading scientists have the freedom to give public health advice to the public and to offer their expertise without fear of reprisal.

    As the Omicron variant spreads rapidly through Britain, there must not be any sign of the Government censoring or intimidating our leading scientific experts.

    [the press release in full below]

    Labour has called on the Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, to force his PPS, Joy Morrissey, to apologise or face the sack over her attack on the Chief Medical Officer.

    In response to Chris Whitty’s comment made yesterday that “people should be prioritising the things that really matter to them”, Morrisey posted an attack on him on social media, suggesting Whitty should “defer to what our ELECTED Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister have decided.”

    Morrissey’s attack on the Chief Medical Officer was followed in the House of Commons by Conservative MPs Steve Baker, Greg Smith and former Health Minister Steve Brine, in a further indication that Boris Johnson’s waning authority over his party is enabling Conservative MPs to undermine crucial public health messaging.

    In response, Steve Reed MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, has written to Raab calling the comments “unacceptable and dangerous”.

  • Keir Starmer – 2021 Comments on the Personal Conduct of Boris Johnson

    Keir Starmer – 2021 Comments on the Personal Conduct of Boris Johnson

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on 12 December 2021.

    [asked by Andrew Marr about Boris Johnson hosting a Christmas quiz]

    Well, I do think that new allegation is very serious and the reason it’s serious is because, of course, at the time the Government was asking the public not to see loved ones, and many people didn’t see loved ones last Christmas at all. Many of them didn’t see their loved ones again and that’s why this has created such fury. This is only the latest of the allegations and I remember it was only Wednesday that the Prime Minister stood up in Parliament and said he was furious that he’d just found out that there may have been breaches of the rules in Downing Street.

    He was talking about the party on the 18th December. Now we learn this morning that three days earlier he was involved – he was leading a quiz in Downing Street, which if the reports are accurate involved groups of people – I think it was being said up to 24 people in one room, using their computer screens but actually involving themselves in a social event. And so he’d be doubly furious now he finds that he himself has been involved in something which may have breached the rules.

  • Angela Rayner – 2021 Letter to Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Downing Street Flat

    Angela Rayner – 2021 Letter to Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Downing Street Flat

    The letter sent by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, to Kathryn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, on 10 December 2021.

    Dear Kathryn Stone,

    I write regarding today’s finding by the Electoral Commission that the Conservative Party broke the law by failing to properly declare donations towards the refurbishment of the Prime Minister’s flat in Downing Street.

    In our previous correspondence, you confirmed that you would wait for the result of the Electoral Commission’s investigation before taking any further action. Given the Commission’s finding of a clear breach of the law, I write to request an immediate investigation into the conduct of the Prime Minister in this scandal.

    Today’s report demonstrates that the Prime Minister has failed to declare donations which appears to put him in clear breach of the Members’ Code of Conduct as well as the Conservative Party having breached its own legal obligations.

    I am concerned, although not entirely surprised, by the Prime Minister’s additional failure to properly disclose these donations towards the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat in his declaration of Ministerial interests.

    Revelations in the Electoral Commission’s report call into question the conduct of the Prime Minister in relation to the Ministerial Code. It is clear that the Prime Minister misled the public, along with the independent adviser, when he told Lord Geidt during his investigation that he was unaware of the Lord Brownlow donations until February 2021. Today’s investigation report reveals that the Prime Minister messaged Lord Brownlow via WhatsApp on 29 November 2020, asking him to authorise more money towards the refurbishment works on the residence. This shows that the Prime Minister is in flagrant breach of both the Members’ Code of Conduct and the Ministerial Code.

    The Ministerial Code clearly states: ‘Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament and the public’. This has not happened.

    The Members’ Code of Conduct incorporates the seven ‘Nolan Principles’ for standards of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. With these principles in mind, I hope you will undertake an investigation to determine whether the Prime Minister did in fact breach the Members’ Code of Conduct in this case.

    Yours sincerely,

    Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP
    Deputy Leader of HM Opposition
    Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

  • Michael Ellis – 2021 Statement on Public Procurement

    Michael Ellis – 2021 Statement on Public Procurement

    The statement made by Michael Ellis, the Paymaster General, in the House of Commons on 6 December 2021.

    My noble Friend the Minister of State for Efficiency and Transformation, Lord Agnew Kt, has today made the following written statement:

    Public procurement accounts for around a third of all public expenditure. Now that we have left the EU we have a huge opportunity to reform how this money is spent so that it better meets the needs of this country. We can create a new, simpler procurement regime that will reduce costs for business and the public sector by reducing bureaucracy and improving commercial outcomes. Such a huge amount of Government spending must be leveraged to play its part in the UK’s economic recovery from the pandemic and unleash opportunities for small businesses and social enterprises to innovate in public service delivery.

    This Government intend to put in place a new regime that will ensure we remain compliant with our international obligations. This includes the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Government Procurement which gives British businesses access to £1.3 trillion in public procurement opportunities overseas. This two-way street allows us to maximise value for money for UK taxpayers, whilst ensuring that UK companies are able to compete abroad.

    In December 2020 we published the Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement which set out the proposed new regime. We received over 600 responses with feedback from procurement professionals in central and local government, the education and health sectors, small, medium and large businesses, the charity and social enterprise sectors, academics and procurement lawyers. This, in addition to feedback from a series of workshops attended by almost 1000 stakeholders, provided us with a range of views and insight from contracting authorities, suppliers to the public sector and other interested parties.

    The analysis of feedback has been completed and I am now announcing the publication of a detailed document that summarises responses received to the consultation and provides the Government’s response to each individual question. We have considered carefully all of the comments received. Overall, levels of support for the proposed reforms were high and many responses recognised the ambition and breadth of the package of proposals. The majority of answers to individual questions were positive. In many instances, there is no change to the proposals set out in the Green Paper, however in others the Cabinet Office has clarified or amended the proposals based on the consultation feedback. I am grateful for all those who took the time to respond.

    In summary the proposals will:

    Simplify and consolidate the current legislation as far as possible into a single, uniform regulatory framework, which will remove duplication and make procurement more agile and flexible;

    provide a number of sector-specific features where necessary, including tailored rules to better suit defence and security procurement in order to protect our national interests;

    ensure that procurement supports local and national priorities, allowing public sector buyers to give more weight to bids that create jobs and opportunities for communities, and support action on climate change;

    strengthen the approach to the exclusion of suppliers from procurements, making it simpler, clearer and more focused on suppliers who pose an unacceptable risk;

    give much greater transparency throughout the procurement lifecycle;

    give new rights for subcontractors experiencing payment delays in public sector supply chains;

    put in place a new Procurement Review Unit to oversee the integrity of the public procurement system.

    We are working closely with all the devolved Administrations on the development of the new regime. On 18 August 2021, the Welsh Government published a written statement confirming that provision for Welsh contracting authorities is to be made within the UK Government’s Bill.

    The publication of the consultation response is a key milestone in delivering the ambition to create a procurement regime that better meets the needs of our country. We are currently finalising the Bill to implement these proposals and intend to introduce it as soon as parliamentary time allows.

  • Steve Reed – 2021 Comments on Government Plans to Bypass Judicial Review Rulings

    Steve Reed – 2021 Comments on Government Plans to Bypass Judicial Review Rulings

    The comments made by Steve Reed, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 6 December 2021.

    After a week when No. 10 has behaved as though they are above the law when it comes to Covid regulations, we are now told they want to grant themselves the right to ignore the courts altogether.

    From the bedroom tax to the bombing of Yemen, the judicial review process exists so the public can challenge the Government and other public bodies when it suspects they have broken the law.

    Incredibly, the Government plans to subvert that process by taking on even more arbitrary powers, and in future change the law to comply with their decisions, rather than change their decisions to comply with the law.

    This is nothing to do with the sovereignty of Parliament, but all about the Henry VIII fantasies of a Prime Minister who thinks none of the rules the rest of us have to live by should ever be applied to him.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2021 Comments on His Retirement

    Barry Sheerman – 2021 Comments on His Retirement

    The comments made by Barry Sheerman, the Labour MP for Huddersfield, on 5 December 2021.

    After 40 years as Huddersfield’s Member of Parliament, I have taken the decision that I will not be standing at the next general election.

    Serving Huddersfield has been the honour of my life.

    Thank you to my constituents for the kindness, support and warmth you have shown me.