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Category: Speeches

  • Nigel Adams – 2020 Comments on Vietnam

    Nigel Adams – 2020 Comments on Vietnam

    The text of the comments made by Nigel Adams, the Minister for Asia, on 16 July 2020.

    Through the conversations I have had today, it is clear that out of difficult times come opportunities, and that the UK-Vietnam relationship is set to go from strength to strength.

    Whether that’s in health cooperation with our scientists collaborating to help in the global fight against the disease, work on global issues like climate change, or business links with our bilateral trade tripling from less than £2bn to nearly £6bn in the last 10 years, it is clear that our partnership is growing.

    In the post-COVID-19 new normal, we have an opportunity to recover together and better. While I cannot be in Vietnam this week, I am looking forward to fostering the growing relations between our two countries and the wider region as a whole, as part of our renewed focus on partners in South East Asia.

  • Keir Starmer – 2020 Comments on Social Care

    Keir Starmer – 2020 Comments on Social Care

    Text of the comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 16 July 2020.

    The Government’s failure to protect our care homes at the start of the pandemic was a national shame. I pay tribute to care staff who did everything they could but were left without tests or protective equipment.

    An independent inquiry was always inevitable. But the Prime Minister must now guarantee that social care will be a key area of focus for that inquiry.

    We also need action now ahead of a possible second wave this winter. We need to get to the bottom of what happened in care homes so that lessons can be learned, and lives can be saved. We cannot afford for the same mistakes to be made again.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2020 Comments on the Russian Intelligence Services

    Lisa Nandy – 2020 Comments on the Russian Intelligence Services

    The text of the comments made by Lisa Nandy, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, on 16 July 2020.

    The reported actions of the Russian Intelligence Services are wrong and should be condemned. The Labour Party is committed to working with the government to protect the UK’s national security and safeguard our institutions from foreign interference – none more so than those leading the international effort to develop a Covid-19 vaccine.

    The long-overdue Russia Report must now be made public, and the Foreign Secretary comes to the House of Commons and provide MPs with concrete steps that will be taken to protect the UK from these kinds of foreign cyber-attacks.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2020 Comments on Nursery Education

    Tulip Siddiq – 2020 Comments on Nursery Education

    The text of the comments made by Tulip Siddiq, the Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years, on 16 July 2020.

    It was a pleasure to visit Bessborough Nursery and Pre-School and hear from parents about just how important childcare is to them, both for the development of their children and so that they can get back to work.

    Nurseries are going to be crucial for our economic recovery, yet we did not hear a word from the Chancellor about childcare in his statement last week, despite a growing crisis that threatens the closure of a quarter of all providers. We’ve already lost 14,000 childcare providers in the last five years, and we simply cannot afford to lose any more.

    Labour is arguing for targeted support for the childcare sector to prevent a wave of nursery closures, which would devastate working families and set back out economic recovery.

  • Kate Green – 2020 Comments on Universities Restructuring

    Kate Green – 2020 Comments on Universities Restructuring

    The text of the comments made by Kate Green, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, on 16 July 2020.

    Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on universities, but they continue to provide the research and skills our country needs to move past the crisis.

    Today’s announcement shows that the Government is willing to let cherished institutions fail, with catastrophic consequences for local and regional economies.

    Instead of using this crisis as an excuse to centralise control over universities and force through cuts to courses, the Government should pledge that no university will be allowed to go bust.

  • Julian Lewis – 2020 Comments on Expulsion from the Conservative Party

    Julian Lewis – 2020 Comments on Expulsion from the Conservative Party

    The text of the comments made by Julian Lewis on 16 July 2020, following his expulsion from the Conservative Party.

    Because the ISC (Intelligence and Security Committee) is a special committee, I feel constrained in what I can say. However, the following points are relevant.

    1 – The 2013 Justice and Security Act explicitly removed the right of the Prime Minister to choose the ISC chairman and gave it to the committee members. I remember this well, as I served on the committee from 2010 to 2015 and took part of the legislation through the Commons myself on behalf of the committee. There is no other Conservative MP in the House of Commons with any past experience of working on the ISC.

    2 – It was only yesterday afternoon that I received a text asking me to confirm that I would be voting for the Prime Minister’s preferred candidate for the ISC chair. I did not reply as I considered it an improper request. At no earlier stage did I give any undertaking to vote for any particular candidate.

    3 – In recent days, the official Number 10 spokesman explicitly denied that the Government was seeking to ‘parachute’ a preferred candidate in to the chair, stating that it was a matter for the senior parliamentarians on the committee to decide. It is therefore strange to have the whip removed for failing to vote for the Government’s preferred candidate.

  • Alok Sharma – 2020 Comments on Protecting Jobs

    Alok Sharma – 2020 Comments on Protecting Jobs

    Text of the comments made by Alok Sharma, the Business Secretary, on 15 July 2020.

    The UK’s internal market has functioned seamlessly for centuries. When we exit the transition period at the end of the year, we want to ensure the most successful political and economic union of nations in the world continues to grow and thrive.

    This plan protects jobs and livelihoods. Without these necessary reforms, the way we trade goods and services between the home nations could be seriously impacted, harming the way we do business within our own borders.

    Ensuring businesses will be able to continue trading freely across all four corners of the UK without the burden of inconsistent regulation or additional costs will be essential as we fire up our economic engines as we recover from coronavirus.

  • Michael Ellis – 2020 Comments on Low Sentences

    Michael Ellis – 2020 Comments on Low Sentences

    The text of the comments made by Michael Ellis, the Solicitor General, on 16 July 2020.

    The ULS scheme allows anyone, including victims of crime, to ask for a review of certain sentences they believe are too low.

    A sentencing exercise is not an exact science. In the vast majority of cases, judges get it right. While we are seeing fewer complaints about sentences, the scheme is still important to ensure that certain cases can be reviewed where there may have been a gross error in the sentencing decision. This brings comfort to many victims and their families.

  • Lucy Powell – 2020 Comments on Airlines and Refunds

    Lucy Powell – 2020 Comments on Airlines and Refunds

    The text of the comments made by Lucy Powell, the Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, on 16 July 2020.

    Ultimately the law says that refunds should be offered to customers and the airlines and travel industry should be offering them where consumers want them. That’s why we’ve called on companies to comply with consumer rights as part of our conditions for a bail out of the aviation industry.

    However, the Government must do much more to step in with sector specific support so that we don’t see the collapse of the industry with customers money disappearing and the tax payer footing the bill.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2020 Comments on Labour Market Statistics

    Bridget Phillipson – 2020 Comments on Labour Market Statistics

    The text of the comments made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on 16 July 2020.

    Every lost job is a personal tragedy now and a hammer blow to public finances in the long run.

    Last week the Chancellor should have targeted support to the sectors worst affected by this terrible crisis. Instead his blanket approach won’t deliver for those who need it most.

    The Government still has time to grasp the scale of the challenge and change course. It must act now before it’s too late.