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  • Nadine Dorries – 2022 Comments on National Youth Guarantee

    Nadine Dorries – 2022 Comments on National Youth Guarantee

    The comments made by Nadine Dorries, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 1 February 2022.

    We want every young person, no matter where they’re from, to get the best start in life. That is why we are supporting young people with a National Youth Guarantee to access regular club activities, adventures away from home and volunteering opportunities.

    Our Youth Review told us exactly what young people want and that’s what this Government is delivering on – levelling up opportunities for young people, regardless where you were born or where you are headed in life.

  • Duncan Baker – 2022 Speech on the Sue Gray Report

    Duncan Baker – 2022 Speech on the Sue Gray Report

    The speech made by Duncan Baker, the Conservative MP for North Norfolk, in the House of Commons on 31 January 2022.

    North Norfolk consistently had some of the lowest levels of infection in the country; we followed the rules. Many of my constituents have been incensed by this matter, and the damage it is doing to the Government is enormous. It is about integrity and trust. May I ask again, because people want to know, how can the Prime Minister satisfy my constituents and assure me that full accountability and transparency on the findings of the final Gray report will swiftly follow?

  • Aaron Bell – 2022 Speech on the Sue Gray Report

    Aaron Bell – 2022 Speech on the Sue Gray Report

    The speech made by Aaron Bell, the Conservative MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, in the House of Commons on 31 January 2022.

    It seems that a lot of people attended events in May 2020. The one I recall attending was my grandmother’s funeral. She was a wonderful woman. As well as her love for her family, she served her community as a councillor and she served Dartford Conservative Association loyally for many years. I drove for three hours from Staffordshire to Kent. There were only 10 people at the funeral; many people who loved her had to watch online. I did not hug my siblings. I did not hug my parents. I gave a eulogy and afterwards I did not even go into her house for a cup of tea; I drove back, for three hours, from Kent to Staffordshire. Does the Prime Minister think I am a fool?

  • Lindsay Hoyle – 2022 Statement on Comments Made by Suzanne Webb

    Lindsay Hoyle – 2022 Statement on Comments Made by Suzanne Webb

    The statement made by Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, in the House on 31 January 2022 after Suzanne Webb suggested the Opposition were prolonging the debate.

    Just a moment. In fairness, the Prime Minister asked to make the statement. I am not going to attack the Prime Minister for making the statement, and I certainly would not expect it from his own side.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2022 Speech on the Sue Gray Report

    Caroline Lucas – 2022 Speech on the Sue Gray Report

    The speech made by Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, in the House of Commons on 31 January 2022.

    The shocking incompetence of the Met police has meant that we have a report that has been gutted, but frankly, we did not need Sue Gray to tell us about the level of dishonour and deception that has infected not only Downing Street but so many Tory Members. It has been excruciating to watch so many Tory MPs and Ministers willing to defend the indefensible and calculating what is in their own party political interests rather than what is right for our country, complicit in the same decaying system where the pursuit of power trumps integrity. The Prime Minister is certainly a bad apple, but the whole tree is rotten and the whole country wants reform. Could we not make a start with a major overhaul of the ministerial code, given that its founding assumption—that it could be policed by the Prime Minister of the day, because they would be a person of honesty and integrity—has been so widely, comprehensively and utterly discredited?

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Speech on the Sue Gray Report

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Speech on the Sue Gray Report

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, in the House of Commons on 31 January 2022.

    I would like to thank Sue Gray for the diligence and professionalism with which she has carried out her work. It is no fault of hers that she has only been able to produce an update today, not the full report.

    The Prime Minister repeatedly assured the House that the guidance was followed and the rules were followed. But we now know that 12 cases have reached the threshold of criminal investigation, which I remind the House means that there is evidence of serious and flagrant breaches of lockdown, including the party on 20 May 2020, which we know the Prime Minister attended, and the party on 13 November 2020 in the Prime Minister’s flat. There can be no doubt that the Prime Minister himself is now subject to criminal investigation.

    The Prime Minister must keep his promise to publish Sue Gray’s report in full when it is available. But it is already clear that the report discloses the most damning conclusion possible. Over the last two years, the British public have been asked to make the most heart-wrenching sacrifices—a collective trauma endured by all, enjoyed by none. Funerals have been missed, dying relatives have been unvisited. Every family has been marred by what we have been through. And revelations about the Prime Minister’s behaviour have forced us all to rethink and relive those darkest moments. Many have been overcome by rage, by grief and even by guilt. Guilt that because they stuck to the law, they did not see their parents one last time. Guilt that because they did not bend the rules, their children went months without seeing friends. Guilt that because they did as they were asked, they did not go and visit lonely relatives.

    But people should not feel guilty. They should feel pride in themselves and their country, because by abiding by those rules they have saved the lives of people they will probably never meet. They have shown the deep public spirit and the love and respect for others that has always characterised this nation at its best.

    Our national story about covid is one of a people who stood up when they were tested, but that will be forever tainted by the behaviour of this Conservative Prime Minister. By routinely breaking the rules he set, the Prime Minister took us all for fools. He held people’s sacrifice in contempt. He showed himself unfit for office.

    The Prime Minister’s desperate denials since he was exposed have only made matters worse. Rather than come clean, every step of the way, he has insulted the public’s intelligence. Now he has finally fallen back on his usual excuse: it is everybody’s fault but his. They go; he stays. Even now, he is hiding behind a police investigation into criminality in his home and his office.

    The Prime Minister gleefully treats what should be a mark of shame as a welcome shield, but the British public are not fools. They never believed a word of it. They think that the Prime Minister should do the decent thing and resign. Of course, he will not, because he is a man without shame. Just as he has done throughout the life, he has damaged everyone and everything around him along the way. His colleagues have spent weeks defending the indefensible, touring the TV studios, parroting his absurd denials, degrading themselves and their offices, fraying the bond of trust between the Government—[Interruption.]

    Mr Speaker

    Order. The hon. Member for South Ribble (Katherine Fletcher) is my neighbour. I expect better from my neighbours.

    Keir Starmer

    They have spent weeks fraying the bond of trust between the Government and the public, eroding our democracy and the rule of law.

    Margaret Thatcher once said:

    “The first duty of Government is to uphold the law. If it tries to bob and weave and duck around that duty when its inconvenient…then so will the governed”.

    To govern this country is an honour, not a birthright. It is an act of service to the British people, not the keys to a court to parade to friends. It requires honesty, integrity and moral authority. I cannot tell hon. Members how many times people have said to me that this Prime Minister’s lack of integrity is somehow “priced in”—that his behaviour and character do not matter. I have never accepted that and I never will.

    Whatever people’s politics, whatever party they vote for, honesty and decency matter. Our great democracy depends on them. Cherishing and nurturing British democracy is what it means to be patriotic. There are Conservative Members who know that, and they know that the Prime Minister is incapable of it. The question that they must now ask themselves is what they are going to do about it.

    Conservative Members can heap their reputation, the reputation of their party, and the reputation of this country on the bonfire that is the Prime Minister’s leadership, or they can spare the country a Prime Minister totally unworthy of his responsibilities. It is their duty to do so. They know better than anyone how unsuitable he is for high office. Many of them knew in their hearts that we would inevitably come to this one day and they know that, as night follows day, continuing his leadership will mean further misconduct, cover-up and deceit. Only they can end this farce. The eyes of the country are upon them. They will be judged by the decisions they take now.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Statement on the Sue Gray Report

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Statement on the Sue Gray Report

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on 31 January 2022.

    With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement. First, I express my deepest gratitude to Sue Gray and all the people who have contributed to this report, which I have placed in the Library of this House and which the Government have published in full today for everyone to read.

    I will address the report’s findings in this statement, but first I want to say sorry. I am sorry for the things we simply did not get right and sorry for the way this matter has been handled. It is no use saying that this or that was within the rules, and it is no use saying that people were working hard—this pandemic was hard for everyone. We asked people across this country to make the most extraordinary sacrifices—not to meet loved ones, not to visit relatives before they died—and I understand the anger that people feel.

    But it is not enough to say sorry. This is a moment when we must look at ourselves in the mirror, and we must learn. While the Metropolitan police must yet complete their investigation, and that means there are no details of specific events in Sue Gray’s report, I of course accept Sue Gray’s general findings in full, and above all her recommendation that we must learn from these events and act now.

    With respect to the events under police investigation, she says:

    “No conclusions should be drawn, or inferences made from this other than it is now for the police to consider the relevant material in relation to those incidents.”

    More broadly, she finds:

    “There is significant learning to be drawn from these events which must be addressed immediately across Government. This does not need to wait for the police investigations to be concluded.”

    That is why we are making changes now to the way Downing Street and the Cabinet Office run, so that we can get on with the job—the job that I was elected to do, and the job that this Government were elected to do.

    First, it is time to sort out what Sue Gray rightly calls the “fragmented and complicated” leadership structures of Downing Street, which she says

    “have not evolved sufficiently to meet the demands”

    of the expansion of No. 10. We will do that, including by creating an Office of the Prime Minister, with a permanent secretary to lead No. 10.

    Secondly, it is clear from Sue Gray’s report that it is time not just to review the civil service and special adviser codes of conduct, wherever necessary, to ensure that they take account of Sue Gray’s recommendations, but to make sure that those codes are properly enforced. Thirdly, I will be saying more in the coming days about the steps we will take to improve the No. 10 operation and the work of the Cabinet Office, to strengthen Cabinet Government, and to improve the vital connection between No. 10 and Parliament.

    Mr Speaker, I get it and I will fix it. I want to say to say to the people of this country: I know what the issue is. [Hon. Members: “No!”] Yes. [Hon. Members: “You!”] It is whether this Government can be trusted to deliver. And I say yes, we can be trusted—yes, we can be trusted to deliver. We said that we would get Brexit done, and we did. We are setting up freeports around the whole United Kingdom. I have been to one of them today that is creating tens of thousands of new jobs. We said we would get this country through covid, and we did. We delivered the fastest vaccine roll-out in Europe and the fastest booster programme of any major economy, so that we have been able to restore people’s freedoms faster than any comparable economy. At the same time, we have been cutting crime by 14%, building 40 new hospitals and rolling out gigabit broadband, and delivering all the promises of our 2019 agenda, so that we have the fastest economic growth of the G7. We have shown that we have done things that people thought were impossible, and that we can deliver for the British people. [Interruption.] I remind those on the Opposition Benches that the reason we are coming out of covid so fast is partly because we doubled the speed of the booster roll-out.

    I can tell the House and this country that we are going to bring the same energy and commitment to getting on with the job, to delivering for the British people, and to our mission to unite and level up across this country. I commend this statement to the House.

  • Sue Gray – 2022 Report into Lockdown Parties at Downing Street

    Sue Gray – 2022 Report into Lockdown Parties at Downing Street

    The report issued by Sue Gray on 31 January 2022.

    Report [in .pdf format]

  • Liz Truss – 2022 Article about Threat from Russia

    Liz Truss – 2022 Article about Threat from Russia

    The article written by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, on 29 January 2022 for the Daily Telegraph and republished by the Government.

    Moscow’s campaign against Ukraine and fellow democracies is undermining the very foundation of European security. And so, it is vital we face down the clear and present threat posed by Russia.

    The Prime Minister will spearhead diplomatic efforts by talking to President Putin and travelling to the region in the coming days. Tomorrow, the UK will join talks at the UN Security Council to apply pressure on Russia to pursue the path of diplomacy. I will be flying out to Moscow within the next fortnight.

    The stakes are high. Over 100,000 troops are now massed on Ukraine’s border. Russia has attacked Ukraine before, illegally annexing Crimea in 2014 and bringing war to the Donbas region, so the danger is real.

    This malign activity goes beyond the borders of Ukraine. Russia is using its influence to fan the flames of discord in the Western Balkans. Russian forces are continuing to arrive in Belarus for a so-called “joint exercise” close to NATO’s borders. In recent days, Russia has intensified its brinkmanship by planning naval exercises off the Irish coast and increasing its naval presence in the Baltic Sea, prompting Sweden to send troops to reinforce one of its islands.

    That is why we are reinforcing our diplomatic efforts with deterrence. We are offering NATO additional fast jets, warships and military specialists. We are doubling troop numbers to Estonia and have the HMS Prince of Wales on standby to move should tensions rise further. We are NATO’s biggest spender in Europe on defence and prepared to deploy our forces in line with that.

    The United Kingdom is proud to be stepping up to take the lead in defence of freedom and democracy through credible deterrence and diplomacy. Even at the height of the Cold War, we were able to agree on the principles of a more secure Europe. Over more than four decades, we made huge advances towards a freer and safer world through agreements ranging from the 1975 Helsinki Final Act to the 1995 Dayton Agreement and the 2014 Minsk Protocol.

    Yet Russia is jeopardising this hard-won progress with its reckless behaviour and unjustified aggression. It could not be more important for Russia to engage diplomatically rather than on the battlefield. That is why we have said many times, alongside our allies in NATO and through the G7 Presidency, that any further Russian invasion of Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake with severe costs, including an unprecedented package of coordinated sanctions with our partners.

    Our quarrel is not with the Russian people, but the policies pursued by their leaders. They repress freedom and democracy, seeking to silence courageous organisations like Andrei Sakharov’s ‘Memorial’, which has fought for decades for human rights. And now they risk landing ordinary Russians in an intractable quagmire to rival the Soviet-Afghan war and Chechnya.

    There is a way out of this situation. It lies in respecting our past achievements and sticking to our longstanding commitments to respect each other’s borders. That can only start with Russia de-escalating, ending its aggressive campaign and engaging in meaningful talks. We are serious about improving security for all. In the last week, the US and NATO have presented substantive proposals on areas for discussion that would increase transparency and reduce risk. Together, we are urging Russia to sit down for proper negotiations, based on the key principles of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. The alternative can only end in tragedy: with an incursion leading inevitably to huge suffering and severe economic consequences through sanctions.

    The ball is in Russia’s court. I will continue to make the case with our allies and directly to Moscow for a diplomatic solution. But I am also ready to take the necessary steps to spell out the consequences of continued belligerence.

    Ukraine has the right to determine its own future. However, President Putin made clear in his manifesto last summer – “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians” – that he believed “the true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia”. We cannot turn a blind eye to any attempt to impose that partnership by force.

    What happens in Europe matters for the world. Over 30 years ago, we joined our partners in Moscow, where we agreed that fundamental freedoms like human rights are “matters of direct and legitimate concern to all”. That same principle drives us today to stand steadfast with Ukraine in support of its future as a free democracy.

    At this critical time, we are joining forces with our allies to show that there can never be rewards for aggression. By standing up for our ideas and ideals, we will together ensure the world is a freer, richer and safer place.

     

  • Grant Shapps – 2022 Comments on Slashing Compensation to Passengers for 3 Hour Domestic Flight Delays

    Grant Shapps – 2022 Comments on Slashing Compensation to Passengers for 3 Hour Domestic Flight Delays

    The comments made by Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, on 31 January 2022. The comments follow an announcement that the Government is looking to remove EU261 protection from UK domestic flights, cutting compensation for three hour delays and changing the system for shorter delays.

    People deserve a service that puts passengers first when things go wrong, so today I’ve launched proposals that aim to bolster airline consumer protections and rights.

    We’re making the most of our Brexit dividend with our new freedoms outside of the EU and this review will help build a trustworthy, reputable sector.