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Tag: Comments

  • Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on Leo Varadkar and Political Relations with Unionists

    Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on Leo Varadkar and Political Relations with Unionists

    The comments made by Doug Beattie, the Leader of the Ulster Unionists, on 16 December 2022.

    The change in Taoiseach in the Republic of Ireland this weekend comes at a pivotal time in negotiations between the European Union and United Kingdom, and in Anglo-Irish relations.

    I wish Micheál Martin well as he steps down from the role. We have had a good and constructive relationship during his time in office. I believe he listened in good faith to what Unionism had to say and understood the importance of having a good working relationship with his country’s nearest neighbours.

    As Leo Varadkar takes up the office again there will undoubtedly be apprehension from Unionism. His contribution during his first term, particularly when it came to Brexit and the Protocol, was not positive and I hope to see early indication that he has learned and matured on these particular issues in the intervening years. He will have a lot of work to do in rebuilding relations with Unionism in Northern Ireland, there is simply no escaping that fact, but we will continue to reach out and engage in good faith.

  • Alan Chambers – 2022 Comments in Support of Striking Nurses

    Alan Chambers – 2022 Comments in Support of Striking Nurses

    The comments made by Alan Chambers, the Ulster Unionist Health Spokesperson, on 15 December 2022.

    I was happy to stand in support of an official Royal College of Nurses picket line at Bangor Community Hospital this morning.

    During my time there I witnessed overwhelming public support for their action. Many gifts of food and beverages were being handed to them by generous members of the public.

    None of the staff were happy that they had been forced into taking such drastic action at this time. Rather than enduring the freezing conditions on the picket line they would all rather have been in their place of work providing the high level of care for their patients that we are so aware and grateful for.

    Listening to their stories it was obvious that this strike is not just about pay but also about the conditions that they have to deal with on a daily basis. They have major concerns over patient safety in hospital emergency departments, they feel no one is listening to them and strike action is their weapon of last resort.

    Retention of the current workforce should be a major obligation on local trusts. The welfare of staff, especially our valued overseas recruits, should be paramount rather than an attitude of just get on with it.

    Ward ratio of nurses to patients is also higher than is fair to nurses who carry the responsibility if things go wrong in the daily care of patients. These are all issues that are causing concern on top of cost of living pressures.

    There is an acceptance that many of these issues can’t be fixed in the short term but NHS staff want to see a political road map created that will plot a way forward. It is a matter of huge frustration that reform of the NHS will remain stalled while the Assembly is in cold storage with no Executive in place. The nurses want to see political leadership provided as soon as possible.

    Former Health Minister Robin Swann MLA was putting many elements of that road map in place but was denied the opportunity to finish the job by the collapse of the Executive and a lack of political support from some quarters in relation to much needed reform of how NHS services are delivered.

  • Louise Haigh – 2022 Comments on Rail Fare Increase

    Louise Haigh – 2022 Comments on Rail Fare Increase

    The comments made by Louise Haigh, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on Twitter on 22 December 2022.

    The Tories have just announced a brutal near-record 6% rail fare rise.

    This savage fare hike will be a sick joke for millions reliant on crumbling services.

    People up and down this country are paying the price for twelve years of Tory failure.

  • Jacob Rees-Mogg – 2022 Comments on Report that Suggested Brexit Reduced UK Growth

    Jacob Rees-Mogg – 2022 Comments on Report that Suggested Brexit Reduced UK Growth

    Comments made by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative MP for North East Somerset, in the Daily Express on 22 December 2022.

    In a report gullibly swallowed by the remainiacs it models what would have happened to the UK economy had it remained in the European Union. It calls this a “doppelganger” method. Inevitably for such an organisation it produces a negative result. However, its methodology is not only flawed but absurd.

    Buried in the text is the admission that “the doppelganger grew a little faster than the UK before 2009” – an admission which makes the whole exercise valueless.

    Even more preposterously it claims that Brexit has a cost that existed even when the UK was in the EU. If our economy grew less quickly than it ought to have done when we were in why is Brexit responsible for our current level of growth?

  • Rachel Reeves – 2022 Comments on Latest GDP Figures

    Rachel Reeves – 2022 Comments on Latest GDP Figures

    The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 22 December 2022.

    GDP data has been revised down, leaving the UK with the worst growth in the G7 in the last quarter.

    The Tories have lost control of the economy and are leaving millions of working people paying the price.

    Only Labour has a proper plan to get our economy growing.

  • Gavin Barwell – 2022 Comments on Smaller Economy Due to Brexit (Baron Barwell)

    Gavin Barwell – 2022 Comments on Smaller Economy Due to Brexit (Baron Barwell)

    The comments made by Gavin Barwell, Lord Barwell, on Twitter on 21 December 2022.

    The latest estimate suggests our economy is 5.5% smaller as a result of Brexit. My former colleagues don’t want to talk about this (nor do Labour), but it explains something else they don’t like: the high tax burden – tax revenues would be £40 billion higher.

    It’s important to acknowledge this is only an estimate – we’re trying to compare what’s happened with what might have happened had we remained. We can’t know the latter for sure, but that doesn’t mean we can’t produce good estimates, @JohnSpringford, who produced this estimate, has tweeted a thread of his own this morning explaining the assumptions behind this estimate and responding to Brexiteer critiques of them.

    Note that some of the impact was immediate after the referendum decision (ie it would have happened whatever version of Brexit we went for); whereas some happened after we left the transition period (ie it was the result of the particular version of Brexit Johnson chose).

    To give an idea of the scale of the impact, the March 2022 Budget raised taxes by £46 billion. In broad order of magnitude terms, these tax rises would not have been necessary if we had remained in the EU.

    Our politicians can’t go on ignoring this economic self-harm forever. That doesn’t mean we have to rejoin, but it does mean we need to reduce the very damaging barriers to trade that we have introduced with our nearest neighbours. It is clear now that was an act of self-harm.

  • Chris Bryant – 2022 Comments on Ukraine

    Chris Bryant – 2022 Comments on Ukraine

    The comments made by Chris Bryant, the Labour MP for Rhondda, in the House of Commons on 20 December 2022.

    Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)

    Of course Putin has got to be defeated, but that means not just going down a military set of avenues but ensuring that every part of British society is doing whatever it can to bring Putin to his knees. Will the Secretary of State—he is the fixed point in an ever turning world with this Government—explain why Unilever is still selling Cornettos and Magnums in Russia, why Infosys is still functioning in Russia, and why many months after Abramovich’s Chelsea was sold, the charity is still not in place to be able to deliver £2.5 billion of that money into the rebuilding of Ukraine?

    Mr Wallace

    On the latter point, I am happy to write to the sports Minister to find out that detail, as I am not across that part of the process.

    The hon. Gentleman is right about brands. If I was running any one of those international companies I would not want my brand to be associated with what is going on in Russia and the Russian regime. As I said in my statement, what is going on in Ukraine is not a few isolated units but part of the system, as is Russia’s treatment of its own people who disagree with the policy, which includes people being locked up for long periods simply for criticising the special military operation. I urge those international brands to think very carefully about continuing to trade in Russia.

    On what more we can do, I think—I am happy to be corrected, perhaps by the Leader of the House, who is sitting next to me—that the next steps of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will make it harder for people to keep and launder money in the United Kingdom. That has got to be the right thing. When I was Security Minister I did a considerable amount on that, and there is still more to do.

  • Alicia Kearns – 2022 Comments on Ukraine

    Alicia Kearns – 2022 Comments on Ukraine

    The comments made by Alicia Kearns, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, in the House of Commons on 20 December 2022.

    Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)

    Will my right hon. Friend share his assessment of likely Russian military doctrinal changes as we go into next year? Does he believe that Gerasimov has indeed been fired? Will he reassure us that he has been having strong conversations with his Belarusian counterparts following Putin’s visit yesterday, to deter them from becoming combatants in this illegal renewed war?

    Mr Wallace

    I am always happy to speak to my Belarusian counterpart. I have not engaged directly with Belarus—perhaps I should try, and I will. The open source commentary around Gerasimov’s future is matched by open source commentary about the future of other generals, but we can say for sure that the generals around Putin are not in agreement about the success or failure rate of the special operation, and that is causing significant frictions. We will see what the outcome is, but we should be under no illusion that President Putin is still in charge of Russia, and as long as he is, he is determined to drive the special operation along, and we in Europe must stand and resist.

  • Dave Doogan – 2022 Comments on Service Family Accommodation

    Dave Doogan – 2022 Comments on Service Family Accommodation

    The comments made by Dave Doogan, the SNP spokesperson on defence, in the House of Commons on 20 December 2022.

    Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)

    Once again, we are debating with a Minister forced to atone for the appalling housing conditions inflicted upon our armed forces. This is, of course, a decades-long problem, which the MOD continues to show no strategy to resolve. Pinnacle was recently, in March, awarded a £144 million contract to manage these homes. This money has barely scratched the surface. It has been reported that families are still being issued with sleeping bags and are sleeping in their coats in mould-ridden houses, and some go weeks without heating. Some houses are so badly insulated that families cannot afford to turn the heating on. How can the Minister defend that enduring shame?

    Senior officers and junior ranks alike are frustrated by an unresponsive private sector facilities management contractor. That is further compounded by the now demonstrably failing Defence Infrastructure Organisation. Is that failure in political leadership caused by a lack of funding, the DIO’s incompetence, a failure of the contractors, or all three? Can the Minister say specifically that he has full confidence in the executive officer team of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation?

    Alex Chalk

    On the plan, as I have been at pains to underscore, the MOD is specifically putting money into that area over and above the normal maintenance contract. That is absolutely critical. It is what the hon. Gentleman would do in his own house if he wanted to get on top on maintenance issues: if he were able to, he would invest in it to ensure that things do not go wrong in future. That is precisely what the MOD is doing by way of a plan. To put that into context, £350 million is around double what is paid annually to keep on top of the problem, so there is a plan.

    On funding, lest we forget, in the spending review of 2020, a full £24 billion was released by the then Chancellor and now Prime Minister to show that this Government will always get behind funding our armed forces and ensuring that they have the resources they need to be lethal, agile, expeditionary and so on.

    On confidence, at the moment, frankly we do not have confidence in Pinnacle, VIVO and Amey. I am very disappointed by the performance that has been discharged so far. The hon. Gentleman asks about DIO. I do not think I am betraying any confidence in saying that some exacting questions need to be asked about precisely how this contract was entered into. Those questions have started to be asked, and I can assure him that they will go in the direction of the evidence—I make that clear. I want to get to the bottom of who knew what and when, and how this was allowed to happen.

  • Mark Francois – 2022 Comments on Service Family Accommodation

    Mark Francois – 2022 Comments on Service Family Accommodation

    The comments made by Mark Francois, the Conservative MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, in the House of Commons on 20 December 2022.

    Mr Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford) (Con)

    In February 2020, I co-authored a report called “Stick or Twist?” for the Prime Minister, copied to the Defence Secretary, after a year-long study into why armed forces personnel leave. Poor standards of accommodation was one of the major factors why they decide to stop serving the Crown. In that report, we pleaded with Ministers not to go ahead with the Future Defence Infrastructure Services contract, but to look at better alternatives, such as a bespoke forces housing association instead. Nevertheless, they ploughed on. FDIS will never work. It is structurally dysfunctional. I say to the MOD: “Please, on behalf of service personnel and their families, rip off the plaster, admit you were wrong, create a workstream on accommodation as part of the integrated review, and do something better that actually works.”

    Alex Chalk

    As my right hon. Friend indicates, he has been assiduous in raising the issue of service family accommodation, and I commend him for doing so. There will have to be a long, hard look at FDIS, and I suspect—in fact, I know—that the MOD will look carefully at the points he made in his “Stick or Twist?” report. We will have to see what the lessons are from entering into contracts such as this, and it may be that he is absolutely right.