The comments made by Chris Bryant, the Labour MP for the Rhondda, on Twitter on 17 November 2022.
This seems a breach of the important purdah rules. Chancellors have had to resign for far lesser breaches.
Tag: Comments
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Bambos Charalambous – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Whether Dominic Raab had used a Non-Disclosure Agreement
The parliamentary question asked by Bambos Charalambous, the Labour MP for Enfield Southgate, in the House of Commons on 16 November 2022.
Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)
Can the Deputy Prime Minister tell the House if he has ever entered into a non-disclosure agreement connected to a complaint against him?
The Deputy Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman is referring to an employment dispute that was settled before I entered the House. It was not an NDA but it did involve a confidentiality clause, which was standard at the time.
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Cat Smith – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Education Funding
The parliamentary question asked by Cat Smith, the Labour MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood, in the House of Commons on 16 November 2022.
Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)
Our small rural schools in Wyre face particular difficulties. The headteacher at Scorton and Calder Vale St John Church of England Primary Schools told me that:“Budgets in schools like ours are stretched as we have to pay for lots of additional services which larger schools can provide in-house.”She has to hire the village hall for PE because the schools have no hall, and she has to hire taxis to bring in school meals because they have no kitchens. Given the school budget cuts, what does the Deputy Prime Minister advise this headteacher to cut from our local children?
The Deputy Prime Minister
We are very sympathetic to the challenges that all our schools face. More will be said about specific measures tomorrow, but the hon. Lady should stand assured that we are the top spenders as a percentage of GDP on primary and secondary education in the G7, and that standards, which matter to pupils and parents the most, have increased, with the proportion of schools rated good or outstanding up from 68% in 2010 to 87% today.
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Edward Leigh – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Migrants Crossing the English Channel
The parliamentary question asked by Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, in the House of Commons on 16 November 2022.
Edward Leigh
Even if an illegal migrant is stopped on a French beach, he will simply come back the next day as no one is ever arrested. Will the Deputy Prime Minister ensure that we remove all pull factors for illegal migration by using his new Bill of Rights so that we have the legal power to arrest, detain and deport illegal migrants, and, for instance, have a review about a national identity card so that people do not just vanish and never get deported?
The Deputy Prime Minister
I totally agree that we need to strain every sinew to stop this appalling trade in misery. There is no silver bullet, although I think the agreement the Home Secretary made with her French opposite number will help, and we are embedding UK officials with their French counterparts for the first time. My right hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) is right to say that the Bill of Rights can also help, not least in preventing interim orders from the Strasbourg Court from being recognised in UK courts. On ID cards, we already have e-visas for people coming to visit and live in the UK, and they act as digital evidence of a person’s immigration status. What is clear, however, is that we will have to do all these things in the teeth of opposition from Labour Front Benchers.
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Angela Rayner – 2022 Parliamentary Question about the Personal Conduct of Dominic Raab
The parliamentary question asked by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, in the House of Commons on 16 November 2022.
Angela Rayner
After days of dodging and denial, this morning, the Deputy Prime Minister finally acknowledged formal complaints about his misconduct, but his letter contains no hint of admission or apology. This is Anti-Bullying Week. Will he apologise?
The Deputy Prime Minister
On the economic challenges, which are global and caused by covid and the war in Ukraine, we have got a plan to grip inflation, balance the books and drive economic growth. If we listened to the right hon. Lady, debt would go up, unemployment would go up and working Britons would pay the price.
The right hon. Lady asked about the complaints. I received notification this morning and I immediately asked the Prime Minister to set up an independent inquiry into them. I am confident that I behaved professionally throughout, but of course I will engage thoroughly, and I look forward, may I say, to transparently addressing any claims that have been made.
Angela Rayner
Let me get this straight: the Deputy Prime Minister has had to demand an investigation into himself because the Prime Minister is too weak to get a grip. We have a Prime Minister, who has been in office less than a month, with a disgraced Cabinet Minister who resigned with his good wishes; the Home Secretary, who breached the ministerial code and risked national security, still clings on; and now the Prime Minister defends his deputy, whose behaviour has been described as “abrasive”, “controlling” and “demeaning”, with junior staff too scared to even enter his office. And that is without mentioning the flying tomatoes. The Deputy Prime Minister knows that his behaviour was unacceptable, so what is he still doing here?
The Deputy Prime Minister
I am here, and happy to address any specific points the right hon. Lady wishes to make. [Hon. Members: “Flying tomatoes?”] That never happened. I will thoroughly rebut and refute any of the claims that have been made. She has not, in fact, put a specific point to me. If she wishes to do so—and this is her opportunity—I would be very glad to address it. [Interruption.]
Angela Rayner
Maybe the Deputy Prime Minister just does not think there is a problem, or maybe he is suggesting that civil servants are liars. Now he is reportedly banned from meeting junior staff without supervision, while we await an inquiry that the Prime Minister has not even instigated from a watchdog that he has not even appointed. In the Prime Minister’s letter, he did not say how and when this will be investigated, or by who—no ethics, no integrity and no mandate. And still no ethics adviser. When will the Government appoint an independent ethics adviser and drain the swamp?
The Deputy Prime Minister
The recruitment of the new ethics adviser is already under way and taking place at pace.
There is a reason that the right hon. Lady has come to the Dispatch Box with her usual mix of bluster and mud-slinging: it is because Labour does not have a plan. We are helping people into work; she is in hock to the unions. We are protecting our borders; she voted against every single measure to control illegal immigration to this country. We are delivering cleaner growth and energy security; she wants to send billions in reparation payments abroad. The British people want a Government who can deal with the real challenges, and Labour Members are not up to it.
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Angela Rayner – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Russia Attacking Ukrainian Infrastructure
The parliamentary question asked by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, in the House of Commons on 16 November 2022.
I join the Deputy Prime Minister in his remarks regarding the Sikh community and, most importantly, the incident in Poland last night. I know that the whole House stands united in our support for the Ukrainian people and sends condolences for the tragic loss of life. Britain has an unshakeable commitment to NATO and our allies, including Poland. The Government have rightly requested that we establish the facts and avoid unhelpful speculation, so I understand that the Deputy Prime Minister might not be able to go further today, but does he agree that, last night’s events aside, the fact that Russia is launching missile attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure while world leaders meet shows the utter contempt that Putin has for international order?
The Deputy Prime Minister
I thank the right hon. Lady. I entirely agree with what she said. President Putin started this war, and whatever determination is made in relation to the events yesterday, they result whether directly or indirectly from the unlawful aggression perpetrated by the Russian Government. That is why the Prime Minister is out at the G20 rallying support, making sure that we wean ourselves off energy dependence on Russia, and making sure that our energy supply is from other parts of the world. I agree 100% with what the right hon. Lady said.
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Rachel Reeves – 2022 Comments on the Economy
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on Twitter on 17 November 2022.
Britain is a great country, with fantastic strengths.
But, because of 12 years of Tory government, we are being held back.
What people will be asking themselves today is this: am I and my family better off with the Tories?
The answer is no.
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Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on ‘Tories Holding Country Back’
The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on Twitter on 17 November 2022.
I love this country. But the Tories are holding us back. Britain is falling behind on the global stage, while mortgages, food and energy costs all go up and up. Our country needs a plan for growth, and an economy that works for working people. That’s Labour plan.
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Simon Clarke – 2022 Comments on Jeremy Hunt’s Financial Statement
The comments made by Simon Clarke, the Conservative MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, on Twitter on 17 November 2022.
The Chancellor rightly commits to more renewable energy, which is economically rational, environmentally responsible and good for our national security. But to those ends, we should also press ahead with ending the ban on new *onshore* wind.
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Caroline Nokes – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Biometric Residence Permits
The parliamentary question asked by Caroline Nokes, the Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North, in the House of Commons on 14 November 2022.
Caroline Nokes
What steps she is taking to tackle delays in the processing of biometric residence permits.
The Minister for Immigration (Robert Jenrick)
There are currently no material delays in the physical production or delivery of biometric residence permits. We aim to deliver a BRP within seven working days of the immigration decision. All BRPs are currently being produced within 48 hours of receipt of a production request at the secure printing facility. Our secure delivery partner, FedEx, is attempting to deliver 99% of BRPs within 48 hours of their production and is successfully delivering nearly 80% of them first time.
Caroline Nokes
I thank my right hon. Friend for those statistics, which appear to be somewhat at odds with the experience of my constituents: Oksana Vakaliuk, a refugee from Ukraine, has been waiting since 1 May for her BRP; Adnam Hameed was granted his tier 2 visa in May and was still waiting for his BRP last month; and Mohammed Poswall has been waiting since July for his wife to receive the spousal visa stamp in her passport. I really appreciate the work that my right hon. Friend is doing in this respect, but the challenge is that these individuals could be working in our economy, contributing to meeting our skills shortages and paying tax. Will he meet me to go through these and other cases to help understand what is causing the delays, which may be specific to my region?
Robert Jenrick
I would be happy to meet my right hon. Friend. As I said in answer to her initial question, the data suggests that the vast majority of customers are receiving their BRPs within seven days and the system is working in an acceptable fashion. But if cases are falling through the cracks, it is of course right that we aim to fix that, and I would be pleased to meet her.