UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Peter Bone

  • Peter Bone – 2022 Speech on Removal of Asylum Seekers to Rwanda

    Peter Bone – 2022 Speech on Removal of Asylum Seekers to Rwanda

    The speech made by Peter Bone, the Conservative MP for Wellingborough, in the House of Commons on 13 June 2022.

    I congratulate the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Stuart C. McDonald) on getting the urgent question, but I will not congratulate him on the language that he used, or the shadow Home Secretary on the language that she used. Mixing up the difference between smugglers and traffickers shows little knowledge of the subject.

    We hear that a number of the people who were to be on the flight to Rwanda tomorrow have somehow—miraculously—got some leftie lawyer to intervene and stop it. May I suggest to the Minister that instead of booking 50 people on to each flight to Rwanda, he books 250 people so that, when half the people are stopped from travelling, we would still have a full flight? Come on—get on and send them.

    Tom Pursglove

    As ever, I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his suggestion, which I very much take on board. For obvious reasons, I am not in a position to comment on operational matters, but his point is well made and well argued, as his points often are.

  • Peter Bone – 2020 Speech on Covid-19

    Peter Bone – 2020 Speech on Covid-19

    Below is the text of the speech made by Peter Bone, the Conservative MP for Wellingborough, in the House of Commons on 12 May 2020.

    What a good job the Prime Minister is doing. He is showing superb leadership in the most terrible of times, but the Government cannot win. So many of my constituents are emailing me to say that the Government have eased the lockdown too much, and an equal number are saying that they have not eased it enough. The Opposition used to say that they wanted a grown-up conversation about the future, but when the Government provide just that, the Opposition scream, “It’s too confusing!” It seems that the Opposition are facing both ways at the same time.

    But that does not excuse how badly the Government communicated their message this weekend. The television presentation by the Prime Minister was plain wrong. Too many of the Prime Minister’s special advisers and aides think they are running a presidential Government, where the Prime Minister goes on television and announces all sorts of Executive orders without any reference to Parliament. Many of them have clearly been watching too many episodes of “The West Wing”. They just do not understand how government works in this country.

    Let me run through some of the reasons why Sunday’s television address was wrong. First, the Speaker had warned the Government twice not to do it. He made it clear that the Government should announce new policy in the Chamber of the House of Commons first. The Government decided to disobey the Speaker’s wishes. That is not how our parliamentary democracy works.

    Secondly, the Government clearly breached the ministerial code. On page 23, under the section “Ministers and Parliament”, it says in bold type:

    “When Parliament is in session, the most important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance, in Parliament.”

    Clearly the Prime Minister’s television address breached the ministerial code.

    Thirdly, every Member of Parliament knows in detail the concerns and issues raised by the coronavirus pandemic because we have hundreds and hundreds of emails, letters and phone calls from worried and concerned constituents. MPs would have been in the best position to constructively question the Prime Minister when the change in policy was announced.

    Fourthly, the fine details of the change in policy, which has now been published in a 51-page document, should have been published at the same time as any change in Government policy. That would have enabled people to understand the exact detail of the changes, but it was not published, and therefore uncertainty and confusion reigned.

    Fifthly, with parliamentary scrutiny of Government policy severely hampered by the hybrid nature of proceedings, the Government should have gone out of their way to give the utmost opportunity for Parliament to scrutinise changes to the most important issue facing the country.

    What should have happened was that a statement should have been made in the House of Commons first. The Prime Minister should have been questioned by MPs. The Command Paper with the details should have been published at the same time, and there should have been absolutely no media briefing in advance. That would have given the best launch to the changes to Government policy.​

    I would like the Minister who winds up the debate to confirm that what happened on Sunday was a mistake and that in future, all new Government policy will be announced in Parliament first. In conclusion, spin and presentation do not make good government. It is Parliament that makes good government.

  • Peter Bone – 2020 Speech on New Public Holiday

    Below is the text of the speech made by Peter Bone, the Conservative MP for Wellingborough, in the House of Commons on 4 March 2020.

    I beg to move,

    That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for an annual national public holiday on the Friday nearest to 23 June; and for connected purposes.

    I thank my excellent senior parliamentary assistant, Jordan Ayres, for his help with this.

    This public holiday will be called United Kingdom Day. In the recent Queen’s Speech, the Government included an employment Bill, which is intended to

    “Protect and enhance workers’ rights”

    in the UK post Brexit, and one very important issue that the Government should consider when enhancing workers’ rights is that of public holidays. In England and Wales, we have only eight of those each year. We have the lowest number of bank holidays in Europe—Germany has nine; France, Poland and Italy have 11; Greece and Belgium have 12; Austria has 13; Malta has 14; and Cyprus has 17. In the ranking of public holidays throughout the world, the UK is drastically low, at 226th out of 246 countries.

    Given that ours is the fifth largest economy in the world, and given that we have world-leading experts on medical research, financial services, aerospace technology, artificial intelligence, electronic systems and much more, it is time that the Government recognised the tremendous work carried out by British people. If we are serious about wanting to enhance workers’ rights, let us at least create one extra bank holiday. Critics will argue that businesses will have to absorb an extra day of paid leave for their workers, but every four years, owing to the leap year, millions of people up and down the country already work an extra day for free on 29 February.

    I spent more than 30 years in business, and anyone who has run a business knows that its success is down not to them, but to the quality and productivity of their employees. Companies do not succeed by making workers work as for many hours as possible; they succeed if their employees are happy and productive.

    Apart from those in Northern Ireland, there are no bank holidays between May and August, and a bank holiday in June would help to break up that long gap. Workers would have a day off to look forward to, at a time when the weather should be good, which would not only have a positive effect on their health and wellbeing, but be a great boost to their productivity, in turn helping businesses to thrive and prosper.

    There are a number of reasons why the Friday nearest to 23 June each year should be the new bank holiday. First, the second Monday in June is Her Majesty’s official birthday. She is the longest-serving monarch in our history, and this would be a fantastic opportunity to celebrate her service and dedication to our great country. Moreover, the Queen was crowned in June. Throughout the intervening time, she has been a steadfast and devoted monarch. It would be fitting to allow the people of the United Kingdom to celebrate Her Majesty’s birthday, all her wonderful achievements, and the way in which she guides the country through all its highs and lows.​

    Since 2003, 23 June has already been recognised as United Nations Public Service Day, so it is a wonderful opportunity to pay tribute to the fantastic people who work in our public services—those in our national health service, armed forces, police, fire services and schools, and all the many, many others who are unsung heroes. Unfortunately, however, the occasion has barely been recognised in the United Kingdom, and I believe it is time we corrected that. Millions of people devote their lives to public service and make great sacrifices for the good of the country. They deserve our thanks and recognition for their services, and by creating this public holiday, we would be giving them just that.

    Of course, 23 June 2016 was the day on which the United Kingdom voted on our membership of the European Union, in the largest act of democratic participation that the country has ever seen—33,551,983 people voted in the referendum. According to the Office for National Statistics, that figure is higher than that of the whole UK workforce. During the referendum, I worked alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove) and Councillor Helen Harrison, travelling the length and breadth of the United Kingdom on behalf of the cross-party campaign group Grassroots Out. Whether we were in Glasgow, Newport, Belfast or London, and whether the people whom we met were big Brexiteers or real remainers, the public were energised. Fundamentally, the people of the United Kingdom were engaged. Many felt for the first time that their vote really mattered, and, indeed, many voted for the first time.

    Whether those people felt happy or sad about the outcome, nothing in history has invigorated the country as much as that political debate. The outcome of the vote has changed our relationship with Europe forever. We did not do this through revolution, we did not do it through war, and we did not do it through violence. Millions of people did not lose their lives. Instead, it was done peacefully—it was done through the ballot box. I remember the Cameron Government saying, “The people aren’t interested in the EU,” and, “We should stop banging on about Europe.” How wrong could they be?​

    As for the current Government, they have been quite sniffy about my Bill to create a new bank holiday entitled United Kingdom Day, which has rather surprised and disappointed me. I can understand the former Government’s reservations, as they always saw the UK’s leaving the EU as a duty rather than an opportunity. However, the present Government wholeheartedly believe in it, so my question to them would be, “Why not mark this great democratic event?”

    Finally, why do we not we celebrate our United Kingdom? We do not have a day to do so. Many countries throughout the world celebrate their national day with a public holiday. For example, France has Bastille Day, Canada has Canada Day, Sweden has the National Day of Sweden, and the United States, of course, has Independence Day. However, there is no day in the year on which we celebrate the Union of our four great nations as one United Kingdom. I believe that that should be corrected, and that the people of this country should be able to come together and rejoice as one. I do not believe that there is anyone in our great United Kingdom who does not support either the monarchy, the referendum, our public services, or the Union—surely everyone supports at least one of them—but if there is a handful of people who reject all those things, they can always work on United Kingdom Day.

    Question put and agreed to.

    Ordered,

    That Mr Peter Bone, Mr John Baron, Sir Christopher Chope, Philip Davies, Dr Julian Lewis, Andrew Rosindell, Nigel Mills, Esther McVey, Graham Stringer, Henry Smith, Sammy Wilson and Mr William Wragg present the Bill.

    Mr Peter Bone accordingly presented the Bill.

    Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 26 June, and to be printed (Bill 101).