Commons Chamber

Thursday 12th March 2026

(began 2 hours, 12 minutes ago)

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Sarah Olney Portrait Sarah Olney MP (Richmond Park, Liberal Democrat)
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people. Since the Budget in October 2024, 110,000 jobs have been lost in the hospitality sector, 74,000 in retail and 700,000 graduates are currently unemployed. Youth unemployment has just hit 16%. So what impact assessment has the government undertaken of the impact on job creation due to their proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain? And what conversations has the Minister had with the Home Secretary regarding this damaging disincentive to those looking to build their businesses

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and create jobs here in the UK? So I'm afraid, Mr. Speaker, that she describes the world as it is in the doom laden Lib Dem world in which she must inhabit, but not the real world that's inhabited by real world that's inhabited by entrepreneurs and businesses right around the country. The reality is, around the country. The reality is, in the real world, that the 381,000 more people are in work because of this Labour government. Since the this Labour government.

Since the start of 2025. She may have missed that. My department, under my leadership and this team, have set up the Global Talent Taskforce in the Department of Business and Trade, accompanied by a global Trade, accompanied by a global talent visa. We are out there around the world hunting down the best talent, attracting them to the best talent, attracting them to the UK, aligning it with investment, making this the best place to invest, to scale, to grow, to scale invest, to scale, to grow, to scale a business anywhere in the world.
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Kate Dearden Portrait Kate Dearden MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Halifax, Labour )
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whether it is providing those full training costs for young apprentices, 16 to 21 to employers apprentices, 16 to 21 to employers are not required to pay National Insurance contributions for all apprentices under the age of 25. I apprentices under the age of 25. I would say that under their watch, under the previous government, the number of youth apprenticeships cut number of youth apprenticeships cut by 40% and the previous government presided over a massive increase in young people not in education, employment and training. So whilst employment and training.

So whilst I recognise what we are working with, we do want to provide those opportunities for young people. We will not leave an entire generation of young people behind and that's something I and £20 million Youth Guarantee and so much more to provide that employment support and give them a guaranteed job and recognise the sector is vital.

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Mr Speaker six hospitality. Venues are. Closing every single day under this government, and if the this government, and if the government actually asks the sector why that is, they'll tell you. They'll tell the government it's They'll tell the government it's because the jobs killing national insurance tax rises. That is literally a tax on jobs, as well as the red tape and additional costs of the Employment Rights Act. So when is the government finally going to realise, Mr. Speaker, that going to realise, Mr.

Speaker, that these job losses and business closures are not happening despite the work of the government? They're happening because of.
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Vikki Slade Portrait Vikki Slade MP (Mid Dorset and North Poole, Liberal Democrat)
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Vikki Slade Mr Speaker. >> Vikki Slade Mr Speaker. >> Sector needing urgent attention here is road haulage, moving goods, but also people across Europe in but also people across Europe in tourism, education but importantly film, TV, sport and music. My constituent Kamran works mainly in the music sector, supporting European tours and festivals, but he tells me the 9180 rule is leading to cancelled events and job losses, with some firms only employing dual nationals or using European firms rather than British ones, or flying drivers home to swap out on these longer journeys, avoiding breaching the rules.

So although the rules have existed since 2021, as the Minister told me, they have not been fully enforced. So as part of the UK EU reset, really look at finding a way to help professional drivers keep the

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show on the road. So I'm. Very grateful. She does point to one of the areas where the Brexit one of the areas where the Brexit deal negotiated by the other. The Conservative Party let down Britain.

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It is part of the negotiations. We are aware of these issues and we will see what we can do for these sectors into the future. Chelmsford thank.

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Chelmsford thank. You very much, Mr. Speaker. I've heard from so many businesses in Wokingham who have suffered Wokingham who have suffered post-Brexit with masses of red tape limiting their exports, losing key trade relationships in Europe has meant many local businesses have seen their profits evaporate. So what is the government doing to develop and strengthen trade with Europe, so businesses in Wokingham Europe, so businesses in Wokingham can start to grow again? Agreeing a bespoke customs union would be a really good start.

Yeah. really good start. Yeah.
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None Portrait Topical questions: Business and Trade
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for British made steel. We are making highly significant
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None Portrait Speaker's statement Mr Speaker
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lobbies. This Parliament is meant to be respected around the world and should set an example of good behaviour. The behaviour in the lobby last night, involving a group of about half a government, half a dozen government members, including the chief and deputy chief whip, was totally unacceptable. I expect better from hon. Members and right hon. Members. If members are asked to move swiftly through the lobbies, they must do the fact it took 22 minutes to get a vote through is beyond the pale.

I cannot believe the behaviour. It is absolutely not going to be accepted. The sergeant lost his authority because MP said I am not moving, pretending to be ill. By 7:00 they were suddenly well again. If we think that this gives us good standing in the world, it doesn't. It is appalling. We should be ashamed, and I hope that I will be getting letters from the people who were involved in that protest. If the government can't manage the business, they maybe they ought to go on a training exercise rather than disrupting the rules of the House.



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Yeah, yeah. So I say I expect better from honourable right hon. Members, if honourable right hon. Members, if members are asked to move swiftly, they must move and respect the sergeant. There are other ways in sergeant. There are other ways in which the government whips can manage timings of business in the chamber. It is this respectful to chamber. It is this respectful to this House, to the occupant of the chair. The deputy was put in impossible position, and to the impossible position, and to the office of the Sergeant at Arms to behave in the way that they did.

Members, as I say, involved, should be ashamed. I will now call the shadow leader for business

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questions. Jesse Norman. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Leader of the House

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Will the Leader of the House leader? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The business for the week commencing business for the week commencing the 16th of March will include Monday the 16th of March, consideration of an allocation of consideration of an allocation of time motion followed by all stages of the Grenfell Tower Memorial expenditure Bill. Tuesday the 17th
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Jesse Norman Portrait Rt Hon Jesse Norman MP (Hereford and South Herefordshire, Conservative)
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Leader of the House was himself the Chief Whip. Let me join, if I may, Chief Whip. Let me join, if I may, the Prime Minister yesterday, and I'm sure the whole House today, in I'm sure the whole House today, in remembering the dreadful events of 30 years ago in Dunblane and paying 30 years ago in Dunblane and paying tribute to the victims and their tribute to the victims and their families. On a happier note, last Monday saw the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith's immortal masterpiece, The Wealth of Nations.

I. Members may wish, if they like to consult, works by the shadow leader on this topic, I doubt. I doubt if any other book or any single body of thought has had more effect in improving the lives and livelihoods of people across the world. In the intervening 250 years. Mr. speaker, we celebrate the service of our armed forces, and we rightly treat defence matters wherever possible as bound by a united focus on the national interest. But it is precisely that focus on the national interest, which requires us now to acknowledge that the past two weeks have been a disaster for this country.

Our allies in the UAE, Bahrain, across the Gulf have criticised this country for its, quote, slow and weak response. To date, the Cypriot High Commissioner and the president of Cyprus have publicly expressed their disappointment and dissatisfaction. Why? Because we have exposed their people, our people, to drone attacks as targets, placed weapon systems on their territories, made solemn undertakings over many years to them, and now failed to come to their defence in time. It did not have to be this way, Mr.

Speaker. So we must ask how can this possibly have happened? Let us review the history. It was being publicly reported by January the 15th that America was starting to build a carrier strike force around the USS Abraham Lincoln, targeted at Iran on the 28th of January. I'm sorry, the 26th of January, the Washington Post reported that this force had arrived in the Middle East on the 31st of January. Our own Prime Minister himself told the BBC, and I quote, the aim is that Iran shouldn't be able to deliver nuclear weapons.

And I quote, again, we support the goal, and we are talking to allies about how we get to that goal. Those remarks come close to an explicit endorsement of the United States on this operation, as they were doubtless intended to. But the key point is this all this happened four full weeks before the start of the attack. Last week. At this Dispatch Box, I highlighted the gaps and inconsistencies in the government's position between its supposedly settled legal view and the last ditch political decision reportedly taken in Cabinet on the Friday before hostilities began and secondly, between the Cabinet and the Prime Minister, whose original instinct was to support the USA but who was overruled.

It is now clear that there has also been a disastrous failure of political leadership. The Prime Minister and the Cabinet knew, or should have known for a full month, that the USA was mustering a vast body of forces to attack Iran, that these could not remain on high readiness indefinitely, and so an attack must surely follow. The Prime Minister himself said last week that the government had pre-deployed some weapons to the region, yet he failed to give instructions in time to the Navy to prepare US dragon HMS Dragon.

He failed to notify the Cypriots and he failed to warn our allies and other friends across the region. Now that they are engaged, our armed forces are discharging their duties with distinction. But the result of this political incompetence has been a fiasco which brought shame and dishonour on this country. We have the disgraceful sight now of the government anonymously trashing the chief of the Defence Staff in a desperate attempt to deflect responsibility for its own inadequacies, not just via an anonymous leak in the Spectator reported in the Telegraph, but by a quoted but of course unnamed official to the Financial Times.

I cannot recall that a political hatchet job of this kind has ever been performed on a commanding officer in the course of a military operation. It is deeply dishonourable, and itself a further sign of failure in number ten. So I ask the leader these things, whether he would support an inquiry into these leaks and briefings, and whether he would support an investigation in due course as to how this embarrassing fiasco can have been allowed to happen, and what can be done to prevent it from ever happening again.



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Dear Leader. Mr. Speaker, and can I, first of

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Mr. Speaker, and can I, first of all respond to your words, Mr. Speaker, previously about the Speaker, previously about the events of last evening and endorse everything that you have said about the need to respect staff? That is absolutely correct that you should say that, and I absolutely endorse your remarks. And can I assure you,
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Alan Campbell Portrait Rt Hon Sir Alan Campbell MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Tynemouth, Labour)
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your remarks. And can I assure you, Mr. Speaker, and the House that not only has the government heard your words, but they will be acted upon. May I also associate my myself with the remarks that the hon. Gentleman made about Dunblane? We do remember that tragedy, and I have to say, on a personal level, it is one of the proudest moments in my career when I voted for a handgun ban, because that has had that has made a difference to communities and the safety of our communities.

Mr. speaker, the events that are unfolding in Iran are deeply concerning, and I will turn to the specific remarks of the hon. Gentleman in a moment. But the events are deeply concerning, and our thoughts are with British citizens and our brave servicemen and women in the region. The security and safety of British citizens across the region is the government's top priority. The first government charter flight landed on Tuesday morning, with the second landing on Wednesday. We will continue to explore all options for helping our citizens return home swiftly and safely as possible.

Drop ins are being held for MPs with concerns and as I said last week, Mr. Speaker, should members face issues and are not able to get the support that they need for their constituents, I invite them to speak to my office and my officials, and we will help in any way that we can. This week, we've launched the Social Cohesion Action Plan, which sets out the steps the government is taking to improve social cohesion and protect what matters. We will invest in initiatives to which create opportunities for connection across backgrounds, and we will expand the Pride in Place program, which puts more communities at the heart of decision making in their own neighbourhoods.

And we will develop new tools and powers to safeguard organisations that spread extremism, hate and threaten public safety. It's also, Mr. Speaker, I think, correct to reflect on that. Last Sunday was Covid-19 day of reflection, an opportunity to come together to remember those that lost their lives and to honour the tireless work and acts of kindness shown by many during the pandemic. The government remains committed to learning the lessons needed from the Covid inquiry to protect and prepare us for the future.

And as a sign of that commitment, just last year, the government held the largest pandemic exercise in British history. Let me turn now to the remarks of the shadow leader and agree with him on the first point that he made, which is that it is incumbent in this House that parties work together in times of crisis, which we are facing. And I agree that a bipartisan approach, if we can get one, is the best one. It's what we did in opposition, Mr.

Speaker, even though some of those some of those decisions were very difficult. So I am disappointed not just in his remarks today, but I am particularly disappointed and the leader of his party, because she simply doesn't seem to acknowledge the importance and responsibility which comes with her office. In terms of the story that is set out, we did send assets to the region, Mr. speaker, at the beginning of the year, HMS Dragon is dispatched. As I have just said, we take the safety and security of British citizens and servicemen and women very highly indeed.

And the wider issue in which he raises, I'd simply remind him that his government was the one that left our defences in a shocking state, with defence expenditure going down, we are not least in a diminished surface fleet, but our task is to rebuild our defences. We are committed to increasing spending to keep our servicemen and women safe and in terms of any inquiry, we are in the midst of an international crisis. If such an inquiry was necessary in the future, I think it should wait until we ensure that our citizens and our servicemen and women are safe.



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R thank you, Mr. Speaker. Overgrown vegetation is impeding

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Overgrown vegetation is impeding access to footpaths on Strangford Avenue and on Pritchard Drive in Hawkinge in my constituency, when I Hawkinge in my constituency, when I made representation on behalf of local residents to the the local council, I was informed that these council, I was informed that these footpaths are not registered with the town Council, the district council or the County Council because of the. Developers did not because of the. Developers did not consider the long term stewardship of these footpaths. Local volunteers have until now ended up having to keep them clear themselves.

Could the Leader of the House therefore find time for a House therefore find time for a debate on the responsibility of developers in ensuring the proper adoption and maintenance of adoption and maintenance of footpaths and other community infrastructure?
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Bobby Dean Portrait Bobby Dean MP (Carshalton and Wallington, Liberal Democrat)
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nobody noticed. No Minister came to Dispatch Box about this. There was hardly any media coverage at all. hardly any media coverage at all. And when you think about how prevalent this crime is, you have to ask yourself, why was there no noise made about this significant noise made about this significant strategy? And I think the reason why is that a key pre-election commitment that was made on fraud commitment that was made on fraud was quietly dropped. The Prime Minister himself said that big tech companies need to be held companies need to be held financially accountable for their role in fraud, but when the strategy was dropped, instead of enforcing that, we have an industry working group emerging where we're going to talk to the industry and ask them to act more nicely.

Now, the banks and the financial regulators are unhappy about this. The banks, of course, are on the hook paying out compensation to customers when they are victims of fraud. And they say that when they try to get big tech companies to act, they are far too slow, they are not responsive. And the only thing that is going to get them to act is if they are hit in the pocket for this too. So can the Leader of the House organise Minister to come to the Dispatch Box and explain why that commitment was dropped and.

And further, I did raise this house to the leader House in October last year, and I still have not received a reply

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from the Minister on that matter. Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the point of the launch of the strategy on Monday, and I think the hon. Gentleman was alluding to why there Gentleman was alluding to why there wasn't a statement. The the fact that Monday was particularly busy, there were important statements there were important statements that it shouldn't reflect on the importance of fraud, the fact that there wasn't an oral statement. But
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Martin Vickers Portrait Martin Vickers MP (Brigg and Immingham, Conservative)
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for Gurkha veterans in Westminster Hall next week. There are a number of debates, including productivity and economic growth in the East Midlands and one which I'm sure will be particularly popular. The accessibility of banking services and the. And. And we mentioned the 23rd of March. There will be debates on sudden unexplained death in childhood outcomes for patients with Ehlers Danlos syndrome and Craniocervical instability. I hope I've got that right. And possibly for the potential merits of mandatory body armour for prison officers.

But that one is provisional. We have, as the leader knows, a great deal of potential outstanding debates and the the weekly plea for more time is coming your way. Turning to my own issue, Mr. Speaker, I have many park home owners in my constituency, and the leader, I'm sure, will be aware that the government published some research only this week about park home owners. The backbench committee has a pending debate on this, but perhaps if the leader could be particularly generous with government time, we could bring that forward and satisfy the many

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park home owners throughout the country. Thank you. Mr. Speaker. I thank the hon.

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Mr. Speaker. I thank the hon. Gentleman for his work with the backbench Business Committee and indeed, thank the the whole of the indeed, thank the the whole of the committee, and I note with particular pleasure the debate on accessibility to banking services, accessibility to banking services, which is an issue which has been raised in business questions many times. So I'm pleased that that has times. So I'm pleased that that has been scheduled. In terms of more time. I can't promise him more time at this at this moment, but I do
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Alan Campbell Portrait Rt Hon Sir Alan Campbell MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Tynemouth, Labour)
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also recognise that it's important to get confirmation of time as to get confirmation of time as early as possible, and I will endeavour to do that. On the matter that he raises on park homes. We do recognise, Mr. Speaker, the long standing concerns among park home residents about things like residents about things like commission fees, and we have launched a call for evidence and I would encourage his constituents, would encourage his constituents, indeed everyone's constituents, to contribute to this call for evidence if needed.

Mr. Mr. speaker, I should remind the House that Park home residents are entitled to free independent legal advice about their rights through the government picture.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My honourable. Friend in Doncaster Central. And. I have often come here to speak

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I have often come here to speak about the appalling service of audiology at Doncaster Royal Infirmary. Now they have put an action plan in place and first time appointments are improved. But second and third appointments are just not happening and people are waiting for hearing aid, refits and repairs. Will the Leader of the House ask Ministers to set out how they will support trusts to expand they will support trusts to expand capacity to follow up audiology care, including how they could use high street provision where that can be provided under the NHS.
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Alan Campbell Portrait Rt Hon Sir Alan Campbell MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Tynemouth, Labour)
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sure that consumers are treated fairly with the option, with the option of investigation into unfair option of investigation into unfair practices if that becomes necessary. But the government is very cognisant of of that of energy cognisant of of that of energy prices in general, but also of heating oil and indeed of fuel. And heating oil and indeed of fuel. And we'll keep that under close watch.

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we'll keep that under close watch. And when appropriate, bring forward and update the House on what we intend to do about it. James Asser thank you, Mr. Speaker. This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the West Ham station attack, where an IRA bomb exploded on a tube train, injuring nine people. Post office engineer Peter Chalk was shot and seriously injured, and the tube driver, Joseph Julius Stephen, was shot and killed as they attempted to stop the attacker escaping. Mr. Stephen was posthumously awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal and we are marking his sacrifice at the station this week with the with the Leader of the House.

Join with me in marking this anniversary and sending this House's best wishes to sending this House's best wishes to his widow, Janet. And does he agree? We should always mark these significant adversaries, particularly when it involves public sector workers who have public sector workers who have stepped up beyond, above and beyond the call of duty and sacrificed or risked their own lives to protect the public. the public.
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