Informal European Council

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The EU Council statements are given in response to business that is done at the EU Council. I can assure my hon. Friend that there will be every opportunity for Parliament to be kept informed as we go through this process. There have already been 70 debates or statements on this issue in Parliament and 30 reviews by different parliamentary Committees on different aspects of Brexit. I think I can say that not a day has gone by since the referendum that this issue has not been discussed in this House in some shape or form.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

Annette Street Primary School in my constituency is wonderfully diverse, as many new Scots have made Glasgow their home. Saqib from Annette Street says:

“There are lots of children from Annette Street that are from Europe. We want to know if they will have to leave or not.”

Saying “as soon as possible” is not a good enough answer for Saqib, Prime Minister. When we will actually know whether these children will get to stay in Scotland?

[The Prime Minister]

I repeat the answer that I have given to others: I expect to be able to deal with this issue in relation to those who are from the European Union and living here in the United Kingdom at an early stage in the negotiations. There is good will on all sides to be able to address the issue when the negotiations have been triggered because everybody understands the concern that people have about their future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Wednesday 6th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am one of the first Prime Ministers in a while to attend the Farnborough airshow and I am happy to announce that I will be going back there this year, because it is very important. We have, I think, the second-largest aerospace industry in the world after the United States, and it is a brilliant moment to showcase that industry to the rest of the world and to clinch some important export deals, both in the military and in the civilian space. I will always do everything I can, whether in this job or in the future, to support British industry in that way.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

Q13. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recently joined the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in expressing serious concerns about this Tory Government’s brutal welfare cuts. How much more international condemnation will it take before the Prime Minister drops his regressive two-child policy and scraps his rape clause?

[The Prime Minister]

What we have seen under this Government is many more people in work, many fewer households where no one works, and many fewer households with children where no one works; all those have been a huge success. Of course, the hon. Lady and her party have an opportunity, now that we have made some huge devolution proposals, including in the area of welfare: if they do not think that what we are doing on a UK basis—[Interruption.] I do not know why you are all shouting. You are getting these powers; instead of whinging endlessly, you ought to be starting to use them.

EU Council

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Wednesday 29th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

First, let me agree with the right hon. Gentleman on the issue of racist attacks. We need to take urgent action, and I announced that at the Dispatch Box today during Prime Minister’s questions. In terms of the steps we need to take, there is, I believe, a limited amount that can be done before a new Prime Minister and a new Cabinet arrive, but we should not belittle that, because a lot of this is cold, hard facts about what the different alternatives are, and what the different costs and benefits are. There is a world of difference between a referendum campaign in which the leave side offered all sorts of things that went with the hypothetical new status and the real facts now of what those things look like. That is something that we need to see, and I think that the mechanisms that we are putting in place will help that to happen.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

The Prime Minister says that we are entitled to all the benefits of EU membership until the point at which we leave. May I clarify whether there has been any discussion about access to funding such as regional selective assistance, which has created and safeguarded 10,000 jobs and been worth £83 million to Glasgow since 2010? In addition, the long-term conditions of loans issued under the European Investment Bank, which were also worth significant amounts of money, require some clarification for the local authorities that were involved in them.

[The Prime Minister]

Any contracts entered into before Britain leaves the EU should be honoured in full in terms of EU funding for research or for regions of our country. The status we have with respect to the EIB will have to be determined as part of the negotiation. Again, that is the sort of technical issue that a Whitehall unit can look at now to find out what the options are so that we can discuss them in this House.

Outcome of the EU Referendum

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

No, I have always believed that 18 is the right age to have that vote, and I have always voted accordingly.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

This is a Government Scotland did not elect, we had a referendum that Scotland did not want, and now Scotland is being taken out of the EU against our will. Does the Prime Minister agree that there has been a fundamental change in circumstances from September 2014?

[The Prime Minister]

What we need to focus on now is getting the best deal for the UK and getting the best deal for Scotland. It is worth looking at the Daily Record poll today, which indicates that it is not necessarily the case that Scotland is looking for a second referendum. [Interruption.] Just because the right hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson) does not like what he reads, does not mean he should not read it.

European Council

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Monday 21st March 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think I said earlier that there was not a remote prospect of that happening, so I do not think that my hon. Friend has to worry about that. In terms of future accessions to the EU, we set out in our manifesto that we were going to take a much tougher approach. We believe that countries that join the EU should get much closer to the current level of GDP per capita, because the big migrations have been caused when some EU countries are much poorer than others. No country can get into the EU without unanimity among the existing members, so this is something over which we and other countries have a veto. We can absolutely insist on these different accession arrangements.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

When I first raised the issue of the tampon tax last year, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury was quite dismissive, so I would like to commend the Government for this U-turn. I should also like to thank the women of this country who have put such pressure on the Government to take action on this important issue. Given that this was in the Scottish National party’s manifesto, are there any other aspects of that manifesto that the Prime Minister would like to help us to implement?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very grateful for the hon. Lady’s work on this, and I am glad to have helped. I think she will find that this will have an impact on other European countries, because there is now huge pressure on some of those countries to explain their own level of tax on sanitary products. The Irish are of course leading the way with a 0% rate. On the matter of the rest of the SNP manifesto, I have to say that if we implemented it in full and had an independent Scotland, we would basically be bankrupt and have to tax everything.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

We will set out the details in due course, but it is perfectly reasonable to limit in future—this is prospective; this is for future births—the support that is provided to families to two children under the tax credits system, so that all households face the same consequences of decisions about how many children they have. That is what most families have to live with.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

2. If he will make an assessment of the effect of benefit sanctions on (a) levels of poverty and (b) social cohesion in Scotland.

[The Minister for Employment (Priti Patel)]

All evidence shows that work is the best route out of poverty. This Government have taken action to reform the welfare system to support people to come off benefits and get into work.

[Alison Thewliss]

May I ask the Secretary of State for Scotland for an urgent review, as recommended by Citizens Advice Scotland, of the 323% increase in requests for food parcels in the past four years owing to the main triggers of benefit sanctions and benefit administration?

[Priti Patel]

I return to the comments I have just made. The best route out of poverty is to increase work incentives and to support employment opportunities—having a job. To do that, we need a Government with a long-term economic plan that secures employment prospects for the country as a whole.