Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I was pleased to have a call last night with the First Minister of Scotland. It was important that I spoke to her on my first day in office, because I wanted to express my desire to work constructively with the Scottish Government so that together we can deliver for the people of Scotland. That is what I plan to do. Indeed, I hope that crime is one thing that we can collaborate on. The right hon. Gentleman will know that violent crime is rising in Scotland and police numbers are falling, whereas we are increasing police numbers here. I look forward to working with the Scottish Government on our shared challenges, because I believe in a strong United Kingdom.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

Q8. What a pleasure it was to welcome the Prime Minister to my constituency in the summer. He will know that one of the burning issues in my constituency is the proposed waste incinerator at Westbury. With the Government rightly reviewing their air quality targets, will my right hon. Friend signal his intent to continue promoting public health, net zero and the environment by placing a moratorium on any more unwanted unnecessary toxic waste burners?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is a vociferous campaigner on that issue, as I learnt over the summer. He will know that local authorities determine these issues, but I reassure him that all large incinerators in England must comply with strict emission limits and receive permits only if plants do not cause any damage to human health. Hopefully, that is reassuring for him.

Health and Social Care Update

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Thursday 22nd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Coffey]

That will vary according to the provision that has been in place. I am sure the right hon. Lady will want to be careful and considerate in how she addresses the local NHS in order to tackle the issue of patients who do not need to be in hospital, in order to help them with some of the features that they enjoy.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Does she agree that although we are terribly grateful to people from overseas who are among the very best, kindest and most compassionate of carers, we must ensure that we grow our indigenous workforce, and that to do so, it has to be financially competitive for those people to work in the care sector and a professional career structure must be open to them? If that does not happen, we will not make any inroads into the 13,500 beds that are currently occupied by people who should not be in hospital—who need to be in homely settings in the community—ambulances will continue to queue around the block, and frail elderly people will not get the care they are entitled to.

[Dr Coffey]

My right hon. Friend is right to consider the issue on a broader scale, but of course, we will be focusing on that with the local NHS. There are certainly some parts of the country where there is not the same provision and discharges are not happening to capacity, while in other parts of the country there are extraordinary amounts. That is what we need to focus on locally.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty The Queen

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Friday 9th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

I rise with the deep and profound condolences of my constituents in South West Wiltshire. A good and gracious lady has been taken from us, and we are all the poorer for that. A lady who has shaped the contours of our national life for 70 years has gone, but her legacy endures. If anyone doubts that, just look at the pictures of His Majesty, in the hour of his grief, greeting the crowds that have gathered outside Buckingham Palace today.

Mr Deputy Speaker, grown men don’t cry, do they? Well, they do. I have cried twice in my adult life, once when my father died and once last night, for a woman that I had only met once—at the aforementioned gin and tonic opportunity that a number of hon. and right hon. Members have cited today, although unfortunately in my case there was no gin and tonic. The reason it is so profound is that, for most of us, for all of our lives she has been a constant—somebody who has always been there; a rock; a stable place; someone to look to and to admire. Like many colleagues around the House today, when I go to primary schools, I am asked two questions usually, one more difficult to answer than the other: “Have you met the Queen?”, and, “How much are you paid?”

Last night I called my mother, because I knew she would be upset, and she was. In June 1953, she and many of her generation lined the streets of London to watch another young woman go to her coronation. That was a profound moment for her and an extraordinary moment in the life of our nation. Very soon we will do something similar again, under altogether more sombre circumstances. Her sense of profound loss is certainly replicated right across this land, by people of all generations and, if I may say so, as I remain a member of His Majesty’s armed forces, particularly by members of the armed forces of this country, who have lost their commander in chief, many of whom live in the towns and villages around Salisbury plain that I have the honour and privilege to represent.

In 878, Alfred the Great secured the future of what became Wessex and ultimately the nation state we know today. “The Great” is a descriptor that should not be used lightly. Queen Elizabeth II is the benchmark for monarchs in this age and in ages past. She is Elizabeth the Great. As the Elizabethan age closes and the Carolean era dawns, we have to understand that it will look and feel different. We will look and feel different. But difference will bring renewal and it will bring opportunity, as His Majesty has demonstrated today.

Rest well, your Majesty. God save the King.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

My right hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right. The small island developing states face a very acute climate emergency that is putting many millions of lives and livelihoods at risk. Yes, we need every country to come forward and deliver on its commitments, and particularly the biggest emitters: the G20.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published some excellent new targets for incineration in March. Will the COP26 President follow through on that and make a moratorium on waste incineration one of his objectives for the remainder of his presidency?

[Alok Sharma]

In this role, as my right hon. Friend knows, I am trying to corral international action. He raises an important point, and I will make sure it is raised with the appropriate Department.

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 13th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sir Robert Neill]

It does not avail us in relation to the international law test, and the difficulty with this Bill is that it is seeking to disapply parts of the protocol in domestic law, but in a way that breaches an international obligation. In any event, could it be said that all available means had been taken to rectify that potential difficulty? That comes back to my point that the Government—any Government—should have to come to the House and set that out.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

I admire the elegant way in which my hon. Friend has set out the three tests. However, the Joint Committee has been working at this for a long time and it has failed to make progress. At what stage, and in what circumstances, does he envisage that we could proceed on the basis of the provision we are debating at the moment? It seems to me that we have exhausted the possibilities and we are in the position of having to do this now to defend the Good Friday agreement. So why on earth is it necessary to have an amendment that would put another hurdle in the way of Ministers’ trying to resolve this?

[Sir Robert Neill]

With respect, I do not think the amendment would put another hurdle in the way, because it would not prevent the Bill from proceeding and it would not prevent what I know my right hon. Friend wants to see, which is a negotiated settlement. By far the best thing, which everyone in this Committee wants, is for the protocol to be renegotiated. I concede at once that the protocol is not working properly or as it was intended. I also readily concede that part of that is due to a rather intransigent stance taken by the European Commission and its refusal, for example, to give greater flexibility to Vice-President Šefčovič in his negotiating mandate. This is not an issue where all the fault is on one side at all. The EU has not acted wisely or helpfully in these matters, but that is not the same as saying that the international law test is therefore automatically made out as of now.

Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests Resignation

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Thursday 16th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

Any Prime Minister of any political party appoints their own advisers. That is historically what has taken place, and that is no doubt what will take place in the future.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

Lord Geidt is a public servant of superb, unequalled reputation and the utmost integrity, and his departure is greatly to be regretted. Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree with me more generally that those placed in a position of judgment over others must not have a previously stated position on the matter in question?

[Michael Ellis]

My right hon. Friend makes a very good point, and it of course is an age-old principle of natural justice that no person should be a judge in their own cause. Where an individual has given a view on the guilt or innocence of any person, they ought not then to sit in judgment on that person. I know the point that he is referring to, and I have no doubt that the right hon. and learned Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman) will consider that.

Ukraine

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Tuesday 25th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

No, we do not accept foreign donations, as the hon. Lady knows very well. What we will do is bring forward targeted sanctions, which I think are the most effective way of doing it, targeting the sanctions at the personalities that surround President Putin and making them understand the price that they will pay.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

There is no public appetite for using UK combat troops in Ukraine—absolutely none—but we do have other tools in our toolbox. Is the Prime Minister contemplating using the full-spectrum approach to cyber, including offensive cyber, that he talked about in March in connection with the integrated review?

Covid-19 Update

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Wednesday 19th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. The Prime Minister made the right call on restrictions before Christmas and he has made the right call today, except in one respect: the compulsory vaccination of NHS workers. Given that leaked advice to Ministers said that that is neither rational nor proportionate, and given what we now know about omicron and its behaviour, will he think again before redundancy letters start going out from 3 February?

[The Prime Minister]

That argument has been well made by colleagues across the House today. I remind my right hon. Friend that this policy is supported by the NHS for patient safety. It is a very difficult point when it comes to patients who have contracted fatal nosocomially acquired covid. People want their medical staff to be vaccinated. I repeat what I have said throughout the afternoon: I think it is the responsibility of all healthcare professionals to be vaccinated. I hope that he shares that view.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Not only are we powering past coal towards the ending of fossil fuel reliance in our energy generation by 2024, which is absolutely stunning, and we are ahead of countries throughout the world—I am glad the hon. Lady is praising me for that, although, as she knows, the Cambo oilfield is a matter for study by an independent regulator—but what we have also done, and led the world in doing, is stop the financing of overseas hydrocarbons. That is a fantastic thing, which the whole world followed.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

Q9. Net zero, levelling up and building back better cannot happen without a massive increase in the supply of critical tech minerals such as silicon, copper and lithium, but Beijing controls most of those. In the light of China’s recent tech minerals leverage on Japan, does my right hon. Friend agree that the success of our green industrial revolution hinges on advancing our indigenous silicon valley? Now that we are free of the EU, what fiscal incentives can he provide to make that happen at pace?

[The Prime Minister]

As my right hon. Friend knows, there are some very interesting and potentially very lucrative sources of minerals such as lithium in this country, whose exploration, discovery and reuse we are encouraging. As for the tax point that he rightly raised, we will ensure that we support freeports as hubs for the processing of those critical minerals here in the UK.

COP26

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Monday 15th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I see; he is talking about India, China and others. [Interruption.] I am sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker. I think the House will forgive me; it was not entirely clear from his question which people he wanted. I want everybody brought into the tent, for the avoidance of doubt.

With India in particular, we need to work with the Indian Government, who are already doing some very impressive things, to show how, with new technology, we can help that country to power past coal. With the One Sun One World One Grid project, it has a huge amount of renewables already going, but the UK can take a leading role, with partners around the world, in building the coalitions of support and investment by the private sector to help even an economy as huge as India’s to make this transition, and make it much faster than people currently think possible. Look at the speed with which the UK has done it; other countries around the world can do the same.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

I congratulate the Prime Minister on his Glasgow achievements. Can he say what is being done to remedy the international shortage of critical minerals to make semiconductors, without which the achievement of our 2035 targets will be impossible? What more can he do to grow our own silicon valleys to reduce our reliance on China and Taiwan?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. The resources are there. There are adequate supplies; the problem lies in the supply chains. That is an issue that we are working on, together with our American friends and other partners around the world, to ensure that there is no disruption in those supplies of critical things, particularly semi-conductors.