Covid-19: Road Map

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Monday 22nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. This is already a very fast unlocking programme by other international standards. As I have explained, the timetable is dictated by the intervals we need to evaluate the effect of each successive unlocking. I think that what people want to see—what businesses want—is as much certainty as possible, rather than uncertainty, and that is what we aim to provide.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab) [V]]

Forgive me, Madam Deputy Speaker, I did not hear the Prime Minister’s reply just then because one of the Zoom operators was talking to another Member. The Prime Minister is absolutely right to say we should be driven by the data and not dates, and that his dates are therefore subject to review. Given the stunning success of the vaccination programme, with the evidence today of how it prevents serious illness and death, why is he not prepared to bring his dates forward, as well as back, if the data justifies that?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman did not hear my answer to the previous question, so I will repeat it, because his question is identical to several previous questions. The answer is that we need time to evaluate the success or otherwise of each unlocking; we need four weeks to see what has happened. We must bear in mind that we are dealing with a disease that is extremely contagious and large numbers of people who are still unvaccinated and still very vulnerable, so we have to proceed with caution. That is why there is the five-week interval that we have. The second reason is that we want a timetable that we can stick to. People would really much rather have a sense of certainty and security—the maximum possible certainty and security—rather than any sense that this is fluid again and the date they have in their heads could change. That is very, very important. Certainty in this particular road map is of great value.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Wednesday 20th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The potential of the greater south-west is enormous, particularly in the areas of blue and green technology. My hon. Friend can be assured that we will be giving massive investment in infrastructure to support the green industrial revolution in the south-west as well as in all parts of the UK.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab) [V]]

When the Prime Minister told fishermen in the south-west that they would not face new export barriers or unnecessary form-filling, and when he told Britain’s musicians and artists that they would still be free to tour and work in the rest of the European Union after Brexit, neither of those statements was correct, was it?

[The Prime Minister]

It is absolutely true that some British fishermen have faced barriers at the present time owing to complications over form-filling. Indeed, one of the biggest problems is that, alas, there is a decline in appetite for fish in continental markets just because most of the restaurants, as the right hon. Gentleman knows, are shut. But the reality is that Brexit will deliver, and is delivering, a huge uplift in quota already in the next five years. By 2026, the fishing people of this country will have access to all the fish in all the territorial waters of this country. To get them ready for that Eldorado, we are investing £100 million in improving our boats and our fish processing industry, and getting fishing ready for the opportunities ahead.

Covid-19

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, indeed. I will commit to better and fuller information if that is necessary, although of course as my right hon. Friend knows, it is a general principle of these restrictions that people have more freedoms when they need to exercise for health needs.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab) [V]]

If, as reports suggest, the Government intend requiring people arriving in the UK to have a negative PCR test within 72 hours of their arrival, how will British people currently abroad in areas where it is difficult to get quick turnaround PCR tests get home? I should declare an interest.

[The Prime Minister]

I think that the people of this country would want to see—as I do, and as I believe Members on the Benches opposite do—proper protection against the readmission of the virus. I am sure the right hon. Gentleman understands that, too.

EU Withdrawal Agreement

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Absolutely—my right hon. Friend has been a consistent champion for business and enterprise in all his years in this House, and he is absolutely right. This pragmatic approach works for businesses in his constituency and in Northern Ireland.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman correct his claim on this morning’s “Today” programme that, in the event of no deal, we will continue to benefit from free healthcare if we visit the rest of Europe after 1 January and our students will continue to benefit from the Erasmus programmes?

[Michael Gove]

It is the case that students who are currently engaged on Erasmus programmes will continue to be part of them until the end of that academic course. It is also the case that UK citizens who have been living in EU countries are covered by the withdrawal agreement rights that we all voted on—I think the right hon. Gentleman voted against, but nevertheless we protected their rights.

[Mr Bradshaw]

Absolutely outrageous.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Order.

Covid-19 Update

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, of course. My hon. Friend is totally right about the importance of childcare. We remain committed to giving 30 hours of free childcare. The crucial thing about our measures is to keep the economy moving as much as possible.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

In university cities like Exeter that have a covid spike in student accommodation but not yet significant community spread, but that nevertheless inflate local figures, what is the Prime Minister’s strategy for containing those spikes in student accommodation and preventing the need for lockdowns affecting the rest of the community?

[The Prime Minister]

The differentiation that is often made between students and other members of the public is sometimes overdone. Students are playing a heroic role in containing the virus where they can in following the guidance and not spreading it back into their families and their home towns. I thank them very much for what they are doing and hope they continue in that way, in Exeter and elsewhere.

Covid-19

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Churchgoers will continue to have freedom of worship under the proposals. We want life, as far as we possibly we can, to keep going as normally as possible. We want the economy to keep moving. The best hope I can offer my hon. Friend’s constituents, for whom he fights so valiantly, is that we get this virus back under control, take the country forward and keep the economy moving. That is the best prospect for our country.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister think that the reason Germany and Italy have far lower covid rates than us, with life continuing more or less normally, might be that they have locally and publicly run test and trace services that actually work?

[The Prime Minister]

No, I don’t, and I think the continual attacks on local test and trace and what NHS Test and Trace has done are undermining and unnecessary. Actually, there is an important difference between our country and many other countries around the world: our country is a freedom-loving country. If we look at the history of this country over the past 300 years, virtually every advance, from free speech to democracy, has come from this country. It is very difficult to ask the British population uniformly to obey guidelines in the way that is necessary. What we are saying today is that collectively—I am answering the right hon. Gentleman’s question directly—the way to do that is for us all to follow the guidelines, which we will strictly enforce, and get the R down. That is the way forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. As I have said repeatedly at this Dispatch Box, it is very important that we wait until the conclusion of this epidemic and have a proper statistical assessment of where we are. That is the course I would recommend to him.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

I was the first Member of this House to raise concerns about Russian interference in our democracy, four years ago. By blocking the publication of the Russia report before the election, on grounds that the Intelligence and Security Committee has said were spurious, and then trying to fix the Committee, is it not abundantly clear that this Prime Minister has knowingly and repeatedly put his own personal and party interests before the national security of our country?

[The Prime Minister]

No, and I think that is a pretty lamentable way of looking at it—it is a lamentable question. If the right hon. Gentleman thought there was genuinely something in the ISC report that showed that, for instance, the Brexit referendum had been undermined by Russia, he would now be saying it, but that does not appear. I am afraid that what we have here, as I have told the House several times, is the rage and fury of the remainer elite finding that there is in fact nothing in this report—no smoking gun whatever, after all that froth and fury. Suddenly, all those who want to remain in the EU find that they had no argument to stand on. They should simply move on.

Covid-19 Update

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The House will have heard what I have had to say about air bridges repeatedly since the quarantine announcement was made. We do understand the balance, but we also understand the vital necessity of protecting our country from reinfection from abroad. Every serious country that has got this disease under control has had to introduce a quarantine for people coming into or back into the country.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

A number of countries will be surprised by the Prime Minister’s claim that they do not have a functioning track and trace app.

Given that it is costing Britain thousands of jobs and millions of pounds a day and has no basis in the science, why is the Prime Minister waiting another two weeks to scrap his disastrous blanket quarantine policy?

UK-EU Negotiations

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the reasons why the Prime Minister wanted to have the high-level meeting yesterday—one of the reasons why the three presidents wanted it as well—was precisely in order to accelerate progress towards securing a deal. We are ready for life outside the single market and the customs union, come what may, but it is our devout intent to secure a deal. I hope my hon. Friend can tell businesses in Watford, whom he represents so effectively, that their voices are heard loud and clear in Downing Street and the Cabinet Office.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

At the general election, the Tories promised

“no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors”.

Does that commitment still stand?

[Michael Gove]

That is the commitment in the political declaration, to which both the UK and the EU are working.

Global Britain

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are keeping the Department for International Trade separate, and it is working hard on free trade deals, as it must for the moment, but it is very important that in post—in missions around the world—there will be a single point of reference for Governments who need to understand the UK position. It is a powerful change. The ambassadors around the world will be newly empowered and authorised to project the UK’s point of view.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

How is it compatible with global Britain to be the only country in the world at this stage of the covid pandemic, and as the rest of Europe opens up, to be putting up a great, big “closed for business” sign in the form the Prime Minister’s quarantine policy?

[The Prime Minister]

It is curious that the right hon. Member says that because, as far as I know, the quarantine policy is actively supported by the shadow Foreign Secretary at the very least, and indeed supported by the Labour party. If he is dissenting from his own party, I perfectly understand that, but the reason for our policy is of course to prevent the reinfection of this country, as we drive the virus down, by people coming back from countries where it is out of control.