Oral Answers to Questions

Carol Monaghan Excerpts

Wednesday 19th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I think the hon. Gentleman is missing the point. The point, surely, is the centrality and importance of the UK single market as we go forward from here. I will give the House the figures again: £49.8 billion goes to the rest of the UK; only £12.3 billion goes to the EU. It is clear that the Union that matters most is the United Kingdom.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State has said previously that he supports the European single market and that being part of the single market is clearly the best possible deal for Scotland. Will he tell his constituents whether he will now stand on a manifesto to take Scotland out of that single market?

[Greg Hands]

The Prime Minister and the whole Government are absolutely clear about the fact that our objective is to secure a comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union as we leave the EU. That will be in the best interests of all parts of the UK, including Scotland.

Article 50

Carol Monaghan Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

In my plan for Britain, I have set out our plans for a fairer society. I have also looked ahead to the various things that we will put in place to ensure that we have a society in this country where people are able to succeed on merit and not on privilege, where we have a stronger economy, and where people play by the same rules. The hon. Gentleman mentioned issues relating to welfare, but powers relating to welfare have been given to the Scottish Government in certain areas, and I understand that they are yet to use them.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

This morning I witnessed a construction worker telling some eastern European workers, “You lot can go home now.” Without guarantees for our EU national friends, colleagues and family, this xenophobic behaviour and rhetoric will only increase. Does the Prime Minister agree that now is the time to show leadership in granting unilaterally the rights of our EU national friends?

[The Prime Minister]

None of us wants to see xenophobic behaviour from people here in the United Kingdom. We have welcomed EU citizens, they have worked alongside us and lived alongside us, and they contribute to our economy and our society. Looking ahead, I want to ensure that we get a reciprocal agreement for EU citizens living here and for UK citizens—[Interruption.] The hon. Lady shakes her head. This is the Parliament of the United Kingdom. We have a duty to have a care for UK citizens.

Informal European Council

Carol Monaghan Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I take it from the hon. Gentleman’s question that he is talking about somebody who is currently living outside the United Kingdom. The arrangements in relation to the movement of EU citizens into the UK from elsewhere after Brexit are, of course, matters that the Home Office is currently looking at, and they will be subject to discussion by Parliament.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement on the importance of EU nationals, but does she understand the damage that is caused when we continue to use EU nationals, including those working in highly skilled areas and STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—businesses, as bargaining chips in our negotiations?

[The Prime Minister]

We want to be able to provide reassurance to people who are EU citizens living here in the UK, and to provide that reassurance also to EU citizens living elsewhere in Europe. I remind the hon. Lady that during the Scottish independence referendum the First Minister told EU nationals that they would lose the right to stay here if the—[Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Carol Monaghan Excerpts

Wednesday 1st February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (SNP)]

1. What assessment he has made of the effect of the UK’s decision to leave the EU on the future of the Common Travel Area between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

3. What assessment he has made of the effect of the UK’s decision to leave the EU on the future of the Common Travel Area between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

[James Brokenshire]

Before I answer, I would remind the House that this is the final Northern Ireland questions before the Assembly election on 2 March. These are critical elections for the future of Northern Ireland, and I would urge the parties to conduct the campaign in a manner that allows for the speediest return to partnership government. Only power-sharing government will deliver the political stability that the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland want to see, and which remains the priority for this Government to secure.

As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made clear, maintaining the common travel area is one of the Government’s 12 priorities in negotiating exit from the EU. It is the Government’s intention to deliver a practical solution that allows the maintenance of the common travel area while protecting the integrity of the UK’s immigration system.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Brokenshire]

I have already indicated the priority that is given to securing the common travel area. This is a very strong commitment that this Government have given, and a point that I have underlined on many occasions. It is also a shared intent with ourselves, the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. It is therefore with that approach, and with that shared will, that we look to the negotiations ahead, getting the common travel area secured and seeing that frictionless border that is equally important to the politics and life of Northern Ireland.

[Carol Monaghan]

Will the common travel area be the UK’s only area of free travel with the EU or will it be free trade and free travel?

[James Brokenshire]

As I have said, the priority, as set out in the 12 points that the Prime Minister made in her speech, was securing the common travel area. That has served us over so many years, dating back to the 1920s. We believe that it is really important that we seek to attain that, as well as getting frictionless trade in goods, which is also a key priority.

Oral Answers to Questions

Carol Monaghan Excerpts

Wednesday 12th October 2016 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

1. What assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the economy of Scotland.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

2. What assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the economy of Scotland.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

The Secretary of State and his daughter did a fantastic job as well, as did the constituency Member of Parliament.

[Carol Monaghan]

Given that Brexit continues to be billed as taking back control, will the Secretary of State tell us which of the powers currently controlled by Brussels the UK Government will commit to giving to Holyrood and which will be re-reserved to Westminster?

Oral Answers to Questions

Carol Monaghan Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Stuart C. McDonald (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (SNP)]

2. What plans he has to bring forward proposals to reform electoral law.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

4. What plans he has to bring forward proposals to reform electoral law.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Chris Skidmore)]

The Government are committed to ensuring that our electoral system is as transparent, accurate and effective as possible. We are working closely with the Law Commission to consider what reforms might be brought forward in the light of its report on electoral law published earlier this year. The Government are also considering the review by my right hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Sir Eric Pickles) of electoral fraud, and we will respond to his proposals in due course.

[Chris Skidmore]

The Government believe that first past the post is the best system for electing a Government at the same time as ensuring that the vital constituency link between a Member of Parliament and their constituents is retained. This is clearly in line with the public mood, reflected in the overwhelming majority support for first past the post at the referendum held in 2011.

[Carol Monaghan]

Many 16 and 17-year-olds feel disfranchised by Westminster. In 2007, Austria lowered its voting age to 16, and has found that turnout among 16 and 17-year-olds is higher than for older first-time voters. Will the Minister now commit to seriously examining the evidence for extending the franchise to our young adults?

[Chris Skidmore]

The Government believe that it is absolutely vital to our democracy that young people should be engaged in the democratic process, and we will continue our commitment to increasing participation. The current voting age of 18, however, is widely recognised as the point at which one becomes an adult and gains full citizenship rights. I note that the question of lowering the voting age has been debated in this House on several occasions, when it has been repeatedly defeated, including three times during proceedings on the European Union Referendum Bill. The Government therefore have no plans to reduce the voting age.

UK's Nuclear Deterrent

Carol Monaghan Excerpts

Monday 18th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Angus Robertson]

I will help the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues: there are no circumstances in which we would spend any money on nuclear weapons. This is a motion before the House, which has been proposed by the Government, and which the hon. Gentleman and his hon. and right hon. Friends are being asked to support in the Lobby. The last time I looked, I thought that Conservative MPs took pride in fiscal rectitude and in making good decisions with taxpayers’ money. It is remarkable that not a single one of them has insisted that those on their Front Bench tell us this evening what the biggest spending decision of this Parliament is going to cost. I ask again: will anybody on the Treasury Bench enlighten the House? Anybody? Again, answer came there none.

Incidentally, I have not yet ended with the consensual stuff. I am sorry, but I got a little ahead of myself—my apologies. I want to make the point about something that has not been brought up thus far. Perhaps it is the reason why the Prime Minister is here today—it would not surprise me. One of the first things that a Prime Minister needs to do on taking office is to write four letters. I am not asking what the Prime Minister has written or is writing in those letters. She writes a letter to the four submarine commanders, and we pay tribute to those who serve in our name. The husband of one of our number on the Scottish National party Benches served as a submariner on a Trident submarine. He was one of the last people to fire one of those missiles in testing. Incidentally, I should say that he is now an SNP councillor, and is opposed to the renewal of Trident.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

[Angus Robertson]

Forgive me. I was just mentioning my hon. Friend.

[Carol Monaghan]

I thank my right hon. Friend for mentioning my husband, who did fire the Trident missile. Not only is he an SNP councillor, but he is in Parliament today and is a member of Scottish CND. I have made this point before. We support the personnel working on these submarines absolutely 100%, but not all of those personnel support the weapon they have been asked to deliver.

[Angus Robertson]

My hon. Friend makes her point very well.

Still remaining on the consensual side of this important debate, I want to stress that SNP Members do not confuse those who are in favour of renewing Trident with the thought that they would actually want to kill millions of people. However, as the Prime Minister has confirmed from the Dispatch Box today, the theory of nuclear deterrence is based on the credible potential use of weapons of mass destruction. Those who vote for its renewal need to square the theory with the practice of what that actually means.

Having said all of that, given the boldness of the Prime Minister’s recent personnel decisions, she has clearly been thinking about new ways of taking things forward. In that respect, it is hugely disappointing that she clearly has not taken any time to consider—perhaps to reconsider—the wisdom of spending an absolute fortune on something that can never be used and is not deterring the threats that we face today. I say again that we have not yet had any confirmation of what the Government plan to spend on this; they expect Members on both the Labour Benches and the Government Benches to sign a blank cheque for it.

I am sorry that the Prime Minister has clearly not given any new or detailed consideration to embracing the non-replacement of Trident, which would offer serious strategic and economic benefits, as outlined in the June 2013 report, “The Real Alternative”. Those who have not read the report should do so.

In the previous debate that took place in this House on 20 January 2015—a debate called by the SNP on Trident replacement, with support from Plaid Cymru and the Green party, and I think I am right in saying that it was co-sponsored by the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn)—we outlined the advantages, including

“improved national security—through budgetary flexibility in the Ministry of Defence and a more effective response to emerging security challenges in the 21st century”

as well as

“improved global security—through a strengthening of the non-proliferation regime, deterring of nuclear proliferation and de-escalation of international tensions”.

There are also potential

“vast economic savings—of more than £100 billion over the lifetime of a successor nuclear weapons system, releasing resources for effective security spending, as well as a range of public spending priorities”.—[Official Report, 20 January 2015; Vol. 591, c. 92.]

This seems to be pretty important, given that, when the Ministry of Defence was asked about it in a written question in February 2015, the then Defence Minister, the hon. Member for Ludlow (Mr Dunne), who is not in his place but was here earlier—I gave him notice that I would be raising this matter—replied that the estimated annual spending on the Trident replacement programme beyond maingate in 2016 was

“being withheld as it relates to the formulation of Government policy and release would prejudice commercial interests.”

Here today we are part and parcel of formulating Government policy, and we are expected to sign a blank cheque. We have absolutely no idea what the final cost will be. The hon. Member for Reigate (Crispin Blunt), the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, has made a calculation—perhaps he will speak about it, if he catches your eye, Madam Deputy Speaker. He worked out that the in-service costs of a missile extension—the total cost of the Trident replacement programme—would be £167 billion.