HS2 Update

Debate between Lord Grayling and Callum McCaig

Tuesday 15th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I am pleased that my hon. Friend’s constituents are happy with the change in his area. My hon. Friend the Minister will be happy to meet Members from across the House later today if they wish to raise specific issues, and of course we will have those discussions.

I want to mention something that I should have said in my earlier remarks. I cannot remember which Opposition Member’s constituency includes Crofton, where one of the depots is planned. I have been to the site and I am looking actively at whether we can find an alternative location for the depot. I hope to be able to bring forward an alternative, but I cannot provide guarantees today.

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State mentioned Aberdeen. In 2013, KPMG found that the annual impact of HS2 on the economy of the north-east of Scotland would be £220 million a year. Can he update that figure, and will he tell the House what he is doing to mitigate the possible economic loss?

[Chris Grayling]

I do not have an updated figure for the hon. Gentleman, but to ensure that Aberdeen prospers, we are making sure: first, that we have a growing economy; secondly, that we continue to provide financial support to the Scottish economy from across the rest of the United Kingdom; and, thirdly, that we continue to look to create job opportunities and business opportunities in this programme for people in Aberdeen. That was why my hon. Friend the Minister went there.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Grayling and Callum McCaig

Thursday 14th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I understand the concern that the hon. Gentleman raises. The Secretary of State for Education will be here on Monday week and he will have the opportunity to raise that issue then. We want to make sure that we have a good range of international languages—given the ties that we are building, have built and will continue to build with India, that is important—but we also want to make sure that the quality of education across the piece is right for those in migrant communities as they meet the employment challenges of adult life in this country.

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

The Brexiteers suggest that because the UK has a negative balance of payments with the European Union, we should be seeking to leave. With that in mind, may we have a debate about the UK’s place in the world? Given that we have a global trade deficit, perhaps we should be seeking to leave it, too.

[Chris Grayling]

We currently have a trade deficit with the European Union and a trade surplus with the rest of the world. It is the Government’s strategy to try to improve our trade ties around the world, both inside Europe and elsewhere.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Grayling and Callum McCaig

Thursday 10th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

The changes in the HMRC structure are simply because, as more and more of its work is done online and more and more of us deal with our tax affairs electronically, maintaining a network of 170 offices does not make sense. We have decided to rationalise the structure to one with more specialist centres, which will enhance, rather than detract from, what HMRC does.

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

The decision to remove £1 billion from the carbon capture and storage competition is the latest kick in the teeth for the green and low carbon technology sectors. I have asked the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change several questions to which she claims she does not yet know the answers. May we have a debate or a statement from the Secretary of State so that we can tease out why this disastrous decision was made?

[Chris Grayling]

I know that the hon. Gentleman has already raised this issue. I am not embarrassed by our record on renewables. During the last quarter—over the summer—more than 25% of our energy generation came from renewables, which is a step change from where we were previously. This Government and their predecessor, the coalition Government, have moved to develop renewable energy in this country, but we do not have unlimited funds and we must use those funds carefully. The Secretary of State has taken the decision not to move away from carbon capture for the long term, but to have a mix of energy generation. The mix that she set out in her statement in this House two weeks ago is the right one. She will be back in the House on 7 January, when the hon. Gentleman will again have a chance to ask her about his concerns.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Grayling and Callum McCaig

Thursday 22nd October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I think that the extraordinary situation that the House faces over the conduct of the hon. Gentleman will prompt a general debate in the House about the behaviour of Members of Parliament and the way in which privilege works and is used. I also think that, most immediately, it is important for the individual case to be dealt with, and I am confident that it will be, but once that has happened we shall have to ask some serious questions about what has taken place, especially in view of the fact that it has been carried out by someone with such a senior rank in the House.

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

On Tuesday next week, a statutory instrument, the Onshore Hydraulic Fracturing (Protected Areas) Regulations 2015, will be discussed. It would allow fracking wells to be drilled through protected groundwater source areas, which I think would horrify a number of Members. Will the Leader of the House arrange for the debate to take place in the Chamber, so that all Members can take part in it?

[Chris Grayling]

In a previous role, I was the Minister responsible for the Health and Safety Executive, which is in turn responsible for safety standards throughout our energy industry. I believe, and the Government believe, that fracking is a necessary part of providing a sustainable supply of energy for the future, but we also believe that we have world-leading standards of safety in works through the industry. For those reasons, I simply do not share the hon. Gentleman’s concern.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Grayling and Callum McCaig

Thursday 17th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

If I was a Scottish National MP and I had come to Westminster with a determination to achieve independence for Scotland, I would seek to foment division between England and Scotland. I absolutely understand where that party is coming from, but it does not mean that this Government have gone back on their promises in the vow. We are delivering the Smith commission findings in the Scotland Bill as we promised.

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

The number of refused applications made by employers for a sponsor licence to employ non-EU workers has more than doubled since 2010. One of my constituents has had their licence removed for fatuous reasons. Can we have a statement from the Home Secretary as to whether hidden targets regimes are in operation, which is damaging businesses across the country?

[Chris Grayling]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. It is right and proper that we should seek to tackle abuses in the immigration system. Such abuses clearly exist and the Home Office is right to take action. At the same time, he is also right that it has to do so with great caution to ensure that it gets it right. There will be an opportunity at Home Office questions, straight after the recess, for him to raise such issues directly with the Home Secretary. I am absolutely behind her in what she is seeking to do, which is to manage our immigration system properly, but of course we must get the detail of it right.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Grayling and Callum McCaig

Thursday 16th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

One challenge that many smaller councils face is that they have three-member wards, and several have decided they cannot afford to have so many councillors and have reduced those numbers. It is a live issue, but one that can be and is decided by local authorities themselves. I have no doubt that my hon. Friend will make strong representations in his own area on their moving to a more efficient system.

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

Given the shambles of the debate around EVEL, the Government’s intransigence over the Scotland Bill and their all-out attack on the renewables sector in Scotland, may we have a debate in Government time about their one nation approach, because it would be very enlightening to know which nation they are referring to?

[Chris Grayling]

It still baffles me why the Scottish National party appears to believe that covering the Scottish mountains in endless wind farms is the best way to preserve Scotland’s character. The hon. Gentleman and his colleagues talk about English constituents raising concerns with them, thereby giving them the right to vote and express a view, but plenty of English people have expressed profound concern about wind farms in Scotland and the damage they do to the Scottish environment. We are listening to them.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Grayling and Callum McCaig

Thursday 2nd July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Tom Blenkinsop) was, on my suggestion, given a Christmas present by his brother of a book on yoga, but to date there is no evidence that he has read the first chapter.

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

Exploration in the North sea is at its lowest level for decades. Will the Chancellor bring forward in next week’s Budget proposals to incentivise exploration for oil and gas to boost production and to protect employment?

[Chris Grayling]

As a Government we understand very clearly the importance of the North sea to the economy not only of north-east Scotland but the whole of Scotland. I have no doubt that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is listening carefully to representations from the hon. Gentleman’s party and other people in Scotland, and from the energy industry. We will of course do everything we can to ensure that it has a strong future. I remind him, though, that this is a classic example of why the financial plans of the Scottish National party were so utterly illiterate, because had it secured independence and the oil price had then collapsed, its putative new Government would have been bankrupt. This is why we need to be part of one United Kingdom.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Grayling and Callum McCaig

Thursday 18th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

I shall be incredibly brief, Mr Speaker. We have touched on the ending of the subsidy for renewable onshore wind. With a stroke of the pen, a written statement and a press release, £3 billion-worth of investment in Scotland is at risk. When will the Secretary of State come to this House to explain that disastrous decision?

[Chris Grayling]

The Secretary of State will be here next week, but we will continue to have a substantial wind sector in this country and we continue to support offshore wind. I do think there are limits to the amount our countryside can be covered by wind farms. That may be a point of difference between me and the hon. Gentleman, but I am happy to have that argument with the residents of Scotland, as well as the residents of England.