Israel and Gaza

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Zarah Sultana

Tuesday 27th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

That concludes proceedings on the statement. We have taken rather longer than usual for a statement, but I have deliberately allowed this matter to run on, to make sure that everybody who wished to have their voice heard was heard.

[Zarah Sultana]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. In response to a question from the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Gavin Newlands), the Minister said that the arms export Committee does its work effectively. However, that Committee, formerly known as the Committees on Arms Export Controls, no longer exists. It last met publicly in December 2022, and last month its responsibilities were transferred to the Business and Trade Committee, which will scrutinise arms exports alongside a huge number of other matters. That means that, contrary to what the Minister suggested, this House no longer has a Committee specifically focused on scrutinising arms exports. What advice can you give me on ensuring that the Government take seriously the scrutiny of arms exports, given the Minister’s apparent lack of understanding?

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

The hon. Lady knows that that is not a point of order for the Chair but a continuation of the discussion. She asks for advice on how the matter might be drawn to the Government’s attention; I think I can call on the Minister to make a point further to that point of order.

Points of Order

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Zarah Sultana

Wednesday 19th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have informed the hon. Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker) that I will be referring to him.

In July 2020, the hon. Member for Calder Valley told LBC that

“sections of the community…are not taking the pandemic seriously”.

When asked if he was talking about Muslims, he said, “Of course.” When challenged, he refused to apologise.

We now know that just a few weeks earlier the Prime Minister had attended a boozy party in Downing Street and No. 10 staffers had been wheeling suitcases of drink to work, but I note that the hon. Member for Calder Valley has not condemned that behaviour as

“not taking the pandemic seriously”.

This weekend a member of the public wrote to the hon. Member, copying me into the email and raising her concerns about his comments. He replied, not apologising for his divisive remarks but insulting me instead.

Can you advise me, Madam Deputy Speaker, on how I can bring the hon. Member for Calder Valley to the Chamber to apologise, not just for insulting me but, more important, for his offensive slur against British Muslims?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order, and for giving me notice that she intended to make it.

It will, of course, be obvious that the Chair is not, and cannot possibly be, responsible for the content of Members’ correspondence with members of the public, but I understand why the hon. Lady is upset by that exchange. Let me simply say that all Members should bear in mind these words in “Erskine May”:

“Good temper and moderation are the characteristics of parliamentary language.”

Of course, when one is acting in the capacity of a Member of Parliament, parliamentary language extends beyond this Chamber and this House to correspondence and other matters as well. I will simply recommend that all Members adopt a tone of “good temper and moderation”.

I am afraid that I cannot give the hon. Lady advice on how to bring the hon. Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker) to the Chamber, as he is not responsible to the Chair or to the Chamber but, of course, to his own constituents.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Zarah Sultana

Thursday 18th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab)]

It has been reported that the Transport Secretary used public money to create a departmental team that lobbied against plans to build on airfield sites, including a gigafactory at Coventry airport. Disgracefully, that would mean he used public funds to lobby against green investment and jobs coming to Coventry. Why? Well, we know he is an aviation enthusiast. From a dodgy Transport Secretary to a dodgy Leader of the House, who last week tried to rewrite the rules to let his mate off the hook, this Conservative Government are rotten to the core. Is the Leader of the House proud of this shameful record?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Order. I think perhaps the hon. Lady could think of a different form of words. I do not like “dodgy”. She can make clear that she disagrees with what has happened, but perhaps she could put it in different words.

[Zarah Sultana]

I do not think another word suffices for the levels of corruption that we are seeing from this Government, so I think that term suffices.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

It does not quite suffice. I am asking the hon. Lady to moderate her language. It is absolutely in order to have disagreement here—that is why we are here—but we must moderate our language and be careful of the adjectives that are used about one Member by another. Perhaps the hon. Lady could just put it in slightly different words and just ask a straight question of the Lord President?

[Zarah Sultana]

Apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I am confused, because I do not have any other words to put it in.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

It would suffice for the moment if the hon. Lady would withdraw the word she used, namely “dodgy”.

[Zarah Sultana]

I think, when I talk to my constituents—

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. The hon. Lady misunderstands me. I am asking her to withdraw the word “dodgy”. I am giving her the opportunity to put her question in other words. If she does not want to take that opportunity, she does not have to do so. I am not stopping the hon. Lady making the point she wants to make or asking the Leader of the House the question she wants to ask, and indeed drawing to general attention the points she wishes to draw to general attention. I am asking her to use moderate language in doing so. Would she like to put her question in moderate language?

[Zarah Sultana]

I won’t withdraw those remarks, Madam Deputy Speaker.

[The hon. Member having been understood to have withdrawn her remarks—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I thank the hon. Lady. I do not want to stop her asking the question. If she would like to ask a simple question of the Lord President of the Council, I am giving her the opportunity to do so. I do not ever wish to stop questions being asked or Government being held to account; I just want to make sure that language is moderated. Would she care to put her question?

[Zarah Sultana]

indicated dissent.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Then I have given her the opportunity to do so. We will find another way of doing it.

Education Route Map: Covid-19

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Zarah Sultana

Thursday 25th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab) [V]]

I begin by paying tribute to teachers and education staff in Coventry South and across the country. This past year they have once again demonstrated their incredible commitment to education, working flat out. Thank you to all the educators in Coventry South, in particular to Coventry National Education Union, which started the “Coventry learning pack” campaign to promote remote learning resources for working-class kids in the city.

But teaching staff are again being put in an impossible situation by the Government. On Monday, just as the Prime Minister confirmed the “big bang” reopening of schools in England, minutes from a SAGE meeting were published showing that the Government’s own top scientists recommended a phased reopening of schools. When I challenged the Prime Minister about that on Monday, highlighting his shocking pandemic record, with more than 120,000 covid deaths, he responded with jokes and parliamentary theatrics. Well, I do not think there is anything funny about tens of thousands of avoidable deaths or recklessly ignoring the science yet again. Once more, I urge the Government: listen to scientists and education unions and follow the devolved Administrations with a phased reopening of schools in England.

There is so much more that the Government could be doing to make sure that schools are safe. They have ignored calls for Nightingale schools, for measures to ensure small classroom sizes and for teachers to be vaccinated as a priority group. Teachers, again, will be put in poorly ventilated rooms with dozens of children and no added protection against the virus. It is not just schools, as nurseries in my constituency tell me that they have not been given adequate additional support. Having to stay open through this lockdown while trying to implement covid safety measures has been unmanageable. With early years not having been given extra financial support this lockdown, nurseries’ already precarious financial situation has been made worse. Like school staff, nursery staff love their jobs, but they are being asked to work incredibly hard with pay that simply does not reflect their contribution.

The Education Secretary said that no child’s prospects should be blighted by the pandemic, but the truth is that, even before the pandemic, young people’s futures were already blighted by his Government’s education cuts and the deepening child poverty crisis. Per-pupil spending has fallen by nearly 10% in the past decade; in a classroom of 30 children, nine on average are living in poverty. Now, the pandemic has highlighted the flaws in the education system. We need to address them. That means tackling child poverty by building a humane social security system, funding mental health services for young people, and reorientating our education system so that it is geared towards learning and the wellbeing of children, with a proper recognition of and funding for our teachers and schools.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

The final contribution from the Back Benches will come from Miriam Cates.

Health Inequalities

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Zarah Sultana

Wednesday 4th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Zarah Sultana]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. Health inequalities between regions are stark, but there are also huge disparities across short distances. In my constituency, the life expectancy of men in St Michael’s is 13 years shorter than it is of men just 2.5 miles away in Stoneleigh, just south of Coventry. Does he agree that to reduce those shocking health differences, the Government need to tackle underlying economic inequality and systemic poverty, and reverse 10 years of Tory cuts?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Order. The hon. Lady’s intervention might not have seemed very long to her, and I appreciate that she is new to the House, but it was very long. I thank the hon. Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth) for what he said before he took that intervention. It would be much appreciated if the Front-Bench spokespeople took only a few interventions. This is a debate—we can have some interventions—but if Members who intend to intervene and then leave take up all the time at the beginning of the debate, those who sit here all afternoon will not get to speak at the end. We are talking about unfairness here, and that is unfair. The hon. Gentleman has been most courteous, and I know that the Minister has also been courteous in saying that she intends to take only a few interventions.