Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeff Smith and James Cartlidge

Monday 19th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[James Cartlidge]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this matter—he is a champion of the defence community in his constituency, and I thank him for his early engagement on it. I understand that the local authority regulator, following the completion of rigorous testing, has confirmed that the water quality at Trenchard Lines is acceptable, and it is now safe for personnel working and living there to use the mains supply. I will double-check that and write to him, but I am grateful for his comments on the performance of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation in that regard.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

T5. Today we have seen news of another serious attack by the Houthis on a commercial vessel in the gulf of Aden. Do Ministers think that more Royal Navy ships will need to be deployed to the region, given the ongoing threat to merchant shipping?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeff Smith and James Cartlidge

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Commons Chamber

[James Cartlidge]

I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman for his consistency—he raised this with me on Thursday in my winding-up speech on the Budget debate. As I said then, we will announce further details soon, but I can confirm that I will be meeting the Carbon Capture and Storage Association tomorrow. I look forward to the meeting. This is an incredibly important step forward, because we must remember that carbon capture does not just give us clean energy, but enables heavy industry to decarbonise.

[Jeff Smith]

Why does the Chancellor not rewire local economies by taking inspiration from President Biden and backing Labour’s policy for a national wealth fund to support half a million new jobs this decade?

[James Cartlidge]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the Inflation Reduction Act; I hope we all welcome what the United States is doing, because the climate is a global phenomenon and, if we are to make progress, we need the United States and other countries to do their bit. Let me be clear: we should be proud of our record to date and confident in our future, because we have huge competitive advantages on green industry. We have a brilliant record to date, we have the shallow North sea, where we have developed the biggest coastal array of offshore wind in the whole of Europe, we have a brilliant scientific base and, with the City of London and our financial institutions, we should be confident about our green future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeff Smith and James Cartlidge

Tuesday 5th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

T10. In the wake of legal aid cuts and, now, cuts in a few charitable services—such as Support Through Court, which, as we heard earlier, has had its core funding cut—and given the cost of living crisis, how do the Government expect people who cannot afford lawyers to navigate court if the last remaining services that could help them are lost?

[James Cartlidge]

As I have just made absolutely clear, as a result of our consultation we will be increasing access to legal aid. Two million more people will have access to civil legal aid, 3 million more will have access to legal aid in the magistrates courts, and there will be £135 million of additional funds for criminal legal aid following the independent inquiry conducted by Sir Christopher Bellamy, now Lord Bellamy. We think that this is a significant and positive reform, which, incidentally, will help to drive wider reform of the criminal justice system and civil legal aid.