Business of the House
Jim Shannon Excerpts(1 week, 5 days ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lucy Powell
I congratulate White Rose business park, in my hon. Friend’s constituency, on its excellent work. This Government will ensure that we have a skilled workforce for the future. We are pursuing a range of measures, such as setting up Skills England, as announced in yesterday’s Budget. There is more money for further education, which is vital, and we are reforming the apprenticeship levy. As he describes, devolving these areas to local councils and mayors will ensure that local skills provision is available for all.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
Father Marcelo Pérez, a priest and prominent figure in Mexico’s Chiapas state, was killed while travelling to his parish. Father Marcelo was deeply respected for his lifelong dedication to advocating for peace, justice and indigenous rights in a region heavily impacted by organised crime and violence. His loss has deeply shaken his community and underscores the dangers faced by those who challenge violence and defend human dignity in Mexico. Will the Leader of the House join me in condemning such violations of the freedom of religion or belief, and will she ask the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to raise this issue with its counterparts in Mexico?
Lucy Powell
The hon. Gentleman raises another important issue, as he does every single week, this time concerning the freedom of religion or belief in Mexico. I will miss him next week, when we are not here for business questions. He is a doughty campaigner on these matters, and I look forward to him being a regular attender, and raising many similar issues, in the forthcoming Backbench Business debates.
Business of the House
Jim Shannon Excerpts(2 weeks, 5 days ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lucy Powell
I am really sorry to hear about my hon. Friend’s constituent. The Government are committed to introducing an extra 40,000 appointments per week by the end of this Parliament. That work, led by the Health Secretary, is already under way, and I hope it means that such a situation will not happen again.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
It is common for us to believe that freedom of religion or belief violations do not occur in the west, but they do. Recently, the Breccia di Roma, an evangelical church in Italy, has been embroiled in a legal battle regarding its place of worship. The Italian tax agency denied the church tax exemptions granted to other religious institutions on the grounds that its place of worship did not exhibit sufficiently religious architectural features. Despite favourable rulings from lower courts, the Italian supreme court ruled against the church, claiming that it was liable for commercial taxes. The church, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom International, has now taken its case to the European Court of Human Rights. This case is discriminatory, so will the Leader of the House join me in raising concerns about that violation of freedom of religion or belief, and will she ask the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to raise the matter with its counterparts in Italy?
Lucy Powell
Yet again, the hon. Gentleman raises the important matter of freedom of religion or belief in business questions. I will certainly get him answers to his question. He has asked me previously about the case of Jimmy Lai, so he might like to know that the Foreign Secretary raised that on his trip to China last week.
Voting by Proxy
Jim Shannon Excerpts(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I shall not detain the House for long.
I welcome the motion. The House proved itself when Members were experiencing adverse circumstances because of covid and all the associated problems: it stepped up and made sure that Members had the opportunity that they ought to have to use their franchise. It is only right that, in a new Session, this arrangement should be extended for a five-year period. I think we should be demonstrating that ours is a kind workplace, and I think what the Leader of the House said has shown that it is. Some of us are bound to be under pressure sometimes, whatever that pressure may be, and it is good to know that we can go and have a chat with someone who can help us to get through the process. The House enables us to do that, and I commend what the Leader of the House has done.
Business of the House
Jim Shannon Excerpts(3 weeks, 5 days ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lucy Powell
I, too, was delighted that this Government took quick action to deliver their manifesto commitment to ensuring that veterans’ cards could be used as voter ID, and I am pleased to hear of my hon. Friend’s reaction to that. As he will be aware, this Government are committed to an armed forces commissioner Bill. I can tell him today that that Bill is fairly imminent, and I am sure that we can debate some of these issues as we approach Remembrance Sunday, too.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
Tsering Tso, a Tibetan human rights defender and tour guide, has repeatedly faced arbitrary detention and harassment by Chinese authorities for advocating for the rights of Tibetans to freedom of movement and equal treatment under Chinese law. Her most recent detention occurred in June 2024, following her public criticism of local authorities’ discriminatory practices against Tibetan monks. Tsering has been subjected to administrative detention on multiple occasions, having raised concerns about racial discrimination and the unlawful detention of Tibetans—two monks were arrested while on a pilgrimage. What representations can His Majesty’s Government make to the Chinese authorities on the detention and repeated harassment of Tsering Tso?
Lucy Powell
This Government stand firm on human rights, including China’s repression of the people of Tibet. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the Foreign Secretary is to make a diplomatic visit to China; I know that he will raise these matters in his conversations. I will ensure that he comes to this House to give an update on how that visit goes.
Business of the House
Jim Shannon Excerpts(1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lucy Powell
Postmasters have had a very difficult time in recent years, and there are still many questions facing the Post Office about the support, recruitment and remuneration of postmasters. I am sure that would make an extremely good topic for a debate in this House.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
Happy birthday, Leader of the House! To make quite a simple point, do not count the years—instead, make the years count. That is the important thing to do.
On the minds of Members who care about protecting freedom of religion or belief is a man of great importance, Jimmy Lai. British citizen Jimmy Lai, who will turn 77 at the end of this year, has been detained in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison in Hong Kong for nearly four years since December 2020. Confined to a cell for 23 hours of the day, his Catholic faith is a source of strength. What steps can the Government take to raise the case of Mr Lai with the Hong Kong authorities, and will representations be made concerning reports that Mr Lai—a practising Roman Catholic—has been denied access to the Eucharist, aggravating that inhumane treatment even more and impinging on his freedom of religion?
Lucy Powell
What better birthday present than a question from the hon. Gentleman, and some pearls of wisdom to go with it! I will take his words on board.
As ever, the hon. Gentleman raises a very important case. Mr Lai’s case is a priority for this Government; the Foreign Secretary has already raised it with China’s Foreign Minister, and we continue to call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their politically motivated prosecution and to release him immediately.
Business of the House
Jim Shannon Excerpts(2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lucy Powell
I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Jack. I am sure that, as is often the case, around the time of Remembrance Day there will be ample time on the Floor of the House to do what this Government and many Members will want to do: pay tribute to all those veterans who served this country so well over many years.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I would like to draw the attention of the House to a recently passed anti-discrimination law in the Philippines that is aimed at enhancing equality and protecting marginalised groups which has sparked a nationwide debate about the implications for religious freedom. The key question is: although the law seeks to prevent unfair treatment in employment, education and public services, how can the Government ensure that religious freedoms are safeguarded, particularly given concerns raised by faith-based groups about potential conflicts with their beliefs on gender identity and sexual orientation? Will the Leader of the House join me in questioning such persecution of religious freedom and will she urge the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to raise this issue with its counterparts in the Philippines?
Lucy Powell
I thank the hon. Gentleman for once again raising the important issue of expression of freedom of religion or belief for all. I certainly will ask the Foreign Office to raise these issues about what is happening in the Philippines. He will know that the Government are committed to ensuring that there is freedom of religion and belief for all across the world.
Modernisation Committee
Jim Shannon Excerpts(2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lucy Powell
I thank the right hon. Gentleman again for that, but this is a balance. The membership make-up of the Committee reflects that of all Select Committees of this House, and to achieve a proportion where one place would be available for a smaller party would mean a very big Committee indeed—even then, only one smaller party would be represented and not all. My approach will be to make sure that the smaller parties are regularly invited into the Committee, are regularly engaged and are regularly asked for their thoughts ahead of and during inquiries. That is a more meaningful way to collate all the views of the different parties and groupings in this place, given how the membership of the Committee has to come about.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I want to follow on from what the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) said, and to raise a specific query about my own party, the DUP. We have five Members, while there are other single Members from Northern Ireland as well, and there is a big interest in, for example, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. I do not expect an answer from the Leader of the House straightaway—I am not putting her on the spot—but I am very keen to hear her thoughts on the best way to do this. With our deep interest in Northern Ireland affairs, is it the intention of the Government, ever mindful of the statistical and numerical change there has been in this Chamber, to ensure that our party has representation to reflect that?
Business of the House
Jim Shannon Excerpts(2 months, 1 week ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lucy Powell
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Kinship carers play a vital role and special educational needs are vital in our mission to ensure opportunity for all. Special educational need has been the poor relation for the last few years, and that is something that we are going to put right. We will have Education questions next week and I hope that he will ask a question then.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Leader of the House for this opportunity to ask an important question that has been on the radar of Members who care about protecting the freedom of religion or belief. I would like to turn the House’s attention to Nicaragua, where since 2018 the regime of Daniel Ortega has unleashed relentless attacks on the Catholic faithful. Viewing them as the last hurdle of opposition in the country, they have systematically targeted religious leaders, imprisoning bishops, priests and seminarians on baseless charges and forcing them into exile.
The closure of Catholic media outlets, the confiscation of Church properties and the suppression of religious education echo the darkest days of history in communist countries and the dictatorships of the past. Will the Leader of the House join me in condemning such violations of the freedom of religion or belief? Will she ask the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to raise these important issues with its counterparts in Nicaragua?
Lucy Powell
As ever, the hon. Gentleman raises in this House the important issues of the freedom of religion or belief. I share his concern about the arbitrary detention of members of the Church in Nicaragua. We welcome the release of seven priests in August, but we are alarmed by their expulsion from Nicaragua. What is happening there is unacceptable; I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising it on the Floor of the House.
Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee
Jim Shannon Excerpts(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lucy Powell
As the hon. Gentleman knows, his party has four other Members in this House; the House is considered in terms of its Members, not in terms of the popular vote. What he describes is a consequence of formulas that are long-standing and have brought about effective representation on many Select Committees.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I understand the mathematics—one party has over 400 Members, another has more than 120, another has 72, and so on—and I understand how Committees are made up, and how the Government and the Opposition work. However, when it comes to more parochial things, and while I am ever mindful that the Government have the right to a majority, does the Leader of the House agree that the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, the Scottish Affairs Committee and the Welsh Affairs Committee should include more representation from regional areas?
Lucy Powell
Perhaps there is an opportunity for a wider debate on the make-up of Select Committees. I can see some of the issues, but I reiterate that the Modernisation Committee needs to strike a balance between being effective and making fast progress. It needs to be representative, but not too big. I reiterate to the smaller parties my commitment to having ongoing, meaningful engagement, and to having them come regularly to the Committee to give evidence and views. Of course, the proceedings of the Committee will be fully transparent; we will have calls for evidence, and our deliberations will be regularly published for the whole House to see.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
It is a pleasure, Madam Deputy Speaker, to speak for the second day running with you in the Chair. May I say what a pleasure it is to follow the hon. Member for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan). I wish him well, along with all the others who made their maiden speeches today. This House is enriched and blessed by the contributions of Members from all parts of the House. It augurs well for the future. We all benefit when everyone brings their knowledge and their expertise of other subject matters to the Chamber.
In the very short time that I have, I wish to refer to the important conversation that needs to be had about MPs and double jobbing. As MPs and elected representatives, our three main priorities are accountability, scrutiny and representation. There are ways to be critical and compassionate in relation to this subject. For instance, we should consider those who may have had established businesses before they came to this House.
A report in 2015 indicated that 26 MPs declared more earnings from directorships, paid employment and shareholdings than they did from their parliamentary salary. That puts a question in my mind.
On the other hand, I have never made any secret of how grateful I am to be able to carry on with my role. I dedicate so much of my time, as do others, to doing my job to the best of my ability. But we have seven Sinn Féin MPs who are elected but do not take their seats. They do not get a wage, but they can claim for office expenses.
Undoubtedly, there are issues in relation to double jobbing that need to be addressed, but many of those are down to individual circumstances. I do not know everybody’s circumstances, but an MP who is elected to this House could be here for five years—for one term—and, at the end of it, they will still have a mortgage to pay. What about the job or even the opportunity that they may have had before they came here? I just pose that as a question. I was a councillor and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly before I became an MP. Once I was elected, I gave up my council job and my role as an MLA. I gave the business that I owned to my son. That is what we can do, but consideration should be given to both sides of the argument. However, my stance is clear. My No. 1 priority is doing the job that I was elected to do, which is to represent the people of Strangford, to scrutinise Government legislation, and to be held accountable to my constituents.
The other issue that I wish to speak to is modernisation. I can well remember coming to this House, sitting on these green Benches, and feeling the overwhelming weight of responsibility on my shoulders. I am innately aware of what it means to have the honour of representing my constituency in the greatest seat of democracy.
Although I noted the difference in the way that things were handled when I was first elected in 2010 and struggled to come to terms with some of the traditional aspects of the House, I now treasure those traditions. There are those who express the other point of view and want to see lots of change, and then there are those who, like me, see the traditions as something to hold on to.
I agree with the rationale behind these timeless traditions, which is something that I am afraid we will lose if we blindly modernise. Mr Speaker said to hon. Members, “If you want to catch my eye, wear a tie.” Well, everybody who can and should wear a tie is wearing one today. I support the rationale behind that. I think it is the right way to do things.
If we do not move with the times, then the times will move without us; however, I urge caution. We should ensure that not one thing is changed simply because we can rather than because we should. Not all modernisations are welcome. There are now rules in place that preclude me from being an officer of more than six all-party parliamentary groups. That has been difficult, as I am letting some of those groups down. I put that forward as a point of view; obviously others will take a different view on that.
Some modernisations are necessary. The overhaul of financial claims was a vital tool in restoring public confidence. Modernisation of the voting system was necessary for functionality during covid, and I am thankful that the flexibility was there, but we need to be incredibly careful, if we consider changes to Commons voting, that they do not result in more absenteeism and remote voting. Some have suggested that we change the voting system; I suggest that we do not. Modernisation of the maternity system was long overdue, and I am thankful for that. We need modernisation, but it must be for a clear purpose and not for ease of operation.
The traditions of this place should not be dismissed as mere traditions; there is wisdom behind many of them that must be protected. I urge the House to ensure that such protection is in place. I am all for modernisation as necessary, but I feel strongly that it must be done with wisdom and sensitivity, and that our centuries-long traditions should not be abandoned to give an appearance of modern society. Yes, I would love to speak first in every debate, but I am not going to. I would not be allowed to do so; it would not be the right way of doing things. I respect the convention that would prevent it as ancient but necessary. Every single issue discussed must be considered in that way.
Just because something has aged does not mean that it ceases to be of use. That must be the premise of any discussion on modernisation in this great House, in this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland—better together. With all the culture, history and traditions from all parts of society that we have here, we can work together to make changes in the right way—not change for change’s sake, but the changes that are necessary.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call Gordon McKee to make his maiden speech.
Business of the House
Jim Shannon Excerpts(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lucy Powell
I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend’s point. Every town and village contributes greatly to the life of their local communities. It is about not just libraries or banking facilities, but a whole range of services and tackling issues such as rural and village crime. That is why the Government are committed to looking at all those issues, but also giving local communities the power to determine the future of their own towns and villages.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Leader of the House for the opportunity to ask a question regarding the necessity of safeguarding freedom of religion or belief. As I indicated to her, I would like to turn our attention to Mexico. In April, more than 150 Baptist Protestants in Hidalgo state in Mexico were forcibly displaced after their electricity was cut off, their church vandalised and access to their homes blocked. The inaction of local government officials has prolonged the suffering of the families, who currently face exorbitant fines based on their conversion to Protestantism. Will the Leader of the House join me in condemning those violations of freedom of religion or belief in Hidalgo state, and will she ask the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to raise the issue with its counterparts in Mexico?
Lucy Powell
I am pleased to see the hon. Gentleman in his place today. I would expect nothing less. I was also pleased to see that, during his Adjournment debate this week, he was intervened on many times. I have heard him many times in this House and at business questions raise the issue of freedom of religion or belief. He will know that the Government are committed to continuing to support those measures and that we will continue to champion them in government.