Article 50

Debate between Kate Green and Theresa May

Wednesday 29th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can confirm to my hon. Friend that we are very conscious of the needs of the fishing industry. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been talking to the fishing industry. The Secretary of State and others have been looking carefully at the arrangements that will need to be put in place in the interests of the fishing industry, and that will be an important part of our considerations in future.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

Young people are very distressed and sad that we are leaving the European Union. Many of them did not vote for it and many did not even get a say in this decision, but they are the generation most greatly affected by it. What will the Prime Minister do to ensure that she listens to and engages with the next generation?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady makes an important point, because decisions we take now about how we leave the European Union, what our arrangements are in future and what we do here in the United Kingdom in things such as technical education and our industrial strategy are about the next generation. I want to ensure that we are ambitious for the whole of this country and ambitious to ensure a bright future for the next generation, and that is what this Government will be working for.

European Council

Debate between Kate Green and Theresa May

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The position we have taken is that, when we leave the European Union the acquis will be brought into UK law through the great repeal Bill, so that at that point everybody will know where they stand in relation to the various rules and regulations we have abided by as members of the European Union. Thereafter, of course, it will be open to this Parliament to determine the standards we require and the regulations we wish to see across a whole raft of areas, including those my hon. Friend mentions.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister will know that under the Dublin rules the UK has returned more asylum seekers to other European Union countries than we have received from them. What are her intentions post-Brexit? Does she intend for us to continue to participate in that aspect of the Dublin agreement?

[The Prime Minister]

We will obviously look at the relationship we will have with the European Union on matters such as asylum seekers. I have broadened the discussion on this issue; it is about not only the UK’s relationship with the EU but how the whole international community deals with asylum seekers and economic migrants. I am clear that, as an international community, we should accept that individuals should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach.

Home Affairs and Justice

Debate between Kate Green and Theresa May

Thursday 28th May 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

When we first came to office, we made it clear that we would have to reduce public sector spending because of the economic mess that we had been left by the last Government. We had been bequeathed the largest deficit in our peacetime history, and the previous Chief Secretary to the Treasury had said, “There is no money.” At that time, Labour Members kept telling us that we would not be able to reduce spending without crime going up, but, as we have seen very clearly, spending has been reduced and crime has fallen.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

The Home Secretary may be aware of two separate shooting incidents that have taken place in my constituency over the past 10 days, one of which was tragically fatal. Happily arrests are being made and investigations are continuing, but will the Home Secretary tell us what steps the Government are taking, and what resources they are giving Greater Manchester police so that they can tackle the continuing tragedy of gun and gang-related crimes?

[Mrs May]

We have done a significant amount in relation to both gang-related crime and firearms. On firearms, we have introduced a new offence applying to middlemen, because the firearms used in attacks are often hired out by those who possess them. We are also doing some work across Europe in relation to the availability of firearms, and the way in which they are brought into the United Kingdom.

We have attacked the problem of gangs on two levels. Our work in connection with “Ending Gang and Youth Violence” has focused on the street gangs that have often been such a problem in many areas, and some of the work done by Greater Manchester police in bringing agencies together to deal with gang-related crimes has served as a model for others. We have also set up the National Crime Agency, which has enhanced the ability of the police to deal with the organised crime groups that often lie behind such crimes. Incidents such as those to which the hon. Lady has referred are, of course, tragic, and, as she has said, the police will be properly investigating them. We have enhanced their ability to deal with incidents of that kind.