Business of the House

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Lucy Powell

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. As I said, the footage is incredibly disturbing, and there is understandably a lot of concern, particularly in his constituency, given that his constituent was affected. Greater Manchester police have said that the officer involved was immediately suspended from all duties, and a referral has now been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. I will ensure that the Home Secretary has heard my hon. Friend’s question and is in touch with him at the earliest opportunity to discuss the matter further.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Lib Dem spokesperson.

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[Mr Speaker]

Order. Business questions will be cut off at about 11.45 am. If we are to get it running, we will have to help each other by trying to ask shorter questions. I am sure that the Leader of the House will assist with quicker answers.

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that great question. Given all the new Members in the House who represent coastal towns, I am sure that the important contribution of those areas would make a really good topic for an Adjournment or Westminster Hall debate after recess.

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[Lucy Powell]

I join my hon. Friend in thanking teachers right across the country for what they have done this academic year. Given my new duties, I missed my child’s very last day at primary school on Tuesday—[Hon. Members: “Aww.”]—so I would particularly like to thank his teachers, who I did not get a chance to see that day. I am a really bad mum, I am afraid; it just goes with the terrain. My hon. Friend makes an important point about the RAAC that remains in our schools. It is one of the scandals of the previous Government that was not dealt with. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education is looking incredibly closely at these issues and will update the House in due course.

[Mr Speaker]

Let us have another mother.

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[Lucy Powell]

I join my hon. Friend in thanking John again, who has sat through business questions one last time as a Doorkeeper. My hon. Friend raises an important issue about supporting veterans. He will know that the Veterans Minister has moved back into the Ministry of Defence, which has Question Time after recess. I hope he will be able to raise the matter then.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Amanda Martin for the final business question.

Business of the House

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Lucy Powell

Thursday 18th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think the problem is that people’s comments ought to reflect their previous jobs as well. Maybe that comment is from knowledge about making statements outside the House. I do not know; I do not make any judgment. The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct that when the House is not sitting, of course statements will be made by the Government, but when the House is sitting, I expect them to be made in the House. That has been a very clear message and the Leader of the House and I are both working to ensure that statements are heard here first. I certainly take the point on board, but I do not want to be drawn into what we should or should not be doing in the future. I welcome the ability to clarify the position.

[Lucy Powell]

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

I start by thanking His Majesty the King for yesterday’s Speech and join colleagues in wishing Her Majesty the Queen a happy birthday for yesterday. I also thank the staff and security services who have worked so hard both to get Parliament ready for the King’s Speech and on the huge task of transitioning from the last Parliament to this one, with so many new Members and so many leaving.

The election saw worrying incidents, including harassment and the sharing of misinformation and disinformation—it is unacceptable that some felt unable to go out campaigning, and our democracy depends on our coming together to say so—but we also saw the best of our democracy: the rapid changeover of power when people choose change.

May I thank you, Mr Speaker, for your leadership on MPs’ security? I know that that is your top and most urgent priority. May I also congratulate you on your re-election? You are always fair and considered, and always put Members’ interests first. Today might be the first big test of whether you know the names of all the new Members.

[Mr Speaker]

No tests, please.

[Lucy Powell]

We both share a strong commitment to upholding the role of Parliament and, as we have just discussed, to restoring respect. That includes Ministers first making major announcements in the House, when it is sitting. Rest assured, I will be robust on that, and I expect to see Ministers and Secretaries of State at the Dispatch Box over the coming days as we play catch-up on the period in which the House was not sitting. Thank you for your forbearance on that, Mr Speaker.

I welcome all new and returning Members to this 59th Parliament. It is a Parliament to be proud of and one that reflects our country better than ever before. There are more women than ever, more Members from ethnic minority backgrounds and more Members from the LGBT community. It has been a real pleasure to see the excitement and possibilities of new Members—over half the House is new—as they find their way around this often baffling maze of a place. I saw that one had described it as being like freshers’ week meets Hogwarts and Buckingham Palace. Let us hope that they do not all drop down with freshers’ flu.

We lost some good colleagues from all sides at the election. I pay tribute to my predecessor, Penny Mordaunt, who was always a worthy opponent across the Dispatch Box. She brought a fresh approach not only to this role but as the first female Defence Secretary. I always thought that she was an underused asset for the Conservative party, and she will be missed—especially by the parliamentary hairdressers.

I welcome the shadow Leader of the House, the right hon. Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp), to his new role. I know that he has always been keen. After holding very many ministerial roles, I congratulate him on finally making it as a full member of the Cabinet—albeit with the word “shadow” before his title. I hope that the role lives up to his ambitions. Debates about leaking roofs, broken toilets and the price of a bacon butty in the Members’ Dining Room all await his close attention. I am keen to work with him and we have already had constructive discussions. I am clear that I want to take the whole House with us on the changes that we need to make.

However, we need to turn the page. Recent years have been plagued by scandals, bad behaviour, disrespect, poor standards and poor legislation. That is what next week’s motions on a modernisation committee and on second jobs are about: for the House to work together to drive up standards, improve working practices and find reforms to make Parliament more effective. Let us be clear: it is not about changing the traditions and customs of this place—I know that you will be pleased to hear that, Mr Speaker—but the country voted for change. We will be a Government of service and begin that journey of restoring trust in politics and Parliament—action, not words. That is why we have hit the ground running by establishing the national wealth fund, resetting relations with junior doctors and dentists, launching the border security command, ending the ban on new onshore wind, taking immediate action on the prisons crisis, restoring house building targets and starting to tackle the water crisis—the list goes on.

The shadow Leader of the House asks about the economic record, house building and the Rwanda plan. I gently say to him that, after such a resounding Conservative defeat at the ballot box, I do not think that his best advice is to start saying that their record was actually great all along or that their policies were the best ones for us to follow. On the economic record, the truth is that living standards fell over the last Parliament for the first time on record. He was Chief Secretary to the Treasury when former Prime Minister Liz Truss crashed the economy, sending mortgage rates soaring. Since we have come into government, we have discovered that things are even worse than we thought. [Interruption.] The Conservatives do not like it but I am afraid it is true. The country—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Leader of the House.

[Lucy Powell]

The country voted resoundingly for change because it was worse off, so the Conservative party would be best advised to look deeply at why it lost, rather than claim that people never had it so good.

The right hon. Gentleman asked about the Rwanda plan. The record speaks for itself: four volunteers were all that scheme achieved, and far from stopping the boats or acting as a deterrent, the Government presided over the highest number of small boat crossings on record. It was an expensive gimmick that will not work, and the Home Secretary will update the House on that matter in the usual way very soon. The Energy Secretary will update the House today on his plans for a clean energy superpower.

The right hon. Gentleman also asked about house building and planning. We make no apology: we are unashamedly pro-house building. We have already restored the targets that his Government took away, and will be bringing in planning reforms to make sure that the country gets the 1.5 million new homes it needs.

The King’s Speech shows that the Government are getting on with the job, with one of the most ambitious programmes ever of an incoming Government: following through on commitments on things like the Hillsborough law and Martyn’s law, which the last Government failed to do, and putting rocket boosters under growth. The guiding light will be delivering on our missions. Yesterday was an historic moment: the first legislative programme from a Labour Government in 15 years. We have a mandate for change; the journey towards that change has begun, and I look forward to working with Members across the House to get on with that job.

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that fantastic question, and welcome her back to her seat. She is one of the most redoubtable champions in this place, and I know that she will be really pushing that cause and many others, as she did in the last Parliament. I join her in congratulating Rhian on winning the primary school teacher of the year award, and thank all teachers across the country for the work that they do. One of the first things the Education Secretary has done since taking office is look to reset the relationship with teachers, so that we can really tackle the recruitment and retention crisis facing our schools. As we come to the end of term, we join together in thanking every single teacher for the great work that they do.

[Mr Speaker]

We now come to the Lib Dem spokesperson.

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[Mr Speaker]

Order. This issue is so important that I think the hon. Gentleman ought to think about having an Adjournment debate on it—although he nearly had one just then.

[Lucy Powell]

I warmly welcome the new Member to his place. He is a rarity as a Conservative Member in north-west England and Lancashire. He raises an incredibly important question: connecting the national grid appropriately to our new clean energy programme is a critical issue for the Government. The Energy Secretary is here today to make an oral statement, so the hon. Gentleman may want to raise the issue with him then. There will be other opportunities in upcoming days if he is not able to get an answer later today.

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[Lucy Powell]

I congratulate my hon. Friend, who was a real champion and vocal supporter of local government in his previous capacity. We often sat opposite each other in the shadow Cabinet. I am delighted to congratulate Telford and Wrekin’s children’s services, which went from a “requires improvement” judgment in 2016 to being outstanding today. That is incredibly hard for children’s services to achieve, and I am sure he will raise these issues many times in the House over the coming months.

[Mr Speaker]

Finally, I call Jim MacAlister.