Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Tuesday 7th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

My ambition is to reach Question 17 so that the House, Mid Sussex, the nation, the European continent and the world can hear the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames).

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

17. What progress he is making on the dissemination of best practice throughout the NHS.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 29th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Brevity personified—Sir Nicholas Soames.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

7. What steps his Department is taking to increase language teaching in schools.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Thursday 28th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the former president or patron of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, Sir Nicholas Soames.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 4th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think, if memory serves me correctly, and after due consultation, that post 16 the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames) was at cadet school. I feel sure that I speak for the House in saying that we are all convinced he was a very athletic fellow. I call Sir Nicholas Soames.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

Different days, Mr Speaker, I am afraid. May I thank my right hon. Friend for the incredible work and leadership that she has offered, together with officials in her Department, in the reopening of the sixth-form college in Haywards Heath in my constituency? Will she pay tribute to the work of Mid Sussex District Council, whose leadership in this matter has been absolutely exemplary?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

We will accommodate the hon. Lady in topical questions if we can.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 28th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Well, there is time for a keen sense of eager anticipation to build up before the hon. Gentleman arrives.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

Will my hon. Friend the Minister pay tribute to the work of Homes England in its support for Mid Sussex District Council in providing the key that will open the development of 4,000 new houses in Burgess Hill? Will he see what further work Homes England, in its very constructive approach, can adopt to deliver more new housing?

Speaker’s Statement

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Tuesday 8th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Before we proceed to the urgent questions, I would like to say something that relates to the events that unfolded outside this place yesterday.

In the course of proceedings at various times yesterday, the hon. Members for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty), for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles) and for Wakefield (Mary Creagh) and the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden) all raised with me their very grave concerns about aggressive, threatening and intimidating behaviour by demonstrators at Abingdon Green and, in many instances, between Parliament and Abingdon Green.

To those points of order, I responded, I hope, sympathetically and as effectively as I could. Colleagues will realise that I had not myself witnessed the behaviour, which was taking place while the House was sitting and I was in the Chair, but I was extremely concerned to learn of those developments. Moreover, it was clear beyond doubt both that there was an intensity of feeling on the matter and that that intensity of feeling was across the House. I undertook to look further into the matter.

Of course I am aware—as colleagues will know, for it has been reported—that a very large number of Members have written to the commissioner of the Metropolitan police. I thank them for doing so. I have myself today written to the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Cressida Dick, in support of those representations, and my letter has been published. We respect the operational freedom of the police, and we absolutely understand that they have difficult judgments to make in balancing the precious right of peaceful protest on the one hand and the right of Members of Parliament, journalists and others to go about their lawful business unimpeded and unthreatened. My sense of the opinion of colleagues, and they have considerable evidence for their view, is that, as things stand, the balance is not right.

I must say to the House that, frankly, it is intolerable if Members of Parliament and journalists go about their business in fear. This situation cannot stand. I have written with force, passion and politeness to the commissioner of the Metropolitan police seeking a review of policy. I hope that that is regarded by colleagues across the House as helpful. I would like to thank all those Members yesterday—on the Floor of the House and in conversations with me—who registered their concerns. I share them, and I will do my best to ensure that those concerns are properly addressed without delay.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. May I thank you very much for your response and the sense of what you have said, which the whole House will have appreciated? However, will you add to the list not just politicians and journalists but ordinary members of the public, who themselves have been grossly abused just by being present?

[Mr Speaker]

I entirely accept what the right hon. Gentleman has said. In making that powerful point, he prompts me to add a reference to schoolchildren coming on to the estate to visit the education centre, for a wider tour or both. They should not have to witness such insulting and, frankly, toxic behaviour. It is one thing to observe such behaviour, but it is another actually to do something to seek to prevent it, and it is, I think, for the latter that we in this House are looking. I thank the right hon. Gentleman.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 23rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the number of council houses, and indeed any other houses, being built would be greatly improved if the Government insisted on a far higher standard of design and layout? Will he therefore favour, in planning applications for council houses and all other houses, developers who insist in those plans on the highest possible standards for the design and layout of those houses?

[Mr Speaker]

A Chartwell standard, perhaps.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

I think the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex enjoyed the reference to cocktails.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

I did, Sir.

[Mr Speaker]

And that is demonstrably apparent.

Points of Order

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Tuesday 17th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Government have said, in a more than usually bovine announcement, that they intend to adjourn the House on Thursday. You are the guardian of the rights of Back Benchers. This decision will bring opprobrium on the whole House. There is important Back-Bench business on Monday and Tuesday and questions on local government and health and social care. What advice can you give the Leader of the House to rescind this idiotic and bad new announcement?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman, who expresses himself with his characteristic clarity but—if I may say so—uncharacteristic force, which the House will have noted. Needless to say, I take what he said and the passion he feels about the matter—as someone who has served in the House without interruption for 35 years—extremely seriously. Standing Order No. 25 provides that motions for the Adjournment of the House for a specified period and moved by a Minister are put forthwith—that is to say, without debate. It would have been possible for the Government to table a Business of the House motion overriding the Standing Order, but they have not done so.

If a Minister moves motion 13 on the Order Paper this evening, the Chair will be obliged to put the question without debate. If the Chair’s opinion on the voices is challenged, a Division would be deferred until tomorrow. As ever, it would be up to Members whether to vote for or against the proposition. Salvation lies in Members’ hands.

I add, merely by way of information and in the name of transparency, that no indication of this intention on the part of the Government was communicated to me in advance. I am not complaining about that; I simply want to make it clear to people who might think, “Oh, the Speaker must have been aware of and in on this”, that that was not and is not the case.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Tuesday 17th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Oh, TINs! Well, I am sure everybody attending to our proceedings was perfectly well aware of what the right hon. Gentleman had in mind. I am sure I was in a minority of one in not knowing. And what are those pigs I see flying in front of my very eyes?

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

10. What plans he has to increase productivity.

Syria and North Korea

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Tuesday 18th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I say to the right hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) that all sorts of things might be judged by some people to be intolerable, but I am afraid that what is above all intolerable is to depart from the normal process. She is a person of very considerable intellect and ingenuity. Doubtless, through her colleagues—and possibly subsequent to the statement—she can find ways of giving expression to her concern, but at this point if she could assume a Zen-like calm, the House would be the beneficiary of that.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

It is obviously right that a diplomatic joint approach in Syria is more important than unilateral action. Will the Foreign Secretary therefore commit to continuing to work closely with our American allies and other partners and friends to bring an end to this barbaric slaughter in Syria?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 6th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Karen Buck. Not here. Well, one person who is here—I can see that very clearly, to my great satisfaction—is the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames).

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

2. What her plans are for education funding in West Sussex.

Points of Order

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 30th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order and for giving me the courtesy of advance notice of it. The right hon. Gentleman is in his place and of course I would want to hear from him.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. Like you, I thank the hon. Lady for her kindness in warning me that she was going to complain of this. I thought that in her question to the Foreign Secretary she snapped at him a bit at the end, so I offered her a friendly canine salute in return. No offence was intended, and I apologise to the hon. Lady if she was offended. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think we should leave it there. I thank the right hon. Gentleman for what he has said.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Tuesday 24th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The Minister is a busy bee, and we are grateful to him.

[Sir Nicholas Soames]

As we face an epidemic of jihadist violence, can my hon. Friend assure the House that, in his extensive and close dialogue with our Gulf friends and partners, he will continue to press on them that the funding by some of them of these dangerous jihadi organisations really must stop?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 12th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. As I intimated was likely at the start of Home Office questions, we have been notably deprived by the absence of that intellectual iconoclast, the Minister for Security, the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), but we have pressed on as best we can, regardless of that deprivation.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Points of order come after urgent questions, so the right hon. Gentleman has time for tea.

Points of Order

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 12th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I rise on a very serious matter indeed: to ask you whether you have had any request from the hon. Member for West Bromwich East (Mr Watson) to seek your permission to make a personal statement apologising for the way in which he has so vilely traduced the late Lord Brittan, and further for him to have a chance to apologise to Lord Brittan’s dignified and courageous widow?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order. The short answer is that I have had no such request. It is incumbent on each Member to take responsibility for his or her statements within this House, and there is a wider obligation, of course, to comply with the expectations and requirements of the code of conduct that applies to all Members. However, the hon. Member for West Bromwich East (Mr Watson) is signalling to me that he would like to respond to what has been said and it is right that he should have the opportunity to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 8th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I see the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames) has perambulated to a different part of the Chamber, and is not where we are accustomed to seeing him—but I can still see him.

[Sir Nicholas Soames]

May I first congratulate my hon. Friend on his tremendous support and enthusiasm for the reserves, which is very well taken? He is aware of my connection with the Royal Yeomanry, but is he aware that it is the best recruiting regiment in the reserves? That is not just because it has made good use of what the central facility provides but because it does a lot of it itself, and takes a lot of trouble over recruiting. Will he emphasise to all the other reserve units that they can do a great deal themselves to encourage people in their regimental family to get more people into the reserves?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Thursday 26th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames) has a question down on engineering. He is very welcome to come in on this matter now if he wishes, but he is not obliged.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

13. It’s all right—it’s not a difficult one. Further to my hon. Friend’s excellent and encouraging answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Sir Peter Luff), whose departure from this House we will all regret, may I point out that a company in my constituency, a very successful business called Technetix that I went to visit some time ago, drew to my attention the fact that it was having to recruit engineers from abroad because it simply could not find enough here. The figures I asked for in a question show that in 2004 5,630 electronic and electrical engineer graduates appeared, but that in 2013-14 only 5,500 appeared. The Government are doing a great deal and the call for inspiration is worthy, but we need to deliver many more people to engineering.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 23rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. In calling the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames) on the subject of diversity, I note for the benefit of the House his past and possibly current presidency or patronship of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

That is very helpful, Mr Speaker. Thank you so much. My right hon. Friend the Minister will be aware of the extraordinary gallant and distinguished service by Sikhs to this country down the generations. Does he not agree that it is high time to do away with the political correctness that infects some of this thinking and raise a Sikh regiment to serve in the country and make up a very serious gap in our armed forces?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 10th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

Is my hon. Friend aware of the serial bad behaviour by the Co-op in my constituency and others in the south, where it is taking over pubs and converting them into shops, often on very unsatisfactory sites? The Ship Inn in Cuckfield in my constituency is uniquely badly placed to serve as a Co-op. Will he look at what he can do to review the article 4 direction scheme, and to give general instructions about where such shops should be sited?

[Mr Speaker]

That was a splendidly detailed question. There was I thinking that the right hon. Gentleman was going to tell us about the champagne and oysters that he consumes in his community pub, but I was wrong.

Gaza

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 14th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is not just a war about rockets from both sides, and that it is a war about illegal settlements and stolen lands? What is the next big political move? I have sat here these last 30 years and heard the same statement every year; for 30 years, nothing has happened.

[Mr Speaker]

My apologies, Sir Nicholas. I thank you for that question and I congratulate you on your richly deserved knighthood.

Horsemeat

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Thursday 14th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is much interest but very little time, and so far exchanges have been too long. What we require is a model of brevity, to be exemplified by Mr Nicholas Soames.

[Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that our right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has put together one of the biggest operations of its type ever in the European Union to secure a result across the whole of the European Union? Will he acknowledge that the use of bute is grossly exaggerated? It is used, but nothing like as much as is claimed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 7th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. On this question, the wish of the right hon. Gentleman might or might not be satisfied.

[Nicholas Soames]

Does my hon. Friend agree that in the Olympic year, the work of the border agency will be of the first importance? Does he agree, since the agency is likely to come in for some stick later on this afternoon, that its individual officers do a remarkable, vital and very important job for this country, and that that needs to be officially recognised?

Libya

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Monday 5th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Understandably, there is wide interest in the Prime Minister’s statement. If I am to accommodate that interest, I require brevity. In pursuit of a helping hand, I look to an old hand—Mr Nicholas Soames.

[Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

I join in the praise from the Prime Minister for the magnificent performance of the British armed forces and for the courage and resolution of the Libyan people. Does my right hon. Friend agree that matters are inevitably about to become a little messy in Libya in the months ahead, and that it will be important for Britain to continue to offer what help it can in a spirit of general co-operation and humility?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Wednesday 16th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Hon. Members]

More!

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want, and the House wants, to hear Mr Nicholas Soames.

[Nicholas Soames]

Does my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister agree that deregulation is an extremely powerful weapon in economic reform? Is he aware that the programme is not proceeding fast enough, and will he take personal charge to see that the whole process is hurried up?

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Soames of Fletching and John Bercow

Thursday 10th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. As usual a very large number of right hon. and hon. Members are seeking to catch my eye. I am keen to accommodate people as best I can, but the House will be conscious of the fact that an important and very heavily subscribed debate is taking place afterwards under the auspices of the Backbench Business Committee, for which I must provide adequate time. So the emphasis is on short questions and short answers.

[Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend make time for a debate on the middle east given that the Foreign Secretary will return, over the weekend, from an extremely important visit to some of our very important allies, and given that events taking place in Egypt and possibly elsewhere are of the first importance to the House and the country?