Business of the House

Debate between Lord Walney and Andrea Leadsom

Thursday 21st March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

I certainly commend the hon. Lady for raising this very important issue. She will be aware that the decision to ensure that people did not have to go through constant assessments when they have a terminal illness was based entirely on compassion. She will also be aware that we have Health and Social Care questions on Tuesday 26 March, and I would encourage her to raise her specific point then.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Ind)]

I wonder, Mr Speaker, whether you can imagine the scene at the great Scottish home of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, Faslane naval base, on 29 April 1969, when a crew of submariners slipped out in one of the Barrow-built R-class submarines and thus began Operation Relentless, which has, 24 hours a day, for every single minute, protected the UK from the threat of nuclear blackmail. As the Leader of the House will know, because I know she can do her maths, on 29 April it will be 50 years to the day since Operation Relentless began. Does she not think that there should be a debate in Government time to commemorate this extraordinary achievement? No matter what one thinks of the nuclear deterrent, I know that Members across the House will want to thank all those involved, from the shipwrights across the United Kingdom who built the submarines to the submariners who have served in them. I have already made a conditionally successful application to the Backbench Business Committee. However, the scale of this achievement surely deserves Government time, given the amount of attention that the Navy is giving to this issue over the coming weeks and months.

[Andrea Leadsom]

I am so pleased that the hon. Gentleman has raised this very significant milestone and also given us the opportunity to thank all those who have served, for coming up to 50 years, in protecting our United Kingdom around the world from, as he says, the threat of nuclear blackmail. When I was 13, it was the risk of a nuclear war that made me decide that I was going to become a Member of Parliament, so this very issue has been with me for an extremely long time—longer than I care to think of. I will certainly take his request very seriously and see whether we can find Government time, but I am very glad to hear that he has already got his request in to the Backbench Business Committee.

Proxy Voting

Debate between Lord Walney and Andrea Leadsom

Tuesday 22nd January 2019 Commons Chamber

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Ind)]

The Mother of the House also deserves great credit for the way in which she put forward, as the equality Minister in a former Labour Government, a raft of measures to level the playing field between men and women in the workplace, some of which eventually had the support of my former boss, Lord Hutton. Can the Leader of the House suggest ways in which the House could encourage more fathers of new-borns to take up shared parental leave to level the playing field between male and female MPs?

[Andrea Leadsom]

I would like to think that, when the motion is passed, new fathers in this place will want to be role models for other men throughout the country by taking parental leave and demonstrating the importance of fathers in the lives of their new-borns and in supporting new families. I sincerely hope that all male MPs who have new-borns will take advantage of that opportunity.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Walney and Andrea Leadsom

Thursday 13th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

The hon. Gentleman raises a point that all hon. Members will be keen to support. Every one of us knows or is close to someone who has been touched by cancer, which is a frightening and horrible disease. It is fantastic to see the work of so many volunteers to try to contribute to research, so that we can get on top of cancer and find ways to cure every aspect of it. I congratulate his constituents on their efforts and I hope they enjoy their relay.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Leader of the House will be aware of the terrible neglect, which has proved a national scandal, at South Lakes safari zoo. May we have a debate—a debate was in train before the snap election was called—on the lamentably inadequate national regulation? Many senior members of the organisation team that was in charge while the neglect was happening have had to be granted a new licence simply because they changed the guy at the top.

[Andrea Leadsom]

I recall the South Lakes zoo case that the hon. Gentleman mentions from my time as Environment Secretary, and we were all very concerned about it. It would certainly be worth his while trying to obtain an Adjournment debate or a Westminster Hall debate to raise the issue. As I recall it, the real challenge is enforcement, not the rules being inadequate, but this may be well be something worth debating to try to ensure that we get to the bottom of it.