Oral Answers to Questions

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd May 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Saqib Bhatti)]

I do not agree with that categorisation. The truth is that the Bletchley summit was a world-leading summit. We took a front-foot approach and we are co-hosting the Seoul summit, which is bringing together AI nations, AI companies and top experts in academia and civil society. We have always been clear that we will ensure that our regulators do the job that they need to do, and of course at some point we will legislate. We have a plan, and our plan is working. The Labour party cannot tell us what it would legislate for. It does not have a plan.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

T5. Does the Minister agree that the large sums of taxpayers’ money channelled to organisations such as the Arts and Humanities Research Council for woke-driven projects should be spent on other high-tech projects such as, for example, the tagging of illegal migrants in this country so that we can quickly locate and deport them, starting in Dudley?

[Andrew Griffith]

Funding councils must be accountable for their own individual decisions. My hon. Friend no doubt reflects the concern of his constituents, who expect, in return for our record expenditure on research, the discovery of life-saving medicines, or groundbreaking technology; that is what they expect in return for hard-earned taxpayers’ money.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Felicity Buchan]

On behalf of the Government, I pass on my condolences. We have made it incredibly clear that the Government are completely committed to tackling anti-Muslim hatred. We have upped the amount of money going towards the protection of mosques and Muslim faith schools. We are about to appoint a new anti-Muslim hatred adviser. This is an effort across Government. I completely agree that the levels of both anti-Muslim hatred and antisemitism that we see at the moment are not acceptable. That is why we are dealing with it.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

7. What steps she is taking to help increase inclusivity and accessibility at work for disabled people.

[The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Mims Davies)]

The Government have a programme of initiatives to support disabled people and people with health conditions in starting, staying and succeeding in work. That includes Access to Work, Disability Confident, and a digital information service for employers, which aim to increase inclusivity and accessibility for disabled people in the workplace.

[Marco Longhi]

The Beacon Centre for the Blind in Sedgley does amazing work. Meeting Kaydee and Nathan, who are partially sighted employees, was an inspiring experience. My visit to the centre served as a strong reminder of the significant day-to-day challenges that vulnerable people experience in doing things that able people take for granted. What more can the Minister and her Department do to raise awareness and better support charities such as the Beacon Centre and its users?

[Mims Davies]

I met representatives from the Disability Charities Consortium yesterday, and some of those matters were discussed. We have invested £2 billion in improving inclusivity and accessibility at work for disabled people and people facing health barriers. We have hundreds of jobcentres across the country, and fantastic work coaches are tapping into extra support through our network of disability employment advisers to assist people just like Kaydee and Nathan.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Wednesday 28th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

4. What steps his Department is taking to help grow the Northern Ireland economy.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

6. What steps his Department is taking to help grow the Northern Ireland economy.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

15. What steps his Department is taking to help grow the Northern Ireland economy.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Baker]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about Northern Ireland’s most important economic relationship being with Great Britain. As set out in the Command Paper, the Government are working to establish InterTrade UK, fulfilling our pledge to grow the economy by ensuring that businesses large and small can maximise the full range of east-west trading opportunities. Implementing the Windsor framework and the Command Paper are, of course, Government priorities, and I am pleased that I am responsible for them. We will update the House in greater detail at an early opportunity.

[Marco Longhi]

The “Safeguarding the Union” Command Paper states that

“there will be no checks when goods move within the UK internal market system save those conducted by UK authorities as part of a risk-based or intelligence-led approach”.

Regulation 13 of the Windsor Framework (Retail Movement Scheme) Regulations 2023 requires officials to check the ID numbers on the seals of all retail consignments entering Northern Ireland, and break open 5% to 10% for visual inspection. Is my right hon. Friend now able to confirm when, or if, that regulation will be removed?

[Mr Baker]

I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for his insightful and well-rehearsed question—well-researched question. [Laughter.] Perhaps I should not have got that early flight after all, Mr Speaker.

As we set out in the Command Paper, as we transition to the UK internal market system, we will provide clear legal direction to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and other UK Government authorities, through our risk management approach, to eliminate any physical checks when goods move within the UK internal market system, except those conducted by UK authorities and required as part of a risk-based or intelligence-led approach to managing the risk of criminality, abuse of the scheme, smuggling and disease risks. I recognise the importance of my hon. Friend’s question, and I will update the House on our plans in greater detail at the earliest reasonable opportunity, which I hope and intend will be before we break for the Easter recess.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Wednesday 21st February 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

This afternoon the House will have an opportunity to consider its approach to the situation in Israel and Gaza. Our position is crystal clear: we have called, and will always call, for an immediate humanitarian pause, which would allow the safe release of hostages and more aid to go into Gaza, to create the conditions for a genuinely sustainable ceasefire. But just calling for an immediate, full ceasefire now, which would collapse back into fighting in days or weeks, would not be in anyone’s interests. We are committed not just to an immediate humanitarian pause, but to finding a lasting resolution to this conflict that delivers on the promise of a two-state solution and ensures that Israelis and Palestinians can live in the future with dignity and security.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

It seems that, with the exception of the British Transport police, all other police forces will treat non-contact sex crimes as they would perhaps the theft of a bike, petty retail crime or antisocial behaviour. Will the Prime Minister facilitate a meeting between me, colleagues and the Home Secretary to give priority to these acts of crime, to ensure that women and young girls get the protection they deserve?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course we want women and girls to get the protection that they deserve, and I am pleased that our violence against women and girls strategy is showing results, improving the safety on our streets and increasing sentences for rapists. I will make sure that my hon. Friend gets the meeting that he needs with the Home Secretary or relevant policing Ministers to discuss his concerns.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Kemi Badenoch]

Of course we join the hon. Gentleman in that. I pay tribute to the work of the Minister for Equalities, who has been very supportive of the campaign—as are all of us in the ministerial team.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

T3. I hear more frequent use of the word “microaggression”. As an engineer, I know that “micro” means something extremely small. It is tiny. In fact, it is one millionth of whatever a standard aggression might be. Has the Minister a view on this, and does she recognise it as a new phenomenon? How big a priority might it be?

[Kemi Badenoch]

As my hon. Friend will know, I too am an engineer by training, and we engineers have to stick together. We are very sceptical when people introduce to the lexicon terms that are not helpful to the real work of tackling serious criminal behaviour. I am not a fan of that term, and my hon. Friend will be pleased to know that microaggressions training was removed from the Government Campus prospectus in November 2022.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Thursday 11th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

I will always endeavour to ensure that no consultant is ever employed where they are “not needed”, to quote the hon. Lady. We always ensure that we use the propositions that represent best value for money —that has to be the basis on which we operate, and we will continue to do so. I remind the hon. Lady that we managed to secure £3.4 billion of efficiency savings across Government last year. We did that by focusing on costs and making certain that we drove them down. We will continue to do so, and we are committed to ensuring that we get best value for the taxpayer.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

4. What progress his Department has made on strengthening national resilience.

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Secretary of State (Oliver Dowden)]

One of my priorities at the Cabinet Office is strengthening our national resilience across Government. Last month we tested successfully the emergency alert system, a vital new tool to help us to communicate quickly with the public during life-threatening situations, and we will soon publish an updated national risk register to support partners with their resilience plans.

[Marco Longhi]

The covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine have brought into sharp focus the risks of over-reliance on global supply chains. What steps are the Government taking to secure minimum safe systems for the UK’s food, water, energy and defence sectors?

[Oliver Dowden]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight this issue. We committed in the integrated review to publish a supply chains and import strategy so that we can strengthen our resilience in critical sectors. We have already developed several sector-specific supply chain resilience strategies and a supply chain resilience framework for the public and private sectors.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alex Burghart]

The hon. Lady asks an important question. It is true that net zero is a big principle for Government and feeds through into all our work, including the public procurement contract. We have had some important debates around this during the passage of the Procurement Bill.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

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

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Secretary of State (Oliver Dowden)]

I want to begin by congratulating Their Majesties the King and Queen on a wonderful coronation weekend. The Government worked hand in hand with the royal household in planning for this historic event, conducting over 20 multi-agency exercises in preparation and hosting the unprecedentedly high number of 95 heads of state over the weekend. It really was a triumph of pomp, pageantry and pride in Britain. In addition, through Cobra we have co-ordinated the longest and largest evacuation of any western nation from war-torn Sudan. As with the coronation, this feat would not have been possible without our public servants, both the armed forces and our civil servants, who worked tirelessly to make both operations a success. I am sure the whole House will join me in thanking them.

[Marco Longhi]

I of course echo my right hon. Friend’s comments about the coronation and thank the dedicated servicemen, police officers and public servants who made it such a success. Does he agree with me and many of my Dudley constituents that we should never be shy about being proud of our country’s fantastic traditions and institutions?

[Oliver Dowden]

I align myself entirely with the sentiments of my hon. Friend and the people of Dudley, and indeed the people of the whole United Kingdom. We witnessed the biggest military parade since the coronation of Her late Majesty, and it was a spectacular tribute to the values we all hold so dear. It is as true today as it was in 1953: only this country can bring so many people from so many different backgrounds together in celebration and such a shared uplifting experience.

Civil Service Impartiality

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Monday 6th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. There are rules in place. As I have already said, there is a means by which civil servants who choose to leave the world of the civil service—and even take on political roles—can do so. It is just really important that we know, and that Ministers know, that the rules will be followed in those circumstances, and that we know that they have in this case. That is why we are looking at what took place, and the Labour party could help us with that.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

Madam Deputy Speaker,

“The Labour Party has offered Sue Gray the role of chief of staff to the leader of the opposition.”

That statement was issued by the Labour party on Thursday 2 March 2023. Does my right hon. Friend agree that any reasonable person would call into question the impartiality of that person, as of 1 March and any day before?

[Jeremy Quin]

My hon. Friend raises a fair question, but it is one that we need to explore, given the questions that we are now asking about the timeline towards the resignation of Sue Gray. As I have said repeatedly in this place, why can the Labour party not just tell us when the first meeting took place, and how long the meetings have been happening? It might have been a very short period of time, or it might have been much longer, but I think we would all be reassured to know. They can tell us this afternoon.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Wednesday 25th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady raises an important point. Let me assure her that the Government are committed to tackling violence against women and girls. That is why we passed the landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021, introducing new offences such as coercion and coercive control, stalking and others. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure women and girls feel as safe as they deserve and rightly should be.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

Q2.   Although I was disappointed that Dudley did not make the final cut in the latest levelling-up funding round, I am of course pleased that we received the £25 million towns deal, the brand new Duncan Edwards leisure facility, and a transport interchange project that has been secured since my election in 2019. But our high street is on its knees, so will the Prime Minister meet me and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council to discuss our levelling-up bid and how we can ensure success in the next round?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is a great advocate for his constituents. I am delighted that, thanks to his efforts, Dudley has received £25 million from the towns fund. I know that there will be disappointment about the levelling-up fund, but all bids, including that made by Dudley Council, can receive feedback to be strengthened for future funding rounds. I would be very happy to meet him to discuss it further.

Illegal Immigration

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Tuesday 13th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend put it clearly, succinctly and very well, and I completely agree with him. We are keen to restart those flights as soon as we can—we await the next stage of our legal proceedings—but he should be in no doubt but that we remain determined to make that policy work.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

I thank the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary for their renewed focus on this really key point, which matters a lot not just to my constituents in Dudley North, but across the country. I will again address the point my right hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) made and perhaps be a bit more specific with the question. If the Prime Minister’s future legislation is indeed scuppered by an intervention by the judiciary or human rights activists’ lawyers, will he have the political will to still force it through and implement what he intends to do?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I thank my hon. Friend for all his engagement with me and the Home Secretary on this issue. I know how important it is to his constituents, and I hope he is pleased by the steps we are taking today, but he is right that we need to go further. That is why our legislation will make it unequivocally clear that those who come here illegally have no right to stay, and his communities should be confident that that is what this Government will deliver.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty The Queen

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Friday 9th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

Her Majesty the Queen has been a given in our lives, an anchor as certain as the sun setting each day. But her star has set for one final time, and there is no worldly scale big enough to show the weight of our loss. I, like many, felt that she would always be there. On behalf of my Dudley North constituents, I wish to express my sincere and deepest sympathies to His Majesty, the royal family and indeed the entirety of the royal household.

Her Majesty embodied everything we all aspire to stand for in this place: dedication to public service, dedication to family and dedication to people. The magnitude of what Her Majesty delivered in her time for us all is impossible to measure. While I never had the privilege of meeting her, I felt a presence there, a guiding hand, one that was available to us all—including Paddington Bear.

In Dudley North, I mourn alongside my constituents, a community united in grief. Her Majesty first visited Dudley in 1957, as a relatively new monarch, to view the beautiful Coronation Gardens dedicated to her. Coincidentally, my constituency office overlooks them, so I will always have a physical reminder to follow her example of dedication and public service.

Fast-forward some decades to the 1970s, but ultimately the 1990s, and Her Majesty found herself in Dudley once again, although a little higher in altitude, at Dudley castle and zoo—which made her the first monarch to visit the castle since her namesake Elizabeth I in 1575. Her Majesty was given a tour of the centre before unveiling a piece of commemorative glass and receiving a crystal key to the castle as a gift from the borough. Many of the messages that I have received are from constituents reminiscing about her visit. It is clear that she left a lasting impression; what is also clear is that when God made our Queen, He broke the mould.

We will all take comfort in coming together to remember the guiding light Her Majesty has been to us all. Long live the King.