His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Rob Butler Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

I rise on behalf of my constituents to pay our tribute to His Royal Highness and our condolences to Her Majesty the Queen. Prince Philip made a notable solo visit to Aylesbury way back in October 1952, when he opened the Edinburgh playing fields. Pictures in local newspapers at the time show huge crowds waving enthusiastically, the fervour of the local people a clear sign of the great regard in which he was already held personally.

Much has been said about the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme, but particularly striking perhaps is its relevance to young people of all backgrounds. It probably comes as little surprise that the scheme is run in many of Aylesbury’s grammar and secondary schools, but it is also run in Aylesbury’s young offenders institution. The scheme is understandably adapted—the expedition is replaced with camping on the fields, well inside the fence—but the life skills learned there are arguably of even greater value to these young men on their path to rehabilitation.

Finally, I will share one personal memory. Right hon. and hon. Members will, I am sure, recall the splendid pageant along the River Thames to commemorate Her Majesty’s diamond jubilee. Sadly, the weather that day was not kind; indeed, for most of the afternoon there was torrential rain. The Duke had only recently had a heart operation and the very next day he was again admitted to hospital, but for four hours in the wind and rain he stood on the deck of the royal barge alongside the Queen. I was lucky enough to be on a boat moored at the end and watched as the royal couple braved those horrendous conditions to see every single vessel pass before finally going below to the dry and warm. Duty and devotion, stoicism and selflessness—His Royal Highness’s life perfectly illustrated in one wet afternoon on the Thames.

Armed Forces Bill

Rob Butler Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons
Monday 8th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con) [V]]

I welcome the Bill and especially the way in which it further incorporates the armed forces covenant into law. I am proud to have two RAF bases in my constituency: RAF Halton, which is primarily a training base; and RAF High Wycombe, which is the home of Air Command and will soon be the home of space command. I pay tribute to all service personnel at Halton and Wycombe and, indeed, those serving everywhere in the UK and worldwide. It is absolutely right that they and their families should be treated fairly and with respect, wherever they are asked to live and work.

Given my experience in the civilian criminal justice system prior to my election—specifically 12 years as a magistrate and a time on the Sentencing Council—I shall concentrate my remarks on changes to the service justice system. Perhaps unsurprisingly, my interest centres on concurrence between the two systems. I take the view that if an offence is committed by a member of the armed forces in the UK, and that offence is not directly linked to military conduct or the maintenance of good order and discipline, the defendant, witnesses and victims should be afforded the same broad principles and rights of justice as if the offence had been committed by a civilian. I am pleased to see that there are several clauses in the Bill that aim to achieve exactly that, as a result of the implementation of recommendations from the review by His Honour Judge Lyons. Notably, these include allowing more junior ranks to sit on a court martial board and permitting only one dissenting voice majority decisions at courts martial rather than the current system, which requires just a simple majority. I am also very pleased to see the introduction of a power to rectify mistakes, which reflects the system in the civilian criminal justice system.

One area that gives me cause for concern, however, is the rejection of Judge Lyons’s first recommendation, which was that unless the Attorney General decides otherwise, the offences of murder, manslaughter and rape should be investigated and prosecuted in the civilian system, not investigated by the service police and prosecuted at court martial. These, after all, represent the most serious offences, and it is imperative that they should be handled in a way that will ensure confidence from all participants in the justice process, especially victims as well as the general public.

Those offences were not subject to the service justice system prior to 2006, so following the Lyons recommendation would not undermine a long-standing precedent. Indeed, Judge Lyons’s report states that in many other countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, offences that are so serious in nature are dealt with in the civilian system unless an exemption is granted by the Director of Public Prosecutions in the case of Australia or the Attorney-General in the case of New Zealand. The intention in the Bill is instead to require the Director of Service Prosecutions and the Director of Public Prosecutions to agree a protocol to determine whether civilian or service jurisdiction apply in cases of murder, manslaughter and rape. I would therefore be grateful if the Minister expanded on the principles that will guide this protocol.

I am absolutely sure that, like me, the Minister wishes justice to be done and to be seen to be done when serious offences are committed, on those rare occasions, by service personnel in the UK. I feel confident that the added information I seek will provide crucial reassurance that will further strengthen this excellent Bill.

Covid-19 Update

Rob Butler Excerpts

Wednesday 27th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con) [V]]

The pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, and many excellent shops of Aylesbury are desperate to reopen. Can my right hon. Friend reassure them that the measures he has announced today, combined with the vaccination roll-out, will speed up when that will happen, and that there is a route out of lockdown for us all?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not think I could agree more vehemently with my hon. Friend if I tried; I have nothing to add to his excellent question. Yes, of course that is the way ahead.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rob Butler Excerpts

Wednesday 20th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Let the weather vane take me up to Aylesbury and Rob Butler.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con) [V]]

The national roll-out of covid-19 vaccinations is a tremendous success story, but it is only in the past few days that over-80-year-olds in Aylesbury have been able to get their first jabs. Many of my constituents have contacted me to say that they are frustrated and worried that they have been either forgotten or pushed to the back of the queue. Can my right hon. Friend assure them that everybody in the Aylesbury area in the most vulnerable groups will be vaccinated by the middle of February?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for everything he does to fight for the interests of the people of Aylesbury. I can confirm that we are on track to deliver our pledge, although I must stress to the House that it is very hard because of constraints on supply. We are on track to deliver a first vaccine to everyone in the top four cohorts by mid-February, including the people of Aylesbury.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rob Butler Excerpts

Wednesday 13th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Robbie Moore (Keighley) (Con)]

What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to promote the take-up of covid-19 vaccinations among all communities.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to promote the take-up of covid-19 vaccinations among all communities.

[The Minister for Equalities (Kemi Badenoch)]

The Government are committed to ensuring that everyone who is clinically prioritised to receive a vaccine has access to one as soon as possible. As part of the Government’s vaccine confidence campaign, briefing sessions are being held with community and faith leaders, with an expert panel of speakers taking questions and countering misinformation. That is part of an integrated campaign across multiple channels to improve public knowledge.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kemi Badenoch]

The NHS will provide information to promote the take-up of the covid-19 vaccines among all communities, and will support anyone who has questions about the vaccination process. We are doing a lot of work across Government on this issue. We have had meetings with multiple stakeholders, including last week with the National Pharmacy Association, with which I and the Under-Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friends the Members for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi) and for Bury St Edmunds (Jo Churchill) discussed options to tackle vaccine hesitancy among minority communities.

[Rob Butler [V]]

Disinformation about the safety of vaccines has caused great alarm for many people. This scaremongering is hugely damaging when mass inoculation is the route out of the current crisis and will enable us to return to normal life. What steps is the Department taking to work with other Government Departments to ensure that accurate information on the safety of vaccines is conveyed to communities for whom English is not their first language?

[Kemi Badenoch]

The vaccine confidence campaign is a cross-Government one, and it includes work to translate key messages and guidance in over 10 different ethnic languages across radio stations and publications. I reiterate my hon. Friend’s point that vaccine disinformation is harmful and dangerous. It is everyone’s responsibility to access information from authoritative sources and not to share misleading information. The Government are also working to help social media platforms identify and take action against incorrect claims about the virus and vaccinations.

Public Health

Rob Butler Excerpts

Tuesday 1st December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

I hope that that is not a consolation. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Like so many hon. Members, I face an extraordinarily difficult decision today. The national restrictions were supposed to get a grip on the virus—a short, sharp shock of sacrifice so that we could start to return to a normal way of life in the run-up to Christmas. Instead, my constituents are being asked to come out of the national lockdown into a stronger set of local restrictions than they had before. That is a tough ask, not made any easier by the inadequacy of robust data to support the proposals in front of us; what data we have is frequently inconsistent. The arguments on both sides of the debate have been well rehearsed this afternoon. There is no perfect answer. There are nuances, doubts and what ifs, but the vote is binary—yes or no—and we are paid to decide.

Last week, I met local entrepreneurs who have recently set up restaurants in the town, exactly the businesspeople we need to make Aylesbury a place where people want to live, work, visit and invest. They are haemorrhaging money, despite the very generous support scheme set up by the Chancellor, because they do not meet the right criteria. I want to help those people.

Tier 1, however, was not enough to stop the spread of the virus. My local hospital is close to capacity, and only now are we able to catch up with the missed operations from the lockdown earlier in the year. I receive emails from constituents who are desperate for operations that have been delayed, and whose physical and mental health is in peril because of the wait. That is before the emergency cases—heart attacks, strokes, diagnoses of cancer, car crashes or other accidents.

I have therefore looked at the conflicting evidence and listened carefully to the arguments in the House today. I have carefully considered the views of constituents who have written with passionately held opinions, and I have spoken to doctors I know and trust. I do not have enough information to make a perfect decision. In that position, I must err on the side of caution.

I must ask myself a brutal question. In a month’s time, do I look in the eye of someone who has lost their job, or maybe even their home, because of the decision I have made and the vote I cast tonight? Or do I look in the eye of someone who has lost their parent, or who now has a terminal diagnosis because of the decision I have made and the vote I cast tonight?

I will vote with the Government—but never did I expect to utter those words with such a heavy heart and such reluctance. The restrictions go against my every instinct. I realise that many in Aylesbury will not thank me for my vote tonight. I appeal to the Prime Minister and others making the decisions to keep our time in tier 2 to an absolute minimum, to assess incredibly carefully whether the restrictions in each tier really are justifiable and proportionate, and to talk to local leaders, so that next time we are asked to vote, we can all look all our constituents in the eye and assure them that then we did the right thing.

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Rob Butler Excerpts

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

Aylesbury was in tier 1 prior to the second lockdown and my constituents accepted the jump to national restrictions on the basis of protecting the national health service. Will my right hon. Friend reassure them that from 3 December any restrictions will be based on truly local needs, backed up with truly local evidence, so that they can see for themselves why the action is needed?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, that is right. We publish unprecedented amounts of data, on which these judgments have to be made. I commit to my hon. Friend that we will look at the precise data—in Aylesbury, across Buckinghamshire and, of course, nationwide—as we make these difficult judgments.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rob Butler Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I must respectfully inform the hon. Lady that the current Mayor of London had effectively bankrupted TfL before coronavirus had even hit and left a massive black hole in its finances. Any need to make up that deficit is entirely down to him. It is entirely his responsibility. Any expansion of the congestion charge or any other measure taken to improve the finances of TfL are entirely the responsibility of the bankrupt current Labour Mayor of London.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

People the length and breadth of the country have made many sacrifices over the last few months to try to suppress covid-19, but infection rates are increasing fast and Buckinghamshire may soon find itself in tier 2. Can my right hon. Friend tell the people of my Aylesbury constituency how long we would be expected to stay there, what additional help there would be for local businesses, and, crucially, what the route out would be?

[The Prime Minister]

I hope I can reassure my hon. Friend by telling him that the incidence in the Vale of Aylesbury is in fact less than half the England average. The way forward for constituents in the Vale of Aylesbury and everywhere else is for everyone to keep following the guidance, observing the new restrictions and, obviously, washing hands, wearing a face covering in enclosed spaces and keeping a sensible distance.

Covid-19 Update

Rob Butler Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, addressed that point directly earlier on today about transmission in hospitality settings. Clearly, we need to reduce the overall budget of transmission that is going on in the country, and that is one sector that we can address. I am interested in what she says about Greater Manchester; my information is slightly different. What I would hope is that we can work together to bring down the rates in Greater Manchester, which at present are certainly worrying.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

Many businesses in Aylesbury are affected by the 10 pm curfew, despite the low infection rates locally, so can my right hon. Friend confirm that there is and there always will be a scientific basis for restrictions on economic activity?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I can.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rob Butler Excerpts

Wednesday 30th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

There are different measures in place, as we have discussed already this afternoon. Overall, the UK is proceeding with the same approach. I am very grateful to Mark Drakeford and everybody else in the Welsh Government for the way we are working together to defeat the virus. Yes, there will be some differences and some seeming illogicalities, but that is inevitable in tackling a pandemic. I am grateful for the right hon. Lady’s co-operation.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

My constituents in Wendover will be worst affected by the construction of phase 1 of High Speed 2, according to the House of Lords. The best mitigation for the village would undoubtedly be a bored mined tunnel, but that has been refused. Does my right hon. Friend agree with that decision? If so, will he ensure that HS2 Ltd and its contractors works constructively with the Wendover HS2 Action Group to minimise noise pollution and avoid damaging the aquifer by other means?

[The Prime Minister]

As the Prime Minister, I totally support HS2 and the ambition of linking up our country better. As a local MP, I feel my hon. Friend’s pain and I understand exactly where he is coming from. I have been assured in my conversations with HS2 that it is having extensive engagement with the Wendover group. I know Wendover well, as he knows. I will ask the relevant Minister to make contact with him.