Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 12th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We in the Conservative party understand who pays our wages—it is the people who get up every day to go to work and the businesses that are set up. Those are the people driving our economy and we will be unashamedly pro-growth, pro-business and pro-opportunity.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

Q7. My constituents were absolutely delighted that the fracking application in West Lancashire was withdrawn after a moratorium was declared. Since then, we have not seen any new scientific evidence that indicates that fracking would now be safe. Despite that, the Government have decided to reverse that moratorium, committing to granting fracking licences only in areas that have local consent. I would be grateful if the Prime Minister would reassure West Lancashire residents —my constituents—and please explain in detail how she will honour her statement that no fracking licences will be forced on communities that do not want them.

[The Prime Minister]

First, let me offer my best wishes to the hon. Lady on her appointment as chair of the Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. I can assure her and colleagues around the House that fracking will only go ahead in areas where there is local community support.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 21st July 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is spot on—my hon. Friend is completely right. The question for those who attack the current policy is: if not now, when? We looked at the data this morning with the chief medical officer, and he pointed out the extraordinary difference between the number of people in the older generations being hospitalised now and in previous waves. Thanks to the vaccine roll-out, we have radically changed the way the disease affects our society. It is that change that is enabling us to make the progress that we are. As he says, if not now, when?

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab) [V]]

The Government claim that fires in schools are very rare and are mostly confined to one room or cause little or no damage. The fire last month at Asmall Primary School in my constituency spread far beyond the original site and severely damaged three rooms. That has had a devastating effect on the school, and the pupils now face 18 months of disruption to their education. Will the Prime Minister commit to a mandate that all new build schools and major refurbishments are installed with sprinklers so that schools do not suffer the same fate as Asmall Primary in Ormskirk?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady very much and I thank the fire service for its outstanding response to the fire at Asmall Primary School. I am sorry for the disruption that children are experiencing. We cannot be complacent about fires at all, let alone fires in schools, and the Department for Education is consulting on guidance to improve fire safety in schools further. I encourage her to make representations in that consultation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Thursday 8th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

What recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the introduction of voter ID on levels of enfranchisement.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

What recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the introduction of voter ID on levels of enfranchisement.

[The Minister for the Constitution and Devolution (Chloe Smith)]

Voter fraud is a crime that we cannot allow room for, and we must stamp out any potential for it to take place in elections. Strengthening the integrity of our system will give the public confidence that our elections remain secure well into the future, and everybody who is eligible to vote will be able to continue doing so.

[Chloe Smith]

Yes, I do agree that turnout is incredibly important—and what is more, this policy will not affect it. The evidence of that is in the record from Northern Ireland, which Labour Members appear to be forgetting. The measures will tackle electoral abuse effectively without disadvantaging honest voters. The Government have no intention of taking away people’s democratic right to vote. Mr Speaker,

“If we believed that thousands of voters would not be able to vote because of this measure, we would not be introducing it at this time.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 1 April 2003; Vol. 646, c. 1248.]

Those are not my words but those of a Labour Minister in 2003, introducing photo ID in Northern Ireland.

[Rosie Cooper [V]]

If the Minister, in spite of all the data, is determined that our elections would be made more secure by voter ID, does she not accept that the Government should provide ID free to all citizens of voting age, or is she quite content to price some people out of democracy?

[Chloe Smith]

The hon. Lady is a long-standing Member of this House and I am looking forward to debating with her enormously, but she simply has not read the papers. What she proposes is exactly what we are doing. I would like to make it absolutely clear here at the Dispatch Box that there will be a free local voter card. It will be free, it will be local, and it make sure that anybody who does not have photographic identification can still vote. I welcome that.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

And indeed Peterlee. My hon. Friend makes a very important point. As we heard earlier from my hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham, it is a pity that the Labour administration in County Durham have squandered County Durham taxpayers’ money in the way that they have, but the point that my hon. Friend makes about the Advanced Research and Invention Agency’s potential location in the north-east and in Durham is a very good one, and I will discuss it with the Business Secretary.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab) [V]]

The Government tell us that voter ID will secure our elections against apparently rampant voter fraud. That is a worrying claim indeed, so as a matter of urgency will the Minister provide the Government’s data on how many ballots have been confirmed to have been fraudulently cast in recent elections?

[Michael Gove]

We are only following what the Labour party does. It was the Labour party that introduced the requirement for voter ID in Northern Ireland, as the Minister for the Constitution and Devolution, my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith) pointed out earlier. It is also the case that one can vote in internal Labour elections only by using voter ID. I do not know whether there is an internal Labour election coming up soon. The shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the right hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner), will be better informed on that question than me—[Interruption.] Sorry! Anyway, to vote in a Labour election, you need voter ID.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 24th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The sympathies of the whole House will be with my hon. Friend’s constituents and their family and friends, and I agree very much about the importance of learning CPR. That is why we introduced it into the curriculum for all state funded schools in England. It is of course a devolved issue, but I share his urgency that the policy should be adopted in Wales as well.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab) [V]]

  There has been much focus of late on children returning safely to school. In my constituency, successive cohorts of pupils have had to wade through overflowing drains to get into school, and they are routinely evacuated from flooded classrooms. That takes a huge toll on the quality of their learning. Will the Prime Minister work again with Lancashire County Council and the headteacher of Town Green Primary School to ensure that no child in West Lancashire loses a vital day of education, especially to flooding-related issues?

[The Prime Minister]

I sympathise very much with the hon. Lady’s constituents and the pupils who have to put up with disruption caused by flooding. I know that the Environment Agency continues to work very actively with the county council to resolve the issues and that the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister has written to her about what more can be done.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 20th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes indeed. My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point, and we have been talking intensively about that with the scientists over the past days and weeks and also in the past few hours. We are confident that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency will be in a position to turn around new applications for new variants of vaccines, as may be required to deal with new variants of the virus.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab) [V]]

  Lorries containing food produce sitting idle for days is a stark reminder that, if post-Brexit Britain is to be self-sufficient, protecting our food production through infrastructure investment is crucial. Will the Prime Minister provide the infrastructure investment essential to tackling flooding in West Lancashire by giving the Environment Agency enough funding both to keep the Alt Crossens pumps operational and to maintain the watercourses? That will be vital to ensure that the rich food-producing lands of West Lancashire, which are essential to the security of food supplies and our local and national economy, are better defended—

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Prime Minister; we have to get through the questions.

Covid-19 Update

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We continue to work with the devolved Administrations and will do so throughout this pandemic.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab) [V]]

Will the Prime Minister indicate what assessment he has made of the idea of keeping gyms open during the new lockdown to support people’s health and mental health? A low prevalence of transmission is attributed to the industry, and I have many people almost begging to be able to exercise in gyms.

[The Prime Minister]

With great regret, I must repeat the answer that I have given to colleagues from all parties this afternoon, which is that we have to put in a full package of measures to get the virus down. I set them out earlier, but people who wish to know exactly what they are should look at our website.

Public Services

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Tuesday 28th April 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My right hon. Friend makes an important point, and there has been some confusion over capacity and tests administered. The target is tests administered, and the figure for the number of tests administered on Thursday, which is the day we have set for the target, will be published on Saturday.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab) [V]]

Our public health departments were once the envy of the world, so will the Minister give the country hope that the Government will reinstate them to their former glory by resourcing them properly and giving them and local authorities immediate access to the SAGE and Cobra planning assumptions, as well as to the NHSX covid-19 data warehouse? No one answer fits all: all local areas are reacting and are at different stages. Can the Minister give assurances?

[Michael Gove]

Those are very good points, which I will consider and discuss with the Health Secretary.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

Throughout Government we are determined to ensure that we have the simplest possible process for procurement, and the Government Contracts Finder has made certain that we have more transparent procurement, which helps SMEs, among others. The hon. Gentleman raises a good point, but I will have to look into the specifics.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

3. What plans the Government have to reform the civil service.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Oliver Dowden)]

This new Government are committed to delivering on Brexit and seizing on the exciting opportunities presented by our new manifesto, but in order to do this we need to build on the successful reforms of the civil service since 2010, going further and faster to ensure that it has the new skills, such as in data analytics, better training, greater accountability and the right pay and incentives to transform the United Kingdom.

[Rosie Cooper]

The Institute for Government estimates that the number of civil servants based in London is growing, with two thirds now working in the capital. How does the Minister reconcile that with the Prime Minister’s statements about moving Whitehall Departments to the north of England and making Government more relevant to people in the north, for example my constituents in West Lancashire?

[Oliver Dowden]

The hon. Lady raises a very important point about the need to move Government activity out of London. That is why, for example, we have created a default whereby when new agencies are created, they must be located outside London and the south-east. I know that the Prime Minister is determined to go further and faster with that agenda.