Business of the House

Baroness Winterton of Doncaster Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My right hon. Friend’s wish is my command. I am glad, therefore, to say that there will be a debate on covid on 12 January, which will be absolutely the opportunity to raise these issues. My right hon Friend, as so often, is absolutely right: the roll-out of the vaccine is key to us getting back our freedoms.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

We now go to the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab) [V]]

I thank the Leader of the House for the business statement and for his stated intention, with the rescheduling, to move our first Backbench day from 7 January to 14 January. I think we have now contacted Members who were scheduled to have their debates on 7 January, and they have agreed to proceed on 14 January, so we are ready to roll, as it were.

I am afraid that, despite the Secretary of State for Education’s exhortations otherwise, the links to the info on the reopening of primary schools is not apparent on the front page of the gov.uk website. Will the Leader of the House make sure that it is easily flagged up for headteachers, so that they can see exactly what is expected of them when they return to school?

Madam Deputy Speaker, may I also take this opportunity to wish you, Members across the House and all House staff a very happy new year—or as happy as might be possible—and to thank our NHS staff, Gateshead Council staff and every worker across the board who has kept things going to keep us safe, and to keep shops and services going to sustain us and all our constituents in these most difficult times? Happy new year.

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[Ms Nusrat Ghani (Wealden) (Con)]

The Leader of the House is already aware of my concerns about the House not sitting next week. Of course, like my colleagues, I will continue to represent and work with my constituents across Wealden, but I do that best when I am here in the House. Will he confirm that the reason why the House will not sit next week is that we need to protect the staff who enable this House to perform? If that is the case, will he work with all other authorities in the House to make sure that there is enough resilience among staff and that we use the best technology possible so that we do not find ourselves in this situation again? Covid has changed everything, and the House must change too.

Very quickly, will the Leader of the House confirm when the Trade Bill will return to this House from the other place? One of the beauties of the Prime Minister’s new trade deal with the EU is that we have our parliamentary sovereignty back and can make our own trade deals, and we want to make sure that our trade deals with anyone with whom we wish to engage are done in accordance with values and ethics based on human rights.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. Given that we have a very long debate later, I urge Members to ask one question.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I quite like one question, too—it makes it easier to answer—but I will do my best to answer both questions. With regard to the recess, I cannot agree to what my hon. Friend says. We have the right number of staff and the right level of expertise. We cannot duplicate such fine figures as the Clerk of the House. That is one person and to have the in-built redundancy of a spare Clerk of the House would be enormously expensive and, I think, very inefficient. We have to recognise that our staff are absolutely fantastic at taking on the extra load when that is necessary, but we must not burden them when it is not necessary.

As regards the Trade Bill, one of the interesting things about the past few months and the way in which we and the Lords have operated is that in our mainly physical presence we have managed to get through business rather quicker than their lordships, so it would be wrong of me to speculate as to when their lordships might have chewed through the Trade Bill.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

That sounds like a date. Once the restrictions are lifted, we must celebrate the 100th anniversary of Northern Ireland, and of the United Kingdom in its current form. We should always celebrate our nation. The hon. Gentleman has given me an excuse to have a second glass of champagne tomorrow night—and in the spirit of good will to our European friends, it will of course be champagne. I can have one at 11 o’clock to celebrate the end of the transition period, and another at 12 o’clock to celebrate 100 years of the United Kingdom in its current form. It has to be said—I do not know whether you know this, Madam Deputy Speaker—that the parties in Northern Ireland are absolutely fantastic. I went to speak in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, and it was absolutely brilliant: at the end of their events, they all stand up and sing the national anthem. I am tempted to suggest that we do that at the end of the Adjournment debate every evening in the House of Commons.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I thank hon. and right hon. Members for their kind words this afternoon about our hard-working staff.