October EU Council

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 22nd October 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I would not require any other EU member state to do that, and it is unacceptable for the EU to require us effectively to carve Northern Ireland away from the United Kingdom with a customs border down the Irish sea. I have made that very clear, and that is why we are looking for alternative backstop proposals.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

A huge number of people marching for a democratic say on the next steps and a fresh assessment of the will of the people should not be ignored by any Government, unless the Government are perhaps not being completely full with us about what they know. Does the Prime Minister think that her deal will leave us better off than the deal we already have as an EU member—yes or no?

[The Prime Minister]

I have been very clear that we are working for a good deal. Our best days lie ahead of us, but this is about getting a good deal, getting good deals around the rest of the world and ensuring that we build a better and brighter future for the people of this country.

EU Exit Negotiations

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

The Brexit Minister luckily made it back okay from the continent yesterday, but my son’s school trip letter about Berlin in June warns that in the case of a no-deal Brexit the projected price may rise due to the pound sterling rate relative to the euro and that additional fees may be incurred for visas—not to mention what will happen to the plane if the open skies agreement is not renewed. If Elthorne Park High School is not prepared to take the whole “It’ll be all right on the night” line that we be keep being fed, surely “Project Fear” is fast becoming “Project Reality”.

[The Prime Minister]

We are working for a good deal, but it is right that the Government, as we have done through the publication of the technical notices and our work on the matters that are the responsibility of Government, prepare for the possibility of no deal. The European Union is preparing for the possibility of no deal, but both sides are working to ensure that we get a deal.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 10th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

We are introducing a new programme to support our pre-independence Commonwealth veterans who have been living in poverty. There are about 7,000 of these individuals, to whom we owe an immense debt of gratitude. The new programme will ensure that they can live out the rest of their lives with their families in dignity.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

T4. Freedom of expression and democracy are aid programme headings under which we fund Bangladesh, so why has it been able to imprison and torture the acclaimed photojournalist Shahidul Alam for championing those very values? What are we doing to secure his release?

[Alistair Burt]

Once again in New York, I took part in a special session at the United Nations devoted to the pressures on journalists, led by Amal Clooney and others. We were able to state very clearly our support for those Bangladeshi journalists. Representations have been made, and will continue to be made. I met the family, who were there.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 5th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I commend my hon. Friend for the work that he has done to champion the cause of blood cancer and raise a much greater awareness of the issue. I can assure him that we will continue to press on and raise awareness of the issue, and I, too, am pleased that the decision that was announced yesterday was able to be made. I congratulate him, because he has personally campaigned on this and championed this cause.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Q5. The Prime Minister and I both represent seats around Heathrow airport, and we both campaigned for years against its damaging effects on our constituents and against its expansion. But when it came to the third runway vote, she shifted. If I can understand her change of heart—because new facts emerge and it was not the same proposal as it was years ago—can she not apply the same logic and allow the electorate the final say on the final Brexit deal?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady makes an ingenious attempt to raise the Brexit issue. This Parliament overwhelmingly gave the British the decision on whether to remain in or leave the European Union. The British people voted. It is now up to this Government and politicians across the whole House to show our faith with the British people and deliver on their vote.

NATO Summit

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 16th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend makes a good and important point. He is absolutely right that this is an opportunity for us to show global Britain and to show our absolute commitment to NATO for the future.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Our NATO obligations are entwined with our other collective security arrangements. The Prime Minister has previously said:

“Thanks to the arrest warrant, more than 2,500 people wanted for crimes abroad are no longer roaming the streets of Britain…These include serious international criminals like murderers, paedophiles, human traffickers and terrorists.”

Can she tell us how she intends to defend us from these undesirables, as the White Paper does not commit to keeping us in the European arrest warrant system post Brexit?

[Mr Speaker]

Not altogether adjacent to the NATO summit.

[Dr Huq]

In parallel.

Leaving the EU

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 9th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It was always clear that the White Paper, which will be published as a DExEU White Paper, would reflect the Government’s position, and the White Paper that is published next week will do exactly that.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Now that even senior members of the Government are resigning—DExEU’s midnight runners and the Foreign Secretary—because they think that we are heading for a bad Brexit deal, I suggest to the Prime Minister that at the end of the negotiations, she could put herself in a strong position by holding a people’s vote to validate the final deal. What is she scared of?

[The Prime Minister]

I think that I have covered this point on a number of occasions. It remains unfortunate that the Labour party is not willing to rule out a second referendum. This House—this Parliament—overwhelmingly gave the people of this country the decision and the choice whether to leave the European Union. They voted. I think that the vast majority of the public out there want their Government to deliver on that—not to have a second referendum, but to have faith with the British people and deliver on their vote.

G7

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 11th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The question of ensuring that women have those opportunities and that gender equality is in place is right in itself, but it is also important for economies, because there would be a significant boost to economies if women were able to play the same sort of role, in terms of businesses that they are setting up and so forth, as the male part of the population. I can assure him that President Macron, who will be hosting the G7 next year, committed at the summit in Quebec to taking this agenda item—the empowerment of women and gender equality—through to the G7 in France next year.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister share my concern that the good work she described coming out of the G7 seems deliberately to be having the shine taken off it by President Trump and his tweets—insisting that it should be a G8 and pushing on with his tariffs—and his general inability to play by the collective rules? Or are blond buffoons who seek to undermine her at every turn now becoming the norm?

[The Prime Minister]

G7 leaders signed up to a number of actions in the communiqué. We will ensure that we abide by them, and I expect others to do the same.

Military Action Overseas: Parliamentary Approval

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Tuesday 17th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I will be dealing with that point during my speech. I do understand the point the hon. Gentleman is making and the need for urgent action at times, and there are provisions for that in the proposals we are putting forward.

During yesterday’s statement, the Father of the House—the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke)— the leader of the Scottish National party and the leader of the Liberal Democrats, as well as of the official Opposition, agreed that Parliament should have been recalled. That is a common position on all sides of the House, absolutely irrespective of our views on the action undertaken in Syria last Saturday morning.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should listen not just to voices inside the Chamber, but to voices outside—the great British public? A woman on the doorstep in Ealing said to me this weekend, “Did we just regain the sovereignty of Parliament to hand it over to a Prime Minister with no majority or, worse still, to Trump?” Did she not have a point?

European Council

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That was reflected in the conclusions of the European Council that took place on Thursday and Friday last week. It has also been reflected in the actions taken by number of EU countries. Those actions are not just about supporting the United Kingdom; they are in the interests of the national security of those countries themselves.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

It is pleasing to see our EU partners expressing unanimity behind the Prime Minister in recognising that the shocking events in Salisbury were in fact made in Russia. Among the actions that we now take, will she please revisit the golden ticket visas—the tier 1 investor visas—in the light of the fact that 2,500 oligarchs have acquired such visas in less than 10 years? Will she at least commit to strengthening the checks on the wealth behind these people so that accusations of rich Russians buying their way into Britain with dirty money simply cannot stick?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has in hand a review of that particular tier of investor visas.

Salisbury Incident

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 14th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We of course stand ready to call out the Putin Administration and Russian Government; we do that across a number of fronts and will continue to do so.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

I thank the Prime Minister for her statement and the concern she expressed to me yesterday regarding the surprise substances some of us received in our parliamentary post this week—not on a Salisbury scale, but frightening none the less. Will she commit to those who operate within and outside feeling the full force of the law, and go a bit faster on the long-promised public registers of property, many of which are Russian-owned? This has been Government policy since David Cameron, and if they were in place by now, we would know where the assets are to freeze.

[The Prime Minister]

I reiterate the comment that I made at Prime Minister’s questions that these were appalling acts against Muslim Members of this House, and of course a full investigation is taking place. I have discussed the public register of ownership with the Business Secretary and it is the Government’s intention to bring that forward, so that we can ensure that we shine a light on the issue.