Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 26th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises a very important point. We have been able to invest in York, with £1.6 million this year for transport improvements, £2.2 million for highways maintenance and £1.3 million to support the sustainable i-Travel York initiative, but we can invest in infrastructure only if we have the strong and stable leadership that secures a strong economy. That is what the choice in June will be. It is very clear: a strong economy, guaranteeing investment in York and across the country under the Conservatives, or bankruptcy and chaos with Labour.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

Q11. As the Prime Minister knows, fixed odds betting terminals cause immense harm in communities. On taking office, she authorised a review of maximum stakes and all the evidence was collected by the end of last year. Why do we still not have a result? Will she today show some leadership and reduce the maximum stake on these appalling machines to £2?

[The Prime Minister]

I recognise that a number of hon. Members have raised concerns about this issue. We did indeed have the consultation and there will be a Government response to it. Of course, that response—[Interruption.] “Get on with it,” we are told. We are now in a situation where these things will be published after the purdah period and after the general election, so the right hon. Gentleman will have to wait for that response. Obviously we recognise the concern over this issue and we will respond in due course.

Early Parliamentary General Election

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 19th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That intervention was not worthy of the hon. Gentleman.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

Will the Prime Minister just clarify for us whether she supports fixed-term Parliaments?

[The Prime Minister]

We have a Fixed-term Parliaments Act that enables us to have fixed-term Parliaments. I believe that at this point in time, it is right for us to have this debate and this vote in this House, and I believe that it is right for Members of this House to vote—I shall explain why—for us to have a general election at this stage.

Article 50

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. We have already been able to give some reassurance to farmers with our commitment on funding through to 2020 but, of course, we will then need to look at the arrangements that are put in place after the UK leaves the European Union. I assure my hon. Friend that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is working with farmers in all parts of the United Kingdom to look at what are the best arrangements for the way ahead.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

There is a very big economic challenge ahead. Does the Prime Minister recognise that securing anything like the barrier-free access to the single market that she has rightly set as her goal will require some compromise—some middle ground—to be found on the question of free movement of people?

[The Prime Minister]

The decision that was taken on 23 June in relation to free movement was that it should be the UK Government who determine the immigration rules for people coming to the United Kingdom from the European Union. We will be putting forward proposals to the House in due course on what those future arrangements should be. We will not be stopping immigration from the European Union—we will not stop people coming into the United Kingdom—and we recognise that people will still move from the EU into the United Kingdom, but the important point is that the rules governing that movement will be determined by the UK Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd March 2017 Commons Chamber

The Minister for the Cabinet Office was asked—

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

1. What recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of the government transformation strategy 2017 to 2020 on cyber-security.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Ben Gummer)]

Cyber-attacks are growing more frequent, sophisticated and damaging. The government transformation strategy will ensure that government protects all its services and products from cybercrime, and will ensure that all systems are designed with cyber-security and appropriate privacy safeguards in place.

[Stephen Timms]

I am grateful to the Minister for that answer. Can he reassure us that as the transformation strategy, for very good reasons, puts more and more of our personal data—on our taxes, on our health and so on—online, none of those data will be at risk of ending up in the wrong hands?

[Ben Gummer]

I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for making that point. Central to what we are doing is protecting not only the information that government requires to be kept confidential, but, as importantly, the information that citizens require to be kept confidential. That is partly why gov.uk Verify has been designed so that it protects citizens’ data in the inquires that they make of government.

European Council

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right, and the figures are very clear: the single market that is most important to Scotland is the single market with the United Kingdom. [Interruption.] The right hon. Member for Gordon shouts “frictionless borders” at me; of course, Scotland has a frictionless border with the rest of the United Kingdom, which is the most important single market it is a member of.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

In recent discussions I have taken part in, it has been clear that there is no support among any of the parties represented in the German Parliament for the UK to retain barrier-free access to the single market if we no longer operate free movement. The Prime Minister has asserted her optimism, but does she recognise that that is the reality of the starting point we are at?

[The Prime Minister]

The reality of the starting point we are at is that we are going to sit down with the European Commission and, obviously, representatives of the European Council and the European Parliament, to negotiate the relationship that is going to be right for the United Kingdom and right for the rest of the European Union. The discussions I have had so far indicate that there is a recognition on both sides of the negotiation of the importance of making sure that we get a very good free trade agreement.

Outcome of the EU Referendum

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let me try to reassure Members. The only reason I am saying “No immediate changes” is that I am just trying accurately to reflect the legal situation, which is this: for people who are free at the moment to come and live and work in the UK—let me repeat that if they come here and they cannot support themselves, we can ask them to leave; that is important and has been the case for some time—as long as we are members of the EU, that continues. At the point at which we go, a Government will have to make a decision about what to negotiate with the rest of Europe about the rights of Europeans to come and live and work here—whether there will be visas or work permits, or what have you—and then there will be consequences potentially for British citizens going to live and work in Europe. The House is going to be able to debate all these things, so Members will be able to contribute to all these discussions and conversations, but I must answer accurately from this Dispatch Box, and what I can say is that as long as we stay in the EU those rights are protected, and I have gone further than that and said that everything I have heard from those who were campaigning to leave is that those rights will be continued after we have left.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister accept that maintaining very strong UK participation in Europe-wide scientific research collaboration needs to be an important strand of the work he has described going forward?

[The Prime Minister]

I very much agree with the right hon. Gentleman. This is an area where we have got more out of Europe than we have put in, and we will clearly want to safeguard that for the future.

UK-EU Renegotiation

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have heard from the former Attorney General and the former Solicitor General, who have great legal expertise. The point that they make is right: this agreement will be legally binding on member states as a matter of international law. First, of course, it has to be agreed, but once it has been agreed, my hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right that it would be irreversible because it could be amended or revoked only if all member states, Britain included, decided to reverse it. Therein lies its irreversibility.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

I want us to stay in the European Union, but the Prime Minister indicated that he would use the renegotiation to seek to address the unfairness in the European sugar market, which currently affects cane sugar refiners such as Tate & Lyle in my constituency. Has the right hon. Gentleman made any progress on that specific issue?

[The Prime Minister]

I will have to write to the right hon. Gentleman about that issue.