Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Wednesday 17th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am always happy to congratulate the hon. Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy), as others will, for one very good reason that the public should know: he invariably plays the ball rather than the man or the woman. He sticks to the arguments, and that is why he is respected not only by his constituents, but across the House.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

11. On 26 June, this House agreed a Scottish National party resolution regretting that the Prime Minister’s legacy will be the hostile environment. Yesterday, the all-party groups on Africa and Malawi published a report showing that structural failures in the visa system are continuing to perpetuate that hostile environment. How can her Government spend millions of pounds on a global marketing campaign saying that Britain is great when, for so many academics, artists and traders from Africa, Britain is closed?

[The Prime Minister]

Entry clearance officers consider applications for visitor visas with the utmost rigour, because our visas are an important way of securing our border and an effective tool for us in reducing illegal immigration, tackling organised crime and protecting national security. The hon. Gentleman references visas for people coming from the countries of Africa. The percentage of African nationals who saw their application granted is up by 4% on what it was 10 years ago and is only slightly below the average rate of the past 10 years. Visa applications from African nationals are at their highest level since 2013.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Wednesday 10th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I commend our world-leading defence manufacturers. They are an important industry, not only in creating and supporting jobs here in the United Kingdom, but in terms of significant exports. It is important that, as that independent, self-governing, sovereign nation, we are a good partner and ally in what is an uncertain world. We always have been that, and we will continue to be that. We continue to meet the NATO requirement of spending 2% of our GDP on defence. We are one of the few NATO countries that does that. We are the biggest European contributor to NATO, and we are the second biggest contributor to NATO. We are a leading military power, and we will remain a leading military power.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Q12. During the right hon. Lady’s premiership, we have marked 100 years since the armistice of the great war, 100 years of women’s suffrage, 70 years of the NHS, the treaty of Rome and the universal declaration on human rights, and 20 years of devolution, and a week on Saturday will mark 50 years since the moon landings, one of the greatest human endeavours ever accomplished. In 50 or 100 years’ time, will history not judge Brexit and her legacy to have been one giant leap backwards for the people of these islands?

[The Prime Minister]

No.

G20 and Leadership of EU Institutions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Wednesday 3rd July 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that, and for the work he has done on environmental issues in his ministerial roles. He continues to champion these issues. I absolutely agree with him. There are those who say that we can either have economic growth or tackle climate change. That is a false dichotomy. Tackling climate change is about developing new types of job, new technology, and new areas of employment for our economy. Already, something like 400,000 people are employed in, effectively, the clean growth economy—in renewable energy and so forth—and we will see many more such jobs being created. The message that we need to take around the world is that this is about future economies, and future employment and jobs.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Did any of the countries represented at the G20 discuss with the Prime Minister the recent UN resolution regarding the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands? If she is seeking to leave a legacy, perhaps the best things she could do are respect the international rules-based order, respect the decision that sovereignty of the Chagos Islands should be returned to Mauritius, and restore the right to return to the Chagossian community, which would right a historical injustice.

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the Government’s position on this. That position has not changed, and no such discussions took place.

European Council

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Monday 24th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the comments that I made in my statement. They updated the remaining 27, and the Council repeated its desire to avoid a disorderly Brexit and committed to work constructively with my successor as Prime Minister.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

We are wasting time. Despite what President Tusk says, the country is being forced to watch the world’s worst reality TV programme. Perhaps in the time remaining—even at the summit that the Prime Minister is unexpectedly having to attend—something that would command support across the House is unilaterally protecting the rights of European Union citizens who live in this country and, for that matter, UK citizens who live in the EU. Will she take action in line with that support to protect EU citizens, come what may with Brexit?

[The Prime Minister]

We have already committed, as a Government, to protect the rights of EU citizens living here in the UK regardless of whether there is a deal on our leaving the European Union. We have been encouraging other member states to reciprocate for UK citizens living in those member states. As I indicated earlier, there is a legal issue about whether competence on this question rests with the European Union, which it would as part of a deal, or with individual member states as it would in no deal. We continue to encourage both to ensure that the rights of UK citizens in EU member states will be upheld and protected once we leave.

European Council

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Thursday 11th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The position on the withdrawal agreement has been reiterated by the European Council, but of course the point of the Brady amendment was that alternative arrangements should be in place that could replace the backstop. One of the things that we have agreed with the European Union is a timetable for work on those alternative arrangements. As I indicated earlier, the Government have committed funding for the work that is necessary to ensure that we will be in a position such that, at the end of December 2020, the backstop would not need to be used and that, if interim arrangements were necessary, those alternative arrangements would be available.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

The 78% of my constituents who voted remain do not want an extension; they just want this business stopped. The ways to break this deadlock are a new referendum, a new House of Commons or a new Prime Minister, so which is it going to be?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman knows full well that I believe it is the duty of this House—I believe it is the duty of this Parliament—to deliver on the result of the referendum that took place in 2016 with a deal to leave the European Union in an orderly way, and that is what we are working to do.

Leaving the EU

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Monday 26th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend; it is important that this deal does deliver on the decision of the British people. We committed to deliver on that decision. There are various references in the withdrawal agreement that make it clear that the backstop, were it to be invoked, would only be temporary, not least the fact that the withdrawal agreement is on the legal basis of article 50, which cannot be used to establish a permanent relationship.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

I was disappointed to see on Twitter the Government’s timetabling for the meaningful vote, having not first had the courtesy sight of it through the usual channels. My wee sister is due to give birth to her first child on 25 May. What is the Prime Minister’s message to that child? Will they be a European citizen, and can she honestly say that their life chances and opportunities will be better under this deal than they would be if we remained in the European Union, which is what 78% of my constituents voted for?

EU Exit Negotiations

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Thursday 15th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The financial settlement has a trajectory in terms of payment, some of which would be beyond the periods to which my hon. Friend refers. There is no specific financial obligation in relation to the backstop, should that backstop come into play.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

If the Prime Minister is so confident of the merits of this deal, is she not slightly concerned that when she goes to Europe, other member states will look at it enviously and want to leave the European Union on similar terms? Is not the truth that the best possible relationship with the European Union, by definition, is the one that my constituents and people across Scotland voted for—to remain in the European Union?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Wednesday 24th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for the lobbying he has carried out, and I am sure that the Chancellor heard what he said. Of course, as ever, everybody will have to wait until the Budget is delivered to find out what is in it. My hon. Friend and my Conservative colleagues from Scotland mounted a robust campaign on Scotch whisky duty last year, and we were pleased to be able to take the stance that we did on the duty, because we recognise the importance of Scotch whisky to the UK. I have to say that 2017 was a record-breaking year, and that in the first half of 2018, Scotch whisky exports increased further to nearly £2 billion. This is an important industry.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Q5. How does denying, delaying or disrupting visas for Moldovan and African trade commissioners, Palestinian academics, artists at WOMAD and Celtic Connections, or Malawian priests and pupils enhance the Prime Minister’s vision of a global Britain? Does the Prime Minister understand that the visa crisis and perceived travel ban serve only to prove that the “hostile environment” lives on, and that Brexit is a small, isolationist retreat from the world stage?

[The Prime Minister]

The reality is far different from the situation the hon. Gentleman has suggested. There is no travel ban. We remain open to business and to people from around the world, and we will continue to be so under the new immigration system—a skills-based immigration system—that we will be introducing when we leave the EU.

European Council

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

It is no bad thing, either for the hon. Gentleman or for the House, if the Scottish National party Chief Whip is in the guard’s van.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

I had the underwhelming experience this morning of visiting the Brexit Reading Room. For each of the 39 documents, I was left with the very clear impression that they do not contain any commercially sensitive or negotiation-sensitive information, so why not share that experience with the country and put them in the public domain?

[The Prime Minister]

The papers have been provided for the Select Committee. The formal position is that once the papers are in the hands of a Select Committee, it is up to them whether or not they are published.

European Council

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Monday 23rd October 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and this is where the Labour party gets it absolutely wrong; it thinks it should be signing up to any deal, across the whole board, regardless of the price and regardless of the conditions applied by the European Union.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Was the Prime Minister able to share any of the perspectives of the devolved Administrations with the other Governments at the summit, particularly the concerns around the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill? Given that the Secretary of State for Scotland has promised a powers “bonanza” for Holyrood, I wonder whether she could name today just one power that will definitely be devolved to Holyrood after Brexit.

[The Prime Minister]

Don’t worry, we will be making it clear where we expect further devolution to take place. The hon. Gentleman asks whether I discussed the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill with the European Council, and I have to say that that Bill is a matter for this Parliament and it is this Parliament that will decide on it.

European Council

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Patrick Grady

Monday 26th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are certainly willing to consider legislation; this matter is so important. I believe that, with the international pressure and co-operation that we are now building, we will be able to put pressure on the tech companies such that they do this themselves, but we should not rule any option out.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

I do not know whether it is in order to blow a raspberry in this House, but that was the reaction of constituents—EU nationals—whom I met at the Partick language hub in my constituency on Saturday, when they heard about the reports of this deal. I wonder how many EU nationals the Prime Minister met or consulted in drawing up the proposal she has presented today.

[The Prime Minister]

I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that, like other Members of the House, I have met people in my constituency who are employers of EU nationals concerned about this and people who are EU nationals who are concerned about their position. The detail had not been published at the weekend, but I suggest that he take the detail to his constituents and enable them to see for themselves the fair and serious offer we are making.