Speaker’s Statement

Debate between Alex Burghart and John Bercow

Monday 18th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Emergency motions—I say this as much for the benefit of people observing our proceedings as for Members of the House—are capable of being requested under Standing Order No. 24. The hon. Lady will know that any Member can apply for the right to conduct a Standing Order No. 24 debate on a motion and that that request is, in the first instance, submitted to me. If I decide that the application can be made in a speech of up to three minutes, it is made on the Floor of the House. If I decide that the application is valid, and the application is supported, the debate can take place, and there is nothing to stop such debates taking place in the ensuing days. Many have taken place before—obviously, on nothing like the scale of urgent questions—and I have no reason to suppose that it will be different in the future.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Does the House have the authority to suspend the Standing Orders that prevent motions from being brought back to the House in the same form?

[Mr Speaker]

The Clerk of the House has confirmed my own understanding, which is that the House is the custodian of its own Standing Orders. The Standing Orders are a matter for the House, and they can be changed. That has happened before, and it could conceivably happen again. So the answer to the central inquiry is yes.

No Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government

Debate between Alex Burghart and John Bercow

Wednesday 16th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Alex Burghart]

And when the hon. Lady’s party left power, we had record debt, a crashed economy and a loss of confidence in our foreign policy after the disastrous Iraq war. The Labour party ran this country into the ground. Eight years later, we have record employment; we have rising wages—we have everything a sensible, evenly minded, well-balanced economy has brought. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is a very unseemly atmosphere, but the hon. Gentleman is at least still smiling, and that is to be welcomed. [Interruption.] Order. Let us hear the hon. Gentleman.

[Alex Burghart]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The truth is that the Labour party left power under an enormous cloud. Everybody knows it. It left after a disastrous 13 years in office, in which the economy was destroyed, and Government Members are united in our desire to ensure that it does not have an opportunity to do that again. Let us be frank: the Blair-Brown years were a golden age compared with what would come after a general election this year, should the Labour party force one upon us. We would rather have Blair and Brown than Corbyn and McDonnell any day of the week, but those options are not available to the British public.

European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Debate between Alex Burghart and John Bercow

Tuesday 15th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

There is a peculiar irony, is there not, Mr Speaker, in the fact that today marks the anniversary of Henry VIII styling himself the Supreme Head of the English Church in 1535? Five hundred years on, here we are arguing over the same questions of who rules, on what authority—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Stop the clock. [Interruption.] Order. There is a very unseemly atmosphere. The hon. Gentleman must and will be heard.

[Alex Burghart]

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Five hundred years on, we find ourselves still arguing about our relationship with Europe and about who rules. I have little confidence that, 500 years from now, we will have resolved these questions.

Tonight and in the weeks to come, the House has three choices it can make: there can be a deal; there can be no deal; or we can stay in the European Union. If it is not this deal, then it must be another deal. By all the rumours going around, that deal will be worse than the one on the table. It will keep us more closely aligned to the EU, and give us less say. In fact, it will be worse than staying in the EU.

Those people in the House who want to stay in the EU hide behind the idea of a second referendum. I say to hon. Members who think the first referendum was divisive that, goodness me, they have not seen anything yet. If those Members who want us to stay in the EU believe it, they should call on this House to have a vote to revoke article 50, but they will not do that.

The deal before us is what we have. This is a deal that, treated right and taken in the right direction, will give us control of our borders, our laws, our waters and our trading opportunities. We have had time enough to go over these issues. It is time now for the House to make a decision. I will vote for the deal for tonight, and let us move on.

Points of Order

Debate between Alex Burghart and John Bercow

Thursday 5th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I will come to the hon. Gentleman, but it would be a pity to squander him too early.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I want to raise with you an issue that I have encountered in recent days. The pedestrian entrance at Carriage Gates has relatively new card-swipe machines that are quite glitchy, and there have been a couple of occasions when I have struggled to get in— fortunately not at a time when I was coming in for a vote. However, as someone who often cuts things quite fine in getting to the Chamber to vote, I would not want to find that I, or indeed other hon. Members, could not get through Carriage Gates in a hurry and that that affected our business in the Chamber. To whom should I report this concern, and what is the procedure for trying to address it?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman could inform the Serjeant at Arms about the matter, or if he wishes to raise it with Eric Hepburn, the Parliamentary Security Director, it is open to him to do so. I think it is a fairly safe bet, though, that the Parliamentary Security Director will come to learn of the point that the hon. Gentleman has made. Clearly, it is very important that these glitches should be reduced to a minimum and that the system should be operationally efficient sooner rather than later.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Burghart and John Bercow

Thursday 1st March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We are very short of time. In fact, we have run out of time. We have had some very comprehensive answers, for which we are grateful, but I will take only two more questions, if the questions and answers are very short.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

Will the Minister please look into the concerns that a flyover and tunnel at Stonehenge will damage the valuable archaeological site at Blick Mead?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Burghart and John Bercow

Tuesday 16th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We are very time constrained today. One sentence—Alex Burghart.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

Will the Minister welcome the fact that UK manufacturing is at an eight-year high?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Burghart and John Bercow

Thursday 16th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

14. What recent progress her Department has made on reaching the Government’s superfast broadband target for the end of 2017.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Jobcentre Plus: Closures

Debate between Alex Burghart and John Bercow

Thursday 6th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

Obviously, we are having this debate in the context of record employment. On both sides of the House, we should be welcoming the fact that fewer people are unemployed now than ever before. That has brought with it enormous social benefits—[Interruption.] If the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) is patient for a moment, she will hear the question. In Wirral West, for example—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sorry, but I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman needs to ask a question not in a moment or two but straight away, because many other colleagues are waiting to contribute. The hon. Gentleman is new, and he must get used to it. I want him to get to his question.