Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

1. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the cost of childcare on family incomes in Northern Ireland.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

11. Whether he plans to provide increased funding for childcare in Northern Ireland.

[The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr Steve Baker)]

Early education and childcare are devolved matters, so policy and spending decisions are for the Northern Ireland Executive. It is vital that a new Executive are formed to ensure that all available funding is used to maximum effect in Northern Ireland.

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[Alex Cunningham]

Given that a post on the Prime Minister’s No. 10 Instagram account this week celebrated Northern Ireland’s businesses with the Irish tricolour, does the Minister think that parents would get a better child deal with the Republic?

[Mr Baker]

I am confident that somewhere there is a junior communications professional lamenting the fact that they accepted the automatically generated flag on that Instagram post, and I do not wish to deepen their embarrassment by going further. The hon. Gentleman will have noticed that I was proud to put out on my own Instagram the lapel pin that I am currently wearing.

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[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the important work of his local theatre company, Unleashed, and I wish it well in its future endeavours. We are investing an unprecedented £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, including by building thousands of move-on homes and implementing our landmark Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which has already prevented or relieved almost 600,000 households from suffering from homelessness.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Q5. Why are 34% of children in my constituency living in poverty?

[The Prime Minister]

It is this Government who, as a result of our actions, have ensured that across our country 1.7 million fewer people are living in poverty.

[Alex Cunningham]

That’s not true.

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, it is true. Not only that, but hundreds of thousands fewer children are living in poverty, and income inequality is at a lower level than we inherited from the Labour party. We do not want any child to grow up in poverty, and the best way to achieve that is to ensure that they do not grow up in a workless household. That is why the right strategy is to ensure that we provide as many children as possible with the opportunity to grow up with parents in work, and because of the actions of previous Governments several hundred thousand more families are in that—

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for the work he does in the Assembly. It is a vital new institution, which has deep roots in the European Parliament as well as this Parliament, and it will add great value to our discussions.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

7. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on tackling the cost of living crisis in Northern Ireland.

[The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr Steve Baker)]

The UK Government are providing vital support to households and businesses across the UK to help with the rising cost of energy. This is an issue that the Secretary of State and I raise frequently with colleagues across Government, including the Business Secretary and the Energy Minister. We seek to provide urgent support for households and businesses across Northern Ireland.

[Alex Cunningham]

The Minister has been asked several times this morning about the £400 energy support payment. What is the blockage preventing the payment from being made now, and when will this be sorted out?

[Mr Baker]

The hon. Gentleman will of course understand that these schemes need to be delivered by officials, and that effort has been hampered substantially by the absence of a functioning Executive. We should all acknowledge that without an Executive, these things are more difficult to deliver. As I said earlier, we are well aware of the imperatives, and once again I urge all parties to re-form the Executive so that we can give people the prompt help that they deserve.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol.

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[Brandon Lewis]

What I would say to businesses is that I would encourage them to engage with the trader support service that the Government have put in place and which we are funding. It works for businesses, and the businesses that have used it have had great success in continuing to be able to move their products, with advice, smoothly and fluidly. We have worked with businesses continually through the process—as we were in the transition period and since we have left the transition period—to ensure that businesses across the United Kingdom can trade across the United Kingdom, but I recognise there have been issues in how the protocol has been implemented since the end of the transition period, and that is why we will be outlining measures in a written ministerial statement later today.

[Alex Cunningham [V]]

Hard-liner Back Benchers in the Secretary of State’s own party want to tear up the deal they voted for and place our border on the island of Ireland. Will the Secretary of State today publicly reject the demands of the European Research Group, with all the damage and instability those demands could cause?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Gentleman may well have voted for the deal as well. I will be very clear with him: my focus is on ensuring that we deliver exactly what the protocol said, which is to ensure that it does not disrupt the everyday lives of people in their communities in Northern Ireland. We have to make sure that is the case. That is what the protocol set out to achieve. We have also got to make sure that it respects all the peace and prosperity that has been found in Northern Ireland as a result of the Good Friday/Belfast agreement, and that means respecting not just north-south relations, but east-west relations as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Walker]

I fear to tread in such a contentious area. The hon. Gentleman is right that the news on a vaccine is good news for the whole United Kingdom. We want to ensure that it is rolled out effectively across the whole United Kingdom, and we shall certainly make representations to ensure that that includes Northern Ireland.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

What assessment he has made of progress towards integrated education in Northern Ireland.

[The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr Robin Walker)]

The Government continue to be committed to integrated education in Northern Ireland, which is why we provided £500 million of funding to the Northern Ireland Executive for the development of integrated and shared schools as part of the “Fresh Start” agreement. The Executive have confirmed that they have so far spent £31 million to the end of 2019-20, and the full £500 million of “Fresh Start” capital has been committed to the end of 2025-26. We want to see investment delivered quickly in Northern Ireland, and the establishment of an independent fiscal council would support the Assembly to hold the Executive to account on delivery, as well as on other fiscal and budgetary matters.

[Alex Cunningham]

Who we learn with and live alongside could scarcely be more fundamental to how we see the world. Integrated education is one of the major unfulfilled legacies of the Good Friday agreement. Is it not time to seize the opportunity presented by the “New Decade, New Approach” deal and together drive real progress on shared education that will build a fairer society?

[Mr Walker]

The short answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question is yes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

What steps the Government are taking to support the recovery of the Northern Ireland economy from the effects of the covid-19 outbreak.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

What steps the Government are taking to support the recovery of the Northern Ireland economy from the effects of the covid-19 outbreak.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

What steps the Government are taking to support the recovery of the Northern Ireland economy from the effects of the covid-19 outbreak.

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[Mr Walker]

The hon. Lady is right that the covid-19 outbreak has had a severe impact on the aviation and aerospace sectors around the world. The UK Government have already provided significant support to the sector, including through the business interruption loan scheme, the job retention scheme and, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State mentioned, £2.1 billion through the covid corporate financing facility, with additional flexibility from UK Export Finance. Of course we will have contact with Ministers at the Ministry of Defence, and we are always happy to work with the sector to promote job opportunities in Northern Ireland.

[Alex Cunningham]

Virtually every major commercial aircraft programme in the world comes back either in structure, services or parts to Northern Ireland, yet the recent redundancies have been greeted with no more than a shrug of the shoulders from Ministers, who seem to think that general statements are enough. When will the Minister meet the workforce at those plants and put his weight behind a plan to help them survive this crisis?

[Mr Walker]

UK Government Ministers and officials have been engaging with key stakeholders in Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State has met the key business leaders in this respect to inform our response to covid-19. The lead Department on this, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has been engaging extensively with the trade unions. Only this morning, I spoke to my ministerial colleague at BEIS to ensure that we can continue to co-ordinate our work on aviation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Walker]

I always listen carefully to the hon. Gentleman’s representations, and I am very happy to discuss that with colleagues at the Department for Transport. Further details are being developed alongside our national bus strategy, which we expect to publish later this year, but I absolutely understand the importance of the issues he raises and, as I say, I am happy to undertake that discussion.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

3. What recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Northern Ireland business community on the Ireland/Northern Ireland protocol and future trading arrangements with the EU.

[The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Brandon Lewis)]

The Government are committed to engagement with the business community in Northern Ireland in relation to the protocol and our future trading arrangements with the EU. I have had the opportunity to engage with a range of business representatives in Northern Ireland in recent weeks, and I look forward to continuing positive and constructive discussions in the weeks and months ahead.

[Alex Cunningham]

The Secretary of State says that there will be no border down the Irish sea or across the island of Ireland. The fact that the Government are intent on diverging from existing standards, however, means that checks of some sort will have to take place in Northern Ireland. What kind of checks does he think will be necessary? On the basis that there will be very real barriers to trade, will he take personal responsibility for the ensuing mess?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Gentleman should have more faith in our ability as a country to deal with technical matters. We are considering the best way to ensure that we implement the protocol, and we will discuss that with the EU in the joint committee—the specialised committee created under the withdrawal agreement, which will meet for the first time very soon. We are clear that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and we will have unfettered access.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)]

1. What recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) economic and (b) social effect on Northern Ireland of the UK leaving the EU.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

14. What recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) economic and (b) social effect on Northern Ireland of the UK leaving the EU.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr Robin Walker)]

We have now left the EU with a good deal. Northern Ireland will remain part of the UK customs territory and will be able to participate in our free trade deals. The Prime Minister negotiated hard to ensure that measures are in place that reflect Northern Ireland’s unique circumstances. There will be no hard border with Ireland. At the same time, the agreement completely safeguards Northern Ireland’s integral place within the United Kingdom, and the arrangements on rights and consent within the Belfast/Good Friday agreement.

[Mr Walker]

The protocol provides important protections in that respect. Of course we will be working through the Joint Committee, and through the legislation that has been promised with the “New Decade, New Approach” agreement, to deliver on those promises.

[Alex Cunningham]

The Government’s assessment of the economic impact of the withdrawal agreement had little by way of forecasts in terms of Northern Ireland. Does the Minister agree that this shows the lack of regard that the Government have shown to Northern Ireland throughout the Brexit process?

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[James Brokenshire]

The Irish Government and the UK Government are co-signatories to the Belfast agreement. I have said on a number of occasions that we stand behind our commitments. There are unique circumstances that operate on the island of Ireland: the common travel area, the single electricity market and so on. We are determined to find the right solutions that serve Northern Ireland well and all of the all-Ireland issues.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

10. In the recent referendum, Northern Ireland voted to remain. In large part, that was due to issues relating to the border with the Irish Republic. This is a key issue for the Secretary of State, but more so for working families, so will he tell us what the Government’s policy is in relation to the border?

[James Brokenshire]

As I have already underlined, the Government are determined not to see a return to the borders of the past. We want to strengthen the common travel area. Work with the Irish Government has been ongoing for many months and will continue, reflecting the important issues the hon. Gentleman highlights on the movement of people, the movement of goods and services, and the sense of politics and identity, which is why this is such a priority.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 8th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course what my hon. Friend says is right. I am very sorry I will not be able to attend the prayer breakfast, because I know it is a very good event, and it brings a lot of people together and means a lot to Christians around our country. On the point she makes about the Prevent duty being misused, I have not heard of that exact example, but it is clearly ludicrous. People do need to exercise some common sense in making these judgments, because it is quite clear that that is not what was intended.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Q12. Every day, around 6,000 people—many of them children—take on new caring responsibilities, providing unpaid care for an older or disabled family member or friend, yet many carers tell me they feel abandoned by everyone, including the Government. In this Carers Week, will the Prime Minister pledge that his Government will do much better for the 9,500 carers in my constituency, and the 6.5 million carers across the country?

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Wallace]

That absolutely is the key, and our long-term economic plan will deliver a rebalancing of the economy and new jobs. I am delighted to say that 40,000 more people are employed in Northern Ireland than was the case in May 2010. Giving people jobs is the fastest way out of poverty, and ensuring that the Northern Ireland economy converges with and improves alongside that of the rest of the United Kingdom is our No. 1 priority.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

15. Some 89,000 working families in Northern Ireland receive an average of £4,000 a year from the child element of tax credit. How will the Minister help them to restore the money that they will lose when the Prime Minister implements his welfare cuts?

[Mr Wallace]

The best way to help those people is to ensure that there is an economy that allows them to work, rather than forcing them to rely on the benefits system. It is interesting to note that ours is the party that wants to give people a hand up, while the hon. Gentleman’s party seems to want to give them a handout.