Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Wednesday 26th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend for the significant contribution that he has made for his constituents in Chelmsford, in this House and in government over his period of time here. He is absolutely right to say that his constituents will be looking for strong defences, a strong economy and the strong leadership that will build a more secure future for this country, and it is only a Conservative Government that can provide that.

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

In this Brexit world, the Prime Minister is desperate to obtain trade deals with anybody or nobody, so the International Trade Secretary went to the Philippines this month, where he appeared with the President and said that he wanted a strong relationship based on “shared values”. Can the Prime Minister identify for the House what shared values she has in common with President Rodrigo Duterte?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman is right to say that, as we leave the European Union, we want to ensure that we are a truly global Britain and that we have trade deals around the rest of the world. The reason that we want those trade deals—as well as the strong, secure, deep and special partnership with the European Union on trade—is so that we can ensure prosperity across the whole of this country and jobs for ordinary working families.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Wednesday 29th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As my hon. Friend is saying, we are aiming to end the postcode lottery of schools funding, and as I said, schools funding is now at a record high. On the minimum funding level, as I have said before, the Department for Education has heard representations on the issue on this national funding formula and will, of course, be considering those. This was a consultation, and there have been a lot of responses to it, but it is an historic and complex reform. There has been general agreement for many years that reform is needed. We want to get this right, which is why we are carefully considering the representations.

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

Q5. After nine months of this Prime Minister’s approach to Brexit, Northern Ireland is deadlocked, the Welsh are alienated, Scotland is going for a referendum, the English are split down the middle, and Brexit MPs are walking out of Commons Committees because they do not like home truths. Has the Prime Minister considered, in terms of invoking article 50, that “now is not the time”?

[The Prime Minister]

What the UK Government are doing in invoking article 50 is putting into practice the democratic vote of the British people on 23 June last year in a referendum. There was a referendum in 2014 in Scotland, when the Scottish people voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. I suggest the right hon. Gentleman and his colleagues put that into practice.

Article 50

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Wednesday 29th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

Today is the day that the right hon. Member for Maidenhead has become the first Prime Minister in recent history to have to be reminded that Scotland is a country, not a constituency of England. She refused to reply to the question of whether there had been an economic assessment of the impact of leaving the EU with no deal. Has there been such an assessment? Will she publish it? And if there has not been an assessment, how does the Foreign Secretary know that it is “perfectly okay”?

[The Prime Minister]

I say to the right hon. Gentleman that I am well aware that Scotland is a constituent nation of the United Kingdom. The point is a very simple one and it was made from the Bench behind him earlier: different parts of the United Kingdom voted in different ways. Different constituencies voted in different ways. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland voted in different ways—Wales voted to leave; Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain—but the overall response of the United Kingdom was a vote to leave the European Union, and that is what we are putting into place. I say to the right hon. Gentleman that we are looking at the arrangements that need to be put in place, whatever the impact—whatever the decision that is taken at the end. But crucially, what I am very clear about—I was clear in my letter to President Tusk—is that we should work to get that comprehensive free trade agreement, so that we are not in the position of having no deal but we have a deal that is to the benefit of everybody in the UK, including the people of Scotland.

European Council

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. As he has said, and as I have said before, a strong remaining EU of 27 will be in the best interests of the UK. We want to see the EU remaining strong, but we also want to see a strong UK playing its role as a global Britain. It is important that we keep the Union of the United Kingdom together; there is much that binds us, and I do not want to see anybody engaging in constitutional game-playing with the future of the United Kingdom.

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

I congratulate the Prime Minister on bringing the country together and uniting Scotland behind our First Minister. The Prime Minister was asked by my right hon. Friend the Member for Moray (Angus Robertson) about what was said last year, so let me cite the Tory Bible The Daily Telegraph on 15 July:

“Theresa May has indicated that…she will not trigger the formal process for leaving the EU until there is an agreed ‘UK approach’ backed by Scotland.”

Was that misreporting by The Daily Telegraph, misspeaking by the Prime Minister, or is she still working on it?

[The Prime Minister]

As the right hon. Gentleman knows full well, we have been in discussions with the Scottish Government and the other devolved Administrations, recognising the issues they have raised, and recognising the concerns and the common ground between us. The right hon. Gentleman refers to the views of the Scottish people in relation to the announcement made yesterday by the Scottish First Minister; I might remind him that the evidence in Scotland is that actually the majority of the Scottish people do not want a second independence referendum.

Informal European Council

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Monday 6th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What I want to see is an agreement about the position of EU citizens and UK citizens at an early part of the negotiations, so that we can give them that reassurance up front and so that it will not be necessary to keep that agreement with the other 27 member states as part of the final deal. We need to have that up front at an early stage, so that we can give people the reassurance that they not only need but deserve.

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

On 15 July last year, the Prime Minister pledged that she would not trigger article 50 until she had an agreed “UK approach” backed by the devolved Administrations. Does she intend to keep her word?

[The Prime Minister]

I have been very clear: we are having a number of engagements with the various devolved Administrations, taking their issues into account. We are currently, as we agreed at the last Joint Ministerial Committee plenary session, intensifying the discussions with the Scottish Government on the issues raised in the Scottish White Paper. The decision to trigger article 50 is one that this House has been very clear should be taken. This House voted overwhelmingly on Second Reading that that should be the step we take, and we will be doing so on behalf of the UK.

G20 Summit

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Wednesday 7th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the hugely important issue of modern slavery, which is a heinous crime that we need to do more about. I have been encouraging people in other countries to look at the initiative we have taken through legislation—our Modern Slavery Act 2015 is the first of its kind. There is more we can do through law enforcement and other Government agencies working together to ensure that we stamp out the organised crime groups that are behind this terrible crime. In doing that, however, we must never forget that modern slavery takes place here in the UK and that UK individuals are taken into slavery as well. We must not simply think of this as a global issue. We need to act globally, but we need to act locally as well.

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

Why did the Prime Minister authorise a very public dressing down of the Brexit Secretary merely for telling the House that membership of the single market and free movement of people tend to go together? Is it not possible that the Brexit Secretary, who has believed in this stuff for years, has thought more deeply about it than the Prime Minister, who has been a Brexiteer for a matter of weeks? Can we revert to the traditional practice whereby Ministers are disciplined for misleading the House, as opposed to for the odd occasion when they are caught telling the truth?

[The Prime Minister]

First of all, I do not recognise the picture the right hon. Gentleman sets out. The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union very clearly set out that this is not a zero-sum game. As I have said in response to other questions, the Government are absolutely clear that we will go out there and get the right deal for the United Kingdom and that we are negotiating a new relationship with the EU.

Europe, Human Rights and Keeping People Safe at Home and Abroad

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Tuesday 24th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

I do not have much time.

I mentioned the European Union. I have to say to the right hon. Member for Gordon (Alex Salmond) that I think he is trying to face in two directions at the same time on this issue. The hon. Member for Ilford South was absolutely right: the Scottish National party view appears to be to want to be in the EU, but it would actually like an exit vote so it can have another independence vote in Scotland. We should all be doing what we believe is right for the whole of the United Kingdom.

[Alex Salmond]

rose—

[Mrs May]

I have limited time in which to finish my remarks.

The hon. Member for Glenrothes (Peter Grant) referred to the institutions of the European Union. It is the Ministers in this Government who have been standing up in the EU for British interests, and long may that continue. As the shadow Home Secretary said, from everything I have seen, I believe we are safer and more secure inside the EU.

There were a lot of contributions on human rights, including from the right hon. and learned Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman), the Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights; my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate (Crispin Blunt), who referred to human rights in relation to Russia; the hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry); the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier); and the hon. Member for Rochdale (Simon Danczuk), who talked about human rights in Bangladesh. I can confirm, as the Foreign Secretary said, that human rights are mainstreamed throughout Foreign Office thinking. It is one of the issues we look at in other areas too, such as policing arrangements, exchange of legal information and so on.

There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding behind some of the contributions. Some Members, across the House, seem to think that human rights started with either the European convention on human rights or the Human Rights Act 1998. They did not. This is the country that has the proud tradition of Magna Carta. This is the country that has led the way on human rights. Human rights do not reside in just one piece of legislation—that is the important point. Our commitment is to bring forward the Bill of Rights. We will have significantly more consultation and scrutiny of the Bill of Rights than there was for the Human Rights Act, which was introduced without formal consultation and within just six months of the 1997 general election.

The hon. Member for Middlesbrough (Andy McDonald) referred to Hillsborough. Everybody in this House was shocked when they heard the verdicts of the independent panel. It is important that we learn the lessons, which is why Bishop James Jones will be working with the families on that.

It is the first duty of Government to ensure the safety and security of citizens. The measures in the Queen Speech will do just that. We are safer and more secure when our police forces are transparent and accountable, and when criminal gangs are no longer able to use the financial system to manage the proceeds of their crimes and evade justice. We are safer and more secure when our prisons are not just places to punish. We also heard many contributions on the importance of prison reform, including from my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), who did indeed, as Justice Secretary, start the Government down the path of this important prison reform.

This Queen’s Speech is the mark of a reforming Government. Its reforms will put justice at the heart of our public services, protect the vulnerable and reshape our criminal justice system in the name of creating one nation, and I commend it to the House.

Hillsborough

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Wednesday 27th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Sadly, the example he gave us of the game in 1981 shows that at that time lessons were not learned. Whatever comes out of the work with the families, and from the panel’s report and all that we are now seeing, we need to make sure that we learn the lessons, and that we do not just say that we are doing that but put what is necessary into practice.

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

The jury has determined that what happened on the day was negligent, unlawful and criminal. It was also tragic and unintended. The 27 years since have not been unintended; there have been deliberate lies and deception. When the Home Secretary is researching the variety of criminal charges that may be brought, will she ensure that appropriate emphasis is placed on perversion of the course of justice, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and perjury, because that is where the real evil lies?

[Mrs May]

As I indicated in my statement to the House, the question of perversion of the course of justice and perjury will be looked at, but it is for the independent Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether to bring those or any other criminal charges.

Draft Investigatory Powers Bill

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Wednesday 4th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I met representatives from groups who support and campaign for victims of crime, including child sexual abuse, rape and stalking. They made it very clear that the Government must ensure that the police and others are able to use the powers necessary to bring the perpetrators of these terrible crimes to justice.

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

A few weeks ago at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the Government’s QC, Mr James Eadie, seemed to argue—on the Home Secretary’s behalf and at public expense—that modern technology had rendered the Wilson doctrine impractical, and that it was not up to much anyway. Now that the doctrine has been reborn in the Home Secretary’s statement, will she say what has happened to modern technology over the past few weeks that has now made practical what was impractical? How will that protection extend to journalists, campaigners and whistleblowers who may be contacting their MP or MSP?

[Mrs May]

I am not sure that I recognise the right hon. Gentleman’s description of references to modern technology. I was clear in the statement that I gave to the House less than two weeks ago that the Wilson doctrine still exists. We are putting the third lock of consultation with the Prime Minister in the legislation. Over time a mythology has grown up around what the Wilson doctrine meant. Many Members of the House felt that it meant that no communication by MPs would ever be intercepted, but that is not what the doctrine said.

Migration

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Wednesday 16th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend tempts me to talk about Schengen, as did the hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry) who spoke for the Scottish National party. I simply say that we are not a member of Schengen. Decisions on borders within Schengen and the operation of the Schengen border code are matters for countries that are within the Schengen zone. We are not a member of it and we do not intend to be a member of it.

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

We managed two debates in this House last week without a single reference to dehumanising language such as “swarming” and “swamping”. We have not managed that today. The next time the Home Secretary hears such language, will she undertake to say something and take a stand against it, instead of ignoring it as she did today?

[Mrs May]

I say to the right hon. Gentleman that it behoves all Members of the House to be careful about how they speak in relation to these matters. It is the job of the Home Secretary, in responding to a question, to respond to the question.

Refugee Crisis in Europe

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Tuesday 8th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May)]

The whole House, indeed the whole country, has understandably been shocked by the scenes we have witnessed this summer. Men, women and children have taken extraordinary risks to secure for themselves and their loved ones the things we take for granted: a roof over their heads, a home for their family, and a chance to work and provide for their loved ones in a peaceful, stable country. Many have fled horrors we can scarcely imagine.

Since it started four and a half years ago, the civil war in Syria has claimed the lives of 220,000 people and forced 1 million more from their homes. They have seen their schools and hospitals bombed, their towns ransacked, their friends and relatives killed. It is a brutal conflict—one that does not shudder from the use of torture or sexual violence, and that has seen the first use of chemical weapons this century.

No one chooses to be a refugee. The families driven out of Syria are fleeing a conflict they did nothing to start and which they have no desire to see extended. Families up and down the UK, on listening to their stories, have imagined, “What would we do if we were in their place; if that was our town, our home, our children?” The awful scenes we have seen in recent weeks are all the more distressing for the knowledge that they are not unique and, sadly, not new.

As this crisis has grown, the Government have done and will continue to do everything we can to help those in immediate need, and to stop the dreadful situation they are fleeing. Such a huge task demands a comprehensive approach—one that tackles the causes of the problem as well as the consequences. Our approach is focused on four main efforts: providing aid directly to those who need it; preventing people from putting themselves in danger as they seek our help; resettling those who most need our protection; and leading international efforts to bring the situation to an end as swiftly as possible.

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

The Home Secretary rightly says that no one chooses to be a refugee. That applies to refugees from countries other than Syria. Have the Government any proposals to help in any way those refugees—they do not choose to be refugees—from countries other than Syria?

[Mrs May]

As has been pointed out, people are fleeing other parts of the world. The Government take a clear approach to that. People have the ability to come to the UK to seek asylum. Those claims are properly considered, and we grant claims for asylum to people here in the United Kingdom. The UK has always been willing to welcome those who are fleeing conflict and persecution. The situation is no different today from what it has been in the past.

Water Cannon

Debate between Alex Salmond and Baroness May of Maidenhead

Wednesday 15th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

Have I got this correct: instead of engaging in careful analysis of the sort undertaken by the Home Secretary, the Mayor of London charged ahead and bought three antiquated, expensive, dangerous, and now totally redundant, German-made water cannon, aided and abetted by the Prime Minister? Is that not the sort of behaviour that local councillors used to be surcharged for, and has the Home Secretary any plans to use such a penalty against her future rival in the Tory leadership contest?

[Mrs May]

We are grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for contributing to the debate, and on a matter that, as my hon. Friends have pointed out, is devolved; the decision in Scotland is for Scottish Ministers. I am sure that all of us who have taken decisions in relation to the matter have done so on the basis of the advice and evidence put before us.