Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Michael Gove

2nd reading
Wednesday 8th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Let me reflect on that in Committee.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I am interested in what the Secretary of State has said about the re-emphasis on the environmental protections. Of course, in urban areas, that is often urban green space rather than green belt. I have a case in Haughton Green in my constituency where the council closed Two Trees high school. When it closed the school, it said that there would be housing on the footprint of the school but that the fields around the school, in a heavily urbanised area, would be protected, so there would be a green doughnut. It now says that it has to build on the entire site to meet the Government’s housing targets. With what he just said, does he give hope to the people of Haughton Green that the council can look at Two Trees again?

[Michael Gove]

I cannot comment on a specific planning application for reasons that the hon. Gentleman knows well, but I appreciate the strength of his point and will ask the Minister for Housing to engage with him more closely on both that specific issue and the broader policy points that he raised.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Michael Gove

Thursday 8th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Michael Gove)]

As the Prime Minister has already confirmed, the public inquiry into covid-19 will be established under the Inquiries Act 2005, with formal powers to compel the production of relevant material and to take evidence in public under oath. The Government will, of course, co-operate with the inquiry fully.

[Andrew Gwynne [V]]

Can the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster confirm whether using private email accounts to discuss sensitive Government business is in breach of the Freedom of Information Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Data Protection Act or the Public Records Act, which make requirements on the use of Government information? Will he guarantee today that all Ministers’ private email accounts will be available to the public inquiry into the Government’s mishandling of the covid pandemic?

[Michael Gove]

Any information that the inquiry needs, it will receive.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Michael Gove

Thursday 27th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We heard earlier from my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) about the particular challenges in Cornwall. Challenges exist across the United Kingdom, and as part of our levelling-up drive we are committed to meeting them.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab) [V]]

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster knows that politics is a question of priorities. The Government have insisted that they simply cannot find the money to give our NHS heroes anything more than a 1% pay rise, but in the past year the same Government have spent £250 million on unusable facemasks, £133 million on faulty testing kits and £2.6 million on a briefing room at No. 10. The Government’s priorities are all wrong, are they not, Minister?

[Michael Gove]

I do not think so, but the hon. Gentleman raises an important point: we should thank those at the frontline of the NHS for the amazing work they have done. Part of supporting them is making sure that they have the right personal protective equipment. This Government, like Governments around the globe, were under great pressure to make sure that we had the right PPE in the right places at the right time. More than 99% of the PPE that we procured was directed, usable and effective.

EU Exit: End of Transition Period

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Michael Gove

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes an absolutely important point. We have set out a timetable, and sticking to that timetable will enable people, I hope, to take all the steps required. He makes the point that we on this side of the House do not seek a no deal: quite the opposite—we are keen to seek a deal. But one question that has never been answered is if there were ever a vote for independence in Scotland—I am sure there will not be ever, but if there were ever—the SNP has never made it clear whether it would rely on there being a negotiated settlement or would go for a no-deal Scexit. It is one of the many questions that the SNP declines to answer.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab) [V]]

I was listening very carefully to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster about business preparedness, not least because it is only three months to the end of the transition period. Businesses in the food and drink industry in my constituency would love to be able to be ready for Brexit, but there is no guidance yet about what labels businesses need to use to legally sell their goods in the EU and in Northern Ireland next year. When will the Government announce these measures, so that food and drink manufacturers are not held back from making the preparations they need to make?

UK-EU Negotiations

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Michael Gove

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend tempts me. The truth, however, is absolutely as she depicts it. We will leave and be an independent coastal state, and the EU will negotiate on an annual basis for access for its fishers.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab) [V]]

As we know, serious crime knows no borders and we will still need to co-operate on these issues once the transition period ends, so will the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster give the House an assurance today that, as from 1 January next year, the UK will still have access to both the quantity and the quality of data through passenger name records, the European Criminal Records Information System and SIS II—the Schengen Information System?

[Michael Gove]

We are negotiating to achieve precisely that goal.