Business of the House

Debate between Anna McMorrin and Penny Mordaunt

Thursday 14th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. He may know that the Secretary of State for Education has a particular interest in this area, which was demonstrated during her stint at, I think, the Department of Health and Social Care. I will make sure that she hears what the hon. Gentleman has said with regard to his local authority area.

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

Many of my constituents are facing the toughest Christmas that they have ever faced, with rising food bills, rising energy costs, rising mortgages and rents—it goes on and on. They are facing a cold and difficult Christmas. Does the Leader of the House accept that this Government are too weak and divided to stand up for the British people, spending millions instead on failing policies and flying Ministers back from critical climate talks to prop up a weak Prime Minister? Is it not time to call a general election and put the record of this failing Government to the test?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I, of course, disagree with the hon. Lady. We have a £104 billion cost of living package. We have doubled personal tax allowances. We have increased the national living wage. After the autumn statement, those on housing allowance will be receiving an extra £800 on average, those on universal credit £450 on average and pensioners £900 extra. We will do all we can to get people through these tough times, but the most important thing we can do is to control public spending and bring down inflation, and I encourage those on the Opposition Benches to support us in that effort.

Business of the House

Debate between Anna McMorrin and Penny Mordaunt

Thursday 24th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. Diagnostics are vital. We must ensure that people get the chance to find out what ails them, even though we have a backlog from covid; that is why we have stood up the new diagnostic centres. It is clearly a highly specialist area, so I will write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and ask him to respond to the hon. Gentleman’s query.

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

Other UN member states’ leaders and Prime Ministers did not have to be dragged kicking and screaming to COP27. I was there, and I witnessed the frustration that many people have about the lack of climate leadership from the UK Government. Getting rid of climate questions, removing anyone with climate in their brief from the Cabinet and allocating 100 new oil and gas licences simply makes us a laughing stock on the world stage. Can we have a statement from the Prime Minister about why he is so determined to keep us driving on the highway to climate hell?

[Penny Mordaunt]

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister did not have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the conference of the parties. Labour Prime Ministers were not dragged kicking and screaming to COP, because all bar one of them did not attend at all, so I am not going to apologise for my right hon. Friend’s attendance at the summit. What he is also concerned about is our very real issues at home, which I know are his prime focus and care. All those issues, from the health service to the cost of living, are what he is focused on.

Business of the House

Debate between Anna McMorrin and Penny Mordaunt

Thursday 27th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I shall be very happy to flag that issue with the Department for Transport and the new Secretary of State. My hon. Friend will know that the six-month extension to the bus recovery grant scheme provided up to £130 million to continue supporting bus services, and England’s long-term national bus strategy, which I am sorry to hear is called “Bus Back Better”, is explicit about ensuring the needs of rural transport.

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

Just a few days from COP27, the new Prime Minister has decided to sack the COP26 President not only from Cabinet but as a Minister. What message does that send when the Government are looking at a hundred new oil and gas licences, and the UN Secretary General is saying, “Prioritise climate change or face catastrophe.”?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am incredibly proud of what the Government did at COP26, and I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma) for all the work he has done as COP26 President. It is not correct to say that he has been sacked; he will be there to ensure that that work has a real legacy, and he will hand it over to the new president. I am grateful to the hon. Lady for allowing me to put on record my gratitude to our colleague.

Business of the House

Debate between Anna McMorrin and Penny Mordaunt

Thursday 20th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for her excellent question, and I shall make sure that the Secretary of State hears about it. The campaign she describes would be extremely useful to many businesses. Quite often, small differences in behaviour can lead to massive savings in energy but also business costs.

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

What I witnessed yesterday in the entrance to the voting Lobby was an absolute disgrace: a clearly visibly distressed Tory MP being forced against his will and bullied—manhandled—into the voting chamber. I know that the Government are disintegrating in front of our very eyes, but that is a challenge to democracy. Will the Leader of the House make an urgent statement against this sort of bullying and support the investigation that now clearly needs to take place?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I refer the hon. Lady to what I said at the start of my remarks today. Mr Speaker made a statement. I completely support what he said. Of course, everyone in this Chamber would condemn bullying, both, I hope, outside and inside this Chamber. However, the situation is not helped if people do not make specific allegations. Any Member of this House who has seen bad conduct, or who has been the victim of bad conduct, must be able to come forward and report that and it must be investigated. I am not aware of any such substantiated allegations at all. I say to the hon. Lady that, if she wants to help the situation, she should think about what she could do to assist that situation, and I ask her to check that against her behaviour today.

Points of Order

Debate between Anna McMorrin and Penny Mordaunt

Thursday 20th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Mr Speaker has already made an announcement that there is to be an investigation.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Penny Mordaunt)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the hon. Lady for allowing me to confirm my views on this matter. We do ourselves a disservice in this place if we do not report wrongdoing and follow it up in the proper way. I did not see any, but there may well have been, and she may have seen things that I did not. In that case—

[Anna McMorrin]

You called into question my behaviour.

[Penny Mordaunt]

This is really important. In that case, we should report these issues, tell people what we have seen and support victims to come forward. We should not go on the airwaves and make unsubstantiated and, in some cases—not the hon. Lady’s—factually incorrect allegations. That does not help to raise standards in this place. Mr Speaker has got this absolutely right. I refer the hon. Lady to the statements he has made. If any member of my party has behaved in an improper way, I will condemn that as the Leader of the House, but what we need are facts, and the whole conduct of this House would be helped if people stuck to the facts.