Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Carla Lockhart

Wednesday 3rd March 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his last-minute lobbying. He has only a few minutes to wait before he may hear something to his advantage.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP) [V]]

Prime Minister, in an interview with Sophy Ridge broadcast on 8 December 2019, you pledged that there would be no checks on goods going from NI to GB or from GB to NI. While this has proven more challenging to deliver in practice, would you wish to take this opportunity to encourage Ministers in Northern Ireland to do all they can—

[Carla Lockhart]

My humble apologies. Can the Prime Minister make this aspiration a reality and ensure that they act in accordance with section 46 of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, which stresses the importance of facilitating the free flow of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I certainly can do that. As I said in answer to the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson), we leave nothing off the table in order to make sure that we get that done. There is unfettered access NI-GB and GB-NI.

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Debate between Boris Johnson and Carla Lockhart

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Indeed, and I have been with my right hon. Friend to many a fantastic hospitality venue in Bexley. I seem to remember going with him to one pub where he christened a blue drink: the Bexley Breeze Block I think it was, from memory. Let us hope that we are able to get the hospitality sector going across the country in the way that we would all want so that those fantastic businesses can recover strongly in the new year. We are going to do that by the techniques that I have mentioned—tough tiering, mass testing and rolling out a vaccine.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP) [V]]

The Prime Minister will be aware of the positive role that churches play in our society and the importance of the act of public worship for so many. Churches across the UK are now closed, but I note the intention to reopen them soon in England. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that the role of churches as we live with covid cannot be overestimated or overvalued, and that we should be looking at opening our churches again right across the United Kingdom? Does he also recognise that, as we deal with the legacy of lockdown, churches have a key role to play in supporting what is a broken land and a broken people?

[The Prime Minister]

I think I might quarrel with the hon. Member’s description of a broken land and a broken people, because I think actually the people of this country have shown fantastic resilience. I do not think that they or we are broken; I think that we are going to come back very strongly. I also think that churches play an enormous part in that, and I am glad that they are going to be reopening from next week.