Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Flick Drummond

Wednesday 6th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)]

8. The Government’s town centre levelling-up funds have been very successful around the country, but a few town centres, such as Waterlooville in Meon Valley, are in desperate straits and have not managed to get a scheme into the current round of funding. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that future funds will be available to help declining high streets to become fit for the 21st century and to survive post pandemic?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is a great champion for Meon Valley, and I will ensure that she has a meeting with the Minister for levelling up at the earliest opportunity.

Ukraine

Debate between Boris Johnson and Flick Drummond

Thursday 24th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, of course.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)]

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland triggered article 4 of the north Atlantic treaty today, and I heard that we will be joining those discussions. Can my right hon. Friend assure our NATO allies in eastern Europe, particularly the Baltic states that have significant Russian populations, that we stand firmly with them?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is completely right. It is why one of the first things we did was to strengthen our presence in Estonia in the way I described, and why our Canadian friends are strengthening their presence in Latvia. We will make sure that we give the Baltic states, which seceded from the Soviet Union to become free and independent in that amazing moment, all the security they deserve.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Flick Drummond

Wednesday 19th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The Conservative approach to the Union is one that I think is right for our country. We want to keep it together. Conservatives in Scotland do an excellent job, which is why their stout defence of the Union was repaid at the last election. Labour is increasingly endangering our Union in Scotland.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)]

Last week many people welcomed the five-year moratorium on smart motorways. However, the M27 is due to be opened as a smart motorway in a couple of months. What reassurance can my right hon. Friend give my constituents, and others in the rest of south Hampshire, that the M27 will be safe, to give them confidence to use it?

[The Prime Minister]

I can assure my hon. Friend that we are well aware of the risks associated with the smart motorway scheme. I know that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport is looking at it right now.

G7 and NATO Summits

Debate between Boris Johnson and Flick Drummond

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Farmers in County Durham will have the opportunity to export their wonderful produce tariff-free to a market that is growing the whole time, and that includes the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership. It is a huge opportunity for British produce—beef, dairy, the lot—and I hope that he will champion it.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)]

I welcome the commitment in the G7’s open societies statement to promoting the human rights of women and girls. As co-chair of the all-party group on women, peace and security, may I ask my right hon. Friend to keep in mind that this is vital for the future of Afghanistan, where women and children are under threat at present?

[The Prime Minister]

May I wish my hon. Friend a happy birthday? I confirm that we see the education of girls and young women as one of the great achievements of the UK presence in Afghanistan over the last two decades. We do not want that to be jeopardised now, which is why we are working with our friends in the G7 and NATO to make sure that we leave a lasting legacy.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Flick Drummond

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

One of the problems is that places like Strabane in Northern Ireland have about 820 cases per 100,000, which is about the highest in the UK, perhaps in the whole of Europe. That is why we have to take the actions we are taking. I hear what the hon. Gentleman says about the circuit breaker. We want to give these measures time to work, if we possibly can.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)]

May I thank the Prime Minister for his welcome statement? I have been visiting pubs and event businesses in Meon Valley, where the covid transmission rate is below the national average. What reassurance can he give to businesses, which are looking to plan ahead, that restrictions will be lifted flexibly where transmissions revert to a low level?

[The Prime Minister]

I can give my hon. Friend every possible assurance that as soon as transmission is obviously down—as soon as we have got the R down below 1— things will change very much indeed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Flick Drummond

Wednesday 24th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course this Government accept responsibility, and I accept responsibility, for everything that has happened throughout this crisis, but I will say that what happened with the discharge of patients into care homes was all done according to clinical decisions, as the NHS has confirmed, and actually there was a 40% reduction between January and March in the number of people going from the NHS into care homes. Thankfully, we are now seeing a massive reduction, thanks to the efforts of care workers and our care home action programme, to get the numbers of deaths in care homes down to the levels we would expect to find this year.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)]

Last week, fatal conflict resumed in Ladakh on the line of actual control between India and China. What are the implications for British interests of a dispute between a Commonwealth member and the world’s largest democracy on the one side, and a state that challenges our notion of democracy on the other?

US Immigration Policy

Debate between Boris Johnson and Flick Drummond

Monday 30th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Boris Johnson]

I am afraid that the hon. Lady must have been momentarily thinking of something else when I pointed out earlier that those seven countries had already been singled out by the Obama regime for very substantial visa restrictions.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Portsmouth South) (Con)]

In March, I shall be attending a United Nations conference in New York. Can the Foreign Secretary assure me that I, as a British subject born in Yemen, and others like me will not be detained for questioning at the airport’s immigration area?

[Boris Johnson]

Yes, I certainly can. If my hon. Friend has any problems, she should get on to us.

Yemen

Debate between Boris Johnson and Flick Drummond

Wednesday 26th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Boris Johnson)]

I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from ‘crisis;’ to the end of the Question and add:

“and calls on the Government to continue to support the UN Special Envoy in his ongoing efforts to achieve a political solution to bring sustainable peace to Yemen.”.

I am grateful to the Opposition for selecting this vital subject for debate. The war in Yemen has reached a critical moment, and I welcome this opportunity to set out what Britain and our allies are doing to help restore the peace and stability that Yemen’s people so desperately need.

First I should remind the House how this tragic conflict began and, in particular, how Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Gulf states came to intervene, because, contrary to the impression given in some quarters, they did not act out of some spontaneous desire to invade Yemen and attack its civilian population. Saudi Arabia and its allies were responding to a crisis that was forced on them and that posed a grave threat to international peace and security. This round of the conflict began in September 2014, when Houthi rebels overran Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, in collusion with Ali Abdullah Saleh, the previous President, and with the reported backing of Iran. Their aim was to overthrow Yemen’s legitimate Government. In January 2015, President Hadi, the serving leader, was forced to flee his own capital for the safety of Aden, a move that availed him of nothing, because two months later the Houthis attacked the south, striking as far as the outskirts of Aden and forcing President Hadi to flee his country altogether.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Portsmouth South) (Con)]

Is the Foreign Secretary aware that ex-President Saleh has also been asking for backing from the Russians?

[Boris Johnson]

The situation in Yemen is potentially disastrous, and it is vital that we stand by the people of Yemen and by the coalition that is trying to sort it out. The position when President Hadi was forced to flee was potentially disastrous. Yemen is a country of 26 million people, more than half of whom are under the age of 18. There is a long-standing presence of al-Qaeda in that country, which has a history of fratricidal bloodshed and chronic instability. At that moment, there was a clear risk that the country would fall into the hands of forces avowedly hostile to Saudi Arabia, which shares an 800-mile border with Yemen, one that is vulnerable and porous. It was against that background that the Saudis and their allies took a decision to intervene in Yemen in March 2015—a decision that was not only justified, but legally sound.