Sue Gray Report

Debate between Boris Johnson and Hannah Bardell

Wednesday 25th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

No. What I can tell the hon. Lady is that the report is wholly independent and the judgments contained in it are a matter for Sue Gray. I am grateful to her for what she has done, and her interim report was extremely useful to the Government in making the changes that we have made.

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)]

In the years to come, when the Prime Minister reflects on his time as PM and in government, what does he think will be his proudest moment? Will it be breaking his own lockdown laws and being fined? Will it be misleading Parliament? Or will it be lying to the Queen and presiding over such a toxic environment that, according to Sue Gray’s report, staff in his office had a lively party the night before her husband’s funeral?

[The Prime Minister]

I will look back, many years hence, on, from this period, the fastest vaccine roll-out in Europe, which was not half bad; being the first country anywhere in the world to put an approved vaccine in anybody’s arm; and coming out of covid faster than any other European country. Those are already very considerable achievements, to say nothing of delivering Brexit, which the hon. Lady would not have done and neither would the Labour party.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Hannah Bardell

Wednesday 18th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Local residents could have no more powerful voice than that of my hon. Friend. The House will have heard him loud and clear. I know that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will have heard him loud and clear and will make sure that he gets the relevant meeting.

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)]

Q14. Mr Speaker,“no bullying and no harassment; no leaking…No misuse of taxpayer money and no actual or perceived conflicts of interest. The precious principles of public life enshrined in this document…must be honoured at all times”.Those are the Prime Minister’s own words from the ministerial code. Can the Prime Minister tell me, on a scale of one to 10, how he is doing on keeping to those principles?

[The Prime Minister]

It is 10 out of 10, because we believe in this Government in adhering to the principles of the ministerial code. By the way, and this is an important point, because there are a lot of attacks on MPs and on what goes on in this place, it is always worth stressing that the vast majority of people who work in the House of Commons—Members of Parliament—are doing a very good job and working very hard and are not misbehaving.

Sue Gray Report

Debate between Boris Johnson and Hannah Bardell

Monday 31st January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend. That is why we are taking up the findings of the Sue Gray report. We want to make sure that No. 10 works better and that the whole of the Government work better. It has been focused very much on covid, but we now need to deliver exclusively on the great priorities of the people.

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)]

Last summer, my team and I said goodbye to our colleague through the window of her hospice as she died of cancer. We did not get to hug her, and we were just like many millions of people across the UK. We followed the rules, while the Prime Minister and his colleagues did not.

It makes me sick to my stomach that we will not get the findings of the report because the police were so late to the party—the same Met police who were happy to arrest women who were protesting the murder of Sarah Everard. It makes me sick to my stomach that he does not understand the anger, fury and upset of millions of people across the UK. Sometimes, an apology will not cut it. It is time for action. It is time for a clear out. It is time for him to resign.

[The Prime Minister]

Again, I sympathise very much with the experience of the hon. Lady’s constituents and all the pain that people have gone through throughout this pandemic. I must say to her, though, that she is prejudging the issue in question. I do not think that is the right thing to do. I have a great deal of respect for the police and they should be allowed to get on with their job.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Hannah Bardell

Wednesday 24th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend very much for his question and I will do my utmost—he has invited everybody, and I hope that a lot of people will be going to Lincoln. I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport will have listened carefully to what he had to say.

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)]

Q6.   “Inexplicable” is how the former vaccine taskforce chair Kate Bingham described this Government’s decision to cancel their contract with Livingston-based vaccine developer Valneva—a company that the Prime Minister has himself visited. She also noted how shoddily Valneva had been treated and how damaging his Government’s decision had been for UK life sciences, exports and jobs in my Livingston constituency, where a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing plant now lies unfinished. There has been no apology for the incorrect statements in the House, so will the Prime Minister please meet me and representatives of Valneva, and will he tell me whether his Government have tabled proposals to reach the amicable resolution that was promised from the Dispatch Box? If not, when will they do so?

[The Prime Minister]

I was personally very disappointed when we could not get approval for the Valneva vaccine in the way that we had hoped, and I know how disappointing that was to colleagues in Scotland. I will certainly ensure that the hon. Member gets the relevant meeting. What we are doing is investing massively in this country’s vaccine capability across the country so that we are prepared for the next pandemic, and I very much hope that Valneva will be part of that.

Covid-19

Debate between Boris Johnson and Hannah Bardell

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, indeed I can. The biggest flu vaccine programme is going ahead as we speak. Thirty million people will be able to have a flu jab this autumn, and I thoroughly advise Members to get one.

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP) [V]]

There is a wee whiff of hypocrisy here. As the Prime Minister and his Cabinet bring in new measures to combat covid-19, he needs to tell us how he expects citizens throughout the UK to follow his rules and laws when he and his Government openly admit that they are willing to break international law and treaties themselves.

[The Prime Minister]

I think everybody in this House wants to see the people of this country and help the people of this country to obey the law of the land and get the virus down. That is the objective of this Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Hannah Bardell

Wednesday 15th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As I am sure my hon. Friend will see from studying the Government advice, we say very clearly that it is important that business should be carried on and that employers should decide, in consultation with their workers, whether it is safe for those workers to come into work or whether they should continue working from home. I happen to think that employers in this country have made huge strides in getting work places safe, and that is the message that we should all be conveying.

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)]

I am sure that the Prime Minister will agree that men who mock women have no place in our society. Yet according to Baroness Cumberlege’s report last week into the hormone pregnancy test Primodos, sodium valproate and vaginal mesh, that is exactly what happened to thousands of women at the hands of some male medical experts. She said that many women were gaslighted and not believed. Will the Prime Minister commit to implementing all the recommendations in the baroness’s report? Will he meet me, Primodos campaigner Marie Lyon and my constituent Wilma Ord, who suffered as a result of Primodos, to ensure that women are heard and not denied essential care and that those affected get the recompense that they are rightfully due?

[The Prime Minister]

I am sure that I speak for many Members in this House when I say that I have had direct representations as a constituency MP from women who have suffered from exactly the conditions identified by Baroness Cumberlege and her committee. I also assure the hon. Lady that the Government take that issue with extreme seriousness. I have absolutely no hesitation in acceding to her request for a meeting, either with myself or the Department of Health, to make sure that she feels that we are addressing the issues in the way she would want.

Prime Minister's Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Hannah Bardell

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I completely agree with what the hon. Gentleman has just said. He is right to say that we must protect supply chains in the west midlands, and we have of course done a huge amount of work to ensure that that is the case. However, the best thing we can do is get a deal that gives business certainty and continuity and then get behind it, and that is what I hope to do.

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)]

Given the mess that this Prime Minister has made, it seems blindingly obvious that it is time for him to resign. He can get on to the fast train to the history books as the biggest loser. However, this is what I am really interested to know. When the Prime Minister looks back on his short but catastrophic time in leadership, what will he be most proud of? Will it be dismantling democracy, will it be breaking the law, will it be lying to the Queen, or will it be being roundly beaten in court by a swathe of “girly swots”?

[The Prime Minister]

I think that when I look back on the 64 days that we have had in government so far, I will be proud of 20,000 police officers on the streets of this country, of 20 new hospital upgrades, of levelling up education funding throughout the country, and of providing gigabit broadband, even in Scotland. Let us hope that the incompetent, dissolute, reckless, high-taxing Government of Scotland actually implement that initiative and deliver it to the people—or make way for Conservatives in Scotland, who will do it themselves.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Debate between Boris Johnson and Hannah Bardell

Monday 13th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Boris Johnson]

My right hon. Friend is, I am afraid, absolutely right. That is one of the reasons why it is so important that we remain very careful in what we say about the entire case.

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)]

I hope the right hon. Gentleman is reflecting very seriously on his position—the position that he holds not just in this Government, but in society—because, for Nazanin, it would have been reasonable to assume that when the Foreign Secretary got involved in her case, things might have been better. Unfortunately, it has made this situation very much worse. Why was another Cabinet Minister not briefed properly, and why did he say live on television that he did not know why she was there? What is going on at the heart of this Government?

As a direct result of these reckless comments, Nazanin is now in an increasingly perilous situation, which has given the Iranian authorities added cause to keep her locked up on false and arbitrary grounds. The Foreign Secretary’s apology is welcome, but he must reflect, as must the Government, on how they do their business and how they protect our citizens. What guarantee will he give that Nazanin will be granted diplomatic protection and be brought home? The Foreign Secretary and his colleagues must make it very clear that they are able to do their jobs and to protect our citizens.

[Boris Johnson]

Our priority is to secure the safe return of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and all other political considerations are entirely secondary. The only other thing we have to bear in mind is the safety and wellbeing of the other consular cases in Iran, and that is very important.

I said to the right hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) that I am seeing Mr Ratcliffe tomorrow. I am in fact seeing him on Wednesday.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Hannah Bardell

Tuesday 11th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Boris Johnson]

I am delighted to welcome my right hon. Friend to a cause that is gathering strength among Members on both sides of the House. Everybody understands that a truly global Britain must be properly supported and financed. We have a world-class network of 278 embassies and legations across the world. We have the best foreign service in the world, but it needs proper financing and support.

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)]

T4. The Foreign Secretary has spoken in the past about his ardent opposition to female genital mutilation. Will he therefore have a word with the Home Secretary, who is yet to respond to me and my constituent Lola Ilesanmi? She is threatened with deportation and her child faces mutilation. I raised her case with the Prime Minister but have yet to receive an answer.

[Boris Johnson]

I think I heard the hon. Lady raise this matter before. The case of her constituent is, indeed, very troubling. I am sure that the Home Secretary will have picked up what the hon. Lady has said today.