Referral of Prime Minister to Committee of Privileges

Debate between Caroline Nokes and Johanna Baxter

Tuesday 28th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

Before I start, let me pay tribute to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, because their views have been heard far too little in these debates.

Let me address some of the quite patronising comments made to Back-Bench Labour MPs today. Nobody has asked me to speak today, and nobody has put any pressure on me. In fact, colleagues on the Government Benches know that I have my own mind and will express it as I see fit.

At a moment of genuine challenge for families across the country, when households are concerned about rising prices, instability abroad and pressure on living standards, the Opposition have tabled a motion that is ultimately more concerned with political point scoring than practical solutions. That is deeply regrettable, because the British public expect and deserve better than Westminster at its most performative. They expect seriousness, and they rightly expect scrutiny where scrutiny is due, but they also expect Parliament to focus on the issues that shape their daily lives: the bills landing on their doormats, the cost of food in the supermarkets, the price of fuel at the pumps and the strength of the economy in uncertain times.

Let me be absolutely clear: Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed as our ambassador. The Prime Minister has recognised that, and he has apologised for that. He did so properly, repeatedly, with transparency and accountability, and with respect to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. That was the right course of action, and I would not have expected anything less from the Prime Minister, because I have known him for many years. I worked with him as he sought to rid our party of the stain of antisemitism, which has now infected others. I have seen him stand up to Putin when others have taken bribes from his allies.

Given that the processes of transparency are in place and under way, it has to be asked: why are the Opposition parties working to ride roughshod over investigation processes that they all agreed to? We heard the answer earlier in the debate: it is for social media clicks and cheap headlines ahead of significant elections. The fact is that the Government have agreed to and are complying with the Humble Address to allow scrutiny of the Mandelson appointment in this place and to allow us to see the facts and the advice that was available to the Prime Minister at the time Mandelson was appointed. My right hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) is chairing a Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry to which key figures involved in the Mandelson appointment have rightly been summoned, and the Prime Minister has come to this House repeatedly to answer questions about that appointment.

As has been expressed by others, politically motivated use of the Privileges Committee procedures risks undermining those procedures. It is clear that the circumstances the Opposition hoped would come to light and might bring down a successful Labour Government have been nothing more than conspiracy. First, they said that the Prime Minister must have known that UK Security Vetting’s recommendation was to reject vetting for Peter Mandelson, yet Olly Robbins confirmed to the Select Committee last week that he had chosen not to share that crucial information with the Prime Minister. They were wrong. They said that the Prime Minister was wrong to say that due process was followed, yet Chris Wormald has confirmed in a letter to the Prime Minister that the process was followed. In his own words, he said:

“The evidence I have reviewed leads me to conclude that appropriate processes were followed in both the appointment and withdrawal”

of the former ambassador to Washington. Again, they were wrong. How could the Prime Minister have made any other assessment than that due process was followed, when that was spelled out to him in black and white by his own officials? Those are not rumours or talking points; they are facts, and facts matter in this place.

Many good colleagues on the Government Benches and, indeed, some on the Opposition Benches know deep down that the No. 1 issue facing our constituents is the cost of living fallout from Trump’s war in Iran—a war that was egged on by parties on the Opposition Benches. We know that, because that is what voters have been telling every one of us when we have been out on the doors in the lead-up to the elections in May. They are worried about their bills, the prices at the pump and the prices in the supermarkets. While some in this House want to engage in political stunts, this very afternoon the Prime Minister is convening a committee on the response to the conflict in the middle east and on how we support the British economy, our services and, most importantly, our constituents.

What is clear is that only one party is focused on the job of delivering for the British people, and it is the one that the country voted for in the last election. It is galling that the Conservative party, after 14 years of chaos, scandal and economic recklessness, now wants to lecture anyone else on standards in public life. It is the party that gave us partygate, revolving-door Prime Ministers, cronyism, collapsing public services and Liz Truss’s catastrophic experiment that sent mortgages soaring and punished working families for the Conservatives’ failures. Meanwhile, the Conservatives collude with the SNP—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. I have made the point previously, but please will Members confine themselves to debating the issue at hand and not get into fighting the local election campaign?

[Johanna Baxter]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Those are the issues we could have been debating today, but instead we are debating a political stunt. This Government are standing up for the British people, showing leadership in our support for Ukraine, bringing our national rail services back into public ownership and delivering our historic Employment Rights Act 2025, among many other things. When I vote this afternoon, I do so knowing full well that I was elected to serve on the priorities that matter to the people of Paisley and Renfrewshire South: their bills, their security and their welfare. I will vote to ensure that we have a Government who continue to focus on those priorities.

Electoral Resilience

Debate between Caroline Nokes and Johanna Baxter

Tuesday 16th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. Before I call the next Member, I remind Members that if they are going to seek to make a complaint about the non-declaration of interests or the breaking of rules of conduct by another Member, that would be an issue better raised with the Standards Commissioner than with the Secretary of State today. Equally, if they are going to refer to another Member, they should have informed them in advance.

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement and thank him for mentioning the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia. I recently co-ordinated a cross-party letter to the Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty), asking him to ensure that the human rights of those children are protected in peace negotiations. Does the Secretary of State share my concern that, although that letter was supported by almost every party across this House, not a single representative from one particular party sought to sign it, and that was the Reform party?

Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill

Debate between Caroline Nokes and Johanna Baxter

2nd reading
Tuesday 1st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend talks eloquently about the legacy left by the Tory Government. Does he agree that we need two Labour Governments working together in Scotland because the situation—[Interruption.] Those on the Opposition Benches may not want to hear it, but one in six Scots is languishing on an NHS waiting list as a result of the decisions of the Scottish Government—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order.

Education and Opportunity

Debate between Caroline Nokes and Johanna Baxter

Wednesday 24th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate you on taking your place. I also congratulate all the Members who have made such eloquent maiden speeches this afternoon, particularly my hon. Friends the Members for North West Cambridgeshire (Sam Carling), for Milton Keynes Central (Emily Darlington) and for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden)—please accept my sincere condolences for the loss of your mother.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to make my maiden speech. It is an honour to stand here as the new representative for Paisley and Renfrewshire South. I thank every person who put their faith in me at the election. The people of Paisley and Renfrewshire South have voted decisively for real change and a Government in their service, and that is what we will deliver. I also thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and all the staff of this House for the professionalism and kindness that they have shown to every one of us who is a new MP.

I pay tribute to my predecessor, Mhairi Black. It cannot have been easy for Mhairi to enter this House as the youngest MP of her time, with the country’s press hanging on her every word. I followed her career with interest and, while we disagree profoundly on how we get there, I have no doubt at all that her desire has always been for a fairer and more equitable country. I wish her well in all her new endeavours, particularly her upcoming debut at the Edinburgh Fringe—though she may need to encourage her colleagues in the Scottish Government to settle their now annual pay dispute with the local government workforce if she is to avoid stepping over the city’s rubbish to get there.

I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Lothian East (Mr Alexander), who served my constituents in Paisley and Renfrewshire South with distinction as their MP for 18 years, between 1997 and 2015, before being returned to this House again this year. The help and support that he provided to so many across my constituency was mentioned frequently and fondly at many of the doors on which I knocked during the election campaign. That he has already been appointed as a Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade in this Government is testament to the talent and experience he brings to our Benches.

Both Mhairi and Douglas leave large shoes for me to fill. I am just glad that that is a metaphor rather than a physical requirement, because it might have been a challenge that eluded me. Madam Deputy Speaker, size is not everything, as I am sure people will appreciate. My constituents did not vote for me on the basis of my height. In the words of one of my constituents when I knocked on their door, “We are voting for you—you’re not getting any taller.” But no one in this House should mistake my height or size for the scale of my ambition for my constituency.

I am pleased to make my maiden speech in this debate on education and opportunity, because without good education, opportunities are reduced for many and inequalities widen. In doing so, I remember fondly my modern studies teacher, who, almost 30 years ago now, brought a class of working-class kids from the west of Scotland down to London on a bus to show us this mother of all Parliaments and remind us that, whatever our background, this place is as much our place as it is anybody else’s. His passion and belief in the power of politics to improve people’s lives gave me the confidence to fight for the values that I believe in, and I will forever be grateful to him for that.

My values were shaped by my grandad, Tadeuz Sadowski. He was a Polish migrant who came to Britain and worked down our pits. The loss and trauma that he experienced by the war waged at home led him to seek a better life here and in Scotland. His experiences taught me that no matter their background or birthplace, everyone deserves the opportunity to live a decent life, free from persecution and prejudice. That is why I have spent my entire working life until now in the service of the trade union movement and ordinary working people.

My constituency lies on the west of Scotland, covering the southern portion of the Renfrewshire council area. It includes much of Paisley, Scotland’s largest town, the smaller towns of Johnstone and Linwood, and the beautiful villages of Kilbarchan, Elderslie, Lochwinnoch, Howwood and Brookfield, among several other hamlets and farmland spreading across the rolling Renfrewshire hills. It has a proud and rich industrial history: the mills of Paisley, the carpet factory at Elderslie and the establishment of the first machine tool foundry in the world. While the industries people work in may have changed—many now work in our vital public services and at the nearby Glasgow airport—it remains a place where people work hard and rightly expect to be treated fairly in return.

A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work should not be much to ask, but wages have lagged behind costs in recent years. Too many people who are in work have had to claim benefits just to get by, and the number of those claiming unemployment benefits in my constituency is above the Scottish average. For too long, our communities have been failed and forgotten by two Governments—but no more. I am proud of the commitments set out by our new Labour Government to improve people’s lives, particularly the commitment to a new deal for working people. Making work pay, ending insecure work and extending employment rights will make a huge difference not just to people’s pockets but to the quality of their lives. They will be the biggest transformation of workers’ rights in generations, restoring dignity to work and preparing people for the changing world of work.

My constituents have never been afraid of standing up for what they believe in, and neither have I. We are, after all, the birthplace of William Wallace. It is our persistence in the pursuit of equality, opportunity and justice for all that binds us like the threads of the Paisley shawl. It was the spirit of persistence in the pursuit of equality that prompted the early uprising of the weavers who sought recompense for the sma’ shot thread—an invisible thread without which the Paisley shawl would fall apart. That industrial dispute was won by the workers, whose story lives long in our memory and continues to inspire us today.

It is persistence in the pursuit of opportunity that brings my constituents together to provide for others, as exemplified by the brilliant work of Thorn Athletic; the community bus service launched by Kilbarchan’s John McBarron, who stepped out of retirement to help fellow residents by filling a hole in local transport provision; and the West End Growing Grounds Association, which provides raised beds to help grow food and prevent food poverty in the local community. It was persistence in the pursuit of justice that gave us the infamous Paisley snail, which formed the basis of tort law. These are all ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and they are heroes, every one of them.

My constituents know that good work should provide not simply the bare necessities that people need to live, but the means by which they enjoy a good life—like our famous poet, Robert Tannahill, who knew how to weave threads and verses alternately. St Mirren football club provides huge enjoyment to many people across the constituency, and I hope that the entire House, including my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West (Martin McCluskey), whose constituency includes St Mirren’s arch rivals, Greenock Morton, will send its best wishes to the club as it heads to Iceland tomorrow to face Valur FC in the UEFA conference league second qualifying round—its first European tie since 1987.

I know the value of people being able to send time appreciating the beauty of the natural world. We have the beautiful Gleniffer Braes, with its highland cows, the Clyde Muirshiel regional park, and the tranquillity of the Lochwinnoch RSPB nature reserve, one of the few remaining wetlands in the west of Scotland, where people can watch whooper swans, widgeon, goldeneye and, if they are very lucky, the elaborate displays of the great crested grebe. It would be remiss of me if I did not mention the enrichment provided in everyone’s life by the pets of Paisley and Renfrewshire South, many of whom I had the pleasure of meeting on the doorstep during the campaign.

Let me conclude with this message to the voters of Paisley and Renfrewshire South. I will fight for you every day with every fibre of my being. I will work with everybody in the House who has a genuine desire to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people in our communities, because one person living in poverty is one person too many, and we must work together to do everything in our power to combat that. JFK once said:

“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”

That is the motto to which I held true as a trade union negotiator. We must ensure that we do everything we can to lift people out of poverty and provide good jobs with decent terms and conditions that allow people to thrive, not just survive, because people need bread, but they need roses too.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Dr Lauren Sullivan to make her maiden speech.