Fishing Industry
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Seamus Logan(1 week, 4 days ago)
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Seamus Logan
The hon. Member will know that, in reality, we do work very well together in the APPG under the chairmanship of the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland and the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn). I accept the point about the fishing and coastal growth fund. I think he agrees with me that we need a review of that decision, but I will come back to that later.
Why did the Westminster Government change the approach and Barnettise the formula? Many of my constituents think it is because there are no votes for Labour and there is no prospect of ever winning another seat north of the Tay, alongside perhaps the seat of the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar. I can tell the Minister that that is not going to change any time soon with this approach, because this Government are stealing our money to prop up their failing support in coastal communities in England.
A recent freedom of information request revealed that the Secretary of State for Scotland had made no effort—zero effort—to lobby the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to discuss a fairer and proportionate allocation, given Scotland’s massive contribution to our food sector. What is the point of the UK Government’s Scotland Office if it does not stand up for Scotland?
Finally, as if the above were not enough, visa restrictions by the Home Office have been suffocating the growth of fishing in Scotland. Key sector stakeholders have raised concerns about the changes to visas coming into force at the end of this year and the impact this will have, particularly on processing. Their concerns about visa provision extend to hiring workers for operations within the 12 nautical mile limit, given the overlap in fishing grounds. I appreciate that this is not within the Minister’s brief, but I would be grateful for clarity from her, or at least for her to tell us that she is lobbying the Home Office on this point, so that people and industries in my constituency can thrive and contribute to our growing economy. But please do not try to tell us that we need to hire local people. This mythical workforce sitting at home twiddling their thumbs simply does not exist. We are at full employment in my constituency, and efforts to recruit young people into this industry are simply not working—just ask Mike Park at the Scottish White Fish Producers Association.
The future of fishing in Scotland is at a precarious stage, and I want to use this opportunity to plead with the UK Government: please listen to the Scottish Government, to the Scottish fishing industry and to fishermen and women to get this right. One more U-turn will not make much difference to this Government, considering the number they have already made, but it will make the world of difference to fishing and coastal communities in Scotland. It is not too late to give Scotland a fair deal.
Points of Order
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Seamus Logan(2 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker
I thank the hon. Member for her point of order. Members should receive timely responses to their correspondence with Ministers, and it is disappointing to hear that the hon. Lady has experienced such a significant delay. Ministers themselves are responsible for the timeliness of their responses, and I hope that those on the Treasury Bench have heard her concerns and will pass them on to the relevant Department. Members may also wish to raise their concerns with the Leader of the House during business questions every Thursday.
Seamus Logan (Aberdeenshire North and Moray East) (SNP)
Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I seek your advice. Responses to a number of my written questions from Ministers in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are currently overdue. In total there are 15 written questions—14 to which responses were due by the end of October, and one to which a response was due on 5 November. Six of the 15 were tabled as named day questions. Given that written questions are one of the ways in which Members can hold the Government to account, and with perhaps as many as 100,000 civil servants based in London, may I ask whether you have any advice on what Members can do when replies from Departments are not forthcoming?
Madam Deputy Speaker
I thank the hon. Member for his point of order. He is right to say that written questions are an important way in which Members may hold the Government to account. As he will have heard me say earlier, Ministers themselves are responsible for the timeliness of their responses, but I hope that those on the Treasury Bench have heard his concerns and will pass them on to the relevant Department, in this case DEFRA. Both the Leader of the House and the Procedure Committee may also take an interest in these matters, so the hon. Member may wish to raise his concerns with them.
Devolution in Scotland
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Seamus Logan(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Seamus Logan
What I find distressing is how Labour Members are always talking down the health service in Scotland, but you avoid mentioning—
Seamus Logan
I beg your pardon, Madam Deputy Speaker.
The hon. Member and other Labour colleagues often refer to problems in the health service in Scotland, but they never point to the fact that Scotland’s waiting times for cancer from diagnosis to treatment are better than in any other part of the UK. They do not point to the fact that waiting lists in Scotland are falling while waiting lists in England are rising and have been for three months now. There are many, many other problems—
Madam Deputy Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman could have chosen to contribute by making a speech.
Points of Order
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Seamus Logan
Seamus Logan (Aberdeenshire North and Moray East) (SNP)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Thank you for providing time for this important question.
Last Thursday in this place, during an urgent question to the Minister for Health and Social Care, the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) began a tirade against the Scottish Government at Holyrood. Worse still, the Minister echoed her in responding. In my humble opinion, that was a waste of valuable ministerial time during a Westminster urgent question.
This place is increasingly seeing such political posturing when we are trying to honestly and earnestly deal with Westminster business, not devolved Holyrood business. I believe that the responsibility for this charade lies directly with Government Whips, who are continuously planting questions with Back Benchers. Is it in order during urgent questions to Ministers for Government Back Benchers—and, indeed, Government Ministers—to raise matters that are completely devolved to the Scottish Parliament and unrelated to the urgent question at hand?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)
I thank the hon. Member for his point of order, and for giving advance notice of it. He will be aware that there is no general rule against Members referring to matters that are devolved to Scotland. There are some restrictions on the tabling of questions on devolved matters, but those restrictions are far from absolute. Questions that relate to various matters, including those in which UK Ministers have taken an official interest, are permitted. More generally, as ever, what right hon. and hon. Members may say in the House is subject to the discretion of the Chair.