Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Wednesday 13th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith]

My right hon. Friend makes a weighty and important point. He is absolutely right that we should not be complacent about the way our electoral system runs. We have already taken forward a series of measures to ensure that it is secure, and we will do more of that to ensure that our system is good for today and fit for tomorrow.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

9. The problem is that the Government spend an awful lot of time condemning the actions of the press or social media platforms, but right now there are social media posts describing Members of this House as traitors and asking for us to be targeted to make sure that we vote a particular way. It is no good our condemning that sort of language in this House if Ministers do not take real action now to make election laws fit for now, to ensure that Members of Parliament can do their jobs freely and not be intimidated to vote a particular way.

[Chloe Smith]

The hon. Gentleman will have noticed the written ministerial statement that I published only last week, which outlined the steps that the Government have already taken and will be taking to reduce intimidation in public life. It has to be a collective job, though, and the Committee on Standards in Public Life was right to ask various organisations, including the social media companies, on which I know the hon. Gentleman does some work with one of his all-party groups, to take action.

No Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Wednesday 16th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is, as always, making an informed and detailed speech. Does she agree that it is only because of David Cameron’s botched legacy of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 that the Government are able to ignore the will of this House? In any other circumstances, after losing on the figures of last night’s vote, the Government would and should fall.

[Ms Eagle]

I entirely agree, and some of the imbalances caused by that Government in the way our unwritten constitution works need to be addressed.

The Prime Minister decided to kowtow to her own Brextremists rather than reach out. She tried to exclude Parliament from the process completely. She triggered article 50 without a plan and then called a general election, which shattered her own majority—but of course she is doing her best to avoid a general election now.

The UK is now angrier, more divided and more fearful for the future than I have ever known it, and democracy itself is being questioned. Instead of trying to bring the country back together by reaching out, the Prime Minister has set herself up as the embodiment of leave voters, ignoring those who voted to remain. Yesterday, she even dangerously claimed that she is now the champion of “the people” against Parliament. She has failed to unite the country because her only interest is in uniting the Conservative party, and that has proved to be impossible.

This is a Government who do not seem to understand that demanding that people unite around their own partisan viewpoint can never heal divisions. They are not capable of reaching out, listening, compromising and responding to genuine fears, and as such they are not fit for purpose.

On taking office, the Prime Minister promised to tackle “burning injustices” that made life difficult for those she called “just about managing.” She failed to acknowledge that much of the suffering in our country has been caused by the previous Governments in which she was a senior member. This Government refuse to acknowledge that years of cuts in public expenditure targeted most heavily on the poorest have resulted in much of the suffering and burning injustice she promised to end. The Government have issued countless press releases and have held a series of never-ending consultations on everything from social care, restaurant tips and rogue landlords to domestic violence, but nothing has changed.

Instead the country has been presented with a parade of incompetent Ministers who were simply not up to the job: a Home Secretary forced to resign over the Windrush scandal and the “hostile environment”, which saw UK citizens treated like criminals and deported back to countries they had left as small children; and a Transport Secretary handing out shipping contracts to a company with no ships and no access to commercial ports, and who presides over the chaos of the railway timetable disasters and blames everyone but himself—a man who cannot even organise a fake lorry jam on the M20. There have also been three Brexit Secretaries in two years, each of them undermined by the Prime Minister, and then there is perhaps the Prime Minister’s crowning achievement: appointing the right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) as Foreign Secretary—and she wonders why the UK is now a global laughing stock.

This Government are paralysed by their own obsessions. They have proved incapable of addressing a country crying out for change. It is time for them to go.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Wednesday 19th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

My hon. Friend is spot on in his comments. That is why the National Cyber Security Centre has designed new materials aimed at members of company boards. The Cabinet Office will be launching them, along with the NCSC, in the new year.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

The Minister will be aware that before the summer recess The Daily Telegraph reported that data breaches on gaining passes to Government buildings, including the Cabinet Office, were made available to the public because of the use of open shared drives that had been condemned six months previously. Can the Minister give a reassurance that that simply will not happen again?

[Mr Lidington]

Clearly, any breach of data security is to be regretted, and we have a system whereby we learn from those experiences. We also need to be aware that both criminal gangs and hostile state actors are always seeking innovative new ways to penetrate our defences, and the NCSC is our key source of expertise in combating that threat.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

We are in a very simple situation, as I am sure my right hon. Friend understands. Members across the House raised some concerns specifically in relation to the Northern Ireland backstop in the withdrawal agreement. We are having further discussions with the European Union on that matter to achieve the political and legal assurances that will assuage those concerns, and then we will bring the vote back to this House.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Q9. As the Home Secretary will not answer a rather straightforward question, will the Prime Minister tell us whether it is still her intention that her Government will reduce immigration to the tens of thousands? Yes or no?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. [Interruption.]

Exiting the European Union

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think if the hon. Gentleman looks back on the various statements I have made about tough negotiations and difficult choices being made, he will know the answer to that question.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

The only thing that the Prime Minister has been consistent about in recent months is that her deal is the only deal on the table, so the reality is that tweaking bits and pieces will change nothing, as has been confirmed by the Taoiseach for a start. In that vein, will the Prime Minister confirm that her decision to delay tomorrow’s vote does not mean that the requirement under the EU withdrawal Act for the Government to make a statement by 21 January if this House has not approved a deal has changed?

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

9. In June, Wales exported £10.2 billion-worth of goods to the EU. The viability of manufacturing in Wales relies on frictionless trade with the EU. The Prime Minister’s deal gives no assurances to Welsh businesses—it just gives us buzzwords and more uncertainty—so when will the Secretary of State start doing his job and stand up for businesses in Wales?

[Alun Cairns]

Last week, I spoke to the Welsh Automotive Forum annual dinner. The sector represents 18,000 employees in manufacturing in Wales. It was strongly supportive of the deal that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has negotiated. I wish the hon. Gentleman would appreciate it too.

EU Exit Negotiations

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Thursday 15th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Perhaps I will write to the hon. Gentleman with specifics on the health card, because that issue that has been negotiated in relation to the period to December 2020. The question of any reciprocal rights in relation to healthcare is a matter that is still to be negotiated for the future relationship, but I will write to him with more detail.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister has been asked this question time and again, but I will try again. She has heard across the House that there is no support for her deal. She will not call a general election, she will not support a people’s vote, she will not extend article 50, and her threat is her deal or no deal. Will she confirm that if the House does not support her deal, she will push us off the no-deal cliff edge?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said in response to others, when the House comes to look at this deal, it will be for every Member to consider not only the duty to ensure that we deliver on the vote of the British people, but the long-term interests of their constituents.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Wednesday 14th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

First of all, it is very good news to see more disabled people getting into the workplace, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the Disability Confident scheme. I praise the work of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who created and has personally championed the scheme since it started back in 2013. As my hon. Friend obviously knows, it works directly with employers and aims to challenge the perceptions of what it means to employ a disabled person. We will continue to ensure that we are making every possible effort to make sure that more disabled people who want to be in the workplace are able to take their place in it.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Q2. The Prime Minister’s likely Brexit agreement will “leave our country economically weakened”, mean that we take EU rules without any say, and will give “years of uncertainty for business”— not my words, but the words of her latest ministerial resignation, or at least the latest as far as we know. Does she agree, and is it not about time that she admitted that there is little to no support for her reckless plan in her Cabinet, and even less in Parliament?

[The Prime Minister]

As I said earlier, what we are negotiating is a deal that will deliver on the vote, that will actually ensure—under the proposals that we put forward in the summer—that we are able to see that frictionless trade across borders and a free trade area with the European Union, and that gives Parliament a lock on those rules.

Overseas Electors Bill (First sitting)

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Wednesday 17th October 2018 Public Bill Committees

The issue can no longer be overlooked by the Government, given the cross-party support for votes at 16. As the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon has mentioned, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National party, Plaid Cymru—[Laughter.]

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for City of Chester, where Welshmen can of course still be shot with an arrow inside the city boundaries at dusk. The words he is looking for are “Plaid Cymru”, and I apologise to my hon. Friend for laughing so heavily at his pronunciation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Wednesday 12th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. He is absolutely right. An electoral offence has a higher tariff. It is right that we are clear that our democracy is precious and important. We must do everything we can to protect robust debate with respect.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that more work needs to be done in tackling social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter? Does he think that the Government should not just introduce voluntary charters to govern social media platforms but look at legislation, because too many Members of this House, the devolved institutions and councillors, and indeed candidates and activists, are facing unparalleled levels of abuse through social media platforms? That cannot be allowed to continue.

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Gentleman makes the very good point that this should not be allowed to continue. We must look at all options on how we can ensure that. We have said we want to work with those companies and platforms to ensure they see proper debate but with respect. I encourage the hon. Gentleman’s party to adopt, as the Conservative party has, a respect pledge to behave properly in the social media world.

Strengthening the Union

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Monday 23rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith]

The hon. Gentleman highlights an important point that we will have the opportunity to consider when we look at issues such as leaving the European Union and how we will address, for example, agriculture support across our nation. The point I was making is that we are a larger economy when we are together as a Union, and that means we can do things together in a more effective way for all our constituents.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

I speak as a proud Unionist, and I am very much in favour of the Union. The Minister must understand, however, that there are considerable concerns about Brexit and the Government’s long-term plan for regional continued development, which benefits my constituency enormously—structural funding, for example, and agricultural funding. Those uncertainties are not helping to keep the Union together. On direct funding to Wales, she has to accept that cutting electrification to Swansea from Cardiff and not supporting the tidal lagoon does not give us enormous confidence about this Government investing in Wales and its communities.

[Chloe Smith]

I am sure that we will come on to all those points during the debate. However, the hon. Gentleman and the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards) were right to raise them, because it is in recognition of such issues that the Government plan to create a shared prosperity fund for the whole of the United Kingdom. We share those goals; we share those opportunities.