Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Angela Eagle

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dame Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)]

12. What steps his Department is taking to reform the criminal justice system to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Dominic Raab)]

The Government are taking a range of measures to tackle violence against women and girls. The number of convictions in rape cases has increased by two thirds in the last reporting year, but we are restless to do more at every stage of the process from Operation Soteria, linking up police and prosecutors, through to the current national roll-out of pre-recorded evidence in all Crown courts in England and Wales.

[Dame Angela Eagle]

Rape Crisis statistics show that only 3% of cases saw charges brought last year, CPS figures show that only 1.3% of reported rapes are charged or summonsed, and there was a 21% increase in rape reports from the previous year, so what on earth is the Secretary of State going to do to reverse these serial failures and to deal with this epidemic of rape, which on his watch is going unpunished?

[Dominic Raab]

I can reassure the hon. Lady, first, that police referrals and the number of suspects charged have gone up over the last year, and Crown court receipts of those actually arriving in court are going up, but she is right to be restless to do more. We have rolled out national and local data dashboards for crime, but also specifically for rape, to provide greater transparency and to spread better practice in how we secure those vital convictions. As I have already mentioned, we have quadrupled victim funding support since 2010. We have expanded so-called section 28 pre-recorded cross-examination, which is now in place for sexual and modern slavery offences in all Crown courts in England and Wales. I think Operation Soteria is probably the single biggest thing, as we get to a national roll-out next year, because it will get prosecutors and police working more collaboratively together, but also get the focus not on grilling and interrogating the complainant—the victim—but on making sure the balance does not shift and that the focus is predominantly on the suspect.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Angela Eagle

Wednesday 22nd April 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We now come to the final question. I call Angela Eagle.

[Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab) [V]]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Last Sunday, the UK and 18 other G20 countries endorsed a comprehensive communiqué on covid-19 and future global pandemic preparedness. That much-needed action plan was then effectively vetoed by the USA as part of its unfounded attack on the World Health Organisation. Given that the Prime Minister is reported to have spoken to Donald Trump yesterday, can the First Secretary of State assure the House that Britain believes that the World Health Organisation is critical to the future of global health security, and that this country will not be drawn into the US President’s disgraceful vendetta against the World Health Organisation?

[Dominic Raab]

First, I reassure the hon. Lady that we fully support international efforts. Indeed, we are a leading player—whether on vaccines or on supporting vulnerable countries—in helping to get through what is a global crisis. We recognise that the WHO has a role to play. It is not perfect—no international institution is. We do need to work to reform it, but we have made it clear that we consider it to be an important part of the international response, and the UK will continue to lead the way in that effort.

Covid-19

Debate between Dominic Raab and Angela Eagle

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My right hon. Friend did an incredible job as Foreign Secretary, in particular in pressing for the release of not just Nazanin, but all our dual nationals suffering in Tehran. I spoke to the Iranian Foreign Minister yesterday. I have made it clear, not least as Iran considers releasing prisoners on a pretty large scale, that there is no excuse for not releasing all the UK dual nationals on furlough. We are waiting for confirmation regarding individual cases, and I want to be careful and to wait until I have confirmation, but I assure my right hon. Friend that this is a high priority for the Government. As I said, I raised it with Foreign Minister Zarif yesterday.

[Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)]

I compliment the Foreign Secretary on making it clear that essential travel includes the freight services that will keep our supermarkets stocked with food. While I recognise that the Department for Transport will be dealing with this, can he reassure those who undertake long-haul freight travel through Europe to get our food supplies to us that they will not be stranded?

[Dominic Raab]

I thank the hon. Lady for the way in which she asked her question and for complimenting the FCO consular advice. She is right—I talked about this with the Transport Secretary and the Prime Minister this morning—about the importance of not only keeping freight flowing, but ensuring that we safeguard the workers who are doing that. I want to give some reassurance in relation to the recommendations announced by the President of the European Commission yesterday, which will be considered by the European Council today, in relation to the 30-day travel ban for all but essential travel: medical staff and transporters of goods would be exempt, as well as UK nationals.

Leaving the EU: Meaningful Vote

Debate between Dominic Raab and Angela Eagle

Monday 22nd October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

It was very inventive of my hon. Friend to get that in through the back door. All I would gently say is that the basic democratic arithmetic suggests that several hundred thousand taking part in what was an impressive protest cannot trump the will of the 17 million who voted in a national referendum to leave the EU.

[Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)]

I think that the Minister has gone through the looking-glass and left his dictionary behind. He seems to think that “meaningful” actually means “meaningless”, and he seems to think, in his topsy-turvy world, that it is possible to amend motions after voting on them. Why does he not get a grip, get back to the real world, and give this Parliament the meaningful vote that his Government and his colleagues promised us when they accepted that amendment?

[Dominic Raab]

I do not think that the hon. Lady was right in either of her key points. The memorandum that we published sets out very clearly that there will be a substantive motion. It will be, in our view, subject to amendments. What we cannot have is a vote that renders meaningless the outcome of the referendum.

EU: Future Relationship White Paper

Debate between Dominic Raab and Angela Eagle

Thursday 12th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

It is certainly the case, in my view and the Government’s view, that no deal would be better than a bad deal, but what we are aiming for is the very best deal.

My hon. Friend asked about the money. I took some time to set out in my response that we have made clear the need for a link between the obligations that we undertake in the withdrawal agreement and what we then expect in relation to the future partnership deal on trade, security and other areas in which there is co-operation. That needs to be looked at as a whole. If one side, whichever it may be, does not fulfil its side of the bargain, there will be consequences for the whole deal—and yes, that would include the money.

[Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)]

The White Paper says very little about the service industry, particularly financial services, except that we want to retain our access to integrated markets while not really sticking to the rules. Is that not more like having your cake and eating it, and is it not highly unlikely that the EU will ever agree to such an approach?

[Dominic Raab]

It is clear that the UK cannot remain under the EU passporting regime, which is intrinsic to membership of the EU. Our objective, based on that, is to agree a new economic and regulatory partnership in financial services. The new partnership will set some binding bilateral commitments to give firms certainty and stability in respect of access to each other’s markets, while allowing the UK and the EU to maintain and exercise autonomy when it comes to regulatory decisions and rule-making.

Budget Resolutions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Angela Eagle

Thursday 9th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Ms Angela Eagle]

Just to reassure the hon. Gentleman, I suspect that I would have been even more offended if he had agreed more with me than with his hon. Friend.

[Mr Raab]

It is good to at least start on a point of consensus.

When I hear the leader of the Labour party or the shadow Chancellor talking about the economy, I sometimes feel that there is a parallel universe. I listened carefully to the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) on “The Andrew Marr Show”. He explained that the economy was not growing fast enough. In fact, the British economy was the second fastest growing in the G7 last year, as it is this year, despite all the doom and gloom around Brexit. He needs to look at the economic facts.

The right hon. Gentleman went on to say that real wages are falling, which hon. Members have returned to on several occasions. I will talk about cost of living pressures, but the official figures are crystal clear. Real wages have been rising since September 2014 and, according to official data, are set to continue rising. [Interruption.] If the hon. Member for Heywood and Middleton (Liz McInnes) wants to intervene, I would welcome that, but otherwise she should go and check the facts. The raw truth is that employment is at a record level, real wages have been rising since 2014, income inequality—I know that she, like me, cares about that—is at its lowest in 30 years, the FTSE is at a record level, and there has been a fresh wave of investment since the referendum, including, most recently, the commitment by James Dyson.

Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies

Debate between Dominic Raab and Angela Eagle

Wednesday 25th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ms Eagle]

I have given way a lot, so I will not.

The Deputy Prime Minister said earlier today:

“The principle is if you are devoting yourself to public service, that is what you should do…I don't think anyone finds it acceptable…people regard politics as nothing more than a part-time hobby.”

He went on to say that

“the principle should be you are elected to do a job, that is your vocation, that is your act of public service, that is what you should be doing for your constituents”.

Well, I agree, and it is not often that I agree with the Deputy Prime Minister. In the light of that comment, perhaps he will confirm that he and his colleagues will join us in the Lobby tonight. If they do, we can really begin to make progress.

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Ms Eagle]

No, I am right at the end of my speech and I have given way a lot.

The choice is clear. Are we here to serve our constituents or are we here to serve our own self-interest? Are were going to change a broken system or are we going to ignore the public’s clamour for reform? After the election, no Labour MP will have a paid directorship or consultancy, and Labour’s manifesto will include a promise to ensure that that applies to all MPs. Wider reform is now being rejected because the Conservatives are the defenders of a tired and discredited status quo. To reform our politics, we need to stand up to vested interests, not cosy up to them. We need to stand up for the powerless, not the powerful. And we need to accept that sometimes in this place, things need to change. That time has come.