Ukraine

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Rupa Huq

Monday 28th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

What I said about the weapons we are supplying is that we have a good defence industry in the United Kingdom and that the people of Northern Ireland are proud that their products are being used to help defend freedom and democracy.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Can the Foreign Secretary shed light on reports that civil servants working on Afghan resettlement are now being redeployed to Ukraine issues? Can she reassure us that, while we still have ongoing moral obligations and casework in Afghanistan, there is bandwidth for both?

My constituent Jibran Masud got out of Ukraine, and he was due to sit finals at Dnipro Medical Institute in May. Will the Foreign Secretary find something equivalent for him and the apparently dozens like him so that they can do their finals here and benefit our NHS as doctors? They are all British nationals.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Rupa Huq

Wednesday 24th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

What recent progress she has made on plans to ban conversion therapy.

[The Minister for Women and Equalities (Elizabeth Truss)]

I am committed to banning conversion therapy. It is an abhorrent practice and I will shortly be bringing forward plans to do just that.

--- Later in debate ---

[Elizabeth Truss]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend that practices that harm or try to convert somebody into being something they are not, are not just wrong but completely inappropriate and unacceptable. That is why we will be bringing forward our plans to ban this practice very shortly. He is right that it should be true in all circumstances, including with religious practices. Of course, we must protect religious free speech, but we cannot condone those harmful practices taking place.

[Dr Huq [V]]

It is good to hear the Minister’s words after three years of dither and delay that have cost the Government three members of their LGBT panel. Can she now give us a legislative timetable for when ending this archaic practice of conversion therapy will be on the statute book once and for all?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I agree with the hon. Lady that we need to get on with doing this. I can assure her that since I got this job a year ago I have been working to make sure that the ban we put in place is properly enforceable and has the right measures in place. We have been looking at international experience to ensure that we do this correctly, but I am very keen to get on with it and I can assure the hon. Lady that we are very much on it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Rupa Huq

Thursday 14th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

Accession to the CPTPP is a priority for this Government and a key part of our trade negotiation programme. We aim to make our formal notification of our intent to accede soon. This agreement will give huge opportunities for British business to export more goods. We already export more goods to the CPTPP countries than to China. For example, 95% of goods are tariff-free under the agreement, and the strong data and digital provisions will really help British tech firms.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab) [V]]

The Prime Minister promised barrier-free trade with the EU post Brexit, but local firms that now find costly obstacles in VAT issues are finding the opposite, so could the Government please rectify the situation for firms that import from outside the EU to export to within it, because small British businesses have become less attractive than our EU competitors? Returns mean ruinous, cash flow-killing charges for a reverse transaction. Some of these firms have had to diversify after lockdown shut their shops, and many are on the brink of bankruptcy.

[Elizabeth Truss]

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), is running the Brexit business taskforce to ensure that the additional processes required of businesses are clear and to give businesses the support they need to be able to trade in the new environment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Rupa Huq

Wednesday 21st October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

First, we have appointed a splendid trade envoy for those three countries, who is going to do a brilliant job promoting opportunities for women and everyone through free trade agreements. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: CPTPP contains important provisions to open up trade for women, and of course Vietnam is a key part of that agreement.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on protecting women attending abortion clinics from intimidation or protest.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Rupa Huq

Thursday 18th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

The use of bullets, tear gas and batons on innocent protesters has, as the Secretary of State acknowledged, shocked the world in the aftermath of the brutal killing of George Floyd, so can she tell us whether her Department has authorised the export of any of the above in the past 12 months?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I have already answered a letter from the shadow Secretary of State on precisely this issue. Quarterly, we publish exactly which export licences we issue as a Department. We are completely transparent, and we operate in line with the consolidated criteria.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Rupa Huq

Thursday 5th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I disagree with the premise of the hon. Lady’s question. Now that we have left the EU, we have the opportunity to set our own rules and regulations in tech, and really lead the world in areas like artificial intelligence and blockchain. That is exactly what we are seeking to do with these new free trade agreements. We are also seeking, at the World Trade Organisation, to lead in areas like the joint statement on e-commerce, and looking for new SME-friendly chapters in our trade deals to help exactly these types of tech start-ups to sell their goods around the world.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

14. What recent progress she has made with her non-EU counterparts on negotiations for future trade agreements with those countries.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Rupa Huq

Thursday 17th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

The UK was a founder member of GATT, which then became the WTO. As the hon. Gentleman knows, by his definition we would only have been in the EU since 1993, because previously we were in the European Community, as I am sure he has said.

Of course we will work through the issues on the goods schedules at the WTO, and we are doing precisely that at Geneva. Those schedules are all ready to go in the event of no deal. Of course, what we want is a deal, and the Prime Minister is currently in Brussels working very hard to get that. If that is what the hon. Gentleman wants, I suggest that he votes for it.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

2. What progress she has made on the rollover of existing EU trade agreements.

--- Later in debate ---

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right—this is a fantastic opportunity for the UK. When I was out in the US, I met Bob Lighthizer, and I also met the Treasury Secretary to discuss those potential opportunities with him. The UK is not just going to roll over in a trade deal with the US. We will make sure that our industries are promoted. We want barriers removed in the US to our successful service industries.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

T4. Back when we were told that we hold all the cards, the post of British trade negotiator had been obsolete for 45 years. Would the Secretary of State recommend it as a long-term career path? We are, as we know, at the beginning. When does she envisage the negotiations ever being over?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I hope that the hon. Lady will be supporting the Prime Minister in his negotiations in Brussels, where he has already secured significant advances to where we were, in particular by ensuring that Britain is able to have its own independent trade policy once we leave the EU, and to control our own rules and regulations.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Rupa Huq

Thursday 4th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I certainly will. I have had the opportunity to sample the great British Bury black pudding in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and I hope that it will become known around the world.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

T5. London breached annual pollution limits just days into 2016, repeating what happened in 2015. The Government were forced by the Supreme Court to publish plans on reducing air pollution. Does the Secretary of State think that her Department is doing enough to tackle air pollution? It is projected that there will be five years of this in London.